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CHAPTER IV Language—Different divisions used in the system—Essence and personality —A, B and C influences—Magnetic centre—Wrong magnetic centre— Deputy Steward—Law of accident—Law of fate— Law of will—Law of cause and effect—Escape from the law of accident—Centre of gravity— Why schools are necessary—For whom schools are necessary—What constitutes a school—Degrees of schools—Way of Fakir, Way of Monk and Way of Yogi—The Fourth Way—Difference between the Fourth Way and the traditional ways— AII ways lead to the same goal—Level of school depends on the level of students—Inner circles of humanity. THE STUDY OF THE METHODS USED IN THIS SYSTEM by which man can come to a higher consciousness begins with the study of a new language. This language is based on different principles which you do not know yet; but as you go on with your study you will very soon begin to understand them. With this language it is possible to come nearer to truth, possible to speak with greater precision than we do now, and two people who understand this language will never misunderstand each other in simple things. You have already heard certain expressions of this language, such as self-remembering, identifying, considering and so on. It is very important to understand the different divisions the system uses, which are part of this language. Man is a very complicated machine and he can be studied in divisions. In ordinary language we do not use these divisions and so people do not understand one another. Try to understand what I am saying, because it is rather difficult to express. If you take a town, you can understand that it can be divided into north, south, east and west; it can be divided into districts and quarters, and then divided into different streets. It can also be studied from the point of view of its population, for it has people of different nationalities, people of different professions, belonging to different classes and so on. None of these divisions will coincide with one another, each must be studied separately. You cannot make a general map, including them all— you must make a series of different maps. It is the same with man. For instance, I have already given you certain divisions. The first is the division of centres or functions, so that each man consists of four men, each living his own life in the same man, with his own associations, his own likes and dislikes. Then I showed you the
division into different 'I's. This is a very useful division; man is not one, he is plural, a crowd, consisting of people who do not know one another and who fight with each other. This division into many 'I's was supplemented by the different roles a man plays in different circumstances. Then there was the division into knowledge and being—what a man knows and what he is. I have also given you the division of man into seven categories: man No. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Now we come to another, a quite different division, not parallel with any of the others—the division into essence and personality. Essence is what is born in you, personality is what you acquire. Essence is your own, personality is not your own. All man's inner life, all his perceptions and reactions are divided into those two parts. There are certain things which are born with you, such as certain physical features, state of health, certain kinds of predispositions, inclinations, tendencies and so on. They belong to essence. Personality is what you acquire in the course of your life: views, opinions, words. It is easier to understand the difference between essence and personality if you find some examples. Although the two are always mixed in life, it is easier to distinguish personality and essence in other people than in oneself, because personality changes very often with the change of conditions, but essence remains the same. This division is very important to understand, because many things that we speak about in man refer to essence, while others refer to personality. Q. If essence is what we are born with, can it be added to? Can it increase? A. Yes, but it can be done only if personality becomes educated and ceases to press upon essence. Personality is too heavy, too strong; it surrounds essence like a shell, so nothing can reach it directly, everything has to pass through personality. Essence cannot grow in these conditions, but if personality becomes more transparent, impressions and external influences will penetrate through it and reach essence, and then essence will begin to grow. Q. So a strong personality prevents impressions from reaching one's essence? A. Yes, but what does a strong personality mean? It means a strong influence of what is not your own, of what you have acquired—other people's words, other people's views and theories. They can form such a thick crust round essence that nothing can penetrate it to reach you, to reach what you are. Q. Is it possible to break this shell or destroy it? A. Before destroying this shell of personality, or breaking it, it is necessary to prepare other defences. If for some reason this shell falls off, people find themselves without any defences against many very difficult influences which they cannot control. Personality keeps you from certain distant influences; if you weaken it, you will be under many influences which could not reach you before, so you will have even less control than you
