Table of Contents

COSMIC MORAL LAW

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Chapter One: ‘You reap whatever you sow’
Chapter Two: The importance of choice – work not pleasure
Chapter Three: Creative activity as a means of evolution
Chapter Four: Justice
Chapter Five: The law of affinity: peace
Chapter Six: The law of affinity: true religion
Chapter Seven: The laws of nature and moral law
Chapter Eight: Reincarnation
Chapter Nine: Don’t stop half-way
Chapter Ten: Know how to use your energies
Chapter Eleven: How to distil the quintessence
Chapter Twelve: The moral law exemplified in a spring
Chapter Thirteen: Why look for models in the world above
Chapter Fourteen: Man creates in the invisible world by means of
his thoughts and feelings
Chapter Fifteen: We must not sever the link between the world
below and the world above
Chapter Sixteen: If you are light you will seek the company of light
Chapter Seventeen: Duplicates – new recordings
Chapter Eighteen: Morality comes into its own in the world above
Chapter Nineteen: Example is the best teacher
Chapter Twenty: Turn the other cheek
 Prosveta S.A – CS30012 – 83601 Fréjus CEDEX (France)
ISBN 978-2-85566-445-3

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Readers will better understand certain aspects of the lectures published in

the present volume if they bear in mind that Master Omraam Mikhaël
Aïvanhov’s teaching was exclusively oral and that the editors have made
every effort to respect the flavour and style of each lecture.
The Master’s teaching is more than a body of doctrines; it is an organic
whole, and his way of presenting it was to approach it from countless
different points of view. By treating certain aspects in many different
contexts he constantly reveals a new dimension of the whole, and at the same
time throws new light on the individual aspects and their vital links with each
other.
 Chapter One
‘You reap whatever you sow’
I

Yesterday, as you will remember, I talked to you about what it means, on

the psychological level, to be attuned to someone else. If you want to
understand what a friend is saying to you, you have to vibrate in unison with
him. To understand someone is to be on the same wavelength, to vibrate in
unison with that person; this is the definition of comprehension. If you want
to listen to a particular radio programme, you have to tune in to the
wavelength of the station that is transmitting it. Similarly, if you want to
comprehend, to be attuned to, the thoughts, feelings and desires of others,
you have to get onto their wavelength. If you don’t understand someone, it
means that you are unable or unwilling to vibrate in unison with him, to rise –
or sink – to his level of consciousness. And when you do understand
someone, it means that you have succeeded, if only temporarily, in getting
onto the same wavelength. This is the secret of comprehension: it is a kind of
attunement to an object or another being.
Actually, there are a few details here that need some further clarification.
When you listen to what someone is saying, part of you has to be in tune with
him in order to hear and understand the meaning of his words, but part of you
may well not be in tune with him at all. Just because you listen to someone
and try to understand his words, it does not mean that you agree with what he
says. You can perfectly well agree to listen and to understand him without
agreeing with what he is saying. If, on the other hand, you not only listen to
him but accept and agree with every fibre of your being with what he says,
then you are doubly attuned to him. Thus there are several different levels of
attunement or accord.
A human being is made up of a certain number of organs, each of which
vibrates on its own particular wavelength: the wavelengths of the heart, the
brain and the liver, the stomach and the spleen, etc., are all different from
each other, and yet the one organism embraces them all. And a person’s
thought – or, if you like, his brain, although they are not the same thing – is
the composite reflection of the behaviour of all his cells; it expresses the
tendencies and desires, the whims, torments and sufferings of them all. It is
the cells of the brain, the thousands of millions of these tiny cells, that are
designed to be the spokesmen for the whole individual. To be sure, the cells
of other parts of the body also have something to say, they try to explain
themselves and to voice their needs, but they lack the tool, the mouthpiece,
with which to make themselves understood. This is why the brain has been
given the task of expressing the will, inclinations and needs of the mass of
individuals that go to make up a human body. As I have said, the fact that the
brain is intelligent and capable of expressing itself by moving the tongue,
rolling the eyes or twitching the nose, does not mean that it is the only part of
the body capable of speech. Every part of man speaks but, for the time being,
the brain has the special responsibility of being the mouthpiece for all the
other organs, although not all the brain cells share in this function. Only a
small proportion of them are concerned, those that are situated in the centre
of the forehead.The other cells of the brain have others functions.
The various organs that go to make up a man are seldom wholly in
agreement with each other: the heart rejects what the stomach wants, the
brain denies the desires of the heart, etc. A human being is a creature who is
out of tune, a creature at odds with himself, unhappy and in a perpetual state
of conflict, torn between his own contradictory opinions and passions,
between that part of him which aspires to goodness, light and honesty and
that other part which drives him to cruelty, violence and works of darkness.
What should we do with all these disparate and contradictory tendencies
within us? Well, this is where those conscious, intelligent brain cells that I
mentioned come into play: we must use them to learn how to conquer and
control, pacify and, above all, unite all the cells of our body so that, instead of
forming a cluster of minor states and principalities at war with each other,
they come together to form a single nation. History illustrates the situation
perfectly: a few hundred years ago, the countries that we know today were
divided into innumerable warring duchies, principalities or tiny kingdoms. It
is relatively recently that, thanks to a gradually expanding consciousness,
these rival factions began to understand each other better and came together.
In the same way, a new light, a new intelligence, must dawn in the mind of
man, a new ‘king’ must take over the reins of government and persuade all
the cells of all his different organs that, in order to be truly prosperous and
powerful they must unite and give first priority to the interests of the whole.
Illness is the most eloquent proof that anarchy and disorder reign in a
human organism, that light and intelligence have not yet penetrated into the
depths of each organ, of each cell. Owing to his ignorance, man has allowed
disorder to take root within him and, now, in the common interest, he is going
to have to reverse the situation. He is going to have to obtain the submission
of all his subjects once again, restore law and order and, with the help of
certain methods, bring his cells into a state of harmony in which they vibrate
in unison. If he manages to do this, all his organs will obey him and work
lovingly together in wisdom and intelligence and he will be blessed with
prosperity and joy.1
But human beings will never attain this state of harmony in a world
governed by a philosophy of disorder, anarchy and disintegration. They must
find a corner of this earth in which the philosophy of harmony prevails and
there, having probed and studied these great truths in depth, they must work
at transforming themselves. This is the work that surpasses all others. No
other activity on earth is more worthwhile than the endeavour to introduce
harmony, order and beauty into one’s own being, to melt into and become
one with Cosmic Intelligence. All human beings work at a trade or profession
of some kind (and this is good and necessary, for we all have to provide for
our own needs), but they have come to neglect the best and highest form of
activity: the work of fashioning oneself, of projecting into each cell of one’s
being, into each atom and electron, the ray of harmony that alone is capable
of bringing every particle into tune with a divine idea, the work of conveying
ceaselessly to the whole of one’s organism, the conviction that its only need
is this need for harmony.
How can human beings, today, be made to understand these truths when
they have no inkling that they so much as exist? To the sages of the past, who
knew how to observe life, all these truths were clear and self-evident and, as
they lived very long lives, they actually saw the great laws of nature at work.
Today, I want to emphasize one of the laws which they discovered in this
way and, I assure you, if you take the trouble to understand what I tell you,
you will become steadfast and unshakeable, capable of holding your own
against all the philosophies of chaos and disorder that prevail throughout the
world.
This law, the mightiest that Cosmic Intelligence has given us, is to be
found where no one thinks to find it, where philosophers and theologians no
longer look: in nature or, to be more specific, in agriculture. Every farmer
knows that if he plants a fig tree he will harvest figs not grapes, and that he
will get apples and not pears from an apple tree. This is the supreme moral
law: ‘You reap whatever you sow’. This is what I mean when I say that
farmers were the first moral philosophers; it was they who saw that the
Intelligence of nature had laid down this strict and immutable law for all
growing things. Later, observing life around them and the behaviour and
actions of men, they saw that the laws of agriculture applied to them as well:
human beings can only reap what they have sown. In other words, if you
behave with cruelty, selfishness and violence, sooner or later you will be paid
back in the same coin of cruelty, selfishness and violence. Whether you think
of it as an echo reflecting off the side of a mountain or a ball bouncing off a
wall, it is always the same, absolute law.
