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This lecture is entitled “The Three Truths”, based on a book entitled: The Idyll of the White Lotus by Mabel Collins. For the purpose of this paper, I have paraphrased and quoted extensively, some of the exquisite prose of this book and hope to review the cited text in light of the Mabel Collins books Light on the Path and Through the Gates of Gold.  I was most curious about the title of this book by Mabel Collins. Before I was given a copy of the publication I thought Andrew Rooke when pronouncing the title had said idol, as for example, in the practice to worship. Once I had received the book the very first thing I did was to look up the term “Idyll”.  The concise Oxford Dictionary gives the following definition:…”description in verse or prose of picturesque scene or incident; especially in rustic life; a love story.”So began a puzzling start to the beginning of my reading of this little gem. I was reading the fifth edition of the story published in 1933. Presumably, the actual story could well have been published in the latter part of the 19Cth by my reckoning. In fact the book was first published in Adyar, Madras, India in 1885.The latter part of the nineteenth century is an interesting period, significant for not only numerous scientific, medical and technology discoveries - advances to assist with the betterment of mankind, but notably for growing curiosity in metaphysics, the occult and the ancient wisdom.Indeed, considering the era in which Mabel Collins was writing, I was motivated to delve into her background as a writer and participant in the Theosophical Society and discovered she had some very note worthy contemporaries.She also had an eclectic range of interests and fields to which she dedicated herself most actively. So who was Mabel Collins? I always like to “know” about the author of a book because it can enhance my comprehension with such contextualization. From some information gleamed from the Internet the following biography will give some background to today’s lecture.Biography of Mabel CollinsMabel Collins (1851 – 1922)“An important but shadowy figure in the Theosophical Society during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Although her influential book Light on the Path (first published anonymously in 1885) is a classic work in the Theosophical movement, Collins has received only scant biographical notice.A daughter of Mortimer Collins, she became a prolific author of novels and other works, including: Prince Clarice: A Story of 1871 (2 vols., 1872), Blacksmith and Scholar (3 vols.,1875), An Innocent Sinner (3 vols.; 1877), In the World (2 vol., 1878) Our Bohemia (3 vols., 1879), Too Red a Dawn (3 vols., 1881) Cobwebs (3 vols., 1882), The Story of Helen Modjeska (1883), In the Flower of her Youth (3 vols., 1883), Violet Fanshawe (2 vols., 1884), The Prettiest Woman in Warsaw (3 vols., 1885), and Lord Vanecourt’s Daughter (3 vols., 1885).Her later books, The Idyll of the White Lotus (1885), Through the Gates of Gold (1887), and The Blossom and the Fruit: The True Story of  Black Magician (1888), strongly manifested her growing interest in metaphysics and the occult. The Blossom and the Fruit was included by occultist Aleister Crowley as recommended reading for neophytes in working with magic and it seems possible that the author had some inside knowledge of secret occult organisations. (an obvious organization would have been the Secret Society of The Golden Dawn, to name but one).Collin’s husband, Dr Keningale Cook, was also a writer, author of The Fathers of Jesus: A Study of the Lineage of the Christian Doctrine and Traditions (2 vols., 1886).Collins became an active worker in the movement for the women’s suffrage in Britain and collaborated with suffragette Charlotte Despard on a novel, Outlawed (1908) dealing with the subject of women’s rights.She was an early member of the London Lodge of the Theosophical Society, which she joined in 1884. In the same year, she wrote The Idyll of the White Lotus, followed by Light on the Path, subtitled “A Treatise written down by M.C .Fellow  of the Theosophical Society”. In 1887, after publication of Through the Gates of Gold, Collins became co editor with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky of the society’s journal Lucifer but ceased editing it two years later as a result of a controversy in the movement connected with the authorship of her books. The ambiguous ascription on the  title page of The Light on the Path suggested to some that the work was inspired by an adept, and for some time it was implied that the source was Mahatma Koot Hoomi, one of H.P.B’s mysterious “Masters”.After fierce controversy over the source of the book’s inspiration, Collins was expelled from the society. Later she was permitted to rejoin. Whatever the true source of the book, it seems that Collins sustained a claim to have travelled on the astral plane and encountered inspired teachers.Another strange episode in her life revolves around allegations that in 1888 she was closely associated with the notorious murderer Jack the Ripper. According to  Aleister Crowley in his Confessions, Collins had a lover who was a doctor and later evidence strongly suggested he was the infamous Ripper.”Source: (www.answers.com/topic/mabel-collins)“Mabel Collins is remembered today, when at all, as