Albigen-Papers-7-Discernment

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SEVENTH PAPER

Discernment

Some of the preceding papers have been critical of the lack of orderliness in the outstanding sects and movements. Now this does not mean that I wish to be destructively iconoclastic alone, or that I intend to build a better icon. If I have a system, it is simply a system by which Truth is reached by the continual analysis (not breakage) of various transcendental poses, and by a constant vigil over the many factors within the self. I make this statement because it worked for me, and in my lifetime. The system is not new, not mine alone. I only hope to clarify things a bit.

If the Truth s within us, and we do not see it, it can only be that we see through the glass darkly, -- at this stage of the game.

This book has been in the writing-process, for about ten years. This time, while it should have given me ample time and opportunity to rewrite and re-write again, was also spent in studying ways in which to express that which few people ever try to express, once they have reached the experience.

We come at this point to the business of the paradox. Which may have been explained before. However, to point at myself for a moment, you will find that I attack many movements for their lack of common sense. It must follow then, that there may be a way, -- using a little more common sense, -- to outline a sort of summary of what this book is about. Of course the ultimate paradox lies in the knowledge by me, or the intuition of mind, that there is not any common sense method of describing that which I presume to be the discovery, which might be labeled cosmic consciousness.

However, until such time as when we are wired to this wheel no longer, we must make out the best we can with words. And pray for the proper intuition to speak the best ones, and pray that the reader has an intuition or rapport.

I would like to list the five following premises as a summary to the previous papers:

I. That the majority of the ISMS that serve as religious and philosophical guidelines for humanity are permeated by inconsistencies, and that in these isms many of the so-called facts are illusions or half-truths, and that most of man's beliefs are the product of fear and wishful thinking rather than an unbiased search for Truth. II. That the human mind is not infallible in its processes and that it suffers errors as a result of many factors, such as the conflicting clamor of appetites, intellectual limitations, fatigue, inadequate intuition, inadequate reasoning (or inadequate common sense faculties), difficulties of the dual mind in the solving of abstract or absolute considerations, and the lack of individual control over states of mind.

III. That there is a system of overcoming these errors, and the system is practical, and Truth may be realized.

IV. That the rate of realization is directly proportional to the amount of and quality of energy and attention applied to the quest.

V. That illusions are the great obstacles to Truth, and that the dispelling of these illusions involves the improvement of the inadequate factors mentioned in premise II, and better control over them. This process involves an ever-conscious schooling of the mind, so that it will be an instrument of Truth.

In reference to the message of premise III and IV, I have come to the following conclusions:

A. That there is a path to Truth. From ignorance to relative knowledge. From relative knowledge to an awareness of the limitation of such knowledge. And finally we pass from that which we recognize as a loosely associated intelligence to a Reality of Being. B. That the Path is not visible by even many who profess to be on a "Path". It is true that there are many paths, and it is also true that most people on those paths are quite convinced that theirs is the only real path. It is not until after they become broad enough to see that their paths at most only equal to many other paths, that they take another step and look about for a path that will lead them still further.

C. That the graduation from the field of many paths to a more selective path among the decreasing choices of paths (as the searcher retreats from incomplete or lesser paths), is a phase of entering the final Path.

D. That the Path does not require years of lesson-taking, and it is not bought with money. By the same token, we should not expect it to be brought to us on a gold server. Money spent should be so used as to hold a particular group together.

E. That if we applied the same amount of energy that is wasted in any of the material pursuits, we would see spiritual results. And as in any material venture the result of transcendental efforts are also proportional to the efficient interrelation or worker and brothers, whether it be in a study-group, or in some act resulting from mutual convictions.

We go back to premise II and add the following notes. A lot can be said about techniques that are relative to our thinking process, or that help in understanding ourselves. This is a partial list.

1. Progressive elimination of concepts and concept-building by eliminating those not as consistent within themselves, not as inclusive, and those whose scope does not bridge the range of unexplained phenomena as well as some other system of thinking does. 2. Self-Observation.

3. Self-remembering. (looking at our past)

4. The respectful doubt.

5. Application of the paradox.

6. Development of the intuition.

7. Retaining the identity of the Real Observer in various states of mind.

I do not wish to give the impression that I am about to embark upon a course that will employ premises with pursuant conclusions, and thus produce facts from a jumble of words. I only wish to list some observations in an orderly manner. If the reader is looking for syllogistic proof, he can quite reading now. If psychology is in its infancy, transcendentalism, its parent, also has its share of confusion. And the application of logic to transcendentalism will, in most cases, increase that confusion. A lifetime accumulates for us experiences, and the hope that a new slant, and the description of such, will, if nothing else, bring a new type of inquiring mind into the search. The slant is not all new, either. Many of the suggestions found here will be found elsewhere, but not always in this combination.

We come now to Laws. Down through the ages, mystics and scientists regarded the finding of laws to be the equivalent of finding milestones of progress. The discovery of natural laws has had a profound effect upon theological convictions. And the observation of laws of nature has caused some theologians to claim them as proof that a central, or singular intelligence is running the universe. The notice of the same laws has caused materialists to proclaim that the universe is running itself.

For an example we refer to the Law of Equilibrium. Everything seems to be in balance. At the same time, everything is changing. The planets are not bumping into one another, but the whole universe is either decaying or growing. So that the Law of Equilibrium is conditional, to the Law of Change. And all of this operates in pre-established, particular degrees.

