through demonstrative certainty, or whose soul finds repose in the convictions of faith—a yearning to grasp the firmest handhold. His innermost self then moves toward the sacred to partake of the joy of connection. As long as he remains at this stage, he is an aspirant.

He then needs spiritual discipline, which is directed toward three aims. The first is to remove everything other than the Real from the course of influences. The second is to bring the commanding soul into submission to the tranquil soul, so that the faculties of imagination and estimation are drawn toward conceptions suited to the sacred order and turned away from conceptions suited to the lower order. The third is to refine the innermost self, making it receptive to awakening.

Renunciation assists in attaining the first aim. The second is aided by worship accompanied by reflection, and then by melodies that engage the faculties of the soul and make the words sung to them acceptable to estimation.

The third is aided by subtle reflection and chaste love.”