The surest and most efficacious method of insuring the moral improvement of the soul's present existence, thereby resisting the influence and attraction of evil spirits, is to "Know Thyself," and this can only be accomplished by doing as every great Adept has done, for self-knowledge and the teachings of Eastern Occultism are only to be obtained by great study and meditation and any person who is in the least spiritually inclined will admit this truth. Knowledge of thyself and the development of Occult Powers are not difficult to acquire; man has only to examine his soul at the close of each day and review all that he has done and accomplished, and see whether he has failed in, or slighted any of his studies. It was in this way that every Adept has succeeded in obtaining a knowledge of himself, and in ascertaining what there was in him that needed reforming. He who, every evening, should thus recall all the actions of the day, asking himself whether he has done ill or well, and praying God and his guardian angel to enlighten him, would acquire great strength for selfimprovement, for, believe me, God would assist him.

Ask yourself these questions; inquire of yourself what you have done, and what was your aim in acting in such a manner; whether you have done anything that you would be ashamed to avow. Ask yourself also this question: "If it pleased God to call me back, at this moment, into the other life, should I, on returning into the world of spirits, in which nothing is hidden, have to dread sight of any one?" Examine what you have done, first, against God; next against your neighbor; and lastly, against yourself. The answers to these questions will either give repose to your conscience, or show you some moral malady of which you will have to cure yourself.

Self-knowledge is, therefore, the key to individual improvement; but, you will ask, "How is one to judge one's self? Is not each man subject to the illusions of self-love, which diminish his faults in his own eyes and find excuses for them? The miser thinks himself to be merely practicing economy and foresight; the proud man thinks his pride to be only dignity." This is true, but you have a means of ascertainment that cannot deceive you. When you are in doubt as to the quality of any one of your actions, ask yourself what would be your judgment in regard to it if it were done by another? If you would blame it in another, it cannot be less blamable when done by you, for God's justice has neither two weights nor two measures. Endeavor also to learn what is thought of it by others; and do not overlook the opinion of your enemies, for they have no interest in disguising the truth, and God often places them beside you as a mirror, to warn you more frankly than would be done by a friend. Let him, then, who is firmly resolved on self-improvement, examine his conscience in order to root out his evil tendencies, as he roots out the weeds from his garden; let him, every night, cast up his moral accounts for the day, as the tradesman counts up his profits and loss; he may be sure that the former will be a more profitable operation than the latter.

He who, after this footing up of his day's doings, can say that the balance of the account is in his favor, may sleep in peace, and fearlessly await the moment of his awaking in the other life. Let the questions you address be clear and precise, and do not hesitate to multiply them; you may well devote a few minutes to the securing of a happiness that will last forever. Do you not labor every day with a view to insuring repose for your old age? Is not this repose the object of your desires, the aim that prompts your endurance of the fatigues and privations of the moment? But what comparison is there between a few days of rest, impaired by the infirmities of the body, and the endless rest that awaits the virtuous? And is not this latter worth the making of a few efforts? I know that many will say, "The present is certain, and the future uncertain;" but this is precisely the error I am charged to remove from your minds, by showing you your future in such a way as to leave no doubt in your minds concerning it. This is why, having begun by producing phenomena calculated to arrest your attention through their appeal to your senses, I now give you the moral teachings that each of you is charged to spread abroad in his turn.

It is to this end that I have written "THE BOOK OF DEATH."

Many of the faults you commit are passed over by you unperceived. If, following the advice I give you, you interrogated your conscience more frequently, you would see how often you have done wrong without being aware of it, because you have failed to scrutinize the nature and motive of your acts. The interrogative mode of self-examination is more precise than the mere vague admission of a standard of rectitude which you too often fail to apply in detail to your own actions. It compels you to give yourselves, in regard to the quality of those actions, categoric answers, by, "Yes and No" that leave you no room for equivocation, and that constitute so many personal arguments addressed to your innermost selves, so many returns which aid you to compute the sum of the good and evil is in you.