CHAPTER VI.

SELF-RELIANCE
One of the things to be constantly aimed at is self-reliance. It should be most assiduously cultivated. The sincere student of occultism is striving to perfect himself as an instrument to be used in quickening human evolu- tion. He may now be serving that sublime purpose in the very humblest way but he will not overlook the fact that great tasks await the willing and capable worker; that volunteers for selfless service are very, very few and that the need of them is great. There- fore he will understand that as rapidly as he can fit himself for effective ser- vice the larger tasks will be found at hand, awaiting him. But only those
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who have evolved the necessary quali- ties are available for the work and can hope to be given a part in it; and of what use would one be who has not become self-reliant? Worlds are not shaped with the helpless hands of in- fants. We must get beyond the cling- ing, timorous, dependent stage that characterizes children, before we shall be Of much real service in the evolu- tionary work. There is an attitude of mind that means "Well, I'm willing enough but I don't know what to do. I'm ready to work if somebody will furnish me a place." That is much better than indifference but it is not the self-reliant attitude that one should strive to reach. The desirable mental attitude is one of strong, resolute deter- mination to find a way to serve with- out anybody's help — a desire to be use- ful, directed by steady, self-reliant pur- pose.
In the most prosaic affairs of life
50 Hints to Students of Occultism
and in earth's hurly-burly business grind it is the self-reliant who move the world. The self-reliant man comes to the front in times of difficulty and peril as naturally as oil comes to the surface of water. He belongs there by right of ability to manage, to direct. Being in control of himself he can control events. Being master of himself he is master of the situation. In a crisis all instinctively turn to the masterful man.
One of the divine characteristics of occultism is its absolute justice. Each is exactly what he makes himself and gets precisely what he earns ; not a jot less nor more. He merely comes into his own. But he must come in on his own account. He cannot play the role of Micawber in occultism, waiting for "something to turn up" that will carry him into useful and desirable occult work as a political upheaval sometimes carries an indifferent candidate into
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office to the surprise of everybody. The successful ones who have made rapid progress in occultism are those who have resolutely forced their way for- ward. They did not even wait for an opportunity, but made it. The most conspicuous figures in the history of the Theosophical Society are striking examples of what comes of a self- reliant determination to serve; that does not wait even for an invitation to work for the common good. Each created a field and filled it. Colonel Olcott, for example, did not wait for the growth and maturity of an occult society that could furnish him the office of president and thus give him an opportunity to be uniquely useful. He set to work and built the organization, thus becoming signally useful to the world at once. The others did not wait for the western nations to ask for a theosophical literature. They anticipated the demand by producing
52 Hints to Students of Occultism
a literature that will some day be recognized as marking an epoch in the history of western civilization.
A beginner in the study and practice of Theosophy is often inclined to think that it is only a few who can do im- portant things and the rest are neces- sarily doomed to be satisfied with look- ing on and applauding. They forget that a multiplicity of agencies and methods are used to hasten human evolution and that the apparently unim- portant things are quite as necessary as those that attract attention. They also forget that those who are doing the great things once stood where the beginner now stands and that the younger student can as certainly reach an equally important and useful field of activities in the future, if he really desires to, and now seeks to be of ser- vice in the smaller way. If he puts his hand to the small work now he shall grasp the great task later as certainly
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as he lives and thinks. But no one may hope to be entrusted with great responsibilities until he has proved that he is capable of discharging small ones.