Moral law was not invented by human beings. There are those who accuse
the Church of making up rules and regulations in order to chloroform and
enslave the masses, and there is no denying that there have been popes and
cardinals who committed abuses and used religion for their own ends, but this
does not mean that the great religious and moral laws had been invented by
them. They were handed down to them from the initiates who had discovered
them, long before, in nature. True morality and true religion are not human
inventions.2
‘You reap whatever you sow’. If you study every detail of this
fundamental law and explore it in all its length and breadth, you will find in it
a whole system of tremendous wealth and depth of meaning, for the essential
truths are applicable in every domain. The detailed explanation of this law
has given birth to a complete philosophical system and this is why religion
contains such an abundance of rules and precepts today. Underlying all these
rules there is still the one, original law: ‘You reap whatever you sow’. Later,
other laws grew from this one as a consequence, an extension of its
philosophical implications. Jesus’ precept, ‘Do to others as you would have
them do to you’, for example, is simply an extension of this law.
Those who deny or disregard these fundamental laws drift further and
further from the truth: their souls torn by doubt and hesitation, they are in a
perpetual state of uncertainty and irresolution. And yet the truth is staring
them in the face, and it is very simple. Why do contemporary thinkers refuse
to recognize it, preferring to put forward, instead, all kinds of theories of their
own invention which are not in accord with Cosmic Intelligence? The fact
that they no longer believe in the existence of a moral law based on the laws
of nature inevitably distorts their reasoning and the conclusions it leads to,
and those who read their books and believe all these false theories are driven
to a state of inner chaos, anguish and darkness. I am warning you: be very
careful! You must learn to reason and judge these things correctly, for if you
do not possess reliable criteria, the first person who comes along can lead you
astray. Be on your guard; don’t let yourselves be influenced by human
intellects that are shrouded in darkness; open your minds to the Cosmic
Intelligence that has ordered and organized all things so marvellously.
Even if you don’t believe in God it is impossible not to recognize that
there is order and, therefore, Intelligence, in nature. Take the simple fact that
every seed produces its own species: how can anyone deny that this is the
work of an intelligence? To see this law at work is enough to change one’s
view of the world. You may be unable to believe in God but you cannot fail
to believe that every seed, germ or egg, reproduces its own kind, whether it
be plant or tree, insect, animal or man. This law is absolute and it should
make every human being reflect. You may be ungrateful, unjust, cruel or
violent, but if you are, you can be sure that this law will apply, sooner or
later, to your own life. Perhaps you will have children who will resemble
you, in that case you will be the first to suffer from your own behaviour as it
rebounds on you through them. Even if God did not exist, Cosmic
Intelligence would still be there: the evidence is constantly before our eyes.
You do whatever you please in the belief that nobody knows and there is
no record of what you do, so you will not be punished. If you want to believe
that, do so, but I tell you that Cosmic Intelligence records everything. Every
one of your thoughts, feelings or actions carries within it a living germ that
begins to grow and, if you have been ungrateful, unjust, cruel and violent,
you will find your path strewn with this same ingratitude, injustice, cruelty
and violence. Thirty or forty years from now you will be crushed under the
weight of these things and, when this happens, you will begin to understand
that there is such a thing as Cosmic Intelligence and that It records everything
that happens.
Forget about the Bible and the Gospels if you like, forget about the
Prophets, the churches and the temples, but remember that ‘You reap
whatever you sow’ is an absolute, incontrovertible law. As the Sages of old,
who had seen this law at work, also put it, ‘They have sown the wind, and
they shall reap the whirlwind’. As for the scientists, writers and thinkers who
choose to reject this truth, they too will be snared and bitten by it, unable to
escape from the consequences of their own acts. When this happens they, too,
will understand. They are so clever and yet they cannot see what is so
straightforward. In fact, I will go so far as to say that all the Sacred Scriptures
of the world could be reconstructed on the basis of this one law!
Many people say, ‘Of course, there are a lot of things in the Bible and the
Gospels, but we don’t even know for sure that God exists!’3 To that I answer
that you don’t need to know whether God exists, whether Jesus ever existed
or whether the Gospels are authentic or not! All you need to know is this law:
it alone is sufficient to put all the pieces of the puzzle in place and lead you to
the truth. As you see, my explanation is very simple. In fact – as Voltaire
said, although in a different context – if God did not exist we would have to
invent him! So why let yourselves by led astray by so-called ‘fashionable’
philosophers who destroy whatever they lay their hands on? I, for one, have
no intention of following their lead, for the truth that I see, the truth that I
know, is eternal and irrefutable and can be verified by everyone. The pity is
that these thinkers never point out the simple, tangible realities before our
eyes. They are more interested in their own supposedly ‘original’ arguments
and theories; it doesn’t matter if these theories are contrary to truth:
everybody is lost in admiration for them as long as they are new and original!
Moral law is a reality, but human beings cannot see it, they spend their
time arguing about God or the finer points of theology. But it is pointless to
argue. The only thing you need to know is that everything, absolutely
everything, is recorded. If a tree can produce seeds in which all its properties,
colours and dimensions, all the flavour and perfume of its fruits, are recorded,
why should man not do as much? Why should nature not do as much in every
domain? Nature records everything and morality is built on the recordings,
the memory, of nature. Nature has a memory from which nothing can be
erased, and woe betide those who decide to ignore it! Continually, day and
night, she records all that goes on in man, all the discord, all his hideous inner
states and then, one day, it all rebounds on him and he finds himself bitten,
crushed, wiped out! No one escapes this law; no man, be he emperor or
dictator, has ever had the power to avoid it. Everything that ever is or was is
recorded in nature’s memory.
This is why I insist so often that you must be careful about what you
record! Everything you do, everything you say or think or wish is continually
being recorded in the depths of your cells and, sooner or later, you will
harvest the fruits of all these things in your own life. How different men’s
destiny would be if they were guided by light and reason, if they took care
never to plant or sow or cultivate seeds of darkness and destruction by their
thoughts, feelings and actions! In spite of all those who draw hasty
conclusions and proclaim that good is always repaid with evil, you must not
think that if you are kind and generous and loving you will be repaid with
evil rather than good. It is not true.
Good always breeds good and evil always breeds evil. Even if you never
asked to be rewarded for the good you did you would still be repaid with
good. If you do good and are repaid with evil it is because there are still
people in this world ready to cheat and take advantage of you. Be patient and
continue to do what is right and, sooner or later, they will be punished and
become victims, in their turn, of others who are stronger and even more
violent. When this happens, they will understand and repent and make
reparation for the wrong they did you. In this way, good always bears fruit.
Doubly so, in fact because, in these instances, heaven takes into account the
suffering you had to endure, what it cost you to do good and all your
undeserved misfortunes, and your reward will be twice as great!
It is often true that, in spite of doing good, you begin by encountering evil,
but this does not make the law any less valid: one day good will rain down on
you and never cease! You still have no real notion of what good is; you have
no idea of how powerful it is and how easily it can protect, heal and enlighten
you. The power of good is beyond all description! It is because they have
never learned any better that people repeat the slogan, ‘Good is always repaid
by evil!’ They have never actually put it to the test. As I have said, there is an
element of truth in this (you don’t need to tell me this; I happen to have
noticed!), but the evil is only apparent and it does not last long. Continue to
do what is right and you will see that for yourselves!
Men and women stand in great need, today, of solid truths, of tangible,
irrefutable knowledge that everyone can experiment and verify for himself,
and this is what I can offer you. Go ahead: try to deny that you reap whatever
you have sown! Of course, everyone will tell you that he is convinced of the
truth of this law, but only insofar as the physical dimension is concerned;
nobody goes further than that. If they did, if they applied it to other, higher
planes, they would find the same laws and the same correspondences, for the
world is one. The same phenomena and the same laws prevail on every level,
although in different, subtler forms.
That which exists on earth exists, also, in water, and that which exists in
water exists in air, and so on. The laws that govern the four elements are the
same but, as the essence and the density of each element is different, there are
differences, not in the guiding principles, which are always identical, but in
their application, in the speed or violence, for instance, with which each
element reacts. The mental world of man corresponds to the element air, and
the same currents and turbulence as are found in the atmosphere exist in his
mind, but in the subtler form of thoughts and ideas. The laws of the psychic
world are exactly the same as the laws of physical nature.
