I remember something from a letter from Hugh Fausset, brought to India as a record of his address, in which he says: "As you say, the difficulties of dying to the personal self are appalling. With each victory comes a new defeat. One outgrows the more obvious of self only to find that a subtler array of sins lies behind them, and the very exhilaration of each victory exposes one to the danger of spiritual pride. But one must simply pursue one's quiet path, shedding all that is unessential, until, some day, the true tree of life is fully grown within us and we know the real liberty of the sons of God."

Only once, in mystical literature, have I seen a reference to experiencing the significance of the crown of thorns. This was in 1944, when Starr Daily sent me a copy of his book, RELEASE, on page 79 of which is this statement, made by his spiritual preceptor:

"When you experience the meaning of the crown of thorns, you'll release the Spirit of Christ in you. This will make you joyous and strong."

The idea of consciousness as a mirror reflecting experience is found in the teachings of many of the masters, saints, and sages, regardless of their spiritual background or the form of the religion which they advocated or professed.

Ramakrishna, the great Hindu master of the 19th century, said:

"The pure in heart see the Lord as a clear mirror reflects the sun."

The Sufis taught that "The heart is a mirror in which every divine quality is reflected. But just as a steel mirror, when coated with rust, loses its power of reflection, so the inward spiritual sense, which Sufis call the eye of the heart, is blind to the celestial glory until the dark obstruction of the phenomenal self, with all its sensual contaminations, has been wholly cleared away."

The Kabbalistic Book of Tokens,* a "series of meditations" constituting "the self-declaration of the Divine Spirit in man," says, in the meditation on that aspect of the Divine Expression represented by the Hebrew letter Nem:

*The Book of Tokens. 22 meditations on the Ageless Wisdom.

Commentary by Paul Foster Case.