This describes the difference between the average man and the illuminated soul. This is primarily a difference of Will, not of capability. The average man, who is under the sway of external influence, permits his will to be deceived by the mind. He looks down from above, like the man leaning over the wharf and gazing into the depths of the ocean. All he sees are reflections and shadows. So he becomes caught in this web, which is nothing but the shadow of the vibrations interpenetrating in the mind-mesh.
When man turns to the path of God he begins to look upward. Therefore spiritual education is called a turning and a tuning. Then the shadow-thoughts and the shadow-words and the shadow-interests fade into nescience, and the whole attention is focused upon God and Unity. This is the meaning of the Sufi Invocation, "Toward the One, the Perfection of Love, Harmony and Beauty, the Only Being; United with All the Illuminated Souls, Who form the Embodiment of the Master, the Spirit of Guidance."