Self-Remembering - Robert Earl Burton

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SELF-REMEMBERING
ROBERT EARL BURTON

This book is dedicated to my beloved students, be they in

life or die that means more than I could
ask; I couldn't have asked for more.
Published by the Prior Pages First edition in
Romanian published by Prior Pages in 1997
Prior Pages srl, Post Office Box 6-1, Bucharest, Romania
With love, Robert
Copyright © 1995 Robert Earl Burton

Copyright © 1997 PRIOR PAGES All Rights Reserved
on this translation are reserved to PRIOR PAGES Publishers
Thanks to friends in Palo Alto
Coordination and technical editing of the work PRIOR PAGES

ISBN 973-96245-3-7
Printed in Romania
The same publishing house also

published: PDOuspensky- Psychology of the possible
evolution of man PDOuspensky- in search of the miraculous (2 volumes)
content
Introduction iii
To be present
Self-remembering 1
10
Divided attention
The results of self-remembering 22
28
The car
33
gave him his personality and essence
41
Shock absorbers and manifolds
48
Imagination and identification of
54
action
To make an effort 61
65
Suffering
73
Transformation and negative emotions
83
Scale and relativity
94
I impose on them
Death 101
<onscience 105
113
<higher entries <oi
124 132
the astral pole
Smcle 135
Influenza C 139
The art 150
The fourth way 154

< >mv»l the number 159
four 169
School
(rejoicing 180
INTRODUCTION
As twenty-five years, Robert Earl Burton founded the

x\.Fellowship of Friends, a school for spiritual development,
following the tradition of the Fourth Way, whose teachings
have been transmitted, in this century, by GI Gurdjieff and PD Ouspensky.
An Armenian-Greek mystic and instructor of sacred
dances, Gurdjieff rediscovered the tradition of the Fourth Way
during long travels in the Orient, which inspired his book
Encounters with Remarkable Men. He is perhaps best known
for his book The Stories of Beelzebub to His Nephew". His
main disciple, Ouspensky, became, in turn, a spiritual leader
and translated the ideas of the Fourth Way into a series of
clearly written and elegantly thought out works, including "The
Fourth Way" and "In Search of the Miraculous ", both published
after his death in 1947.
One of the characteristics of teaching, as it was
presented by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, is the use of specialized
language, which ensures precision and understanding for students.
Some common words have acquired new meanings, and
readers are invited to consult the glossary at the end of the
book for unfamiliar or apparently confusing terms.
Because the Fourth Way is based on individual
verification, understanding and, equally, on personal
transmission, each "teacher" reinterprets it. Robert Burton's
teaching, although starting from the knowledge transmitted by
Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, broadened to embrace the spiritual
heritage developed over the centuries and across cultures,
from Marcus Aurelius and St. Paul to Lao-Tze and Abraham
Lincoln. Gurdjieff approached the Fourth Way through rigorous
physical and spiritual training in sacred dances, and (hispensky
a attention to an equally rigorous intellectual discipline Robert
Burton emphasizes the education and discipline of minds ('The
unique opportunities he offers students include
IV SELF-REMEMBERING
INTRODUCTION
the love of beauty and the understanding of its ability to create high
Burton. "we try to use suffering, instead of it using us".
states of consciousness, an acceptance of people and events as they
are, without value judgments as well as a deep humility and
For years, students came with their questions, problems and
submission to a higher intelligence. "If I had three wishes," he once
protests. For years, with endless patience, he taught them that the
said, "they would be: Your will be done, your will be done, your will
only real solution to any "problem" consists in efforts to remember
be done."
oneself and transform personal sufferings. However justified the
Perhaps Robert Burton's greatest contribution to the field of
complaints, however unfair the events in everyone's life , the only
the Fourth Way is his ability to unerringly capture the essence of the
alternative is to face them, in their totality. This broad acceptance is
teaching. Although the system offers a wide range of theories, he has
the key to the "de facto" transformation of negative emotions into a
resisted the temptation to deviate from its highest application: the
higher state of consciousness, which creates the capacity to love
creation of higher consciousness in his students. He never stopped
selflessly and is the true meaning of any spiritual teaching. What the
repeating the fact that teaching is simple, but not easy. From the great
individual gains from this process can then be emanated outwards,
storehouse of knowledge of the Fourth Way, he extracted and
for the benefit of others. "It's a secret," Robert Burton once said, "that's
emphasized two principles, above all others: self-remembering and
almost too sacred to tell. The secret is: what wins one, wins all."
the transformation of suffering.
Self-remembering is the attempt to be more aware at a given
moment, to be more present. It is a form of active meditation that can
take place at any time and in any situation, in which the student tries
In the years since its founding, the Fellowship of Friends,
to be aware at the same time of both his person and the environment,
based in northern California, has grown slowly and quietly, now
as opposed to the state of being immersed in a world own interior or
numbering about two thousand students in centers around the world
to be lost and to react mechanically to a sea of stimuli. Repeated
(see end of book for a partial list). It is our sincere hope that this book
efforts of self-remembering lead to heightened states of consciousness
will serve not only as a compendium for students of Robert Burton, but
and a new understanding of man's place in the Universe.
will introduce new spiritual possibilities to others.
This internal, personal struggle to witness one's own life is the process
The book is the result of the efforts of many members of the
by which the soul is created.
"Fellowship of Friends" over the years. We cannot thank all of them
Robert Burton tirelessly placed self-remembering at the
individually, but special mention goes to Elizabeth Evans, Linda
center of his school. Although he asked students to live as good a life
Kaplan, Catherine Searle and Brunella Windsor for their substantial
as possible and develop their personal talents and abilities, he never
contributions. Also gratitude to Girard Haven, who undertook the task
lost sight of the fact that even the greatest genius pales in comparison
of creating the glossary, as well as to the translators who worked to
to mere consciousness; that is, as he said so many times, "there is
edit faithful versions of this book in several languages.
no higher activity than presence in silence".
Transforming suffering means learning how any negative or

Jeanne Chapman
painful experience, be it big or small, can be used to create self-
remembering. This process requires long work on changing attitudes, Apollo, California.
so that the student understands that the ultimate responsibility for any
negative emotion - anger, irritation, fear, self-pity, and so on - belongs
to the individual, and not to the events that happen to him. "Iu ÿi
Mil't'rim, with or fKrfl ÿconlA" H «pui» Robert
Not one of you noticed the most important thing I mentioned

to you, which is that not one of you noticed that you don't remember
yourselves...
Remember yourself always and everywhere. George
Gurdjieff
The effort to remember yourself is the most important,

because without it, nothing has value; it must be the foundation of
everything.
Peîer Ouspensky
When you begin to find that you can barely remember

yourself for a few seconds, it seems unimportant, but you must
understand that it is difficult precisely because it is the beginning of a
new state, the key to a new world. If it were easy and the results
would come faster, it wouldn't matter
other
Rodney Collin
TO BE PRESENT
There is no greater miracle than being present. This is where

N everything starts and has no end.
What is the meaning of the term self-remembering? He refers

to your sleeping soul remembering to wake up.
Endings are an illusion, because the present is eternal. Being

present where you are is the simple story of your life.
Every insignificant moment is our life; simply sitting, trying to

be present.
It is difficult for us to be present, yet throughout our entire lives

everything remains uncertain, except for the present. We look
to the future, believing that there is more there than here. Man
avoids the present by chasing an illusory future or living in the
past. What we should want is the present, but what the machine
wants is anything but the present. We must constantly find the
present, we have dedicated our lives to this goal.
You cannot be present at the destination if you are not present en rouîe.
When I have "selves" that want to be somewhere else, I've learned

to immediately transform them by being present, because the
machine is never satisfied with where it is. In a way, we're lucky
that "selves" they repeat themselves and are so clearly illusory.
They make the substance of life obvious, because the most absurd
things will try to take us away from the present. The more absurd
they are, the better, because that way we know we have no reason
to follow them.
2 SELF-REMEMBERING
TO BE PRESENT
The car cannot be present, so it looks for alternatives; this is her fate.
Everything is relative and subjective, except for one's own self. When
Although the machine usually does not like the present, this day is as
one is present, one is objective; this means that that someone has no
important as a day thirty years from now; at least today is safe.
other object than his own rail.
It's important to work hard to be present, but you don't have to force the
An interesting "I" appeared during the concert: "What do you want?" and grade, because you can get in your own way. Do whatever you can to
the answer was, "To be present, that's all." Nothing compares to self- be present, but don't become too tense, because that's another way to
remembering, and nothing really exists without it. Sometimes, with self- fail in self-remembering.
remembering, everything you see turns into poetry, being the echo of
heaven: the flowers, the light falling on the grass. What was the most important thing you learned on your recent trip?
Just think how many subtle shades of green exist in nature.
To be where I am and accept this. If I were not present when I travel,
there would be no need to travel, for indeed there is nowhere else to
Our dinners are like being on a ship at sea: we have nowhere to go and go but the present!
we settle in the present. One of the nicest aspects of dining together is When you travel, you are an objective witness of human subjectivity.
being here and not having the car unhappy at the moment or wanting to
be somewhere else. The four lower centers are now much more
favorable to the presence of something supreme. Consciousness has We each have our share of joy and happiness, but that is not the goal.
different degrees, and at this moment our consciousness is at a higher We are here to be present and that should make us happy. Each
level than perhaps at any other moment of the day today. we are still moment offers the possibility of entering the present. You must use your
trying to be present and this moment will never be offered again. time wisely, remembering that your time is measured.
How can anyone stop rushing?

I have not mentioned self-remembering this evening, but it constantly Realizing that the next moment is not more important than the present
looms behind our actions. When someone is trying to be present, it moment.
doesn't matter if they're talking about Rilke's Duine Elegies or a student's
wheelchair, as long as self-remembering permeates their actions. This How can one refrain from criticizing oneself for not being present?
is why the Fourth Way exists primarily in the midst of ordinary life.
Self-blaming "hurts" are not self-remembering. They are just another
waste of time, and in fact reflect a lazy mind.
Emotional upheavals offer the opportunity to be present and to progress.

every day we work hard to be present and under no circumstances
while you feel a strong negative emotion, remind yourself that it will
should our efforts be diminished towards the end of the day. We are all
pass. We often wish we had remembered this during, and not after, the
doing everything we can for our own track, for the school and for
storm. You don't exist when you are a prey to negative emotions. Also,
Influence C. We can't change events, but we can change ourselves.
remember that the noble king of cups is destined to disappear eventually,
Concentrate without words; don't identify with the events, transform
so that your divine higher centers can develop.
them and be present.
Aii l '
WHO - . / l N l
sJ;II UIMI
In some ways I have a very bad memory because I try to be in the present
Some shocks are so inexplicable that we are forced to resort to self- and not in the past or the future. Many things are forgotten, but this is a small
remembering. The immediate impulse is to be present, and self-remembering sacrifice compared to being present. We sacrifice nothing of value when we
becomes self-defense. Johann Goethe said: "He who seizes the moment is try to wake up: death is the pitiful fate of life, but all the moments in which we
your man." You must seize the moment or something else will. enter the present are indestructible. as for the rest, it's just a waste of time. I
try not to be lured by the memories. When memories, pleasant or unpleasant,
try to occupy the living present, you can glance at them for a few seconds, or
try not to distort the present into something it is not; accept it on its you can ignore them and return to the present.
unquestionable terms.
Plutarch said, "The present is given to us only for a second and then escapes
the senses." The present escapes the senses because consciousness does
not represent the functions. Our higher centers do not belong to the senses, Our lives are nothing more than every step we take and every moment that
but we try to use the senses to form the higher centers. Even while you look passes, but our machines persist in believing that life must be other than the
at the smooth floral arrangement, remaining aware of your person, the higher present. From time to time I stop and, wherever I find myself, in familiar or
centers develop. unusual situations, I think: "The events of this day constitute my life." Behind
all the questions, above them, there is the enigma: how can you be present?
And the greatest happiness for a rational man is the ability to be present in
Home is where one is present. When I returned from my journey, the memory his own life.
of myself became very familiar, but I knew in the depths of my being that the
state of mind, not the place, was to be treasured.
This moment offers you as many possibilities as any other during the day or
We don't think about the person we were before we met the school, because any other in your life. You have to work well with whatever the present gives
we are no longer that person. indeed, then there was no one present in us. you. Don't be fooled, the next moment has no greater value than the present.
indeed, you cannot live the future without penetrating the present, because
the present is the future.
Even just trying to be where you are in this moment is self-remembering.
Controlling your mind, which is prone to wandering, is an expression of self-
remembering. Every age offers the present, which is all it can ever offer. How sweet and
clear the present is, how self-satisfied it is,
You gain many valuable things by changing the level of your being, and the
greatest treasure is the ability to enter the present, more frequently and more
deeply. You can have anything if you are content with the present, nothing is Ironically, you can add something to your false personality if you acquire the
as exciting. It is a great victory that we can achieve and we are winning. process of self-remembering, instead of self-remembering itself.
The present is eternal:

As time passes, you live more and more for each day, and self-remembering
and friendship become ultimate achievements.
One of the reasons it is so hard to remember ourselves is that the present is Horace said: "Happy is he, and only he, who can call today his own".
so close to us.
We rarely look in front of us when we are looking for something.
SELF-REMEMBERING TO BE PRESENT
One of the best ways to be present is to listen. while listening to the The purpose of meditation is to be present, and being present is not
music and working with self-remembering, no useful thought arose until reserved for special occasions or settings; this must happen wherever
an "I" said, "It is enough to be present." you are and in whatever circumstances.
One definition of success is being present as much as you can, every

William Shakespeare's phrase "To be or not to be" is composed of six day. You also have to weigh how much you've managed to externalize
words, five of which contain only two letters. This economy of language others. Take this idea simple, because all deep ideas are simple. If two
represents the idea that awakening is an essential process. The highest people enter through the same door and you choose to be the second,
dimension of existence occurs when the rails yours remembers to be. you have considered outside. A day is an appreciable unit of time and
there are many small occasions like it where you can apply the various
tools of the system. External consideration is a working tool; you can use
it, and a moment later struggle with keeping accounts with the same
We can go nowhere, really, but the present; the center of motion can
person. Our lives are composed of the moment-to-moment struggle to
take us to a place of rest, but we can go nowhere but now. Omar be present, and we grow in proportion to our ability to give, which is why
Khayyam wrote: "And behold, the phantom caravan reached the conscious beings are characterized by compassionate actions that
Nothingness from which it started; hurry up!" elevate humanity.
This evening is not a bridge to something, this evening is itself. The

words I have spoken lead us nowhere but the present. There is no higher activity than silent presence; she cannot be imitated.
Self-remembering means embracing the present, with whatever it Whole groups of "I's", on attractive topics, try to distract you from the
contains; it is the wine tasting or the image of a beautiful bouquet of present.
white tulips. Ouspensky said that "all the ideas of the system revolve
around this single idea." Self-remembering is the hub of the wheel, all Anything but the present is illusion.
other ideas are spokes.
Many people think they don't have time to be present; imagines that this
is designated for special circumstances. try to be where you are and
The influence of C brought us together, to try to enjoy ourselves. Anyone
don't let the past seep into the present. The past is only a word, while
can be in the imagination, anyone can be delusional, anyone can be
the present is reality in motion. You can leave the past only through the
negative. try to avoid imagination, identification, negative emotions. We
present, and through the present you work for the future. Our work is
have the present.
always now. We have nowhere to go but the present, because all roads
lead to the living moment.
Johann Goethe had a remarkable life and is a conscious being. He
completed his mission on the first day of spring, symbolizing the finding
of the eternal fountain of youth. To an observer, during his last days, he Focus relentlessly on the present as best you can.
seemed to have escaped many illusions and to live not in the future or If it's a few seconds or a moment, every day, be grateful. The present
the past, but in the lucid present. needs to be neither more nor other than what it is. When we grow old,
we must separate ourselves from the inability, which appears from time
to time, to be present. One
SELF-REMEMBERING TO BE PRESENT
one of the best ways to be present is to separate ourselves from the We will try to be present until the last breath. With self-remembering you
disappointment that comes from the realization that we were not present. don't have to wait to experience eternity, because eternity is here when
Our hearts are so full of energy! you are present.
Bernard Berenson, traveling through southern Italy, in his nineties, spoke

The first time I started being present I couldn't speak and be present at
of the beautiful landscapes he contemplated: "What views of Ischia,
the same time. It takes some time for you to be able to do this. When
Procida, of distant Capri, the one like a cameo! Die alte Weise, again
self-remembering began to emerge, I didn't care what kind of state it
the same state grips me; but what matters now is the state, not the
was, I just left it alone and lived it. I didn't want to be ripped out of it. I
want nothing more than to be present in this moment. message. In fact, there is no message anymore. That is ALL - it is its
own and only, non-transitory purpose".
come back, in one, to the present. The only realizable idea on Earth is You have to get to a point where you stop expecting messages about
to be present; it is truly the only thing possible and it is not mechanical. being present. You must absorb the memory of yourself and stop talking
about it; you must be present!
As long as you are breathing, there is time to remember yourself. Your

self, this common word, belies the incredible nature of achievement.
Can you tell us what we need to do to be present?

You must find the ambience more interesting than the imagination.
How can I work with the identification that prevents me from being
present?
Give up identification in exchange for identity. This attractive system
works, but only if you use it. The system does not flatter us, but it gives
us the opportunity to escape.
It is important to stock the centers, but it is not as important as being

present.
Be grateful for the present.
Will: this is the best power, the rest is just inertia.

The will is self-remembering and being present is the power of the will.
Is prayer useful?
Yes, if you ask for the right thing: help from Influence C to wake up,
which will almost certainly mean transformation of suffering.
REMEMBERING SELF 11
do this. Also, you don't have to look for a single definition of self-
remembering, because it means many things.
Self-remembering has had various catchy names over the centuries.
REMEMBERING SELF William Shakespeare said: "A rose by any other name smells just as
beautiful." History has revealed a lot of other immortal people, but
they have never heard the term "self-remembering".
We take part in something both joyful and unpleasant. Separation

from these two experiences, and not indulgence in them, gives us
life. Self-remembering is the only non-biological activity on Earth.
It is easy to discuss self-remembering because, in its highest form, it
is a wordless process. Self-remembering is an idea that, in fact, did We cannot understand self-remembering in thirty minutes, and what
not emerge with its own name until the twentieth century. it entails cannot be described even in a single day. Self-remembering
is the great mystery of organic life on Earth, and we should not expect
the objective wisdom, hidden for centuries, to be easy to understand.
We all remembered ourselves before we met the system, but we
didn't know what to call it and, more importantly, we didn't value it.
When you remember yourself, you also create your own track. : you Self-remembering is an eighteen-hour-a-day effort.
create an astral body. You have to work with the weights at all hours of the day and if it is
Our lives are composed of so many ordinary moments, of so many not non-existence or power, it will be imagination, inner consideration
ordinary miracles. An important element of self-remembering is the or identification. There is no substitute for self-remembering, and that
recognition of the sublime in the ordinary. We must remember to is both the bad news and the good news.
appreciate the simple and unexpected nature of self-remembering. It
is the opposite of life, which stirs to get our undivided attention. The intellectual center shares experiences by talking about them,
because language is its only means of communication. Thus, we
must use words to enter a divine, wordless state. Ouspensky drew
Ouspensky said that you cannot find out your position by yourself; our attention to the fact that self-remembering is not an activity of the
you must be trained. You must be guided to understand that the mind, just as knowledge cannot be a substitute for self-remembering.
hidden purpose of life on Earth is to create a soul through the tireless The proper function of our intellectual center is to describe and
process of self-remembering. He also said that we must realize that classify phenomena, although descriptions of objects are not the
we have discovered the weak point in the walls of mechanism, the same thing as the objects themselves. When this activity prevents
"Achilles heel" of the machine. The basic idea that this system offers self-remembering, we are working incorrectly.
is self-remembering, an idea that has been completely overlooked.
by Western psychology.within Western culture, only literature presents
the concept of the penetration of the present. Number fours need to limit the time they spend thinking about these
ideas, because self-remembering easily disappears behind words.
Harriet Beecher Stowe used to advise people to stop thinking and be
One of the best ways to work with self-remembering is to eliminate content to be , and indeed to take in your impressions can be
what is not self-remembering. paradoxically, you have to remember downright extraordinary.
yourself to be able to
10
12 SELF-REMEMBERING
REMEMBERING SELF 13
Formative thinking tries to reduce any subject to a single all-

encompassing sentence. She wants a single definition of self- In general, human nature does not perceive the obvious, therefore
remembering, as if the higher centers were bound by a limited esoteric truths were frequently presented in the form of stories. The
experience, but self-remembering has many aspects. Taste the wine, stories often begin with the sentence "Once upon a time," indicating
look at the flowers, listen to the music. It is interesting that she is temporality, and end with a prince and princess (World 6 and World
always at hand, although the manifestations are multiple. 12) who "live happily ever after," meaning eternity, immortality.
It is external consideration, it is non-identification, non-expression of
negative emotions, voluntary suffering and, above all, transformation
of suffering. Each of these experiences is a shade of self-remembering. The development of the level of the being is proportional to the
Your self can be evoked both in moments of danger and in the midst maturation of the king of cups. Self-remembering must originate in the
of great beauty. king of cups, because we cannot rely on accidents to produce
consciousness. We all need as much help as we can get, either
One way to find out what self-remembering is is to find what it is not. through our own efforts, or through the law of chance, or from the C
Through a similar procedure you can check your main feature, body Influence.
type and center of gravity.
If you remove some variables, there are fewer to examine. Dante Alighieri said that from a small spark a powerful flame can break
out. The method to be used is self-remembering. And yet there is
Omar Khayyam said: "One thing is true... and the rest are lies." Self- nothing more imperceptible than self-remembering, and we must, in
remembering is the eternal truth, which deftly confronts the eternal lie. our own little way, return to it when we can. A neutral state is not a
vegetative state, but a state of non-attachment, which rejects the
imagination; it is a state of self-remembering. The moments in life that
Ouspensky observes that we are used to the absence of reality. we clearly remember are the moments of self-remembering. Even so,
Gurdjieff titled one of his last works " Life is only real when 'I am'". For self-remembering has degrees; traveling in a foreign country you can
us as well as for him this means that life is only real when you be present at hundreds of trees without remembering the vast majority
remember yourself. of them. Where there is memory, where there is divided attention,
there is your rail.
Self-remembering does not use inertia; you have to make an effort

moment by moment. When the third state appears, instead of talking Our memorable moments make up our lives.
about it, live it; it is your rail, your soul, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Song If you review your life, the moments you really remember reveal that
and Words". the higher centers were present.
Ouspensky said that we only know about the other moments that they
happened.
You cannot escape by talking, or eating, or laughing, or crying; but
you can escape by remembering. Remember yourself a little, every
time. The Fourth Way provides a solid, basic structure for personal evolution,
but it cannot do more, because self-remembering cannot be imitated.
If you remember yourself without others noticing, then you have Although most of the artistic manifestations you witness are imitative,
there is no self-remembering that you can imitate. Nothing is wholly
remembered yourself successfully. If the false personality plays the
role of self-remembering, you diminish yourself. self-remembering, except one's own remembering self.
14 SELF-REMEMBERING REMEMBERING SELF 15
There are certain memories from our childhood that time has not erased. similar to self-remembering in that they sparkled in the dark. It is helpful to
Why? These moments belong to the fourth dimension and are not destroyed ask yourself, “Is this self-remembering?” If it is not, remove it.
by the passage of time. Self-remembering is the only phenomenon that
rules both time and death. Paradoxically, one of the best ways to prolong
self-remembering is to not try to hang on to it. Ouspensky warns us that self-remembering is always the right action. The
problem is to give this notion the right scale. It is the major idea that the
When unusual, productive states arise, try to bring to light working "selves" system offers and is independent of the body shape of a person or the
that say "So be it." You can remember more of yourself if you don't want school.
the moment to be other than what it is.
Almost all imagination is negative because it occupies the space of your
self. It's hard enough to remember trying to remember yourself. Even so,
Self-remembering is its own reward. It is an unannounced, sensational, trying to remember yourself is not yet self-remembering, although it is a
immortal process. Whenever you remember yourself you produce a spark blessed position, preferable to sleep. Complete self-remembering denotes
of eternity that will not perish, whereas every physical entity must eventually the functioning of the higher centers - the rail remembers to be awake.
disappear. We are foolish when we value the material instead of the
intangible. Self-remembering must be re-initiated without ceasing throughout
life; is always at your fingertips.
So many things are not self-remembering. The words "be present" are not
the same as the state, although we value this admonition in our quest to
awaken. If you are working on what is not your track, then you are working
Although we do not meditate in our school, we try to control our mind, not on yourself. try to remember that this can be realized and was realized.
under special conditions, but on all occasions and every moment we are
awake. Most people are content to be fascinated, and one of the dimensions
of fascination is to consider mastery of the mind necessary only in certain Self-remembering is not a sensation. William Blake said: "I look through
circumstances: once a week, or six hours a day. This is not enough. my eyes, not with them".
When you meditate you try to control your mind. When should you not try Consciousness has degrees. When you have the ability to grasp the
to do this? present, awareness is divine. When you are negative and your level drops,
consciousness is on a lower level. Ridiculing yourself isn't self-remembering,
Is it possible to evolve without self-remembering? Not. it's just a waste of time.
Even with it it is quite difficult to evolve.
Even feeling guilty about the luck of having met the school is not self-
remembering. Doing it right, nothing outside of you affects you. It is curious,
You have to separate yourself from what is not self-remembering, moment
but what we should call personal study is not actually the study of your
by moment and in this way indirectly create your tracks.
self, but the study of the machine's characteristics. What you observe is
Michelangelo said, referring to sculpture, that he removed only what was
not your own self, be it positive or negative. The one who notices is your
not necessary. The same applies to self-remembering. Our lives are like a
rail.
sculpture from which we carve and remove every day what is useless. We
must be able to discriminate between sleep and wakefulness. The effort to
wake up is esoterically expressed in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Awakening is an emotional process and friction must also be emotional.
The suffering we experience must be real, because the states we create
are real. It is not pleasant
The dwarves worked in the labyrinth of mines looking for precious stones,
to verify this and yet it is a blessing. We have within us the beginning and the end of creation. Of the
Friction can seem like a pain until we begin to realize the great idea many observations we make when we encounter the system, the
behind it. What is that one big idea? Immortality. Can anything else strangest is that we must be taught to remember ourselves.
compare to this?
What is the origin of the tension in our machines and how can it be
It is necessary to ask yourself: "do I remember myself?"
used for self-remembering?
If when you are negative you change the subject of your thought
We live in a mechanical age that produces tension. There must be
or conversation, you may notice that the car will identify and
tension in your car to wake up. By promoting the correct activity of
become negative about the new subject, with the same vehemence. the centers, self-remembering reduces tension. You can try to
So you have to control the source of negativity and learn to
control your center of motion by relaxing your facial muscles, as a
recognize the source by observing the subject. we understand self-
tightly closed mouth, rarely seen in young children, indicates
remembering from trials and failures.
tension.
Awakening is actually quite simple, although the false personality

In general, self-remembering must originate in the intellectual part
wants to complicate it. Self-remembering takes place in silence:
of the emotional center, because remembering yourself is an
your higher centers are aware of both themselves and the objects
emotional experience. If you do not express negativity, you can
they observe. Schools are for ordinary people, with ordinary
control your emotional center and eventually the essence will
possibilities. I was just thinking about this while eating dinner:
replace the negative emotions.
simple people quietly creating souls.
The beauty of self-remembering is that it is independent of the
try not to fall asleep in the face of daily miracles. Fortunately, you
subject and is always accessible to us.
can accumulate being without knowledge. It takes a certain number
of years to understand the nature of self-remembering. You can
Bringing the dead back to life is the true meaning of self-
remembering. fully understand self-remembering when your self remembers to be
present. Our machines believe that the experiences of the higher
centers and the transformation of suffering required for their
Memory can be trusted very little. One of the reasons it's hard to
development are reserved for someone else; it is, however, reserved
remember details is because we're trying to remember ourselves
for tiites.
instead.
The system must be simple enough to reach us. The self is

It takes external consideration to develop a higher body.
independent of the subject Even working "selves" are not self-
remembering. One of the special aspects of self-remembering is
that it can always occur regardless of the subject, it is a problem
Our specialty is self-remembering. Because of this, we are often
of divided attention.
confused in other areas.
Talking about self-remembering is not self-remembering.

Never think that any external action or achievement is more
The system teaches us to go beyond words.
important than self-remembering. Never consider it permissible to
express negativity. try to use self-remembering in both trivial and
One reason why eighty-five percent of our students work in life
important activities.
rather than at Apollo is because then if the people around us are
more negative, the more
18 S1 ,
1 .
1-R|«MIMMUINO AMINIIRHA \ ) \ i SINI ' ! 19
the opportunity to escape is greater, because we try not to identify with negativity. regain the memory of self and to control the centers. It is not enough to talk about
When you really work, negative situations are a lifeline. self-remembering, although even this rarely happens. You must learn to value it
more than anything else and try to be what the words represent.
I've only been at school for a short time and I can't remember much about myself. Language is sometimes useless because consciousness does not represent
functions. You need to use words, but not too many. It's a delicate balance
With the passage of time you will be able to reduce what distracts you from being
present and your soul will gain strength. The more you remember yourself, the
more your ability to remember yourself increases. After the first year in education, You can destroy the memory of yourself by something big or something small;
you make better use of the second year; after the second, you better use the third. unnecessary discussion destroys her in small ways. Silence is our activity and
this is where the real work must take place. One way to remind yourself is to listen
to other people when they talk. Such a simple thought, but which, becoming a
habit, will change the level of your being. Let's hope people have something to say
Time seems to stand still when you remember yourself; in reality you are moving and don't make a short story into a long one.
at the highest speed, simply being where you are.
One of my favorite comments on self-remembering comes from Walt. Whitman,

What do I need to do? although he did not call it self-remembering. "And now the profound lesson of
When you eat, taste your food. When you listen, make your ears work and don't assimilation: neither preference nor denial." That means: accept what each
just let them waste time. Weed with an active vision, not a passive one. The heart moment offers you.
will lead you and it knows what is good.
Self-remembering produces a union of the intellectual parts of the centers. The
track is re-remembered, re-gathered and we reach a state of unity. Self-remembering
Affirming your purpose to remember yourself is the first force; the inertia of the must work with every ordinary moment, because these moments primarily make
machine is the second, or the force of denial; and the transformation of suffering up our lives. The false personality can wait for major events and fail completely.
is the third force.
The intellectual part of the intellectual center, the king of diamonds, is a timid tool
Self-remembering is a very sober experience. When ideas become too complicated,
that we rarely use. Self-remembering, a creative process, demands its emergence.
Your butler, from the intellectual side of the emotional center, causes the king of the false personality has crept into your work. Self-remembering is also a personal
diamonds to awaken your soul. experience, and while objective knowledge is not personal, its verification is
entirely personal. Self-remembering is not sensational, transforming negative
emotions is not sensational. But through these efforts a "priceless pearl" is
in the end, nothing stands between you and self-remembering but yourself. produced.
My job is to make you understand what I understand, what I received from a higher
school. I have to convey this over and over again, so that eventually the words will We are the ones who observe and not what we observe - a happy thought. Your
be overcome, because we are looking for a state, not words. The more you change self is the one who notices the car and the one who transforms suffering is also
your being, the more you focus to your self. Something without words watches quietly from within you.
What you truly possess is speechless and searches behind your we return throughout our lives. Everything is transient except
forehead. It is your rail, from the beginning, located between the your self. Nothing else is self-remembering but self-remembering.
holy temples, in the pineal gland. No experience can compare to
your own awakening. The big truth in the middle of the big lie.
George Kates, author of The Years That Were Rich and China's
We have the keys to eternal life. I wish I could make you Domestic Furniture, was asked in his old age, when he was
understand that almost everything else is a joke compared to ninety-four, if he missed China. He replied, “Do not think of me
self-remembering.
as desirous of returning to China. The China we knew is no
longer there. But the West I knew is no longer there either... I
It amazes me that the system's ideas remain so fresh. don't miss or yearn for a world that no longer exists. It no longer
Self-remembering is always fresh. I have long been grateful to exists for anyone. I could be waxing nostalgic about my life, but I
be able to talk about a single notion, self-remembering, that is look at this with disbelief. We have the duty to live in the present
life or death for us. As a goal, self-remembering must be pursued, and I want to come to terms with that."
without exhaustion, throughout your entire life. The closer we get
to death, the more clearly we realize that all we can take with us
is our track. in the end, we exist without words, we simply are.
Love is a powerful phenomenon and the absence of self-
remembering reveals the inability to love. The main way you can
Is giving thanks a form of self-remembering? You cannot help others is to remember yourself.
remember yourself and at the same time be ungrateful.
In time, gratitude accompanies self-remembering. Towards the
end of his life, Walt Whitman wrote: "For this, O Lord, even if it
were my last word, here on my knees, old, poor, and crippled, I
thank Thee."
No school in history has emphasized self-remembering to the

extent that our school does. We made sure that the importance
of the idea was not diminished by the abundance of other ideas
and we put it above any other concept. There are five billion
people on Earth and it doesn't even occur to them to remember
themselves, or their souls. You can see how ignorant people's
minds are.
For us, the pace is quickening. The more you remember yourself,
the more you can be able to remember yourself, because self-
remembering is a cumulative process. We can introduce it at any
moment and it can fight through anything, towards the very
purpose of existence.
A nice way to think about self-remembering is this:

"Love that thing to which you return" is the way
DIVIDED ATTENTION 23
it drifts when we don't divide our attention. We can be in our

imagination when we think about something that happened
today, or a problem that may arise tomorrow. It is necessary to
DIVIDED ATTENTION discreetly use the method of voluntary suffering to avoid entering
into the imagination. You can be discreet: take a slightly
uncomfortable position sitting a little to the left of the chair, or a
little to the right, or a little in front. cross your legs if you don't
normally. You have to create many small shocks, because there
are so many small moments in your life.
the attempt to divide attention catapults you beyond the level of

divided tension is self-remembering. You are the one who notices
life. We are people for whom focusing on divided attention is its
A not what you see. What we see is never real, but what looks
own reward, in fact this is our true specialty and this will never
through us, with divided attention, is real. When we divide our
be obvious to the masses. It is in the nature of self-remembering
attention, we are on another stage of creation and the higher
to be subtle, but the results it produces are profound.
worlds (World 6 or World 12) work within us. We spend our lives
carrying a body around, trying to force divided attention from it.
Divided attention is the essence, the hidden meaning of life on