These degrees are gauged by the environment of each entity, over which that entity has no control. We might liken it to the cohesiveness of water in the ocean. There is a built in equilibrium system in the sea levels. Water is suppose to flow toward its lowest point, yet we know that water is humped up in the middle of the ocean to conform to the shape of the earth. The ocean is not flat across, in other words. Supposedly, the centrifugal forces balance with gravity, and the continents are neither folded, nor is the water flung out into space.

Yet there is something that is not built into this earth-system, such as allowances for catalytical results of other celestial bodies, when those bodies come too close. Thus, when the moon and the earth are in a certain relationship, we have the tides. That cohesiveness-quality diminishes, and a part of the shore is flooded.

The same discrepancy occurs within the human body. There is an equilibrium among the cells of the body, but each cell is dying and being replaced. There is an equilibrium between the bodies or persons of humans, but these same bodies are being replaced. We notice that the stars are floating in what seems to be an eternal pattern, but we have learned that they too, are either changing or dying. Each in its own environments subject to laws controlling its environment but such laws do not effect the environment which is a degree or more above.

Recent observations in ecology have demonstrated that man can upset the equilibrium of the balanced aquaria of lower forms of life. Perhaps thousands of years of organic growth and soil-balance may be destroyed when the farmer plows in the cold winter, freezing out the grubs, and perhaps the whole ferment of life that differentiates soil from clay. At any rate, the grub is certainly deprived of his equilibrium in his dimension. Man can seine the seas empty of fish, and possibly create in a test-tube the proteins that have been lost by the forfeiture of our natural food-source. And by the same token, we are expendable. But man is somewhat inhibited form depleting the human population, either by the killing of an individual or the slaughter of an army.

So that equilibrium is a changing thing, and is subject to the eternal paradoxes brought about by incomplete human knowledge of our final resting place, and the final resting place of all things, including the planets and the suns. Equilibrium is a changing thing, because the equilibrium that existed among animals and plant life in the days of the dinosaurs is not the same as that which exists today.

And so it is with things spiritual. There is a Law of Equilibrium here too. It is called Karma, the Law of Retribution, or Divine Law. It is viewed by many as being primitive, while in fact it is only regulatory.

The Law of Equilibrium, or Karma, says in effect, that a being may kill its inferiors, but not its equals or its superiors. It may offend its inferiors, but not its peers or its superiors. So that we suffer no great consequence if we kill off spirochetes or mice, but we rarely get away with killing another human. I am aware that most Indians define Karma as being a chain of responsibility that ties men to animals in their temporal destiny, and this Indian definition leads me to use the word "equilibrium". Many Christians prefer to use the word Karma because of their abhorrence of the word sin or any word that might imply personal guilt. But they still do not agree with the Indian that man is held responsible for every ant on his path.

It is good to note, that if we follow this karmic line of thinking, -- (that of non-responsibility for lesser beings), there is no reason for us to presume that creatures superior to ourselves are restricted to our laws or our concepts of generosity. Different moral and ethical standards may be found in different environments and dimensions. This has been perceived by some transcendentalists, who have taken advantage of the knowledge by first claiming themselves to be superior, and secondly claiming themselves to be above the karmic laws of this environment.

We can see however, that if entities of a superior degree are not held to our laws, it is rather vain to presume that they operate on our code of justice. We may be either the goodies in their garden or the grubs.

Man cannot help looking desperately for changelessness, -- immortality. It is evident to us that all of nature is a dying process, form the virus to the constellations. The urge to live is as meaningless as the fear of death. We do not really know the reasons for either life or death. It is a fair guess however, that we are able to point upward, and note that there is a higher degree, using the concept of Progression. We feel like microbes dying on the face of the earth in order to promote something for the well-being of this planet, but we must not hurry to deify the planet. It too, is dying, waxing or waning.

A few of the Laws:

The Law of Equilibrium.

The Law of Change. (This negates anything as being constant, outside of the absolute state.)

The Law of Proportional Returns.

The Law of Extra-proportional returns.

The Law of Relativity.

The Law of Paradoxical Immanence in all things relative.

The Law of Complexity.

The Law of Love.

The Law of Faith.

The Law of the Ladder.

The Law of the Vector.

These are by no means inexorable laws, which, once broken, will damn us to the world of the crustaceans. It is not a complete list, nor would a study of their interrelation give us the final key to the ultimate cause or the final end. The application of them, or the observation of them, will help us understand things not previously understood. They may also save us a few sore spots, which are normally incurred by banging our heads against wills that do not move.

In the process of setting up a system of work for achieving Truth or appreciating Truth, these laws have a very important place ... There are laws which we find expressed in occult works, and I think that they are all worthy of notice if they were not invented to impress the reader. Gurdjieff speaks of the Law of Three and the Law of Seven. There is a certain periodicity and reoccurrence that pervades the physical world, but I consider it tangential at this time to study all of the material laws.

Let us run through some of the Laws and apply them to the Work. The Law of proportional Returns is another way of saying that you will get that which you give. This is the reversal of retribution. We offer instead of taking, and we find that it works.

