There is a right time for all things. The symbol which has been such a grand help must now go. It has served him well, but to cling to it always will be to stop on the way to his great goal. The reason for this is quite simple. The Real is beyond all individualization, all ideation, and all picturization, because it is beyond all form, all the senses, and all thought. While anything--any particular human image or idea--occupies his mind, no matter how exalted it may be, he is giving himself up to that thing, not to the ineffable Real itself. Unless he frees his mind from it, he will miss aim. Hence he must withdraw attention from the concrete symbol and bestow it henceforth on the lonely formless void which is then left. Nothing and nobody must then be permitted entrance therein. Most aspirants naturally shrink from this step, shrink from deserting what has been such a faithful helpful friend in the past, but it is one that cannot be avoided.
-- Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 6 : Teaching Masters, Discipleship > # 284
