Pride

If you go with pride to examine a true Master, a loving Sage or Saint, you will only see yourself in Him and will come away deceived. The test is to feel blessed in the race of a true Master by approaching Him without prejudice or preconception, with a loving heart, humility and as little pride as possible. He can never be tested on the touchstone of pride, but as if torn by the horns of a ram, He can be rent into pieces by real humility. As the sparkle of a diamond, which remains in coal and dirt, can only be seen after thorough cleansing, so also, He Who lives in society as an ordinary man can illumine the world with His sparkle only by the washings with love. The lover alone can know Him; so keep the company of lovers and worshipers of Existence. He may manifest Himself. A proud man can examine proud man. How can he fathom one whose pride is dissolved? He is as strange and queer to him as a wise man is to a stark illiterate.