He who is not engaged in the building of a soul is in a false Earth We are so closed in our little world that we cannot feel the
occupation, for the only way to be truly engaged is to be present. higher worlds.
Divided atheism is still the answer, day after day, in every century
and in every country. Tomorrow will be what today is; things will At a certain point in our evolution everything is nonsense
not be better in the future than they are now. compared to divided attention. It seems like a joke when we are
distracted by something, but the joke is on us. If the distraction
becomes too serious, it's a bad joke.
The life of a student who has entered the path evolves around
the effort to divide his attention.
Never sacrifice divided attention for anything else, because
To sustain self-remembering you must work on it every day of everything is a lie except divided attention. The five billion people
your life. Never sacrifice single-mindedness for something else, on Earth do not try to divide their attention.
because everything is secondary to single-mindedness and the When I watch sporting events, where a hundred thousand people
building of a soul. Divided attention must accompany you are engrossed in the spectacle, I sometimes think, "just try to
throughout the day regardless of the subject at hand. A student get these people interested in dividing their attention." However,
spoke today about how difficult it was for him to divide his I have learned that people get what they want and those who I
attention during the last three weeks. I told him that he probably want a school, I get a school.
did not divide his attention before and only now began to realize
how difficult it is. I was talking to a student today who told me he had a problem.
I said that the only problem he has is dividing his attention. I
Unfortunately, we tend to be in our imaginations when we read was talking to someone else who was having a difficult time
or listen to work ideas. Our minds «unt fn because of a small problem, but his real difficulty was dividing
his attention. Everything else is absurd, because it
24 SELF-REMEMBERING DIVIDED ATTENTION 25
disintegrates over time. The great secret is that self-remembering study, he asked me if I had a message to convey. I replied: "No,
must accompany you, wherever you are.
there are no new messages, just that: divide your attention."
I don't necessarily think in didactic terms, but rebuild the road,

You can verify that repeated attempts at splitting your attention
step by step, because these are steps that lead to the stars.
bring fresh energy by noticing invigoration when negative
emotions subside.
We have all we need: self-remembering and divided attention. How
great they are and how humble. If we don't become simpler and
Epictetus boldly said: "Show me a charm that can conquer death!"
less snobbish, we have no way to advance.
Charm is divided attention.
Every moment is as valuable as the last. Perhaps today we can

Children are in essence, but their essence is in a state of fascination.
maintain more divided attention in our cars than at the age of
When you are in essence, try to divide your attention. Try to look
seventy.
at these flowers and at the same time be aware that you are looking
at them. Divided attention puts you in the essence. Christ said:
Death sweeps me away. Precisely from this cause the moments
"Unless you become like children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven."
our division of attention are so precious: death cannot touch them.
As we age, the cells in our body, which were once healthy and
Man cannot do it. Mankind's effort to do is imposing, but everything
vibrant, are in decline. We are lucky to discover divided attention
it does is mechanical. How can humanity do without divided
and value it above all else.
attention? Because people don't have divided attention, they get
bogged down, and the more humanity thinks it can do, the further
it is from the truth.
questions don't necessarily help you divide your attention. Once
a student asked me too many questions and I replied: "Remember
9
that the answer is a state, not a question." . When we observe people who are successful in life, we see that
their attention is focused, but not divided. What we desperately
We are a microcosm - man - and we are the only beings on Earth seek is divided attention, because if you divide your attention,
who can be born twice. Just as the caterpillar is mechanically your soul is present.
reborn as a butterfly, so, through divided attention, we can be
consciously reborn in moments of real stress, philosophical wisdom yields priority to
the guidance of the so silent governing faculties, the soul or higher
The division of attention does not give immediate results, and the centers. People follow things from the outside rather than from
higher centers cannot make their appearance without persistent the inside, which explains the many tragedies we witness. It is
effort over many years. It is difficult to wake up and yet it is amazing to notice what catches our attention, and yet everything
possible. You cannot wake up if you do not dedicate yourself totally to your evolution. must be secondary to the division of attention and the creation of
If you think that half measures are enough, you are wrong. the soul. What Influence C expects from us is divided attention
and we will excel in this; nothing else comes close to it. We have
to get beyond the matter of the subject to the message behind it.
Everything is a lie, without divided attention.
We are in a prison, in the sense that we do not know it is a prison

Think of all the traffic lights, stops and pauses in your life, all the
and only divided attention can break the walls.
time wasted A student, traveling to other centers of
26 SELF-REMEMBERING 27
DIVIDED ATTENTION
St. Paul presented the divided attention to his disciples when he

her corrupt way of being an active force. Epictetus said that man was
said: "Behold, I show you a miracle, we must not all sleep."
given two ears and a tongue so that he could hear twice as much as
Humanity remains basically at the same level throughout the centuries he spoke. Likewise, if you cannot understand an idea after five or ten
and is busy being anywhere but the present. Humanity must remain minutes, it can be profitably abandoned, because it occupies the
under the law of chance, because it does not know about self- space of divided attention. Problems can become less difficult if you
remembering and divided attention and consumes its energy mainly can divide your attention and observe impartially.
by expressing negative emotions.
We are so privileged. When you travel you can't believe that so many William Blake said: "all creation longs to be born".
people move without divided attention. But that's the way things are. Everything in nature is made to exist, but does not know where to go.
And isn't it wonderful that we can divide our attention? We have untied the Gordian knot by discovering the secret of dividing
We must strive for eternal life or we will fall into eternal darkness. attention and use our energy to create an astral body.
When you've found the charm of time mastery - dividing your attention
Mankind cannot conceive that it serves as food for the Ray of - you stop marking time and start beating it. Time cannot erase your
Creation. The more people there are on Earth, the worse it is, moments of presence. Because you are the microcosm man, you
because when the quantity increases, the quality decreases. Humanity must come to death alone.
is the humus from which schools and conscious beings grow. It's
strange when you consider that most people on Earth have never You are not the role you play and every soul in the school is
encountered the phrase "divided attention." individual. Your soul will outlive the school, because by dividing your
attention you can escape death.
How is self-remembering different from divided attention?
Divided attention is self-remembering; they are synonyms. The state Two things become clear when you wake up. The first, that there is
of dividing attention encompasses a wide spectrum of emotions. no true hope without the division of attention and the second, the
Johann Sebastian Bach created some works that are characterized greatness of Influence C.
by deep emotions, while others are pastoral. in the same way, the
soul has many shades. When is it not a good time to divide attention?
Self-awareness means that you are both aware of yourself and what
you see. If you see an object without being aware of yourself, you
are in a state of fascination, which is one of the final barriers between
sleep and the higher centers.
You can fall asleep while talking about the system. It's a strange way
to sleep because it's almost divine. However, if you do not try to
divide your attention, it does not matter in the middle of which activity,
you fall asleep. trying to control your wandering mind while someone
else is talking can be a focal point for dividing attention, as the car
has a strong tendency to enter the imagination at such times; this is
you
THE RESULTS OF SELF-REMEMBERING 29
One of Ouspensky's most remarkable observations was in connection

with his efforts to remember himself. He said: "The first attempts
showed me how difficult it was, the attempts at self-remembering
gave no results except that they showed me that we never actually
RESULTS
remember ourselves." Ouspensky was an exceptional man and had
MEMORIES OF SELF to give up a much more important self-image than other people who
encountered the system. He was far more gifted than most people,
and yet he understood that without his rails, he could not he
possessed nothing. Although his first efforts were discouraging, he
persevered and finally merged his higher centers. He completed his
role by becoming man number seven, leaving his physical body
when he died and communicating with the students who survived
when intellectual types meet the system, they often talk them
C too much, just as emotionally centered people can be too
emotional. Although you have to be emotional to wake up, self-
remembering does not require an emotional center of gravity. To fill your centers properly, you must make the effort to remember
When you enter the path, you penetrate the essence and become, yourself. Fortunately, self-remembering begets self-remembering,
indeed, emotional. Emotions that are not related to self-remembering just as culture begets culture. After you have been taught to
are not true emotions. remember yourself, you set out to create your own track through self-
remembering. How much poverty any other purpose brings; most
If you want to master everything, master yourself. people follow Flu A rather than Flu C.
Avoiding sentimentality does not make you insensitive; on the contrary, it

increases the sensitivity towards higher states and towards noble values.
People without substance demand novelty. Novelty sometimes
connects the higher centers, but a number four man cannot rely on
Gurdjieff taught us that we need to create our own shocks. A little
such a thing to create permanent awareness. You need to balance
shock I've been using for a few years is to latch the doors because
the mechanical parts of the hubs would use any part of the door. We esoteric knowledge with general knowledge and yet avoid being
can bring self-remembering into anything if we want to. carried away by interesting thoughts. We do not deal with
philosophical or theoretical, delusional questions. You need to
intuitively subordinate these questions to the daily struggle to be
We need to remember that this system does not belong to us, present
because it is objective knowledge. The moments when we remember
ourselves, and which are the crowning of this work, are personal Consciousness has degrees. You can verify that the car is not real
moments. Work will become part of us only through the effort to and five minutes later another pseudo-status is running through the
remember ourselves. car thinking it is real. As the weeks and months pass, you add weight
to your being and understand more deeply that the machine is
If you cannot evolve now, when Influence C is available, how will indeed without substance. 6in such observations you gain enough
you be able to evolve later, under less favorable conditions? courage to be able to control your car, because, in fact, Ic you are
facing an illusion.
30
SELF-REMEMBERING
THE RESULTS OF SELF-REMEMBERING 31
Your self, when you remember it, frees you from the law of chance.
The law of chance can give you the opportunity to be creative, if you If you aim at remembering yourself, this is the first force; imagination
are aware that it is manifesting, because at that moment you can has a force of denial, it is the second force; the friction brought by
decide whether you encourage it or resist it. However, you can only the higher forces is the third force that is added to the first force.
direct the law of chance if you remember yourself. When two sheets oppose your mechanics, you can achieve your
goal; if you understand this, you understand how urgent it is to get
outside help to wake up. Thus, you understand what exactly you
Although we are all studying the same system, our efforts are quite need to pray for. Omar Khayyam said: "When the angel with the
individual. One reason to practice the look and listen exercises is black strait approaches you - so be it, don't go back".
that they interrupt the self-indulgence that arises from the machine's
preoccupation with itself. instead of that, you can appreciate the
beauty of nature. Being can be substantially enriched, for example, It is interesting how we develop the habit of saturating ourselves
by enjoying trees, for there are so many beautiful trees in this world. with culture: the concert, this room, the music, the impressions, all
Appreciation of nature and indeed the entire Ray of Creation - the these hydrogens are superior hydrogens. From these we try to
galaxies, stars and planets - is a vital aspect of your octave of create self-remembering. Listening to music is generally a much
impressions. Walt Whitman wrote: "Till the stars appeared, I thought nicer occupation than listening to the activity of your mind: the many
enough of this world." "selves".
We need to be reminded frequently that a car is a car.
Also, while studying this system, we can change the level of our It must be wonderful for you when you break down to self-
being and with each change of being, we gain something permanently. remembering, even if only for a few seconds. Then you see that
everything else is false, even though everything else, in the absence
of self-remembering, seems true. Incredible, isn't it? It's like Alice in
When we speak, let's try to remember ourselves at the same time. Wonderland, traveling "through the looking glass".
There is a point in development where the discussion of self-
remembering can become a barrier, but this does not mean I was thinking about the Pyramids. Even they degrade, pollution
abandoning the second and third lines of work. easily destroys them. But self-remembering is permanent,
indestructible.
If you remember yourself, you can notice the mistakes of others and
avoid making them yourself, just as you can know about a cold
without having a cold. Galileo said that his best teacher was Remember that self-remembering is always the right action and you
observing the mistakes of others. What an opening occurs when our must cultivate this thought. The system presents many ideas that
ears begin to hear and our eyes begin to see. seem to be opposed to each other, and without divided attention,
knowledge can easily fall on dualistic ears.
Our soil at Apollo is difficult to master, and in a way this is It is a blessing and a shock to grow old and young at the same time.
advantageous. Because the results do not come easily, the men Self-remembering is the eternal fountain of youth that Ponce de
and women who work it become stronger and stronger. Rodney Leon sought outside himself. We look for it and find it in ourselves.
Collin said that self-remembering is certainly difficult because it is you meet school and your body ages, but the essence begins to
the key to a new world. If re/uita te Ic came easily, they would not be appear and grow and you are younger.
valued. Older students, older in age, look young because they have Ktins
their own eternal fountain of youth, self-remembering.
32 SELF-REMEMBERING
Ouspensky said quite well some things which are exclusively for the
ears of those in the school. He said, "Remember yourself, always
and everywhere." That is, in the most ordinary circumstances
remember yourself. He also said that self-remembering produces
precise chemical changes that herald the emergence of essence MA SHINA
and beyond. this, of Worlds 6 and 12, Hansel and Gretel.
You notice that you cannot permanently oppose the wrong work of
the centers, unless you are always awake. There are certain
manifestations that cannot be controlled at the moment, because
you must have some power with which to control them. If you do not
remember yourself, how can you control the centers? self-deception is unpleasant to the machine, which wants to be
A mechanics and waste time. The machine prefers to see its
wishes fulfilled, instead of having them interrupted by self-
I was shocked when I realized that I didn't even have a single "me" remembering. Ouspensky warned us that false personality is the
to remind me of myself during the day You'll change that one day opposite of self-remembering. Often, before you get on the path,
and you'll remember a lot more often than you will forget. This may the false personality makes its last big assault and you are
take you a few lives, but you will overcome. The C influence helps disoriented and beleaguered. in a proper order, the false personality
us and their purpose is to make you immortal; they are not subject will disintegrate and the essence will emerge. It is a painful process,
to the law of chance. When you understand this, you understand but it is the method by which many people enter the path.
that you cannot afford to -you compromise your goal of waking up.
The machine cannot remember itself, because self-remembering is
not a mechanical process. the entire Ray of Creation, organic life
on Earth, even our bodies, are all opposed to self-remembering.
Your machine will cleverly convince you that self-remembering is
taking place, while the lower centers continue to pursue lower goals.
This cunning must be taken into account, for awakening is
mathematical. There is no other way to escape death than self-
remembering.
There are contradictions in our machines, because we are not a

unit. We have four brains: an intellectual brain, an emotional brain,
a movement brain and an instinctive brain. Our problem is further
complicated because each of these brains has four subdivisions: an
intellectual part, an emotional part, a movement part, and an
instinctive part. The higher centers are unitary, that is, they constitute
the state of unity. If you verify that you have four brains, you can
understand that there must be contradictions that can be resolved
through self-remembering.
34 SELF-REMEMBERING 35
MA SHINA
we learn to use the negative "I's", transforming them. How can you tell the emotions of the queen of cups from those of the king?
Gurdjieff said that we can always make a profit. The work "I's" are The subject of the emotion shows which part of the emotional center
excellent: "Divide your attention", "Be present". rose at a given moment. Different topics concern different parts of
Negative "selves" are useful if we don't identify with them and use your car. If you are unhappy because of your inability to remember
them to be present.
yourself, then you can attribute this pain to the King of Cups. If you
are unhappy because of a relationship, the identification has
Each of our four lower centers compete for space. It is as if we had a
penetrated the queen of cups.
meter of Earth in which to plant a sequoia, a cedar, a cypress and a
pine.
Will the car ever give up on the idea that something is missing? You
Each tree competes to win that meter of soil. The same happens with
must remember that all "selves" are a substitute for self-remembering.
our four lower centers. at every moment, their illusory lives are
The machine is always ready to subvert self-remembering, because a
endangered.
machine cannot remember itself. It cannot be present, and so it often
The intellectual center is the weakest machine mind and it is difficult feels that something is missing when you are present.
to generate the desire to educate yourself. Some people lose their
self-remembering, not liking to develop their centers and educate
their essences. Elizabeth I said: "What you desire is of too great How can one work with the state of dread that is caused when one
sees one's condition much more clearly? Fortunately, these conditions
importance to be confessed to such a light-hearted gathering."
generally pass after a few minutes. When you are frightened by the
observations on your mechanicalness, it is the queen of cups that
has risen. The machine will try to use excessive noodles to undermine
To balance your machine, you must be able to control your centers,
your work, and this, too, is not self-remembering. You can immediately
which in turn requires you to remember yourself.
correct the problem by remembering yourself.
Balancing your centers is common sense, which means common
sense to all centers. The highest common sense is the sense of the
kings (the intellectual parts of the centers) acting in unison.
Greed is unappeased and is an unpleasant dimension of the emotional
part of the emotional center. The Queen of Cups simply likes to wish;
A large part of the day consists of the senseless energy consumption
this is one way she occupies space.
of our cars. instead of using the mind for the purpose of self-
If you satisfy her, in a few moments she will want something else.
remembering, your obtuse machine occupies space with a multitude
The Queen of Cups is characterized by a lack of relativity and expects
of subjects, depending on which center has taken control.
instant reward.
It would be naive to think that the rail is easy to reach. Therefore, you
The Queen of Cups is not useless; only that she is not your rail. If
must understand personally how difficult it is to work with the
divided attention accompanies her in a state of essence, she is
intellectual parts of the centers. Controlling the queen of cups, a
adorable.
somewhat intangible part of our being, is a useful goal to set. The
emotional and mechanical parts of the centers oppose self-
remembering; their weight having to be reduced so that the higher How can we accurately photograph the energy of sex? The sexual
centers can take control. The enemies within us are numerous and center is the energy storehouse of the machine. It is a completely
our possibilities of escape are limited without the outside assistance different order of creation than the other four lower centers. The
inherent in a conscious school. sexual center is a mechanism designed to refine materials, including
Christ said: "A man's enemies will be those in his own house". the food you eat, the air you breathe, and the impressions you receive.
He mechanically serves the four
36 SELF-REMEMBERING
MA SHINA 37
lower centers, and yet its higher, invisible purpose is to be used in

self-remembering. The sex center transforms the hydrogens into photographed only from the higher centers, but even so it is a
difficult process because of the imperceptible nature of this brain.
finer energy, and through self-remembering, the products of the
transformation enter the pineal gland, which Descartes called the
"throne of the soul." The wrong work of the centers uses sexual All our manifestations depend on the energy of the sexual center.
energy inappropriately. It is difficult to photograph sexual energy, The higher centers, essence and personality require the energy of
for that it operates at far too high a speed, but one way to detect it the sexual center, as do negative emotions, imagination or
is to increase the zeal in one's activity. For example, if you move identification. Thus, our lives consist of the struggle to direct the
too fast and feel electrified, the sexual energy has entered one or energies of the sexual center to the higher centers.
more centers. Generally, this it happens because you rested too The energy of sex can be used for physical union, transmutation, or
much and didn't exert yourself enough during the day. You can get both.
rid of excessive sexual energy by staying awake longer. If you plan
to retire at midnight, you can try waiting until one o'clock the night. The more you talk, the less likely you are to accomplish what you
talk about, because talk tends to replace reality. We can instruct by
You can use sexual energy either for the four lower centers, or for actions as well as by words. Be grateful when the words we share
the higher centers, or both. We try to use it especially for the higher turn into being.
centers and we use sexual energy to the highest degree when we
transform negative emotions into the astral body. Most people use
sexual energy for procreation, which is an incredible expression of
Do you think there is some intelligence behind the machine? We
the sexual center and, equally, of the other centers. Procreation is,
have an incredibly intelligent machine to work with, but one that is
in a sense, sublime; it is sublime to the point where most of
rarely considered for what it actually is: a machine. Each center has
humanity has little or no inclination to move beyond it to the divine.
its own intelligence. Man is often a good creation, but he has his
Sex, like religion, keeps man asleep. Sex has its place; an ascending
dark side, especially in the intellectual part of the instinctive center,
soul can do with or without it. The wise man uses it especially to
the king of clubs. He will present himself deleted, so as not to reveal
create his astral body.
his cunning. We must not underestimate it, the inferior tries to
consume the superior. No matter how hard the machine tries, it
cannot remember itself and will always try to prevent us from being
present, even if it has nothing to gain from it. The machine repeats
If you control your imagination and the expression of negative itself to lull us to sleep and we never have to think that it has shown
emotions, you transmute sexual energy, because you cannot resist us all its tricks. When someone is speaking, they will take up space
these stubborn forms of mechanism without self-remembering. by producing impatience or formulating "I's" about what they want
to express, or completing sentences for others.
At some level, sexual energy is designed to perpetuate the species;

on a higher level, however, the intention is to ignite the pineal gland,
We can, up to a point, appease the beast within us by feeding it. We
the seat of the soul, by transmuting sexual energy.
must also control the instinctive center by mastering the 1. No part
Nature 1 has endowed man with an enormous amount of sexual
of the instinctive center is interested in awakening. The King of
energy, and we witness a similar scheme in nature, when a huge
Chipa is the instrument designated to connect the higher centers;
number of seeds are thrown from a single tree; each of these seeds
the instinctive center is designed to protect the organism during its
can become a tree, and yet very few do. In general, the sexual center
life on Earth.
should be
SELF-RKMKMBKR1NG 39
38 MA SHINA
The instinctive center will try to control the atmosphere through pointless that. it is a happy coincidence that beauty moves us, but not at the cost of
discussions, because this manifestation takes up space. controlling our emotions.
The Bible says, "For now we see through a glass darkly" meaning,
Never underestimate the instinctive center, it is always ready to undermine
esoterically, that we perceive the world through our body types, centers of
self-remembering. The instinctive center tries to destroy hope. You have to
gravity, alchemies, and our main features; and perhaps the predominant
know this before you can control it, which requires long study. Few people
influence that colors our vision. it is the cultural milieu in which we were
can control the instinctive center because it is deceptive and difficult to
brought up. To see objectively is difficult and yet possible; clearly, to make
photograph. Ouspensky said that it can only be photographed when you
objective observations objective knowledge is necessary, and such rare
are conscious or approaching consciousness. Controlling its manifestations
knowledge is the property of consciousness. To be able to see the human
requires the power to do, controlling the law of chance.
condition, objectively, is a long process and, for this reason, schools are for
good stewards, and not for people lacking substance.
Because you eat about 86,000 times in your life, not including snacks, it's
necessary to find ways to remember yourself while you eat. before you
start eating is another good time to remember yourself, because you can The main trait is accentuated because of the fear of other people, so we
become a slave to the instinctive center. Eating often brings positive energy behave authoritatively, arrogantly or greedily as a dampener. Vanity is a
to the machine, but eating more than necessary lays the groundwork for strong characteristic in every person. Your car will take up space
replacing self-remembering with inner consideration. in school we use the unnecessarily because it wants to be the active mechanical force in a given
tables to wake up. Being present while eating is one of the few times when situation. The more aware you become, the less space you will take up.
the instinctive center is in the service of self-remembering.
The main trait is most anxious to classify its manifestations as favorable,

because its illusory existence may be endangered.
The instinctive center simulates consciousness and believes it can be the
third state. Expecting the instinctive center to be able to experience the
third state is like asking a cow to fly. The experiences of the third state How main eh?
main
wetrait
can will observe
Youtry
can
to reduce
only notice ifthe
others infabric
you importance,
remember yourself.
especially
Theif
belong to the astral body or the soul. they are working on themselves. If we don't remember ourselves, she
But when you turn your attention to food, you use the instinctive center as doesn't want those around us to remember themselves either. For example,
a means to produce self-remembering. a person whose trait is vanity will talk excessively to draw attention to
themselves. There is no advantage or disadvantage in possessing this
The instinctive center likes to put statues on graves, which gives the primary trait, or any other. One main feature is designated to be transformed,
illusion of permanence. But even stone is subject to the passage of time. through self-remembering, into something divine: your self. Thinking that
Self-remembering does not work this way, it is the only thing that can you have the worst main feature is a dimension of vanity. In addition, if you
defeat death. rooted in the instinctive center are subjective methods of appreciate that you do not have a main trait or that you cannot find it, it is
awakening which are, in reality, its mode of expression. probably vanity. /
The intellectual part of the emotional center contains a mechanism that

can learn to appreciate beauty without identifying with it
40
SELF-REMEMBERING
We do not progress directly against the main trait. There are pauses and
regressions in forward movements and the main feature taxes our being
for many years. Time is an element we must consider when trying to
resist any manifestation of mechanicalness.
FALSE PERSONALITY
The main feature occupies the space that rightfully belongs to self-
remembering. When you tone down your main feature, whatever it is, AND ESEN TO YOU
the essence emerges.
Isn't it wonderful to have no impulse to wish you were anywhere else?

The car cannot be present, but here we are, sitting in the present. We
can talk about anything if we are present, because we try to have the
memory of ourselves moving behind the words. We do not use the word
"I" because the machine's favorite subject is itself.
problems and needs are the same for each person.
P Our problem is that we are in a car; our need is to remember
Imitation is very strong in us. It is hard not to imitate the billions of people ourselves.
on the planet, to go against imitation to wake up. Imitation is often
innocent, but when we're asleep and don't realize it's happening, it's The false personality opposes control and coercion. To wake up, you
harmful. We have to find a way to say "no" to imitation. have to creep through life despite the force of imaginary denial, fighting
the weaknesses that each moment presents. You can be as effective as
You have to keep moving towards the present, because the car just the effort you put in.
wants to sleep. You have to go through type, center of gravity, traits and
alchemy and work with what you have. Self-remembering is separate The false personality does not believe that simple situations are important
from these aspects of our mechanicalness. enough for self-remembering. You must introduce self-remembering into
every event in your life, no matter how mundane it may seem. And
The knowledge we share is volatile and the machine will react to it by indeed, the many ordinary moments in your life have their own charm.
desperately trying to secure its illusions.
The machine talks and moves, but without self-remembering it is only an
illusion in motion.
Ouspensky said that the false personality is both attractive and funny,
and it will find noble titles for its weaknesses. Trying to avoid funny
These machines are inventions of higher forces, designed to remember
themselves and create souls. This vehicle we have is really a car and conversation is a major goal you can set, but you have to be willing to
has a soul or governing faculties. give up everything in favor of self-remembering. The false personality
believes that you have to be in a temple or a secluded place to produce
consciousness. You must pursue self-remembering regardless of
If you can't control your car, you are the car. circumstances because without it you do not exist.
David - World 6, higher intellectual center - must kill Goliath - false

personality.
The false personality is inimical to self-remembering, because the illusory

life is at stake. False personality demands novelty. she
41
42
SELF-REMEMBERING 43
FALSE PERSONALITY AND ESSENCE
she seeks one new thing after another, rather than being satisfied
time is almost all we have. It is difficult for a teacher to get his
with the simplicity of self-remembering. Self-remembering is
students to refrain from turning small problems into big problems
always an interruption to the false personality. try to ignore the
because, for the felsic personality, the bigger the problem, the
"selves" that don't want to work.
more important the person.
The time we spend outside of our meetings tests our being. in
everyday life with the other students, try not to support the false
personality, in. yourself and in others, becoming another person. It is normal for the awakening to be destructive at first because
in life, remember to use intentional dishonesty and present you must remove the false personality to prepare the ground for
yourself with a false personality. the true personality. Ouspensky commented that this system is
not popular, asking you to give up your attitudes, beliefs and
The false personality is influenced by other people's "selves" mechanical manifestations. He added that you have nothing to lose
because it is feminine-dominated and wants to be liked. In the end, anyway. The process of destruction is healthy if it is followed by
you will consider the needs of others externally, without being the process of construction. The essence is precious and does not
concerned with meeting their expectations. want awakening to be a severe process, and yet it is a severe
process, whether you experience the path of denial or the path of love.
The false personality tries to occupy the present instead of the
higher centers. We should value most the subject that false
The false personality is a collection of unconscious acts acquired
personality values least: self-remembering.
from others, but the essence is intrinsic, it is yours. The essence,
Being dissatisfied with self-remembering is a major condition for
in its undeveloped state, is severely limited, because it cannot
false personality. The system is as simple as you can imagine, but
divide its attention. The true personality is appointed to develop
the false personality will undermine it, making it seem complicated.
the essence.
With all the cosmology, what matters is being where you are.
The true part of us is strong. Of course, the other side - the false
Students are often deluded by their false personality who asks personality - does not exist at all; it is totally a lie, an imitation,
questions, including questions about esoteric ideas. I emphasized everything is borrowed and she complicates things by thinking
that the answer is a state, not a question. Don't be fooled by the that her acts are all original, all hers.
curiosity of the false personality. And this can undermine self-
remembering. Knowing the system is wonderful, but it can fool When you make difficult observations about your mechanicalness,
you if you become absorbed in it. you don't have to identify yourself and start a chain of negativity.
You must reaffirm your purpose of remembering yourself.
False personality does not have the concept of imitation; there is
no honor among thieves. The "selves" of the false personality can The false personality does not see itself as false; she feels she
prepare an attack, but they cannot sustain it against the true has the right answer for every situation.
personality when you get in the way.
The false personality, with its many masks, occupies the space of
Impatience is much easier than self-remembering or transforming
the true personality and self-remembering. It is a relief to begin to
negative emotions. It is a real delusion, a silencer. It makes no
form your true personality. You can see that your false personality
sense to become negative with someone and then berate yourself
is emerging, but with self-remembering, you begin to fill your
severely for doing so. It's a waste of time
centers profitably and you are shaping yourself.
44 ShU' - RKMI' . MH lkl NC i I Al SA M'USONAI ii Al IN S INDIA
In the Fourth Path it is necessary to practice intentional insincerity which is that smiles and laughter harm your evolution, because the essence is joyful.
designed to diminish the negativity directed against you by the people in life.
However, it is a difficult role to play when you are in essence, and another person
is in the same personality. To be successful, you need to remember yourself.
We live in an enormous galaxy. People look beyond Earth to the galaxy, forgetting
There is no situation that cannot serve as an opportunity for self-remembering.
that they live on a small planet. This galaxy we belong to is an insignificant part of
the Universe. We often ask the naive question, "Are we influenced by these
enormous celestial bodies?" The false personality cannot allow us to raise our
heads to heaven, because that will reveal the small scale of human existence.
The appearance of the higher centers and the essence are the result of an
accumulated effort. The absence of essence is caused by the lack of effort. We all
waste opportunities because the areas of friction that the higher forces select are
considered too sacred by the false personality. If the friction were not given where
The biggest weakness of the false personality is the lack of unity.
there is identification, you would remain a car. She has no memory of herself.
Some students waste time because they are in the same relationship with an idea,
You have to examine what is taking the place of self-remembering and experience by associating with people who reinforce their false personality.
an inner civil war.
You have nothing but the present. The false personality thrives on chaos.
Self-remembering does not depend on body type, center of gravity, alchemy or It is usually not fire; men may cry fire, but there is no fire. You have to isolate
main feature, because consciousness does not represent functions. When the yourself from different imposters.
higher centers develop, the false personality will question them because its
existence is threatened by their birth. Your self is a new being - a man
Duality is obviously designed into our machines. We have two eyes, two ears, two
we arms, two palms, two legs, two soles and two nostrils. If you study physiognomy,
you can see two different people in your car, because the left side of the body, the
essence, is a different being from the right side. A person's right eye houses the
We are critical of others because we are disappointed in ourselves. A pitiful personality, the left eye is where the essence resides.
dimension of the false personality is that, in addition to belittling yourself, it tries to
belittle others. It is a law that the inferior should try to destroy the superior.
The essence is naive and expects goodness from life, so you should quickly protect
your essence, with your true personality, if you encounter negativity. You can
Laughter abounds in false personality and infrasex, and because of this, laughter remember that other people are machines, to the extent that you realize that,
is often unattractive. Sometimes we laugh when entering or exiting a room, because without self-remembering, you are also mechanical.
this damper helps the car to establish its position in the environment.
The result of self-remembering is the penetration of the essence. You progress

Often our cars will smile under pressure, when there is no reason to smile. This from World 48 to World 24 eventually entering Worlds 12 and 6. The essence is
pseudo-emotion is a damper and has its origin in the false personality. Smiling and quiet and shy, gentle and attractive, while the false personality is obvious and loud.
laughing often feel dimensions of the false personality, but this does not mean
46 SELF-REMEMBERING
SHOCK ABSORBERS AND MULTIPLE "EUROS". 47
A limitation of the essence is that it becomes fascinated by what it observes.

It is necessary to practice divided attention so that your essence can be Why do we want to focus on a talent we have instead of focusing on
transformed into the higher centers. awareness? If you could put the same effort into trying to be aware, what
would you get? Even so, we want to develop the talents of our essence,
Essence has its limitations. For the Martian type, expressing negative parallel to self-remembering.
emotions is essentially an inherent weakness, as is dominance for the
Saturnian type. A trait is unable to see itself as a limitation, so it appears
harmless to the machine. This attitude results from subjective thinking. The essence is very simple; we are very simple. The tragic thing is that you
stand in your own way, through your "I's".
The Martian type must therefore learn to be disgusted by negative emotions.
By resisting the inclinations of your car, your true rail will appear.
Initially, your center of gravity is a major force of denial. Many people use their lives to strengthen their features rather than their
Then, as you study the system and try to be what the words represent, you essence.
begin to use your center of gravity to awaken, transforming its limitations
and developing its positive qualities. Your work must become emotional, We need essence to know the higher centers. it takes you a number of
and all who enter the path become emotional through the penetration of the years, in reality many lifetimes, to transform your essence into higher centers.
essence, which is independent of the center of gravity.
What replaces negative emotions is the essence and it is the bridge to the
higher centers.
All types are attractive when they are essentially.
If the essence is both aware of itself and of the object it sees, the higher
centers work. However, if harshness accompanies this energy, it is likely
that your instinctual center is simulating the higher centers.
Essence has no value unless it is accompanied by divided attention. It

intrinsically adorns the Earth and is, in a way, used by the Ray of Creation.
Rilke said: "Never imagine wisdom to be more than a child's understanding."

If you are not like a child, in a state of essence, you will not have the
experience of self.
SHOCK ABSORBER KURILI i " MULTIPLE 49
it has its point, but the question is insignificant compared to their

transformation into self-remembering and capturing the present.
Unnecessary suffering dampens the inability to remember yourself.

SHOCK ABSORBERS AND Being unhappy is also a dampener for self-remembering, but what isn't?
Unlike people without a system, we replace dampers with self-
„EURILE" MULTIPLE remembering.
How can we avoid trying to compete with others at work?

