“The Training and Work of an Initiate” - Dion Fortune
…The range of information upon general subjects possessed by the adept is amazing. This is probably due to two causes: first, his trained mind endows him with a retentive memory and intellectual alertness; and secondly, light is thrown upon occultism from many unsuspected quarters, and a wide range of knowledge is necessary for its full apprehension.
The physical powers of the trained occultist are remarkable, for he is able to influence many of the bodily faculties which are not usually under the control of his will. He is usually very sensitive to the influence of any drug, and consequently needs reduced doses, and any of the anodynes which dull consciousness, such as bromide, must be used with great caution.
On the other hand, he usually takes a general anasthetic exceptionally well, being without fear and accustomed to go in and out of his body. His control over his emotions reduces surgical shock to a minimum and, owing to his access to the sources of energy, his recuperative powers are amazing.
Among his immediate associates, and especially his pupils, the adept usually inspires the greatest devotion and affection, but on the rare occasions when he comes in contact with the outer world, he is often reckoned cold and forbidding. This aloofness is very characteristic of the occultist; his attitude towards life is so different from that of his companions, his ways of thought so alien from theirs, that intercourse is rendered difficult and he takes refuge in silence to avoid misunderstanding.
Many people are estranged from the occultist because love is not his outstanding characteristic. The difference between his attitude and that of the lover of humanity may be likened to the difference between the person who keeps animals as pets and the one who breeds them for show purposes. The latter sets out to bring the species to the highest degree of perfection of which it is capable, and with that end in view, he is ruthless with the individual. The standard of training in the higher degrees is very exacting and few achieve it; these few are those whom tradition regards as super-human. But they are not super-human, they are human beings developed to the highest pitch of which the human vehicle is capable. Such excellence in any walk of life is obtained only as the reward of arduous labours, and these leave their mark on the adept.
He travels too fast for the average humanity, and they resent it; but of those souls who delight in great adventure he is the chosen companion and beloved friend.
[Excerpt from Dion Fortune’s “Training and Work of an Initiate” (pages 50-51)]
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