Agriculture teaches us that we reap only what we have sown but we must
extend this notion beyond the physical plane and recognize the same laws
and correspondences in the world of thought. Men make the mistake of
believing that they can do whatever they please with impunity, that even if
they sow cruelty, violence and evil, they will still reap happiness, joy and
peace. It is just not possible! There may be some delay, but even if the seeds
of their actions do not spring up into full-grown plants at once, sooner or later
they will do so. Some plants take weeks to grow, others take months. There
are even some exotic flowers and trees that only begin to bloom a hundred
years after being planted. In the same way, if you wait long enough you will
inevitably end by seeing the consequences of your actions. This is an
absolute.
So continue to do good, continue to believe and to love. Don’t listen to
your lower nature which wants everything for itself and is always trying to
make use of others. Work, instead, with your higher nature, your solar nature,
which is only interested in giving, radiating and spending itself for others in
the same way as the sun.4 You were surprised, a few days ago, when I asked
you if you knew why the face of the sun shone so brightly. Well, in the
school in which I studied, I learned that the sun’s face was so bright and
luminous because it thinks of nothing but how to give, help, vivify, warm and
resuscitate others. When I see someone’s face light up I think to myself, ‘Ah,
he’s planning something magnificent.’ Even if he says nothing about it I can
tell. And who taught me this? The sun. And when I see someone’s face
becoming darker, clouding over, as it were, I say to myself, ‘He’s got some
evil plan in mind’. And it is always true.
You will say that they don’t teach these things at University. You are
probably right, but that doesn’t bother me. Scientists have not yet reached the
same conclusions as myself, but they will certainly do so eventually for, I
assure you, this is the absolute truth. If a person’s face does not shine with the
brilliance of the sun it is because the good he has in mind is not strong
enough to produce so much light. Let me give you an equation of my own
invention, and we’ll see what the mathematicians amongst you make of it: the
light of the sun is in proportion to the intensity of its love and wisdom.
Don’t worry, there will be many more new formulas, new discoveries and
new truths and, in this way, the third Testament will one day be written.
The Bonfin, August 3, 1968

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘You reap whatever you sow’ – Luke 6: 31

II

What more can I add to what I was saying this morning? The popular
saying, ‘He who sows the wind reaps the whirlwind,’ is proof enough that
these truths are well known. But we don’t have to restrict ourselves to a
literal understanding of this saying. We can substitute all kinds of other
things for the word ‘wind,’ things such as hatred, tenderness, kindness or
purity, and then we can work through to the logical conclusion and see what
the consequences would be in each case. The wealth of meaning in this
saying is almost endless, and yet human beings continue to repeat it without
any real grasp of its implications.
When a gardener, who has not sown any carrot seed, fails to find carrots in
his garden, he is not in the least surprised. If he is honest and fair-minded he
will simply say to himself, ‘Well, it’s a pity I didn’t have time to sow any
carrots because that means I won’t have any this year. But never mind, I
sowed rows of lettuces, parsley and onions, so I’ll have plenty of those.’ It
seems that human beings are very knowledgeable about agriculture and the
fruit and vegetables they grow in their gardens but, when it comes to the
things of the soul or of the mind, all of a sudden, they are very ignorant. They
believe that in spite of all the violence, cruelty and evil they sow, they are
entitled to expect a harvest of happiness, joy and peace. And, then, when their
expectations come to nothing, they are angry and disappointed. In other
words, they are not good farmers.
The first rule of morality is never to allow yourself to think, feel or do
something that could injure or endanger others because, sooner or later, you
will have to harvest and eat the fruits of what you have sown and, if they are
poisonous, you will be the first to be poisoned by them. Once you have made
this your unbreakable rule you will begin to grow towards perfection. I
realize very well that people have difficulty in understanding this because the
consequences of these laws – whether good or ill – manifest themselves only
after a long delay. A man may flout them for years and continue to succeed in
everything he undertakes. He may eat and drink to excess and be thoroughly
dishonest in his business dealings, with no apparent ill-effects. Those who see
this think to themselves, ‘If he can get away with it, without being punished,
it means that there is no such thing as justice. There is no law,’ and they start
to imitate him. And, then, there are others who, in spite of the fact that they
continue to pray and are good and kind and honest, never succeed. And, here,
too, people see this and draw the conclusion that there is nothing to be gained
by following the example of virtue.
Everybody thinks that if justice truly existed it should manifest itself much
more rapidly. They do not understand why reward and punishment are so
long in coming and think that if they were punished as soon as they broke the
law they would understand and learn much more quickly not to do so again.
Well, for my part, I know the reason for this delay. It comes from the
kindness and mercifulness of Cosmic Intelligence which wants to give men
time to make their own experiments, time to reflect and to repent and amend
their ways and atone for their faults. If human beings were punished as soon
as they broke the laws, they would be struck down at once and never have a
chance to improve. But if they are given plenty of time and a few minor
inconveniences, every now and then, to upset them and prod them into
reflecting about things, it gives them a chance to make reparation and correct
their faults.
On the other hand, those who do right are not rewarded immediately
either. If they were given their reward at once they would be tempted to
become complacent and make less effort and, before long, they, too, would
start to break all the laws. Heaven gives them time to become stronger, to
learn to know themselves better and, by withholding their reward, lets them
show how persevering they can be. So, as you can see, there are good reasons
for this slowness. But this does not alter the fact that good always and
inevitably engenders good and evil always engenders evil. The law is
absolute. The only question is how much time will elapse before it takes
effect.5
Of course, it takes tremendous strength and determination, great will-
power, tenacity and faith, to continue to act with integrity when the whole
world is falling apart. But it is precisely this that is deserving of reward.
When everything is agreeable and effortless and conditions are favourable, it
is easy to continue to believe in good and to act accordingly. It is here and
now, when the situation is going from bad to worse, that it becomes
praiseworthy to persevere and not allow oneself to be deterred or diverted by
external conditions. Whatever the circumstances, a Master, a true disciple,
puts his faith only in the vigour and potency of his spirit. Even in the worst
possible conditions he strives to awaken within himself, the forces of will-
power, goodness and light. This is the mark of a true spiritualist. [The word
‘spiritualist’, in the language of Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, simply means
one who looks at things from a spiritual point of view, whose philosophy of
life is based on belief in a spiritual reality.] A great many people, judging
from the way they talk, consider themselves spiritualists but, at the first sign
of difficulty, they fall by the wayside.
Everybody expects others to be thoughtful, friendly, patient and indulgent.
That is all very well, but how can you get them to be like that? By being
thoughtful, patient and friendly yourself. If you want people to be considerate
towards you, start by treating them with consideration. You will probably say
that you know all that already. Perhaps you do, theoretically, at any rate, but
there are millions of men and women on this earth who are rude,
inconsiderate and, even, cruel to others and yet who cry out in indignant
surprise when others retaliate. They are convinced that it is up to others to
give way and comply with their wishes.
Read your history books and you will see, for instance, how many men
have used threats and even violence in the attempt to win a woman’s love. Of
course, fear and the use of force have obliged many women to submit to an
unwanted suitor, but inwardly, in their souls and hearts and minds, they were
millions of miles from him. Coercion and violence can never win the love of
a human soul, and yet people continue to rely on such methods; nine tenths of
humanity use them to get what they want. You only have to look at how they
behave: they believe that they will obtain the desires of their heart by means
that are diametrically opposed to those desires. They spurn the idea that it is
only by sowing seeds of gentleness, love and kindness that they will reap a
harvest of gentleness, love and kindness in return.
In spite of all this, I do assure you, if you continue to be kind and gentle
with someone who is unpleasant and hostile to you, in the long run he will be
won over. The law is infallible: in the long run, you will reap what you have
sown. If everybody knew that law and had learned to apply it, the face of the
earth would have been changed a long time ago. Intellectually, of course,
they do know it, but their whole behaviour, all their actions and attitudes
make it impossible for them to obtain what they desire.
If you want affection and trust you have to call them to you. ‘But we do
call them,’ you will say; ‘We call them and they don’t come!’ When I say
that you must ‘call’ them I mean that you must summon them from within
yourself, produce them within yourself. When you produce affection and
trust in yourself you can be one hundred per cent sure that you will meet
them, also, in others. To produce them within you is the only way to call
them to you. This is the magic of it. If human beings are so unsuccessful in
attracting love and joy it is because they have never concentrated on
producing them in themselves and projecting them outwards so that they may
be returned to them by others.
Now that you understand this, make up your minds to put it into practice.