Considering competition as a damper that replaces self-remembering,
realizing that we are not in competition with each other; we are here to
help each other through the second line of work.
Almost anything is a dampener for self-remembering. ^"^•It is much "Es" who are overly concerned with your pace in school are an expression
easier to be in the imagination, to identify, or to be negative, than to of vanity.
remember yourself. All are surrogates at hand. Because self-remembering
is not mechanical, it is very difficult. Any it's a diversion, if you don't Self-pity is a dampener for self-remembering; any negative emotion is a
remember yourself. dampener for self-remembering.
It is much easier to be negative than to be present. Why not replace self-
blame with self-remembering? It is difficult to destroy the dampers
When we blame an event or another person for our negativity, then we because you have to replace them with self-remembering, but
dampen; we still haven't got to the heart of the matter, as long as we're nevertheless, nothing is more real and satisfying.
blaming someone else.
We cushion our inability to remember ourselves by blaming others. We
are not to blame either. This, too, is not self-remembering. How do you feel when you see your students becoming identified with
form of school?
It's a dampener to be present, but pretty much everything else is the
Dampers are often active when self-remembering same. Influence C takes the necessary measures to reduce identification.
is absent. However, we can operate without dampers; they are not
necessary when self-remembering is present.
Depreciation is not a permanent condition. Your car may dampen for a
What replaces self-remembering are a lot of unimportant phenomena,
few seconds and then, through divided attention, 6 higher state may
such as: negative emotions, imagination, identification and other
occur. We strengthen our desire to be three, removing dampers and
characteristics. Imagination and expression of negative emotions
illusions, although this process takes time.
consume your sex energy, if self-remembering does not use it. Imagination
With the passing of the years, we increasingly understand that everything is
and the expression of negative emotions are the major forces that prevent
without content, in the absence of self-remembering.
self-remembering. If you can control these two negative forces, the
essence will replace them. The essence is yours - unlike the false
Many "selves" dampen the simplicity of self-remembering. The intellectual
personality, it does not imitate anything. to the extent that you deviate
center can ask endless questions, distracting you from self-remembering.
from the present, you are in the false personality.
We should try to see many of these questions as dampeners.
48
50 SELF-REMEMBERING
SHOCK ABSORBERS AND MULTIPLE "EUROS". 51
We should fight to prevent the memory of self from disappearing material for evolution and rising above them is an imperative for us.
behind our petty daily emotions. For example, if we put a pen in the The force of denial, big or small, is always an opportunity.
wrong place, this should not determine our emotional life. It is only a
pen and we have something in us that can become immortal by not
identifying with big or small events. The higher forces arrange that some events that we anticipate do not
happen, so that we can learn to be prescient with the "selves" that
anticipate. The higher forces gently corner us in the present in which
Impatience, like any negative emotion, is a substitute for self- we live, gradually removing a series of untruths.
remembering. in the end, we realize that negative emotions are meant
to dampen^ the inability to remember ourselves. There are so many
negative emotions that we can indulge in, each trying to occupy the For the physical body, death is always in the cards, but we can
space reserved for the self. In the story, Snow White (the higher become immortal. Surviving the many "selves", penetrating the
emotional center or World 12) has been warned not to trust the witch, present; this is the final battlefield.
who will return disguised in different costumes. in the same way, the
queen of cups will entice us with different subjects to identify with. Ouspensky shared many important findings with us. One of them:
consciousness is not the activity of the mind. Our higher centers are
not one of our many "selves", thank God!
It is necessary to study other people, as well as yourself, to understand
how traits such as vagabondism, vanity or fear manifest themselves.
However, you must realize that you cannot notice these things without Pinocchio became a real little boy - World 6 - and, in the end, he
remembering yourself. When evaluating your work, it is necessary to defeated the fox and the cat (instinctive - motor and emotional centers).
avoid the negative emotion of disappointment. You must understand
that when you remember yourself, you gain something real and
eternal, no matter how insignificant what you gain may seem to you. It is not the event, the person or the period in your life that is the
obstacle, but your many "selves".
There was a big earthquake recently. Will there be big earthquakes Think of the great chaos that exists within us, every day. We have
soon? random minds that move associatively from one area to another, and
An impending cataclysm may be a prelude to nuclear war. we call this “man.” It is a generous title for a divine comedy.
If California falls, there won't be a major population center near Apollo,
so the coast will be clean. Plato said: "War is a permanent condition The many "selves" are difficult enough, aren't they? They appear
for mankind". uninvited. You must learn not to take them as your track, because
Humanity will always suffer from war and cataclysms; we are lucky they are not your track. It is not interesting how many different
that we don't have to wait for an earthquake to divide our attention. characters there are in one being ?Different parts of the centers print
From one point of view, it doesn't matter what happens - earthquakes, and produce "selves" emanating from their respective functions.
war or something else. However, we cannot afford to use our time Your mind is like the weather - you can't predict it. The numerous
carelessly. All we can do is remember ourselves before, during and "courts" are quite busy with themselves and all use the same speaker.
after an event occurs. We cannot wait for predictions and prophecies It is curious how many "selves" dance in our mind and we choose the
to come true or not, because then we would remember ourselves only one we want to express.
two or three times in our lives. The shocks are Do not become preoccupied with them; but, rather, by the memory of
52
AMORTI/OARliLli ET MULTIPLE "EURORIES". 53
Every day is a struggle to recover the present from the imagination.

The many "selves" have no unity, but our butler has the concept "The eagle never wasted so much time as when he agreed to
of unity. So between cataclysms and during them we progress. learn from the crow."
We all have many "selves" in the intellectual center that invite
us to leave the present. We must run back to the present You cannot change the level of your being unless you work
throughout our lives. beyond your present possibilities. in such cases Epictetus said:
"Now is the trial for Mount Olympus." The machine has many
manifestations that take the place of self-remembering. But these are
The many "selves" lead you everywhere. It is difficult to detach
yourself from them - somehow you have to keep your distance only words and each of you must understand this for yourself.
in active and inactive moments. You have to wait until you find You have to learn not to be fooled by your machine and the ways
an "I" that is acceptable to work with. Very few thoughts are it tries to undermine your work. Each machine is determined to
useful, and thirty or forty useless thoughts appear before a undermine, in some way, the memory of itself, for it cannot be
productive thought. ÿ= present.
You can't lay down your arms for a second because the traits or You must learn to be content with the present. Marcus Aurelius
the many "selves" will replace the memory of self. It's amazing said: "When the governing faculties are dissatisfied with
what floats through our minds. You have to develop an "I" in whatever happens, then they leave their post".
your butler to warn you to avoid being maintained pleasantly by
your own "selves". Some "selves" are harmless, and yet they After many years of working with the system and Influence C, no
exist at the expense of self-remembering. In addition, the false matter what the "selfs" say, I have learned not to believe them
personality is so clever that some sly "selfs" will try to undermine and let them pass, always be aware of new "selfs" that would
your work by pursuing topics that seem harmless, charming. undermine your work; don't get careless. When you verify that
the car is not real, you will be stimulated to remember yourself.
The more you awaken, the more bizarre are the "s" that Influence When Rodney Collin met Ouspensky, some students had been
C gives you; they shake the governing faculties, developing the studying with Ouspensky for fifteen years. However, he overcame
higher centers. We all go through periods of extreme behavior, them and became fully aware, due to his destiny and sincere
and during these periods our work is remember ourselves and desire to pursue awakening rather than the distractions that
persevere At some point we will have to exhaust the range of prevent awakening. Although there is nothing for the machine in
the emotional center. self-remembering, how great is our thinking when we pursue
The emotional center tries to destroy the memory of self as often divided attention instead of the multiple ramblings that the
as it can, even in the most pleasant circumstances. If it's machine offers. Either one is a poignant alternative to self-
morning, he wants to think about the afternoon. remembering.
The many "selves" are unrelated. They are, in one sense, like
ants digging through the brain. To identify with them is even
worse. The "selves" can deceive you, so sometimes you have to
distrust in no "I" but only to be present. Any "I" is foreign when
it is unrelated to self-remembering. We turn lead into gold when
we turn the many selves into self-remembering. William Blake
said:
IMAGE AND IDENTIFICATION 55
The hidden purpose of the rare use of the word "I" in our publications
is to discourage people from taking themselves too seriously and
thinking too much of themselves. The higher centers simply cannot
win through excessive self-indulgence. Then you are disconnected
IMAGINE YOU TOO
from the higher centers and this is a punishment in itself. try to
IDENTIFICATION remember that the negative states do not last and that in two or
three days they will be overcome by the higher ones.
Laughter generally follows incidents and is a dampener that promotes

identification. Self-remembering and laughter rarely appear together.
Laughter is more often connected with infrasex, although it has its
place. It can help release tension and is how the machine releases
It's helpful to think about what interfered with your recall excess energy.
AND itself today. You can notice that many of the situations that
brought sadness or joy, were not worthy of these states, because Identifying with the inability to remember yourself is a negative
their scale was small. If you are waiting for your food to be served, emotion that is difficult to overcome. However, a properly developed
you must control your negative emotion of boredom. And when the butler will prevent such subtle negativity from hindering future efforts
food arrives, you have to control your positive emotion of joy. Both to awaken.
are equally mechanical and exist on a narrow plane.
When you start to wake up, the question naturally arises as to how
you can become more emotional without becoming identified,
During my long time working with this system, one of the strangest because when we identify ourselves we lose our identity. To become
observations was that you have to be taught to remember yourself - more emotional, you must strengthen an immature emotional center,
something that seems so obvious. It's okay to forget a coat or an valuing the memory of self rather than the subject at hand. You can
umbrella, but there's no excuse for forgetting your clothes, William also become more emotional by controlling the artificial emotions
Shakespeare said: "People are people and even the best forget that arise while you are operating unconsciously.
sometimes." Even Christ forgot himself sometimes. When he went
to sleep in the boat and the waters were troubled, he was awakened Identification is generally allowed to exist because it cushions the
to calm the storm. Esoterically, the boat was the school and the inability to remember yourself. Your car will identify itself, in case of
waters were the truth; the truth had been distorted. small or large problems, with the same intensity, so desperate is it
to undermine the memory of itself.
!/^
When you don't remember yourself, you are subject to the law of It's surprising to wake up and find that you identify with something
chance. How often do you remind yourself during the day? It's like small. Your work is wasted when you become identified.
being on a ship without a rudder - self-remembering is the rudder It's hard to fight identification, but it wouldn't be worth anything if it
that keeps us on course. Becoming negative because you are weren't difficult
controlled by the law of chance is as mechanical as the law of chance
itself. You have to be careful when you are being trained by side Imagination is the natural state of man. Negative emotions are
octaves that take you away from the main octave of self-remembering. subject to more control than imagination. You need to understand
that your problems are maya, or illusion. You identify with relatively
unimportant issues, such as your children, your wife,
34-
SELF-REMEMBERING 57
56 IMAGE AND IDENTIFICATION
your husband or your house. When you wake up, you see that People want symbols of identity because they have no identity.
these aspects of your life must be respected and yet they are not real.
Although they can complement your evolution, they can also
hinder it if you identify with them. You cannot break old ties without pain, but at any moment you or
someone else can stop growing; this is truly death.
Our major problem is how to avoid identification with the various
problems. Identity will eventually replace identification. For the i
sake of identification, we give up our greatest treasure, self- I worked today with a little identification and I realized that it is
remembering. taking away our time, which is all we have.
Today I was talking to a student who was trying to convince me Consciousness has levels and identification is indeed a state of
that my work is hard to endure. I said: "No, I like my work as a madness. Very small things get us. When we are not identified,
teacher. It can only become unbearable if I identify with it." You we see identification for what it is - a waste of time. Sometimes
have to observe as carefully as possible and try not to identify, the C Influence stops an octave to remind us why we are here: not
which requires self-remembering. I often ask myself, "Do you want to identify.
to sacrifice self-remembering for present identification? "
The best way to help someone who is identified is to not identify
yourself. When two people are identified, their chances of
Identification, regardless of the subject, is a negative emotion and remembering themselves are even lower. When another person is
opposes self-remembering. The subject of identification is not in real pain, the best attitude is not to identify; although some
important; zero multiplied by zero still makes zero. identifications are difficult, they represent an exceptional opportunity
for development. You must try to control negative emotions, no
try not to identify yourself when you notice your car lying, because
matter how justified they appear. You must remember that there is
all cars obey this manifestation. a higher right - the right to be yourself.
The lie infiltrates all four centers, because each has its own set of
lies. If you want to stop lying, you must set your goal to control the
centers. To control the centers you must return to self-remembering, You have difficulties with others because you have difficulties with yourself.
for nothing can be acute in sleep. It doesn't matter what your car
is doing, if you're asleep. Our bodies were designed to sleep, not How can we develop willpower without introducing identification
wake, so we must go against nature. into our efforts?
Identification, regardless of the subject, is a negative emotion.
Certain qualities are unattainable if sought too zealously. Thus,
Identification masquerading as humility: Often what you take for you cannot meet your own rails if you are preoccupied with
humility is identification with an imagined self-image. yourself. Witnessing real results can bring emotionality to your
work, because the rail comes when you go beyond identification.
If we are not careful, we will spend a large part of our lives in
Many ideas of the system can only be understood if you have had
identification. We must recognize the identification for what it is
real experience of the higher centers.
and then withdraw. There is absolutely nothing in it. Some of the
things we take seriously we can't sell for a dime.
It is not possible to evolve without facing your deepest identifications.
58
SELF-REMEMBERING
IMAGE AND IDENTIFICATION 59
is aginst with the sexual one. If this topic remains difficult for a long time, you
Imagination which is the natural state of man. We can forget that the should consider marriage.
imagined events never happened. It is a condition that we will have
to fight with for the rest of our lives. The false personality does not want its false life of imagination to be
interrupted by the reality of self-remembering.
Imagination is as harmful a manifestation as the expression of
negative emotions, and although the car seems calmer in imagination, Formative thinking is powerful within us. When we are actually in the
you are still not awake. We must try to go through the bounds of third state, the machine will search for words to describe that state.
imagination. Omar Khayyam said: "It was the Door to which I did not When we are connected with the higher centers, we have to protect
find the Key: it was the veil through which I could not see" them quite carefully, because of the desire of the machine to cut them
The veil is imagination and the key is self-remembering. We lift the off. He will try a variety of methods to send the rails back to sleep. at
veil until self-remembering. Imagination is one of the final barriers a certain stage of development, a useful "I" to protect the higher
between you and the higher centers. experience is: "Trust no "I" - be present now."
d
Imagination
minced consumes energy and is an intruder in all 27'5 af
old age can seem like a foreign experience. When you give in William Shakespeare said, "All day long our eyes see things of which
to your imagination, something big disappears behind something small. we are not aware." We are often not present to the simple beauty
Self-remembering is quite accessible and can permeate any moment evident in our surroundings because imagination competes with the
of your day. It can start at any time and can interrupt any negative present for our attention.
emotion. Imagination is more effective than the main trait - it is our The present takes us anywhere; imagination, nowhere. Imagination
greatest enemy. uses the energy that belongs to the higher centers. There are many
practical ways to intercept the imagination, and these methods do not
It's interesting to sit in this room tonight and think how you'll be sitting
diminish the mystical aspects of awakening. The more practical the
in this room thirty years from now The struggle will be the same - to
school, the more mystical it is. To interrupt the imagination, you must
be present, to taste the wine and listen to the muleÎmagination will
remember yourself.
be a curse for the rest some forms of negative imagination are less
offensive than others and the false personality will even find them
How beautiful it is when self-remembering shines in the darkness of
pleasant When we truly understand that imagination is not self-
imagination. Imagination is like night and self-remembering is day.
remembering, we begin to successfully separate from it. Every
second of self-remembering penetrates the imagination and pierces
eternity.
Isn't it strange that someone has to teach us to live in the present?
You can see how desperate our condition is when you find yourself When you wake up to find that the car is talking, a feeling of alarm
in your imagination while the subject of remembrance of sme is being washes over you, because you realize that your car is functioning
discussed. You can remember yourself, but to do that you have to properly in your sleep.
want to wake up.
How can you learn to be more compassionate with other students?
How can we work with the sexual Remember that Influence C helps us all who have entered the calc
imagination? the whole imagination, regardless of the subject, exists and we help both ourselves and Influence C by outward consideration.
on that PUn Ircbuie to fight We are polite to each other, which allows us to share the experience
of the essence. We must also blame each other and ourselves for our
mistakes.
60 SELF-REMEMBERING
We are here because we are not perfect. If you are not honest with
people at school then you do not remember yourself and you
offend yourself as much as others. You have to restart your self-
remembering many times each day. You lose the thread, you find FRICTION
it, you lose it again and you have to find it again. You wake up,
amazed at what you said or did, because, asleep, you simply
cannot know.
When you are confused, try to apply common sense to your

actions: listen to music, read a book, work with what you have at
hand. It is possible to apply some great principles throughout The thing we come back to whenever we are together is the
your life to ensure your evolution, such as trying to remember memory of self and what prevents it. Two familiar adversaries of
yourself, resisting the expression of negative emotions, and self-remembering are imagination and identification. They will
avoiding identification. Identification is often responsible for frequent you throughout your life and occupy the space that is
confusion. you learn to avoid identifications by not attaching to reserved for your self. Although the subject of identification
them. varies, your car insists that some issues, once resolved, could
eliminate the friction. However, you cannot evolve without
We struggle hard with the imagination and with the force of transforming friction.
imaginary denial; it's really ridiculous. You cannot transform
imaginary suffering; you only get imaginary results. You can One of the positives about friction is that it stops, and we win.
transform true suffering and create an immortal astral body. Goethe said, "Go on, because you must." There has to be tension
in your machine to wake you up, but most people are asleep and
don't produce enough transformative tension to wake up.
When the friction is intense and it is difficult to control the internal

storms, you have to use common sense. Ouspensky said that in
certain cases, when you cannot remember yourself, all you can do
is try. When the friction becomes extreme, we can crumble under
the burden, or we can become indifferent.
Ouspensky said, "If friction ceases, self-remembering ceases."
Under true pressure, all philosophical wisdom gives way to the
silent posture of the governing faculties.
When the friction is extreme, we can forget that it is a play; when

it subsides, we realize that the shock was intended to reveal the
identification and develop the higher centers. No one escapes
suffering, with or without school. If you are brave, ask for more
help. We have been given hearts that can endure much Tribulation.
62 ShLl'-RiiMhMHKRlNCi 1
I have it ! A r.t
Sometimes you can't separate yourself from the negativity you feel. What do you think is the biggest friction? Imagination and
However, control begins with observation. Rodney Collin suggested identification. Awakening is a struggle, moment by moment, moment
that when you are identified and under great stress, you should try to by moment, hour by hour. We know we have today and we may not
remember that there is a superior alternative - self-remembering. When even have the rest of this day.
a number four man transforms suffering, he makes the work of a
number five man incomplete. This is an unusually difficult time for people. A student fell from a
scaffolding from the height of four meters. Another fell from a ladder
One of the ways Influence C works is to arrange frictions or trials in and has a neck prosthesis. Two students had a fire in their house.
order to be transformed by us. Another student is testifying in a trial. Two other students have just
They bring terrible frictions, which we can transform into an astral body found out that their mothers are in the last stages of cancer. Influence
through self-remembering. C gives friction, so that we can come together emotionally, at the
picking of the vine. He didn't wait for the friction to end. try to avoid the
How can you attract the necessary friction to be more awake? attitude: "When will it end?" Rilke wrote: How dear you are to me,
Introduce voluntary, discreet suffering into your life. Artificial pressures nights of sadness! „
are useful for reminding yourself. Why don't I kneel down again to receive you and give myself to you?
Find ways to make more effort; do not lose time. We, wasteful of sadness. As we look beyond them, in a gloomy
duration, perhaps we shall glimpse their end!"
You have to be shocked to the point where the shocks don't touch you
anymore. You are lucky when you get friction in the form of small or We're here because it's hard. If it were easy, none of us would be here.
large shocks. If Influence C provides a shock while you are trying to be
present, it is a third force that catapults you into the third state of
consciousness. Influence C creates many shocks to unbalance you. We get friction when we need it. The good thing about trials is that they
Fortunately, we can use both small and large shocks to evolve. We force the real students to fight and force the non-genuine ones out of
also need to take the initiative, using, in moderation, many forms of school.
discrete voluntary suffering. Be creative in a positive way. I have so many wonderful friends and they all need friction to wake
them up. You have to keep things in perspective. You cannot escape
without friction, and we have been trained to transform suffering. Your
mechanical morality believes that friction is punishment, but Influence
A student told me that he was in an interval with self-remembering and I C gives us suffering not as punishment, but to transform it into an astral
was surprised, because it is always a momentary struggle with . moment. body and a soul.
Jesus said: "The Son of Man (World 6) has nowhere to lay his head".
The goal is not to suffer; everyone suffers. The goal is to transform
suffering into an astral body.
Influence C doesn't give you friction because you're bad, but because
you're asleep. Your essence misunderstands this due to feminine If we remember ourselves when dealing with friction, we assimilate the
dominance and tends to lapse into self-pity rather than self-remembering. suffering. It is certain that no one will escape friction. One of the
purposes of friction is to bring us closer, and it helps us grow through
trials. There are barriers that we go through or that Influence C pushes
us through. It can be a shock to manage to go through these barriers.
64 SELF-REMEMBERING
As soon as friction arises, we want to know how to get rid of it; we

can't wait for it to end. It is mechanical to resist friction, but divine to
transform it. Under pressure you can become exasperated and,
however, try not to allow that point to be reached.
Inevitably, it happens. The only way to escape is to change the level TO MAKE AN EFFORT
of your being through non-identification.
I can't think of an older student who doesn't buckle under pressure.

Because we must work beyond the level of our being to change it,
our roles periodically prove too difficult for any of us.
the goat is asleep, but we go against the current.

Do we all have to struggle with the same friction? The subject of the IN Like the salmon, which returns home driven by a strong instinct,
force of denial is unimportant. Sometimes the force of denial
we must swim against the current of the sleep of life, remember
challenges me, because it is our food. Now, in school, there is a
ourselves and develop our souls.
wonderful pressure. Everyone has a little too much to do, but it is
What else is it to be a man but to struggle against the tide of the
healthy to have too much to do
masses and, through exhausting work and lonely trials, create your
soul? you start with self-remembering in the morning and end with it
It is very good to remember yourself when your life is at stake. Homer in the evening. You cannot afford to leave the memory of yourself
said, "Submit in silence." The only answer is self-remembering. aside; then you cease to exist.
Anyone can be crushed, but we fight through trials, becoming
stronger.
You cannot wake up unless you have verified that you are asleep.
Subjected to trials, try to maintain a high level of self-remembering.

The fact that you endure the friction simply indicates that you have Sleep is so unattractive that it stimulates awakening.
approached the butler level. People don't make more efforts to wake up because they don't
understand that their time is limited. When you truly and deeply
understand that your time is limited, regardless of age, you will try
We cannot escape with the help of thought; we cannot escape by laughing
to wake up with all the power of your being. The higher forces
or crying; we can only break through self-remembering.
become more serious with you as the years go by.
I'd like to say that I've gone through the material in this book. But
self-remembering is never outgrown.
It has no inertia of its own and is always a grueling battle.
Leonardo Da Vinci said: "O God, You sell us every good thing for
the price of toil". We are in a particularly difficult situation. Almost no
one realizes that what can be gained or lost during life is
enormous .You gain immortality or you fall into oblivion, or
worse.Every second you remember yourself, you pierce eternity.
66 SELF-REMEMBERING TO MAKE AN EFFORT 67
No one puts enough pressure on himself, for the purpose of much to my troubled eyes. Shall I hold you tight, shall I dare? Does
awakening, for this reason Influence C gives shocks. To wake up, it my heart still long for vain illusions?"
takes more than you suspect and more than the machine wants to
admit. Psalm 127 says: "Only the Lord builds the house, those who
After spending the day working for school, trying to be present, not
raise it labor in vain". Esoterically this means that those who do not
expressing negativity, and trying to avoid imagination, you're tired,
build self-remembering build in vain, because in the Bible "the Lord"
and yet it's a day well spent. You cannot win by abandoning work.
refers to your centers superiors and "Lord God" refers to the Absolute
The truth is that you have no alternative to efforts to be present, daily,
You cannot reap unless you sow. We sow self-remembering and at
for the rest of your life.
the end of our lives, we will reap what we have sown.
The students who enter the path work at their maximum capacity.
Remember that you are present both for yourself and for the school;
Never leave the memory of yourself aside. Consciousness cannot be
whatever is physical will perish; you, with divided attention, will endure.
given, it must be earned through one's own efforts, with the help of
higher forces.
We work to make the incomprehensible understandable. Self-
remembering is a test that we must pass, even if sometimes it seems
almost too much, it seems beyond our capacity, the level of our Cultivate common sense and try not to think about yourself.
being. We must do this every day. Read, take a walk, take care of someone else. The author avoids sarcasm.
The answers we need to get down to the present are simple; however, Influence C does bold, rule-breaking things to induce a process of
the efforts are difficult. Even so, we win. elimination with the people in the school. I'm not against this method,
I'm all for it.
Clean the school.
The poet Rainer Rilke said, "It is tiresome to be full of recoveries."
You are constantly trying to recover your memory of yourself from in trying to wake up, you have to realize that there are no guarantees.
the imagination, it is tiresome, and yet you could not have a more Goethe, one of the most intelligent conscious beings, wrote in Faust:
worthy battle to be won at hand. . There are enormous periods of "I remain faithful to this thought, profound truth of the fruit of wisdom:
imagination, and then the trend of self-remembering returns. Indeed, only he who masters freedom and life every day deserves them." If
in everything we do, most of our efforts are towards self-remembering you want to be immortal, you will be, if you want something else, you
and are related to culture. The opportunities to be present remain the will have something else. Most people spend their lives following
same years from now. Influence A rather than Influence C.
One of the reasons why self-remembering appeals to us is its Ouspensky emphasized the need to control our functions. However,
difficulty. It is the only true test we encounter in life and the only in the depressing situation we find ourselves in, we are almost beyond
thing that is not mechanical. Courage can have limitations and control. How did we come to have the control that we do? Through
awakening requires more perseverance than courage. in the end, time and effort, separating us from suffering.
something like this is reached, to endure simply and plainly; and it's
a good place to be. What does it mean to go the extra mile? Cicero said: "There is no
single moment of duty." If nothing else, we always have a duty to
A phrase from Goethe reminds me of the fourth man who pursues remember ourselves.
self-remembering, and it is so difficult, that sometimes it seems like Our work can be serious only to the extent that we
an illusion: understand the depth of our sleep. the teacher can
70 SELF-REMEMBERING TO MAKE AN EFFORT 71
consistently, you need unity; to have unity, you need self- It is important not to crowd our lives with events, but to do well
remembering. To remember yourself, you must have the purpose what we do. You have to enjoy reading a book and not just try to
of being present get through it. Never allow yourself to be so busy, to be in such
a hurry, that you forget your precious rail.
You have to notice if you have the same personality and if you
make the same efforts both in public and in private. And if you
behave differently in public, the efforts are based on vanity or How can we include the element of surrender in our moment-to-
female dominance. moment effort of self-remembering? We must deeply understand
that we have nothing to give up; we don't give up anything to
get something.
How can we spend more time in the present when our car wants
to plan for future needs? There comes a time for everything.
Never cease to strive; tenaciously remember your purpose. We
There is a framework for planning future needs, it is common
change without forcing and the efforts made in one direction
sense. Don't prolong the process, and once it's done, turn your
can bring us results in another direction. We don't need external
attention to the present. while making plans, discreetly use
events to force us to remember ourselves. Self-remembering
voluntary suffering, holding the paper at a slightly unusual angle, has a cumulative effect, and the more you remember yourself,
sitting a little too close to the desk, and so on. the more you will be able to remember yourself.
"Me: 'This is not a permanent state' is the beginning of the end

of negative emotions. It is advantageous to work with people who do not have to
convince them of the need to remember themselves. Students
Tonight, it was a little difficult to listen to music. A working "I" get into trouble because they think they can slide by virtue of
advised me with a soft voice, which did not accuse me: "You inertia. It may be surprising to realize that you have to work to
can't speak if you don't listen." There was a third force to help wake up. Awakening does not happen. Many people never get
me listen. Working selves are precious, and it is a blessing when beyond the fascination and leave a teaching when, in fact, they
they appear when we need them; unfortunately, for a number should be starting the daily work.
four, the needed working self often appears after the internal
struggle is over. . We push ourselves to the limit. always return to self-remembering,
always try to find it - it is the only goal worth pursuing.
It is a major effort to use the small occasions in order to

remember ourselves and a good part of our life's struggle is Why is it that the further you get, the harder it gets? Because
dedicated to development. We are people who take a deep you are not carried away by imagination, by the false image you
breath, who have a total commitment to waking up, because have of yourself. we cease to be satisfied only by imagination,
without that we cannot expect a full reward. The most wonderful and we have already ceased to deceive ourselves, with regard
achievements are within everyone's reach but, due to human to our condition.
negligence, they are rarely achieved. When we set a goal and
then neglect it, we later wake up and reconnect with the subtle The real thing begins with the realization that man is a machine;
consciousness. 1 the moment you verify that you are a machine, you begin to
cease to be a mechanic.
72 SELF-REMEMBERING
In the end, people do or don't get what they need to keep going,
it's a difficult road, but the only one worth traveling.
SUFFERING
they will be more apt to remember you if you try to separate

IN of suffering. This is not pleasant information and is one of
the main reasons for the lack of popularity of the system.
Suffering is of no use without self-remembering, because we do
not seek suffering, but the transformation of suffering.
We have a wrong attitude towards suffering. We believe that

suffering is useless and we don't know how to use it properly.
When situations are difficult, you become negative, but you
have to remember yourself to transform suffering. Our machines
believe that words can dispel suffering, but no words can save
you from some types of friction. Only acceptance can lessen
the severe suffering.
Unnecessary suffering emanates from a lazy mind; it is much

easier to suffer needlessly than to remember yourself.
There is little reason for some students to receive substantial

shocks, because they confuse minor suffering with major
suffering. They would not know how to separate themselves
from a major shock. This has to do with the tendency of our
machines to amplify and exaggerate our suffering.
As you witness the passing of months and years, you realize

