146 SKETCHES OF GREAT TRUTHS

mountain of the eternal snow, to the mountain
where dwells the Pure Being, to the mountain
where the air is rarefied, refined and purified.
But we jump from one extreme to another, and
I want to go slowly with you from the turning
point and take with you the next step. In some
ways it is, I think, the most difficult. To those
who are at the bottom of the mountain the way
up looks hopelessly steep, and though one has
chosen to start, one's feet are unsteady, and the
tendency is to cast a longing glance back to
where the road was easier.

At the moment that one becomes aware of
the possible climb to the mountain top, the idea
of self-dedication is born. And life becomes a
series of dedications. At the beginning one does
not understand the way to give, to dedicate,
to offer sacrifice. At first they are but out-
ward forms, done at duty's call and with half-
heartedness one offers one's work. That is a
poor sort of imitation of Self-dedication; but it
is a beginning. Self-dedication comes out of a
long, long experience of character building and
in no other way. We begin to work at
building our character the moment we realise
that we belong to something greater than
ourselves,—that we do not belong to ourselves,
that we are needed, that we can be of use. It