If there is something that you love and long to receive, try to give it and, in
no time, you will receive it from others. You cannot receive what you have
never given. You may say, ‘But that’s not true. I know some very rich,
influential people who never give anyone anything. They are utterly selfish
and have nothing but contempt for others, and yet they are showered with
honours and everybody admires and respects them.’ That may be true, but it
only means that they have showered respect, admiration and honours on
others, in the past, and now it is their turn to receive them. But if they persist
in their disdainful, unloving attitude they will, one day, receive the same
thing through others.
The secret of all success and happiness is to manifest in your own
behaviour whatever you would like to receive from others. If you want smiles
and kind looks, give smiles and kind looks to others. If you want the
guidance of heaven and its angels, find someone who has had less
opportunity to learn and start sharing your light with him. Your action will
immediately be reflected in the invisible world. It will be a call for entities to
come and do the same for you.
This is an extremely powerful law and it can be applied in a great many
other areas. A smile, after all, is such a little thing. You smile at someone and
they smile back at you. You are friendly and polite to someone and they are
friendly and polite to you in return – that is all very good and necessary, no
doubt, and it gives you a nice, bright feeling. But you must put this law to
work in other regions and trigger effects of far greater importance than a
smile or a handshake, a kind look or a few friendly words of greeting. You
must use it to set something in motion throughout the whole universe. This is
when it becomes really interesting, when you use it to reach out and influence
the most distant regions of the universe.
You can only harvest fruits which correspond to the seeds you have sown.
Of course, there may be floods or drought, the sun may be too hot and burn
your crops, or birds and moles may eat the seeds before they have a chance to
sprout, but that is another matter. These are accidents which have no effect on
the reality. They have no power to rob the seed of its inherent qualities. They
can prevent it from bearing fruit, but nothing can change its nature, and it is
this, the nature of the seed, that I am talking about.
If, in spite of being always kind and friendly and polite, your only reward
is a ‘four-letter word,’ that is a detail! You must see who responds in this way
and when and in what circumstances. Perhaps you have been too kind, too
charitable and generous and trusting and, if so, people probably take you for
an imbecile and you have to suffer the consequences of passing human
conventions. But that is unimportant and, in any case, people and
circumstances change, whereas the laws are unchangeable. When true values
are restored and opinions and behaviour change accordingly, everything will
fall into place again and you will reap the fruits of what you have sown.
If you want to be admired and appreciated in today’s world, you have to
be aggressive. If you ride roughshod over others and are thoroughly
unpleasant and contentious, people think that you are worthwhile. But your
triumph won’t last for ever; sooner or later another ‘tough’ will come along
and it will be your turn to be victimized. Why? Because you have sown a
poisonous seed and you are a victim of what you yourself planted. It is a
question of restoring the balance... and that is only a question of time.
You must not let yourselves be misled by appearances because
appearances never last. If you are observant you will see that the violent
always fall victim to others more violent than themselves. And don’t be in
too much of a hurry to raise all kinds of objections to this. I know all the
possible objections far better than you. In fact, I don’t wait for others to raise
objections and try to demolish my arguments, I do it myself. I seize hold of
my arguments and attack them from all sides and, if they stand up to the
onslaught I know that they are gold, pure gold! In other words, they are true.
And what about those that fail the test? It only remains to bury them –
Requiescant in pace. Problem solved!
And, now, let me paint a picture for you: imagine a vast and beautiful
forest teeming with animals and birds and all kinds of gorgeous flowers and
succulent fruits. There is only one snag: no one can get at all these good
things because the forest is surrounded by an immensely high, massive wall
topped with barbed wire and broken glass. In addition, there are all kinds of
wild beasts – lions, tigers and bears – which would be only too pleased to
feast on anyone who was rash enough to venture into the forest. The problem
is that you need some of that luscious fruit. How are you going to get it? All
of a sudden you notice some monkeys in the trees and you know that there is
the solution to your problem. You take a bag of oranges and start pelting the
monkeys with them and, as monkeys are expert mimics, they immediately
begin picking fruit from the trees and throwing it at you and, before long, you
have all the fruit you need. You can fill your basket and go home. The secret
is to throw oranges at the monkeys.
You will be thinking, ‘What on earth is all that about? As though we could
go and find a forest with a wall round it and start throwing oranges at the
monkeys!’ But it is an image. Have you never seen a farmer sowing seed? He
is throwing oranges at the monkeys. The only difference is that his oranges
are minute and the monkeys are hidden below the soil. When he has sown his
seed he can go home in peace of mind, knowing that he can come back, a few
months later, and harvest the grain and store it in his granary.
‘Ah,’ you will say; ‘If that’s what it means, all right. We understand.’ I’m
sorry to say that I don’t really believe that. I don’t think that you have really
understood the image. The monkeys represent the forces of nature. It makes
no difference whether we say that they are in the soil or in the branches of the
trees; they are a symbol. And now for the explanation: the universe created
by God is an immense forest bursting with every treasure that man could
possibly desire. The walls represent all the difficulties and obstacles that
prevent men from reaching these treasures; the monkeys are the entities of the
invisible world, and the oranges represent the light and love that you project
into the world by means of your thoughts and feelings. And then what
happens? Once you start pelting the world with ‘oranges,’ the entities of the
invisible world do the same for you. They pelt you with fruit, that is to say
with blessings of every kind, until you are paid back a hundredfold. But if
you project bitterness or hatred or anger, then, one day, that is what will be
thrown at you in return.6
‘You reap whatever you sow’. This also means that the way you behave
today has a direct effect on the kind of tomorrow you will have. At every
instant, by your inner work, you give direction to your future. Every decision
you make, whether for good or ill, sets the course of your future towards
good or evil.
Suppose that, today, you decide to serve God, help your fellow men and
resist the bad influence of your lower nature. Your future instantly becomes
bright and full of power and beauty, full of everything marvellous and
wonderful. Why are you unable to experience this result here and now?
Because the past still has a hold on you. But if you continue to work with the
same determination and in the same direction, little by little, the past will be
paid off and, one day, you will inherit your divine birthright. If, on the
contrary, you decide to go back to a life of selfishness, everything will be
changed, once again, and you will begin to build a very different future for
yourself, a future of pain and shattered dreams. To be sure, for the time
being, you will continue to enjoy life and carry on your business as usual.
Your present will not change much because you will still have some funds in
reserve, and the grim future that lies ahead will still be hidden from you. But
once your reserves are exhausted, that dreadful future will suddenly be upon
you. It is easy to create the future but it is very difficult to erase the past.
Let me illustrate this with a different example. Suppose you decide to go
on an excursion by train and you cannot decide whether you would rather go
to Nice or to Moscow. Let’s say that you finally decide to go to Nice. As
soon as you make that decision, the towns and villages, the countryside, the
different stations you will have to go through and even the people you will
meet on your journey are all determined. Once you have chosen your
destination you are obliged to follow an itinerary that already exists. It is not
you who create the countryside you travel through, its existence does not
depend on you, but what does depend on you is the initial decision to go that
way.
We don’t actually create our future. When we say that man creates his
own future it is a manner of speaking. It would be more accurate to say that
he chooses which direction he will take. You say, ‘I’ll go that way,’ but it is
not you who create the regions your route takes you through nor the entities
that you meet on the way. They were created by God a long time before. We
do not create our evil destiny, therefore, but we set a course that inevitably
takes us towards its treacherous swamps and quicksands and its dangerous
forests. We decide what direction we want to take, that’s all. And if, on the
other hand, we choose to steer towards a splendid future, the same rules
apply: it is we who set our course, but our destination is already there,
waiting for us. There are thousands of different regions and spheres in space,
peopled with an infinite variety of creatures and our path leads us upwards or
downwards until we reach the region of our choice.7 Every possible kind of
happiness or unhappiness already exists and others have experienced them
before us. They were created long ago. All we have to do is choose between
them.
This is why, at this very moment, you should make up your minds to
change course and steer towards the heavenly regions that God has prepared
for you from all eternity.
The Bonfin, August 3, 1968
1 See Harmony and Health, Izvor Coll. N° 225.
2 See The Faith That Moves Mountains, Izvor Coll. n° 238, chap. 7: ‘A

Religion is only one Form of Faith.’

3 See above, chap. 9: ‘Proof of God’s Existence Lies Within Us’.
4 See Man’s Two Natures, Human and Divine, Izvor Coll. n° 213, chap. 5:
‘The Sun Symbolizes the Divine Nature’.
5 See The Wellsprings of Eternal Joy, Izvor Coll. n° 242, chap. 3: ‘Suffering

is a Stimulus’.