being the author of the spiritual work Light on the Path. Few people realise that she was a prolific author, penning at least 46 books. She wrote a number of articles, some of which were to form the basis for her books and was also a fashion correspondent for The World, writing a regular column. Most of Mabel’s novels are romantic sensation fiction. In later years her experiences in the occult and theosophy were used as a basis for her fiction writing.Mabel’s name pops up again and again in theosophical histories. Yet no one knew much about her – in fact I have seen it written that her life was a  complete mystery. Like many of these mysteries the information is there as soon as you begin to look. Mabel Collins was an instrumental figure in early theosophy but owing to the disputes she was involved in she has more or less disappeared from the history books.She was an author, a medium, a theosophist, lover of Jack the Ripper, a fashion writer, an anti vivisection campaigner… the list is a lot longer than that of most people’s  achievements”.Source: The Many Lives of Mabel Collins by Kim Farnell The Theosophical History Conference 2003.From what I know already about M.C., her interests and the many volumes of verse she penned, intuitively I sensed that this little book, a mere 169 pages was going to require serious contemplation on my part. The story is allegorical, in that the layers of symbolism, once parred back reveal, the essence, the truth of which M.C. wishes to inform her reader. In the Preface of the book Mabel Collins  (M.C.) says:“The ensuing  pages contain a story which has been told in all ages and among every people. It is the tragedy of the Soul. Attracted by Desire, the ruling element in the lower nature of Man, it stoops to sin; brought to itself by suffering, it turns for help to the redeeming Spirit within; and in the final sacrifice achieves its apotheosis and sheds a blessing on mankind.”This is indeed a gripping passage. It certainly resonates with references made earlier concerning M.C.’s dealings with ethereal, esoteric matters.At this juncture I began with the reading of this book, pondering this opening introduction.My intention was to read through the book to determine The Three Truths. After all, this was the subject of my lecture. Again I had another concern. The title of my lecture uses the definite article in grammar, so this lead me to consider that, according to M.C., there can only be Three Truths. She has not suggested that there maybe three or possibly more of these “truths”. She is adamant and steady in her conviction so I had better get reading to get to the core of these ‘truths’.Moreover, the Prologue reads:“Behold I stood alone, one among many, an isolated individual in the midst of a united crowd. And I was alone, because, among all the men, my brethren, who knew, I alone was the man who both knew and taught. I taught the believers at the gate, and was driven to do this by the power that dwelled in the sanctuary. I had no escape, for in that deep darkness of the most sacred shrine, I beheld the light of the inner life, and was driven to reveal it, and indeed, although I died, it took ten priests of the temple to accomplish my death, and even they but ignorantly thought themselves powerful”.The setting for the story is based in the distant past, in the time of the Pharaohs - towards the end of the majesty of the great Egyptian era. This is the time when the priesthood of the temples are becoming corrupted; when the integrity and nobility of the priests and business within the temple walls were falling into disrepute. Most disturbing of all, the powerful priests, egoistically used magic for very dark purposes!The story begins with a country, shepherd boy called Sensa being taken from his rural village existence to the city for the first time by his mother, to commence his initiation as a novice into the Egyptian priesthood.Sensa soon overcomes his homesickness. He becomes immediately awe struck by the beauty of the temple and spell-bound by the serenity of the white-robed priests. In the early stages of his confinement in the temple, Sensa resolves to be brave and show no fear with the tests the priesthood impose on him. The ordeals at this stage mainly centre around his complete isolation with lights extinguished in his room and being surrounded …”by a strange and silent crowd.”However, he is befriended by an ugly but very kind novice Priest, called Seboua. Sensa, we learn is considered special as stated by Seboua…”My son, thou art gifted from heaven with unclosed eyes. Be brave in the possession of the gift and thou shalt be a light in the midst of the darkness that is descending upon our unhappy land”.(p.38)Sensa’s gift is that he has visions of a fair, veiled lady. “Speak to her!”cried Seboua…Not in this generation has she spoken with her priests-speak to her, for indeed we need her help!”(p.42)The golden-haired woman speaks to Sensa and says…”Child with the open eyes, thy soul is pure, and upon it is laid a heavy task. The darkness is not to be feared; it is to be conquered and driven back, as the soul grows stronger in the light. My son, there is darkness in that innermost sanctuary of the temple, because the worshippers therein cannot bear the light.