CHAPTER XVL

THE WILL.

X

"Men fail, sicken and die, through feebleness of

will." All the potencies of man reside in the will.
To its exercise is due all motions — physical, men-
tal and spiritual. Will is God, and " God is a
Spirit." Therefore, the will employed in an act is
the spirit thereof, the motor, or moving force. Man
is the focus of above and below — of without and
within. Hence he is susceptible to influences from
each. That some are more open to impressions from
within than others, is evident ; and the same is true
as regards externals.

The will is liable to be led captive and enslaved by
either — aye, to be subjugated and destroyed ! But
there is a point where the will is self-poised and free
in its action. As the will is the spirit of every act,
it gives quality to acts. There seems to be a war-
fare between externals and internals, as to the pos-
session of the will. How oft do we see it verified,
that "A man convinced against his will, is of the
same opinion still." We act as we like to act — we
think as we like to think. We can see very plainly
that which we like to see, and shut our eyes very

202 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS.

closely against that which we do not like. Evidence
has but a feeble effect upon the will.

Evil comes from without — or, rather, from that
which is within being overpowered and captivated by
that which is without, or foreign to ourselves ; while
the good comes from within, or by the sicbjection of
the outer by the inner. The objectifying of that
which is within is idolatry. The subjectifying of
objects is the destruction of forms, and the resolving
of things back to the original essence or oneness
from which they spring. This is the digestion of
things in the stomach of the mind, wherein the fire
is extracted which illuminates the spirit, and is the
greatest good to man, for it opens the eyes of the
soul ; it glows as a light ; it warms as fire ; it nourishes
as food ; gives rest and cheerfulness of mind ; enriches
the blood ; purifies the love, and fortifies the soul.

That which is without is transient, fleeting, chan-
ging and impermanent ; but that which is within is
durable ; and the deepest hidden is the most durable
of all.

The will is the only thing that approximates abso-
lute freedom, and this is not free because of love.
Love is worship, and they who love objects are idola-
ters. We are free to will anything we may fancy,
but we are not free to love or accomplish, because
we are limited by things foreign to ourselves, which
we love or hate, or are indifferent to.
N Love is worship, but hate is its reflection, as things
tangible are a reflection of the intangible. True love

THE WILL. 203

is so far hidden from even the imaginations of men,
that an effort to make it known is almost superfluous.
That love which is awakened by sight or contact of
objects is the dark side — the sinister side — of love,
hence it is not love ; it is simply an^appearance. But
the love that springs from the contemplation of a
principle is unchangeable, if it be a true principle, for
it springs from light which is real, as God is real.
As God is light, so the will is light ; and the love that
is produced by will is immortal, because it is pure.

As God is one so the love which is single is pure
love. There is no purity but oneness. The love of
two or more is simply generative of a hunger and
thirst for more, and for this reason Jesus said " Ye
cannot serve God and mammon." Singleness of sight
is clear sight, but motes in the eyes obstruct vision.
Singleness of purpose is a pure purpose. The love
of God is pure love, but the loving of more than one
God is Idolatry, — as the loving of more than one
woman is Adultery.

It is the love we have, which begets God i% us. Love
is blind, consequently those who are led by love had
best inquire as to its quality. Truth is one, and love
being one, the two unite ; but if the love be divided
they cannot unite, consequently God is not begotten
in a divided or impure love. Without effort there is
no excellence, and here come into play, mental forces
or Psychic senses of thought and emotion directed by
will. The laws of culture involve the whole man,
and are the laws of truth. If our love be impure,

204 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS.

the God begotten of it within will be less than we are.
We stand or fall by the wings we give our Gods, —
hopes and aspirations are they, which, by tireless
effort, call the divided spirit home to oneness by
culture.

That which springs spontaneously from the earth
is the weed, bramble and fruit, which man tries to
improve. So it is with the loves. That which
springs from impulse is considered by civilization as
a thing needing punishment. We believe in cool,
calm judgment and self-control, as better than spon-
taneity. This coolness and self -poise comes from the .,
exercise of will. All civilization is due to self-control.
It follows, then, as a logical sequence, that if it is
possible for man to guide and control his loves, it is
far better than for him to be led by his blind passions.

