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... it has been decreed, from time immemorial, that each one must be his own sufficient pilot and body-guard so far as visible things are concerned.
The 'Kingdom of Heaven,' which I need not tell you is but the dominion of man's immortal spirit over the inner force of the Universe, must be taken by violence.
I am sorry to be compelled to tell you, that the prize of Wisdom and Power must be won through danger, trial, temptation, the allurements of sense and all the besetments of this world of matter which they counterpoise, hence antagonists of spirit. Broad, smooth and flower-sprinkled is the way to the world's rewards; narrow, hard, sorrow beset the path to the Temple of Truth.

letter from H.P. Blavatsky to Thomas H. Evans, Occult World, dec. 1885
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