(p.43)Alone in his room, Sensa increasingly feels the pall of a heavy gloom descend over him. He is bored, sitting alone, silently, in the dark. After an outburst in front of one of the high priests – Agmahd, an especially menacing character, Sensa is given a book to read about the Arts and Powers of Magic. Yet he is not interested in it.After this episode, a shadowy figure approaches Sensa asking if he has any wish. Of course Sensa wishes to leave his confinement and is whisked through the large, dark corridors of the temple, fearing that they will both be caught and metered out a vile punishment.He arrives in the enchanting grounds and garden of the temple and as on the first occasion when he was brought to the temple,  he stoops for water and sees the Lily Queen- the Lady of the Lotus. Returned once more to his room, Sensa only has a white lotus flower from the pond to give him pleasure and comfort and he comes to view the Lily Queen as a surrogate mother.So enchanted by her scent, fragrant and comforting words, Sensa yearns for her presence when he is away from her. Symbolically, the white lotus flower in his room, once out of its rich pond, away from the life giving qualities of the sun, soon droops when placed in a vessel. In the darkness of his room, Sensa, some time later is visited by the Lily Queen who says to him:“The royal flower of Egypt dwells upon the sacred waters, which in their purity and peace fitly form its eternal resting-place. I am the spirit of the flower; I am sustained upon the waters of truth, and my life is formed of the breath of the heavens, which is love. But the degradation of my earthly resting-place, over which my wings of love yet brood, is driving from it the light of heaven, which is wisdom. Not long can the spirit of the royal lotus live in darkness; the flower droops and dies if the sun be withdrawn from it. Remember these words, child, grave them upon your heart, for as your mind becomes capable of grasping them, they will enlighten you in many things.”After this encounter, Sensa falls into a deep slumber. When he next awakes, a young girl is in his room who snatches his white lotus that he had slept with after the encounter with the Lily Queen. They both run through the temple until he is brought to a garden filled with even more delightful flowers and fragrances which immediately causes Sensa to forget about the reason why he gave chase to the young girl. He is completely enchanted by these alluring new blooms and emboldened by them.The young girl and other children claim Sensa to have won all the  prizes in the games they had been playing. The priests in the temple now bow before him. Sensa cannot believe he has such new found inspiration among the priesthood.He is clothed in a beautiful robe, more lovely than that worn by the High Priest himself. He is taken to the inner sanctuary of the temple, where he sees a  …”woman sat on a low seat, her head bent over a great book, which she held open on her knee…You have come to learn” she says. “You love beautiful things and flowers. You will be a great artist if you live for beauty alone, but you must be more than that”. (Sensa)…sees that the dark robe she wore was no garment of linen or cloth – it was alive – it was a drapery of coiling snakes, .There was another presence in the sanctuary. Agmahd was there…”Tell me, he said, “what is her robe?” Sensa replys, ”It shines and gleams, and on her shoulders are roses”. “I do not desire pleasure”, he said; “my soul is sick of it. But I demand power… I renounce my humanity.”. “It is well” said the woman. …“You must bring me others ready like yourself to brave all and know all. I must have twelve sworn servants. Get me these, and you shall have your desire”. (p.88-93)The woman indicates that ten priests have already been selected and with Agmahd the number grows to eleven servants. The one to complete the number is to be Sensa.Over the years as Sensa grew from a young boy, through adolescence and then manhood, he was but an instrument in the temple, to the dark mysterious woman who has required his assistance in daily tasks designed to delude and enchant the 10 servants she required.One day his old friend Seboua pays him a visit. He takes him to a cool plunge pool in the garden. After a refreshing swim Sensa suddenly encounters the Lily Queen, the Lady of the Lotus. To his shame he admits to himself that he had indeed forgotten all about her.The Lotus Queen says to Sensa: ”My child, be thou strong; listen not to the flattery which confuses thee; listen only to the truth! Keep in the sunlight, dear child, and let not the phantoms delude thee; for there is the life of lives awaiting thee, the pure flower of knowledge and love is ready for thee to pluck. Wouldst thou be a tool, a mere instrument in the hands of those who desire only for themselves? No! Acquire knowledge and grow strong! Then shalt thou be a giver of sunshine to the world…Rise in confidence, for this water will support thee; rise and kneel upon it and drink of the sunshine; rise and kneel upon it, and address they self to the light of all life, that it may illumine thee.”