It is an unfortunate fact that some pilgrims become afflicted, either for a while or for a whole lifetime, with a mild madness. Their insanity is too mild to stop them from carrying on with their ordinary business of living, but it is sufficiently developed to make them waste time and energy in the pursuit of vain phantoms and absurd fantasies. If it takes the form of a hunger for occult phenomena or a desire to get spiritually transformed without working for it, they usually fall victim to some charlatan or imposter who aggravates their sickness and spoils their chances of recovery. If it takes some other form it is because they do not bring to the Quest sufficient practical judgement, emotional stability, and logical capacity. Such persons should abstain from meditation and limit their devotional exercises to prayer. They should greatly curb their mystical studies and give themselves up to the duller work of improving themselves. This work is absolutely necessary as a prerequisite to entering the real Quest; otherwise they will merely follow a hallucinatory one.
-- Notebooks Category 16: The Sensitives > Chapter 12 : The Intermediate Zone > # 29
