The Fourth Way...

 

AI generated image

The Fourth Way:

Q. Can you tell me what one should aim at? I mean, what is possible to acquire through the work?

A. As a general answer—the only aim is change of being. The aim is to reach higher states of consciousness and to be able to work with higher centres. All the rest is for that, in order to achieve that. It is necessary to do a thousand things that seem to have no relation to it, but they are all necessary, because we live below the normal level. First we must reach the normal level, and second, we must try to develop new things and possibilities. No one can help you in this, only your own work and your own understanding. You must begin with understanding. These lectures and this system are to give understanding. The next step depends on your own efforts. Change of being can be achieved only if you remember all that was said and if you do not make exceptions for yourself and leave out things you do not like. If you do this, you will not have a right relation to what was said, and even if you try to remember it, it will change nothing.

I WISH TO REMIND YOU that this system is based on understanding. Understanding must occupy the first place in this system. The more you understand, the better the result of your work will be.

 

Q. Why cannot I understand the least thing when I think about it, but sometimes understanding suddenly comes?

 

A. Understanding always comes that way—you understand, and then you cease to understand. But if all attempts to understand something go wrong, try not to think about it but try to remember yourself, that is, to be emotional, and in time you will understand. Understanding does not become permanent at once; as in everything else there are many steps and you can understand something one day and not understand it the next day, for you may be more conscious in the same circumstances one day and more asleep the next. So many days may pass before it becomes your own.

~P.D. Ouspensky

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The Realization Came To Me...

 

AI generated image

The realization came to me last night, 

reading about this topic (undertaking new things)

in the work of Collin and Ouspensky, 

that to stay fresh and keep evolving in the work 

it’s necessary to activate one’s kings continually 

and in conjunction as often as possible. 

Making connections in the system 

and thinking about work ideas continually 

provides this stimulus. 

As does learning new things, 

ongoing investigation 

of the things that interest each of us. 

Crystallization and modern “depression” 

I suspect comes from the underuse of our centers - 

lack of new impressions, new challenges, 

new stimulation 

and the subsequent starvation of the Soul. 

Constant challenge to enter new environment 

with new aims 

keeps the long body of our Soul healthy. 

Pushes it out in front.

~O

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The Key to the Heart

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

"When the heart wakes, the world becomes a prayer.

Only God has the key to open the Heart."

Shams Tabrizi

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Sonnet 29 - Shakespeare

Sir Frank Dicksee - Romeo and Juliet

Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state [changes],

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) and sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

William Shakespeare 

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The Truth is Now

Image by Schauhi via Pixabay

The truth is not to be found in the past, but NOW.

The past is really only useful to indicate to us how 

wrong we did everything. It is at best a reference to 

our impotency in the face of life. 

Of course, this impotency still exists even 

when one awakens, but what replaces it is a 

realistic appraisal of what is possible and what is not.

In this piece of the universe that was given 

to you to be your prison, there is no other place 

where you could be present right now. 

We forget this. This is the way it is. 

Your life is being lived right now, 

and you can be winning or losing every moment. 

When we are together like this, 

it makes it worthwhile and bearable.

It is far more valuable to study why one 

is awakening instead of studying why one went to sleep, 

especially when one has verified that one had to. 

Awakening is a far greater miracle than sleeping. 

Modern psychology is obsessed with the past. 

The work is now, yes, this very moment.

~Mervyn Brady

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