. (p.105)While these words were spoken to Sensa when he was an adolescent, they were heard by him in his sleep. Through the years of his growth…”the cry to (his) soul from the Lily Queen rang dimly and without meaning in the obscure regions of (his) brain. (p.106)While he never forgot the words, he went about his “work” in the temple as like a slave, obeying the requests of his dark Mistress and Master. As he grew to manhood, increasingly he was disturbed, indeed, sickened by his compliance with those who were using him for their wicked purposes. “As (his) mind developed (he) recognised this, and a heavy weariness, as of death or despair, shut away from (him) all the beauty of the world.” (p.107)One day two young priests, novices, encourage Sensa to leave the temple for the day and travel to the city to have a day of fun and frivolity. The three soon find themselves at a fine banquet with rich patrons. Sensa becomes enamoured by a lovely, young woman who declares; …”the room seemed dark and silent till you came…the banquet had no mirth in it. Is it for me, who am so young and strong and full of love, to be so sad? No-no, it is not for me. Ah, lover, husband, leave me not again alone. Stay by my side, and my passion will make thee strong to fulfil thy destiny.” (p.112)As Sensa begins declaring how blind he has been and that indeed there was no one fairer, the guests all leave save for the two priests. Says one, ”Do you forget that we were but to look at the follies of the city, that we might know of what clay men are made? You know that the initiated priests must retain their purity. What of you, the seer of the temple? Even I, who am but a novice dare not yield to the fierce longing for liberty that fills my soul. But I dare not. Else am I less than nothing, I should have no place in the temple, no place in the world”. (p.113)It seems that for some time Sensa was blissfully ensconced in a beautiful palace surrounded by sumptuous gardens with the beautiful creature he had met at the banquet. Until one day Agmahd arrives at his bed chamber and summons him back to the temple.Sensa is taken by boat to the temple. On the banks of the river were tens of thousands of people from the city. Clearly this was some type of a festival. He was not aware of what the festival was for nor what was to be celebrated. On the boat are the evil Mistress, Master and 10 disciples.Sensa the seer is consumed literally and metaphorically by the evil Mistress. As the Mistress looks down on his corpse, which was once the young priest – seer, she notes that the great multitude were ready to follow any command to be given.“Mine was a worthy army; they would obey, not from duty but desire. …The strong life of the young priest was enough to feed the lamp of physical power for some time if I did not use it too swiftly…. I moved among the people, speaking into the ear of each the secret of his heart. …No man or woman was without some ongoing shame which would have held them forever from uttering even to a confessor. But I saw it, and made it no longer a thing of shame, and showed how small an effort of will, how slight a knowledge was needed for the first step in self-gratification.  With one voice the people burst out into a wild song that thrilled my blood, and made it burn within me….Uttered silently in one heart, it is the cry of the unspoken passion, the hidden madness of self. When it comes from the throat of the multitude, shame is gone and concealment at an end. Then it is the frenzied utterance of the orgie, the outcry of the devotees of pleasure.My work was done. I had lit a great fire in the forest. And the young priest- was he still there? Still looking like one dead? Yes, he lay motionless, pallid, in the midst of the circle formed by the high priests.At this moment I seemed suddenly to withdraw myself in some mysterious way from the sea of passion in which I had been submerged. I knew myself again –that I was not the goddess, but had been only absorbed by her, sucked up into her embracing personality.”   (p.126-127)Sensa is in the holy of the holies, and looking into it after his earlier realization, that he is not dead, sees the Lady of the Lotus who says to him:”Was it for this, O Sensa! Beloved of the gods! That thou wert born? Was it for this that thine eyes were opened and thy senses made clear to perceive? Thou knowest it was not; yet those seeing eyes and those swift sense have at last served their master, and shown thee who and what it is thou hast been serving. Wilt thou serve her always? Now that thou art a man, choose! Art thou fallen so low that thou wilt be a slave forever? Go then! I have come to cleanse my sanctuary. I will endure no longer. It shall be silent and the people shall not know that any gods exist, rather than that they shall be lied to by false lips, and tempted by the darkness.She raised her hand with a gesture that bade me leave her it was so imperative, so royal that I could not disobey. An awful memory came to me in the darkness and silence. I saw in the past not only pleasure but deeds. I saw that I had done these blindly, accepting the stupefaction of my soul as men accept the dullness of wine….A touch came on my hand and on my face. I heard a voice in my ear and in my heart; “Thou art saved. Be strong”. And the light came upon my eyes, but I could not see, for a rain of tears washed from them the frightful visions they had seen.” (p.129-130)Somehow Sensa regains his strength and remembers where he is: that he is on a boat surrounded by the evil Mistress, Master and the 10 disciples. He manages to raise himself up, fearless now of those whom surround him.Sensa raises his voice to the multitudes before him and says: ”Listen to me, you that are worshippers here of the goddess. What goddess is it you worship? Can you not tell by the words she whispers into your hearts? Look within, and if she has seared you with the fierce heat of passion, know she is no true god! For there is no truth save in wisdom. Know that in virtue, in true thoughts, in true deeds, only can you find peace.” (p.133)While the crowd is influenced by Sensa’s inspirational words, Agmahd was enraged. Sensa is again overpowered and falls into a heavy slumber. He awakes in his old room in the temple and remembers the events in the boat on the water before the crowds on the previous day. His memory of his Queen Mother also came to mind.The opulence of his room, its heady fragrance, luxurious draped windows is oppressive.  