The law also infers that we can cause a ripple ... that we can accomplish something and still not upset the equilibrium of our dimension. We may say that effort is rewarded, as long as it works within the laws of our dimension. We take another step, and say that helping others inspires help. Helping also develops in us a more acceptable attitude, but these social advantages do not measure a law. The mechanism of a law infers an automatic result.

Historically, the Christians were the first to utilize this business of giving and to make it a functional part of their philosophy. They gave of themselves along with themselves. Another law should be observed concurrently with the Law of Proportional Returns. It is the Law of the Ladder. The ladder is here used as a symbol to show that there should be a selective giving of goods, energy, or spiritual help. The law of the ladder simply says that you should not reach below the rung upon which you stand, except to the first rung below you -- in order to help people. If you reach down too low, your efforts will be wasted, and you may be hurt. Or Crucified.

The Law of the Ladder also says that you cannot be helped by anyone too far above you, because you are not prepared to work with that person on the same level in which he is working.

The Law of Love is another law, which brought trouble to the early Christians. It was discovered that hate only generates hate. Killing invites killing. Love on the other hand invites love. I doubt if there is any advantage for a person who loves someone who would like to kill him. Such a union might bring about a homicidal child that might really kill and love the killing. In fact Christianity bore such a child ... it was the monstrous era of the Inquisition.

It has been said of the Sikhs, that for generations, they were a peaceful people. I do not have the exact figures as to the years involved, but a guru of an Indian sect who was formerly a Sikh, (He may be a Sikh still), told me that there had been quite a long line of peaceful gurus. The Mohammedan invasions repeatedly afflicted the state of Kashmir, which is the Sikh home ground. Holy men were tortured and slain. Finally one day, one of the gurus rose up and told his people that passivity was a mistake. He advised them to defend themselves, and as a result of his advice, we have a very formidable group of people who find the sword to the partner of the Granth Sahib, the Sikh bible.

The proper application of the Law of Love should be in the direction of the friends upon the path, meaning those on our rung, and on the two adjacent rungs. This love can be expressed as friendship of the most unselfish type. For those too many rungs above us, we can only offer respectful silence. For those who cannot see us too well, being less fortunate, -- we can only afford compassion. Anything other than compassion may verge on self-deifying egotism.

The Law of Extra Proportional Returns can be effected only with the cooperation of friends. The Law of Proportional Returns tells us that we can count the number of yards that a gallon of gas will take a truck. It adds, that it we put two gallons in, we can expect only to go twice as far. The Law of Extra Proportional Returns infers an unexpected increment. To draw an analogy, two factors (human) working together will accomplish more results together, than will either of the two factors in twice as much time.

This is also known as the Contractor's Law. If this law did not exist, no contractor would hire men. It would all be done by individuals working alone. It was only when Henry Ford progressed to assembly line production that he really started making money.

The principle works in somewhat the following manner. One man can build a certain type of house in ninety days. Two men working together will be able to build it in forty-two or forty-three days. And five men, each specializing in a particular trade, may build it in fifteen days, or seventy-five man-days. And with more men, the work will be closer to perfection.

We apply the same principle to spiritual work. Since we are working with inadequate tools, in the hope of doing something more difficult than building a rocket for the moon, it is a good idea to give some of these laws a practical appraisal. Especially in view of the fact that men, -- whom we have recognized as being spiritual authorities, -- have found the employment of the Law of Extra-Proportional Returns to be expedient in the same way that it is recommended, here. We must work in groups, in other words. You can call them brotherhoods or societies, or you can work in groups without a name.

Gurdjieff called it the school. It is very difficult for a man to work alone. He tends to drift. If he does not drift, he many slip off on a tangent, become hallucinated, self-hypnotized, or plainly obsessed. He needs a mirror to watch for his own possible deviations, and he finds such a mirror in the minds of his colleagues, if nothing else. And when he realizes the value of cooperation, the only sensible thing to do is to form a pattern for cooperation, which pattern should allow for new brothers on the path.

Now the Law of the Ladder has more meaning. We do not visualize a single man upon each rung, reaching down, pulling up the man below. We find that the ladder is "A" shaped, pyramid in form, for one thing. There are less people on the higher rungs than on the lower rungs. We will be lucky if we can find one man who can help us, but we should be working with six or more on the rung below. We also find a new meaning for the brotherhood now. The man above may be pulling up the man below, -- but they are pushing him a bit, at the same time.

It is good to read books, hold meetings of sundry types, and even join a cult or two to hear that which they have to say, but there is no substitute for the Ashram or School. Forty years of solitary reading will not do for the individual that which would be accomplished by a two-year stay at a genuine Ashram. If this were not true, monasteries would not have endured down through the centuries, and monasteries are not always ideal Ashrams.

We now come to the Law of the Reversed Vector. This is first recognized by the student who has become mature enough to define himself as a student and not a god or perfect being with perfect understanding. In spiritual matters, man must become identified as a vector, or force, if he wishes for results. If this vector is aimed in the wrong direction, his life is wasted. Most people do not even bother to make of themselves a vector, even in uncertain spiritual drives. They announce their objectives before they begin to study, and then later announce that they have reached it.

