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material for them they will awake. All these explanations are right, and they all come to the same thing. We have to become conscious and control our lower centres in order to bring them to their best possible state. Then there will be no difficulty in making contact with higher centres, because even in our present state, very occasionally, very rarely, we have glimpses of higher states—at least some people have. So the important thing for us to realize is that higher centres will not keep us waiting when we awake. The thing is to awake and pass to another level of consciousness; then higher emotional and, later, higher mental centre, will respond at once. If higher centres were working in us as we are now, we would be in a bad way. We would just be conscious machines without a possibility of being anything else, because will can only be created by effort. We are such as we are in order to become different. We are very unsatisfactory, but, because of that, we can become stronger and more conscious. If we were connected with higher centres in our present state, we would go mad. Such a connection would be a great danger so long as we can have negative emotions. For this reason there are automatic brakes in the machine making the connection impossible. First we must prepare lower centres and change the state of our consciousness. Q. Have higher centres characteristics which we may regard as extraordinary? A. Yes. For instance what is called magic may be the manifestation of a world of a higher plane on a lower plane. Suppose higher emotional centre manifests itself on a lower level—it will be a miracle. It is very necessary to understand the relation in which higher centres stand to lower centres. In our state the intellectual and the emotional principles are sharply divided, but in higher centres this difference disappears. Then the higher emotional centre does not use words—words are too clumsy, too difficult to operate with, and besides their meaning changes even in one generation and a thousand years produces a complete change of meaning. This is why we do not understand the New Testament— there is no similar meaning of some of the words now, so we cannot even guess what they meant then. The higher mental centre is still quicker and does not use even allegorical forms, as higher emotional centre does. We can say that it uses symbolical forms. It gives the possibility of long thought. It is all in us, but we cannot use it, because we work with a very slow machine. Higher centres do not reach us—the gap is too great between them and ordinary centres. The difference of speed is so enormous that ordinary centres do not hear higher centres. They have many important functions about which we do not know, but we cannot use them as minds—they are too quick and we are too sleepy. So if we get a connection with higher mental centre, it simply leaves a blank.
Q. Are there negative emotions in higher emotional centre? A. In higher centres there are no positive and negative parts and, as I said, there is no division between intellectual and emotional. Higher emotional centre is only called emotional. On higher levels what is emotional is also intellectual and what is intellectual is emotional. Work of higher centres is very different from work of ordinary centres. We can sometimes observe this work and the different taste of it in moments of self-consciousness, when we become temporarily connected with higher emotional centre. Q. Cannot drugs put us in touch with higher centres? A. The idea of drugs is not new; drugs were used in ancient and mediaeval times—in ancient Mysteries, in magic and so on. It was found that interesting states result from a clever use of drugs. But the system objects to drugs. The use of drugs does not give good results because drugs cannot affect consciousness, they cannot add consciousness. By stupefying lower centres they can put us into contact with higher centres; but it would be of no use to us, because we can remember only as much as we have consciousness. Since we have no consciousness, connection with higher centres will only result in dreams or in unconsciousness. All these trance states sometimes described in books constitute a very dangerous road. Bringing oneself into a trance is connected with creation of imagination in higher emotional centre, and this is a blind alley. If you are there, you cannot get out and cannot get any further. Our idea is to control imagination; if, instead, you transform it by certain methods into imagination in higher emotional centre, you get bliss, happiness, but, after all, it is only sleep on a higher level. Real development must go by two lines: development of consciousness and development of centres. Besides, such experiments are usually disappointing because as a rule people use up in the first experiment all the material they have for consciousness. The same thing can be said of all stupefying, mechanical, self-hypnotizing methods; they give the same results as drugs—they put ordinary centres to sleep but cannot increase consciousness. But when consciousness is developed, higher centres will present no difficulty. Higher emotional centre is supposed to work in the third state of consciousness and higher mental in the fourth. Q. Do you think there is anything in telepathy? A. For men 1, 2 and 3 it does not exist at all; it is imagination. But men of a much higher development control forces which can produce so-called telepathy, because it is a function of the higher emotional centre. If one can, even temporarily, control higher emotional centre, one can produce telepathic effects. But ordinary mind and ordinary emotions cannot do it. Q. I wonder by what process Jesus was able to expel devils and whether anything in the system could be used for similar purpose? Has it anything to do with higher centres?
