In Search of the Miraculous
“The evolving part of organic life is humanity… If humanity does not evolve it means that the evolution of organic life will stop, and this in its turn will cause the growth of the ray of creation to stop. (I)f humanity ceases to evolve it becomes useless, from the point of view of the aims for which it was created, and as such it may be destroyed. In this way the cessation of evolution may mean the destruction of humanity. —Chapter 15
“In our system the end of the ray of creation, the growing end…of the branch, is the moon. The energy for…the development of the moon, and for the formation of new shoots, goes to the moon from the earth… This energy is collected and preserved in a huge accumulator situated on the earth’s surface. This accumulator is organic life on earth. Organic life on earth feeds the moon…
“The influence of the moon upon everything living manifests itself in all that happens on the earth… The sensitive film of organic life which covers the earthly globe is entirely dependent upon the influence of the huge electromagnet that is sucking out its vitality. Man, like every other living being, cannot in the ordinary conditions of life, tear himself free from the moon. All his movements and…all his actions are controlled by the moon. If he kills another man, the moon does it; if he sacrifices himself for others, the moon does that also. All evil deeds, all crimes, all self-sacrificing actions, all heroic exploits, as well as all the actions of ordinary everyday life, are controlled by the moon.
“…(L)iberation…is liberation from the moon… If we develop in ourselves consciousness and will, and subject our mechanical life and all our mechanical manifestations to them, we shall escape from the power of the moon. —Chapter 5
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“We want to ‘do,’ but…in everything we do are tied and limited by the amount of energy produced by our organism. Every function, every state, every action, every thought, every emotion, requires a certain definite energy, a certain definite substance.
“We come to the conclusion that we must ‘remember ourselves.’ But we can ‘remember ourselves’ only if we have in us the energy for ‘self-remembering.’ We can study something, understand or feel something, only if we have the energy for understanding, feeling, or studying.
“What then is a man to do when he begins to realize that he has not enough energy to attain the aims he has set before himself?
“(E)very normal man has quite enough energy to begin work on himself. It is only necessary to learn how to save the greater part of the energy we possess for useful work instead of wasting it unproductively.
“Energy is spent chiefly on unnecessary and unpleasant emotions… Energy is wasted on the wrong work of centers; on unnecessary tension of the muscles… on perpetual chatter… on the constant waste of the force of ‘attention’; and so on, and so on. —Chapter 8
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“…(S)mall accumulators near each center (are) filled with the particular substance necessary for the work of the given center.
“In addition, there is in the organism a large accumulator which feeds the small ones…
The large accumulator contains an enormous amount of energy. Connected with the large accumulator a man is literally able to perform miracles…
“Small accumulators suffice for the ordinary, everyday work of life. But for work on oneself, for inner growth and for the efforts which are required of a man who enters the way, the energy from these small accumulators is not enough.
“We must learn how to draw energy straight from the large accumulator.
“This however is possible only with the help of the emotional center. It is essential that this be understood. The connection with the large accumulator can be effected only through the emotional center. The instinctive, moving, and intellectual centers, by themselves can feed only on the small accumulators.
“This is precisely what people do not understand. Therefore their aim must be the development of the activity of the emotional center. The emotional center is an apparatus much more subtle than the intellectual center… If anyone desires to know and to understand more than he actually knows and understands, he must remember that this new knowledge and this new understanding will come through the emotional center and not through the intellectual center. —Chapter 11
“If the emotional center were to work with hydrogen 12, its work would be connected with the work of the higher emotional center… (I)n ordinary conditions the difference between the speed of our usual emotions and the speed of the higher emotional center is so great that no connection can take place, and we fail to hear within us the voices which are speaking and calling to us from the higher emotional center. —Chapter 9
The Reality of Being
Do you see that the problem before us is a question of feeling? We begin to see the poverty of all our feelings and the need for a feeling that is more pure, more penetrating… it is necessary to reach a depth of silence where my feeling is no longer attached to my usual egoism…
I wish to be present, to remain present. But I feel powerless, that I cannot wish, cannot be… Help appears in the form of a more active feeling, with more conviction, a feeling that comes from the higher emotional center…
But I only receive this help if I feel a compelling need for it.
…How to understand the experience of feeling? We know what sensing is, an inner touch. Feeling requires another quality. It has nothing to do with “like” or “dislike,” and yet it is emotion. I feel sorrow or joy….And I feel “I am.” Pure feeling has no object… —35. I feel “I am”