have now. But there are many things which we could control and do not control now. This is the right way of thinking about it. Q. Can you give an example of such influences? A. For instance, a simple example would be atmospheric changes or the change of seasons—they affect essence very much, and if one is surrounded with personality one is less affected. Change of seasons is a very serious thing for people whose essence is more open to influences. I give you this simply as an example of things that people do not take into account and about which they have no idea. There are many other things; for instance, old books on magic warn people about how dangerous this is and how one must be prepared beforehand; and in many cases they are right, because the opening up of essence may be good, but it may be accompanied by many dangers. Personality is created on many wrong bases, but it is also a kind of defence. Q. Is it possible for us to go through life without ever observing essence? A. It depends whether it is in school work or not. In ordinary life we do not even know about the existence of those two principles. In self-study one is told of this division, but essence and personality are so mixed that for a long time this division remains theoretical, for it is impossible to say which is which by observation, except in extreme cases. Then, as one works, one gradually begins to see that one thing is more ingrained, goes deeper, another less. In this way, little by little, one can see essence. All permanent or more permanent qualities must depend on essence. When personality is educated and becomes less heavy, many qualities pass into essence and become permanent. This is how essence develops. In personality things jump up and disappear, but what passes into essence remains. Q. Is essence more or less the same as being? A. It cannot be put like that. Being is life, it is a process. Essence is an object. Q. Is essence in a child more developed than personality? A. At a certain very early age essence may be stronger than personality, but they are both undeveloped. And there are different children and different circumstances. Q. How can we struggle against personality? A. It is not a question of struggle but only of controlling and educating. Personality must not have too much freedom. It must be educated in a certain way, act according to certain principles, work in a certain direction. At present our personality is all wrong. There is too much lying, deceiving oneself, imagination, negative emotions. All these things must be put right; only then can the machine work as it should. We have to work through personality; for a long time essence can have no practical meaning for us. If we begin to work on it consciously, certain things will influence essence, but not at once. Q. Can we do what we want with personality?
A. If you work, if you study, you will gradually change it and your work on personality will reflect on essence. Either you control personality, or personality is controlled by thousands of different 'I's, each of whom has its own ideas, its own views and desires. We must realize what an enormous work it is to acquire unity when, as we are now, one part decides to work and another part does not know about it or does not agree. When you have educated your personality, when it has become obedient to your aim and begins to serve it, then it is useful and right. But if you have an aim in a certain part of you and your personality works against this aim, then, naturally, it is not right. Q. It was said that there is good in personality as well as in essence, but I cannot find anything in it useful for my ultimate aim. A. What do you mean when you say there is no good in personality? Even if you observe and find out things about yourself, it is good. This too is in personality. The part that wishes to know, to work, to change is part of personality. There may be many things that are wrong in our personality, and these things have to be studied and eliminated. Personality is developed by study and by diminishing useless functions. Through this it becomes better and cleaner. In school conditions essence must be more important than personality, and if personality dominates it too much, development becomes impossible, because real development is in essence, and if personality hangs too heavily on it essence cannot breathe. But personality is also very important. The possibility of change is really very complicated, because it consists of many things. There must be a certain quality in essence, for if this quality does not exist, nothing is possible; there must be certain material, certain acquisitions in personality, and there must be a certain kind of circumstances. Q. Has personality to allow itself to be second? Does it step back of its own accord? A. It does not step back, it becomes different. If it oppresses essence it is abnormal. In our present state personality is pathological, unhealthy. With work it simply becomes healthy. Q. I do not understand how personality can influence essence if essence is what we are born with. A. Take the intellectual centre: its contents are not born with us— thoughts, ideas, convictions, opinions, these are all acquired. As to how personality can influence essence, suppose in your personality you come to a certain conclusion, and you find yourself by observation to have some essential habit, say, some kind of unpleasant emotion that always comes up in certain circumstances. You realize that it is not useful in any sense, it wastes energy and makes your life more difficult. How can you struggle with it? You find that this negative state feeds on self-justification, that in your ordinary habitual state you always justify it and think it is somebody else's fault, or say that you did not mean it, or that people do not under-
