degrees, he finds himself becoming part of what might be roughly described as a layer of human consciousness.  He encounters his equals, men of his own selfless character, and with them his association becomes permanent and indissoluble, because founded on a vital likeness of nature.  To them he becomes pledged by such vows as need no utterance or framework in ordinary words.  This is one aspect of what I mean by a Brotherhood.

If the first rules are conquered, the disciple finds himself standing at the threshold.  Then if his will is sufficiently resolute his power of speech comes; a two-fold power.  For, as he advances now, he finds himself entering into a state of blossoming, where every bud that opens throws out its several rays or petals.  If he is to exercise his new gift, he must use it in its two-fold character.  He finds in himself the power to speak in the presence of the masters; in other words, he has the right to demand contact with the divinest element of that state of consciousness into which he has entered.  But he finds himself compelled, by the nature of his position, to act in two ways at the same time.  He cannot send his voice up to the heights where sit the gods till he has penetrated to the deep places where their light shines not at all.  He has come within the grip of an iron law.  If he demands to become a neophyte, he at once becomes a servant.  Yet his service is sublime, if only from the character of those who share it.  For the masters are also servants; they serve and claim their reward afterwards.  Part of their service is to let their knowledge touch him; his first act of service is to give some of that knowledge to those who are not yet fit to stand where he stands.  This is no arbitrary decision, made by any master or teacher or any such person, however divine.  It is a law of that life which the disciple has entered upon.

Therefore was it written in the inner doorway of the lodges of the old Egyptian Brotherhood, “the laborer is worthy of his hire.”  “Ask and ye shall have,” sounds like something too easy and simple to be credible.  But the disciple cannot “ask” in the mystic sense in which the word is used in this scripture until he has attained the power of helping others.

Why is this?  Has the statement too dogmatic a sound?

Is it too dogmatic to say that a man must have foothold before he can spring?  The position is the same.  If help is given, if work is done, then there is an actual claim—­not what we call personal claim of payment, but the claim of co-nature.  The divine give, they demand that you also shall give before you can be of their kin.