A Jesus probably dealt with big devils. We have to begin with small devils—a kind of vivisection—until we are able to deal with big devils. I said earlier that so long as certain negative emotions exist in us, higher centres cannot work and should not work, for it would be a disaster In ordinary books on theosophy one finds the idea that many things are hidden because they are dangerous But in reality the danger is not in ideas but in the distortion of ideas People may become dangerous if they hear something and begin to apply it in a wrong sense One can use the forces of higher centres to strengthen one's negative side Q Can one damage higher centres? A. One can, by sleeping too much I mean not in the physical sense, but by being always asleep and irresponsible Then, little by little, the possibility of their awakening is destroyed. You see, all the time, from different sides, we come to the conclusion that man does not work well. We hear about higher centres, and at the same time we are told that we are not connected with them, that they do not work for us or, if they do, we know nothing about their work. We realize that our ordinary mind is not sufficient for dealing with the problems we want to solve There are many things we want to know, but our mind cannot do anything about it. This simple diagram, and other diagrams we study in this system, show us how to study ourselves, how to improve and what to improve in ourselves. But no improvement is possible until we stop leaks, for it is no use increasing the production of energy if there are leaks everywhere Q. How can we stop leaks? A. By self-remembering. It is necessary to develop consciousness, and this will bring with it the possibility of using better organs of perception and cognition. Without higher centres we cannot do much, and this is why a philosophical approach is not much use. It can invent certain theories and then it stops. It does not develop the higher centres which alone can understand the ideas fully. Philosophy does not touch them. Q. You stress the importance of preserving energy. Does each centre have its own storehouse of energy? A. Yes. I will show you how to begin to think about this. We will take the human machine from the point of view of centres. It is the same machine. Energy created in the organism is kept in a certain big accumulator which is connected with two small accumulators placed near each centre. Supposing man begins to think and uses the energy of one of the small accumulators of the intellectual centre. The energy in the accumulator gets lower and lower, and when it is at its lowest he gets tired. Then he makes an effort, or has a short rest, or yawns, and becomes connected with the second small accumulator. It is very interesting that yawning is a special help provided by nature for passing from one accumulator to
another. He goes on thinking and drawing energy from the second accumulator, is again tired, yawns, or lights a cigarette, and becomes connected again with the first small accumulator. But that accumulator may be only half filled and is quickly exhausted. He becomes connected once more with the second, which is only a quarter filled, and so it goes on until time may come when both accumulators are empty. If at that moment a man makes a special effort of the right kind he may become connected directly with the big accumulator. This is one explanation of miracles, for he will then have an enormous supply of energy. But this needs a very great effort—not an ordinary effort. If he exhausts the big accumulator he dies, but generally he falls asleep or becomes unconscious long before that, so there is no danger. In ordinary life this connection with the big accumulator sometimes happens in extraordinary circum stances, such as moments of extreme danger. This is why there is this system of small accumulators. If one could be easily connected with the big accumulator one might, for example, never stop being angry for a week, and then one would die. So generally one does not become connected with the big accumulator until one has control over negative emotions. Emotions are stronger than other functions, so if one were to get into a negative emotion and had unlimited energy it would be too dangerous. Q. Can sufficient energy be stored in small accumulators? A. For ordinary work, for ordinary life it is sufficient, but sometimes people who are habitually tired use only half the accumulator and already say that they are too exhausted and cannot do anything. In actual fact, so long as there is anything in the small accumulators, we have no right to be tired. That is why physical efforts are useful. We are afraid of being tired. Of course, we could have much more energy than we have if we did not waste it on negative emotions and other useless things.
Q. To remember oneself one has to have energy? A. No, that does not enter here, because for this we always have energy. It is not energy that is lacking; it is understanding, knowing how to do it, and a certain laziness which prevents us from self-remembering. Q. I want to ask about the big accumulator. I do not understand that practically. A. Efforts! Efforts! The more efforts you make, the more energy you can get. Without efforts you cannot get energy. Even if it is in you, it may be in the wrong place. Do not think about it theoretically; think simply that you have much energy in you that you never use, and you must make more efforts to use it. Q. What I meant to ask about was what unlocks the energy in the big accumulator and how does it get its energy? A. That is exactly what I said. Do not think about the big accumulator; think about yourself. Sometimes you must begin with small efforts. If you do not make small efforts, you will never be able to make big efforts. It is quite right that energy is necessary, but the energy is in us. We have enough energy, at least in the beginning, and if we use it for work it is not lost but comes back. If you lose energy on negative emotions, for instance, or on mechanical actions, mechanical thinking, then it is lost. But if you use energy for struggling with mechanicalness you get it back. This is how energy is accumulated. Q. Can you tell me about the process by which attention is renewed when one controls it? A. In this case attention depends on the amount of spare energy: if you have energy in reserve, attention will work, if you have no spare energy, it will be exhausted very quickly. So it depends on the amount of energy, and your reserve of energy depends on how you use it. If you waste it on unnecessary things, then at the moment you need it you will find that you have none. But if you can save it on every possible occasion and use only the necessary amount for every kind of work you are doing, then you will have results. This is why we have to start from the very beginning to struggle with the things that waste it. They must be studied, and studied first of all. Q. Does a person who works in a more balanced way use each accumulator properly? A. Yes, by training one can do an enormous amount of work, but if a man without training starts doing the same work he will use too much energy on quite simple movements and will use his accumulators in a wrong way. If you want to think more scientifically about it, you must realize that training, taken in an ordinary sense, prepares accumulators for working rightly. Actually, although I put only two accumulators near each centre, there are a great many more. Each centre is surrounded by accumulators.
