Let the would-be student of “higher things” look to himself and beware of self-delusion. If he is given to uttering words that deceive, or to speaking evil of others—if he speaks in insincerity, envy, or malice— then he has not yet begun to study higher things. He may be studying metaphysics, or miracles, or psychic phenomena, or astral wonders—he may be studying how to commune with invisible beings, to travel invisibly during sleep, or to produce curious phenomena—he may even study spirituality theoretically and as a mere book study, but if he is a deceiver and a back-biter, the higher life is hidden from him. For the higher things are these—uprightness, sincerity, innocence, purity, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, humility, patience, pity, sympathy, self-sacrifice, joy, goodwill, love—and he who would study them, know them, and make them his own, must practise them, there is no other way.
Lying and evil-speaking belong to the
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