He is locked in the room. He notices his old friend, Seboua who tells him that after yesterday’s episode on the boat the he is considered mad and is to be killed.In the solitude of his room, Sensa senses the presence of white-robed priests, who are his predecessors, the priests of the sanctuary, the servants of the Lily Queen.They have come to teach him the ancient knowledge and truth. …”Until now, it seemed to (him) that he had been living in unconsciousness. Now  (he) was guided through (his) own life again. …Like the others I had existed for desire and its satisfaction. And steeped in the joys of pleasure, of beauty, I had been as one intoxicated, and knew not all that I did. (p.143)After a long sleep, Sensa awakes to find a new teacher in his room…”I knew that his smile was the light of a great peace. He had died in this chamber-died for the truth….I had to live for the truth in the light of the pure spirit, and no suffering must make me afraid, and from the moment that his hand touched mine, I knew that no suffering could make me afraid.”(p.144)The teacher says:  ”Be strong, for your work is great….Fight thou to the last for thy Queen Mother. Speak to my people and tell them of the great truths…tell them that there is the lotus bloom in every human soul, and that it will open wide to the light unless they poison its roots….the temple must fall, but it shall not fall in iniquity. Egypt must decay; but it shall not decay in ignorance…. the struggle is at hand; do not flinch….”(p. 146-147)As the fair Lotus Queen is revealed to Sensa in all her exquisite glory, the young teacher says to him: ”There are three truths which are absolute, and which cannot be lost, but remain silent for lack of speech. Ø      The soul of man is immortal, and its future is the future of a thing whose growth and splendour has no limit. Ø     The principle which gives life dwells in us, and without us, is undying and eternally beneficent, is not heard or seen, or smelt, but is perceived by the man who desires perception. Ø     Each man is his own absolute lawgiver, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself; the decreer of his life, his reward, his punishment.These three truths, which are as great as is life itself, are as simple as the simplest mind of man. Feed the hungry with them. Farewell…They will come for thee; be thou ready”. (p.149)Finally, the moment has arrived. It is the last day of the Great Festival. Agmahd is in Sensa’s room. He is asked once more whether he will comply with the wishes of the Mistress and himself.  If not, as he is well versed in the secret knowledge of the temple, he will be put to death. The choice is Sensa’s to make and he selects death than obedience to the evil ones.As Sensa is to lead to the ten priests waiting to hear his deliberation as to whether he will be obedient to the temple masters or chose death, he passes gates where a great number in a crowd are gathered. He remembers the words of his pre deceased brother and the message of the three truths for the people.“At last (he) began to tell them how (he) had caught fire from the torch of holiness, and was resolved to enter upon a true life of devotion to wisdom, and to discard all the luxury which surrounded the priestly life, and to put aside forever all desires but those which belong to the soul….O people of Egypt remember my words! Go, and stay not to witness the sacrilege of the temple, which is tonight to be committed.”(p.154-155)After his death, Sensa’s fate is locked into the cycles of reincarnation. “Long time must pass before (his) sin should fall from (him) and leave (him) stainless, pure, prepared for the perfect life towards which (he) labours. Egypt is dead, but her spirit lives and the knowledge that was hers is still cherished in those souls who have remained true to the grand and mysterious past…. Though a land of dusky forms, Egypt stands as a white flower among races of the earth, and the hieroglyph readers of the old hieratic writings, the professors and the thinkers of the day, will be unable to stain the petals of that grand lily blossom of our planet.It flowers in a world of growth to which man can only attain in his absolute moments of inspiration when he is indeed more than man.  When (one) can learn to enter into the life of (ones) highest self and …to look for light (remember these) three truths:Ø   The Soul of Man is immortal.Ø   The Principle which gives life dwells in us, and without us, is undying and eternally beneficent.Ø   Each man is his own absolute lawgiver.