Views From the Real World
Aphorisms
The worse the conditions of life the more productive the work, always provided you remember the work.
In Search of the Miraculous
Chapter 2
(T)he conditions of life in which a man is placed at the beginning of his work, in which, so to speak, the work finds him, are the best possible for him, at any rate at the beginning of the work. These conditions are natural for him. These conditions are the man himself, because a man’s life and its conditions correspond to what he is. Any conditions different from those created by life would be artificial for a man and in such artificial conditions the work would not be able to touch every side of his being at once.
Inside a Question – Henriette Lannes
Usually our lives are not disturbed enough. A moment when I am disturbed could bring me to my reality, to a question, an occasion for an observation— not to a dream, or the idea I have of myself. How many moments are there, when there is a question, to see what happens in me? If I am in a routine it will be difficult for me to wake up—but if I am faced with something unusual it may be an opportunity. That moment could make an impression, leave a trace that will call for more, the beginning of these flashes that we need about ourselves….
The Reality of Being
50. Why together
We must understand the necessity of working with others, that others are as necessary for us as the teaching itself. At difficult moments we think it would be easier to work alone… not with these people here, not in these conditions. This shows a total lack of understanding of our way, of the need to see and free ourselves from our self-will, which has nothing to do with real will. We have to step out of the narrow circle of thoughts and feelings in which we are enclosed. We have to escape in order to have the possibility to approach another world and exist in a different way.
In Search of the Miraculous
Chapter 9
“A great deal of energy is… spent on work… which is completely unnecessary… such as on the activity of unpleasant emotions, on worry,…on the constantly moving flow of thoughts in our mind, which we can neither stop nor control. (T)here is (also) the quite unnecessary constant tension of the muscles of our organism…
“In order to regulate and balance the work of the three centers whose functions constitute our life, it is necessary to learn to economize the energy produced by our organism, not to waste this energy on unnecessary functions, and to save it for that activity which will gradually connect the lower centers with the higher.
The Reality of Being
70. I live in my breathing
(T)here is a level in me at which I can see tensions form and respond to each other without being completely taken by them. I remain aware of something that cannot be taken. This is directly dependent on experiencing my center of gravity, to which I must always return. These movements of tension and letting go are my response to life….
Psychological Commentaries, Vol 4, Maurice Nicoll
On Willing What You Have To Do
Today I will speak to you about one method of Self-Remembering in terms of the following Work-phrase: “Try to will what you have to do.” I once said by way of commentary that when the telephone rings you must not let it take you to it but go to it. By this I mean, will it.
…..Now this is all I have to say about this aspect of Self-Remembering
—namely, taking in impressions more consciously—in fact, transforming them by willing what happens. As regards myself, I find I have to will that I am getting older—that is, I have to will that I cannot lift, build, dig, etc., and instead of feeling up against it all, I have to will the fact that I cannot do these things.
I was talking to some people about this idea of willing what happens to you and one person said: “Don’t you think it applies to the smallest things, willing to wash the dishes, to do the stove?” …So we are told in this Work that we must bring a more conscious attitude to the whole of our lives—to will what is inevitable.
Inner Octaves, Michel Conge
What About Freedom?
My whole inner fulfillment… is in this life, in this body, in these conditions. We must come to experience, to understand, that I cannot be free of my physical organization. In your imagination, in your dream of yourself, you are already there; but, since the experience of transformation is possible, only in this body, to hope one way or another to escape from the body is madness. The way toward freedom is to understand that, even though I am rooted in the body, bound to it…despite that, I also belong to another world.
If, little by little, I come to live this experience directly, I will be profoundly struck by the fact that these worlds of currents of energy are opposed to each other, and that it is precisely because they are opposed that I have a hope of freedom.
Freedom is the freedom for “I” to appear. I cannot deny the existence of a world from which I am made, but I can appear in my relationship to this world. And in this sudden emergence, I appear in relationship not merely to one world, but to two worlds, two worlds in opposition. I play the conscious role that is demanded of a man, whereas until now, I have played only the mechanical role. I play the role that puts me in harmony. My effort makes the connection; it reconciles. I don’t do anything, but my effort allows irreconcilable worlds to be reconciled.
…Freedom is, at the same time, submission. There is no other freedom. It is the opposite of anarchy. It is clear that an order is established and that I find my place in this order. Until then, I have no place; I have neither place nor being. And even when it may seem that I have being, in fact, without the cosmic order, I have neither place nor being.
Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson
Chapter 3
For each and every peculiar situation, great and small, in the existence of the beings there,” Beelzebub continued, “this terrestrial sage, Mullah Nasr Eddin, had an apt and pithy saying…..
“In such a quandary as ours he would probably say ” ‘You can’t jump over your knees, and it’s absurd to try to kiss your own elbow!’
“I now say the same to you, and add there is nothing to be done. When faced with an event arising from forces immeasurably greater than one’s own, one must submit.