"In Search of the Miraculous"
Chapters 13-18
- Page 266
It is a complete absurdity to think that it is possible to study phenomena of a higher order like "telepathy", forseeing the future, and so on, in the same way as electrical, chemical, or meteorological phenomena are studied. Phenomena of a higher order require a particular emotional state for their observation and study. This excludes any possibility of "properly conducted" laboratory experiments and observations. The impossibility of violence to produce anything positive is an esoteric principle.
- Page 272
People fear silence more than any other thing.
- Page 274
In order to do the work, people must sacrifice only what they imagine they have and which in reality they do not have. They must sacrifice their fantasies. People must also sacrifice their suffering. A man will renounce any pleasures you like but he will not give up his suffering.
- Page 277
You must learn to get information from jokes, from stories. You must know how to take when knowledge is not given, to steal if necessary, but not to wait for somebody to come and give it to you.
- Page 278
All our ordinary knowledge which is based on ordinary observation he called subjective. Knowledge based upon ancient methods -- knowledge of the All, he called objective knowledge. One of the most central ideas of objective knowledge is the idea of the unity of everything, of unity in diversity. With objective consciousness it is possible to see and feel the unity of everything.
- Page 279
"Myths" were designed to transmit ideas to the higher emotional center; "symbols" were designed for the higher thinking center.
- Page 280
Symbols were divided into the fundamental and the subordinate; the first included the principles of separate domains of knowledge; the second expressed the essential nature of phenomena in their relation to unity. One formula which had particular significance, "As above, so below", can from the "Emerald Tabels of Hermes Trismegistus". This formula stated that all the laws of the cosmos could be found in the atom or in any other phenomenon which exists as something completed according to certain laws.
- Page 281
Man must first see the manifestation of two principles, one opposed to the other, which, in conjuction or in opposition, give one result or another. He will intrduce the "line of will" into the circle of time and afterwards into the cycle of eternity. When this is accomplished, it will create in him the great symbol known as the "Seal of Solomon". A symbol becomes a synthesis of a man's knowledge.
- Page 281
The more simple symbols are as follows:
- Number 2 -- two parallel lines
- Number 3 -- equilateral triangle
- Number 4 -- square
- Number 5 -- 5-pointed star which points upward, the pentagram
- Number 6 -- 6-pointed star, the Star of David, Seal of Solomon
- Page 281
Man, in the normal state natural to him, is taken as a duality. He consists entirely of "pairs of opposites" -- positive and negative, useful and harmful, good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant. Thoughts oppose feelings. Moving impulses oppose instinctive craving for quiet.
- Page 282
The creation of a permanent third principle is for man the transformation of the duality into the trinity.
- Page 282
A man has five centers: (1) thinking, (2) emotional, (3) moving, (4) instinctive, and (5) sex. If a man brings the work of these five centers into harmonious accord, he "locks the pentagram within him" and becomes a finished type of the physically perfect man. When man becomes directly and permanently connected with objective consciousness and objective knowledge, the man becomes the six-point star -- the Seal of Solomon. A symbol can never be fully interpreted, it can only be experienced.
- Page 283
The law of octaves gives another system of symbols. Every completed process is a transition of the note "do" through a series of successive tones to the "do" of the next octave. The seven fundamental tones of the octave express the law of seven. The seven fundamental tones, the two "intervals" or "shocks", and the "do" of the next octave, generate ten steps -- the decimal system of numbers.
- Page 283
The symbology of number is based on this idea. In "theosophical addition", the definition of a number consisting of more than one digit is the sum of those digits -- "casting out nines". Numbers are connected with definite geometrical figures. In the Cabala, a symbology of letters and a symbology of words are used. There also exists a symbology of magic, a symbology of alchemy, and a symbology of astrology. A symbol can never be taken in a final and definite meaning.
- Page 284
Exact knowledge concerning details, communicated to a man before he has acquired an understanding of the essential nature of a thing, makes it difficult for him to understand this essential nature. A man will attain knowledge only by his own efforts. No one can ever give him what he did not possess before; no one can do for him the work he should do for himself.
- Page 285
The law of octaves connects all processes of the universe, and it presents the possiblity of an exact cognition of every phenomenon in its essential nature. The symbol which unites the idea of the octave is a circle divided into nine equal parts with lines connecting the nine points on the circumference in a certain order. The symbol takes the following form:
- Page 287
This symbol expresses the law of seven in its union with the law of three. The octave possesses seven tones, and the eighth is a repetition of the first. Two additional "shocks" fill the "intervals" mi-fa and si-do so that there are nine elements.
