> To write about these matters is to write the spiritual biography > of the Avatar which only a siddha or perfect accomplished Yogi > can do. These, and not the university or academic or the > so-called researched presentations, are the aspects of utmost > concern. Section on the Transformation of the Mind in the Letters on Yoga The power to discuss and debate is, as I say, a common human faculty – and habit. Perhaps it is here that man begins to diverge from the animal; for animals have much intelligence, many animals and even insects have some rudimentary power of practical reasoning, but so far as we know, they do not meet and put their ideas about things side by side or sling them at each other in a debate,¹ as even the most ignorant human can do and very animatedly does. But this, though a general faculty of the race, is very often specialised, so much so that a man whom it is dangerous to cross in debate in the field of literature or of science or of philosophy may yet make a fool of himself and wallow contentedly in a quagmire of blunders and fallacies if he discusses politics or economics or, let us say, spirituality or yoga.