that, ironically, your greatest suffering is unnecessary suffering.
You are liable to suffer needlessly, because it is so. difficult to
remember yourself. By creating worry or imaginary problems
you take seriously many events which, in no way, justify the
interest. Shakespeare said: "He who has not had a wound jokes
about the scars". If the man
74
SlîLl ;-RKMUMHliRlNG 75
SUl-'KRIN ÿ A
free from unnecessary suffering, he will see how foolish what he is after
and that he does not exist. You must fill this void with self-remembering. Voluntary suffering contains an element of will, and yet such efforts must
constitute only a part of your day. It may be helpful to avoid extreme efforts
to voluntarily suffer, because the false personality will suggest impossible
Unnecessary suffering is responsible for most unhappiness. Fear and efforts to hinder your progress and make awakening seem unattainable.
indignation can extend one or two minutes of suffering into hours. Often
what stands between you and self-remembering is needless suffering. You
have to form the habit of opposing your fear, self-remembering. When you
begin to alarm yourself, that you cannot remember yourself, this, in turn, Is it easier to remember yourself when you are relaxed or tense than
is material for self-remembering. when you are feeling neutral? All three of these states are shades of self-
remembering, and you can find your groove by being present when you
are either relaxed, tense, or neutral.
True pain is not a negative emotion, when it is doubled by mastery and
peace.
I recently saw a film about Africa. There were rows of people who had a
Gurdjieff said that you have to use voluntary suffering to wake up. A
disease that caused blindness. It seemed that things could not get any
method I have used for many years is to keep my feet under the table,
worse. Not only were they blind, but they held sticks in their hands, each
with the soles on the Earth and side by side. I don't turn them or twist
holding on to the other, following the other, going nowhere. You had
them from side to side. When I find them wrong, it sends me a message
to come to the present. Voluntary suffering must be discreet - other people nowhere to go in that desolate place.
must not know when it takes place. You can try not drinking tea or coffee It is a complex universe. Why is there suffering? Perhaps it is the nature
for a week, not eating vegetables or meat - all the time irritating your car. of materials that creates suffering. God suffered inexpressibly to create his
Your soul is the pearl of great price, and like any pearl, it must be created astral body and man was made in God's image.
through the transformation of irritation.
When you drive the car and you are alone, sit to the right or to the left in You must verify that you do indeed have a conscious destiny. If this
the seat or far back or sit on a box. information is correct, it means that there must be a script written for you
Listen to a radio station you don't like; listen to it out loud. Don't defeat to fulfill this destiny, because conscious destiny cannot be accidental. The
your will - use voluntary suffering for fifteen minutes and then find scenario is real and the suffering is real, because without these elements,
something else. There is a way out, but you have to be creative to find it. a true state cannot be produced.
How can we increase voluntary suffering? The students must learn to separate themselves from the suffering of the
Do what the machine doesn't want to do, or give it what it doesn't like. teacher, just as he must separate himself from the trials of his students.
When the machine has no great suffering to work with, it will work with However, we will continue to be understanding towards each other. Your
little suffering. self and your suffering must often make their way on a lonely, mystical
path, and I make no attempt to hide the fact that they are melancholy
Is voluntary suffering an artificial pressure or is it justified?
companions. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
It is both artificial and justified; it is artificial that _ c> pressure
produces a real result. Þ
One of the most useful "eurTs" to follow in the midst of friction is: "How
can I work with this suffering, differently, in the face of a person without a
system?"
76 SELF-REMEMBERING •SUFERINÿA 77
We believe that we shouldn't have experienced the pain, because Are we causing our own friction?
our mothers eased our suffering as best they knew how. This is a Sometimes, through unnecessary suffering. Also, there is an
dimension of female dominance. We have been trained to avoid irrevocable script written for each person and each of us has to pay
pain and cultivate a biological existence made up of peaceful sleep. to receive the gift of awakening. The most difficult payment is the
Awakening is a divine gift and the higher forces use completely transformation of suffering.
different rules than our mothers. However, they love us consciously.
The gods are our parents, and we are their children, and they make How can you transform imaginary suffering into self-remembering;
us, like themselves, immortal. Epictetus said: "I will never leave my only true suffering can be transformed into higher states.
true parents, the gods." They will not leave him either, because now
he is one of them. When you are at the end of a major trial, you realize, with more
understanding, that you have lost nothing but illusions. No one can
be real without self-remembering, and true suffering dissipates the
We are people who have suffered to find a school and here we are imagination.
taught to transform suffering into self-remembering.
Arti lost a student in Mexico City on Monday in a plane crash. He
We are the lucky beneficiaries of the work of Influence C and they
sat at his table on Sunday and his role ended on Monday. The last
have given us the task of developing our school. We got more than
statement I made on Sunday evening was that both young and
our fair share here; thus we also received more than our share of
older students will give everything they have, for self-remembering.
suffering.
Sometimes Influence C demands it from us.
Suffering gives us life. Aeschylus said: "It is the eternal law of
wisdom that the truth can only be known through the suffering it
Sadness has its role, but you have to suppress it and return to self-
creates." The transformation of suffering requires self-remembering.
remembering. William Shakespeare said, "I disturb a deaf heaven
As far as suffering is concerned, we can do nothing but transform it with my vain pleas." The machine is self-pitying when it receives
and be present, which, in the end, means everything. The negative friction. Although this trait is justified on one level, you must refrain
aspects in us produce suffering, which, transformed in turn, develops from expressing it, because of the purpose of awakening. To identify
the higher centers. The best way to work with suffering is to accept is mechanical; to separate is divine. Avoiding self-pity is an excellent
it, not to reject it, to let it take its course. Perhaps the most painful means of remembering yourself.
aspect of suffering is wishing it would end, because by accepting
suffering, you rise above it. Life has many unpleasant aspects that
you have to endure, with or without a system. It takes a long time to William Blake conjured up an irreconcilable angel who walked
learn not to run away from suffering, to accept what the higher forces resolutely with his sword at his side. When I first saw this drawing, I
give you. Obviously, doubling the suffering, by trying to run away thought it was strange for an angel to be involved in a war. Now I
from it, is madness. understand that the enemy of the higher forces is sleep and that
they must use strong measures to wake us up. We receive
substantial friction not because of any wrong action on our part, but
Your life would be much worse if you didn't try to make it better. because we are asleep. If you review the lives of eminent people,
You are born through a thousand mistakes. you can see that their scripts are full of suffering. Maurice Nicoll
said: "Nothing makes a man more like God than suffering".
79
78 SELF-REMBMBERING SUFFERING YOU
Your self, which you remember through suffering, is the great When you go through long periods of suffering, there is
theme of your life. You lose nothing real by sacrificing nothing to do but endure and transform them. Major suffering
everything to the moment. forces you to ask yourself what the purpose of existence is.
The more serious the suffering, the more serious the question;
The only way to transform suffering is to accept it. If you remember there are answers.
accept it, then you can escape it. Avoiding suffering is itself
suffering - this is a great secret. Friction is given to all types, regardless of their center of
gravity. You must pay with the transformation of suffering for
We know that we have no other defense, apart from self- the role you have been given. Men need tremendous suffering
remembering, when higher forces give us friction. We know to make them truly men, and women need to be "like men"
that we must be silent and accept what they give us. This truth and experience enormous friction to wake up.
is quite simple. You have to become, somehow, used to suffering. The friction
subsides, although often to be replaced by a more intense
Vum can we remember what we earn? One of the facts that form. If you persist in trying to transform suffering, you will
Influence C accepts about us is that we need to be reminded, be less affected by it. However, you have to live through the
that we forget. It is important to try to remember what we pain and rise above it.
checked and when it hurts enough, we remember.
We have a real life and we have to transform the suffering to
understand it. you only truly understand what you suffer. Give
yourself this advice: "Suffering is not created for me to identify
We all know the suffering we experience personally. This
with, but to transform it." Seek to ease your suffering by using
school is real and the shocks are real. Because we are not
others instead of yourself, means delaying the moment when
chasing something small, we cannot expect a small payment.
you become your own master.
There are moments in our lives that cannot be destroyed by
time, and the transformation of suffering represents a considerable part of these moments.
try to relieve suffering rather than to cause it.
When others seem to lose their work, stick to your work and
The attitude you have towards events and not the events in
self-remembering will find its place.
siqe, determines whether you will suffer or not. It is best to
hide your suffering as often as you can. No word is as
impressive as silence in the face of suffering. Even in the face Although we live in beautiful times, awakening is not meant
of incurable disease, you still have the choice to be present to be a pleasant process. You have to pay a special price and
and add to your astral body; when death is near and some perceptions are destructive to your friendly nature.
inescapable, self-remembering proves to be everything. at this
moment you work even more intensively to create your It is necessary to accept suffering as a life-giving principle
personal tendency to evolve. Time is running out and that's pretty much all you've got. and not as an obstacle. There are eminent role models from
all walks of life - from slaves to emperors - to guide you to a
To produce consciousness there must always be friction of profound existence. The transformation of suffering is their
sufficient intensity. To endure friction fflr identification is the common theme.
major part of awakening. Do not break through the gate of
Saint Peter easily. You can either bend or bend under pressure. You have to stop
waiting for it to end and accept it,
SELF-REMEMBERING SUFERIN ÿ A 81
because the only way to transform suffering is to embrace it. Many branches of activity may seem insignificant to the untrained
mind, and yet, because they can be transformed into something that
does not perish, they are blessings. We must remember that friction
is not what it seems. From a certain point of view it may seem
In Ecclesiastes it is written: "in much wisdom there is much pain, and
deceptive, but from a higher point of view, suffering is a life-giving
he who increases his knowledge increases his pain".
principle.
Knowledge and being cannot be distinguished. The knowledge we
absorb is the immortal food destined to produce the higher centers.
To become what the words mean* we must suffer, and yet we must The esoteric meaning of wine is understanding. Wine, like
not suffer in vain. We must strive to transform suffering. understanding, has magical properties and is the color of blood.
When Jesus changed water into wine, he turned truth into
understanding, which is a process based on suffering. Suffering is a
good teacher. The deeper the teaching, the deeper the suffering and
We must learn how to use suffering, because negative shocks can
the more valuable the results.
create the third state. An element of us assumes that suffering should
Almost all of Christ's disciples died an unnatural death. We need to
happen to someone else. However, awakening is not for other people,
talk about these things to prepare for what is to come. enduring
it is for you. After you transform suffering, you must avoid the
suffering you carry your cross. We are chosen to play these roles.
tendency to slow down and fall asleep.
You have to go through the same trials, at any time, to achieve the
Transforming suffering and not identifying with it opens up all our
same spiritual results. Walt Whitman said, "The same unyielding price
possibilities. And yet we know that suffering is both a sweet and bitter
must still be paid for the same peerless purchase." This refers to
experience, and it is difficult to look forward to. The false personality
suffering.
must die in us for the higher centers to come to life, and we experience
Everyone must have both the good fortune and the bad luck to verify
that death. this.
Shocks charge us back to the present and remind us to hold on to No man can know himself without having a heart that has endured
our identity amidst the temporal absurdity of life. We cannot wait to despair. You have to strive for what seems to be inaccessible, because
wake up without paying the price. There can be no victory without a
that is where reality resides and only despair can storm the highest
battle, no virtuous crown without a cause. However, common sense
walls.
inhibits your cohesion. One of the reasons people suffer is because
they think too much of themselves; in this way they create their own
We are all jolted periodically by shocks that bring us to reality. try not
suffering. There are many little secrets you have to learn to wake up,
to identify with events, which you cannot change. Admittedly,
and one of them is that you can't wake up if you suffer from too much
self-indulgence. When you learn to reduce excessive self-indulgence receiving shocks is a strange way to escape, but we are lucky that
there is a way. in the end you accept shocks not as interruptions of
and look around, the higher centers begin to emerge. The higher
sheets are then sure that they have created a compassionate your life but gratefully as interruptions of your sleep, and you cherish
personality - an identity that will serve, rather than selfishly use, the them because they evoke the higher centers.
Ray of Creation.
Let us be touched, but not consumed by suffering.

82 SELF-REMEMBERING
Remember, when feelings of helplessness arise, that you have

help: Influence C. Do not despair; persevere and you will enter
eternity.
TRANSFORMATION AND
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
In the face of suffering, one of our predominant weaknesses is

indignation. When we receive friction from higher forces, we
should transform it instead of identifying with it.
Rainer Rilke described man as "dissipating sadness," because

people tend to feel suffering rather than transform it. However,
the more you transform suffering, the more your soul appears. It
is necessary to remember that a school exists to produce
consciousness in its participants. The best way to serve the
higher pits is to remember yourself, because without your rails
there is nothing that can serve. It is of also necessary to
remember the purpose of the suffering and try not to become
negative.What Rilke was saying means that instead of
transforming the suffering, you go into self-pity and identify with
it.
One of the functions of negative emotions is to distract us from

self-remembering. Negativity is a banal substitute for the discrete
presence of self-remembering. The present escapes you in many
ways and some of these can be quite justifiable on the surface.
Even so, if it is not transformed, the opportunity to embrace the
present is still lost
How can you prevent self-pity from wasting the work of higher
forces?
You must remember that facts are deceiving, and that although
the methods used to influence C seem uncivilized, the Huperioift
understanding must be attained ÿ that by transforming suffering, you create life.
84 SELF-REMEMBERING
transformation 85
If you assimilate friction correctly, there is no time to indulge in

self-pity. Also, self-pity doesn't stop Influence C from administering Few people who became aware knew their alchemy, center of
friction, because they are relentless in their goal to wake you up. gravity, main feature or body type.
Self-pity not only diminishes you, but also others, because it This knowledge is useful and yet evolution depends on the
doesn't want to be surrounded by success when it fails. transformation of negative emotions.
Nothing is more noble, nothing is more important than the

How can you work on transforming negative energy into positive transformation of negative emotions. If you are overwhelmed by
energy? a feeling of helplessness, remember that such a state is not
Ouspensky said that the first conscious shock, which is self- permanent and that you will have support, both from the school
remembering, does not happen mechanically, but is the result of and from higher forces. The desire to treat increases with each
personal efforts. The second conscious shock is produced by the life, as does the intensity of your friction and ability to transform
attempt to transform negative emotions through non-identification. it. Few people have the strength to bear the awakening; you are
To transform negative emotions, you must avoid identifying with the chosen few.
the object of your negativity. Negative emotions are difficult to
transform, first of all, because you are under the influence of something is always trying to distract us from the present - this is
female domination and you forget why they are given. You need often the role of negative emotions. They are a pathetic substitute
to aspire to a higher right and separate yourself from negative emotions. for self-remembering. We can develop a soul by getting used to
not expressing negativity. Ouspensky said, "Whatever it is, don't
We often deal with negative emotions simply because we have become negative," to turn the shock si-do. The reason self-
accumulated energy in the negative halves of the centers. If you remembering is so difficult is that you are simultaneously creating
manage to control the initial subject, you will have to be quite your soul and awakening your tracks. The agonies of growing
careful because the subject of the negativity will change, up, how to- would say. As you transform suffering, your purpose
eventually you must come to control the source of the negativity to awaken becomes stronger. How mechanical negative emotions
to a greater extent than the subject of it. really are and how few know the value of transforming suffering.
Ouspensky said: "We have a worm in us that wants to express
itself."
Only self-remembering can cope with negative emotions, really,
Plato said that we must form good habits. Higher forces offer the it's a matter of desire. Ouspensky was right when he said that
opportunity to express negative emotions, and we must form the behind every negative emotion is your permission.
habit of not expressing them - then they will turn into true
personality, essence and self-remembering. One of the reasons
why the machine endlessly prefers negative subjects is because You can remember yourself and at the same time a part of the
it finds it easier than resisting them. If a chain of negativity is not
car can be negative. When you are besieged by negative
broken, it can continue for a long time.
emotions, remember that the only profitable refuge is self-remembering.
Negative states are not permanent - this "I" is the beginning of

When life expresses negativity, it is necessary not to let it affect
you, but to transform it. You must not transfer the negativity of the end for the negative emotion. Negative emotions lack unity
life to students.
^ and disappear. By their very nature they are broken and fragmented.
We are here because we are imperfect; if we were perfect,
unitary, we wouldn't be here. Remember to be smart enough to
transform negative emotions.
86 S-E'L F-REMEMBERING transformation 87
Qamens that are mechanically positive are just as mechanical as those that you see it as an opportunity for transformation and you are grateful that
are mechanically negative. your sleep is interrupted. If you love negative emotions you will be deprived
Ouspensky said: "The false personality of some people operates in good of any joy you can hope for.
spirits and as a result they deceive themselves." You cannot control your
negative emotions if you cannot control your positive emotions, and neither to what extent is the teacher the model of the students? How much
one nor the other is your train. Self-remembering is metaphysical and is
will the students model themselves after him?
above the transient dualistic level.
Not everyone is the same and a soul is the result of personal experiences.
After a while you lose the imitation and, for lack of a better expression, you
arrive at your personal style.
How can you work with the inability to keep your temper? Anger is a
real bummer when it happens. It's bad enough that we have these inner
Since our goal is immortality, we may wonder why we are not given more
"selves," but it's pathetic to express them outwardly. Ouspensky said, "You
suffering. All four, five, six and seven people need friction to maintain their
can think whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."
practical work and to change their level of being. Naturally, the machine is
Whenever someone expresses a negative emotion to another student, the
irritated by the friction, instead of trying to transform it, but the attempt to
school suffers, we try not to hurt each other, because expressing negative
avoid the suffering itself causes suffering. An ancient Sufi advises: "you
emotions in the school is criminal. We give each other life, in order to ensure
meet your destiny on the road you take to avoid it". Many areas of work
life for everyone.
may appear insignificant and yet, because they can be transformed, they
are blessings. You cannot make a living by transforming suffering imaginary,
because, fundamentally, only real suffering produces real results.
You have to go beyond the spectrum of the emotional center to create a
soul, you have to do more than is humanly possible.
Suffering brings us to the school, but the transformation of suffering enables
us to enter the path. Accepting suffering transforms suffering.
Because the level of the four human being is not uniform, some will have a
enduring suffering is a dimension of its transformation. Homer, who had to greater ability to avoid identification and transform negative emotions than
deal with even more suffering after going blind, wrote: “endure, my heart; others. I say this because you have your own being, which can be held
you've been through harder ones." accountable if you express negativity, even when it is not expressed in
When you're going through mild pain, remember the worst thing you've words. You cannot afford to keep pace with others, because the valuation
ever been through of work can vary considerably.
The word conscious is, in reality, far too generous a title for the first and
second states of the human condition. Consciousness has levels and strong Often, the false personality sees friction as a break in its inertia. That is why
negative emotions are more likely to invoke the control of the intellectual it is imperative not to express negative emotions, but to transform them and
parts of the centers than more subdued negative emotions. Remember that thus feed the higher centers. There is really no justification for negative
transforming negative emotions is the main method used to wake up, emotions. When our personality prevents us from transforming our suffering
although fortunately it is not the only method. into being, we have exchanged something for nothing.
in evolution you reach a certain point where you become grateful for the
awful "selves" you receive. l*
88 SELF-REMEMBERING transformation 89
How can we develop the ability to separate ourselves from our / devastating shocks. The biblical story of Daniel in the lion's den
iegatfve emotions? The transformation of negative emotions must describes World 6 struggling with the emotional
'
center, struggling
with transforming
become a habit; the more you do it, the more you will be able to negative emotions.
do it. It is both a business and a considerable part of the household
property. John Milton created his astral body before he went blind and then
used his infirmity to deepen his level of being. Milton said of his
For a number four man, one of the best ways to remember himself torment: "I argue not against the heavenly hand."
is to separate immediately from the disappointment produced by This is one of our best examples of transforming suffering.
the lack of self-remembering. One must develop the habit of
immediately turning disappointment into self-remembering.
Pante Alighieri wrote: "Be ready to climb to the stars." Separating
Negative "s" nag you, for that is their purpose; you are not meant yourself from suffering and transforming it through self-
to escape them. If you are awake, you do not miss them, but if you remembering is, indeed, the journey to the stars for the immortal soul
are asleep, you need all the help you can get. It is a law that you
must transform negativity to wake up Johann Goethe said that There is nothing nobler, nothing more important than the silent
you must wait for the worst until the end, this means that you must transformation of negative emotions or suffering.
wait for help or friction to wake up, until your role is over. We are involved in such a discreet and great struggle. Fortunately,
we are protected by higher powers, which are not impressed by
life or negative emotions. In fact, your evolution revolves around
Negative emotions are always preoccupied with a small thing, not expressing negative emotions, because this directly encourages
which you allow to amplify beyond measure. Blaise Pascal said: self-remembering.
"A simple trifle consoles us, because a simple trifle makes us
sad." When something minor consoles us, it shows how small our There is no surer sign of sleep than a negative emotion.
negative emotions are.
When the machine wants to become negative, say to yourself,
To evolve, you have to transform the small negative events that "Maintain the level." Then you must support that "I" and become
happen every day; you can overcome great suffering only by what the words say. The working "selves" can only advise us; we
transforming small sufferings. It's wonderful when you can see must support them. We owe it to ourselves to transform negative
friction as an opportunity. It is such a strange lifeline that the emotions.
supreme forces have thrown at us, salvation through the
transformation of suffering. Imaginal pressures are responsible for many negative emotions,
many of which originate in the instinctual center.
I try to wake up a life experience as noble and positive as possible, Remembering to supply the instinctual center with what it needs,
but I have long said that angels carry a wand in one hand and a in moderation, can quiet many expressions of negativity. Jesus
club in the other. You must transform the deceptive friction, and said: "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's"*.
this transformation is exactly what Jesus Christ personified.
It's hard to remember which way of thinking to apply to a given
line of friction when you're struggling to bridge the gap between
Tragedies happen to all of us, with or without school, but the your knowing and your being; only experience makes you able to
Qtfiyutor of the school we can use them, instead of being used by work more efficiently, with the passage of time. It is a miracle to
them. Our heart can take an incredible amount and recover from it change water into wine, therefore knowledge, into personal understanding. The key
transformation 91
90 SELF-REMEMBERING
the main thing in our work is the transformation of negative it shows us how much potential we have and we don't use it. The
emotions. only way we can do more is to be present. The present demands
its rights, you always have the living to serve. Don't live on what
Nothing is more difficult for a number four man than to transform you lost. There are no former students that I dislike, because you
negative emotions into positive ones. Expressing negativity is cannot both exist in that plane and be present. Self-remembering
mechanical and programmed deep into our machines. For this and hatred cannot occupy the same space.
reason, you have to admit failures, because certain negative
The transformation of suffering is the cornerstone of awakening.
manifestations are so strong that, initially, you can only try to
Feminine dominance, identification and inner consideration stand
separate yourself from them.
between you and your soul. Remorse may be a noble emotion, but
Is there a practical way to transform negativity? nowhere near as noble as the transformation of remorse.
By considering another person externally one can stop the Obviously you have to rise above female domination to transform
negativity, as can either the employment of the movement center suffering.
or the reading.
If we can successfully prevent our machines from dampening the
How do you turn the other cheek? transformation of negative emotions in a certain area, they will
Accepting what currently exists Buddha used to eat whatever fell automatically choose a new way to obstruct the transformation.
into his bowl. If suffering falls into our vessel, we must transform
it. Our ability to transform negative emotions depends a lot on the
Everyone suffers here, with or without the system, but we get
main accumulator. If it is exhausted, our thinking is exhausted
something for ourselves. We are not better than life, we are just
and sometimes we are forced to exert ourselves in a tired machine.
luckier. If you feel guilty about your luck, you are under female
domination. Ouspensky said that luck is the most important
variable, and we are lucky to be chosen by Influence C to evolve.
Real men and women consume negative emotions.
Horace said: "The pleasures I have enjoyed, in spite of fate, are
Self-remembering is the only thing that is not swallowed * it of
mine." In fact, it is so because of fate. We do not evolve in spite of
must swallow negative emotions.
the sheet of denial - but because of it. This understanding
embraces the whole concept of the transformation of suffering.
We can only transform negativity when we understand that we
have nothing to gain by expressing it, while we will gain everything
by resisting it. Socrates was offered a plan by which he could escape his death
sentence; he refused, saying that he preferred to be innocent
What a waste negative emotions will be at the end of our lives - to before the gods and a victim of men, than to resist the demands
have used our time in this way. When you identify with suffering
of the supreme powers. He concluded by saying: "Leave me to do
and fail to transform it, the sorrow is wasted.
the will of the gods and go where they lead me."
It is a noble emotion to be sad because of a shock, but there is a
superior response to it, and that is to transform it. this is where
the car stops and we start from here. Schools mean accelerated evolution, not relative awakening. You
change quite a lot in three to six months, mainly by not expressing
Each of us needs to transform suffering throughout our lives. It's negative emotions.
hard when we have so many friends who die. we understand more
and are more involved Ounce shocks
92 SELF-REMEMBERING
transformation 93
It's hard to give Influence C anything because they are metaphysical

beings. One of the highest gifts we can give is to try to accept Waking up has to be difficult, otherwise we wouldn't be interested.
suffering, to try to transform it. On the surface, friction seems to make evolution a whole jungle.
But if you correctly assimilate a shock, transforming it, it brings
harmony to your soul. naturally, we grow stronger by transforming
We get major shocks in life, but they are occasional. However, we friction.
must remain alert to the small shocks in order to transform them.
William Shakespeare said: "Some must watch, while others must How much the C Flu softens us.
sleep," and we are the ones who must watch lest we fall asleep. So
what are we watching? The little negative emotions that occupy the indeed, you can hardly give anything to Influence C; a bouquet of
space of self-remembering. The thing ours is to transform suffering, flowers would be preferable to gold. They have everything and are
big or small, to build the soul. everything. The way to repay them is not to identify with suffering, but to transform it.
Then you don't waste your time or theirs
The car has many subjective states, but they are illusions with Letting go of negative emotions is a matter of life and death. Not
which we waste our time. This is the worst part. A negative emotion only the quantity matters, but also the quality of the transformation
is not as innocent as it seems, because we pay for it with our time. of suffering. Suffering itself is a waste, but its transformation is
precious. indeed, you can buy nothing that lasts, except self-
remembering, and that at the price of the transformation of suffering.
You have to fully understand the magnitude that the car gives to
negative emotions, no matter how insignificant. Negativity is
worthless. Not expressing negative emotions is what gives you
The transformation of suffering is what allows anything to become
energy. You have to discern for yourself what constitutes a negative
possible: transform suffering and you will make your life divine.
emotion. The only antidote against negative emotions is self-
Our human heart is so big that there is almost no limit to what it
remembering.
can transform.
The more you transform suffering, the closer you are to the end;
Christ proved this. No one has suffered so much in such a short
time. It was the last week of his role that made Christ truly great,
his silence at the judgment. His statement: "Father, forgive them,
because I don't know why," exemplifies the transformation of
suffering.
We are here to rise above our wounds and death proves how
precious the transformation of suffering is. One reason why it's so
hard to wake up; it is that we are surrounded by six billion people
who are asleep. It is difficult not to imitate their unsubstantial being
and their occupations fSra miez, Be present. Marcus Aurelius
Antoninus wrote: "What does it matter if the whole world protests
against your rule, since you are right?"
SCALE AND RELATIVITY 95
You may only be able to extract moments of self-remembering

in the course of a day. However, reality fragments are your real
possessions. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, a stoic Roman
SCALE AND emperor and conscious being, wrote in his Meditations : "The
present is the only thing of which a man can be dispossessed."
RELATIVITY Not only must you encounter the idea of self-remembering, but
you must learn appreciate it. When you can't appreciate the
value of being present, you're deluding yourself, because self-
remembering is a unique idea.
When two people argue, they usually consider only two opinions.
One may be more true, i.e. may have a broader perspective but,
rice, except for self-remembering, is absurd. As taking into account relativity, both views are true. It goes without
O you study the system, the significance of this single idea saying that we do not perceive scale and relativity. But it is
becomes supreme. No other idea has the mass of self- imperative that we learn to understand them. Remember yourself
remembering and nothing compares to it. regardless of the scale of your activities.
I achieved an unprecedented opening through self-remembering;

it's the idea we've been searching for all our lives. The five to six billion people on Earth have not discovered self-
Regardless of the action we undertake for the development of remembering, and what's worse for them, they don't want to
the essence, all efforts must be accompanied, at the same time, hear about it. Self-remembering reveals the error of nature. It is
by the huge idea of self-remembering. an intentional lack - the path of detachment from human
connection.
The idea of self-remembering appeals most to those who have
been disappointed by all other ideas. When you encounter a essentially there is only one problem - self-remembering.
school, the hidden meaning of life on Earth is revealed. Shakespeare wrote: "To be, or not to be, that is the question**.
Each day is only important in relation to the amount of self-
One of the main forces opposing self-remembering is the lack of remembering you can extract from it.
appreciation of this state. Also, its insufficient appreciation is
due to the failure to establish a correct scale. It is unlikely that a One of the aspects of self-remembering is that it is self-rewarding.
machine will try to remember itself; Consequently^ you must We are the luckiest people in the world and if you don't know,
try, in one way or another, to introduce self-remembering into you need to find out.
every moment of the day. Growing Appreciation for Self-
Remembering Can Be a Slow Process As your ability to How can you learn to value yourself without thinking excessively of
remember yourself increases, your appreciation increases yourself? Ironically, you develop your tracks by not thinking about
proportionately. It would seem that people number four are not yourself, by noting the remarkable impressions outside yourself and
able to remember themselves to the extent that they would like by external consideration.
to, and yet, the more you realize that they are dying, the more Relativity is the key to understanding. Although our existence
energy you will devote to this activities. It follows
like all that
otherverification,
concepts corresponds to the level of a cell in the boundless universe,
of the system, evolves within self-remembering. we must work with what we have been given.
SKU KI - . LEGEND ' i R l NU 97
Sl ALA Sl RULATIVITATKA
It turns out that, in fact, the more you know, the less you know.
How can you develop a state of relativity so that you can see more of each
Our job is not necessarily to know, but to be. It is better to be a passive
moment?
force through self-remembering than to be an active force in sleep.
You enter the present, not thinking about yourself, avoiding self-indulgence.
Realizing how little you actually know is an honest position and a solid
You have to find interesting things outside of yourself and frivolous
place to build on.
occupations. Milton wrote: "We strive to support an ephemeral and restless
being."
It's hard to understand the scale.
It's hard, but it's so simple. Consciousness has levels and you have to find Many negative emotions are the result of our inability to establish the correct
ways to increase it. You have to be for yourself. Unlike most concepts, scale scale. We identify with mundane events and perpetuate illusions of reality.
and relativity are not formative, which explains why they are difficult to Why do we hesitate to set the scale?
understand. Increase your awareness, and scale and relativity will increase Because most of our nature is unreal and doesn't want to be reminded of it.
accordingly. The apostle Paul said about his entire incredible life: "What I What agony we endure when we are disarmed of imaginary suffering.
have suffered is nothing compared to what I have gained." You have to
dedicate your life to ideas and the question is whether these ideas are
correct.
It is painful to observe people, because they are capable of great
achievements, but accomplish little. William Blake said: "He who deviates
from the way forward goes astray." If you are not constantly pursuing the
We are people who have entered the path, which is an incredible goal of awakening, you are lost. To discern, you must set the scale, and to
achievement. Subjects like alchemy or essence don't mean much compared do this, you must transform the suffering .
to entering the path. The only way you can have everything is to be satisfied
with self-remembering.
Often, only the shock of death makes you realize this.
The greatest secret on Earth - self-remembering and divided attention - is
so obvious that it is hard to perceive it as a secret. If you know the secret,
People either forget or don't see the words as symbols pointing to a silent "don't give pigs a donkey".
reality. Symbols cease to be important when you discover self-remembering,
which takes place outside of these ideas. They don't have to come true to
justify our self-remembering. We feel the need to talk about theories to be
What can be gained is so important that I keep returning to one concept:
prepared. The seconds we collect remembering ourselves are not in vain.
self-remembering. It's not an easy endeavor to speak creatively with one
word all your life, but I understand more because your existence is at stake
and I love you, so we must keep going and never give up. There is nothing
to return to, and everything to move towards.
Everything is relative and subjective except for one's own self. When you
are present you are objective. try to refuse to yield or be swayed by anything
but self-remembering. Esoteric knowledge, contrary to general knowledge,
makes us feel uncomfortable because it reveals our tiny scale. The machine The true harvest of this life is self-remembering.
doesn't like having its concept of scale destroyed, but without self-
remembering, it doesn't matter who, or where, or what you are.
Peter Ouspensky said that what the system has, but not life, is scale and
relativity. You must give self-remembering its proper scale and value it more
than anything else. We may never excel at anything but self-remembering.
98 SELF-REMEMBERING SCALE AND RELATIVITY 99
It would be an incorrect crystallization to consider anything more

insignificant as we are, we have the ability to surpass the stars.
important than self-remembering. Omar Khayyam wrote: "That bowl of being above which we call the
sky, under which like a coop we live and die, do not raise your hands
Here's a good question to ask yourself: "do you remember yourself to it for help, because it rolls helplessly, just like you or me." The
now?" If you lament the loss of a family connection you are reacting stars are a mechanical creation at the level of World 12. At birth, we
as any mechanical man would react. School has been thrown into are given the essence, World 24. The true personality, World 48, is a
the twentieth century. We are an enigma to our families, because we product of school work, and the false personality, World 96, is the
are not satisfied with a purely biological existence, but with a result of ordinary influences encountered in life.
conscious one.
Jesus said, when he was twelve years old, that he must follow his God arranged that the microcosm man could match or surpass the
father. This does not refer to his age, but to World 12, within him. In planets, stars and galaxies in the short time he was given.
fact, when World 12, the higher emotional center, was functioning in The galaxy is a divine mechanism, but it is not real.
him, then he was consciously working in the Ray of Creation. We The microcosm of man is great, when man remembers himself.
have no value without self-remembering. And when we remember
ourselves, we are of exceptional value to the higher forces.
You can go astray in countless ways, but people get what they want,
it's a matter of desire. People number four say, "Why can't I?" and
You cannot ignore fate when you take into account the progress of this is where the understanding stops. They are satisfied with their
your evolution. People who have entered the path have destiny, pace, with the pace of others. Try not to stop there.
which means that they can accomplish in this life neither more nor
less than their roles dictate*
Keep diving into the unknown, knowing it's the only way home.
How can we gain more appreciation for self-remembering? Everything else must fail, because only self-remembering is real, the
Realizing that your time is limited and being disgusted with your rest is mechanical. We must not allow it to become just a word.
own sleep - here are two catalysts that increase the appreciation of
self-remembering. To discover self-remembering is a mi-fa activity,
to appreciate it at all costs, si-do. Use difficult topics as opportunities to remind yourself. guiding for
so many years, the newness of the system tires me, less the self-
The topic of conversation is not as important as the need for self- remembering. It is important not to lose the greatness of self-
remembering. Once, discussing how to remember a thought while remembering among so many other ideas. Only the presence is
listening, I suggested that you can remember two or three words, ours, the moment never comes to leave it aside. Don't wait until you
and then continue listening. If you forget what you wanted to say, die to check it out.
don't worry. No one went through life without talking a lot.
Self-remembering is a school idea; it is not a concept for the tragic
\ ÿ, ÿ
masses from which we came.
It's hard to withdraw from nature, man has all this in himself,
something that can surpass the stars. we admire the ancient Greeks Are you finally getting what you want?
because they transcended nature with a classical ideal. Contemporary You get more than you want, if you want to be present and create
science estimates that there are two hundred and ten billion galaxies an immortal astral body.
in the universe. And yet, so small you
100 SELF-REMEMBERING
Everything on Earth is consumed, except the memory of self. It

seems impossible for this to happen, and yet there is a date for
each of our deaths, just as there was a date for our meeting.
Everything disappears, except the memory of oneself. The body, time
the A-Influence, everything except our moments of consciousness,
is mercilessly ripped away from us.
One of the greatest equalizing forces in the Ray of Creation is

self-remembering, because it depends on nothing but yourself.
It is the only real thing and the only possible thing.
Self-remembering is, in all aspects, a gift from God. Ouspensky the impulse erases all physical phenomena. Even so, the
said: "You do not know the meaning of the thing you seek." T rail you remembered is so strong that it erodes time, which
ceases to exist with self-remembering.
C influence, our soul and friendship are our most important We already know that we have created moments in our lives
possessions. We are lucky to be together throughout life. Every that are outside of time, because if each person analyzes his
day is a blessing and there is much to do, wherever you are, life, he will find moments that he remembers, that time cannot
accompanied by self-remembering. erase. Self-remembering is so powerful that it alone can conquer
time.
There is no telling what you gain by self-remembering or what
you lose if you don't remember yourself. always, this will remain You will grow old if you wait for ideal conditions in which to work.
our highest alternative, the top of the scale.
Jesus said that every hair is numbered and nothing is lost. Every
second you remember yourself counts like a hair for your astral
body. The seconds or moments of the day that you can set
aside are never lost. Time does not actually exist for our astral
body; this is metaphysical.
every day we are less indebted to time, but other people are,
every day, even more indebted to it. Self-remembering creates
a timeless state, an astral body. You become the fourth
dimension and you are outside of time.
The less time you have, the stronger you feel the urge to
remember yourself, because you understand more deeply how
little time you have left to wake up.
As you get older, you prefer slow development, because it contains

within itself the germ of perfection. All that is great is gained slowly.
101
102 SIU. I - KIM 1 MIUKINU TOMORROW 1 FA 10.1
You will understand Influence C, to the highest degree, at the sunset of your When you travel, ten days can seem like months, because the higher centers
life and you will have a greater ability to penetrate the eternal Now. are working and time seems to drag on. We live for such a short time and
yet, in this time, we can create an immortal astral body. It is a mystery of the
Absolute.
Esoterically, the cross symbolizes man in time. Man is represented vertically

and time is represented horizontally. Man escapes time by transforming How short is our passage through life. We are participating in a race, not
suffering, that's why Jesus Christ was crucified. Our time machines will soon with our comrades, but with time. It is scary to witness the way man wastes
be gone. However, our moments of self-remembering have already proven his time. If you have little respect for your own time, you will have little
out of time. They belong to the fourth dimension. To understand the fourth respect for the time of others. learn to use your time well, for the natural
dimension you have to be in the fourth dimension. This is one of the great inclination of man is to waste time, especially by useless conversation. The
secrets of existence. you will understand it word for word as you become mechanical parts of the centers kill our time.
what the words represent.
As your time dwindles, it becomes imperative to be what the words represent.