The Law of the Reversed Vector states that you cannot approach the Truth. You must become (a vector), but you cannot learn the absolute Truth. Not knowing the Truth in the beginning, nor even the true path, we still wish to move toward the Truth. We find that there is only one way, and that is to first build of ourselves a very determined person, -- a vector. We cut off tangential dissipaters of energy and ball up this energy for the work ahead. And then like most of the clergy, we make the mistake of putting years of this precious energy into first one blind direction and then another ... until we learn that we must reverse the vector.

We must back into the Truth by backing away from untruth. We still may gamble a bit, because we will not know those things which are untrue in every case. We must develop a faculty, consequently, for being more aware of the difference between things true and things untrue. And it will not come suddenly. But we must begin with a simple start, and with faith in Progression. All of us can discern between thing ridiculously unlikely and things possible. Later we will take the category of things possible, and search it for those things which are more possible, brushing aside the category of things unlikely. And still later we will begin to realize our reasons for making erroneous choices in the early states of discernment.

Research or study along transcendental lines cannot parallel material or objective scientific research. The laws of physics, as we can see, hold some good, or hold inspiration for psychic research. But when we reach the point that we feel that we must become, rather than learn, -- then many things operating as physical laws must be looked at in a new light. We are still relative creatures in a relative world, trying to find that which may be an absolute value. And those who find it call it the Absolute. But this word has about as much meaning as the mathematical term "infinity". One divided by zero. In a way it is useless to use the term until we know that which we are discussing. And when we know that which the Absolute is, we may feel that it is useless to discuss it or use the term.

Being relative creatures, we must use words. They are still the language that makes the ladder possible. Words are the cursed cause of nearly all confusion and lack of understanding, but also the means of considerable rapport on abstract ideas not communicable with telepathy.

When we reach the stage at which we decide to become, we have to launch this reverse-vector, and only after it has cleared the last heavy interferences from any obstacles listed in the Fifth Paper. And as we launch it, we find ourselves receding away from the relative world and its laws to a point where we find things in a paradoxical state of flux, rather than answering to laws of physics.

Here is not there, and it is not here. Time does not exist apart from space, and yet time is eternal.

We now come to the Law of Paradoxical Immanence for All Things Relative. Very early in the search we get a hint of this. We find at first observations that the visible world is in a relative state. We identify an interdependence among all things and their definitions. Everything is, for instance, relative to the ability for measuring by the eye of the beholder.

We notice a mental dependency upon relationship or association. We cannot think without association, and this form of identification with ourselves, is expressed in the words "Law of Relativity" (which has nothing to do with Einstein). Paradoxically, we are related to all things, even to our hallucinations, illusions, and intangible emotions. We are related, but we cannot ever clearly think, until we come to a process of disassociation from the endless tangle of identification. Buddha hinted of this process when he advised, as a third step, that we "think of nothing".

There is another instance of relativity. We find that the cycles of the electrons are similar to the circling orbits of the planets around their stars. We find that the single reproductive cell may be a microcosm of the relatively huge human being or elephant. We find that the size (mass) may be affected by speed.

Then we go a step further and notice that things may often be, or appear to be, the opposite of that which they were originally.

We discover what appears to be an immanent paradox in all of our findings and postulates. This tends to confuse and deter most minds from coming to a positive stand on many matters. And this may be a good thing. Too often the critical mind poses as being infallible in its concept-building.

The paradox, while disquieting, is often for the thinker, the first real hint that there is a transience about the observable, physical world that will always elude his inquiries. There are several paradoxes in physics which have to do with the curvature of space and the nature of time.

The paradox only exists in the relative phases of analysis, or in the observation of laws with this relative viewpoint, -- and this includes spiritual laws. The student must keep the application of these laws within the dimension in which they were intended and in which they are operative.

For instance we may observe the Law of Love. And conclude that love has a power over hate. Then perhaps the student, a bit bravely or stupidly, launches out to conquer some space with love ... and finds that he comes under increasing attack. And in another compartment of space, he observes that another human being is conquering quite a bit of space or people with hate. So that, for a while, he thinks that the opposite of the Law of Love may also hold true, or thinks that the Law of Love is spurious, or is mere pollyanna.

In the first place, if the student abided by the Law of Love, he would not have played politics with it, nor tried to change people. And secondly, he would have known that the Law of Love has definite limitations in the natural world. It cannot clash with other laws, and least of all, with the "law of the jungle". All of the love in the world will not avert the carnivorous functioning of nature.

The Law of Inertia is likewise paradoxical. The definition of the Law of Inertia reads that things tend to remain inert, or in status quo. Things actually tend to change, to drift into inactivity, and to burst forth into life, as well. Some theorize that the universe is dying, and others theorize that the universe is ever expanding. And still others theorize, with equal reasoning, that the entire universe sprang forth from a black hole of inactivity. We witness the death of a planet, or a man, or we note the disintegration of an atom, and say that everything tends to die. However, we witness that throughout nature, the process of dying is simultaneous with the process of birth.

And there is an innate essence that goads all forms of life against the inert tendency. Of course there may be some argument as to whether this force is innate or external to the organism. Sometimes it is apparently internal, (as the procreative urge), and while it seems to work from within us, it has no long-range benefit for us as an individual organism. And thus we may be slow to own an urge that seems to be using us for the benefit of others or other purposes.

This force manifests itself upon us in the form of curiosity and desire. We do not plan to have a desire or curiosity. Consequently, while seeming to be motivated from within, we are moved by "implants".