- Page 288
The circle symbolizes a uninterruptedly flowing process. The separate points in the division of the circumference symbolize the steps of the process. The symbol as a whole is "do". It is a circle -- a completed cycle, the zero of our decimal system. The stages in the process are connected with the remaining numbers 1 through 9. Every beginning and ending of the cycle is situated in the apex of the triangle. Since it is the ninth step which closes and begins a cycle, the upper point of the triangle corresponds to the number 9.
- Page 289
We must take a unit and divide it into seven equal parts. These decimal divisions generate a series of fractions which consist of exactly the same six digits in a definite sequence. If you know the first digit of the period, it is possible to reconstruct the whole period in full. The fractions are as follows:
- 1/7 = 0.142857 . . .
- 2/7 = 0.285714 . . .
- 3/7 = 0.428571 . . .
- 4/7 = 0.571428 . . .
- 5/7 = 0.714285 . . .
- 6/7 = 0.857142 . . .
- 7/7 = 0.999999 . . .
- Page 289
If we start with the first number in a fraction and connect in sequence to the remaining numbers in the fraction, we shall obtain the figure found inside the circle. For example, we will follow the digits in "1/7th". We start at "1" on the circle, and connect it to "4", then to "2", then to "8", then to "5", and finally to "7". The final step would be to connect the "7" back to the "1". The numbers "3", "6", and "9" are not included in the period. They form a separate triangle -- the free trinity of the symbol.
- Page 289
The divisions of the circle are also related to the notes and "intervals" in an octave.
- Page 294
Each completed whole, each cosmos, each organism, each plant, is an enneagram. The inner triangle stands for the presence of higher elements. The enneagram is a universal symbol. All knowledge can be included in the enneagram. The enneagram is perpetual motion, and it is also the philosopher's stone of the alchemists.
- Page 296
There are two kinds of art -- objective art and subjective art. In subjective art everything is accidental. I measure the merit of art by its consciousness.
- Page 297
Objective music is all based on "inner octaves". It can obtain definite psychological and physical results. Such music can freeze water and can kill a man. The music used to destroy the walls of Jericho was objective music.
- Page 299
Religion is a relative concept; it corresponds to the level of a man's being. Religion is "doing"; a man should "live" his religion. Man should think about what God is and what he is. These thoughts do for him what he asks God to do. The Christian church is a school. Prehistoric Egypt was Christian many thousands of years before the birth of Christ. Schools of repetition were taken as a model for Christian churches.
- Page 304
Every real religion consists of two parts. One part teaches what is to be done. The other part teaches how to do what the first part teaches. This part is preserved in secret in special schools. This secret part exists in Christianity.
- Page 305
Organic life transmits planetary influences of various kinds to the earth, and it serves to feed the Moon and to enable it to grow and strengthen. But the Earth is also growing in the sense of greater consciousness, greater receptivity.
- Page 306
The cessation of evolution may mean the destruction of humanity. Humanity is moving in a circle. In one century it destroys everything it created in another. The growth of knowledge in one domain evokes the growth of ignorance in another.
- Page 307
A balanced process cannot be changed at any moment it is desired. It can be changed and set on a new path only at certain "crossroads". In the law of octaves, these "crossroads" are called the "intervals" mi-fa and si-do.
- Page 309
Life is governed by those who are the least conscious, by those who are most asleep. In life we see a preponderance of vulgarity and stupidity of all kinds. Contemporary culture requires automatons. Man is becoming a willing slave.
- Page 310
The whole of humanity is composed of several concentric circles. The inner circle, the "esoteric", consists of people who have attained the highest development possible for man. The next outer circle, the "mesoteric", is the middle circle. The third circle is called the "exoteric". There also exists an outermost circle.
- Page 312
There are four ways to enter the innermost circle:
- Way of the fakir -- the physical body
- Way of the monk -- the religious way
- Way of the yogi -- the way of the mind
- Fourth way -- the way of the work
- Page 314
Transitions from one level of being to another were marked by ceremonies of presentation of a special kind, that is, initiation. But a change of being cannot be brought about by any rites.
- Page 315
Systems and schools can indicate methods and ways, but no system or school whatever can do for a man the work that he must do himself. Inner growth, a change of being, depends entirely upon the work which a man must do on himself.
- Page 316
Everything happens; no one does anything. The human mind is incapable of even realizing its own helplessness.
