{"id":4347,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4347"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:22","slug":"03-to-know-how-to-suffer-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02\/03-to-know-how-to-suffer-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-03_To Know How to Suffer.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div class=\"Section1\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'>\n<b><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">To<br \/>\nKnow How to Suffer <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I<\/font><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>f at any time a<br \/>\ndeep sorrow, a searing doubt or an intense pain overwhelms you and drives you<br \/>\nto despair, there is an infallible way to regain calm and peace. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span>In the depths of our being there shines a<br \/>\nlight whose brilliance is equalled only by its purity; a light, a living and<br \/>\nconscious portion of a universal godhead who animates and nourishes and<br \/>\nillumines Matter, a powerful and unfailing guide for those who are willing to<br \/>\nheed his law, a helper full of solace and loving forbearance towards all who<br \/>\naspire to see and hear and obey him. No sincere and lasting aspiration towards<br \/>\nhim can be in vain; no strong and respectful trust can be disappointed, no<br \/>\nexpectation ever deceived. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>My heart has<br \/>\nsuffered and lamented, almost breaking beneath a sorrow too heavy, almost<br \/>\nsinking beneath a pain too strong&#8230;But I have called to thee, O divine<br \/>\ncomforter, I have prayed ardently to thee, and the splendour of thy dazzling<br \/>\nlight has appeared to me and revived me. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>As the rays of thy<br \/>\nglory penetrated and illumined all my being, I clearly perceived the path to<br \/>\nfollow, the use that can be made of suffering; I understood that the sorrow<br \/>\nthat held me in its grip was but a pale reflection of the sorrow of the earth,<br \/>\nof this abysm of suffering and anguish. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Only those who<br \/>\nhave suffered can understand the suffering of others; understand it, commune<br \/>\nwith it and relieve it. And I understood, O divine comforter, sublime<br \/>\nHolocaust, that in order to sustain us in all our troubles, to soothe all our<br \/>\npangs, thou must have known and felt all the sufferings of earth and man, all<br \/>\nwithout exception. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>How is it that<br \/>\namong those who claim to be thy worshippers, some regard thee as a cruel<br \/>\ntorturer, as an inexorable judge witnessing the torments that are tolerated by<br \/>\nthee or even created by thy own will?<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-19<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>No, I now perceive<br \/>\nthat these sufferings come from the very imperfection of Matter which, in its<br \/>\ndisorder and crudeness, is unfit to manifest thee; and thou art the very first<br \/>\nto suffer from it, to bewail it, thou art the first to toil and strive in thy<br \/>\nardent desire to change disorder into order, suffering into happiness, discord<br \/>\ninto harmony. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Suffering is not<br \/>\nsomething inevitable or even desirable, but when it comes to us, how helpful it<br \/>\ncan be! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Each time we feel<br \/>\nthat our heart is breaking, a deeper door opens within us, revealing new<br \/>\nhorizons, ever richer in hidden treasures, whose golden influx brings once more<br \/>\na new and intenser life to the organism on the brink of destruction. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>And when, by these<br \/>\nsuccessive descents, we reach the veil that reveals thee as it is lifted, O<br \/>\nLord, who can describe the intensity of Life that penetrates the whole being,<br \/>\nthe radiance of the Light that floods it, the sublimity of the Love that<br \/>\ntransforms it for ever! <span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Times New Roman' lang=\"EN-US\">\u00a0<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-20<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\"><a name=\"On_Thought\">On Thought<br \/>\n<\/a> <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span><br \/>\n<font size=\"3\">\u00a0<\/font><\/span><font size=\"3\">(<\/font><\/span><i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Talk given to a women&#8217;s association<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">) <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:72.0pt;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">S<\/font><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>ince we want to learn to think better in<br \/>\norder to live better, since we want to know how to think in order to recover<br \/>\nour place and status in life as feminine counterparts and to become in fact the<br \/>\nhelpful, inspiring and balancing elements that we are potentially, it seems<br \/>\nindispensable to me that we should first of all enquire into what thought is. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Thought&#8230;It is a<br \/>\nvery vast subject, the vastest of all, perhaps&#8230;Therefore I do not intend to<br \/>\ntell you exactly and completely what it is. But by a process of analysis, we<br \/>\nshall try to form as precise an idea of it as it is possible for us to do. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>It seems to me<br \/>\nthat we must first of all distinguish two very different kinds, or I might say<br \/>\nqualities, of thought: thoughts in us which are the result, the fruit, as it<br \/>\nwere, of our sensations, and thoughts which, like living beings, come to us \u2013<br \/>\nfrom where?