Thus practice ever precedes knowledge even in the ordinary things of the world, and in spiritual things, in the living of the Higher Life, this law is rigid in its exactions. Virtue can only be known by doing, and the knowledge of Truth can only be arrived at by perfecting oneself in the practice of Virtue and to be complete in the practice and acquisition of Virtue is to be complete in the knowledge of Truth.
Truth can only be arrived at by daily and hourly doing the lessons of Virtue, beginning at the simplest, and passing on to the more difficult; and as a child patiently and obediently learns its lessons at school, constantly practising, ever exerting itself until all failures and difficulties are surmounted, even so does the child of Truth apply himself to right-doing in thought and action, undaunted by failure, and made stronger by difficulties; and as he succeeds in acquiring Virtue, his mind unfolds itself in the knowledge of Truth, and it is a knowledge in which he can securely rest.
FIRST STEPS IN THE HIGHER LIFE
Seeing that the Path of Virtue is the Path of Knowledge, and that before the all-embracing Principles of Truth can be comprehended, perfection in the more lowly steps must be acquired, how, then, shall a disciple of Truth commence? How shall one who aspires to the righting of his mind and the purification of his heart—that heart which is the fountain and repository of all the issues of life—learn the lessons of Virtue, and thus build himself up in the strength of knowledge, destroying ignorance and the ills of life? What are the first lessons, the first steps? How are they learned? How are they practised? How are they mastered and understood?
The first lessons consist in overcoming those wrong mental conditions which are the most easily eradicated, and which are the common barriers to spiritual progress, as well as in practising the simple domestic and social virtues; and the reader will be the better aided if I group and classify the first ten steps in three lessons as follows:—
VICES TO BE OVERCOME AND ERADICATED.
VICES OF THE BODY.
1. Indolence. ) FIRST LESSON.
2. Self-indulgence. ) Discipline of the Body.
VICES OF THE TONGUE.
1. Slander. )
2. Gossip and idle conversation. ) SECOND LESSON.
3. Abusive and unkind speech. ) Discipline of
) Speech.
4. Levity, or irreverent speech. )
5. Captiousness, or fault-finding speech. )
VIRTUES TO BE PRACTICED AND ACQUIRED.
1. Unselfish performance of duty. ) THIRD LESSON.
) Discipline of
2. Unswerving rectitude. ) Inclination.
3. Unlimited forgiveness. )
The two vices of the body, and five of the tongue, are so called because they are manifested in the body and tongue, and also because, by so definitely classifying them, the mind of the reader will be the better helped; but it must be clearly understood that these vices arise primarily in the mind, and are wrong conditions of heart worked out in the body and the tongue.
The existence of such chaotic conditions is an indication that the mind is altogether unenlightened as to the real meaning and purpose of life, and their eradication is the beginning of a virtuous, steadfast, and enlightened life.
But how shall they be overcome and eradicated? By first, and at once, checking and controlling their outward manifestations, by suppressing the wrong act; this will stimulate the mind to watchfulness and reflection until, by repeated practice, it will at last come to perceive and understand the dark and wrong conditions of mind, out of which such acts spring, and will abandon them entirely.