Success in circuit lies,

Too bright for our infirm delight

The truth's superb surprise;

As lightning to the children eased

With explanation kind,

The truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind."

Emily Dickinson

Slowly a bluish haze began to gather before me. I watched it with growing unbelief from my position facing East while sitting tailor fashion in the center of the meditation dome. A form was taking shape from thin air. It became progressively more opaque and distinct until at last a man, ageless and ancient in appearance, sat opposite me. In the Hindu meditation posture of the full lotus, erect and motionless, he sat at the same level as myself about five feet in front of me. I say, `he sat,' because I don't know quite how else to say it. Actually, he appeared suspended in air, as though supported on an invisible flat surface. His robe was the saffron color identified with the Tibetan lamasery. Simplicity in attire, shaved pate and a wisp of a beard from the bottom of his chin, marked him as the traditional figure of a Tibetan sage.

In the study I had made of psychic phenomena, the question of materialization had often come to my attention. Several of my acquaintances had witnessed these phenomena. There was extensive evidence including photographs and patiently gathered data from many sources to confirm that such was possible. I had examined documentation on this subject to be found in such volumes as Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death, written by F.W.H. Myers. There was little basis for me to be skeptical of the possibility, and yet,...yet, my mind rebelled at what my eyes were reporting.

"Honored friend, many of your brothers send greetings to you through me." The words sounded inside my head. There was no visible sign of movement from the figure before me. The expression in the eyes and face conveyed enough that more was unnecessary. My mind and my senses were at odds with each other and the conflict was occupying too much mental energy for me to respond.

"You have many friends in the Unseen who are assisting you, David. This phantasm before you is to help you recognize we are here. It is needed to give your sense mind a focal point. This visible form you see is a projection of the astral body of Rama Sandlob. It will hold your attention and enhance your ability to make an attunement to the unconscious mind of Rama Sandlob. Address your thoughts to this astral form as you would speak words to a visitor who brought his physical body with him."

I was still unable to speak, yet I had no fear that my silence would seem discourteous toward my visitor. I knew all my emotions and thoughts were like an open book to this mind that was symbolized before me in an opaque haze. It must have been at least ten minutes before I was able to adjust myself to making conversation with a ghost, or phantasm, or hallucination, or perhaps, an astral projection of a Tibetan lama almost two hundred years old. I felt the need to be very respectful.

"Sir, it is a great honor to me to have you accept me as a pupil. Your reference to my `brothers' who greet me through you is heart warming. May I ask the identity of those who call themselves `my brothers?'" I sounded stilted.

"It is God's gift for me to be with you this morning, David. Through you the joy of fellowship with my Maker is offered to me as I seek His Face in yours and as He reveals another facet of His Own infinite beauty to me in you. My God walks the earth in every human being. Learning to know you, David, is learning to know another portion of Him and to serve you is to serve my Beloved Master."

I was quiet again for another ten minutes or so. These words seemed so pregnant with meaning that they ran through my mind again and again. I could feel my own powers of comprehension being stretched to absorb their implications. Somehow my usually limited attention span was not hindering me. Perhaps I was receiving the needed assistance to focus my mind from Rama Sandlob but I could not tell. I decided not to pursue the question referring to the identity of those Rama Sandlob spoke of as `my brothers' who greeted me. Rather, I think I should say I was influenced to drop the question because it would be distracting and personal.

"Your appearance in so strange a manner is difficult for me to get used to. The thoughts you presented are profound and beautiful and it humbles me for you to address me as one whom you would serve. Something like a symphonic chord echoing after a clear single note sounded in my thought processes with each word you spoke. It was as though you taught me volumes of religious philosophy while you spoke only a few words. I feel like I comprehended broad concepts of religious philosophy and saw them woven into one great harmonious pattern. All this is now vibrating through my whole being like it was being imprinted upon each cell."

"You are not being taught anything, David, in the ordinary sense of the word. Long had erroneous thinking about the process of learning hindered man from understanding himself. No man can teach another. All shall one day be conscious of the infinite knowledge within. Each of us is in the process of being re-awakened to his former consciousness of God's wisdom and power within."

"That sounds like the teachings of Plato," I said.

"It is, David," said Sandlob. "The story of Snow White, of Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty are examples of how spiritual truths are symbolized to aid the awakening of each soul to its real nature. Told fully and accurately, these ancient fairy tales ennobled and purified the thinking of the child. The child identifies itself, or a facet of its own nature, with each character of the fairy tale. The witch, for example, always trapped by its own evil devices and often burned alive, is identified by the child with the tendency to do evil which it finds in itself. The virtuous hero or heroine of the fairy tale, though tried to the uttermost, is always honored if they persevere in virtue to the end. Only in the half world of physical appearances do good or evil deceptively appear to go unrequited in kind. The classical fairy tales from ancient times were given by inspiration of God to serve man's spiritual needs just like the Bible. They have the power to awaken the soul to its true nature and destiny. Pioneers in the field of psychology like Carl Jung and William James saw fairy tales in this light."

"Why, it was popular to belittle fairy tales and change them in my times. Editors took out their characteristic elements like the inevitable reward for good and punishment of evil," I exclaimed. "Unrealistic, said the educational authorities."

"Yes, David, that error made them dull to children and contributed to the absence of sharply defined moral values among your leaders and the educated people of the land."

"There is hardly a person, David, who will not respond constructively to the right approach to his mind. Written on the subliminal consciousness of all is that inner knowledge which may bring forth a recognition of any truth. Man's innate desire is to see order and beauty and justice in the earth and his knowledge of how to bring it about is mirrored by his great religious teachers. The soul is Sleeping Beauty, and Prince Charming is Christ."

After making that statement, I noticed that Rama Sandlob was beginning to become transparent and fading away from before me. I quickly spoke in surprise. "Are you about to leave, sir?"

"Yes, David. You have much to think about and meditate upon. There will be unseen entities who will be working with you between now and tomorrow. Until then may you be guided and blessed by the Master within."

Rama Sandlob was gone and I sat silently in deep thought for some time before descending through the trapdoor to follow my scheduled routine.