&#8230; most often we do not know \u2013 thoughts that we perceive mentally<br \/>\nbefore they express themselves in our outer being as sensations. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>If you have<br \/>\nobserved yourselves even a little, you must have noticed that the contact with<br \/>\nwhat is not yourselves is established first of all through the medium of your<br \/>\nsenses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, etc. The impact felt in this way, whether<br \/>\nslight or violent, pleasant or unpleasant, arouses a feeling in you \u2013 like or<br \/>\ndislike, attraction or repulsion \u2013 which very quickly turns into an idea, an<br \/>\nopinion you form about the object, whatever it may be, that has determined the<br \/>\ncontact. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>An example: you go<br \/>\nout and as you step out of your house you see that it is raining and at the<br \/>\nsame time you feel the damp cold seizing you; the sensation is unpleasant, you<br \/>\nfeel a dislike for the rain and inwardly, almost mechanically, you say to<br \/>\nyourself, \u201cThis rain is really a nuisance, especially as I have to go&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-21<\/span><\/p>\n<div style='margin-left:7.5pt'>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center;text-indent:-7.5pt'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>out! Not to mention that I am going to get dreadfully dirty; Paris is<br \/>\nvery dirty in rainy weather, especially now that all the streets have been dug<br \/>\nup\u201d (and so on)&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>All these and many<br \/>\nother similar thoughts about the simple fact that it is raining come to assail<br \/>\nyour mind; and if nothing else, outwardly or inwardly, comes to attract your<br \/>\nattention, for a long while, almost without your noticing it, your brain may<br \/>\nproduce minute, trivial thoughts about this small, insignificant sensation&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>This is how most<br \/>\nhuman lives are spent; this is what human beings most often call <i>thinking &#9472;<\/i> a mental activity that<br \/>\nis almost mechanical, unreflecting, out of our control, a reflex. All thoughts<br \/>\nconcerning material life and its many needs are of the same quality. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Here we face the<br \/>\nfirst difficulty to be overcome; if we want to be able to truly think, that is,<br \/>\nto receive, formulate and form valid and viable thoughts, we must first of all<br \/>\nempty our brain of all this vague and unruly mental agitation. And this is<br \/>\ncertainly not the easiest part of our task. We are dominated by this irrational<br \/>\ncerebral activity, we do not dominate it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Only one method is<br \/>\nworth recommending: meditation. But as I was telling you last time, there are<br \/>\nmany ways of meditating; some are very effective, others less so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Each one should<br \/>\nfind his own by successive trial and error. However, one thing can be recommended<br \/>\nto everyone: reflection, that is to say, concentration, self-observation in<br \/>\nsolitude and silence, a close and strict analysis of the multitude of<br \/>\ninsignificant little thoughts which constantly assail us. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>During the few<br \/>\nmoments you devote each day to this preliminary exercise of meditation, avoid,<br \/>\nif possible, the complacent contemplation of your sensations, your feelings,<br \/>\nyour states of mind. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>We all have an<br \/>\ninexhaustible fund of self-indulgence, and very often we treat all these little<br \/>\ninner movements with the greatest respect and give them an importance which<br \/>\nthey <span class=\"SpellE\">cer<\/span>&#8211;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-22<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span class=\"SpellE\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>tainly<\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> do not have, even<br \/>\nrelative to our own evolution. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>When one has<br \/>\nenough self-control to be able to <span class=\"SpellE\">analyse<\/span> coldly, to<br \/>\ndissect these states of mind, to strip them of their brilliant or painful<br \/>\nappearance, so as to perceive them as they are in all their childish<br \/>\ninsignificance, then one can profitably devote oneself to studying them. But<br \/>\nthis result can only be achieved gradually, after much reflection in a spirit of<br \/>\ncomplete impartiality. I would like to make a short digression here to put you<br \/>\non your guard against a frequent confusion. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I have just said<br \/>\nthat we always look upon ourselves with great indulgence, and I think in fact<br \/>\nthat our defects very often appear to us to be full of charm and that we<br \/>\njustify all our weaknesses. But to tell the truth, this is because we lack<br \/>\nself-confidence. Does this surprise you?.. Yes, I repeat, we lack confidence,<br \/>\nnot in what we are at the present moment, not in our ephemeral and<br \/>\never-changing outer being \u2013 this being always finds favour in our eyes \u2013 but we<br \/>\nlack confidence in what we can become through effort, we have no faith in the<br \/>\nintegral and profound transformation which will be the work of our true self,<br \/>\nof the eternal, the divine who is in all beings, if we surrender like children<br \/>\nto its supremely luminous and far-seeing guidance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>So let us not<br \/>\nconfuse complacency with confidence \u2013 and let us return to our subject. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>When you are able<br \/>\nby methodical and repeated effort to <span class=\"SpellE\">objectivise<\/span> and<br \/>\nkeep at a distance all this flood of incoherent thoughts which assail us, you<br \/>\nwill notice a new phenomenon. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>You will observe<br \/>\nwithin yourself certain thoughts that are stronger and more tenacious than<br \/>\nothers, thoughts concerning social usages, customs, moral rules and even<br \/>\ngeneral laws that govern earth and man. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>They are your<br \/>\nopinions on these subjects or at least those you profess and by which you try<br \/>\nto act. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Look at one of<br \/>\nthese ideas, the one most familiar to you, look at it very carefully,<br \/>\nconcentrate, reflect in all sincerity, if <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-23<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>possible leaving<br \/>\naside all bias, and ask yourself why you have this opinion on that subject<br \/>\nrather than any other. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The answer will<br \/>\nalmost invariably be the same, or nearly: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Because it is the<br \/>\nopinion prevalent in your environment, because it is considered good form to<br \/>\nhave it and therefore saves you from as many clashes, frictions, criticisms as<br \/>\npossible. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Or because this<br \/>\nwas the opinion of your father or mother, the opinion which <span class=\"SpellE\">moulded<\/span><br \/>\nyour childhood. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Or else because<br \/>\nthis opinion is the normal outcome of the education, religious or otherwise,<br \/>\nyou received in your youth. This thought is not your own thought. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>For, to be your<br \/>\nown thought, it would have to form part of a logical synthesis you had<br \/>\nelaborated in the course of your existence, either by observation, experience<br \/>\nand deduction, or by deep, abstract meditation and contemplation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>This, then, is our<br \/>\nsecond discovery. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Since we have<br \/>\ngoodwill and endeavour to be integrally sincere, that is, to make our actions<br \/>\nconform to our thoughts, we are now convinced that we act according to mental<br \/>\nlaws we receive from outside, not after having maturely considered and <span class=\"SpellE\">analysed<\/span> them, not by deliberately and consciously<br \/>\nreceiving them, but because unconsciously we are subjected to them through<br \/>\natavism, by our upbringing and education, and above all because we are<br \/>\ndominated by a collective suggestion which is so powerful, so overwhelming,<br \/>\nthat very few succeed in avoiding it altogether. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>How far we are<br \/>\nfrom the mental individuality we want to acquire! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>We are products<br \/>\ndetermined by all our past history, impelled by the blind and arbitrary will of<br \/>\nour contemporaries. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>It is a pitiful<br \/>\nsight&#8230;But let us not be disheartened; the greater the ailment and the more<br \/>\npressing the remedy, the more energetically we must fight back. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The method will<br \/>\nalways be the same: to reflect and reflect and reflect. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-24<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>We must take these<br \/>\nideas one after another and <span class=\"SpellE\">analyse<\/span> them by appealing<br \/>\nto all our common sense, all our reason, our highest sense of equity; we must<br \/>\nweigh them in the balance of our acquired knowledge and accumulated experience,<br \/>\nand then endeavour to reconcile them with one another, to establish harmony<br \/>\namong them. It will often prove very difficult, for we have a regrettable<br \/>\ntendency to let the most contradictory ideas dwell side by side in our minds. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>We must put all of<br \/>\nthem in place, bring order into our inner chamber, and we must do this each day<br \/>\njust as we tidy the rooms of our house. For I suppose that our mentality<br \/>\ndeserves at least as much care as our house. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>But, once again,<br \/>\nfor this work to be truly effective, we must strive to maintain in ourselves<br \/>\nour highest, quietest, most sincere state of mind so as to make it our own. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Let us be<br \/>\ntransparent so that the light within us may fully illumine the thoughts we want<br \/>\nto observe, <span class=\"SpellE\">analyse<\/span>, classify. Let us be impartial<br \/>\nand courageous so as to rise above our own little preferences and petty<br \/>\npersonal conveniences. Let us look at the thoughts in themselves, for<br \/>\nthemselves, without bias. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>And little by<br \/>\nlittle, if we persevere in our work of classification, we shall see order and<br \/>\nlight take up their abode in our minds. But we should never forget that this<br \/>\norder is but confusion compared with the order that we must realise in the<br \/>\nfuture, that this light is but darkness compared with the light that we shall<br \/>\nbe able to receive after some time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Life is in<br \/>\nperpetual evolution; if we want to have a living mentality, we must progress<br \/>\nunceasingly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Moreover, this is<br \/>\nonly a preliminary work. We are still very far from true thought, which brings<br \/>\nus into relation with the infinite source of knowledge. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>These are only<br \/>\nexercises for training ourselves gradually to an <span class=\"SpellE\">individualising<\/span><br \/>\ncontrol of our thoughts. For control of the mental activity is indispensable to<br \/>\none who wants to meditate. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I cannot speak to<br \/>\nyou in detail today about meditation; I <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-25<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>shall only say<br \/>\nthat in order to be genuine, to serve its full purpose, meditation must be<br \/>\ndisinterested, impersonal in the integral sense of the word. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Here is a<br \/>\ndescription, taken from an old Hindu text, of a <span class=\"SpellE\">typal<\/span><br \/>\nmeditation: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cThe great and<br \/>\nmagnificent King ascended to the chamber of the Great Collection and, stopping<br \/>\nat the threshold, exclaimed with intense emotion: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201c\u2018Away! Advance no<br \/>\nfurther, thoughts of lust! Away! Advance no further, thoughts of bad will!<br \/>\nAway! Advance no further, thoughts of hate!\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\">\u201cAnd entering the chamber, he sat upon a seat of gold.<br \/>\nThen, having rejected all passion, all feeling contrary to righteousness, he<br \/>\nattained the first <span class=\"SpellE\"><i>dh<span>&#257;<\/span>ma<\/i><\/span>, a state<br \/>\nof well-being and joy arising from solitude, a state of reflection and seeking.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cSetting aside<br \/>\nreflection and seeking, he attained the second <span class=\"SpellE\"><i>dh&#257;ma<\/i><\/span>, a state of well-being<br \/>\nand joy arising from serenity, a state void of reflection and seeking, a state<br \/>\nof quietude and elevation of mind. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cCeasing to<br \/>\ndelight in joy, he remained indifferent, conscious, self-controlled, and<br \/>\nattained the third <span class=\"SpellE\"><i>dh&#257;ma<\/i><\/span>,<br \/>\nexperiencing the inmost contentment proclaimed by the sages, saying, \u2018One who,<br \/>\nself-controlled, dwells in indifference, experiences an inner well-being.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cSetting aside<br \/>\nthis well-being, rejecting pain, dead to both joy and suffering, he attained<br \/>\nthe state of most pure and perfect self-mastery and serenity which constitute<br \/>\nthe fourth <span class=\"SpellE\"><i>dh&#257;ma<\/i><\/span>.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cThen the great<br \/>\nand magnificent King left the chamber of the Great Collection and, entering the<br \/>\ngolden chamber, sat upon a seat of silver. He beheld the world in a thought of<br \/>\nlove and his love went forth to the four regions in turn; and then with his<br \/>\nheart full of love, with a love growing without end or limit, he enfolded the<br \/>\nvast world, in its entirety, to its very ends. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cHe beheld the<br \/>\nworld in a thought of pity and his pity went forth to the four regions in turn;<br \/>\nand then with his heart full <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-26<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>of pity, with a<br \/>\npity growing without end or limit, he enfolded the vast world, in its entirety,<br \/>\nto its very ends. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cHe beheld the<br \/>\nworld in a thought of sympathy and his sympathy went forth to the four regions<br \/>\nin turn; and then with his heart full of sympathy, with a sympathy growing<br \/>\nwithout end or limit, he enfolded the vast world, in its entirety, to its very<br \/>\nends. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cHe beheld the<br \/>\nworld in a thought of serenity and his serenity went forth to the four regions<br \/>\nin turn; and then with his heart full of serenity, with a serenity growing<br \/>\nwithout end or limit, he enfolded the vast world, in its entirety, to its very<br \/>\nends.\u201d \u00b9 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>One who strives in<br \/>\nsincere quest for truth, who is ready, if necessary, to sacrifice all he had<br \/>\nthought until then to be true, in order to draw ever nearer to the integral<br \/>\ntruth that can be no other than the progressive knowledge of the whole universe<br \/>\nin its infinite progression, enters gradually into relation with great masses<br \/>\nof deeper, completer and more luminous thoughts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>After much<br \/>\nmeditation and contemplation, he comes into direct contact with the great<br \/>\nuniversal current of pure intellectual force, and thenceforth no knowledge can<br \/>\nbe veiled from him. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>From that moment<br \/>\nserenity \u2013 mental peace \u2013 is his portion. In all beliefs, in all human<br \/>\nknowledge, in all religious teachings, which sometimes appear so contradictory,<br \/>\nhe perceives the deep truth which nothing can now conceal from his eyes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Even errors and<br \/>\nignorance no longer disturb him, for, as an unknown master says: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cHe who walks in<br \/>\nthe Truth is not troubled by any error, for he knows that error is the first<br \/>\neffort of life towards truth.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>But to attain this<br \/>\nstate of perfect serenity is to attain to the summit of thought. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Without hoping to<br \/>\nreach that point at once, we can strive to acquire an individual thought that<br \/>\nis both original and as equitable as possible. Thus we shall have become minds<br \/>\nof some consequence, with the right to bring to society the precious con-<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"2\">\u00b9<br \/>\n<\/font> <\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"2\">See Appendix page 29<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-27<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span class=\"SpellE\"><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>tribution<\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> of their highest<br \/>\nintuitions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I have several<br \/>\ntimes spoken to you this evening of thought as a living and active being. This<br \/>\ncalls for an explanation. At our next meeting, I shall give you what I might<br \/>\ncall the chemical or inner structure of thought, its composition, how it is<br \/>\nformed, how it lives, acts and transforms. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>And now allow me,<br \/>\nbefore concluding, to express a wish. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I would like us to<br \/>\nmake the resolution to raise ourselves each day, in all sincerity and goodwill,<br \/>\nin an ardent aspiration towards the Sun of Truth, towards the Supreme Light,<br \/>\nthe source and intellectual life of the universe, so that it may pervade us<br \/>\nentirely and illumine with its great brilliance our minds and hearts, all our<br \/>\nthoughts and our actions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Then we shall<br \/>\nacquire the right and the privilege of following the counsel of the great<br \/>\ninitiate of the past, who tells us: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:18.0pt;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cWith your hearts<br \/>\noverflowing with compassion, go forth into this world torn by pain, be<br \/>\ninstructors, and wherever the darkness of ignorance rules, there light a<br \/>\ntorch.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style='margin:0;text-align:right;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span>15 December<br \/>\n1911 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page-28<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:\"Courier New\";color:blue'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><b><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><br \/>\n<font size=\"3\">APPENDIX\u00b9<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Love:<span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>For the Being, because he is the Being<br \/>\nindependent of all contingencies and individuals. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Pity:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>One<br \/>\nno longer feels suffering for oneself, but only for others. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sympathy:<span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>To suffer with the world, to share<br \/>\nsuffering (to suffer with). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Serenity:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Perfect<br \/>\nknowledge of the state in which all suffering disappears (individual<br \/>\nexperience). &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Love:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0 <\/span>For<br \/>\nthe being in his entirety without distinction of good or evil, light or<br \/>\ndarkness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Pity:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>For<br \/>\nall weakness and all bad will. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sympathy:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Towards<br \/>\neffort, encouragement, collaboration. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Serenity:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Hope<br \/>\nin the ending of suffering (knowing one&#8217;s individual experience, one logically<br \/>\ninfers that it can be generalised and become the experience of all). <span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Love:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0 <\/span>Without<br \/>\ndistinction of past, present or future. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Pity:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>For<br \/>\nthe life of pain. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Sympathy:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Understanding<br \/>\nof everything, even of evil. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Serenity:<span>\u00a0 <\/span><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Certitude<br \/>\nof the final victory. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Three active<br \/>\nattitudes, one passive attitude; three external relationships with the all, one<br \/>\ninner relationship. A state to be maintained throughout the whole meditation:<br \/>\nSerenity in love, sympathy and pity. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"2\">\u00b9<br \/>\n<\/font> <\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"2\">These notes, found among the Mother&#8217;s manuscripts,<br \/>\nseem to relate to the <span class=\"SpellE\">typal<\/span> meditation described on<br \/>\npp. 27-28. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 29<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To Know How to Suffer &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; If at any time a deep sorrow, a searing doubt or an intense pain overwhelms you and drives&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","wpcat-123-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}