It had not been my intention to send you a communication, since the personal communications have been largely discontinued. I am, however, prompted to do so today because as I contacted you in my thought life this morning, I decided that a word from me and the touch of my hand [510] (symbolically speaking) would give you strength and comfort.

There comes a time in the training of any disciple when he must stand alone and feel sometimes that he has been deserted by his Master and by the other members of the Ashram. It is the higher and occult correspondence of the mystical experience of the true mystic and to which he has given the name of "the dark night of the soul." All this is nevertheless only a part of the great illusion and has to be overcome and dissipated. When this victory has been achieved and there has been evidenced the willingness to work alone and apparently with no ashramic direction - except a general knowledge of the Plan - then the disciple has demonstrated that he can be trusted; he becomes available for a higher rating and more responsibility can be placed upon him - if not in this life then in the next.

NOTE: This disciple has persisted faithfully to serve as a steady center of light, and in September, 1951, he passed into clearer light and life in the inner Ashram. [511]