Misconception, misrepresentation, they meet with a smile, half-amused,
all-forgiving; the frowns, the taunts, the slanders of the men they live
to serve are only the proofs of how much these foolish ones need their
help, and how should these foolish ones hurt those on whom the Peace of
the Eternal abides?
These Mystics are a law unto themselves, for the inner law has replaced
the external compulsion. More rigid, for it is the law of their own
nature; more compelling, for it is the Voice of the divine Will; more
exacting, for no pity, no pardon, is known to it; more all-embracing,
for it sees the part only in the whole.
But it has, it ought to have, no authority outside the Mystic himself.
It may persuade, it may win, it may inspire, but it may not claim
obedience as of right. For the Voice of the God within only becomes
authoritative for another when the God within that other self answers
the Mystic's appeal, and he recognises an ideal that he could not have
formulated, unaided, for himself. The Mystic may shine as a Light, but
a man must see with his own eyes, and there lies the world's safety;
the materialised Mystic, strong as he is, cannot, by virtue of the God
within him, enslave his fellow-men.
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