Q. Does switching over from one accumulator to another need a moment of consciousness? A. No, it is automatic. Instinctive centre knows how to do it and can work quite well, without our being conscious. Consciousness may be necessary for special work in connection with the big accumulator. When we want something extraordinary, something that cannot be got in the ordinary way, it is necessary to invent new methods. Q. Does the principle of accumulators apply to the ordinary mechanical energy we are using all the time? A. Certainly. Everything is mechanical. Energy is just fuel. Q. Then one type of energy is not higher or lower than another? A. Yes, taken in the sense of hydrogens it can be higher or lower. Different centres use different energy, but fundamentally it is one. You have seen in the Food Diagram how energy is created. There are many variations of hydrogens used for different organs and accumulators. Q. Can you say that this special adaptation of energy is made in the body? A. Yes, but at the same time centres have a great tendency to use wrong energy; so this must be kept in mind. But the question of how to make more energy is one thing and the question of how it makes itself, how it 'happens', is another. It is better to divide these things. Q. If one is tired, and suddenly receives a lot of impressions and as a result of it tiredness goes, is it because one gets energy from them? A. It is more complicated than that. With new impressions one becomes more awake, and so connections with the big accumulator begin to work better. Direct impressions are not yet energy ready for use; they must be distilled and mixed with other things to produce energy. Impressions that come are undigested food. All the three kinds of food must be digested and mixed in right proportions. But impressions can awake you. When energy in the body reaches a certain pressure, it begins to attract energy from its surroundings. Q. If one travels, does one get more impressions? A. The capacity for receiving impressions remains the same. Q. When a man yawns, does he connect with the other accumulator? A. Not every time, for one can yawn from imitation. Besides, yawning is pumping energy, it is not necessarily switching over, although a really good yawn may produce a switch over when necessary. Q. When you say yawning is a pump, where is the energy pumped from? A. From the organism. It is so arranged that every function has the necessary energy everywhere. There are so many accumulators that it is sufficient to know the principle that there are accumulators. Energy is distributed in the machine in a very complicated way and passes from one accumulator to another, is diluted, concentrated and so on. Q. Do the small accumulators get filled from the large one during sleep at night?
A. They are refilled constantly. But the big accumulator is refilled during sleep with the energy derived from the three kinds of food. All energies are kept in the big accumulator, either mixed or in a higher form. When a demand comes, a corresponding hydrogen is sent. If energy is produced, it is stored in the big accumulator. If more is produced than is necessary for life, it can be stored in many places. Q. Can energy be conserved by means of silence? A. Sometimes, but if you are silent all the time you may lose more energy in silence than in talk. That is why the first principle in this system is discrimination—there are no general rules. Q. Is it possible eventually to come in contact with the big accumulator? A. Yes, it is possible, but we are not even on the first step; it may be possible, say, on the twenty-second step, so there are twenty-one steps to climb before we can do that. What can be done now has all been explained —you must try to remember yourself, not identify, try not to express negative emotions and so on. These are the things with which we can start. Q. Does the energy required for self-remembering come from proper working of centres? A. Yes, certainly; when all centres work wrongly there can be no accumulation of energy. But this is not sufficient. It is necessary to increase the amount of energy, and it can be increased only by efforts— small efforts, such as struggle with habits, self-observation, trying to control attention and so on. Everyone has some particular efforts he can make; the efforts of one person may be no good for another, or too easy, or impossible. Q. What regulates the amount of energy that goes into the accumulators of each centre? A. Habitual work. Sometimes they cannot be filled, sometimes they refuse to be filled, and sometimes they do not need to be filled. There are many reasons for this, and you cannot control it. But by making efforts, or by remembering yourself, you increase the possibility of control. Q. Has the big accumulator a large capacity, and is it quickly recharged? A. It depends. It may be half empty, or filled with bad energy, or it may be full but we do not use it. It is important to understand that there is a big store of energy in the big accumulator, much of which we never use— it remains dead capital. Q. If one is more conscious, can one draw more energy? A. Yes, but a special training is also necessary. If we know how to connect with the big accumulator we can produce quite different results. Q. How quickly can it be learnt? A. I cannot say, it depends on how you study and work. In our attitude to the system there may be a destructive clement that can destroy the
result of our work. If one has a right attitude to oneself and to the work, without a destructive element, then it can be attained. Q. Does it all depend on consciousness? A. All work is really concentrated on consciousness. In work on centres we only try to stop definitely wrong work. There are no exercises to increase the work of centres: all the work is on consciousness. When consciousness is increased, centres will adapt. But wrong work of centres must be stopped, for if we remained abnormal and became conscious, our centres would go mad—they would not be able to stand it. But it cannot happen—one cannot become conscious unconsciously. People often ask: what does one gain by becoming conscious? This is because they do not know what the result of consciousness is. When we are conscious we become connected with higher centres and then the whole picture changes.