stand you, or something like that. This allows it to exist. If you change your point of view, if you cease justifying it and create instead a permanent idea in yourself that this emotion is wrong, that it is not justifiable, then this point of view may eventually become permanent. Q. Does heredity count for anything in essence? A. Heredity practically does not exist in man. Wrong qualities may be hereditary, but good qualities cannot be inherited. Animals are under different laws from man; in them good and bad qualities are equally transmitted, but in man what may be transmitted, apart from physical qualities, are only features of degeneration, otherwise there is nothing to transmit. Physical features can be inherited, but not features like self-consciousness. Essence cannot be inherited. Q. Is the tendency to negative emotion in the essence or is it entirely acquired in personality? A. There may be a tendency even in the essence—a certain disposition to it, but we can take it that it all refers to personality, because if there were a really strong tendency to negative emotion in the essence it would almost mean insanity. Q. If there are defects in essence, can they be altered? A. Yes, but, as I said, personality must change first; essence does not change so easily. Changing features in essence is very difficult work; it needs knowledge and sufficient energy, and we are weak and have no knowledge. It is done only when it is necessary, and only with the help of school methods. Suppose one has a lazy essence and one wants to awake—one can change it after a long period of self-study, but one must have help, school help. So it is lucky for us that work on essence comes second, that we have to start with work on personality. But by working on personality we already work to a certain extent on essence. Sleep, awakening, consciousness—all this does not refer to personality, it refers to essence. So actually you work on essence from the very beginning, and personality, by changing, will produce a certain pressure on essence and change it too. Q. Is one always born with essence? A. Yes, but often essence remains undeveloped, on the level of a small child. Q. Is essence the reliable part in us? A. Even in personality there are reliable and unreliable things. For instance, imagination is unreliable. Imagining that you can swim when you cannot and knowledge of the multiplication table are both in personality; one is reliable, the other is unreliable. Q. Does the level of being depend on growth of essence? A. Certainly, and this is the relation between them. Only you cannot measure being in that way, for the division into essence and personality is at present merely theoretical. But it is useful to remember that these
two principles are in you, because, as I said, if you do not know this division it will prevent you from understanding certain other things you will hear. One thing you must realize about essence and personality is that essence is one, whereas personality consists of several groups of 'I's. So we can say that we have not a personality but personalities in the plural, for there are five or six, sometimes ten personalities in one person. Magnetic centre, for instance, is also in personality, for we are not born with it—it is created in life. It is a group of 'I's which can, to a certain small extent, control other groups of 'I's. Some of these personalities are all right, but some will always be in your way and have to be controlled or eliminated. Q. What work can one do on personality? A. It can be controlled by mind. That is all that can be expected. In your mind you formulate your aim and personality must work in accordance with this aim. Q. What is desire to awaken due to? Is it in essence? A. This is connected with magnetic centre. You will remember that in the first lecture I spoke about magnetic centre and the different influences under which man lives. This brings us to the question of why some people are interested in these ideas, while others are not, what creates this desire to know, the energy to seek; why people who live in similar conditions are so different, for one person is satisfied with ready-made theories and clichés, while another wants to find truth for himself. What is it that explains this difference in people in relation to new ideas, for some people meet with the possibility of acquiring new knowledge and are not interested, while for others it may change the whole trend of their lives? People come to these and similar ideas in different ways. Some understand something, others take them on an ordinary level. The cause of this difference is that man lives in mechanical life under two kinds of influences. What does it mean? It is connected with the idea explained in the beginning, that man is a machine controlled by external influences, by things around him. He may be receptive to one kind of influences and not receptive to another kind. Most of these influences are created in life itself, by people like himself. But among them, mixed with them, there are other influences which are not created in life but come from a different source, from people of a higher mind. They come in the form of religions, science, philosophical systems, esoteric doctrines, art, all sorts of teachings, and so on. They cannot be distinguished from influences of the first kind outwardly, so it depends on the man whether he discriminates between them or not. Man can live only under influences A, that is, influences of the first kind, and disregard influences B, not be interested in them. But if he is interested in these influences of the second kind and has absorbed them in sufficient quantity, a certain process takes place in him. Results of these
