The Equinox (Volume III, Number I)

THE SEVEN PORTALS stood by the equilibrium by which things can be done which bear no fruit. And this method it is quite impossible to ex- plain. The nearest I can come to intelligibility, is to say that you get very nearly the same sort of feeling as you do when you are making yourself invisible. Shila is in no way connected with the charming Irish col- leen of the same name. (Subsection III.) The “patience” here spoken of seems to imply courage of a very active kind. It is the quality which persists in spite of all opposition. It must not be for- gotten that the word “patience” is derived from Patior, I suffer. But, especially with the ancients, suffering was not conceived of as a purely passive function. It was keenly ac- tive and intensely enjoyable. There are certain words to- day still extant in which the original meaning of this word lingers, and consideration may suggest to the Student the true and secret meaning of this passage, “Accendat in nobis Dominus ignem sui amoris et flammam eterne caritatis,” a phrase with the subtle ambiguity which the classics found the finest form of wit. (Subsection IV.) This indifference is very much the same as what is usually spoken of as non-attachment. The Doc- trine has been rediscovered in the West, and is usually an- nounced as “Art for Art’s sake.” This quality is most en- tirely necessary in Yoga. In times of dryness the “Devil” comes to you and persuades you that if you go on meditating or doing Pranayama, or whatever it is you may be at, you will gomad. He will also prove to you that it is most neces- sary for your spiritual progress to repose. He will explain that, by the great law of action and re-action, you should 87