Furthermore, if it be possible to create love by any
process whatever, it is far better than otherwise.
Hence the command to love, not only one another,
but our enemies. Such a command is altogether
superfluous, if it is not possible to do so. We know
how to destroy and disfigure the fair face of nature;
we know how to destroy health and happiness, life
and pleasure ; but we know very little of the creative
forces. We know what it is to have the heart beat
quick and tumultuous at the sight of beauty, or at
the gentle pressure of the hand, or at the bewitching
glance of love-lit eyes ; but we know nothing absolutely
of a power to feel anything but disgust at a loathsome
object. Yet it is within the range of human possi-

THE WILL. 10%

bilities to love that which to ordinary minds is repul-
sive — in fact, to love all and despise nothing. It is
the despising of things that separates us from God
or the Supernatural.

The first lesson in life is the exercise of Will. We
learn to use the muscles, but mental effort precedes it.
The first effort is a projection of power into the
nerves, which tremble and go astray of the object
the infant tries hard to grasp ; but with practice the
nerves become steady, and the infant learns gradually
to manipulate matter — first, in its own body ;
secondly, outside of itself. This power comes to the
infant out of nothing, as it were, as characters
written upon a blank page — nothing — called out
into this world of sense by a display of trinkets,
colors, sonnets and toys, to be a something manifest-
ing power, force and will.

The basic principle of all power and of all develop-
ment is the will. It is all. Every faculty of the
mind, every nerve of the body, centres in it. It is
the trunk of the tree of life : all else of man are out-
growths of it. Hence the development of manhood
begins and ends in the will. It is the centrestance
of being, from which " the rib " of circumstance was
taken (or grew), as Eve from Adam. Will is the
first manifestation of soul, or the first faculty it
creates for its use.

The will is the great pulsating heart of the Soul
— the reservoir of the spirit — which, in its contrac-
tion, throws the spirit from itself, and in its opening

206 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS.

draws it back again. In the supernatural, the will
produces, guides and controls the loves, but in the
natural (so-called) the loves control and guide the
will.

Naturally, love is a spontaneous emotion, pro-
duced by an object of attraction, leading the will
captive. But supernaturally love is an emotion
forced out by constant, persistent thought of an
Ideal, which Ideal is the feminine counterpart of the
man, dwelling within him, united to him, absolutely
inseparable from him. But he cannot have this Ideal
in his consciousness, till, in the purity of his spirit,
he rises up to its conception mentally. This is a
revelation to him, sometimes in early life, but often
in age, forced out by unrequited love, and the burn-
ing anguish of dead joys. Thus, man becomes dual
in his nature first, afterwards in actual marriage with
his Ideal, or love.

This Ideal is seldom incarnated on this earth, at
the same time the man is ; if it ever does so happen,
no condition can keep them apart. When they meet,
they intuitively know each other. This is marriage
in its divine significance. Man and woman thus
united by the "Holy Spirit " is eternal — but con-
sidered separately they are not eternal entities, but
are interchangeable, i.e., man is liable to become a
woman, and woman is liable to become a man in some
other birth.

The man hater and the woman hater change places
after two or three revolutions of the wheel of life.

THE WILL. 207

Human progress depends, then, upon will-culture —
and the field to be cultivated is the loves, in which
and from which all things grow. The will viewed as
a mental faculty has its antagonist, which is Rever-
ence.

Once upon a time when intensely musing upon the
antagonisms of the brain, I fell asleep — but it was
not all sleep — when some one came to me, as "the
stranger " came with the mirror. I did not see him,
but he showed me a book. Opening it, he showed
me this strange sentence : " The will is antagonized
by reverence ! In the foretime the Gods, out of fear
of man's ambition, created reverence/ ' I desired to
take the book, but he would not permit me, but
showed me many blank pages therein, saying : " not
now." It was several years before I could accept
the strange dogma. But it is true.

We are taught that the will must be broken in
early childhood, and in order to the salvation of the
soul. The opposite is the truth. God does not love
slaves nor cowards, and the child whose will is broken
is of no earthly account.

The loves must be tamed — broken, if necessary,
by the will — guided by an enlightened under-
standing. All will is pure power, and should be
increased instead of being broken. In meditation
there is strength, but in reverence there is weakness
— a tacit acknowledgment of a superior. There is a
a God ! Nay, many, but if they are superior to you
"it is your own fault. You may have been a God

2o8 THE TEMPLE OF THE ROSY CROSS.

yourself at some time, and you may be again with
proper effort. That proper effort is not in humilia-
tion.

The will is represented in the mind as triune, hav-
ing three faculties through which it manifests itself,
as follows :