CHAPTER X We cannot 'do'—Importance of realising the truth of this idea—Illusion of 'doing' and what produces it—In life everything happens, but in the work we must learn to 'do'—Going against the current—Inner 'doing— A vicious circle and the way out—Co-ordination of centres—'Doing begins with 'not doing'—Inner control—Doing the impossible and what it means —Putting more pressure into one's efforts—Work on will— What is will in the full sense of the word and what is our will?—Our will a resultant of desires—Inner conflict and struggle—Giving up will—We only have short moments of will—Discipline—Necessity of remembering oneself— Consciousness means will—Aim as the controlling factor—Necessity of returning constantly to the question of aim—Self-will and wilfulness— Friction—Work against self-will—One can do nothing without school— Necessity of regular work—Cross- roads—Creating moon in oneself-—Centre of gravity—Super-effort— What creates stimulus for work. WE MUST RETURN TO THE INNER PART OF THE WORK—to work on oneself. If you think about it, you will realize that the central part of your own work is understanding of the fact that we cannot 'do', of why we cannot 'do' and of what it means that we cannot 'do'. How can you understand that? Either by trying to do what you have never done before or by doing things in another way. Then you will see whether you can 'do' or not. Half of the questions asked are about 'doing'—how to change this, destroy that, avoid some other thing and so on. But an enormous effort is necessary to change even one small thing. Until you try, you can never realize it. You see, you do not think enough, observe enough. You can change nothing except through the system. This is generally forgotten. The system shows how things can be changed and done differently and from where one can begin. Even with the system it is tremendously difficult, but without the system it is impossible, absolutely impossible. When you realize that, you will begin to understand the value of the system, because with the system there is a chance, without the system there is no chance at all. This idea that we cannot 'do' is very important and we must always return to it. If this idea is not clear, or certain features of it are not dear, ask questions about it, because it is necessary to understand and remember it. Everything 'happens'. People can 'do' nothing. From the time we are
born to the time we die things happen, happen, happen, and we think we are doing. This is our normal state in life, and even the smallest possibility to do something comes only through the work, and first only in oneself, not externally. Even in oneself 'doing' very often begins by not doing. Before you can do something that you cannot do, you must not do many things which you did before. For instance, you cannot awake by just wanting to awake, but you can prevent yourself sleeping too much and too long. Q. Does one sometimes have a choice between two possible happenings? A. Only in very small things, and even then when you notice that things are going in a certain way and decide to change them, you will find how extremely uncomfortable it is to change things. Q. Why is it that I cannot give up the idea of being able to 'do'? I have proved to myself so often that I cannot. A. This is the most difficult and the most necessary thing to realize with your whole being, because so long as we think that we can 'do' we shall always put off the things that we actually can do if we work. As I said, we can 'do' things only in relation to ourselves—these are the things we have to begin with. But we shall never begin to study ourselves so long as we think we can 'do'. This is one of our greatest illusions. Q. I can see that I have no choice in larger things, but it seems to me that I can do small things. A. These small things happen according to certain definite circumstances which control them. You think you control them, but in reality they happen. We cannot 'do' because we are asleep. How can sleeping people 'do'? It is necessary to be awake; when one is awake, one can 'do'. 'Doing' is magic. You must understand that nothing happens at the time it happens; the necessity of it happening was created long ago. Things happen by themselves; whether you do or do not do something may have been decided ten years before. Maybe your actions had taken a certain direction ten years previously and that determines what you will do to morrow—you cannot change it. We think we can take a certain decision and act accordingly. In reality we are controlled not by internal decisions but by external influences. If the internal decision corresponds to the external influence, we will do it, otherwise we will not. But we can create in ourselves powers to 'do'. Nature has made us machines acting under external influences, but with a possibility to develop our own motor. If there is no inner motor, we will always turn round in the same place. Q. If a man sets an ideal for himself of how he ought to behave, would this not be what is meant by 'doing'? A. The question is whether he can do it and whether he does it, because to make plans, to have ideals is one thing and to do it is another thing.