Some parents, such as certain spiders, and caterpillars, are eaten by their mates or by their young. Actually, all parents are, to a degree, eaten by their young. But when we witness the mating instincts of this spider, we must assume that such instincts are powerful indeed, to prompt it to copulate when it must almost immediately die when the act is performed. The same situation applies to the salmon, which literally tear their bodies to pieces to find a remote sanctuary for their eggs.

Unless these urges are exerted upon the salmon, spider, caterpillar and the man, from outside (meaning a possible directive force in his environment not necessarily visible and not yet properly subjected to scrutiny), -- they would try to prolong their lives rather than submit to momentary pleasure.

It is reasonable to presume that all forms of life (and even matter) are similarly inspired, or forced.

The Law of Faith is another law that has its limitations. Faith will not move mountains, possibly because of other laws. Too many people believe that the mountain will remain at rest, and not be moved by faith. This is counter-faith. The Law of Faith does have to do with the changing of the apparent status of matter by means of human belief. It has been recognized by some occultists as being the actual method of the creation of the physical universe.

We might say that the limitations spoken of above, concerning the capacity of faith to affect material objects, are dependent upon the mind-quantum factor. This presumes that there is a quantum called faith, which though evidently immeasurable except by result, would signify certain units of faith-power per mind-unit (per person). The size of the miracle would depend upon the intensity of the belief of those minds. Healers are found to be most effective in multitudes, and less effective among people from their home town.

For instance we may observe the Law of Love. And conclude that love has a power over hate. Then perhaps the student, a bit bravely or stupidly, launches attack. And in another compartment of space, he observes that another human being is conquering quite a bit of space or people with hate. So that, for a while, he thinks that the opposite of the Law of Love may also hold true, or thinks that the Law of Love is spurious, or is mere pollyanna.

In the first place, if the student abided by the Law of Love, he would not have played politics with it, nor tried to change people. And secondly, he would have known that the Law of Love has definite limitations in the natural world. It cannot clash with other laws, and least of all, with the "law of the jungle".

All of the love in the world will not avert the carnivorous functioning of nature. The Law of Inertia is likewise paradoxical. The definition of the Law of Inertia reads that things tend to remain inert, or in status quo. Things actually tend to change, to drift into inactivity, and to burst forth into life, as well. Some theorize that the universe is dying, and others theorize that the universe is ever expanding. And still others theorize, with equal reasoning, that the entire universe sprang forth from a black hole of inactivity. We witness the death of a planet, or a man, or we note the disintegration of an atom, and say that everything tends to die. However, we witness that throughout nature, the process of dying is simultaneous with the process of birth.

And there is an innate essence that goads all forms of life against the inert tendency. Of course there may be some argument as to whether this force is innate or external to the organism. Sometimes it is apparently internal, (as the procreative urge), and while it seems to work from within us, it has no long-range benefit for us as an individual organism. And thus we may be slow to own an urge that seems to be using us for the benefit of others or other purposes.

This force manifests itself upon us in the form of curiosity and desire. We do not plan to have a desire or curiosity. Consequently, while seeming to be motivated from within, we are moved by "implants".

Some parents, such as certain spiders, and caterpillars, are eaten by their mates or by their young. Actually, all parents are, to a degree, eaten by their young. But when we witness the mating instincts of this spider, we must assume that such instincts are powerful indeed, to prompt it to copulate when it must almost immediately die when the act is performed. The same situation applies to the salmon, which literally tear their bodies to pieces to find a remote sanctuary for their eggs.

Unless these urges are exerted upon the salmon, spider, caterpillar and the man, from outside (meaning a possible directive force in his environment not necessarily visible and not yet properly subjected to scrutiny), -- they would try to prolong their lives rather than submit to momentary pleasure.

It is reasonable to presume that all forms of life (and even matter) are similarly inspired, or forced.

The Law of Faith is another law that has its limitations. Faith will not move mountains, possibly because of other laws. Too many people believe that the mountain will remain at rest, and not be moved by faith. This is counter-faith. The Law of Faith does have to do with the changing of the apparent status of matter by means of human belief. It has been recognized by some occultists as being the actual method of the creation of the physical universe.

We might say that the limitations spoken of above, concerning the capacity of faith to affect material objects, are dependent upon the mind-quantum factor. This presumes that there is a quantum called faith, which though evidently immeasurable except by result, would signify certain units of faith-power per mind-unit (per person). The size of the miracle would depend upon the intensity of the belief of those minds. Healers are found to be most effective in multitudes, and less effective among people from their home town.

Since the Law of Faith is generally applied for ostentation, and applied to physical bodies, much of its value is overlooked. Some quiet theologians indicate that our very post-mortem existence hinges upon the creation-through-faith of lands to come, by the combined faith-acts of all men, or a majority of them.

The Law of Complexity may well be called the law of life, since life is found only in very complex structures.

The Law of Complexity may well be called the law of life, since life is found only in very complex structures. Some thinkers take another brash step and announce that life is in fact nothing but complexity. Cybernetics indicates that complexity may be related to responses which might be identified with life.

The Law of Complexity, in application to the Work, has a particular meaning. While the complexity of molecular structures forms a life-matrix, it cannot be denied that such structures are highly unstable. So that protoplasm is forever dying and being replaced.