It was always urgent, this is now only becoming more visible. The time spent
We have a limited number of breaths in this life and we must use them well.
in school does not guarantee entry to the path. After years, one crawls
In general, students are not late for meetings because they understand that
through a difficult interval, while another can pass through the same interval
in order to be out of time, you have to be on time. It's that simple.
having been in school for only a few months.
There is no area exempt from self-remembering except restoring the

Time and our unique microcosm present us with an opportunity to use it
accumulators to the first state. We have twenty-four hours in each day, of
well. try to develop attitudes to bring a lifetime of care to every waking
which we spend between six and eight hours in the first state, recharging
moment. If you are not awake, you do not have a second to lose, because
our batteries. you have between sixteen and eighteen hours left to try to be
our years, months and days are getting shorter, and our time is not unlimited.
present, to live simple, ordinary moments, through divided attention.
Whenever you transform negativity, you transcend time, entering the realm How can you produce enough internal pressure to keep your work at its
of the higher centers, which are immortal. When you are negative, time is
peak?
wasted in favor of the false personality. If you fail to transform the friction,
Use voluntary suffering discreetly as much as possible and ask Influence C
your time and also that of Influence C is wasted.
to help you. in particular, the latter requires courage, because you will be
given friction to transform into an astral body. If the shocks are hard,
remember that they love you.
I know that time does not exist for the higher centers, the word "immortality"
means just that. The universe is below us, above us, behind us and in front No one dies in perfect health. I had to be brave to create a gap through time:
of us. It is an infinite, omnidirectional void. We create souls; this is not a to take a risk.
fantasy. poetic. Influence C êa chosen to evolve, not only to perpetuate Longevity is not the answer, although I hope you all have long lives to
humanity leading a biological existenk. contribute to the school. And yet, this is not the answer. while life is
consumed with indifference and recycled by eternity, moments of self-
remembering are for
always ours. It's not necessarily how much time we have left, but how
we use it. eventually, when you accumulate enough moments of self-
remembering, your astral body will merge.
I have been talking about self-remembering for more than twenty

years. William Shakespeare wrote: "As the sun is every day both new
and old, so my love goes on telling what it knows." To you it is life
and death, so I talk tirelessly about this old topic beloved THE DEATH
The year seems to have turned the page and, although it was a long
year, the brevity of life is alarming. Does man have to wait until he is
close to death to understand that everything he observes is false and
that he is especially deceived by himself? When a child is born, its
time is almost up. Even when you live to be a hundred years old, it is
the hearth is something that very few people talk about and
nothing compared to the vastness of eternity. M there are few who prepare for it. Only self-remembering can
face death, because it uses the same tactics as death, but before the
body disappears.
It is wonderful that there is something that can defeat time and death.
Death is a way to see your nothingness, although there are other
In the end everything disappears except your self. Even your body
ways to understand this, before it happens; In the Fourth Path you
disappears. That's why your moments of self-remembering are so
are slowly brought to a high level of understanding. Rainer Rilke
precious. Time does not exist and death does not exist when you
wrote: "It is strange to leave your name aside, like a broken toy. It's
exist.
strange to stop wanting. Strange to see all the bonds flying loose in
space. And it is tiring not to exist and to be full of memories, so that it
If you live to be 76, your life is 912 months. It is instructive to see
is necessary to find out the traces of eternity little by little."
your life in months rather than years and to live to be 76 is an
achievement. your entire life appears as a brief moment. Time, which
once walked at a leisurely pace, now passes us by noisily. Everyone
is in a race against time, whether they realize it or not. Self-remembering is the only gap in the OFgaphic life* on Earth. It is
the only mistake of nature, because through self-remembering man
can overcome it, escaping death, which, for nature itself, is
We work with great, uncompromising laws that obey only self- unattainable.
remembering and the transformation of suffering.
We all know that this evening may be the last. every day I think about
death, not in a morbid way, but about its inevitability and about
preparing for it through self-remembering. You must have contact
with death, or even die, to realize the futility of life. It takes one or the
other CH so you realize that all we have is self-remembering.
After my car journey, I realized that I could kh mm (AiA sA O >im and

HUI understood that most people
106 SELF-REMEMBERING- THE DEATH 107
I die this way. However, once a student has entered the path of only today and we may not even enjoy the rest of it; however, we
conscious learning, not even death can knock him out. You must can have eternity, as many times as we are present. Death is an
make tireless efforts to return to self-remembering throughout
illusion if you crystallize correctly.
your life, because if you do not try to remember yourself, you will
suffer whether you are happy or sad. Today I cleaned my fireplace
and marveled at the sight of ashes. This is our fate, very soon, for Ouspensky said that one of the functions of a true psychology is
all of us. the study of personal limitations. We must accept our inability to
penetrate the idea of recurrence. To verify this concept you may
need to study in a school of a higher level than ours, only with an
before death, we must hasten to collect all the consciousness we astral body. Although many important people have talked about
are capable of, because this v% belongs to us, it is what we take recurrence and said that they are sure of the accuracy of this idea,
with us when the body ceases to be. you can study the system separately from it. You can practically
work to avoid recurrence by trying to be present now.
We are in an incredibly dangerous situation and it is important to

remember ourselves. Everyone in life walks naively from here to I love my parents, however I have no illusions about their fate.
there, as if they are already in mi or going to heaven. We must use Our parents must die and suffer the fate of all human beings,
this vehicle that we have to create astral bodies. Our moments of unless they, like us, try to be born twice.
self-remembering are never lost. The deepest part of our nature
understands that we are preparing for death - it knows and
understands ideas that we pretend not to understand. Anticipation I feel the pulse of the end of my role, but of course it is only the
of death appears as the years pass. Your time is limited and end of the physical body. Everyone will reach death, but our youth
decreasing, there is an urgent need to remember yourself. finally, hides this fact. When you are between 35 and 40 years old, you
there you will find the beginning. start looking towards the sunset, while before you looked towards
the east. Those are words, but it's a real experience. Walt Whitman
said: "An unknown sphere, much more real than I imagined, much
Death corners you and all you have is the memory of yourself - more direct, throws awakening rays to me." Man is the only
that's enough. Death deprives you of everything except the creature that can understand the dimension of oblivion.
accumulated moments of self-remembering. Those who enter the
path will escape death through their ninth life.
Once, all the furniture in my room was removed, except for my
bed and a chair, and when I stepped into the room, I realized that
A student "fell off" yesterday; he was in his fifties, he was a good death is the same: all you can take with you is your own self. My
student, he lived in a study area and now, the higher forces house was empty. I can't remember having another experience
performed the soul transmigration; they took the soul and left the like this, which reduces you to the simplicity of life.
body crumpled on the floor .This transmigration takes place in Death is a natural transition that we encounter, somehow,
this century, in the midst of these sleeping people. The death of a positively.
student reminds us of the purpose for which we are working.
Titles are deceptive, and death is not impressed by them.

Death is an experience and, nevertheless, an illusion. It's like
Death is never very far away and we will all have stones for our
birth: everyone has to go through it.
own graves , quite clean We have
THE DEATH 109
Solon said, "Do not call a man happy until he dies." Look at your time
what". Death takes everything from us except our moments of presence.
this way; don't judge a month until you see how it ends.
We cannot verify this now, but according to the system, at death an
energy field flies to the Moon, or World 96, and Gurdjieff said that
infinitely long planetary cycles must elapse before the opportunity for
Ouspensky said: "All separations carry the seeds of death." escape presents itself again.
That is why we are so sensitive when we say goodbye, because no one
ever knows when death may come. We will certainly check this out when
eventually you become the oldest in the room. You can feel the last
the time comes. Michel de Montaigne said that we are all novices when
farewell, when you place this mortal body next to you.
it comes to death. It is impossible to stop the death of the body.
At death you are reduced to the total simplicity of your being. The time
of death will come for each of us and man number four will place his soul
in the hands of Influence C (into your hands I leave my spirit) and hope
Ordinary people are shocked at the sight of death, by the reality that they
that they will lay him to rest to await a conscious role. Everything points
will die.
to this. Socrates said that when you die, if you have not crystallized, your
The same happens with us. trials force you to return to yourself, to your soul is placed at rest, a state of divine rest. Nightmares and dreams will
essence, true personality and higher centers. not interrupt the state of rest. Purgatory is a state of punishment. Many
When you happen to suffer, it is a shock - that suffering will be the of us have verified that Flu C exists, which strongly suggests that
suffering experienced. Most people drown it out most of their lives with purgatory exists. Repose is intended for souls that ascend; a cradle for
whining and idle talk. People do not think that they will perish, although
the soul, a dreamless sleep.
they will soon disappear. Isn't it amazing how death always disarms us?
always surprises us, always shocks us, but she is never too far away.
Through the kindness of Influence C, I managed to reach the other side

and I will take my students with me.
I am only the teacher, not your guide, I will forgive your mistakes and You have the immeasurable chance of making a connection with the
you mine. Death will not, for nothing is more unforgiving than death. Few miraculous, which is a great consolation, as much as you can be
words can be suitable for your struggle with death, for an encounter with consoled in a battle of such proportions. The struggle with death reveals
it reveals to us how little we know of the fate of our impoverished to us how big our illusion about life is. You may not conquer death in this
governing faculties. life, and yet you may master it in another. Death is not our concern, if we
Indulging in self-pity can occupy a significant place, and yet, despite the crystallize properly, between now and then, we will escape the grave.
colossal pressure to experience this emotion, the affordable alternative We are people who have defeated time and death.
is to continue to dwell in the present until the moment your life runs its
course.
The present is all that is truly yours, and when death threatens us, this Benjamin Franklin's last words were: "A dying man does nothing lightly."
becomes evident. With self-remembering you must do everything intentionally, even
combing your hair.
How do you know that self-remembering has to do with death?
Of course, I'm talking from the point of view of verification! my; you will Death proves that wasting time is the greatest crime.
have to verify this for yourself as well as the reality that invisible beings,
Influence C, help us escape. try to remember to think in terms of "how" Little do the students understand the fact that their cars are cheap and
and not "of." they think that life can go on forever.
110 SELF-REMEMBERING THE DEATH 111
Humanity is not immortal either and is periodically destroyed by the The third state of consciousness is imperishable and lucky is he who
higher sheets. One of the most important things you can learn is that discovers early that being present is his only wealth.
the answer is not a word, but a state. A person can become very quiet This becomes more and more evident as the end approaches. The
shortly before death, because the time of the personality is over. final test is not the right time to learn deep lessons, such as
understanding that time is limited. You must understand the devastating
laws as quickly as possible and take steps to escape them.
We are so lucky, that we have everything we need. We have the
purpose of awakening, we have the C Influence that pulls us up, and
we have our sacred school. Schooling on Earth is a rare privilege and We are all heading towards the point of death and we are doing
an honor. Those who have left school are in a much worse position something about it, now. in trying to escape death, we are involved in
than those who will never have the privilege of meeting her. If you lose a much bigger battle. It was hard for Johann Goethe to live so long.
school, you lose your way because you only have the first line of work And yet, he said: "The last and greatest art is to limit yourself and
left. You need the second and third lines of work and Influence C to isolate yourself." Death is a one-to-one life experience, whereby two
evolve. The guarantee of not missing school is to know that you need forces, death and your own, battle for control. you cheat death by
school. We are not here to feel the comfort of a large number of people remembering yourself.
who are in school. Each person is here for himself, moving irrevocably
to the points of birth and death: the birth of the astral body and the
death of the physical body. Nothing escapes outside of consciousness. Most elderly people crawl to their deaths helpless and whimpering. We
What else could do it? will die too, but not like them. We must do everything we can not to
complain and to transform the last experience, the final act.
on the verge of death

Dinner is often the highlight of the day. And a certain day will be the
And my life, on the stormy sea, Like crowning of a life; that is, we will fulfill our roles on a certain day. We
a frail ship arrived at the port, Where sit here alive and alert, but everything is uncertain except the memory
at the end eternity calls them all, of self.
without any notice.
People who follow Influence A have a shallow death, they gain nothing
And I know that the sweet fantasy That for themselves. You can't cheat death. She will not accept titles or
often beguiled my soul With worldly drugs. The only thing that stands in the way of death is the memory of
art, in vain; Like everything that man oneself. The day will come for each of us when we will freeze, when
pursues, without grace. we will see death in our own face.
And dreams of love, with light clothes, Why did

they disappear when the doubt of death comes? Because of the shared experiences, the students will not taste death.
One - that I know, the other - to be feared The This means that at the end of the nine lives, success will come. We
painting or the sculpture succeeded-aux)are To work, in all our lives, to remember ourselves. When death comes, we
that my soul to carry What was sacrificed for us on the cross? do not lose; we keep all the best we have collected and pass in another
vehicle.
Michelaiÿgelo Buonaroti Nature, with its incredible cycle of life and death, teaches us to mature
that perish, as from those that remain. We, those who remember,
will be the ones remembered. The ancient Greeks spoke of the
graveyard in our heart, which we must each carry.
Now there are between five and six billion people on Earth and they conscious
will all fall prey to time. We are people who have been given the
privilege of transcending time. I hope to give you the best knowledge
when my task is over. I am almost certain that the higher forces will
allow contact, and then I hope to give you information regarding
your future life and to inform you that death is in all respects an
illusion for ascending souls. This remains a theory for us tonight;
however, it may be a fact for a higher school.
you will understand something clearly, today, and tomorrow you can do the same thing
P you don't understand it anymore, because consciousness has
degrees. Although you may be dissatisfied with the result of your
Take, from this plane of existence, your love for the gods, for God efforts, for several days in a row, you must remember to see the thing,
and your soul. All we have to do is divide our attention to avoid in terms of years and even lifetimes. The school is successful and
death. Self-remembering is its own reward, and each of our deaths produces consciousness in its participants.
will verify these words. Death is the end of life and eternal life is the
end of death. The more fully you realize that you are asleep, the more you will be
disgusted by it and want to wake up. One of the most useful
catalysts for awakening is realizing how repulsive sleep is.
It's interesting to think where you end up when you don't remember
yourself. You disappear silently, robbed by the thief of imagination.
It is an extremely fine transition from the first to the second state of
consciousness, and the same delicate line exists between the
second and third states. Because of this, simple shocks will often
produce new highs. We are fortunate that our machines are so
delicately balanced that we can easily enter immortal realms.
Nature does not encourage your goal to wake up and reveals a lot
of enticing and yet empty paths.
Waking up is a simple matter. Divided attention means being, at the
same time, aware of yourself and what you are looking at. It is that
state that we seek day after day. The path to being is detoured, not
direct. Michel de Montaigne said that we are like a drunkard
staggering towards his goal.
SELF-REMEMBERING 115
WITH KNOWLEDGE
There are many lights to guide you on your arduous path, and yet catch and extend the present moment. Use the exercises of looking
few want a light to penetrate their darkness. We are people who and listening and, above all, transform the suffering. You can't be
have made a commitment to wake up. That is why we are here negative and be.
tonight rather than elsewhere.
The working "I" that calls you to remember yourself, however, is

not your self, the one who remembers. The precious working "I":
You cannot have consciousness without consciousness. in the full
"Be present," which is the state of being present, although it is
meaning of the idea, a machine cannot have a consciousness.
surely closer off your rails than many formative phrases like, "Hi,
Regardless, you have to work with what you have. It is necessary
how are you?" You can be closer to the shores of the third state of
to be in a state of relativity to understand the ideas of the system.
consciousness or much farther, and the working "selves" are right
on the edges of the third state. The mechanical "selves" are close
You have to make an effort, and trying to be present brings you
to the first state and there is little value in their backs.
closer to the third state of consciousness. Sometimes the effort to
be present pushes you into the present. Influence C carries a baton
in one hand and a club in the other, and we feel both throughout
our gestation period. They have to use the stick with a number four The first time I entered St. Peter's Cathedral, my King of Cups went
man because subtle shocks don't work. through an ecstatic, religious state, the closest mechanical emotion
Through both mystical and Herculean moments we verify our work to self-experience. Immediately I had to choose self-remembering
and, more importantly, we become the work itself. over indulgence. As a result, I passed into a third state.
The third state is our true identity. The higher centers are always
quite close. we always try to focus on self-remembering, wanting to break
through the veil of imagination. A positive aspect of big shocks is
What are the characteristics of the third state? A feature that they lift the veil of imagination, allowing the emergence of the
it's simplicity. The third state of consciousness is not cold or third state, which remains. angels are technicians who can create
distant, although it is a wordless realm. Certain empty states try to brilliant shocks. Either you use the shocks, or they use you. A
possess your being, but they are not your rails. strong shock will not go away - it lets the third state of
The instinctive brain is opposed to self-remembering and will consciousness resound in you.
undermine your work by trying to find cracks in the rarest gem on
Earth, your precious self. The higher centers are represented in Humility produces the third state - your humble soul. You have to
the Bible as children, in order to symbolize their innocent state. experience humility often throughout your life, in order to create
your astral body.
The third state is not comfortable and yet it fills you with
contentment. When the third state appears, accept it. Without self-remembering, without the third state, confusion reigns.
There is nothing more refined, which you can accept, than your rail. Remember to use common sense.
attempts to produce an objective state prove difficult because the

The third state is not one of the "I's", it is your soul.
second state of consciousness seems real in comparison to the
Even the best working "selfs" do not constitute the third state -
relatively lifeless first. Such a delusion can prevent you from living
consciousness does not rcprc/intfl the functions Must sA jft#eyti cAi <le n consciously
116 SiILI;-RKMlîMBliRlNU (<>N! >TIKNÿA 117
Awakening is much more than you can imagine, because it is not How can we increase our desire for awakening? understanding
imagination, it is reality. It is important that you accept the conditions of that awakening is a feasible idea. Remember that sleep makes
Influence C whatever they are. Whatever they give you, try to bear with everything worse, while self-remembering makes everything better.
no hesitation. If you want to wake up, nothing will stand in your way; if
you don't want to wake up, you will stand in your own way. Our school is fundamentally focused on the question of how to wake up
and not why to wake up, because the answer is obvious: you are in
It is useful for us to live as long as we can to serve Influence C. It is the sleep.
purpose of an ark to last, when mankind destroys itself.
You must remember this fact: consciousness is not the activity of the
mind.
Can you tell us about conscious hope? Dante said that on the gates of
Hell it was written: "Leave all hope, you who enter here." one day at the You have to be honest with yourself and remember that your soul is in
entrance of Apollo you will be able to read: "Nourish all hope, you who a car. You must remember this throughout your life. as you try to
enter here." Awakening takes you beyond hope and you learn to accept remember yourself, you accumulate certain substances that you use to
what is9 as you verify your inability to change external conditions. Also, continue your awakening process. Awakening is not for a car, but for
the more aware you are, the less you will want to alter this impoverished the soul locked in the car. It's an old idea, and every century a group of
dimension of the Ray of Creation called Earth. The last thing left in people gather together to share esoteric knowledge and take the
Pandora's box was hope. necessary steps to escape.
This suggests that during development, during the ascension, many

unpleasant observations are recorded, from the fascination of Influence
A to the pain of Influence B. at this stage, all you have is hope, because We have the chance to create souls, both together and separately. Our
awakening is impossible call for the help of Influence C and, remember, first birth is mechanical; the second, conscious. We are born twice
we sought and found the miraculous. through divided attention. Humans number one, two, and three lead a
biological existence as one generation replaces the other, ad infinitum.
We have disturbed the peace of our families by discovering self-
If you are awake you can love; if you sleep you can't love. remembering, and yet our part is a gift to our family fortune, though we
cannot expect it to appreciate it.
How can we strengthen that little part of us that is interested in revival?
Apply a third positive force in your life, balance your three lines of work, The intensity and duration of your work will determine your level of
or spend more time with students. development. When you try to remember yourself and, an hour later,
realize that the mechanical selves have taken over, you have an
We get shocks because we sleep; they have no other meaning. We are observing self. If there is a civil war going on inside you, you still have
always in a mess, the problem is to become aware of it. Self-remembering a butler. A fully developed butler will require a fully developed master.
must be much more persistent than sleep. Then the control will be your self through the butler. Awakening requires
much more patience than you can imagine. We have no choice; do the
prisoners have a choice?
Sleep is the enemy of the gods and unfortunately you are the sleeper. /
118 SELF-REMEMBERING conscious 119
Awakening consumes naive enthusiasm because you have to be Although youth likes to make efforts to awaken through the body,
consistent. You can have an emotional understanding, but to the higher centers awaken through the transformation of emotional
understand an idea permanently, you have to be aware. Sometimes suffering. However, we try to make the awakening as positive an
the emotional center is the only center that understands, however event as possible. Don't take anything seriously except your goal
we need all four centers to truly understand, which will come later. to wake up; count on nothing but the present.
To awaken, you must go beyond the range of the emotional center,
because you cannot trust any emotional target that is not related
to awakening. You can be in the first state of consciousness while you are in the
second state. You can observe people in this condition - they are
simply absent, they do not move and their heads are fixed.
Although it is a rare exception to form a butler, such a level of Ouspensky ended the first chapter of his book, The Psychology of
development is accessible to the number four man. A butler not the Possible Evolution of Man, by declaring that consciousness
only photographs the false personality entirely, but also controls can exist without functions. They can also be unconscious
it with relative success. However, you wouldn't want a butler functions - a number one, number two or number three man, as
permanently controlling your car, because you wouldn't need the well as each of us when we are asleep. Our machines work without
rails, or your master. A butler is a mechanism in your car, designed consciousness, if we do not remember ourselves. The third and
with limitations. It is not designed to control difficult situations, second states can also coexist.
because a certain intensity is needed to access the higher centers; The upper mids are developing, while the car is still adjusting.
the rails and not your butler, is destined to become conscious. For example, you can simply put a log in the fireplace and create
the third state.
/ I
I am grateful for the many diagrams in the workbooks, which

The raven is a creature designated to use man as a mirror, because require the intellectual center, which is a function; but I do not
it collects trifles and considers them precious. Similarly, the false follow them, because consciousness does not mean functions. Of
personality pursues goals without substance and values them course, the mind has its role. And yet, you can work well with or
above the effort of self-remembering. As John Milton wrote: "Men without diagrams; it depends especially on the expression of your
attribute undeserved qualities to common things, as you see. What essence. Ouspensky and Collin worked quite well with them.
exactly were you looking at, what were you bewitching in this hall?"
It is sometimes time to avoid all "selves," even the work ones. The
Not expressing negative emotions is the key to awakening. A instinctual center can manipulate the work "selves," causing you
difficult negative emotion to overcome is identifying with the to analyze, rather than live, the present.
inability to remember yourself, and yet a butler will be able to Looking and listening exercises are the best ways to help
prevent such subtle negativity from hindering your future efforts awakening.
to wake up.
How can we learn to relax?
Consciousness is not mechanical and therefore must be earned. We are not necessarily here to relax. Christ said, "The son of man
By paying through the transformation of suffering to awaken, you (World 6, higher intelligence) has nowhere to lay his head."
understand the need for payment. What a pitiful idea it is to want Remember not to take the little things seriously and this will allow
something, let alone give anything in return. We are all naive to the centers to work correctly.
the demands of revival - it all boils down to being crucified over and over again.
120 SELF-REMEMBERING WITH KNOWLEDGE 121
Waking up must become an art form because there is an art to every She noted that she had been in school for thirteen years and was
moment. There is often a simple art form, such as appreciating a tree, unaware. I answered that, since he knows this, he is ahead of all
a concert, or the ordinary moments of friendship. We must work to be mankind. You see, we are very close to the exit to eternal life and we
present during our meetings. Those "I's" who say "Wake up!" they bring are preparing to go. I have the greatest respect for my students because
us closer to the third state of consciousness. When, during a day, we they work so hard in the dark. I wouldn't have started sharing if I didn't
experience moments of the third state, we begin to see what we can know there was light at the end of the tunnel.
extract from our existence. The third state is not natural to man; it is
metaphysical.
You have to be totally committed to waking up. It is hard with this

Waves of esoteric knowledge draw us closer to the conscious but commitment and it is impossible without it. Think of all the incredible
despite this fact, you cannot grasp the whole wisdom away from the plays that have been played throughout human history and then think
conscious. Consciousness means neither functions nor knowledge that of your own divine play through which you become conscious.
Self-remembering - consciousness - is the hidden meaning of the Ray
we impose on our centers. School exceeds our dreams because it
brings us to reality. The present is the only experience in your life that of Creation and the reason for our existence. Humanity, the other
planets, the sun and the galaxies all serve as the background for self-
cannot be overestimated.
remembering and the creation of astral bodies. In order for the Ray of
Creation to grow, conscious beings must be produced; The absolute
The schools are not for relative awakening, they are designated for
needs support.
complete awakening. Influence B is relative awakening and is based
on symbols of identity rather than self-identity Full awakening is reserved
for the number seven man. in man number six the eternal flame is When the higher centers are functioning, you are awake. Later your
kindled, but it is diminishing. condition will decrease and, in sleep, you will not be able to remember
It takes many years to become fluid. Alexander von Humboldt, Goethe's some elements of the incident, because the inferior tries to remember
friend, said: "Nature presents to God nothing so perfect as a complete what the superior experienced. We must remember that the human
man." machine is extremely complicated and little is known about its actions.
Ouspensky understood this when he declared that anatomy is an
Higher forces will not give the gift of awakening to those who always incomplete science. For example, doctors do not know that there is an
put themselves first. In addition to the first line of work, you must also intellectual center, an emotional center, an instinctive center and a
be capable of the second and third. Esoterically, "the last shall be first" movement center. in addition, each of these four brains is subdivided
means that those who can serve will experience unity; those who into three parts, the divisions: intellectual, emotional and mechanical,
selfishly put themselves first will be last in the Ray of Creation and represented, in the pack of cards, by king, queen and jack, respectively.
reach the moon. There are no advantages to either an alchemy, center The jack can be further divided into the movement part and the
of gravity, sex, weight, age, race or body type. We are talking about a instinctive part, which are initially considered as one brain, but later
machine that is capable of producing self-remembering. But what viewed as two separate brains. When you try to remember yourself,
prevents you from thinking so? It is interesting that some people have the king of cups (the intellectual part of the emotional center) is at work
woken up to that they imagined that this could be acute, while others and thus is the noblest instrument of the machine, except for yourself.
did not wake up because they imagined that this could not be done Your soul, which is located between your holy temples, in the pineal
gland, is not of the machine, for it is an astral body rather than a
physical one.
There would be no need for me to stay here if people weren't trying to
wake up. before dinner, I was talking to an older student.
122 SELF-REMEMBERING conscious 123
You have groups of "us" who have definitely checked for Influenza C and establishes connections between the centers and the pineal gland. If you are
groups of "us" who don't even know what day it is today. destined to crystallize in this life, it happens, in my experience, in ten years.
You just have to take note of it. Being a teacher is an inexact science.
Our awareness is now heightened compared to normal.
We can talk about certain ideas now that we can't talk about later, because
the machine will descend to a lower level of consciousness. She may even The intellectual center cannot become conscious, because consciousness
be trying to become negative. does not represent the functions. Our four lower centers are trying to figure
Right now we are forcing the 12th and 6th Worlds, but if we are struggling this out; they are like the stepsisters in "Cinderella". Consciousness has
with negative emotions it means that the 96th World is exerting pressure on us. degrees, and one of the degrees is when it is permanent. If you truly
remember yourself, you are conscious, although the clarity of your presence
during the day our consciousness varies and we can even experience a great varies.
fluctuation in a minute. Our cars can use shock absorbers one moment and
be distracted the next. If the system did not submit to human subjectivity, all the conscious beings it
would produce would be the same, which would defeat one of the purposes
The same great ideas will be repeated throughout the history of the school. of consciousness. The system itself does not exist. Its true achievement is
What other idea can compare to self-remembering? In addition, some people the consciousness produced in its participants. What a mystery is existence!
have a greater capacity than others to gather knowledge. If you wish to gather We have many answers, but it still remains a mystery because consciousness
more knowledge, you must change the level of your being. But not only more does not represent functions. Consciousness is a state, not an opinion.
knowledge is needed; but you need to assimilate what is given to you. We
cannot say many new things, because the struggle remains the same in
every century: you have to work to create a soul.
We describe and define, and yet consciousness remains consciousness. A
swan knows a swan when it sees one.
I accept the silent pauses during dinner, unpleasant though they may be, to
remind us: consciousness does not represent functions. We can't find our
way by talking. Learning to tolerate the discomfort of silence is a necessary
step in your development.
Something deep within us wants consciousness to be a function, to be an

activity of the mind, but it is not. Waking up is math.
The intellectual part of the emotional center works with hydrogen 12; in order
to awaken, hydrogen 12 must circulate through your machine as conscious
matter, and it provides the necessary substance for consciousness, memory,
and will. It is an electronic hydrogen and it is hard to bear.
Does crystallization begin through self-remembering? Crystallization begins

with the process of self-remembering, which changes your internal chemistry.
Without this system, man generally lives in the mechanical parts of the
centers. Self-remembering activates the emotional and intellectual parts of
the centers and
SUPERIOR CENTERS 125
The higher centers cannot arise if you are indifferent to others.

External consideration is practical and humane. Look for it in
what is small as well as in what is great and the divine harmony
SUPERIOR CENTERS that echoes throughout the Universe will echo in you.
I was going over my notes this evening, preparing for type and
eliminating, when I realized, after I was already a quarter of the
way through the material, that I had only used the word "I" once.
That the higher centers can arise only if you look at yourself is a
law. Life becomes much more interesting when you don't talk
about yourself or think about yourself.
The presence of the higher centers is in itself a sufficient proof
that they exist in the eternal Now. The higher centers cannot come to life when you are immersed in
imaginary problems. If you could abandon this superficial tendency
The system can be understood - and faced - only from the higher of your being, the higher centers could be realized.
centers. When you ask too many questions about your work, you have no
way of seeing what this phenomenal world has to offer. To wake
Self-remembering brings you to a different order of creation. up, you have to forget about your car and the imaginary importance
Trying to establish a connection with your own higher centers is it attributes to itself. Then, eventually, a state of compassion will
much more difficult than anything you will have tried before, develop that is accustomed to thinking of others. Once, a Zen
because the soul is conscious and not mechanical; thus, the student in Japan approached his spiritual leader and told him that
process of awakening bears the title of "The Great Game*' he had many problems.
He politely asked him to put his problems in his hands.
The student could not, because his problems were not real.
rii e&e^î
Problems exist only on the narrow plane of identification.
One of the secrets of awakening is that the higher centers cannot
be awakened if you think too much about yourself. The higher
Do we really create souls when we try to remember ourselves?
centers, when they are produced in us, serve us disinterestedly.
We cannot develop selfish immortal states because that would be
Exactly This is the purpose of life on Earth; everything else is
a curse rather than a boon to the universe. In order for the higher
only at the biological level. William Wordsworth wrote: "the child
centers to come alive, we must have the power of external
is the father of man". With self-remembering, man is the father of
consideration. in general, when we try to consider each other
his child: the higher centers.
externally, our machines become so zealous that, for example,
there may be one chair and two people, but neither of them sit
Different energies, such as those of the instinctual center and the
down. We must be flexible, to know when to receive and when to
lower parts of the emotional center will cross into your tracks.
give. Leonardo da Vinci said: "I never tire of serving".
Your true identity can be found in the moments of your life that
you remember, because when the memory worked, the higher
centers were present. Great ideas cannot be understood by the
Higher centers have a timid beginning. When you experience
four lower centers, they are reserved for the higher centers.
them for the first time, which may only be for five seconds, a
simple, wordless presence emerges from your car.
124
126 SELF-REMEMBERING SUPERIOR CENTERS 127
The third state is so unexpected. It is foreign to us because it is so real, tries to eliminate Snow White, or the higher centers, because she wants
while an important part of our nature is mechanical. Fortunately, we can to be "the most beautiful in the country".
find ways to introduce emotional shocks that create the energy needed
to develop the higher centers. The higher centers have their own in general, World 6 is present in moments of danger, and World 12 in
intelligence and their own means of receiving information. emotional situations. With advanced training, World 6 can be present in
emotional situations and World 12 in difficult situations.
Awakening is a mathematical process and the results are proportional

to your efforts. Those who enter the path are involved in a long struggle One means of keeping in touch with the higher centers when they arise
for their tracks, which requires perseverance. is to accept them. When the higher centers surface, your car will try to
If it takes ten to fifteen years to become an accomplished painter, then get away from them quickly. The false personality may even suggest
how long does it take to create your tracks? The many "souls" remind shooting your instinctive center, which opposes shooting. Your machine
you, at times, of the waves of the ocean that beat you without respite. is desperately trying to undermine the birth of the higher centers.
Sometimes the seventh - and greatest - wave breaks and you are
splashed with "souls." The governing faculties, your soul, have the great
advantage that the luminous "selves" can never begin to harmonize. It is not easy for people number four and five to accept the higher
centers when they appear, because their machines try to undermine
Numberless "selves" are not real, while governing faculties are real. them through fear, indifference or a lot of deception.
The knowledge we have access to becomes so powerful because reality The higher centers support themselves because the rail reminds them
is an unusual experience. you understand this when you establish a to be awake. In addition, the efforts to remember oneself increase and
brief connection with the higher centers. the higher centers may be in crescendo for fifteen minutes before the
opportunity to be present is exhausted. When this happens you must
There is no easy way to higher centers. Whether you wake up in the east return to your butler, for he will prevent you from descending too far
or the west, the trials will be equally difficult: Buddha and Socrates died
of poisoning. Remarkable men were martyred so that humanity could
cultivate the principles they stood for. Some moods are genuine, but also naive. The higher centers can be
quite lucid, clear and precise and can progress without you realizing it.
The most important thing is that they can be present without shocks.
Do the emotional and intellectual higher centers constitute the rails? eventually the higher centers begin to self-educate because we do not
Yes, your Soul is a unitary being, unlike the machine which is only male want to produce something immortal that is not intelligent. When they
or female. Plato said that people are halves that seek their opposites. start working, they are like little naive children and you are grateful for
The higher emotional center and the higher intellectual center are names their arrival. Later, the same state reads books and listens to music - it
of divine states. begins to educate itself. I am not referring to the education of the
/ essence, but of the higher centers in connection with the essence. The
The only way to discover your true identity is by establishing contact higher centers are assigned to serve humanity. When the higher centers
with the higher centers. It is such an intense experience that a normal begin to develop, they begin with the first line of work, that is, they begin
person will not forget it. False personality will punish you for access to for themselves. When people encounter school, they are assumed to be
higher centers. working almost exclusively on the front line of work, and later, when
The witch from "Snow White" is also the queen of cups they can begin to
think of others, they work on the second or third line. At first the scale, because some elements of their writings are useful and
higher centers exist for themselves, then they exist to serve others. moving.
Self-remembering outlives galaxies and stars.