influences B, the memory of them, collect separately in a special compartment and form what is called a magnetic centre. Magnetic centre is a combination of certain interests and emotional associations which makes him turn in a definite direction. It is a certain cycle of ideas and a certain cycle of emotions. This is the origin of interest in this kind of ideas. Q. If we are mere machines, are we to conclude that you are trying to lead us, machines, in a certain desirable direction, or are we capable of discriminating between truth and falsity? If so, with what faculty? A. With magnetic centre. Men are machines, there is no question about that; only they are not quite the same machines as an engine or something of that kind. You have heard already that man can live in four states of consciousness, but that in ordinary life he lives only in two. These two other states of consciousness can be developed in man, but they cannot develop by themselves, they have to be developed through knowledge and effort. And the faculty that helps man to understand and discriminate is the magnetic centre. Now we are speaking about man before he meets a school. He lives in life under ordinary conditions. Conditions may be very different, but, in any conditions, he lives under the two kinds of influence I was speaking about. What are influences A? All interests of life, struggle for existence, desires, excitements, possessions, riches, amusements and so on. They are created without intention and are mechanical both in their origin and their action. But at the same time man also lives under influences originally
created in schools but thrown into the general turnover of life. These influences B are as it were a life apart. They are arranged for a certain purpose, to serve as 'lights on the way' The rest depends on man himself. All his interests may concentrate only on influences of the first kind, or part of him may remain interested in influences created in life, while another part may be interested in this other kind of influences. If a man notices and studies them, they may accumulate in him. The memory of these interests may begin to collect in him from a very early age and form a certain group of 'I's out of the many 'I's in him. After some time this group of 'I's or magnetic centre begins to control and determine his general direction in life and the trend of his interests, or of a part of his interests Magnetic centre means looking for definite things and being on the level of certain things But it a man docs not notice these influences, they will produce no effect This is why people are so different. One person may be very intellectual, may have studied philosophy, art and so on and at the same time he has no chance if he has no magnetic centre. If he comes in contact with a school, he will not recognize it. And another man may be insufficiently educated, may not have read so much, may not know so many words, yet if he meets a school he may become interested at once. Q. What makes us different in this sense? A. It is a combination of what we are born with and outside circumstances that makes us what we are, it is all mechanical, all under the law of accident. It is useless to deny that people are born different; but that we cannot change, in any case in the beginning. We have to take it for granted that people have different capacities, but not for awakening, this is where people make a mistake. Awakening does not depend on what is born, it depends on the magnetic centre, and magnetic centre depends on what one is interested in. One person is interested in one thing and another in another thing, but on what that depends we do not know and it will not help us to investigate this question, because it will only be theories. In our state of consciousness we can only know some things and we must concentrate on the things we can know without wasting time on the things we cannot know Q. Does not our magnetic centre depend very largely on mechanical causes? A. Not quite. As I said, it is a certain combination of interests, and not only interests but also of ideas a man has acquired, a certain knowledge, a certain understanding It all enters into the magnetic centre. It is mechanical like everything else, but influences B are different in their nature, although in the beginning they come mechanically. This is not important. The important point is whether there is interest in B influences or not. This is how out of mechanicalness comes struggle with mechanicalness. Magnetic centre helps a man to see, understand and distinguish
