Intellect is a bondage; Faith, the liberator. The disciple should be stripped naked of everything in the Universe in order to gaze at the beauty of Faith. But thou lovest thy personality, and canst not afford to put off the hat of self-esteem and exchange reputation for disgrace....
All attachments have dropped from the Masters. Their garment is pure of all material stain. Their hands are too short to seize anything tainted with impermanence. Light has shone in Their hearts enabling Them to see God. Absorbed in His Vision are They, so that They look not to Their individualities, exist not for Their individualities, have forgotten Their individualities in the ecstasy of His Existence, and have become completely His. They speak, yet do not speak; hear, yet do not hear; move, yet do not move; sit, yet do not sit. There is no [individual] being in Their being, no speech in Their speech, no hearing in Their hearing. Speakers, They are dumb; hearers, They are deaf. They care little for material conditions, and think of the True One [alone]. Worldly men are not aware of Their whereabouts. Physically with men, They are internally with God. They are a boon to the Universe—not to themselves, for They are not themselves....
The knowledge that accentuates personality is verily a hindrance. The knowledge that leads to God is alone true Knowledge. The learned are confined in the prison of the senses, since they but gather their knowledge through sensuous objects. He that is bound by sense-limitations is barred from supersensuous Knowledge. Real Knowledge wells up from the Fountain of Life, and the student thereof need not resort to senses and gropings. The iron of human nature must be put into the melting-pot of discipline, hammered on the anvil of asceticism, and then handed over to the polishing agency of the Divine Love, so that the latter may cleanse it of all material impurities. It then becomes a mirror capable of reflecting the spiritual world, and may fitly be used by the King for the beholding of His own Image.—Letter 41.
The Inner Polytheism.
The Prophet says, "Polytheism in my followers is more imperceptible than the motion of an ant on a black stone on a dark night." Such a polytheism, though not affecting the [exoteric] faith, injures the essence and fruit of Faith. Pure gold and an alloy of gold are both gold, but the latter cannot be as precious as the former. True Faith consists in Monotheism, which is the antithesis of polytheism. Real Monotheism appears only when the root of polytheism[9] has been destroyed. In order to secure true Faith or Monotheism, every impurity that stains it should be cast away. Such impurities constitute the inner polytheism. Looking to any save God for help or hindrance; hoping or fearing from any save Him; hypocrisy, anger and pride, even in their most subtile forms; pleasure and pain at being praised and blamed by others; regarding virtue and vice as means of union with and separation from God—all these come under the inner polytheism. In short, no one can be established in Faith unless his character comes up to the standard: "He is wholly from God, by God, and for God."
[9] Separateness.
Again the Prophet says: "There is no peace for the faithful except in the presence of God, and death is anything save His Presence."—Letter 44.