6 See above, chap. 18: ‘Visits from angelic beings’.
7 See The Seeds of Happiness, Izvor Coll. n° 231, chap. 11: ‘The Land of
Canaan’.
 Chapter Two
The importance of choice –
work not pleasure
Nobody, today, wants to hear about morals. It seems that the one subject
everybody finds disagreeable, repulsive, old-fashioned and obsolete is that of
morality. In France, especially, nobody dares to preach morality because the
French understand that it is grotesque and ridiculous for anyone to pose as a
moralist. They are willing to be seen as scholars, scientists, artists and
anything else you please, but not as moralists. They are so convinced, in fact,
that the traditional moral code was hypocritical and false that, in the attempt
to be logical, fair and honest, they feel they have to scoff at the whole idea of
morality. In one way, of course, they are quite right because the moral codes
they have rejected were invented by man and varied so much from one
country or one century to another, that it is difficult to see why anyone should
respect them. The truth is, though, that men have never understood what true
morality is nor where it comes from. Today, I want to show you that it is very
simple and easy to rediscover the moral law exactly as Cosmic Intelligence
established it and not as it was invented by men in keeping with their
prejudices, their self-interest or their likes and dislikes.
Before going any further, though, I would like to say something more
about a point that we have already discussed, for I can see that you still have
no idea of how important it is for your health and happiness, your success and
the harmony of your whole being.
Within the last few centuries, human beings have made great progress in
the area of nutritional hygiene. They know that it is better to wash their
vegetables, peel their fruit, sort out the good from the bad and throw away
whatever is harmful or indigestible. The problem is that they have not yet
understood that in the area of thoughts and feelings we also swallow certain
foodstuffs which may be easier or more difficult to digest depending on how
pure they are. It is time, now, to carry this question beyond its purely physical
application and learn to choose healthy psychic food in exactly the same way
as we choose good physical food.
If you study the nature of thoughts and feelings you will begin to discover
the outline of a natural moral law which says that, in order to build a healthy
psychic body, we must nourish ourselves only on pure, subtle, luminous,
divine elements. Young people will demand to know why – especially those
who have been led by the Living Theatre into thinking that they must give a
free rein to all their instincts. This group went to Avignon, that beautiful City
of the Popes, and invited the audience onto the stage to take part in a kind of
orgy in order, so they said, to bring unity out of multiplicity. They imagined
that a sexual orgy could create unity! The Mayor and people of Avignon were
so horrified, they drove them out of the town, and now it seems that they are
going to go to Switzerland. But, I ask you, what kind of philosophy is that?
Actually, it should not astonish us particularly; it is simply the result of man’s
ignorance of his own structure.
How many thinkers have ever really studied human beings to try and
discover how they were first created in the workshops of the Lord?
Everybody knows that man has a stomach and sexual organs and that they
must be given what they need. I agree, but I say that there are some choices
to be made and some screening to be done. Here, again, young people will
not like this. They don’t want to exclude anything from their experience. But
if they accept that it is normal and necessary to screen what they eat, why do
they refuse to admit that if they swallow any and every feeling or pleasure
they are liable to be poisoned? They kiss and sleep with anyone without
discrimination without realizing that, in doing so, they are absorbing some of
the nauseating, pestilential fumes and emanations that many human beings
carry within them; it is as though they waded in a cesspool.
I am certainly not opposed to exchanges between men and women; the
question is to know how they should be accomplished. An exchange should
always be a cause of improvement and embellishment.1 Love should always
enrich both partners. But, very often, one or both of them are already ill and
psychologically unbalanced because of all the heterogeneous elements they
have swallowed so carelessly and thoughtlessly. The question, therefore, is
not that men and women should not love each other, but that they should
know what choices to make so as to absorb only what is pure and luminous
and become equally pure and luminous themselves.
What is it that characterizes a child? Children and adolescents are ruled by
their desires, emotions and sensations. The intelligence that enables an adult
to weigh the pros and cons, to test and evaluate things, is not fully awakened.
This is why children are in the care of adults, their parents, grand-parents or
teachers, who can guide and advise and protect them. Children are always
attracted by things that are not good for them, but it is so easy for them to fall
and cut or burn themselves or make themselves ill. You know what children
say: ‘I love Mummy and Daddy but I love jam best!’ A child’s mentality is
summed up in that one word, ‘jam’. And this includes all that is agreeable,
enjoyable, sweet and easy.
A child cannot imagine that what is bitter and difficult might be far better
for him, he has not yet acquired the wisdom to choose what is disagreeable.
And this is where the danger lies, not only for children but also for
adolescents, for behind a façade of beauty and charm lie hidden snares,
disillusionment and bitterness. Young people don’t know enough about life
and, as they have not got an experienced inner guide, they allow themselves
to be led by their feelings and the desire for pleasure. They refuse the control
of reason and reject advice from their elders. This is why they so often burn
their fingers and, then, of course, they are unhappy and regret what they have
done.
As long as young people do not have enough inner wisdom to guide them,
they should obey their parents who have more experience and are motivated
to protect and teach them. Of course, I know that young people will not agree
with me. In their eyes, their parents are already senile, and the pleasure
principle is the only guide they are ready to follow in all circumstances. In
this they are making a grave mistake. They are convinced, today, that they are
right but, later, when they have fallen and experienced failure, when they
have already lost a great deal, they will begin to use their reason. They may
even admit that the adults were right, after all, thanks to their age and
experience. But, by then, it will be too late.2
And, now, I would like to take a closer look at this human inclination
towards pleasure. Should we always trust the natural tendency that urges us
to satisfy all our instinctual drives? Some people take pleasure in eating or
drinking to excess, in fighting, stealing and vandalizing or in raping women. I
understand that they can find pleasure in such things – nature is so rich in
possibilities! But if this instinct for pleasure is not guided and controlled by
reason and wisdom, then I think that it is not always absolutely justifiable. It
is justifiable in its initial impetus, but not in its accomplishment. It must not
be allowed to express itself without restraint. Do you need to eat and drink?
to have great possessions? to order other people about? to kiss every girl that
takes your fancy? There is nothing wrong with that. All these drives are
magnificent forces; there is nothing evil in them. They only become evil in
the absence of that other factor, the factor of reason. When you are not
guided by reason you can get carried away and go too far. It is so easy, then,
to upset things and do someone an injury or commit a crime.
Man’s tendency to seek pleasure is not something to be condemned, it is
perfectly natural. We all seek pleasure. Every human being who has ever
existed has this desire for pleasure, even the greatest initiates. Perhaps, when
you hear this, you will say, ‘But then, we are justified in trying to satisfy this
drive.’ That is true, but it all depends on how and where you try to satisfy it.
You have to make a distinction, after all.
Take the case of a man who finds such enormous pleasure in sleeping with
a woman that he can think of nothing else: what is he actually looking for?
We have already analysed this tendency and seen that he, himself, does not
really know what he is looking for, but that, inherent in the whole of nature is
the tendency to seek out and become one with the Creator, only the Creator,
because in him is all good: all happiness, joy, wonder, poetry, strength...
everything. And, as the poor wretch is not very enlightened, he thinks that he
will find the union and ecstasy he longs for by sleeping with a woman. We
could tell him, ‘You’re right to try to find beauty and ecstasy. There’s
nothing wrong with the urge itself. It’s just that you are going about it in the
wrong way, you are going in the wrong direction. Instead of finding true
pleasure by uniting yourself with the Lord, you have taken a roundabout way
through the sewers. There is a better way than that.’
You must not condemn this man, for he is seeking God. Behind his little
joys and pleasures is God Himself. Do you enjoy eating? It is God that you
are looking for in food, it is he who is there. He is the source of the joy you
find in eating, because nothing and no one but God can give man joy or
delight. But, instead of doing what an initiate does and going straight to him,
you take all kinds of roundabout ways. Initiates also look for God; they, too,
want to experience happiness and ecstasy, but they don’t want to take the
muddy byways that would only delay them and make things more
complicated.
God has infused a particle of his quintessence into everything he has
created, so he can be found everywhere, in every object and every living
being. But if people continue to disperse their energies in all directions it will
take them billions of years to find God. If you want to take the most direct
route to God, you must follow the path of light, kindness and purity.
However roundabout the route men take, it is always their yearning for God
that moves them, it is always the Source, their lost life in Paradise, that draws
them like a magnet. But, as they don’t possess the light and have no one to
guide them, the poor creatures have to get along on their own and, in the
process, they get so dirty that they are unrecognizable. And yet, to begin
with, their natural inclination was good and stemmed from the unconscious
desire for union with God. In the meantime, however, they unite themselves
to a multitude of little devils.
