INTRODUCTION.

...difficult to attain that only the few and strong can reach them. This sentence completes the final thought from page 6: "...would be difficult indeed to attain..."

This great possibility of realization was, to a great extent, destroyed for Christianity with the decay of the monastic system A religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work., for now a man has to remain very much in the world however little he may desire to be of it. The struggle for existence becomes keener as the age rolls onward. There is legislation against mendicancy The practice of living by asking for alms or begging, which was traditionally a respected path for wandering spiritual seekers.; we may not live without "visible means of support." There is no facility offered to those who would devote their energies to fathoming the depths of the mind by the only practical psychology In this context, the author refers not to modern clinical psychology, but to the ancient discipline of meditation and the systematic observation of one's own consciousness.—deep abstraction from all external things, and concentration of the attention on the changes of the mind themselves. Only through the tranquillized heart and mind can Deity The Divine, or the ultimate source of reality. be approached.

The whole age is materialistic A worldview that prioritizes physical matter and worldly success over spiritual or mental development., so much so that few even have heard, much less believed, that there are still living systems in the world which do not claim any philosophical demonstration but the actual de- The text cuts off here at the end of the page; it likely intended to say "demonstration" or "development."