(p. 166 -168)At this juncture of the lecture, it may be instructive to consider the following five aspects written about in “Through the Gates of Gold” by Mabel Collins which are:Ø   The Search for PleasureØ     The Mystery of ThresholdØ     The Initial EffortØ     The Meaning of PainØ     The Secret of Strength The Search for Pleasure“There is always the shadowy form of despair standing behind man ready to touch him with its terrible finger if for too long he finds himself content.” (p.3)Mabel Collins believes that though for millennia, mankind  …”has reached the summit of the Hill of Difficulty only to watch (the stone) roll back again . Why this useless labour?…There is one summit to which, by immense and united efforts, he attains, where there is a great and brilliant efflorescence of all the intellectual, mental and material part of his nature. The climax of sensuous perfection is reached, and then his hold weakens, his power grows less, and he falls back, through despondency and satiety, to barbarism.”Man does this due to ignorance. But rare individuals, “elder brothers of the race” are able to gaze beyond the glitter to perceive the “Gates of Gold” which allow for the admittance to the “sanctuary of (one’s) own nature.“The courage to enter them (Golden Gates) is the courage to search the recesses of one’s own nature without fear and without shame.”(p.14)Man in his attainment for pleasure has to struggle with the knowledge that …”no sooner has he obtained his pleasure than he loses it again and has once more to go in search of it. More than that, he never actually reaches it, for it eludes him at the final moment. This is because he endeavours to seize that which is untouchable and satisfy his soul’s hunger for sensation by contact with external objects.” (p. 19)The Mystery of Threshold“It becomes evident to anyone who regards the subject seriously, that only a man who has the potentialities in him both of the voluptuary and the stoic has any chance of entering the Golden Gates. He must be capable of testing and valuing to its most delicate fraction every joy existence has to give; and he must be capable to denying himself all pleasure, and that without suffering from denial. When he has accomplished the development of this double possibility, then he is able to begin sifting his pleasures and taking away from his consciousness those which belong absolutely to the man of clay”. (p.31)The Initial Effort“Spirit is the great life on which matter rests… It is little use to reach the threshold of the Gates without the power to pass through…The man who lifts the latch of the Golden Gate must do so with his own strong hand…Undoubtedly it is the hardest task we have yet seen set us in life, that which we are now talking of, - to free a man of all prejudice, of all crystallized thought or feeling, of all limitations, yet develop within him the positive will”. (p.45)“The universe is, in fact, full of magnificent promise for us, if we will but lift our eyes and see. It is the lifting of the eyes which is the first need and the first difficulty.”(p.49 – 50)“While man is content with his gross senses and cares nothing for his subtile ones, the Gates remain literally invisible.”(p.51)“To the one who has lifted the golden latch the spring of sweet waters, the fountain itself whence all softness arises, is opened and becomes part of his heritage. But before this fountain can be tested, or any other spring reached, any source found, a heavy weight has to be lifted from the heart…the man who recognises the flow of sweetness from its source through Nature, through all forms of life, he has  lifted this, he has raised himself into that state in which there is no bondage.”(p.54)The Meaning of PainWhy are  pain and despair our constant companions throughout life? …”Pain is co-ruler with pleasure.”(p.57). …”As a man sows so shall he reap.”(p.63).The Secret of Strength“Strength to step forward is the primary need of him who has chosen his path. Where is this to be found? Its source is profound conviction.”(p.79)“…instead of standing against the forces, join them; become one with Nature, and go easily upon her path. Do not resist or resent the circumstances of life any more than the plants resent the rain and the wind. Then suddenly, to your mazement, you find you have time and strength to spare, to use in the great battle which it is inevitable every man must fight,- that in himself, that which leads to his own conquest.”(p.85).I trust that there is enough material presented in this lecture which can act as a springboard into a wider discussion considering what Mabel Collins has written about in  “The Idyll of the White Lotus” and “Through the Gates of Gold “.While I have not made a comprehensive study of these five aspects I will leave them with you and open the floor for discussion. 

 References:     I.            The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current EnglishFifth Edition, University Press, Oxford.   1975   II.            The Idyll of the White Lotus by Mabel CollinsFifth Edition, Theosophical Publishing HouseMadras, India.   1933 

III.            Light on the Path & Through the Gates of Gold by Mabel CollinsTheosophical University Press,Pasadena, California.   1997. 

The above is the text of a lecture presented to the Theosophical Society (Pasadena) in Melbourne Australia on October 3rd 2009. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Theosophical Society (Pasadena).