Hindu philosophy teaches that appearances are often illusory, that behind
beauty lies ugliness, behind wealth lies stark poverty, behind strength lies
weakness. This deceptive appearance is what they call maya, illusion. A wise
man is one who sees the hidden reality behind the veil of appearances and,
once he has pierced the veil and looked at the reality behind it, he is free to
decide whether to follow the promptings of his desire or not. For it often
happens that, once someone sees the true visage of the reality he once
pursued so ardently, he is so disappointed and disillusioned that he has no
taste for it any more. On the contrary, he is aghast at the sight of the monster
that he has unwittingly nourished.
When one does not see or understand these things one follows one’s
natural inclinations and falls into the trap. I have met so many young men and
girls who were already disillusioned, sad and unhappy. They say, ‘I was
wrong. I thought I had found happiness, but it was all an illusion. It was all a
terrible mistake.’ Now they regret their mistakes but, in the meantime, they
have lost all their freshness and innocence. They have allowed every Tom,
Dick and Harry to come and wash in their lake and each one has left some of
his dirt behind him. And now that the water in their lake is no longer pure and
transparent it cannot reflect the light of the stars and the sun.
Young men and women do not know that, when they are in each other’s
arms, a process of osmosis, a very significant levelling, takes place in the
electromagnetic dimension of their beings, in their emanations, a process in
which each one absorbs the weaknesses of the other. Of course, what is true
for their weak points is also true for their strong points. Love levels out
differences and puts lovers on an equal footing. This is why, before setting
this process in motion, young people should know the rules to apply in
making a choice and how to sort out the good from the bad. Just as they make
sure of the quality of their physical food before eating, they must reflect
before absorbing astral food and find out where it comes from, who produced
it and what it contains, etc. Unfortunately, young people are not particularly
fond of reflecting, and their intuition rarely helps them to choose the attitude
or activity that would bring them happiness. In spite of all that they learn at
school, they still allow themselves to be counselled by their feelings rather
than by wisdom.
I have nothing against feelings, I have nothing against the need for love;
on the contrary, for this is the meaning of life. But we also have to use our
intelligence, develop a sense of discernment, learn to choose and discriminate
and know who to love, how to love and how to sublimate and spiritualize our
love. ‘Why?’ ‘In order to accomplish a very important work.’ ‘But what
about pleasure?’ ‘You must substitute work for pleasure.’ ‘Do you mean that
you want us to give up all pleasure?’ ‘Certainly not! You will have a great
deal of pleasure, but it will be a far subtler, more complete and more divine
pleasure which will not leave you with a bitter taste of regret.’ Pleasure, such
as young people understand it, inevitably turns to bitterness and poison
almost at once. Perhaps it will help to understand what I am saying if we
compare gold and lead. Gold never rusts or tarnishes, it never corrodes, it is
always noble, precious, bright and luminous, whereas lead is always dull. If
you cut lead it will shine for a few moments but, almost at once, it will
become dull and tarnished again. When alchemists sought to transmute lead
into gold, what they were really trying to do was to transform and ennoble
human nature. And this is possible if we substitute work for pleasure.
Those whose goal in life is pleasure, who have set their compass for the
land called Pleasure, will cry out in horror when they find that it is a land of
treacherous swamps teeming with mosquitoes, toads, snakes and wasps.
Whereas those who set their compass for a land called Work will discover a
world of fantastic beauty. Are you wondering what all this means? It means
that all those emanations, storms and volcanic eruptions triggered by sexual
energy must be channelled, given direction and devoted to the important
work of awakening and setting in motion certain centres dormant in the brain.
This is how man becomes a genius, a Master, a divinity.
Very few human beings have accomplished this work but it is something
in which I have always been passionately interested and to which I have
dedicated myself. This is why I am in a position to guide young people in the
same direction. The problem is, though, that they cannot understand what I
tell them, because it is not what they are looking for. They are looking for
pleasure at any price. They are looking for what they call happiness. But will
they find it in pleasure? There is no guarantee that they will, because pleasure
is linked to pain and effervescence is linked to fermentation and decay. As
they have no sense of moderation, they will eat and drink too much
(symbolically speaking) and stuff themselves with what one of the graffiti on
the walls of the Sorbonne proclaimed as ‘lashings of love’. That is their
understanding of love! And what will the results be? That is something they
don’t know, the poor creatures, because no one has ever told them.
It is not a question of trying to prevent young people from loving, creating
or being free, but of educating them. They ask for freedom and they are
perfectly justified in doing so; everybody should ask to be free. But the
freedom they hope to find in licentiousness is, in reality, a form of slavery.
For them, freedom means to smoke, to fornicate, to destroy and deface
property, to use insulting language! But where will all that lead them? I have
nothing against youth. I was young once; inwardly, in fact, I’m still young, a
great deal younger than most young people. They are already old: it is visible
that, in their attitudes and the things they want, they are already old. This is
why young people must be educated, they must learn that, instead of rushing
headlong into new experiences, they must take the time to reflect and choose
only what is good.3
There is as much variety and as much rich food in the domain of feelings
as there is on the physical plane. Some feelings are the equivalent of spiced
meats and blood sausages; others are the equivalent of fruit and vegetables;
others, again, are like wine or drugs, and so on. But, as young people do not
understand the world of feelings, they swallow anything and everything and
poison themselves.
When I speak of young people, of course, I know that many adults are just
as bad. They, too, are only interested in pleasure, they are just as ignorant and
lacking in common sense as the young; they, too, make themselves ill by
swallowing all kinds of filth. My advice to them is to take a few doses of
bitterness; that is the only thing that will cure them. They have been over-
indulging themselves with sweet things and now they need a little quinine,
and quinine is to be found in wisdom. True, I know that the remedy is not
very pleasant but they would do better to take it anyway. Otherwise they will
find themselves in bed with a temperature.
There are always plenty of passions and desires boiling over in human
beings. That is not what is rare. But what is very rare, almost non-existent in
fact, is the intelligence that would enable them to make choices. Although
this is the most precious attribute they could have, human beings want none
of it. They think that if they exercised prudence and wisdom, they would be
obliged to renounce some of the things they enjoy, and they have no intention
of depriving themselves of anything. But such an attitude only shows how
ignorant and stupid they are. If they had the intelligence to recognize the true
nature of their sentiments and show more discrimination in the choices they
make, they would be far happier. How can you be happy if you are blind? If
you cannot see or take any steps to defend yourself, you will always be at the
mercy of an accident. Don’t delude yourself that you will be happy if you are
blind. It is as though you were handed a closed sack, and told, ‘Don’t look,
just reach in and take out whatever you want.’ So, with your eyes closed, you
put in your hand and get bitten by a viper and die. Believe me, there is always
a viper lying in wait for those who are blind.
No one can blame you for needing exchanges with others. I need them too,
but the great difference is that I don’t go to the gutter in search of joy or
happiness; I go to that source of universal love, the sun. The sun floods the
whole of nature with its particles of light and love, and we receive these
particles through the stones, plants and animals of the earth as well as
through other human beings. It is true that men and women also possess a
few particles from the sun, and it is because they have so few that they never
feel satisfied. They are always hungry for more. They always feel the need to
look elsewhere for them.
True love can be found in abundance in the sun; that is where you must go
and look for it. If you don’t drink from the abundance of the fountainhead,
you will have to make do with a few drops of dew that have condensed on a
leaf here or a petal there – and that is never enough. True, there are certain
areas of the human body in which a little love has been hidden, but if you are
content with what you find there you will always be hungry and thirsty. All
lovers experience this: they have a constant sensation of inner hunger, they
are never completely satisfied. There is always something missing. The only
answer is to go to the source and drink from that immense love which is food
and drink to the whole of creation.4 If, in addition, they want to love a man or
woman, there is nothing to prevent them from doing so, but to be totally
fulfilled, they must first go and look for love at its source. No man or woman
can give them enough love to fulfil all their needs. In the long run they will
always feel that part of their being is dissatisfied, unfulfilled.