certain things. A man cannot appreciate the difference between ideas, he cannot say which is better and which worse, which suits him, which does not suit him, without the help of magnetic centre. Accumulation of knowledge does not help to create a magnetic centre; magnetic centre is good taste with the help of which a man can have a new evaluation of the ideas that come his way. The question is, in this stream of life, to distinguish the two kinds of influences, to feel the difference between them. If a man does not feel it, if he takes influences B in the same way as influences A, then they produce the same effect and magnetic centre is not formed. Then, there are many dangers, because some of these ideas which make up the second kind of influences are so distorted that they can form a wrong magnetic centre. Magnetic centre must be very uniform and very sane to lead somewhere, otherwise it is only an embarrassment and nothing else. Q. How does one know whether one is under influences B? A. Influences B are always there. They come originally from the inner circle of life, from that part of life which has become free from the law of mechanicalness, but they may pass through many stages before they reach man and may be so distorted and so disguised that it is difficult to recognize them, just as it is difficult to recognize ideas of an esoteric origin which come to us in the form of legends and myths, or even superstitions and things like that. Sometimes they have an esoteric origin and then they are influences B. Q. Suppose one only imagines that one is working under influences B? A. One does not know about it and one does not 'work' under influences B. One can be interested in influences B just for one's own personal advantage, profession, fame or something like that; then one loses all the profit one can get from them. But if a man values them for themselves, not selfishly, not only for his own gain, if he is interested in their meaning, then he may get something from them. Definitions are very difficult and mostly wrong, for our ordinary language has so many different associations that sometimes a more precise definition spoils the possibility of understanding. For instance, you can say, though I do not guarantee that it will always be right, that the chief characteristic of influence A is that it is always selfish, whereas influence B is unselfish. But people understand these words so differently that it does not convey much. You can also say that influences A need identification and influences B can exist without identification and that if there is identification with influences B it spoils them. In fact, the more identification there is with influences B, the more they become influences A. But all this is not sufficient to explain the difference between them. Q. Is total immersion in influences B and complete rejection of influences A a correct attitude to life? Can we altogether dispense with influences A?
A. Why should we? Influences A may be quite legitimate interests in life. If you do not disappear in them they are quite harmless. One has to accept everything that comes, only not identify. Influences A are not dangerous in themselves, only identification is dangerous. So there is no question of dispensing, there is only the question of having some interest in influences B, of not being entirely under the power of influences A. If people have an interest in these influences B, they have a magnetic centre; if not, they have no magnetic centre. After some time, with the help of magnetic centre, a man may find a school, or if he comes near one he may recognize it. But if he has no magnetic centre, he will not notice it, or will not be interested. And if he meets a school or a man who transmits another kind of influence, influence C, magnetic centre helps him to recognize this new influence and absorb it. If he has rot first absorbed enough influences B, and so has no magnetic centre, or if his magnetic centre is wrong or too weak, a man will not recognize influence C. Or he may meet a wrong school and have wrong instruction and instead of becoming better become worse; instead of acquiring, lose. Influence C differs from influences B in that it is conscious, instead of being accidental, both in its origin and its action, whereas influences B are conscious in their origin but accidental or mechanical in their action. Influence C is school influence. Q. Must one be adult to recognize C influence? A. There is no general rule about age. But one must have enough experience, enough temptations from influences A and enough time to accumulate influences B. Otherwise influence C will serve as influence B; in other words, it will do the work of a more simple instrument and will not have its full value. When people have tried and have realized that ordinary means do not satisfy them, do not give them what they want, they- value influences C. But if they come before that, they take influences C on the same level as the other influences and influences C lose their power. It is very important to understand that. Q. When you recognize influence C, is it bound to be the right one for you? A. No, not at all, you may be right or wrong, it depends on your magnetic centre. If the magnetic centre is right, you are bound to recognize the right things; if it is wrong, you may find quite a wrong school. This happens every day. Why do so many quite unfounded and wrong schools exist, with no material whatever? Because people have a wrong magnetic centre. The case is possible, for instance, when a man with a wrongly formed magnetic centre may come upon a school which pretends to be connected with esotericism, while in actual fact no such connection exists. In this case influences which should have been influences of the third kind become influences of the first kind, that is, leading nowhere. Q. Isn't there a way in which one can find out?