We also note that any transcendental movement that has allowed itself to become complex, and to sprout all sorts of ramifications, it in the same jeopardy as protoplasm. It tends to die.

And the avoidance of this complexity makes the work of members in a brotherhood even more difficult and complex. They must be vigilant for symptoms of any tendency toward becoming a vegetating institution, and must at all times follow the path of simplification rather than elaboration and dogmatism.

MILK FROM THORNS

It may be said that the Absolute is a state or essence from which all untruth has been subtracted, leaving behind a region of pure fact. Such a statement as "pure fact" would of a necessity mean non-relative fact, -- a state undefinable, because all facts, if described, or stated, immediately are qualified with colors not intrinsic to the fact-state itself.

I have tried to describe the effects of this coloration upon the mind of man, so that we can expect to suffer its removal. The most treacherous coloring agent for all fact-finding is the self with its emotions and voices. By the self is here meant, not the final, absolute Self, but the apparent self, -- the self, which we accept as "us".

As we run the gamut of many religions, cults or teachers, we discover, (only later) that they were acceptable in the first place because they flattered our self. Rarely are they really accepted because of their logical symmetry. And rarely do we try to protect them with logical implementation or common sense, but choose to confound our critics with such protests as divine visitation or intuitional guidance.

If our intuition is not perfected, this maneuver will only serve to bury us deeper. We are only setting up a smoke screen to prevent further questioning. This paper is not designed to muckrake religions that are sincere, nor to bring despair to people who are sincere, but whose capacity will not allow them to probe into clearer waters. I doubt if anyone will experience too great a feeling of despair, because those who cling too tightly to blind belief have a perception-apparatus that blinks shut at the mere approach of the next step. They have an automatic control-valve.

I must admit that I have depicted man as being little more than a helpless fish out of water. Gurdjieff depicts man as being asleep, functioning in graded stages of sleepwalking. Van der Leeuw sees man as being the figure in the cave, chained to his ignorance, and beguiled by shadows.

If all this is true, we are at a terrible disadvantage, to say the least. So much so that most men sense this from the beginning, and decide not to try to find reality. Like a drowning man, whose beginning to relax and find peace in giving up the struggle, we weigh the effort that is needed to keep ourselves awake long enough to solve the problem.

A true seeker is a very unique person. Outwardly he will not appear to be different from anyone else. His uniqueness comes form the particular game that he plays. He allows himself to become addicted, or to become a vector, -- once the idea of being a vector makes sense to him. He is like and eccentric deep sea diver who has experienced the rapture of the deep. He needs no other motive to live, except to live to continue the pursuit that seems to have the most promise.

The enlightened man has nothing to live for (by most people's standards), and yet he continues to live. Everyone else seems to have something to live for, but they are always ultimately disappointed. The seeker gradually grows indifferent to the objects of his appetites, and continues to move, even though those objects are the only motivation for other people.

And with this thought we come to the business of taking advantage from a negative situation, or taking milk from thorns. It has been said previously that the man who begins the search, changes as he goes down (or up) the path. The man who arrives is not the same man who started out.

Many a person has entered a religious life in order to get rich, or to set up a foundation to avoid taxes. Others have gone into occultism with the idea of getting power. Some have entered monasteries because they had homosexual inclinations. Yet many who so began became fascinated by the study of the Truth, and live to observe the untruthfulness of their initial motives, and also lived to make progress on the path.

These errors are not to be laid at the feet of mankind, but largely at the feet of nature. I have proposed that nature is both waxing and waning. And that in order to prevent all of the visible universe from collapsing into a void of inertness, there are certain "implants" or revitalizing factors that charge the ever-collapsing fountain of protoplasm and planets alike. These implants may be a dynamic catalyst that is not only present in the genes of the chromosomes, but is every atom-nucleus as well.

And I noted that they stir us in the form of curiosity and desire. This power-source is like controlled atomic energy. It is as relentless as death. Why not tap it?

Some of us do. Some of us allow our curiosity to study curiosity. We go along for the ride. Gurdjieff studied the behavior patterns by doing the opposite of expected behavior, so that he could observe the results and possibly be freed by those observations.

It is evident that the purpose of curiosity is to move the being or person from his immediate environment in search of food and a sexual mate. The curiosity-urge thus promotes a healthy specie because without it the mating would occur within a sibling circle with consequent degeneration of the species.

When man began to consciously focus his curiosity upon something besides food and sex, the era of science began. And of course it looked as though man was on his way to becoming a free agent, or an agent in charge of his environment, at least. But nature managed to move back in, at almost every effort which he made to liberate himself. At this point we do not need to enumerate the means by which nature brought this about. We can look at the list of Obstacles in the Fifth Paper.

Only the relentless study of curiosity itself will give us its meaning, and point to us the worth of applying that curiosity to self-definition, rather than to the creation of mountains of scientific definition, relative only to the functioning of bodies.

The observation of sex will show that animals build up energy to a point where they are of an age and ability for reproduction. Then they are either allowed to grow weaker because their purpose is attained, or else the process of reproduction triggers a weakening process. We have heard of the death-gene, and it may be that such exists, and if it exists, it must find its cause before or beyond the individual's life-experience.