I realize that what I am saying is very remote and even unattainable for
many. They cannot really grasp it, even in theory, and it will be centuries
before they can hope to put it into practice. But I know someone who has
already put it into practice; why not ask him how you can do so? Am I
unhappy? Am I constantly running after women? No, I have everything I
need. I have so much love that it overflows from my heart and pours out on
humanity. If I have found the secret, you can do so, too. The trouble is that
you don’t really want to. You reason exactly like all those who think that they
will be miserable if they cannot satisfy their sensual appetites. Well, if you
insist, go ahead, satisfy your lusts, I have no objection, but you will see the
results. What results? They are always the same: ruin and bankruptcy. A
great many famous people, many writers, painters, poets and musicians have
fallen victim to a passion that they were unable to vanquish. If the truth were
told, they never really wanted to vanquish it because they were convinced
that they would be unhappier still if they freed themselves from it. Nine
tenths of mankind reason in the same way.
I have met a great many people who were ill and unhappy, and when I told
them what they could do about it, they would reply, ‘But I don’t have time.’
‘Ah, you don’t have time. I see, I see...’ ‘What do you see?’ ‘I see that you
will have plenty of time to suffer.’ Believe me, if you have no time for the
light, you will be obliged to have time for darkness. If you have no time for
health, you will have time for sickness, you will have time to toss and turn in
your bed. What else can I say? It is absolutely, mathematically certain. You
don’t have to tell me how human beings reason, I know it only too well. They
reason like babes in arms. It is almost unbelievable. To be sure, if you have
no criteria by which to judge some of their theories, you will probably find
them very unusual and philosophical. You will exclaim, ‘What an original
idea! How exciting... how wonderful!’ Well, if you were an initiate you
would not find their ideas at all wonderful, you would find them infantile.
You must realize that your body is built of the materials you absorb. If
these materials are not pure, you will be impure, and if they are poisonous,
they will make you ill. This is an absolute law, not only on the physical plane
but also on the psychic plane. So, just as you must be careful about the purity
of what you eat and drink on the physical plane, you must also be careful to
see that the thoughts and feelings you absorb and digest are pure.
I pity those who refuse to understand these great laws. It is not I who have
invented them; all I have done is to discover their existence in nature and
ascertain their effect on myself. This is why whatever you say and whatever
new philosophy you feel like inventing, I shall always compare it with the
philosophy that Cosmic Intelligence has written into nature. If I see that
Cosmic Intelligence approves of your philosophy, I shall accept it willingly,
but if Cosmic Intelligence shows me that it contradicts what exists in nature,
then I must reject it.
Young people have a tendency to accept something only if it is pleasant. I
understand this tendency, but, as I said a few moments ago, pleasantness is
not a good guide. You must not let yourself choose something simply
because it is pleasant for the consequences will always be unpleasant. It is
very pleasant to treat oneself to a delicious meal in a restaurant, but it is not
nearly so pleasant to be presented with the bill afterwards. Why do people
think that they have the right to eat all they want without paying for it?
Everything in life has to be paid for in one way or another. There are
quantities of markets and shops and displays of goods that tempt you to buy,
but as soon as you decide to buy something, you have to pay for it. And it is
the knowledge that you are going to have to pay for whatever you take that
should restrain you and make you think to yourself, ‘It’s not really worth it.
It’s too expensive. The pleasure I’ll get from it won’t last long, it will take
years to pay my debt and I’ll have nothing to show for it.’ You must not get
the idea that I want to deprive you of all joy and happiness. On the contrary.
All I want is to persuade you to exchange your extremely costly joys for
others that cost almost nothing. There are only a few things that are
indispensable in life, and, for the most part, these things cost nothing at all.
Sunlight, air, water and food are all indispensable and, except for food, which
costs a little, you need never pay a penny for them.
It seems that, ever since last May, young people have been demonstrating
in support of their demand for the right to smoke, make love promiscuously
and rebel against society. You never hear them clamouring that they need
light, spirituality or a divine science. No, all they want is the freedom to eat
and drink and amuse themselves. But none of this is new, you know. Men
have shouted the same refrain ever since the beginning of the world and the
Roman populace clamoured for ‘bread and circuses’. We never hear people
shouting, ‘Give us the kingdom of God and his righteousness!’ It is always
the easy, pleasurable things of life that people clamour for.
But just as it is essential, for the sake of his health, beauty and
intelligence, that man should choose the best physical food, it is equally
essential that he should choose the best possible psychic food. This is another
aspect of the moral law that cannot be denied. People always try to mix the
good and the bad without discrimination and it is this that is immoral, it is
this that is in contradiction with the intelligence of nature. The good and the
bad can be mixed, that is true, but the result is spiritual death. This is why,
instead of abandoning themselves without restraint to the pursuit of pleasure,
gratification of the senses and amusements of all kinds, young people should
study and work and give themselves time to mature, and then nobody would
want to deprive them of anything. First and foremost, instead of giving
themselves up to disorder, they must learn to control themselves and master
their own impulses, otherwise the result will inevitably be the loss of all their
magnetism, all their youthful freshness and charm and that subtle, heavenly
quality that is their most precious treasure.
At the moment, young people stand before the open gates of hell. Their
one thought is to seduce and inflame each other, and no one is capable of
restraining or steadying them; no one, not even some of the priests or
philosophers who try to talk to them, because there is no solid science behind
their words. The advice they give is, no doubt, very good, but it is not based
on scientific arguments. The great need, now, is for some irrefutable
scientific arguments.
I am not against pleasure. It is perfectly legitimate to want pleasure, but
why not combine pleasure with another element so that, when you unite with
a man or woman, it becomes possible to produce a spark, a light? You cannot
produce light alone. Men and women seek each other out because, left to
themselves, neither of them can create a child, neither of them can create
happiness. But when they come together they produce a spark, a child. And
the same is true in the inner dimension; feeling or pleasure by themselves,
without thought, are incomplete (there is the scientific argument for you).
Why act according to your feelings alone, without the participation of their
partner, your intelligence? Your intelligence can achieve nothing without the
power of feeling and feelings can achieve nothing without the power of
intelligence.
I am not particularly narrow-minded or puritanical, it is just that I look at
things from a different point of view. If the young people’s demands were
aesthetic, useful and constructive, I would be the first to congratulate them.
Take the case of nudists, for instance: I am not scandalized by their
behaviour, I don’t condemn them. The only thing I hold against them is that,
under cover of a healthy enthusiasm for fresh air, sunshine and freedom, they
have other things in mind and their way of life is not blameless. I am not
opposed to their ideas, for they are true and in harmony with nature, but they
do not apply those ideas correctly. If they did I would be the first to preach
the merits of nudism.
To be sure, none of this is new. In fact, far worse things have been done.
There have always been groups of licentious men and women given to the
practice of debauchery. Even here, in Paris, about ten years ago, there was a
Russian woman called Naglowska who introduced practices of sexual magic.
She would stand in the centre of a circle formed by couples engaged in sexual
intercourse, under the pretext that she was capable of gathering up the fluidic
forces emanating from them and of using them to work wonders. It is
certainly true that fluidic forces are released at such moments, but it would be
ludicrous to imagine that a poor, witless, unbalanced young woman should be
capable of collecting and transforming these forces. People can say what they
like, but they cannot pull the wool over my eyes. I see through it all. I analyse
and sort and weigh what I hear and allow nothing untrue to pass.
Human beings always have a tendency to obey the dictates of their
sensuality and, then, of course, they feel the need to justify their behaviour,
so they say, ‘It’s a beautiful idea... a work of unity... a transformation... a
sublimation, etc., etc.’ How nice it would be if it were enough to say so for it
to be true! People use ideas picked up in esoteric books, many of which are
perfectly good in themselves, but they apply them in diabolical ways. It is
important that you be aware of these things.5 Practices of sexual magic exist,
or have existed, in certain tribes in Africa and throughout India and Japan
and, even, in England, with the activity of the late occultist, Aleister Crowley.
I don’t deny that there may be cases in which it is practised with the utmost
purity, but such cases are extremely rare and, unfortunately, the practice is
going to be more and more widespread. You will see that orgies and
licentious practices will become more and more common, and the reason is
that true science is disappearing, the true Initiatic Science, the true
knowledge, which you are learning from me and which is irrefutable.
Someone who does not possess this science thinks that all his aberrations can
be justified, but once he possesses it, he knows that he is inexcusable.
One day, if young people begin to grasp this, they will be horrified to see
the abyss that is waiting to engulf them and it may well be that it is they who
sound the alarm and bring the rest of the world to its senses. I hope so,
anyway. I certainly hope so! But, for the time being, they have not got this
knowledge, their elders have not given it to them because they, themselves,
have not received it. In the circumstances it is not surprising that they allow
themselves to be guided by their desires and instinctual tendencies. What is
Problem of Love’.
