After some years of work I had the privilege of coming into contact with
these great Masters of the Wisdom; from Them I learnt many things--among
others, how to verify for myself at first hand most of the teachings which
They had given. So that, in this matter, I write of what I know, and what I
have seen for myself. Certain points are mentioned in the teaching, for the
verification of which powers are required far beyond anything which I have
gained so far. Of them, I can say only that they are consistent with what I
do know, and in many cases are necessary as hypotheses to account for what
I have seen. They came to me, along with the rest of the Theosophical
system, upon the authority of these mighty Teachers. Since then I have
learnt to examine for myself by far the greater part of what I was told,
and I have found the information given to me to be correct in every
particular; therefore I am justified in assuming the probability that that
other part, which as yet I cannot verify, will also prove to be correct
when I arrive at its level.

To attain the honour of being accepted as an apprentice of one of the
Masters of the Wisdom is the object set before himself by every earnest
Theosophical student. But it means a determined effort. There have always
been men who were willing to make the necessary effort, and therefore there
have always been men who knew. The knowledge is so transcendent that when a
man grasps it fully he becomes more than man and he passes beyond our ken.

But there are stages in the acquirement of this knowledge, and we may learn
much if we will, from those who themselves are still in process of
learning; for all human beings stand on one or other of the rungs of the
ladder of evolution. The primitive stand at its foot; we who are civilized
beings have already climbed part of the way. But though we can look back
and see rungs of the ladder below us which we have already passed, we may