Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/189

 capable of desiring, and consequently will not desire happiness on its own account.

I postulate further; that until every need is supplied, man will feel a sense of lack, a desire for something which he does not possess, the tendency of which will be to stimulate him to activity in some direction; and unless his activity is directed to the proper supplying of the need, it will be misdirected, and will tend to deprave rather than to improve his being.

Hence I postulate further, that when man feels within himself a desire for happiness, he has demonstrable evidence that these are needs of his being which have not been supplied; and any attempt to fulfill his desire, short of finding out and supplying the true need, will be derogatory to his highest good and destiny, and will consequently fail of conferring that which he seeks, happiness.

I therefore postulate further, that happiness or enjoyment is not to be sought; that if it come at all, it must come unsought; that it is a necessary and inseparable incident of the true life, by which is meant that life which in its activity fulfills its every need. That happiness which is sought after is never found, simply because it is not an end, but only an incident of being; and that while man is absorbed in the pursuit of pleasure, he must necessarily be unmindful of his needs, and thereby he will neglect their demands.

Here we have the foundation laid for examining the distinction between the true impulse, known as love in the various planes of unfolding, and that which is to be characterized as lust. The true impulse is that which indicates a need of some department of our being, and