For centuries mystics have looked upon sex with a seemingly unfavorable eye, and some pledged themselves to a life of celibacy. They did this because some of them thought that sex was an entrapment. But some went a step further, and tried to use sex, or the inhibited sexual energy to build for themselves and of themselves, -- a new mental mansion.

The inhibition of the appetites, for a period of time, is conducive to the development of the intuition. Sex, being the appetite with the strongest influence, must be proportionately inhibited.

A variation of this idea is found in a yoga-science devoted to raising the Kundalini. The illumination of the chakras is supposedly effected in this manner. In the western world, Percival came up with his book, Thinking and Destiny, the keynote of which claims that man is able to raise and transmute his seed-atom and thus bring about immortality.

These concepts should not be called absurd until we know the complete line of thinking. I do not believe that they (the concepts) were created out of whole cloth. I do believe that we certainly will attain a new perspective if the usual sex-flow, or expected sex-flow, is inhibited, or rechannelled. Mystics must have found that celibacy was amenable to the search, or they would have given up after a hundred years or more of the experiment.

Since the sex-act has a definite impact upon the mind, inasmuch as it is able to alter states of mind, or to bring about deceptive states of mind, it is worthwhile to assume that the inhibition or control of the sex-act will somehow inhibit or control a state of mind that is not conducive to our search. I do not presume to identify the complex mechanics of this tool, or lever.

In other words, the sex-instinct that has been implanted may be used to promote other than its manifest purpose. We can even speculate that the intelligence that designed this scene (the creation), planned it so that some shrewd and determined beings might find their maker, if they discovered and followed some labyrinth leading from illusion into the sunlight, and thus discover the Truth subtly woven into the fabric of the living-dying dramas.

In dwelling on the topic of sublimation, we are talking about the easily understood process of invention. The wonders of invention are brought about by using things in new combinations and in ways that to all appearances are contrary to the original design.

Out of the horned, paradoxical world of philosophy, and out of the thorny, relative world of pretensive beauty, we must surely draw some studies of worth. Only through the word Satori, will we know of Satori. We may experience it, but each of us will never know but that it was an experience unique into each one's self, unless someone makes the effort to talk about it.

Like the fakir who stands upon his head to gain new circulation for invented lobes in need of blood, so the mystic must stand occasionally upon his intellectual head, and look at things from different angles.

Relative words are supposedly used in the form of Koans to bring about a wordless state of being. Prolonged observation of sense, leads to an attitude or conviction that it is nonsense. It follows, especially with the Koan, that a prolonged observation of nonsense may bring us to a conviction of sense.

We like to think that a system that brings peace of mind is one that has the answers. But we know that peace of mind is mental lassitude, and to be really awake, it may be necessary to find an irritation to galvanize the mind from its "tendency toward inertia".

We like to think that scholarly study will keep us awake, and we rejoice that we have developed an interest that keeps us awake, as we absorb concept after concept. But after a while we discover that study is just the rolling up of a huge ball of yarn of relative world-observations that can go on forever and never bring us closer to the understanding of the mind.

We come to the conclusion that the finite mind will never pierce the infinite. Nor will a cast iron ball soar into the sky itself. However the vehicle can change. The mind can become, at least for a short time, less finite, and the balloon can be made of cloth instead of cast iron.

When a sewer is plugged, it can be opened sometimes by forcing water through from the opposite direction. When the human nervous system becomes fouled, we use shock treatments ... a sort of clearing of the circuits by changing the current direction or the voltage. These same "reversal" techniques aid in the clarification of the mind in relation to reality, -- meaning final reality.

There are two schools of thought about the advantages to be gained by harnessing those which are generally accepted as negative or energy-spending emotions. In dealing with emotions, we find society aware of the dangers that results from emotions, and lately we find society trying to rechannel that energy. It is far better if the individual finds a way to identify his violent emotions, and shunt their energy by observation and analysis.

In the child, the mind is not self-conscious enough, so we find children being slapped when their anger reaches a certain point. One school of thought indicates that the "voice" or "particle-self" that boils with anger or hate should not cause the host to be slapped, suppressed or eliminated. Ouspensky talks of the strengthening of these voices, rather than elimination. By observing them, we find new faculties, which can be very useful if properly directed.

The other school of thought, which is party to most theologians, holds such voices to be evil, and holds that they should be purged from the system.

We might say that the observation of hate should not be strengthened for us to learn to hate haters, but rather to be unshackled from the whole impulse, and to hold that the impulse is utterly absurd and energy-consuming. Once this energy is loosened, we find more time and vigor to pursue that which takes so much time and effort.

We come now to systems that give credence to the concept of cosmic consciousness, and we will undertake to observe them, looking for a chance to learn, if possible, the mechanism by which such a n experience can be brought about.

One of the most lucid books written on the subject is the Conquest of Illusion, by J.J. Van der Leeuw. Most authors claim that it is useless to try to talk about Nirvana, Satori, or Cosmic Consciousness, or to try to verbalize phases or findings relative to such.

It is just as foolish not to talk about it. I personally have encountered a few pseudo-mystics, or pseudo-masters who sold their wares under the impudence that showing their proof, or attempting to demonstrate the end-result of their teachings was impossible. They chose to quote a line that is heard in relation to Zen teachings about one who has reached Satori, -- "He who talks does not know, and he who knows, does not talk." Armed with this bit of incomplete truth, they manage to get by with a lot of quackery by parrying any pertinent questions with the above quotation, and the sly wisdom of silence.

