CHAPTER XIII
The Super-Man
Before we start to fast, we ask why we should fast, and after we have fulfilled all the laws for the Short Cut we have a right to demand that we shall have, as a permanent possession, some things that are worth while.
We have followed for an ultimate good and we demand that the end shall justify the means. The Human Mind is so constituted that no effort, sacrifice or endurance is too great if it brings the desired end and aim; so the Initiate may well ask “What is in all this for me? What is the complete reward? What do I get to recompense me for the many human indulgences I am obliged to pass up in my search for the Higher Good?”
There is pleasure in self-indulgence, that one cannot deny, and there is hard discipline in this ceaseless round of self-denial and self-education.
The Initiate will go on to accomplishment if he can have positive proof of the certainty of perfect fulfillment at the end. These proofs can be given and are given him. He can find them in song and story; history itself everywhere bstands laden with the gifts of this new world.
The final gift to the one who faints not is
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