It may be just good intentions. One of the chief features of our being is that we cannot do what we decide. Q. Sometimes I have found that, with a little extra effort, you can make a great difference to other people in ordinary life. Isn't it doing? A. It is an illusion, because if a thing must happen you will make this extra effort; if it is not to happen, you will not make this effort. You think you can make or not make this effort, that you can 'do' or 'not do'. But try to think in the right way, that you can 'do' nothing, that things happen mechanically. One thing comes after another and just happens or does not happen, and you cannot help it. Q. But if you help a poor person to make his life tolerable? A. If you help a poor person, it happens. If someone takes from this poor person what little remains to him, this also happens. One person will give him a penny, another will take away the last he has. It is first necessary to understand the principle that nobody can 'do' anything. If you think of life, not personal life but the life of humanity, wars, revolutions, you will see this clearly. You must try to find a right case for observation, because if you find something too small you will not see it. But if you find the right case, right conditions, right circumstances, you will very soon see whether you can do something or not. The simplest thing is to try and remember yourself. Can you do it or not? People think they can 'do' because sometimes they make certain plans and really get what they wanted. But this only means that they have got into a certain stream of events and things happened to coincide with their plan. When things happen like that we think that we did it, that we made a plan and did everything according to this plan. In reality it does not mean that we did it on purpose or knowingly and it does not mean that one can choose one stream of events or another stream; it is just accident. In every kind of work, in business, in travel and so on, it sometimes happens that things go successfully, but this only means that at a given moment, in a given place things went mechanically in a certain way—nothing more. It is difficult for us to realize, for example, that when people build a bridge, that is not 'doing'; it is only the result of all previous efforts. It is accidental. To understand this, you must think of the first bridge that Adam built and of all the evolution of bridge. At first it is accidental—a tree falls across a river, then man builds something like that, and so on. People are not 'doing'; one thing comes from another. Q. I think it is an almost childish question, but I can never see how things cannot be different. One does something and one cannot help thinking that one could do it differently. A. But if you behaved in a certain way, it means that you could not behave in another way. If you could, you would have behaved differently. We are so accustomed to think that things could be different that we do not try to change the things we could change. We can change to-day, but
yesterday is finished If we change to-day, tomorrow things can happen differently. It looks like a contradiction, but it is precisely our belief that things can be different that prevents us from doing what we can to make them different. Q When one really begins to understand that one cannot 'do’, one will need a great deal of courage Will that come from getting rid of false personality? A. One does not come to this understanding just like that. It comes after some time of work on oneself, so that when one comes to this realization one has many other realizations besides, chiefly that there are ways to change if one applies the right instrument at the right place and at the right time One must have these instruments, and these again are only given by work. It is very important to come to this realization Without it one will not do the right things, one will excuse oneself. Q I do not understand why one should excuse oneself? A. One does not want to give up the idea that one can 'do', so that even if one realizes that things happen, one finds excuses, such as, 'This is an accident, but to-morrow it will be different' That is why we cannot realize this idea. All our lives we see how things happen, but we still explain them as accidents, as exceptions to the rule that we can 'do'. Either we forget, or we do not see, or do not pay enough attention We always think that at every moment we can 'do'. If you see in your life a time when you tried to do something and failed, that will be an example, because you will find that you explained your failure as an accident, an exception. If the same situation repeats itself, you will think you will be able to 'do', and if you fail again, you will again explain your failure as just an accident It is very useful to go through your life from this point of view You intended one thing and something different happened If you are really sincere, you will see, but if you are not, you will persuade yourself that what happened was exactly what you wanted! When things happen in a certain way, we are carried by the current but we think that we carry the current. Q. If one feels for a moment that one is able to 'do', say, to put through a particular job in one's ordinary work, what is the explanation of that? A. If one is trained to do something one learns to follow a certain trend of happenings, or if you like, to start a certain trend of happenings, and then these develop, and one runs behind although one thinks one is leading. Q But if one has a right attitude? A No, attitude has nothing to do with it Attitude may be right and understanding may be right, but you still find that things happen in a certain way—any ordinary things. Try to remember instances when you tried to do something differently and see how you always came back to the same thing even if you made a slight deviation— enormous forces driving you back to the old ways.