It is true that most people who have reached any such realization are generally reluctant to talk to those who are not close enough to their "rung of the ladder" to understand. It is more a matter of not wishing to waste one's energy, or of avoiding the giving of an impression that might cause bad reactions. After a person has left some listeners with the impression that, as a speaker, he is a sly huckster, or a lunatic, -- he will be slow in speaking of his discovery before all levels of minds. I remember recently the aftermath of a meeting with a group of ladies. They remarked, after I left, that I sounded like a communist. This did not result form their exposure to any arcane secrets, but to the simple exhortation to look within themselves for the Truth.

It is good to take a note from this. I did not check out the capacity of the members beforehand. I was invited to speak by a well-meaning lady, and succeeded not one lota in being of any help for them. None of them were prepared to hear anything with which they did not already agree.

To get back to Van der Leeuw, we find that the book describes the possibility of an Absolute state. This is a powerful book in that it pioneers the attempt to explain at least, Satori, or Cosmic Consciousness from a viewpoint of common sense. "The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, it is a reality to be experienced."

This book, however, does not tell you precisely how to reach cosmic consciousness. Because of individual, personal factors, no book can furnish a complete, guaranteed roadmap. The author is very good in listing other authors such as Ouspensky and Plotinus who seemed to know about the subject. Van der Leeuw is also very good in his diagrammatic explanation of the relation of restricted or relative consciousness to absolute consciousness.

We come now to Ouspensky, and his book, The Fourth Way. This book as well as In Search of the Miraculous is written as a result of his association with Gurdjieff, and is an effort to convey the teachings of Gurdjieff about the liberation of the mind from illusion.

Gurdjieff, via Ouspensky, does go a step further then Van der Leeuw. He comes right down to the individual and shows each of us how we can start to eliminate self-delusion from ourselves. In practical language Ouspensky gives us techniques for emancipation ourselves from the cave of shadow. And we feel that many of these techniques were used in monasteries for decades before the time of Gurdjieff, but no one ever bothered before to explain them in laymen's terms.

Another author, Rolfe Alexander, has come up with a variation of the Ouspensky system. Mr. Alexander leads the reader to believe that his system will enable the student to control the physical environment. There is a frontispiece in the book, showing the author in the act of dissipating some clouds by concentration. That little picture ordinarily would discourage quite a few from reading the book, if such readers were interested in finding the Absolute. And especially if such readers have an inkling that the physical, relative world is not the object of conquest. No true possessor of Cosmic Consciousness would ever try to change anything but his own erratic view of the world-picture.

And yet, I found the book by Rolfe Alexander (the name of the book I do not have) to be of some value, in that he gives specific exercises for "expanding the consciousness". Alexander brings into use the lever of hypnosis. I have never encountered this means in any other system which purported to lead man to the Absolute.

Naturally, I have not tried his system, and so my comment on its success must be limited. I have explored several systems which told of levers or techniques for shattering the illusion. His is one of them. Having worked with hypnosis, I realize that man is hypnotized nearly all of the time, and there is no better way to demonstrate man's sleepwalking condition than with hypnosis. It may be fair to presume also, that, by using the technique of reversal of negative influences, -- it is possible to awaken man by using hypnosis to direct the subject toward being a reverse-vector.

The point to consider about autohypnosis is the qualification we must place on any state of mind that is reached by autohypnosis, as distinguished from the state of mind which is reached by hypnosis. When you are hypnotized by another person, a state of mind is imposed upon you also, but you remain more in control over it because an external intelligence has control over it. In other words, a person may become very hysterical, as in the case of a young lady who had come to believe that she was being executed. If this condition had been induced by the lady herself, she may not have been able to extricate herself.

The next thought of course is, -- can we trust anyone that far? Can we trust anyone to project us into a state of mind? What assurances have we of his expertise, his morality, etc.? Or his ability? Or the outcome of such experimentation?

And of course the only answer to these questions is that if we desire such a short cut, we must either take our chances with autohypnosis or with a hypnotist with whom we would trust our very mind.

There is another method, but this alternative has its risks and uncertainties as well. But it is better than doing nothing, and it can be an interim-gamble, while you are waiting to find a better teacher. A group of people can form a work-society and use "sensitivity" techniques to open one another's eyes to some of our thinking techniques, and our errors. It is similar to a psychological group-therapy-session. Thus we may free ourselves by accident, from many illusions, using other people as irritants and critics. Such a system would be especially valuable if each person coupled with it, a subsequent hour of mediation, or if the group managed to adopt a skillful mentor.

To summarize the observations on the different methods of enlightenment, we can conclude that man, in his quest to find himself, has intuited the need for a catalyst. The catalyst takes on different forms, because of the uncertainty of any human mind as to the type of catalyst it thinks it needs. The catalyst, if it is a system, bears the stamp of the originator, because it worked for his type of personality, or was accidentally discovered by him.

That which occurs by accident is more reliable (for evidence-value) than that which is born out of an intense desire of faith, because the human mind is the matrix from which many weird things are hatched by faith. We must be careful not to conjure up a preconceived idea of the Absolute.

[End]