We are fortunate that there is a way out and that we can use the Hydrogens 6 and 12 are labels for your embryonic soul.
upper parts of the centers to touch the higher centers. Every time we go through a shock, we produce a trace of this
Some students thrive under pressure, while others falter, and yet divine, imperishable substance. Apollo, driving the four horses that
the pressure must be constantly circulated. pull his chariot, esoterically signifies World 6, controlling the four
Pressure and only pressure can push forward your latent higher lower centers.
centers.
Ouspensky said that hydrogen 48 is like a white sheet of paper.
The higher centers are the fourth dimension of our machines and When you look at it nothing happens; is neutral: Self-remembering
are not mechanical. The fourth dimension can only be penetrated is hydrogen 12 or 6 and is not neutral.
by the being. I mean, you have to be the fourth dimension to Hydrogen 24 is the essence value. This room and these columns,
understand the fourth dimension. One of the reasons why time beautiful urns and chandeliers, friends and music are obviously
sometimes seems to pass so quickly is that the higher centers are noble hydrogens. A beautiful sight in nature^ such as our vineyard,
only sometimes present and time does not exist for them; that is, is organic life on Earth - hydrogen 24. A street in a modern city with
the higher centers are outside of time. neon lights is hydrogen 96 - false personality. Therefore, the
vineyard is a true personality for the Earth.
How can we learn to tolerate higher hydroêniijs? The higher
hydrogens are synonymous with your higher tracks or higher centers.
To support the higher centers, you must be able to control the way If in the course of a day you remember yourself for a second, two
the four lower centers assert things, thinking they know what they seconds, a minute or more, you break through the infinite. Be
are saying. Each of the four lower functions rises rapidly, preventing grateful for these moments, instead of being negative for not being
the higher centers from manifesting. in addition, each possesses present more often. Of the total, these seconds are the ones that
its own identity, which is negligible compared to your rail. count, imperishable, forever yours, you.
You have to wait patiently for time to bring your being to the level
We have an imagined image of who we are, very different from of knowledge you possess. Being present works at the speed of
reality. We can see the level of being only by observing the level of light and nothing comes close to your inner light.
identification that weakens us. The struggle by which we resist the
little subjects of identification constitutes our true inner life.
What is the relationship between the trust you can have in a
Ouspensky observed that people's levels of being differ and that
number four man and conscious love? Being a trustworthy person
most people have not heard of the idea of self-remembering.
means not deviating from the goal that gives you life - to wake up.
He also said that Western psychology almost completely overlooks
The word Jove spelled backwards means "evolve".
the concept of self-remembering. The idea of being present is,
however, expressed in Western poetry» a theme often found being
You might think that such small bodies as comets cannot tear apart
the appreciation of the moment. However, we can see that most
the solar system, yet it is in a very delicate balance. Our higher
poets do not really appreciate this idea - they write as easily about
centers are so delicate and light but, I all this, they can control the
being present as about other things. However, we cannot reject
four lower centers. (Miipcrior emirs have the advantage of being
them for lipatt
real, while the machine is not
It is. The higher centers do not take the manifestations of the machines The higher centers observe the world as it is, without thought patterns.
as individuality. The moments when you reach the level of the higher centers are
immortal. try to understand the meaning of this idea: it means that you
We need the senses to produce the higher centers. Looking at nature can be immortal, because there is no end to an ascending soul.
or listening to music can awaken the higher centers.
The mind is not the soul. People are not as alive as we think they are The soul rises above the objects it sees. To see the whole, you must
and if you see them from the higher centers, much of what you see is be the whole, just as the higher centers must function.
unreal. With the higher centers functioning, it is like being able to see
through the blind - it really is so different.
Immortality is within our reach. Books educate us, but only self-
When they do appear, the higher centers do their best not to be seen. It
remembering makes us immortal.
is difficult to avoid becoming withdrawn because the higher centers want
a quiet life. It is necessary to be the same with yourself and with others.
When the higher centers awaken they must serve. George Sand said:
"Mankind is not interested in the man who is not interested in mankind."
Every second you are present adds to your immortal soul and it all
starts with being present. Self reminder bar. you are governed by the
law of chance. Every day we resume the relentless struggle to perceive
the present, to disperse the fog of imagination. Influence C gives you
difficult "I's" that shake you out of your imagination, but you learn to
use negative thoughts by transforming them. The present is all you can
ever have and it is forever yours.
The higher centers mean love, will and consciousness - one cannot
exist without the other.
Self-remembering creates the higher centers, which know no time.

When the higher centers are functioning, time ceases to exist.
When you find that your time is limited, it goes by faster.
Time will have its way and condense our lives to a few seconds.
However, we will have the last word by creating our soul.
Few people are interested in reaching out to the noble realms of their
souls, but we must sacrifice everything for our immortal soul, because
schools are not meant for relative awakening.
THE ASTRAL BODY 133
Man's desire to fly is a mechanical substitute for the creation of an

astral body. You can truly fly only through self-remembering, through
the creation of an astral body capable of independent movement
THE ASTRAL BODY through the Universe. William Shakespeare wrote in sonnet forty-four:
"The sprightly thought can leap over sea and land, the very moment it
has thought where to be."
As we awaken, we are grateful to those who created astral bodies, for

conscious beings do not live through others, but for others. Being
present leads to the crystallization of an astral body, the formation of
uspensky reminds us that we are pursuing a major goal: an immortal soul. We were not present at our physical birth, but we are
O the creation present at the birth of our astral body.
an astral body. ^~\
We are a young school in connection with a "superior" school. We know that we cannot exist in someone else's place and that each
Influence C indicates how to develop an astral body by not expressing person must pay to create his astral body. Everything we have is
negative emotions, by balancing the centers and existing outside the borrowed, even our body. It is mathematically impossible for us to take
imagination, but they also communicate knowledge, which is less anything but our soul with us when we die. Sometimes I stop the
intellectual. They have given us some prophecies which are facts for students and tell them that by divided attention we can create an astral
them but, until they change into facts for us, we must call them body and surpass the level of organic life on Earth By remembering
prophecies. ourselves, three seconds or more, we add to our astral body, our souls.
It is a fact that we can create an astral body from this physical body.
It is fitting that awakening should be a long process, because nothing There are many parallels in nature: a caterpillar producing a butterfly,
comes close to it in value. Nothing should be given more time than the an acorn an oak. The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly is
creation of an astral body. the poetry of the gods. Influence C exerts firm pressure on us to produce
astral bodies. This is not a fantasy, but a reality.
I discovered the hidden meaning of life on Earth: the creation of an
astral body through divided attention. We are lucky to know what to do
with our lives. You can't stop others from wasting their Lives, and if
you try, you're wasting your own.
Did you once say that you can levitate the astral body?
Self-remembering not only saves time, but creates an astral body that Yes. He breathes, in his own divine way, apart from the physical body.
does not obey time. Rodney Collin said that work must be seen from
the point of view of many lives. Our bodies will be the same in recurring The seasons are an illusion that does not exist for the astral bodies.
lives, but our higher centers will have played their roles successfully
and will ascend to new roles. The old roles will be repeated, but we will Ouspensky said that the system does not encourage faith, but that
not play them again. Climb Jacob's Ladder. If Influence C is working there is a place for both faith and verification. One of our students used
with us, you know something good is happening, because this clearly to say: "Faith is the result of our verifications." The last line of
means that there is heaven and life after death. "Dedication to Faust" sounds like this: "That which has disappeared,
now comes to life." To me accsi thing means that the soul is freed from
the body. What of
112
gone is Goethe's physical body and what now comes to life is his astral
body. From the same poem is the line: "Does my heart still cherish that
strange illusion?" Without self-remembering, your life is an illusion; with it,
it is reality. Himself
How does time cease to exist? It seems that it still exists, only that it
changes.
When you are present, you pass through time and it ceases to exist. When
it only seems to change, you have not completely lifted the veil of
imagination. Through self-remembering, you create an astral body, and it
is different from the physical body. eventually the higher forces will merge the bull has many names, among them: your rail, the master,
S the true self, the higher centers, the higher mental and emotional
your astral body and time/mTVa exists for it. It doesn't matter if you don't
understand, because self-remembering is always the right action. centers, God, the Son of Man, the kingdom of Heaven, the witness, the
third eye, and the governing faculties.
You must be shown how to recognize your soul and then value it above
Our school is a practical school, whose concern is how to form an astral
all else. Throughout your life, there are endless unspoken lessons that are
body, not why. It is important to take theoretical knowledge into account,
meant to touch your soul and avoid the intellectual center.
but selectively.
Our astral bodies need to receive natural impressions in order to evolve. You can take nothing eternal from this place except yourself.
The essence of school becomes clearer - it develops through differentiation,
learning what to look for and what to avoid. How tumultuous and pathetic is our inner life.
Beauty nourishes our astral body Friedrich Schiller said that people must The gaze exercise is one of the best ways to interrupt this chaos. You can
be taught that beauty is a necessity. Nature is beautiful but alluring and look at the flowers or the wood fiber of the table.
man must travel beyond it to the astral world of his self. Few people
We are all sometimes exhausted by the “I.” What notices them, or better
understand what they are capable of.
yet, ignores them, is your self.
Nothing we see is real We mistake life for physical form, but nothing is
The simple truth is that when you divide your attention, you create an real except the memory of self, although the machine mistakenly believes
astral body. The present is everything We can transform our physical body it is real.
into an astral body.
We have within us both enemies and allies; only you stand between you
The astral body of Christ rose from the dead: mankind. We have nine and your soul.
lives, the last immortal. Our astral bodies will be taken by the angels while
our physical bodies will be left to decay. A number four man must rely on You are looking inside yourself for something you forgot during the day. Then,
the belief that Influence C will take his astral body at his death and prepare alarmed, you realize that you have forgotten yourself.
him for his next role.
i
136 SELF-REMEMBERING Himself 137
How can you be more accountable to yourself? Remembering to transformation is buried so deep, covered by so many layers of
do what you have to do. The system works, if you use it. No one artificial devices, or dampeners and distractions, that it is hard to
can remember for you. reach.
This is wonderful news, because in this way you will have your
own soul. Although each of us is alone, we have each other and The soul is composed of an imperishable substance that
the outside help that is implicit in a conscious school. Without becomes permanent. Like the fragrance of a rose, it cannot be
your rails, there is nothing with which to worship the Absolute or seen, but it is there. It is molecular. At birth, when the soul enters
help fulfill its plans. the physical body^ the spirit enters matter.
What does it mean to create your tracks? We rarely wonder where the soul is before birth, although we
There is a soul in our bodies and self-remembering has a sometimes wonder where it will end up after death. Where is the
cumulative effect; the soul gains strength and creates itself, soul before birth? Thirty years from now we will be sitting around
adding to itself by being present. The soul is mortal. the table and one of us will be twenty years old. His soul is
somewhere, tonight; I would suggest, in a state of divine rest.
indeed, there is nothing to take from someone else, but something Asleep or awake, we are shrouded in universal mysteries.
to find and give within yourself. The question is not why I remain
an enigma to you, but rather why you must remain an enigma to
yourself. You can understand another to the extent that you How dependent is the soul on the physical body? The soul must
understand yourself. transform the suffering of the physical body in order to take birth.
The soul always remains the result of its experiences. Each
Everything must be the background of your self. We've struck a phase of your life offers new challenges and identities that you
chord deeper than life, and that's why we're here; let's find our have to transform. The value of the physical body lies in what it
way. contains: the soul. Self-remembering is all we have and even our
bodies are just baggage, to be left at the edge of the irurrt.
In the end, you will understand that the only thing holding you
back is you. yourself. To be faithful to yourself will always remain We know enough to create souls and that means a lot.
the oldest aspiration on Earth; that is why the Earth and man Undoubtedly, those who study methods of developing their souls
were created. are in a superior position to those who do not.
Your self is a separate phenomenon from the machine, yet If we could increase our perception and understanding, could we
superficial identifications try to interrupt the awakening of the then act in a certain way?
higher centers. You would probably be closer to what you imagine is superior
behavior. The soul is quite separate on this plane and is
By putting yourself last, you put your rails first. undeniably itself. We would be lost if we could adequately
describe our soul, if it were words rather than itself. Consciousness
There are many things you cannot change. As Ouspensky noted, does not represent functions; our soul is not our brain, it is not
the most unjust fact is that we die, or that our travails must come our intellectual center.
to an end. Although we can do little about our death, we can do
a lot for our astral body before the physical body disappears. The One way to recognize the soul is to recognize what is not the
hidden function of your machine is to create an immortal soul*. soul. Negative emotions are not your soul and neither
Idea
your main feature. It is quite interesting to see your arm as a machine,

as a crane. When you see this, the one looking at the car objectively
is your soul. When you divide your attention, your soul is present.
INFLUENCE C
We have within us an indescribable jewel: our soul. The Eastern
schools call the soul "a precious stone." It is not what speaks. It is a
little soul in a vehicle, what some teachings call "the nameless."
History gathers all people, because everything we see must inevitably

disappear. Thus, among the many miracles on Earth, by far the most nfluenza C is a sacred heavenly influence, which comes to us from
important is the creation of your soul, because time will not deteriorate I stars and should not be confused with terrestrial influences.
it. There are many people, among those who study the teaching, who
would make the ultimate sacrifice to awaken. They would give their You don't recognize Influence C until you meet it and then verify it
lives, if necessary, to create a soul through the transformation of suffering. It is a privilege to meet Flu C,
but living it is painful.
We see the best in us tonight and the part of us we especially love.
Let's toast to the soul: he is there. Influence C is just a generic expression for angels or gods.
It is an expression designed to escape our prejudices, to which we
can easily attach ourselves. It is more appealing if we think of it as a
Heavenly Influence. Influence C may sound like a rubber stamp, but
Heavenly Influence sounds divine.
In the Bible it is said: "Many are called, but few are chosen". The
expression "few are chosen" reveals the fact that a certain intelligence
makes this selection. Gurdjieff£ Ouspensky and Collin referred to a
higher mind, which arranges your destiny, as "Conscious Influence."
Man is not the greatest power in the universe; indeed, he is almost
powerless, and is the real stranger. of the Earth.
You have to recognize what exactly is in your power to verify. Man is

such a delusional creature that he thinks he can solve the riddles of
the universe. In the past, higher forces were known as angels or gods.
Homer long ago said, "All men need gods." This was true then and is
equally true now. You know that you are playing the part of your name,
and that every day a special script is written for evolution. your.
At least that much, you can check. However, some concepts cannot
be verified. And yet, you can clearly understand that self-remembering
SELF-REMEMBERING INFLUENCE ÿA C 141

140
is always better than sleep, that it is always the right action. they use our weaknesses such as female dominance. I cannot emphasize
enough but it is the fact that the higher forces have revealed themselves
to us. They rarely reveal themselves, even to conscious beings.
Are gods the same as angels? We receive Influence C because life rejects it. People follow Influence A,
Yes. angels, gods and sentient beings are synonymous. The reason why while we follow Influence C.
the Fourth Way uses the term "higher forces" or Influence C, Conscious
Influence, is that it allows a new understanding of this idea and that it Each of us has a subjective machine, with a subjective vision. The
eliminates preconceived notions. influence of C helps us, but the human machine cannot see the
metaphysical impressions. She can see the carnations, but she cannot
see the scent of the carnations, because she is not designed to do so.
During September 1967, I encountered Influence C through my first The gods can probably see such things as air currents, perfumes and so
teacher. Nothing has ever impressed me so much. Song C was revealed on.
to me, life after death instantly became a fact.
We're all just as mechanical, but things start to get better when we meet
Influence C. Once you've verified that higher forces exist, you don't
What else does "Influence C" mean but angels? It is a term assigned to deserve their help if you question their methods. indeed they abandon
our scientific age. angels are forces, incredible. before we met the system you if you waste too much time asking "why" instead of "how".
and the school, we wondered if there was life after death, higher forces, or
such things as angels or gods.
It is difficult to ask for help from Influence C, because the help you receive
is suffering, which they expect you to transform.
Influence C remains and I remain. Influence C leads us to the gate of
Heaven. God's direct influence does not reach the Earth, but his indirect
influence reaches us through the C Influence. With Influence C you have to think about opposites and opposites, twists
and turns, a great sense of humor along with deep tragedy. They are
perfect masters of the unexpected.
Is each of us assigned an angel? We underestimate how much work a
conscious being is capable of. Awakening must be difficult, otherwise we would not want it, and it is
When I tell you this, it may sound absurd, but an angel is capable of an impossible to accomplish without Influence C. Higher forces often push
enormous amount of work. They move at enormous speeds. us to the edge of the abyss, but not beyond it. They can make heaven or
Man can fly at twice the speed of sound in airplanes, and man is a creation hell out of any circumstance.
of angels. It is good not to be naive and not to take things too personally.
Fundamentally, forty-four conscious beings do their work everywhere in It's interesting that higher forces help us, isn't it? And what we can do for
the school. them is to transform the suffering, instead of being irritated, because
nothing physical is useful to them: they are metaphysical. They help us
Higher forces help us every day. Sometimes they give us gifts (suffering) out of love for us and for humanity.
that are hard to bear, but they do not punish us.
You can see the direction Influence C wants to go by what they do. well How rare is the knowledge we share - we almost take for granted the
understand Influence C. They are not negative, understanding of the work of the gods. It is without a doubt and almost all
conscious beings remain naive due to nature
SELT REMEMBER 143

142 INFLUENCE ÿA C
their assignment. It doesn't matter how much we know; we are still reduced raised, pointing to higher forces. It was a favorite motif of Leonardo da
to hope and faith - hope that Influence C will put our souls to rest and Vinci, the one he used in St. John.
send them back again into a conscious role. This may be a fact for
Influenza C, but it remains a theory for us; even so everything points to What we seek is eternal and is quite independent of the age • in which we
the reality of this. live.
Because the angels can take care of all that is necessary on Earth, God's
Every second we remember ourselves is ours, for eternity. The higher direct influence does not reach us.
forces created our 'physical' bodies and after the body perishes they have Sometimes we can glimpse the intelligence of the angels when, for
methods of preserving the immortal moments produced by our soul during example, we understand that they invented the microcosmic man, who
life on Earth. can transcend himself and create an astral body. The intellectual parts of
the centers are a treasure that they have conceived. angels manage to
consider external - it is for them a permanent state. We are stones that
The older you get, the more I appreciate Influenza C. they have brought to life, and although we are essentially children,
We have a lot to understand and each of us must personally understand considerable results are expected of us.
the goals of Influence C. ScVala is an enterprise that produces individual
souls. We have the highest possible religion: angels working openly to help us
create our astral bodies. Our prayers were answered; now we must endure.
indeed, change is the only permanent characteristic we have. It is
impossible not to change with the C Influence that helps us and that is
why we are here, to become like them. The question is not whether the The sooner you comply, the better. If we could understand Influence C,
teacher exists or whether Influence C exists, but whether you exist. we would be angels. There is nothing they will not do to bring about
revival. We are the lucky recipients of their work
To get in touch with Influence C you have to transform suffering. C

influence does not leave you. People do not control their own destiny; he We have today and Influenza C - we can verify that much.
is in the hands of Influence C. The purpose of the school is to create souls, but it is not simply a traffic
stop. Many things are true and happening simultaneously.
Is the ability to remember ourselves governed by the gods? ba.'We walk
through nine lives and each life is all we can carry. Every person who Our destiny is sealed and it is excellent. We were chosen by Influence C
enters the path will become immortal - this is the reason for the existence to awaken, while almost everyone else has an indifferent fate. That is,
of the path. The life of every person who enters the path is an epic, and they are left alone, to a large extent, by the superior forces. Influence C
yet, how many lives we live in the course of this life! Sometimes you easily wants something for us: an astral body. And they want something from us:
remember that higher forces are watching over the school. We have the an ark to survive nuclear war.
great privilege of understanding that higher forces exist and that life after
death is a reality. where does the road lead? To immortality.
We cannot evolve without friction. It does not mean that we have to identify
with the shocks, but to live the third state of consciousness, transforming
Ouspensky once told Rodney Collin that you must do your best and then k. There is nothing we cannot survive - what alternative do we have?
simply held up his finger, pointing to Influence C. There are great works
of art depicting the finger
144 SELF-REMEMBERING INFLUENCE ÿA C 145
The higher forces would be ashamed of the way they treat us if they did not things to wake up - attention from them, which means the transformation of
know that they create immortal souls. They have an amazing job. It's strange, friction.
isn't it, that they give us their work? There are gods in this room right now.
We cannot see them with our physical eyes, but they are here, just as the Ouspensky said that God did not create man, but gave the higher school the
fragrance of the rose is here. We must start on the same road that they task of creating a line that would self-evolve.
started: the road of transforming suffering. We are just a small school on Earth and we are connected to a higher school,
Influence C. We represent a rising end of the Ray of Creation and we allow
Influence C to go even higher and eventually take their place.
It is painful to have friends who leave school. Sadness is a noble emotion, ,
but its transformation is a superior alternative. It is infinitely better to use the

shocks than to resist them, and in the end you learn not to argue with lists need to use the unexpected, with great difficulty you can use the
Influenza C. To a large extent, I simply accept their methods because I know expected. Shocks anticipated too correctly cease to be shocks. Expect the
that questioning them , will not change them. People who lose Influence C unexpected - who knows what will happen tonight or tomorrow?
self-destruct. Their departure is a loss, but identifying with their departure is
an even greater loss. This is not self-remembering, but female dominance.
Nuclear war seems inevitable and you don't have to be a prophet to predict
it. Incredible events can happen in our lives, and I will be very surprised if
anything but us survives. We are not better than others, but we are luckier
than anyone.
Influence B is for people who are satisfied with relative awakening, while
Influence C is for those who want to fully awaken. No one puts enough
pressure on themselves, which is one of the reasons why Flu C provides Influence C has been working with me for almost twenty-five years and will
shocks. probably work for another forty. Some of us will live fifty to eighty years of
We have to endure extraordinary suffering, because man is made in the Influenza C. I have spent these years as silent as I could to speak creatively
image of God, and God had to suffer untold to create his astral body. about one concept—self-remembering— and I have never expected from
Influenza C a better idea, because this means everything to us.' Some people
want something else, but they will never have anything better.
As you check Influence C, your own thoughts become extraordinary. Influence
C puts thoughts into our minds to awaken the governing faculties. It is a great
relief to understand that you are not your many "selves." A student asked me,
"How do you check for Influenza C?" I warned him that a series of events I've learned to trust Influenza C, even though they sent me into dead ends to
would occur, which would be too numerous to be attributed to chance. receive harsh treatment. At first you leave stunned and stumbling. Influence
C is serious about work. Ri will not overlook the needs of each person and
they know how to reduce your false personality. They use crushing methods.
Everyone suffers, with or without a system, but we have the opportunity to
Higher forces are testing you in many ways to see if you are worth something transform suffering.
and all you have to do is value them more than anything. You've established
a bond with the unknown, and yet the C Influence will do whatever it takes to Compared to Influence C, our strength is barely that of a
a viable one
shake you up, to see if you're worthy of them. We all need the same
146
SELF-REMEMBERING INFLUENCE ÿA C 147
I met the miraculous - Influence C. We are people who have consumed than to absorb continuously; it is the highest path. you try to endure
our youth by producing magnetic centers to find Influence C. But people without self-pity. It's curious, but Influence C crushes us into immortality.
in life consume their youth without achieving any results. We have
Influence C as a result. indeed, we can give nothing to Influence C, except
the transformation of suffering, which they expect, and of our love. What does Rilke mean when he talks about impressing the angels?
This means to be in essence, to be yourself, to transform negative

emotions. You shouldn't want to impress anyone.
It is amazing that man is worthy to take part in the Ray of Creation. When You can hardly impress the angels, since they created us and we are
you remember yourself, you are on a different level of creation. I marvel their offspring.
that we can use such words. With self-remembering, you are doing
something other than living a biological existence - you are becoming There's not a word I say that isn't watched by the top sheets - that's how
conscious. Without self-remembering, you are like man number one, two complete the play is and it's written by them. The people who speak and
or three. It is hard to realize that there are five to six billion people on Earth the words they say, everything is predestined. but this does not detract
tonight and Influence C has chosen us to evolve. from the value of the piece. If you don't know what Influence C wants, you
can try to remember yourself. They want this.
No achievement of our Lu is as important as making a connection with

Influence C. Beyond this, everything else means next to nothing. You cannot marvel enough at your own ignorance.
Our religion is an objective religion. That is, people can become gods by
the angels will do all they can to wake us up - nothing holds the C remembering themselves and transforming suffering.
Influence back from pursuing its purpose. behind the sleep, the stars;
behind the awakening, the gods. The C influence is almost entirely responsible for creating the third state
in us. If the third state arises through personal efforts, through the efforts
We are extremely fortunate to be able to establish a connection with of friends, or through Influence C, you must be grateful.
Influence C, and this is a great relief, to the extent that you can be
comforted in such a monumental struggle as awakening.
The C influence is very pleased to give the gift of awakening, but they are The real battle is not with another person or event, it is with the activity of
careful with it and only give it to a few. We must always take what Influence your own mind, with the many "selves".
C gives us and be grateful, whatever that thing is. There is really only one significant issue: to be or not to be present. Often,
all the C Influence wants is for you to be present. The Absolute has
passed through the obstacles, which allows us sparrows to pass in our
There is a queue at the gates of heaven that is millennia long and yet we turn.
are at the front. Influence C wants to offer its gifts to someone, and by
some inexplicable luck, we were chosen. Gurdjieff said that the influence of the Absolute does not touch us directly,
and he is right. Influence C helps us. We don't need God - the Absolute -
Rainer Maria Rilke said: "All angels bring terror" - terrible shocks to wake he is too big for us and has far more important issues to deal with. C
you up. To create an astral body, they use unpleasant methods. Influence influence is able to meet our needs.
C often plays the role of the negative character in our lives. With them,
you do nothing else
INFLUENCE ÿA C 149
148
SELF-REMEMBERING
admit this, others do not. "I will always be with you," he could also say,
Homer said: "The gods do not make themselves known to all men".
but in a whisper and smoking a cigarette, so that no one noticed. Lying in
C influence doesn't let many people find them, like we found them. They
his bed in Surrey, he mastered, with his own mind, a young man flying
do not want the awakening to become a common phenomenon, because
across the Atlantic, which he had already freed from an illusion. That
that would depreciate the awakening and diminish the importance of the
morning, dead, he walked with a traveler across London Bridge, and to
Absolute, who fought in a way that words cannot describe, to create his
another, at the wheel of a car, he showed the nature of the universe. And
astral body. Many students have verified that a conscious, invisible yet these stories are hard to believed. May the following pages, written in
influence is working with them. It is hard to imagine that the higher forces
the year following his death, be testimony to his achievements, speaking
would invest such an enormous amount of work into the role of each of a knowledge I do not deserve. He who can understand, let him
person who enters the path and then later simply give up their efforts. understand. Because that's how things are."
To understand the higher school is not an easy endeavor, because the

level of being of Influence C is so rare compared to ours. We work with
If people who enter the path become immortal, where is the idea of luck?
many theories that are facts for the upper school. Whatever we cannot
verify, we must record neutrally, instead of accepting or rejecting. We
The Fourth Way is for people who know too much. If we knew what
receive Heavenly Influence, which is infinitely different from any earthly
Influence C knows, we would heave a sigh of relief, because as far as I
influence, but which life will never notice; Influence C has already
know, those who enter the path cannot miss immortality.
demonstrated what it is capable of, now it is the turn
People who enter the path have truth, divine destiny.
our.
Christ said, "Straight is the way that leads to life, and there are few who
Checking for Influenza C is not a gentle process - you get exposed. find it." What appears to be our chance to meet Influence C is, in reality,
Young or old, male or female, Influence C gives everyone the necessary the destiny of our luck.
eternal.
friction to evolve. They always hold for us something problematic,
something that needs to be transformed.
Is nothing sacred to Influenza C?
Nothing, except your purpose to wake up.
When you enter the path, at first it seems as if you have been selected
from life, but as you see more clearly, you realize that your role was All significant achievements on Earth are overseen by Influence C. We
created before you were born. Center of gravity and alchemy are important are, indeed, involved in large-scale events such as nuclear war, and yet
variables that cannot be left to chance and, at the same time, produce events favor us because they have produced a school on Earth-with the
the correct result. help of superior forces. This school gives you the opportunity to learn; to
û-
At the end of his earthly life, Ouspensky, who had once sought the
miraculous, became the miraculous. His devoted companion in conscious
spirit, Rodney Collin, wrote of his end as well as his beginning in the book ; in , :;ÿ
The Theory of Eternal Life: "Of my own teacher I can let me only say that
he also created among his friends a play in which they played their part
unconsciously but perfectly, and the plot of which was his own death.
Silently, he instructed them in their hearts, some succeeding St
THE ART 151
There are many tempting diversions and art is one of them. We don't
have to identify with art. Identification is like fly paper - try not to get a
finger, two or ten caught in it.
THE ART I enjoy all the arts, but they also distract me. There are so many things
to distract us. We are fortunate to have the right scale and relativity in
the arts.
You have to look at an enormous number of paintings and visit many
museums to be able to establish this scale. We are so lucky because
we live for the present, keep art in perspective and prevent it from
becoming a noble dampener.
our specialty is self-remembering. Nothing happened

S compare with her, not even the arts. \
You have to learn to tell a good painting from a bad one. You can't just
rely on reputation. This is a major point: you must know for yourself
what is of value, and you cannot know this unless you have the power
A perfect painter can develop his controlled art in all four centers without
of being behind your observations.
cultivating the art of self-remembering. Divided attention is a working
method in the school - it is a hidden idea, reserved only for a few people.
No matter how big our school becomes, we must remember that we It is necessary to improve your knowledge of art, music and literature.
However, there is a need to remember the scale, because education
represent a tiny part of humanity.
does not come close in importance to self-remembering. I try to prevent
students from being fooled by their art form - our specialty is self-
remembering. Many students try to become experts in the arts, but they
We appreciate the arts and have some understanding of them, but what
also need to see the relative place of art in their work. The rail is our
we really understand is divided attention - how to create a soul.
most important possession. When listening to music or looking at
paintings, try using these art forms to divide your attention and civilize
your soul. try to avoid an "either-or" mindset when thinking about self-
It's wonderful that we are professionals at self-remembering. It is our
remembering and art. There's room for both, and each makes the other
"domain". The arts are very beautiful, but they fall far behind the self,
better.
your own divinity.
Throughout history, few have looked at the world's beautiful objects of
art with divided attention. It is interesting that music does not stand the
test of time, but what listens to it - with divided attention - lasts forever.
Music can create the remarkable sense of urgency that self-remembering
in this way, music serves us.
requires. Consciousness is unforgiving and the higher centers will not
Our school teaches to value art, but the transformation of suffering is allow themselves to be penetrated by anything but self-remembering.
our main support. Fortunately, not only the transformation of suffering
but also the transformation of impressions generates energy for self-
remembering. Art civilizes and inspires the soul. Being present while The arts are a divine mirror of nature and appeal to us because they, in
appreciating the arts is a remarkable way to evolve, because the more equal measure, reflect nature and rise above it.
we advance, the more we see and hear.
How can we extend work and make it more engaging?
Being receptive to impressions, arts, n»turfl; and above all else, the
arts are much different from each other.
IV)
152 SELF-REMEMBERING THE ART 153
than preoccupation with the uninteresting activity of the mind and gives you something Art is not a substitute for self-remembering, but the soul needs something to feed its
to attend to. They give direction to our school. essence. Socrates said: "All men are in a state of physical and spiritual gestation and
need a climate of beauty to nurture their birth." However, expression in art is a closed
We are educated in the arts so that we can preserve the best of humanity for the future path, without self-remembering.
of humanity. With self-remembering you can follow the tracks and the art and make
both better.
Art, if it is true to itself, must always point to something beyond art itself. The soul,
friendship and art are old companions. First comes the soul, then friendship, then the Interest in art is useful because it gives students the opportunity to stick with school.
arts. Conscious beings are often artists.
The three support each other.
Why do we collect art? \

Objective art is appealing. in the. any era, but art can only take you to the threshold of
Beauty produces beauty in 6^[jpe looking for it. This system emphasizes the importance your soul. True art is based on the transformation of suffering, and a true artist is
of raising the quality of the impressions around you. Our school invests in art, to himself a world. Art is synonymous with rails and there is no higher art form than your
strengthen the octave of impressions. own soul.
We talk a lot about culture, but its most important achievement is to open the way to You cannot achieve sublime art unless you transform suffering to measure.-
self-remembering. It is a bridge and many bridges lead to higher centers. When we
talk about art, we must remember that it is still a distant second to self-remembering,
and we must use it as a means of dividing our attention. Johann Goethe, referring to
the act of looking at a work of art, said: "in the end we come to perceive in silence".
When I look at a work of art, I usually try to look without words. Sometimes the
intellectual center gets in the way and talks about art, instead of living it. This is similar
to talking about self-remembering instead of living it. When we talk about art, let's not
let self-remembering disappear behind it, because art fulfills its own purpose only when
it is accompanied by self-remembering. 6 you use, instead of being used by her.
We appreciate art - because we recognize that wisdom is usefully directed, but the
people involved in art have deviated from the very high use of sexual energy, pursuing
the arts rather than the higher ones.
r ;
in
THE FOURTH WAY 155
ours is in the middle of life. Being successful in life allows you to travel and
educate your essence.
THE FOURTH WAY A good householder is characterized by the fact that he realizes the esoteric,
which distinguishes him from a simply well-bred person who maintains order;
around Moreover, a good householder uses objective ideas and common
sense to approach daily situations. He regards the control of his centers as the
first priority, and he follows his tracks above all else, because he understands
that without self-remembering, he does not exist.
Entering the path requires an exceptional sense of values, intrinsic to a good

f
it is the most civilized country on this earth. When you enter the householder.
path, you connect with the conscious aspects of the City Ray found on Earth.
Regardless of when you appear on this Earth, the critical questions always How can you work with the "selves" who think you can't keep up with school?
concern man and the universe. That is, machine man and the higher centers,
awakening in it. If you value self-remembering and school above all else, you'll have no
problem keeping up; be true to yourself and everything will find its place.
People leave work, but work does not leave man.