A. Only by results. But even if people have wrong results, if they have a wrong magnetic centre they persuade themselves that the results are good. One can deceive oneself about anything. Generally speaking, there is very little chance of finding a right school and many possibilities of wrong schools, because a school must have influences C, that is, ideas that come direct from higher mind. What does 'direct' mean? It means coming not through books, not through ordinary learning accessible to everybody. These ideas must come from another school, and to that school again from another school, and so on, until one comes to the original source. If there are no ideas of that kind, it is only an imitation school. This does not mean that a school must be directly connected with the source, but it must at a certain time have received this kind of ideas, and then people can work on them. But if it has no ideas different from ordinary ideas, it is not a school; then, at best, it is a school on the level of B influences, that is, a philosophical or scientific school. It can be called a school only if, through it, one may be able to find the direction towards becoming man No. 4 (although there is no guarantee of attaining it). So, through the school you can find the right direction only if you have a right kind of school. If you come to a wrong kind of school you lose what you can learn by yourself. Q. What becomes of magnetic centre when one has come to a school? A. We can say that it becomes that part of a man which is interested in school work. It lives on influences B, but now it receives better material, more concentrated knowledge than before. Besides, many things a man has learned before may be useful to him when he has joined a school, particularly after he has thrown away all that is useless. In ordinary life man does not know what to learn and what to discard. For instance, many things in which people believe have no meaning, but a man often cannot recognize this and takes them all on the same level—both those that have meaning and those that have not. But in studying himself according to school methods he learns to recognize imaginary values in himself and, through this, to discover imaginary values outside himself. And then, much later, after long work, the group of 'I's or the personality which was the magnetic centre develops into 'deputy steward'. When the magnetic centre is right and a man meets with true influence C, it begins to act on the magnetic centre. And then, at this point, man becomes free from the law of accident. The bigger the magnetic centre the more man is free from the law of accident. This means that he becomes free from this law only at the point through which he is connected with influence C. Q. You said that, after bringing us into contact with the system, magnetic centre becomes deputy steward; is he the seed of permanent 'I'? A. What was magnetic centre before you met the work may later become deputy steward, which means a personality that conquers other person-
alities and leads them—but that does not come at once. Deputy steward is much higher than magnetic centre. Magnetic centre forms itself from B influences, while deputy steward is formed from one's efforts. Magnetic centre is the seed, the germ of deputy steward. Q. What is meant by the law of accident? A. The life of man-machine, of man who cannot 'do', who has no will or choice, is controlled by accident, for things in ordinary life happen mechanically, accidentally; there is no reason in them. And just as man's external life is controlled by accidental external influences, so is his inner life also controlled by both internal and external influences which are equally accidental. You will understand that, if you realize what it means that man is asleep, that he cannot 'do', cannot remember himself; when you think of the constant unconscious flow of thoughts in man, of day-dreaming, of identifying and considering, of mental conversations that go on in him, of his constant deviation towards the line of least resistance. People think that accidents are rare, but in actual fact most things that happen to them are accidental. What does accident mean? It means a combination of circumstances which is not dependent on the will of the man himself nor the will of another person, nor on fate, as do, for instance, conditions of birth and upbringing, nor on the preceding actions of the man himself. An accident happens when two lines of events cross one another. Suppose a man stands under the roof of a house, sheltering from rain, and a brick falls and hits him on the head. This would be an accident. There are two separate lines of cause and effect. Take the line of the man's movements and the fact that he happened to stop under the roof of that particular house; every small thing in it had a cause, but the brick did not enter into this line of cause and effect. Suppose the brick was negligently set and the rain made it loose and at a certain moment it fell. There is nothing in the life of the man or the life of the brick to connect them. The two lines of cause and effect meet accidentally. Q. If accidents pull the strings, what makes accidents? A. Other accidents. Nobody makes accidents; take it in an ordinary simple way. Things happen in human life according to three laws: 1. The law of accident, when an event happens without any connection with the line of events we observe. 2. The law of fate. Fate refers only to things with which man is born: parents, brothers, sisters, physical capacities, health and things like that. It also refers to birth and death. Sometimes things can happen in our life under the law of fate, and at times they are very important things, but this is very rare. 3. The law of will. Will has two meanings: our own will, or somebody else’s will. We cannot speak of our own will, since, as we are, we have