I have been asked to explain the phrase "that God whom meditating mystics and trance-wrapped yogis prematurely grope for within their hearts" which occurs on page 313 of the British edition of The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga and page 365 of the American edition. Some seem to think that the criticism implied therein is directed against the heart as a place wherein to search for God. They have misread my meaning and put the emphasis in the wrong place. The emphasis should be laid on the word "prematurely." The time factor is not seldom as important as any of the others. Its importance should not be underestimated. The right act done at the wrong time itself becomes a wrong act. Mystics who prematurely try to seize the fruits of philosophy without taking the trouble to undergo the philosophic training commit an error. For the fruits thus gained are inevitably transient. And when they advise suffering worldlings to resign themselves to God's will and cease bewailing their lot, they often commit another error in timing. For it may be that the discontented worldling is moved through his very discontent to exert his latent capacities and better his lot, and if he does this rightly he will thus improve both his character and intelligence. Each individual case will necessarily differ, for there are times when it is right to resist karma and times when it is wiser not to do so. To lay down a universal rule of absolute nonresistance, as these mystics do, is to ask many men to invite needless suffering.
-- Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 2 : Phases of Mystical Development > # 95