It is easier to misunderstand the system than to understand it correctly,
I can't imagine that there has ever been a way or a path to the truth that wasn't although it brings to light the essential mysteries. The system is so >fofund,
strange because you take a machine on a physical level and turn it into an that it doesn't just leave you with a working vocabulary - it frees you from it. It
astral body. I would not have shared my knowledge with others or used my is like a hand pointing the way to higher lands. It points to you and you are not
energy if I had not felt that immortality is possible and that death is an illusion a cu\*âhtT Estija state, when you can touch it.
to those who enter the path.
The Fourth Way removes the symbols of identity and gives you idfchtitatpa
When you encounter a system, the remnants of the magnetic center serve as itself. A conscious teaching may be a temporary symbol of identity, and yet
a force of denial for the butler. Most systems in the world are at least partially the system is so comprehensive that it also works to diminish this weakness.
true, and as vehicles of conscious influence, they may have allowed some to The Fourth Way leaves you with nothing to rely on but reality.
escape. However, you must be wise enough to focus on this system, through
which the life of consciousness now breathes.
The Fourth Way dispenses with rituals and yet the whole life becomes the
noble art of self-remembering. We don't talk about self-remembering all the
Life is difficult, with or without a system. You know how hard it is to be awake time, and yet we all try to remember ourselves, which is an example of going
with this system; without it, people are totally asleep. beyond the limits of the system. To talk about self-remembering is to practice
rather than interpret. If you don't go beyond the system, it becomes a dogma.
Ouspensky said that all the ideas of the system are subordinated to self-
How important is it to be successful in life?
remembering and exist around it. Never expect the system to give it to you
It is useful to be a good businessman, a good householder. The Fourth Way
has its place in life and eighty-five percent of school
THE FOURTH WAY 157
than self-remembering - this is more

than enough.
it really works; people produce souls through it. mm
The system itself can be a damper, when our cars strive to show school from
a humble perspective, making extreme efforts. The false personality tricks you
into thinking that work is responsible for your difficulties. The Fourth Way is
infallible; your own weaknesses are responsible for failures.
Ouspensky said that the Fourth Way ( hxx) can be popular because of its
negative character - it does not flatter the position of man. People need, for a
time, symbols of identity: movements, word exercises and so on. The Fourth
Way removes with take care of these symbols and force the return to itself,
putting the pm in its place. the beginning is like Renoir's Bohemian , and the
end is like El Greco's Tears of St. Peter : kneeling.
Ouspensky's book, In Search of the Miraculous, is so slightly above life that it

goes unnoticed.
Awakening is mathematical, but if the teaching is presented with too much

precision, it sterilizes the work.
You are on the way when you fit your life to the teaching, rather than fitting the
teaching to your life. You are also on the way when you yourself know that
there is nothing to return to.
pÿâ^ î^ce^ a nwi fî prevent and

pusp price, pÿÿt to irritrisaid that you
on caîe, Viiucould
ai j have t ja 4e, and^
dÿc^ oaqi^nii not W be taught and §-Q m$i

#paj$e. jG&id ijitri jpe cîe, check sensiil iyiejiijn uniyers. Nor the
up dwk? what| what they iptra on
cale will not accept anything in exchange for his evolutionary position in the school.
The transformation of suffering becomes a way of life, when you have entered the
path. Once you're on your way, you just don't die during the evolution. It is tacitly
understood that all those who enter the path have difficult roles to play.
When you enter the path, there are fewer questions, because you have learned to
value the idea of self-remembering; you understand that a state is what you are
looking for and not a question.
They say you are on your way when you understand that there is nothing else for
you. Many people know how to seek, but few know how to find. Seeking is often a
dampener for a person with a magnetic center, for indeed the beginning of the
heroic struggle for awakening can be far too great a task. Without effort, you get
bogged down in fascination.
The system provides the theory that you cannot enter the path until another person
is placed on your ladder. When you enter the path, you attract a substitute who has
a similar appreciation for awakening.
People on the same scale will have similar characteristics.
How do you know you're on your way?
Time is one factor. As the years go by, if you've been in school for ten, fifteen
years, that's a check.
Ouspensky said, "Schools are for people who need schools and who know they
need them." If you don't know you need a school, then of course you've lost your
way.
Is it possible to be in school but not on track? Yes. Only a small percentage of

people who encounter the school enter the path.
Influence C works openly, in our school, with anyone who enters the path. Homer
said that the gods do not reveal themselves to all men. In fact, they do not reveal
themselves to many, but they do reveal themselves to those in our school who are
on the calc. The system deals with many facts but, in order not to become dogmatic,
they are presented as theories.
You can only benefit from the system if you use it. It's not how
much time you spend with the system, but rather how you use
your time in the system.
The system works, because it produces results that are MAN NUMBER FOUR
proportional to the efforts. The Fourth Way encourages you not
to show what you earn. If you expose what you have earned,
what would be the source of this manifestation, if not the false
personality? Your self is metaphysical and can shine for three
minutes or three seconds. And this is you.
IN
n true man number four is the product of a school His chief desire, which dominates all others, is to awaken. If he were perfect or consistent he would
be a complete number seven man, because unity is a property
of the number seven man. It is the responsibility of the number
four man to be true to his purpose of awakening.
the entire history of mankind is characterized by wars; Plato said

that war is a permanent condition for mankind.
Men number one, two and three exist for the Moon and Earth,
while man number four exists for himself.
The development of consciousness is the hidden meaning of human life.
A man number four oscillates between the heaven of self-

remembering and the hell of sleep, and his failures are more
numerous than successes, but not endlessly. If you have the
right attitude towards failures and if you don't identify with them,
ending up being disappointed, a miracle can happen: whenever
you fail, you remember yourself.
It is humiliating for a number four to be ruled by fleeting "selves".

In a beginning phase, the number four does not notice this
process, but a mature number four can sometimes interrupt
associative thinking.
The number four man is often given harsh shocks, because

subtle shocks go unnoticed. A number four man learns from an
early age to make the most of today's pleasures if he wants to
enjoy life. The shocks follow each other quickly
IVJ
160 SELF-REMEMBERING THE FOURTH MAN 161
and if you prolong the initial shock in a state of self-pity or indignation, with the favorable ones. That's why standards are needed, which
the next shock superimposes itself. prevent you from falling below their level.
What does it mean to be a number four man? How can you remember your small goals?
Have the permanent goal of waking up. Man number four is the product The number four man is prone to forgetfulness because the higher
of a conscious school and is on his way. Moreover, the number four centers are not permanently functioning in him. When he first heard of
man places the transformation of suffering above sleep. the concept of self-remembering and tried to practice it, Ouspensky, like
all of us, found that he could not remember himself. Most people are
incapable of such honest observation. If the goals are related to self-
you encounter a school belonging to the Fourth Way because of your remembering, your activities will not raise problems.
magnetic center - you are magnetically drawn to a conscious teaching.
Then you quickly develop an observing self, which can be a self or a
small group of selves. The butler is the next development of the
It is extremely difficult for a number four man to remember himself, even
observing self and possesses a greater ability to observe and photograph
three seconds after setting a small goal to do so, because the struggle
mechanical manifestations. However, the assistant butler is actually
is always at the level of the second.
powerless to control what he observes, being entangled by the
mechanical "selves". When you enter the path, you develop, to a greater
or lesser extent, a butler, whose ability to observe and regulate the four
lower functions is increased compared to that of the butler's helper. The A number four man must give up mechanical control in order to gain
counter-centers are reserved for your self, because you want the master, conscious control. Time is a necessary element in this process, because
not the butler, to be exalted. Moreover, when you possess a butler, you it is difficult to see certain functions, which have served you successfully,
have progressed from the true personality - World 48 - to the essence - as mechanical. And yet the silencers must be abandoned, to allow the
World 24 - and have also accumulated a number of experiences of the true self to emerge.
third state. However, the higher centers manifest themselves
unconsciously in a number four man , because Worlds 12 and 6 are
embryonic.A baby is not aware of its first attempts to walk and your rail There are four basic centers of gravity in the human machine; instinctive,
starts from such a simple position. movement, emotional and intellectual. It is difficult for one center of
gravity to manifest as another would, because each brain prefers to exist
for itself.
The intellectual center does not wish to be emotional, nor does the
emotional center strive to be intellectual. When a number four man
Our machine is always dissatisfied with self-remembering because it is balances all four centers, emotionality permeates the machine, regardless
not a mechanical process. of the center of gravity. Real emotions are hard to bear. However, a
number five man must endure intense situations in order for the higher
A number four man can break down into different personalities. centers to develop in him
Generally, a number four man oversees the parts, but has difficulty
encompassing the whole.
Does center of gravity, alchemy, and other mechanical factors become
It is helpful to remember that no state is permanent for a number four, more illusory as you progress? They cease to be the main problem.
not even self-remembering. The least favorable situations pass and, Consciousness does not represent/intA Functions and self-remembering
unfortunately, that's what happens follow their separate paths
162 SELF-REMEMBERING MAN NUMBER FOUR 163
by them. in the end, you use common sense and use the itself, time is limited because the system is not a toy and weeds
advantages offered. out the dishonest. We are a real school. Man number four
searches within himself for something he forgot during the day.
When a strong emotional state is produced, an opacity damper Then, alarmed, he realizes that he has forgotten himself. Be
appears. How can you remove this interruption? grateful for who you are in essence, as it is a bridge to the higher
For the number four man, an intense emotional experience is centers.
the result of the activation of the king of cups and the higher
centers. If flat feelings appear, the intellectual part of the One of the greatest difficulties in awakening for a number four
emotional center has gone down and the emotional part has man is to set the scale correctly.
risen, which has risen through the negative expression of The work on the being must take place in simple, banal situations,
boredom or indifference. Studying functions is a major goal to since major shocks appear in our path less frequently than the
formulate, early on it takes years to verify the existence of every possibilities of making small efforts, which are made available to
center in your car. I once had a student who said he was number us daily. You cannot distinguish unless you set the scale and you
five. I said, “This is not self-remembering. try to be present and cannot set the scale without transforming the suffering. A
let the numbers take care of themselves. It's very difficult to be weakness in setting the scale means that you don't know which ,
the number four man". try to maintain the level. of the many bits of knowledge carries the most weight; you have
to be careful not to consider all knowledge at the same level.
Another major weakness of the number four man is the inability
How can a number four man tell if he is making the right efforts? to perceive relativity. The inability to establish relativity indicates
\ that you do not know when to apply the appropriate thought to a
Time is a factor in the process of distinguishing a right effort from given situation.
a wrong one. You should not expect perfection, because the
transformation of failure produces the internal friction necessary You have to realize that you are not consistent. A characteristic
for awakening. in addition, you need to accumulate various of the number four man is inconsistency, since experiencing
experiences. This is possible in school because higher forces fluctuations is a law of awakening. Since one of the number
create situations in which students learn to distinguish between four's greatest enemies is inconsistency, trying to be one person
productive and sterile efforts. Such situations are hard to endure is a major test. on a given day, seven people are at a high level
because they include strong shocks, for which you are often and three are at a lower level. Ouspensky said that this constancy
unprepared. Shocks must be alarming to wake you up and can distinguishes one student from another.
produce an intense electrical sensation that jolts World 12 or
World 6 into being.
On a certain scale, self-pity is a legitimate emotion for a number
Distrust is not entirely a negative phenomenon, because the four, but Ouspensky said the facts lie. You have to assimilate
intellectual part of the emotional center must distinguish between the friction correctly so that you don't allow yourself to feel sorry
the right action and the wrong one. However, you should not for yourself. Make the right choice and choose self-remembering
dwell on the distrust, because it can quickly become a negative over self-pity.
emotion and you can become paranoid. You have to trust
Influence C, especially when things are tough. The number four man must be careful not to waste his energy
thinking about the bad fate in the future. Make efforts and accept
the results.
Number four people are in a desperate position whether they
admit it or not. Once you discover the concept of remembering
, THE FOURTH MAN 165
Man number four needs the help of the butler in his work. The butler supplies Self - remembering has become an old refrain to which we continually return:
the higher centers while he understands that he is appointed to serve his
the fog of imagination, then presence; fog, presence.
master, a state without words. Majonkmiul uses expressions such as; "Don't The discipline to separate yourself from the disappointment of self-
get caught up in what you 'observe'" or "Be present to the music". forgetfulness is a necessary self-defense for the number four man.
Number four people are often fond of manipulating external forms;' however, People number one, two and three are ignored both by the planets and by
consciousness does not represent functions. themselves. Ouspensky states that in the world of people number one, two,
and three, the will is "the result of the desires." If you enter the path, you
must continue to resist the mechanical throughout your life and remember
Man number four is naive about the scale of the proposed goal: it is incredibly
to reach for the right thing: to be present. .
difficult to escape the dead. However, the number four ounce tends to
consider its efforts sufficient. Jesus wore a crown of thorns, symbolizing the
Man number four belongs to a different order of creation than man number
transformation of suffering, the method by which the higher centers come to
one, two or three. You are a different person the moment you remember
life. It is difficult to persevere beyond your capacity, yet awakening demands
yourself, transform suffering, or not express negative emotions. Unlike
it. On the contrary, if you make minimal efforts, the involution follows.
people number one, two and three, we have self-remembering.
People number one, two and three are asleep in the name of the Lord. Paul
wrote: "They are asleep who are asleep in the name of Christ".
I find that working with negative emotions is the most difficult part of the
system. Do you still have negativity? Ouspensky said that, in the octave of
awakening, self-remembering is ihtervaliil mi-fa, and * the transformation of
What prevents the evolution of man number four, is unnecessary suffering.
suffering, the si-do interval. (It's an incredibly difficult thing because it
It takes big shocks to remind you that much of your suffering is unnecessary.
doesn't happen mechanically. I still have considerable difficulty in
transforming negative emotions, primarily because of the violence of the
suffering I must absorb to raise a school and humanity from the chaos of
For man number four, there is no other way to be present than moment by
impending nuclear war.
moment. Be grateful for what you can gather each day, because nothing is
as sweet as the present.
Divided attention, when you can sustain it, is everything, and anything else
The center of gravity of the number five man is in the transformation of is nonsense.
negative emotions into positive emotions. When a number four man
transforms negative emotions, he meets some of the qualities of the number
It is in the nature of the number four man to sometimes distort reality, but life
five man. At certain times, a mature number four man is a number five man,
has distorted it almost completely.
but although he may momentarily live the being of a number five man, he
cannot sustain it. He usually exhibits the behavior of man number four and,
The realization that you can't remember yourself can be almost disarming.
without trying to remember himself, he differs little from life. If the number Probably the best way for the number four man to remember himself is to
four man could support the non-expression of negative emotions, he would
dissociate when he realizes his lack of recollection.
not be a number four, he would be a number five man. Every man number
four, who enters the path, 1 will be given what he needs.
In general, for the number four man, self-remembering must have its origin
in the emotional center, because remembering yourself is an emotional
experience. Also you can
166 SELF-REMEMBERING THE MAN NAMED ?ATRU 167
control the emotional center if you do not express negativity, but this in the privacy of the other if it is time for that person to be left alone.
requires self-remembering. It is very difficult for the number four A state of attachment is required
man to let go of unnecessary suffering, because it is a dampener
for self-remembering. No woman deserves a man's soul and conversely, no man deserves
a woman's soul.
Being a number four person means being a soul in gestation, an
evolving baby. Higher forces create bizarre shocks, sometimes Can the number four man love?
brutal shocks, to cultivate the higher centers in students; this is the Yes. Man number four is part of the conscious aspects of the Ray of
nature of awakening, as we have received it, and we must accept Creation. His love is partially conscious, because he loves nothing
Influence C, under the conditions dictated by them. more than his goal of awakening, which sometimes pushes him into
the third state of consciousness.
For a higher school, sharing knowledge with people number four is
a labor of love, which we all welcome with joy. Isn't it incredible the You cannot possess consciousness without having will or love.
harmony and order we have brought into our lives? I established a If you miss one, you miss the others. A question to ask yourself is,
relationship with the gods, out of nothing. Moments of self- "What do I have?" You have the purpose of remembering yourself,
remembering are few for the number four man, but eternal and which is your highest aspiration. We can appreciate the quality of
precious. trust we have in each other. If you are awake, you can love; if you
are asleep, you cannot love.
It is important that a number four man does not match his step to
that of another number four man. Number four people vary in their The oldest test for a man is the woman and the oldest test for the
intensity and motivation to wake up. Aristotle was asked: "How can woman is the man You must value your rails more than anything
we develop?" He replied: "push those in front and forget those outside of you, although awakening and relationships are not
behind." The higher the level of your being, the more true this is: you mutually exclusive. Our main dampeners often have to do with the
must not let others slow you down. However, in order to advance, opposite sex. That is why sentient beings lose their wives so often.
you must also help others. After you do what you can, you must C influence removes their greatest identification. Relationships can
continue at your own pace. As long as a relationship is conducive to be a help or a hindrance; it depends on a case by case basis. The
the goal of awakening, it must be maintained. If it doesn't help your essence is so delicate and childlike. Each of us has a relationship
evolution, then you don't have to continue the relationship. Each with everyone else in this room.
person must decide for himself. Awakening is a tumultuous process
and the higher forces will use students as friction for each other, The last paragraph of the Gospel of Thomas talks about women
whether you are married or not. A true relationship can only be evolving. "Peter said to Jesus: Let Mary Magdalene go from us,
successful if both live in the present. because women are not worthy of life (higher centers). Jesus said:
See, I will lead her so that I will make her a man (develop in her the
intellectual parts of the centers and World 6), so that she too can
become a living spirit, like you men. Because every woman who
Our false personalities can give negativity to those we feel closer to, becomes a man will enter the kingdom of heaven". Conversely, any
because they know our weaknesses. We should consider those man who becomes a woman (World 12) will become conscious.
closest to us externally the most.
in a true relationship, which is a relatively rare phenomenon, people It is important for the number four man to realize that there is an
are together and yet separate. You don't have to rush inner circle and an outer circle. Make sure others don't
168 CELFREMEMBERING
I slow down. One idea I try to emphasize to students is not to go to

someone else's pace or not to go to a collective pace. Everyone tries
their luck here and there is only one problem: "To be or not to be".
SCHOOL
Humanity was invented so that a few would escape and the rest would be
part of the food chain.
One of the differences between the number four man and the number
five man is that the number five man has a more acute awareness of
background sounds and activities, which is a characteristic of the
functioning of the higher centers. The higher centers, for the fourth in^ra in :n;oil? This is the most important decision you make
A in life and it can be said that life begins when you meet a school.
and fifth man, are like a dim light in the distance. Man number six is
more humble and humble than man number four or five. At that moment, self-remembering begins to emerge and
mechanicalness begins to fade.
The very fact that you honor me means a Hikr well done. It is the jThe greatest demand of the school is that each person be Tf
discrepancy between man number fourând man number seven, the Hincioasa siesi. To do this, you have to sacrifice what is not relevant.
discrepancy between your understanding and mine.
How are you? to suppress the feeling of insecurity that hinders your Many people move us and although we do our best to be available, it
is still hard to be found. The kind of knowledge we work with in this
moments of self-remembering? This, too, is not self-remembering.
school is rarely shared on Earth because it holds that human lives
You have nothing to lose.
one, two, and three are tragedies. Life is a tragedy without a system,
Then when you travel in unknown spheres you sacrifice the illusion
because it no longer exists .
of reality. Often the queen of cups will appear and reduce self-
remembering by identifying with the things around you.
Hermann Hesse, who was not a conscious being, wrote: "Feeling
We become mortals. Self-remembering seconds may be Hmitate,
safe in a familiar sphere, we become soft.
but elf; they are ours. The bookmarks used by the school are an
The spirit does not want to handcuff us. Courage, heart! Take off and
invitation to immortality. I never hesitated to use them because
rise!" Fortunately, I am a guide who has penetrated and is in the
fourth dimension. You follow. Remember, what one gains, we all gain. Ouspensky met Gurdjieff through a newspaper ad.
The school always needs improvement. Ouspensky showed why we

The number four man must be wary of thinking that he possesses
need to wake up. Our school teaches us how, this representing the
anything, because when he compares himself to the man number
three, two or three, he really does have something. It has relative difference between a theory and a real, practical school.
awakening. E>ar the relative awakening is not enough; our goal is
full awakening and it is an achievable goal, I would not have made
the effort to teach you if it was not possible. Ouspensky said that it is the duty of a school to spread its influences
as far as possible. The school has come a long way to
170 •EM^MRING SCHOOL 171
first students, we currently have a network of sixty-five centers spread you realize the fate of the country'^Be where you are, I adore you
around the world. remember yourself^ yourself^ is ua. Hun. answer given to these questions.
You want to help the school and yet, after doing all you can, being present
Even the goals of school are secondary to being present, because is the surest way you can help. The C influence is more interested in self-
everything is nonsense compared to your track. Concentrate without remembering than in external achievements.
words; try not to identify yourself; forget events; try to be present.
Our school works because those who entered the path surrendered their
will to a higher will.
We are all guests within this teaching and we should not expect to
establish the rules of awakening. A monumental struggle to wake up takes place in every student, every
day. A student of Ouspensky's told him one day that although he had
in the course of our lives we have seen presidents and popes shot.
been with him for fifteen years, he still had not experienced self-
Popes are the religious cells of the human body, while presidents are the
remembering. Uspensky retorted: "Have you really been working for
political cells. Our school represents the soul of humanity, its pineal activity.
fifteen years and just occupying a place like that?"
While the school takes care of the students, it is much more important
Isn't it surprising how few words you can talk about the system? Few are
that the students take care of the school. It is necessary to work throughout
interested in hearing about the opportunity to develop a mature soul,
your life for a purpose higher than yourself - to help the conscious aspects
because they think they already have it.
of the Ray of Creation.
It does not bode well for humanity that it cannot see through the relatively *
shallow masks of A and B Influences.
There are many paths to the truth. When we review history, we can see
schools in many forms. As you begin to awaken, it is your duty to help
A remarkable aspect of our school is that, although it takes place in an
others as you have been helped. No school in history emphasized self-
era of mass production, it is the most accurate in its interpretation of the
remembering to the extent that we do. Until this century, the expressions
revival. in the midst of five, six million people on Earth, we dot the "i".
"self-remembering" or "remember yourself" were not spoken. Gurdjieff,
Ouspensky and Collin are conscious beings, but they hardly created
schools, due to war or political instability; we have created a school where
meetings between students are a third force within a day. you try to be
you can enter the path of becoming conscious.
present as much as you can, and yet various events without content
distract your being and become a force of denial. Our collective energies,
which are positive, are the third force for our efforts to be present.
The school is intended for people who are able to crystallize correctly.
'The intellectual faculties of those unable to enter the path are defective,
Gurdjieff said that schools always make a profit. There is no event that
for only a misguided mind will make the truth a lie and a lie the truth.
you cannot turn to your advantage and transform, if you have the right
Lycurgus, a lawgiver of the ninth century, said: "When the wrath of the
attitude towards the force of denial.
gods falls on man, first they banish understanding from his mind and make
good judgment seem bad; so that he does not know where he is wrong".
How can you work with "selves" who think you can't keep up in school?
Epictetus said: "Fate leads those who allow themselves to be led and Our school will produce seven conscious beings. Apollo will not be
drags those who resist." Influence C will help you to amazed for centuries or millennia Our school is one
172 SELF.RRMRMBERING SCHOOL 173
of which the most important schools in history and, therefore, the suffering When you are in school, are you under the law of fate? People only ui one,
is so abundant. two and three are asleep and are doomed to eternal recurrence.
Ouspcnsky said that schools are for people who know too much. Number
You don't have to stay in the same relationship with the school's ideas, but four people are linked to Influence C and their destiny is to eventually
keep up with the new knowledge and the new being that the school creates. become aware. We know for sure that man is asleep, that life after death is
A conscious teaching transforms itself many times in its history. a reality and that Influence C is helping us.
Can the school fail if the collected effort is not enough? Schools
are designed to fill gaps, not fail. How can you manage to stay practical when living the mystical? There
is nothing more practical than experiencing mystical states, they are the
If people understood the school's goals better, would they understand the realization of our daily efforts. When you are present, allow the state to
efforts better? \
flow through your whole being.
Yes. Some people understand the needs of the tauny school while others
will realize them in two years and others in ten years. What is certain is that we have this life and that Influence C exists. Our
parents will play their parts again, but we will play more difficult parts until
Q school cannot exist without friction. Isn't it strange how simple the truth we reach the ninth and last life and “Put off this mortal garment.” These
is? Coming from life, we are used to hearing lies, but the truth is simple and parts will remain, and other actors will play them.
profound. You become grateful for the suffering that the people of the
village experience, because they do everything they can to make it
conscious. in a school, there is an inner circle and an outer circle. People who meet
The softening of suffering ennobles us all. the school begin the norm), from the outer circle and enter the inner circle
by the enchanted power of the desire to be there.
Finally , you teach others by becoming what they represent. The school and The inner circle is not im place. It is mainly based on the high appreciation
the system can only be effective if you are prepared to overcome them. of oneself and the school. But you cannot fully understand the system in a
Identification with the system is one of the last obstacles that the higher month or two, and as long as you breathe, you will learn from it.
forces overcome, because if the system is received correctly, it becomes
identification with itself.
It is true that a school advances in step with the fastest students, and there
is also a law that the superior must serve the inferior.
By photographing others in areas where we ourselves are weak, it puts
pressure on us to control those same traits.
Many students, who think they are teaching material, are not and, in the The fastest students are slow and yet their appreciation is high. Ouspensky
end, become ex-students. You can only observe traits for a certain amount notes that we must remember that we are embarking on a long journey and
of time until you are expected to be able to control them. If you cannot schools are not for irresponsible people. It is a wonderful experience to
control them, the higher forces leave you. work with people who do not need to be convinced of the need to remember
themselves and transform suffering.
If self-remembering makes you happy, then you've found the right place;
the one thing we all like in this school is self-remembering. Newer students can talk to older students about school rules, goals, and
exercises, and everything must be done for H Ic urma. A student always
has the most profit from
SCHOOL 175
mastering the exercises that favor him the least. Some areas need to You must remember that the fruitful are called, few are chosen.
be defined and others not, because it is not necessarily useful to have Either you are destined to enter the path, or you are not. Although we
all situations specifically defined, because the school would become support each other, the teaching is designed to encourage strength
formative. If school always made sense, it would fail; as long as it is in each student. People must learn to rely on themselves, because
incomprehensible, it will be successful. In his last years, Johann death is a singular experience.
Goethe said that, inevitably, you begin to refrain from giving advice,
because you have seen the most thoughtful plans fail and the most Being a good person is not enough; you also need luck, which
absurd succeed. The school is, in some respects, an absurd enterprise Ouspensky called the most important factor in awakening. Losing
that succeeds. And, although it is illogical and a target of ridicule for school is the last calamity in your life. I don't want to share my energy
some, its divine character does not diminish and is, for those who with people who are leaving; I prefer to share it with those who want
understand its true nature, a gift from God. Remember that Influence to be here. Just as in a marriage one partner can outdo the other, the
C is a heavenly influence, not an earthly one. school outdoes some students.
Voir Will those who leave school make the students who stay stronger?
The outer circle-understands less nevdi^jie to work, than the inner
circle. There are many things that I do not bother to explain, because Yes. It doesn't surprise me that so many leave, but that so many stay,
there is no time to explain everything. I also know that most things do taking into account that the price is so high. Remember that you are
not need to be explained to the students in the inner circle because in search of immortality and you can hardly pay enough.
they have their own working relationship with Influence C and are
trying to remember for themselves. School couldn't exist if you had to The school works: it produces consciousness in the participants. We
explain everything, if there wasn't an inner circle. have to work sixteen to eighteen hours a day to achieve this. What
The inner circle must have its attributions and the job of those who one person gains in school, we all gain. The greater the will of the
are part of it is to become more responsible; they understand teacher, the greater will be the will of the student. All these are laws
themselves and move forward, explaining the system. for those of a conscious school.
How can you recognize if you are in the inner or outer circle of the
school? It does not matter whether a conscious teaching appears in the East
or in the West, as long as it is a conscious teaching. finally, you
The essential requirement to enter the inner circle is the desire to be
realize that the truth cannot be said in words, because the truth is not
there. in this regard, there is justice. To progress to the inner circle,
a word, and this explains the minimal use of words by teachers.
you must transform suffering. Ouspensky said that the Fourth Way
has the wonderful advantage of being an experienced system, and
because it is ancient, the techniques are simple and effective. You
It is imperative that you develop a proper attitude towards your
advance to the extent that you are able to eliminate illusions, which is
teacher, because he is a bridge between the school on Earth and a
necessary because death reduces you to a state where illusions do
higher school. The more a teacher works with the necessary laws,
not exist. If you can truly perceive the miraculous nature of the school,
the greater the chance for each person to create a soul. You must
then you are either in the inner circle or approaching it. In addition, a
learn to use a teacher well and avoid using him wrongly. To have a
person entering the path puts everything of value in his life second to
correct attitude towards your teacher, you need to develop an attitude
the goal of awakening. All those who enter the path are part of the
towards each moment. in addition, it is necessary to
inner circle.
176 SELF-fcEMEMBERING
SCHOOL 177
cultivate respect for yourself, for other students and for teachers in
For new students, it is fair to ruminate especially on the first line of
school.
work. After you assimilate the system, you can share with the other
students. If you are working at your highest level, the third line of
As you begin to work more efficiently, you balance your three lines
work always includes the first, because self-remembering must
of work: work for yourself, work for others, and work for the school.
accompany your actions.
It is necessary to periodically observe your relationship with the
three lines of work, to ensure that your position is relatively balanced,
Your evolution is directly related to your ability to keep subjective
not perfectly balanced. Waking up is indirect because system
thinking in check. Objective knowledge is not personal, although its
variables are often so numerous and invisible that you can't properly
verification is. Fragments of objective knowledge are not opinions,
record them, which is a good thing. It is necessary to balance the
they are facts. Objective knowledge is mathematical, because if
three lines of work, because this ensures a certain protection; When
knowledge could not be mathematical, it could only be relatively
you encounter the system, it is assumed that you initially work with
true. Knowledge cannot* be a substitute for self-remembering.
the first line of work. The work for you may consist of trying to listen,
which is a major goal to make because your machine is so easily
distracted in trying to be an active force itself.
The longer you are in school, the more is expected of you. The
ability to contribute to the third line of work increases. When you
meet the school, the third line of work is your weak line, which is
In school there are so many octaves to get involved in and they all
correct. It is assumed that you will receive support from others, just
have their place, but nothing compares to self-remembering.
as a baby needs to be fed when it comes into the world. Later, you
If we work correctly, we can bring self-remembering into these
can exchange information with your student friends, which is the
octaves. This is the meaning of work in life. How absurd it is to
second line of work. And later, the third line of work begins, as you
think of anything but self-remembering, unless there is a quiet third
begin to contribute to the school. The amount of work required, in
of productive work. However, identification* with the third line of
work is only a higher form of sleep. the third line, increases continuously.
The second and third lines of work must always include the first
If you devote too much of your time and energy to the first line of
line, that is, self-remembering. If you are working with another
work at the expense of the other two lines, the work has become
student, you must continue your attempts to be present.
selfish, in the correct order, the first line of work leads to the second
Formative pondering implies that you must set aside the first line
and third lines, because personal study teaches you to share with
of work when you pursue the second.
the others.
What did George Gurdjieff mean when he spoke of sincerity?
The spreading of esoteric knowledge is the duty of the school,
because there is no greater gift to bring to people than the
To be truly honest is to value self-remembering above all else and
knowledge of their self. There are certain things that goths learn
to be grateful that you are helped by outside forces. Ouspensky
only by teaching others, and the second line of work is designed in
said that the system always needs improvement. Our school has
such a way that students in the school have the opportunity to
improved the system by focusing on the idea of self-remembering,
teach others. Different cultures take root here, asserting themselves.
and not getting lost among the many ideas it gives us. Less means
It is our duty, not only to remember ourselves, but also to transfer
more.
what we learn to the school. Self-remembering is the first line; the
third aesthetic interpretation.
178 SELF- REMEMBERING SCHOOL 179
The growth of our school has always been slow and this is healthy. I vehicle to another. The gods have entered your life to allow you to
don't think the school will ever be able to hold a large number of people escape this vicious circle. Immortality is within reach.
at the same time, because that would be too different from what has Dwell on the purpose of waking up and do not be distracted by anything.
happened so far. We are turtles. Often, all you can do for school is to be You are not alone; remember I love you, now and always - Robert.
present and patient. Although we live in an age of instant gratification,
we don't live for quick results.
Vanity thinks that some people are not as worthy of respect as others.
We are a large school and it is difficult to know everyone's name. One
way to overcome this limitation is to respect everyone you meet.
Although we are in different lives, we all have the same gift and are part
of the C Influence family. They love us all; let's try to do the same.
We will grow old together and you will understand the whole story of
school life, only at the end of your days. Only the tragedy of this century
snatches a school from higher forces.
Schools are not for relative awakening. You must remember that the
school exists to develop higher centers; try to desire this more than
anything else. I have long said that you must give it your all and make
consistent efforts throughout your entire life.
Because the school has gone, to a certain extent, beyond the isthmus,
the great minds of antiquity are presented at our meetings, because
their teachings can now contribute to making emotional knowledge work.
William Shakespeare said: "first of all be true to thine own soul." How
can such a vital statement be missing from one's life?
We accept the school as it comes. The system has flaws, but we can
find fault with them because it works^ there will always be difficult years,
some more difficult than others. I don't think about the next year or the
year that has passed. By living in the past or anticipating the future, you
avoid the present, and the present is where your chances lie.
Dear friends, you are in a critical situation. We live in a brutal universe

where souls are carried endlessly from one
GLOSSARY 181
fully replenished from a large or main battery.
REAL PERSONALITY SHOWS. Personality based on an understanding

GLOSSARY
of your ESSENCE and the needs of your work, and which then
serve and promote both your essence and your work; opposed to
the FALSE PERSONALITY, which is the opposite of the true
needs of essence and work.
BUTLER'S HELP. A group of selves, greater than the OBSERVING

SELF and smaller than a MAJORDOM, who observe the BUS
This Glossary provides \ short descriptions of the particular and attempt to direct it in accordance with the purpose of
meanings acquired by the words/terms in the teachings of Robert awakening.
Burton. Fuller descriptions of most of these can be found in The Quest
for the Miraculous, The Fourth Way, and The Psychology of Man's ALCHEMY, (l) The degree of refinement of an IMPRESSION; the
Possible Evolution, all by Peter Ouspensky. Special attention has quality of energy associated with an impression. (2) A characteristic
been given to those cases where Robert Burton's emphasis differs of ESSENCE, which refers to one's ability to be sensitive to the
slightly from Ouspensky's. Readers who are familiar with the refinement of impressions. in general, the more refined impressions
terminology of the Fourth Way are therefore advised to view the reflect the higher, more conscious energy; they possess greater
entries in this Glossary more as additions to Ouspensky's presentation harmony, beauty and order. The alchemical metals lead, copper,
than as complete descriptions. at the same time, we hope that enough silver and gold refer to four levels of alchemy. The process of
information is presented to help those unfamiliar with the Fourth Way turning lead into gold is the process of turning coarser impressions
understand the essence of Robert Burton's ideas. into finer ones. This can be done externally, in your environment
and actions, then internally by developing sensitivity to impressions
in your own essence and, psychologically, BEING PRESENT to
References to the other terms in the Glossary are indicated impressions, thus experiencing them much more fully.
in SMALL CAPITALS.
THE FOURTH WAY. The path of awakening practiced by George