- Page 317
The density of vibrations and the density of matter express many other properties of matter. The speed of vibrations shows the intelligence or the consciousness of matter. There is nothing dead or inanimate in nature.
- Page 320
In ordinary science, classification is made according to external traits -- bones, teeth, and so on. In exact knowledge, classification is made according to cosmic traits. The cosmic level of being is determined by (1) what the creature eats, (2) what he breathes, and (3) the medium in which he lives. A man can not improve on his food or air, but he can improve on his impressions.
- Page 329
A breath is 3 seconds. In a normal state, a man takes about twenty full breaths in a minute. The "breath of organic life" is twenty-four hours.
| Breath | Day and Night | Life |
| Small Cells | - | - | 3 seconds |
| Large Cells | - | 3 seconds | 24 hours |
| Man | 3 seconds | 24 hours | 79 years |
| Organic Life | 24 hours | 79 years | 2,500,000 years |
| Earth | 79 years | 2,500,000 years | 75,000,000,000 years |
- Page 336
Time goes beyond four dimensions. The Minkovski formula, [sqrt(-1) * ct], denotes time as the fourth "world" coordinate.
- Page 343
Why didn't these ideas come earlier when Russia was at peace? Probably precisely because these ideas could come only in such a time when the attention of the majority is distracted in some other direction and when these ideas can reach only those who look for them.
- Page 347
Schools are imperative because of the complexity of man's organization. A man is unable to keep watch on the whole of himself. A man is much too lazy. He will never attain the necessary intensity by himself. In work, only super-efforts are counted. A super-effort is an effort beyond the effort that is necessary to achieve a given purpose. Another form of super-effort is carrying out any kind of work at a faster rate than is called for by the nature of the work.
- Page 348
The three principal centers -- the thinking, the emotional, and the moving -- are connected together, and in a normal man, they are always working in unison. This unison is what present the chief difficulty in work on oneself. Everything is connected, and one thing cannot exist without another thing. In life everything is always arranged far too comfortably for man to work.
- Page 350
Man must learn to relax the unnecessary tension of his muscles. He gave us many exercises for gradually relaxing the muscles always beginning with the muscles of the face.
- Page 352
A man is unable to change the form of his thinking or his feeling until he has changed his repertory of postures and movements. All our movements are automatic. Our thoughts and feelings are just as automatic. The "stop" exercise was used to "freeze" the student in whatever position he was caught. He had to hold that position exactly until "enough" was called.
- Page 356
The chief difficulty for most people was the habit of talking. Voluntary silence can be the most severe discipline to which a man can subject himself. With everything there is a limit to what is necessary. After this, "sin" begins. "Sin" is something which is not necessary. People are afraid of suffering. They want pleasure not, at once and forever. They do not want to understand that pleasure is an attribute of paradise and that it must be earned.
- Page 358
When one fasts, he must expend as much energy as possible so that the strong solutions normally used to digest food will not poison his system. A man begins any exercise with his mind; only when the last stage of fatigue is reached can the control pass to the moving center.
- Page 362
People of the objective way simply life in life. They are those whom we call good people. They do not of necessity do much good, but they do no evil.
- Page 364
There is only one thing which should be serious to a man -- escaping from the general law, to be free. People who are not serious live by fantasies, chiefly by the fantasy that they are able to do something.
- Page 366
A man always wishes to begin with something big. We must begin with the things of today.
- Page 366
Astrology deals with only one part of man, with his type, his essence -- it does not deal with personality, with acquired qualities. In the same situation, one man sees and does one thing, another -- another thing, a third -- a third thing, and so on. Each one acted according to his type.
- Page 372
We began rhythmic exercises to music, mental exercises, the study of different ways of breathing, and so on. We also studied psychic phenomena.
- Page 376
He began to separate G. and his ideas. Ouspensky had to go. It was very difficult for him to reject the idea of working with G.
- Page 377
Ouspensky began studying the enneagram. He inserted the "do" of the three octaves at the location of the "shocks". He found that there was no wrong place for a "shock" at all.
- Page 378
He also found that the seven points could represent the seven planets of the ancient world. The enneagram could be an astrological symbol. He took the order of the planets in the order of the days of the week.
- Page 379
Osupensky published his ideas in a book called "A New Model of the Universe".
- Page 380
Osupensky had acquired a strange confidence in the unimportance and the insignificance of self, that self which we usually know.
- Page 387
Without masterig breathing nothing can be mastered. There are three kinds of breathing: (1) normal breathing, (2) inflation, and (3) breathing assisted by movements.
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Chapter 13
Chapter 13