Gurdjieff, Peter Ouspensky and their successors, including Robert DAMPER, (l) A psychological mechanism that prevents you from
Burton. experiencing the reality of the present moment and seeing your
true mechanical condition; in particular, a mechanism by which
THE ABSOLUTE. The totality of all that exists, or could exist at all the FALSE PERSONALITY protects your imaginary portrait of
levels, in all worlds and in all times; more specifically the yourself. (2) To use a buffer, as in "damping an unpleasant
consciousness and understanding that exists at that level, thus situation".
including the highest possible intelligence.
DIVIDED ATTENTION. A deliberate effort to be aware of two or more
ACCUMULATORS. Energy storage locations within the human things at once, in contrast to IDENTIFY, where attention is focused
MACHINE. Each CENTER has two associated accumulators that on one thing. More specifically, divided attention often refers to
support the energy, alternately. They are in
Ikf)
182 SELF-REMEMBERING GLOSSARY 183
self-remembering as an effort to be simultaneously aware of the environment ClvNTRI. The various independent intelligences or brains that exist for a human
around you and of yourself within this environment. being. Four of these are present in all people: the instinctive center, the motor
center, the emotional center and the intellectual center. Each of these centers is
further divided into an instinctive part, a motor part, an emotional part and an
MAXIMUM ATTRACTION. There is a tendency for there to be an extremely strong intellectual part. The parts are distinguished by the kind of attention that is
attraction between BODY TYPES that are three types apart in the circulation of manifested in them. The intellectual parts are characterized by the intentional
types. These types are opposites in certain aspects and the relationship between effort to sustain and direct attention. The emotional parts work when the attention
them is often stormy. is drawn and sustained by something. The motor and instinctive parts operate
automatically and unconsciously, and are sometimes called together the
mechanical part of a center. This division can be extended a level further to the
TAPES. Pre-existing, automatic responses to a stimulus, especially those that
instinctive, motor, emotional and intellectual parts of each part.
manifest as selves in the INTELLECTUAL CENTER.
GOOD MASTER. A person who values things at their true value; also the values
supported by these people. In particular, good householders make an effort to
The centers and their parts are further divided into halves, positive and negative.
take care of themselves, their relatives, their environment, and their relationships
The positive half affirms and leads you to things that seem beneficial to that part
with others.
of the center. The negative side denies and distances you from things that seem
harmful or dangerous to that part of the center.
PATH. A certain way of awakening, embodied in a school. Being "on the path" implies All these are represented in the deck of playing cards.
that a person has made a commitment to wake up, beyond the site interests of Each suit represents a center: the suit of clubs the instinctive center, the spade
life, and is aware of the main ideas of the motor center, the cup the emotional center; and that of the intellectual center.
1
the system.
The character cards represent the parts, thus the jacks represent the mechanical
parts, the queens the emotional parts, and the kings the intellectual parts. The
THE WAY OF LOVE. A way in which the teacher uses relatively mild methods to numbered cards represent parts of parts: eight, nine, ten are the mechanical,
encourage and support the students' efforts. The emphasis is more on developing emotional and intellectual parts of the king; five, six, seven the corresponding
new capacities to eventually replace old behavior patterns than on outright parts of the queen; and two, three and four the jack's parts. The ace represents
destruction of those patterns. the center as a whole. In addition to these four lower centers, there is the sexual
center, which is a source of higher energy that can be used for things like
procreation, artistic expression and awakening, and. two HIGHER CENTERS:
the higher emotional center and the higher intellectual center. The two higher
centers exist separately from the machine and manifest in higher states of
THE WAY OF THE BLACK LAND. A teaching in which students must begin by
consciousness. They can be considered as functions of the soul.
renouncing IDENTIFICATIONS, to make way for higher states. the teacher
frequently administers relatively hard SHOCKS to attack the FAL AND
PERSONALITY of the student.
THE FOUR LOWER CENTERS. The instinctive, motor, emotional and intellectual
center.
LOWER CENTERS. Instinctive, motor, emotional and intellectual centers, SEX CENTER. A superior energy source (hydrogen 12) from the human
sometimes together with the sex center. MACHINE. Since the energy of the sex center manifests through other
centers, the sex center can only be directly observed from higher states of
SUPERIOR CENTERS. The higher emotional \sij} higher intellectual center. consciousness.
The higher emotional center is able to conceive the interconnectedness of
all things and is the seat of conscious love and compassion. The higher
intellectual center perceives the laws that govern all things and is the seat INNER CIRCLE. People from an awakening school who share a higher LEVEL
of conscious wisdom. OF SELF and understanding and thus work towards a common goal.
CENTER OF GRAVITY. The tendency, found in the ESSENCE, to connect with COLLIN, RODNEY. A student of Peter Ouspensky. He founded a school in
the world, predominantly based on the attitudes that characterize a certain Mexico after Ouspensky's death and taught the teachings in Latin America
CENTER, especially a part, and a part of a part of a center. Usually people until his death in 1956. His books, especially The Theory of Heavenly
favor their center of gravity over the other parts of their CAR; unconsciously, Influences, have a significant influence on the teachings of Robert Burton.
its needs are given a higher priority, and they tend to react from the point
of view of this center of gravity, whether or not it is appropriate to the
circumstances.
KNOWINGLY. The ability to use attention to be aware. Consciousness can be
measured in terms of: what one is conscious of, how long this conscious
state can be sustained, and how deep or profound this conscious state is.
EMOTIONAL CENTER. Intelligence in a human machine

expressed as feelings and emotions.
EXTERNAL CONSIDERATION. The practice of considering your relationships
INSTINCT CENTER. Intelligence in a human MACHINE, which controls or with others from a point of view that gives equal importance to you and
manifests itself, as instinctive functions, such as the activity of the senses, others, and is, in this sense, external to you. More precisely, it sometimes
intuition, growth of the body, distribution of energy in the body, etc. refers to the fact that when you practice external consideration you will
usually take others into account more.
INTELLECTUAL CENTER. The intelligence of the human MACHINE what

INTERIOR CONSIDERATION. The practice of considering your relationships
it manifests itself as thought and reason.
with others from a point of view that places you at the center and considers
others only in relation to that center. Introspection leads to excessive
MAGNETIC CENTER. The part of a person's personality that is attracted to
interest in how you appear to others and how they react to you, sometimes
INFLUENCES B and which ultimately leads him to seek a school of
resulting in a state of incapacitation due to fear and confusion.
awakening and
ENGINE CENTER. The intelligence in a human MACHINE that orients it in

space and directs its external movements. ACCOUNTS, TO KEEP. The practice, centered especially in the JACK and
HI'CILNA I)H CUP, of remembering real injustices or
186 SHLF-RhML . MBhRING GLOSSARY 187
imagining false injustices, and allowing the reaction to others to one of the major objectives in Robert Burton's teaching.
be influenced by them.
ASTRAL BODY. The first metaphysical body that a person can

ESSENCE. Qualities of a human MACHINE inherited at birth such as
create. It is capable of existence independent of the physical
physical characteristics, BODY TYPE, CENTER OF GRAVITY
body.
and ALCHEMY. in most people the essence develops only in the
first six or seven years of life, after which it is almost covered by
CRYSTALLIZATION. The process by which psychological the FALSE PERSONALITY. Consequently, an essence experience
characteristics become fixed and permanent. More precisely, is often accompanied by a childlike sense of freedom and serenity
incorrect crystallization refers to someone who has fixed
of heart. However, on the path of awakening described by Robert
themselves in mechanical forms incompatible with awakening, Burton, the essence must be educated and developed beyond its
whereas correct crystallization refers to someone who has made childlike state.
their HIGHER CKNTRIES permanent.
DOMINATE YOU. A COUNTRY whose major characteristics are

ElJ OF OBSERVATION. A small group of selves observing the
order and control. externally, it can manifest as an ability to
machine from the point of view of the SYSTEM; the beginning of
organize and direct others; directed inwards, it makes a person
appear reserved, self-controlled and slow in action. SELF-OBSERVATION and the first stage in awakening.
ElJRI. Thoughts, emotions and sensations of short duration that one

FEMALE DOMINATION. Invisible attitudes in general, which refer considers to be the expression of one's self, at the moment they
especially to the way things should be, which causes people to appear, with the emphasis on expressing them in words, in the
feel compelled to act in a socially accepted way. It is feminine in INTELLECTUAL CENTER. People have a huge number of IUs,
the sense that a child usually acquires them from the mother many of them contradictory, but they usually don't notice them.
during the learning process of acceptable behavior.
Examples of attitudes that make up feminine dorphrination would

WORKING ELJRI. Egos reminding a person to make efforts to
include feelings of obligation to others, anticipating others'
continue their awakening work.
behavior toward you, and the belief that the world is essentially
fair and that everyone should be treated fairly.
YOUR LISTENING EXERCISES. The practice of directing attention
to sounds in the environment as a means of BEING PRESENT
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS. Any of the negative emotions such as anger, and DIVIDING ATTENTION.
jealousy, indignation, self-pity and boredom. They are the main
DAMPERS used by TRAITS and FALSE PERSONALITY - they
LOOKING EXERCISES. The practice of shifting your attention from
prevent a person from seeing and accepting their situation
objectively. one IMPRESSION to another, about every three seconds, enough
Since negative emotions are always based on IMAGINATION time to take in an impression, but changing your focus before the
and IDENTIFICATION, it is possible to eliminate them by long IMAGE or IDI NTIHCARHA appears.
and hard work on yourself, and this is
GOVERNING FACULTIES. in general, man's highest understanding of his actions FORCE, SECOND. The force or element that balances the FIRST FORCE in the
and their consequences; more precisely, the HIGHER CENTERS from the point
sense that it is opposed or acted upon by the first.
of view of their ability to guide the manifestations of the MACHINE.
FORCE, THIRD. The force or element whose presence allows the tension between
the FIRST and SECOND FORCES to be resolved.
FALSE PERSONALITY. An imaginary picture of a person about himself, together
with all the psychological mechanisms necessary to protect this picture. It
develops in childhood in response to pressures to receive adult approval and
ACTIVE FORCE. The first force: the one that initiates a change or an action.
behave in a socially acceptable way, but soon grows beyond its original role of
protecting your SELF and takes on a life of its own. in the end it will completely
dominate the lives of most people, with a network of attitudes and forms of
behavior, contrary to their true nature, in essence. THE FORCE OF DENIAL. THE SECOND FORCE, seen more from the point of view
of that which opposes or resists the FIRST FORCE.
NEUTRALIZING FORCE. The third force, emphasizing its role in resolving the tension
between the FIRST and SECOND FORCES.
LIVING BEING. Accumulated mass or the effect of direct experience; more clearly, in
relation to awakening, one's ability to consciously experience and participate in
one's life. in Robert Burton's teaching it is equivalent to one's ability to remember
PASSIVE FORCE. THE SECOND FORCE, seen more as the one upon which the
oneself. A person who has accumulated experience in a particular field, as
FIRST FORCE acts.
opposed to accumulating knowledge only about that field, is said to have being
in that field. Those who have a background in gastronomy, for example, are able
to do more than follow a recipe; they can employ many aspects of themselves in FORCE YOU THREE. The three elements or energies that must be present before
food preparation, and thus do it in a much more creative way. any real change or action can occur. The prime, or active force, initiates the
action. The second force, also called the passive or denial force, in a certain way
resists the first force; for example, it can be the thing that is acted upon. The
presence of the third force, or the neutralizing one, allows the resolution of the
opposition between the first two. Sometimes it appears as the environment in
which the other two forces act, and sometimes as an additional factor or
KNOWLEDGEABLE BEING. A person who has reached at least the level of MAN
influence. together, the three forces are called the triad, and before a desired
NUMBER FIVE and thus created higher bodies and developed an uninterrupted
result can be achieved, the correct triad or combination of forces must be found.
state of consciousness independent of the physical body. The term is used to
refer to such beings both before and after the death of the physical body.
^ —
'
PHOTO. An observation of one's own or another person's behavioral state; also, to

STRENGTH, FIRST. The force or element that initiates a change or action. direct another person's attention to their state of behavior.
GLOSSARY 191
AFRAID. A COUNTRY that is rooted in feelings of insecurity and powerlessness. It GlJRDJIKFF, GEORGE. An Armenian Greek, born at the end of the nineteenth
usually manifests as timidity in action and an exaggerated concern about century, who traveled extensively in the Near East and Central Asia to gather
possible harmful or dangerous consequences. the esoteric knowledge that forms the basis of the FOURTH WAY. He left
Russia in the confusion that followed the Revolution and eventually settled in
Paris, where he continued to teach until his death in 1949.
FEAR TION. generally, the internal struggle between the part of a person that wants
to awaken and the mechanical patterns of behavior that interfere with that goal.
More specifically, friction refers to external events that accelerate that struggle,
especially when suffering is involved. HYDROGEN. generally, the smallest unit of anything, which still contains all its
physical, metaphysical, psychological, and cosmic properties; more specifically,
the energy associated with an IMPRESSION as it affects the human MACHINE.
The higher hydrogens are quick, light energies that are associated with
YOU WORK. CENTERS, WITH the emphasis placed more on their mechanics than perception and consciousness; lower hydrogens are heavy, coarse, dense
on their intelligence. energies that evoke inertia and negativity.
THE CORRECT FUNCTIONING OF THE CENTERS, the situation in which each

center and each part of each center responds only to the stimuli suitable for IDENTIFICATION. (!) The state in which all a person's attention is focused on one
them; contrasts with the INCORRECT FUNCTIONING OF THE CENTERS. thing, excluding everything else; the opposite of SEPARATE COUNTRY. (2)
The tendency, especially of FALSE PERSONALITY, to place your sense of
identity in things external to your true self.
INCORRECT FUNCTIONING OF CENTERS. The condition in which THE FOUR
LOWER CENTERS and their various parts react according to routine to stimuli
that are not appropriate for them. Examples include: getting emotional when IMAGINE, (l) The state in which a person's attention is given to things that are not
balancing a bank account; to respond logically to a Persian's emotional pain or actually present, often in complete ignorance of the environment in which he
feel nauseous when experiencing unpleasant emotions; such erroneous activity is; the opposite of BEING PRESENT. (2) The condition in which you take as
is the common condition of men, true something that is not true, often used in the expression "to imagine about".
TRAINING THINKING. in general, automatic, unthought responses, according to IMPRESSION. generally any thought, feeling or sensation; May
fixed templates or forms; more precisely, the automatic activity of the precisely, perceptions received through the senses.
MECHANICAL PART a
INTELLECTUAL CENTER.
INFLUENCE A. Influences that manifest on a person and that appear as a
consequence of life on earth. generally these influences include things like
YOUR GESTURE. The period in which a person l^cfes to wake up. The emphasis desires for food, shelter, rest, and sex; relationships between parents, children,
is on Jdesa that something is developing within and, when it matures, will spouses and friends; and the influence of society and culture. More precisely,
enable you to experience the HIGHER CENTERS. in the modern world the emphasis is on the desire for material and political
social possessions.
to resist change, as the only means of avoiding being swept away by the tide
INFLUENCE B. Influences that manifest themselves on a person, such as religion
of events.
and esotericism, which are not directly related to life on earth and which draw
attention to other forms of existence. Such influences come from the
CONSCIOUS BEING, but they cease to qualify as C INFLUENCE as soon as MEETINGS. The regular gatherings of the members of the "Fellowship of Friends"
they lose their direct connection to a conscious source. to discuss the ideas of the SYSTEM and their application to the members'
efforts to awaken. Usually a meeting is led by a relatively more advanced
member who asks questions about which everyone present shares "points of
view".
INFLUENCE C. ( l ) The direct influence of a CONSCIOUS BEING. (2) Conscious

beings without physical bodies, working directly to help people trying to
EVENT. Events that happen to a person and that are neither the result of his
awaken.
previous actions nor the direct result of conscious intention.
INFRA-SEX. Using the energy of sex for purposes not related to procreation or THE EVENTS, THE LAW. The influence of EVENTS on a person, contrasting with
regeneration; for example, using it for personal satisfaction or to influence influences of cause and effect, destiny, and conscious will.
others.
CONSCIOUS LEARNING. A teaching directed by a KNOWLEDGEABLE BEING.

INTERVAL. generally, the points in an OCTAVE ÿ where the movement between
events slows down and the octave can deviate; the word is more commonly
used to refer to times when extra effort is required to move a project forward, JUPITERIAN. The body type located between Martian and lunar in the circulation
and to times of confusion and doubt that characterize the loss of direction in a of types. Its MAXIMUM ATTRACTION is mercurial.
person's efforts to wake up.
I LOVE IT. A TRAIT characterized by an exaggerated appreciation of external

things. It causes people to especially want to accumulate and possess things
"MI-FA" INTERVAL The first interval in an ascending OCTAVE, for example the that others find valuable as a means of asserting their own worth.
interval between the preparation of plans for a project and the actual
commencement of the work. In general, the "mi-fa" interval is easier to pass
than the "SI-DO" interval.
. I
LINE OF WORK, FIRST. Efforts made to support your own awakening; working
/
with oneself.
"AND-DO" INTERVAL. The interval from the end of an ascending 6cTAVE, eg the
struggle to bring a project to its final state of fulfillment and the removal of all LINE OF WORK, SECOND. Efforts made to help other members of your school;
loose ends. working with other students;
LINE OF WORK, THIRD. Efforts to serve your teacher, conscious flin|clc or

STILL COUNTRY. A SATISFACTION based on feelings of helplessness, expressed
awakening work in general.
as a desire to hold on to what you have and
194 SELF-REMEMBKRING GLOSSARY 195
MERCURY. The BODY TYPE that is located between the Venusian

LlNII Dl: WORK, THREE. Working for yourself (FIRST LINE), working and the Saturnian in the circulation of MAXIMUM ATTRACTION
for and with others (SECOND LINE) and working for your teacher types for him is the Jupiterian.
or school (THIRD LINE). Robert Burton's teaching emphasizes the
need to balance these three lines.
MICROCOSMOS. A human being considered as a cosmos, more
precisely as an image of the fundamental models of the universe.
WORLD 96,48,24,12 and 6. The different levels of the RAY OF

CREATION, in psychological terms, World 96 is the level of FALSE NAIVITY. A TRAIT characterized by the relative inability to see the
PERSONALITY; World 48, the level of TRUE PERSONALITY; unpleasant aspects of life and the potentially harmful or negative
World 24, ESSENCE level; World 12, the level of the HIGHER consequences of one's action.
EMOTIONAL CENTER; World 6, the level of the HIGHER
INTELLECTUAL CENTER.
NlLEVEL OF BEING. Degree of consciousness. People with a higher
level of being are more aware, more awake, than those with lower
MONTHLY. BODY TYPE, located between the Jupiterian and the
levels of being; consequently, they are better able to remember
Venusian type in the circulation of types. MAXIMUM ATTRACTION
for him is the Saturnian. themselves.
NONEXISTENCE. A LIFESTYLE characterized by a lack of self-esteem

LUNATIC. A TRAIT based on the inability to recognize the relative
and often by a relative lack of internal activity, resulting in a
value of things. It manifests itself as a tendency to give too much
tendency to live through others.
importance to relatively trivial things and too little importance to the
truly significant ones.
NEGATIVITY. Any negative expression in one of THE LOWER FOUR
CENTERS, especially when accompanied by a NEGATIVE
EMOTION. Negative or threatening attitudes, complaining and
TRAIN ME. The physical body and the FOUR LOWER CENTERS that
gossiping are examples of negativity.
make it up, from the point of view of the fact that all their activity
occurs automatically and mechanically, responds to stimuli. \
INTENTIONAL DISHONESTY. The practice, intended to pursue your
goal, of saying something that is not strictly true under circumstances
that will cause no real harm to anyone.
BUTLER. A group of selves that originate from (THE BUTLER'S HELP)
and are usually able to observe the BUS and control it in
accordance with the purpose of awakening.
NlCOLL, MAURICE. A student of Peter Ouspensky who led his own
/
groups in England around 1940.
MAR ÿIAN. BODY TYPE located / between Saturnian and Jupiterian in He wrote a number of books, of which Robert Burton especially
the circulation of types. For him, the MAXIMUM ATTRACTION is appreciated the value of the so-called Psychological Commentary
the Venusian. on His Teachings (iurdjieff and Ouspensky.
GLOSSARY 197
SELF OBSERVATION. The practice of being aware of your internal functions,

musical major. in the latter each note corresponds to an event in succession,
while being aware of your actions and the environment around you; the
with half-steps between mi and fa, and between si and do representing
aspect of self-remembering that involves being aware of the manifestations
intervals in which progress from one event to the next slows and a deviation
of your MACHINE.
or interruption will occur, unless when a shock is received from outside the
octave. Octaves can be ascending, that is, going from more mechanical and
EIGHTH Often used in reference to an activity or project to recall its connection limited manifestations to more intentional, conscious and flexible
to the Law of OCTAVES. manifestations, or descending, in which case the manifestations go from
those that are more conscious and have more potential to those that are
more mechanical and fixed.
ASCENDING OCTAVE. An octave where there is growth from the more
mechanical to the more intentional or conscious, for example pieces of wood
that are given shape and purpose by coming together in a chair. The
ascending octaves are characterized by the need for effort, especially at the
MAN NUMBER ONE. A person whose CENTER OF GRAVITY is in the MOTOR
two INTERVALS.
or INSTINCT CENTER.
MAN NAMED YEAR TWO. A person whose CENTER OF GRAVITY is in the

DESCENT OCTAVE. An octave in which manifestations, initially more conscious
EMOTIONAL CENTER. People number two are dominated by sympathy
and flexible, turn towards more rigid and mechanical ones, resulting in a
and antipathy.
waste of possibilities. Descending octaves have a momentum of their own
and usually require little external effort. INTERVALS manifest themselves
MAN NAMED THREE. A person whose CENTER OF GRAVITY is in the
more as places where there is an opportunity to interrupt or divert the octave
INTELLECTUAL CENTER. Reason, logic and ideas are more important to
with an external SHOCK than as places where extra energy is required to
number three people than they are to others.
maintain the continuation of the octave.
MAN NAMES THE FOURTH YEAR. specifically, a person from a revival school;
LATERAL OCTAVE. A lower octave, started within a higher octave to overcome
more generally, a person who is working to awaken and who understands
an INTERVAL of the higher octave. For example, a gap in a construction
himself well enough to begin to separate from his own mechanical CENTER
project could be manifested by the completion of the material, in which case
OF GRAVITY and replace it with a working "center of gravity." This means
a lateral octave will be necessary to find a supplier, make an agreement,
that number four people react to stimuli based on their connection to the
and obtain the delivery of the material. especially with psychological octaves,
goal of awakening rather than on the basis of one of the LOWER CENTERS.
such as those associated with self-remembering, there is a danger of losing
sight of the main octave and, pursuing a side octave, deviating from the
original scqjful. /
MAN CALLED YEAR FIVE. A person whose CENTER OF GRAVITY is in the

SUPERIOR EMOTIONAL CENTER.
/
Number five people are entirely objective about themselves.
OCTAVES, THE LAW. A description of the world in which any sequence of
events eventually loses its force or direction. Also known as the Law of
Seven, this law is embodied in both Gurdjieff's Enneagram and the scale
SELF-REMEMBP-RING GLOSSARY 199

198
A MAN CALLED THE YEAR SIX. A person whose CENTER OF directed attention. It is the highest intelligence in that
HEIGHT is in the INTELLECTUAL CENTER. SUPERIOR.
center.
Number six people see themselves and the world
objectively. PARTH MECHANICAL. The motor part and the instinctive
part in a CENTER.
MAN CALLED THE YEAR SEVEN. A person who has
achieved all that is possible for a human being. Seven PlHS ÿ. A sequence of events, seen from the point of view
people have complete unity and possess will and from which all events occur under the guidance and control
consciousness independent of any of their functions. of higher forces or INFLUENCE ÿA C which, in this sense,
are the authors of the "play".
OUSPENSKY, PETER. A Russian student of George Gurdjieff.
PRESENT, TO BE. The practice of paying attention to the world
He went West with Gurdjieff during the Russian Revolution,
around you, both outside and inside, avoiding IMAGING or
but later broke with him to establish his own school in
IDENTIFICATION.
London, where he taught until his death in 1947. His
books In Search of the Miraculous, The Fourth Way and
Psychology of the Possible Evolution of Man, are the POWER. A TRAIT characterized by an interest in the
basis of Robert Burton's teaching. ability to direct, control or influence the activities
of others. People with this trait are usually
extroverted, and tend to be somewhat manipulative
PARTS OF THE CENTERS. The subdivisions of the FOUR and conniving.
LOWER CENTERS.
THE RADIUS OF CREATION. A representation of the
INSTINCT PART. The part of a CENTER that operates universe, whereby it would consist of lower-level worlds
most automatically and satisfies the most basic needs contained within higher-level worlds. The ray begins with
of the center. the Absolute and ends with the earth and the moon. The
worlds below (or within) the Absolute are numbered
ENGINE PARTS. The part of a CENTER that works 3,6,12,24 and 96, reflecting the increasing complexity and
automatically, without attention, but is outwardly mechanicalness of existence in each world.
directional much unlike the INSTINCT PART. It can
often be seen as using or manipulating the material RECURRENCE. The theory that souls that do not evolve
provided by the instinctual side. \ during a lifetime will practically be reborn in the same
i lifetime. This theory differs from that of reincarnation in
EMOTIONAL PART. THE PART OF A CENTER jn which attention that it does not assume a migration of souls from one
is sustained by a stimulus. on the positive side, it is experienced form of existence to another.
as pleasure, satisfaction and attractions^; on the negative side
as discomfort, unpleasantness and repulsion. / RV.Ctli THE INTHLPXTUAL PART of a CENTER.
INTELLECTUAL PART. The part of a CENTER that functions Ri (ii )

when an effort is made to control and
because it can, if properly trained, experience life in a non-literal, symbolic your experiences, and using it to be aware of something within you that
way, very close to the experience of the higher emotional center. records or is aware of those experiences. The emphasis is on the fact
that the party recording those experiences is not directly involved or
affected by the experience.
THE KING OF CHECKERS. THE INTELLECTUAL PART OF THE CENTER
INTELLECTUAL. It is the seat of logical, intentional thinking, directed
towards a specific objective.
RAILS. THE SUPERIOR CENTERS, seen especially from the point of view
of their independence from everything external to them.
QUEEN. The emotional part of a CENTER.
THE SYSTEM. The ideas of George Gurdjieff, especially as expounded by

QUEEN OF CUP ÿ. The emotional part of the EMOTIONAL CENTER. It is
Peter Ouspensky and his principal followers.
characterized by extreme and frequently uncontrolled emotions.
SOLAR. A BODY TYPE that does not belong to the circulation of types and
thus can be found in combination with any other types. It has no
RELATIVITY. The practice of considering something, such as an event or
MAXIMUM ATTRACTION.
another person, from different points of view.
It is the opposite of IDENTIFICATION, in which all perception is tributary
to a single point of view. ST APAN. HIGHER CENTERS, especially in terms of their ability to observe
and direct the LOWER CENTERS.
SATURNIAN. BODY TYPE located between Mercurial and Martian in the

circulation of types. MAXIMUM ATTRACTION for him is the monthly.
CONDITION, FIRST. The state of consciousness usually called sleep.
SCAL ÿ (LADDER). The ability to see an event or experience from larger or STATE, SECOND. The ordinary state of consciousness of most people, in
smaller perspectives. It is especially useful for combating IDENTIFICATION. which they act and react with little or no self-awareness, i.e. no self-
For example, faced with the prospect of a difficult meeting, a person may remembering.
For this reason it is called "sleep".
focus on the immediate environment (where the meeting has not yet
taken place) or may try to see the situation in terms of a whole year, and
then that aspect will become insignificant. . The HIGHER CENTERS STATE, THIRD. A state of consciousness, induced by efforts at self-
allow the individual to apply the scale, experiencing life from the remembering, in which a man SEPARATES himself from his personality
perspective of the higher worlds, compared to which one's ordinary and observes himself objectively. It is characterized by self-awareness
existence can be viewed as an illusion. / and an absence of IDENTIFICATION and IMAGING, but lacks the ability
to be entirely objective about the outside world.
VOLUNTARY SUFFERING. The practice of creating relatively minor

SEPARATION. The practice of maintaining a sense of self separate from
inconveniences for yourself with the aim of interrupting your usual state
your actions, environment, or experience; that aspect of self-remembering
of H~|i remembering yourself
that involves withdrawing part of the attention from
202 SELF-REMKMBHRING GLOSSARY 203
USELESS SUFFERING. Suffering that could be avoided by smarter the individual by the cosmos of the solar system, establishing a
behavior; in particular, suffering which is a result of IMAGING or connection between the endocrine glands of the human body and
IDENTIFICATION and therefore will not appear in higher states of the visible celestial bodies of the solar system, after which the
consciousness. types are named. Typically, an individual's physical and
psychological characteristics can be described as a combination of
two types, according to a certain progression. This progression,
HIGH SCHOOL. A reference to the idea that even after they no longer also called the circulation of types, begins with the lunar type, then
continues with the Venusian, Mercurian, Saturnian, Martian and
possess physical bodies, conscious beings continue to evolve
Jupiterian, before returning to the lunar. The seventh type, solar,
under the guidance of even more evolved beings.
exists separately from this progression and can be found in
combination with any of the other types The progression of types
SHOCKS. in general, whatever appears takes an interval of the
can also be seen as a way in which a person can develop the
OCTAVE and causes the octave to continue, with or without characteristics of the next type to balance or minimize the weakness
deviation; especially events that interrupt a person's usual state. of the previous type See Theory Celestial Influences by Rodney
Collin for more complete descriptions.
SCIENTIFIC SHOCK, FIRST. Self-remembering, in the species! as
applied to BEING PRESENT and the transformation of
IMPRESSIONS. The term is taken from the "Food Diagrams" in In HE LIVES. Fundamental attitudes from the personality, towards oneself
Search of the Miraculous and The Fourth Way, where this effort is and in relations with the world, together with all the psychological
described as the SHOCK required to initiate the digestion of mechanisms necessary to support and express those attitudes. in
impressions. the teachings of Robert Burton the main traits are: vanity, power,
dominance, non-existence, greed, vagabond, fear, naivety,
SCIENTIFIC SHOCK, SECOND. The effort through which NEGATIVE stubbornness and lunacy. in each person one of these constitutes
EMOTIONS are transformed into positive emotions; THE the main feature, another or two are strongly expressed, and there
TRANSFORMATION OF YOUR SUFFERING. The term is taken are traces of the others.
from the "Food Diagrams" in In Search of the Miraculous and the
Fourth Way, where this effort is described as the SHOCK crossing
the MI-FA INTERVAL of the octave of impression digestion and
THROUGH THE MAIN STREET. The most powerful EVIL TRAIT
the SI-DO INTERVAL of the octave of food digestion.
expressed by a person. As the core of the FALSE PERSONALITY,
it determines the fundamental way people see themselves and the
\
world and virtually influences all their actions. Other traits in a
TABLE OF HYDROGENS. A table, described in detail in the works in person's personality serve to support the main trait and provide
the Search for the Miraculous and the Fourth Way, that links SHOCK ABSORBERS for it.
energies, materials, objects and all other manifestations, to the
cosmic level from which they originate, according to the hydrogens. /
TRANSFORMATION OF IMPRESSIONS Practice using m
self-remembering in order to focus attention on the impressions
BODY TYPES. A system, described by Rodney Colliii and developed received and thus make them more emotional and raise them to a
by Roberî Burton, which classifies all human machines according higher level
to seven types of ha/a. It binds the cosmos
THE TRANSFORMATION OF YOUR SUFFERING. The practice of SEPARATION

from suffering and experiencing it in a way that can be freely accepted and
without NEGATIVITY. In its highest expression, transformation involves the THE FELLOWSHIP
activity of the HIGHER CENTERS and leads to powerful experiences of OF FRIENDS
increased consciousness.
The Fellowship of Friends, a Fourth Way School, urinating the

STRAY. A SATISFACTION characterized by an inability to appreciate things whether tradition of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, was founded by Robert Earl Burton.
The school's main location is Apollo, a community in the foothills of the
physical or psychological. For a vagabond trait, nothing is worth much; there is
Sierra Nevada mountains in California.
no need to be agitated, and it is wonderful to "let yourself go with the tide" of
There are centers in cities around the world, some of which are listed
events. below:
VALET. See the MECHANICAL SIDE of a CENTER.

Ahmedabad Mexico City
Amsterdam Milan
VANITY. A LIFESTYLE is characterized by self-concern, and especially about how Athens Moscow
you appear to others. It can manifest internally, as self-pity or self-deprecation, Beijing New York
and externally in attempts to attract the attention of others. Brasov Women
Bucharest Odessa
Budapest High pole
Buenos Aires Paris
VENUSIAN. BODY TYPE that is between the lunar and the mercurial in the
Copenhagen Rome
circulation of the types. MAXIMUM ATTRACTION for him is the Martian.
Edinburgh San Francisco
Florence Sao Paolo St.
Istanbul Petersburg
VERIFY, A. Convince yourself of the truth of the SYSTEM's ideas through direct Ljubljana Sydney Valencia
London Taipei Tokyo
personal experience. The emphasis is on the idea that more than intellectual
activity is required. The Angels
Madrid
VlAÿA. Human activity not associated with an awakening school. More precisely,
the people in life are those people who are not in a school, and the influences For additional information or details related to the possibility of
in life are those influences, on a student, that come from outside the school. becoming a member, please call or write to the nearest center.
The Fellowship of Friends

LONG LIVE. The different periods of life that one goes through
Telefon:+1(800) 642-0212
soul RECURRENT. www.go-c.org
LIVE YOU, NOU ÿ. Nine periods of life through which an evolving soul may pass
before escaping from the physical plane of existence into the ninth.

Self-Remembering - Robert Earl Burton

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Self-Remembering - Robert Earl Burton

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ROBERT EARL BURTON

This book is dedicated to my beloved students, be they in

Prior Pages srl, Post Office Box 6-1, Bucharest, Romania

With love, Robert

Copyright © 1995 Robert Earl Burton

Thanks to friends in Palo Alto

Coordination and technical editing of the work PRIOR PAGES

The same publishing house also

The art 150

The fourth way 154

As twenty-five years, Robert Earl Burton founded the

Transforming suffering means learning how any negative or

Not one of you noticed the most important thing I mentioned

The effort to remember yourself is the most important,

When you begin to find that you can barely remember

There is no greater miracle than being present. This is where

What is the meaning of the term self-remembering? He refers

Endings are an illusion, because the present is eternal. Being

Every insignificant moment is our life; simply sitting, trying to

It is difficult for us to be present, yet throughout our entire lives

When I have "selves" that want to be somewhere else, I've learned

How can anyone stop rushing?

Emotional upheavals offer the opportunity to be present and to progress.

The present is eternal:

One definition of success is being present as much as you can, every

This evening is not a bridge to something, this evening is itself. The

Bernard Berenson, traveling through southern Italy, in his nineties, spoke

As long as you are breathing, there is time to remember yourself. Your

Can you tell us what we need to do to be present?

It is important to stock the centers, but it is not as important as being

Be grateful for the present.

Will: this is the best power, the rest is just inertia.

We take part in something both joyful and unpleasant. Separation

Formative thinking tries to reduce any subject to a single all-

Self-remembering does not use inertia; you have to make an effort

14 SELF-REMEMBERING REMEMBERING SELF 15

16 SELF-REMEMBERING REMEMBERING SELF 17

Awakening is actually quite simple, although the false personality

The system must be simple enough to reach us. The self is

Talking about self-remembering is not self-remembering.

One of my favorite comments on self-remembering comes from Walt. Whitman,

20 SELF-REMEMBERING REMEMBERING SELF 21

No school in history has emphasized self-remembering to the

A nice way to think about self-remembering is this:

it drifts when we don't divide our attention. We can be in our

the attempt to divide attention catapults you beyond the level of

Divided attention is the essence, the hidden meaning of life on

I don't necessarily think in didactic terms, but rebuild the road,

Every moment is as valuable as the last. Perhaps today we can

We are in a prison, in the sense that we do not know it is a prison

St. Paul presented the divided attention to his disciples when he

THE RESULTS OF SELF-REMEMBERING 29

One of Ouspensky's most remarkable observations was in connection

Avoiding sentimentality does not make you insensitive; on the contrary, it

There are contradictions in our machines, because we are not a

lower centers, and yet its higher, invisible purpose is to be used in

At some level, sexual energy is designed to perpetuate the species;

The main trait is most anxious to classify its manifestations as favorable,

The intellectual part of the emotional center contains a mechanism that

Isn't it wonderful to have no impulse to wish you were anywhere else?

David - World 6, higher intellectual center - must kill Goliath - false

The false personality is inimical to self-remembering, because the illusory