4 See Love and Sexuality, Complete Works, vol. 15, chap. 3: ‘The Sun is the

Source of Love.
5 See above, chap. 16: ‘Tantra-Yoga’.
 Chapter Three
Creative activity as a means of evolution
When I see what goes on in the world – and since I am living in this world
I can hardly avoid seeing what goes on – it becomes obvious to me that
human beings are gradually losing something essential. There are many
indications of this and, in particular, the fact that men and women no longer
know what to believe or in what direction they should be going. In spite of all
their culture and science, in spite of so much progress in every area, they are
more and more troubled and unsure of themselves. In my opinion (and since
everybody proclaims his opinion, why shouldn’t I give you mine?) this is
because they have not got a true philosophical system.
Everyone is free to invent or believe whatever he pleases, and the result is
an extraordinary variety of weird and wonderful opinions and theories to
choose from, but there is no one system that everyone can use as a frame of
reference. True, there are some remnants of traditional spiritual and moral
doctrines, but the majority has ceased to believe in them; instead they allow
themselves to be influenced by any theory that presents itself, however
deformed, perverse and negative. Human beings are no longer attracted to
what is sensible, ordered and harmonious; they want something new and
different. They clamour for change for its own sake. Take the case of the arts:
why are painters, sculptors, musicians and poets so eager to portray ugliness,
deformity and chaos? In the past, artists looked for beauty, harmony,
perfection and light and, now, it seems, they spurn all that. The few
individuals who still cling to some principles and ideals, are objects of scorn
and distrust.
I can remember my life in the far-distant past, so I can compare what goes
on today with a time when the Kingdom of God existed on earth and the
Golden Age of mankind ensured peace, happiness and prosperity for all. One
day, all that disappeared and the world became subject to the rule of anarchy
and violence. There is no more room for love, intelligence, kindness and
gentleness. The only God men know, their only creed, is violence, violence in
all its forms.
I was not in France during the ‘Events of May,’ in Paris, when the young
people were in revolt, but my whole soul was anxiously keeping watch, for I
had a feeling that civil war was not very far off. Mercifully, heaven spared us
that tragedy. Later, I talked to a certain number of young people about these
events and one, in particular, insisted that rebellion was the only way to bring
about change, that history showed that men have always had to resort to
violence and the use of force in order to achieve greater justice and freedom.
The only alternative, said this young man, was to withdraw from the main
body of society and form a sub-culture in which one could live according to
one’s aspirations.
But let me tell you what I told this young man: that there is a third
solution. The first solution, the solution of violence, is the one we see most
often in history. But, the problem with this solution is that, once the impetus
has been given, it can no longer be controlled, it rolls on to the bitter end,
driven by passion and instinct. Reason is powerless to halt the process. The
second solution is unrealistic and unattainable, for the time being at any rate,
because young people have no one to counsel and guide them in building a
new society. But there is a third possibility, and that is to do what the people
of India did when they pursued their legitimate, logical and intelligent goals
in peace and non-violence. These methods were so much admired and
acclaimed in other countries that Great Britain was obliged to give in. In the
face of the selflessness and moral strength of a whole nation, she realized that
to continue to try to impose her rule on India would cause her to forfeit her
international prestige.
The youth of France could have obliged everyone to capitulate if they had
behaved differently, if they had demonstrated the superiority of their
demands, the intelligence of their methods and a high degree of calmness,
self-discipline and order in their behaviour. If they had refrained from
burning or damaging property, they could have stirred the conscience of the
entire world. Why turn to people like Che Guevara, Fidel Castro or Mao Tse-
tung for guidance? Young people need to learn from other sources, from far
higher, more luminous beings than these. Besides, policies that have
succeeded in one country will not necessarily succeed elsewhere; different
methods are needed in different countries. Young people still have a lot to
learn. I agree that they should have won through, but by reason of their moral
superiority, not through the use of violence. To follow the example of the
violent ways of the past shows an appalling lack of judgement and perception
in the choices they made.1
As I have so often said, the situation in which men find themselves, today,
with no genuine philosophical system to guide them, is far from reassuring.
The mentality is such that we have to be prepared for almost anything. What
is happening today, in fact, is nothing compared to the terrible events that the
future holds and which are all too easy to foresee. When there is no room for
God in a man’s heart, why should he continue to be good and kind and
generous? It becomes ridiculous to be kind and honest in such circumstances.
This is why I am so anxious to put before you and before the whole world, a
philosophical and religious or moral system which no one, neither scientists
nor philosophers nor religious leaders, will ever be able to demolish. People
may scoff and pour scorn on it, but no one will ever be able to refute or
destroy it, because it is not a human invention that fluctuates with the times;
it is a system established, once and for all, by Cosmic Intelligence.
If you transgress the moral codes or rules laid down by men and are found
out, you must expect to pay the price. If you are not found out, you will not
be punished, because nature is not going to make you pay for breaking laws
invented by human beings. But if you break the laws of nature, you cannot
hope to escape punishment. Even if your fellow men admire you and crown
you with laurels, nature will punish you. You may be a hero to others, but it
is impossible to placate nature; she will simply put you to bed. Now, don’t
think that I am telling you to break the laws laid down by men. Not at all.
Jesus said , ‘Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the
things that are God’s’.2 In other words, ‘respect the law of the land, the laws
of men, but respect, first and foremost, the laws of God, that is to say, the
laws of nature’.
The first point of the cosmic moral law which I explained to you two days
ago, was the law of cause and effect. This is the law that states that we reap
only what we have sown and I told you that it was drawn from the lesson of
agriculture. Yesterday, I showed you that, just as we are obliged to sort the
good from the bad, on the physical level, and choose some things and discard
others, we have to exercise the same discrimination in respect to thoughts and
feelings and accept some and reject others. We can consider that these two
irrefutable points have been sufficiently hammered home... So we come,
now, to another point of cosmic moral law which is particularly important
because it concerns one of man’s most essential activities, creation. You will
certainly have noticed that I always base my teaching on something concrete
and tangible – stones, plants and animals, for instance, or human beings and
the way they live and behave – rather than on abstract, philosophical,
metaphysical notions. I do this because it is not a good pedagogical method
to start with something abstract, it is always preferable to start from concrete,
visible, tangible reality and work up to the level of abstraction. So, if I always
begin by taking you for a stroll on earth, it is because, to my mind, this is the
best starting point.
When one observes human beings, one sees that they need to eat, drink,
think, love, study and work, etc. But they also have another need: they need
to create. From their earliest childhood, they express this need in their little
sand-castles, their drawings and paintings. I receive quantities of these
creations every day, from all those creative geniuses of the future, the
children of the Brotherhood. Even the most primitive peoples have this need
to create, as we can see from the cave paintings found in so many parts of
Europe and Africa. Thanks to these drawings, we can have quite a good idea
of the animals that existed in those periods and of the customs of the people,
including their magical practices, for it seems that these drawings were an
attempt to put a spell on the animals they portrayed and ensure success in
their hunting. This is a very interesting point, because it shows that they had
some notion of the laws which enable man to use the image of a living being
in order to influence it.
From the very beginning of his evolution, therefore, man has felt the need
to create and, first and foremost, the need to create children. One of his
strongest and most tenacious instincts is this need to be a creator and, in this
way, to resemble his heavenly Father. And if it is not children that he wants
to create, it is works of art – sculptures, monuments, ballets, song, poems,
etc. When I talked to you about Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, I told
you that they were tremendously gifted in every branch of art, poetry,
painting, sculpture and architecture. Leonardo da Vinci, in fact, was also a
musician, a mathematician and an engineer. The simple fact that art exists
proves that man’s urge to be a creator is not restricted to the creation of
children, to a mere function of reproduction for the preservation of the
species. It manifests itself as a need in man to transcend his own limits, to
move onto a higher level and replace old forms by new, subtler, more
beautiful, more perfect forms. This is a truth that many artists have failed to
comprehend. Man’s creative powers belong to a higher plane than his
ordinary consciousness, to a region of his soul that manifests itself as
imagination, as the capacity to explore and contemplate realities that
transcend him and to capture something of their elements. To create is to
transcend, to surpass oneself.
I have already explained to you that, if inventors discover such
extraordinary laws and techniques, it is because they have the ability to rise
to the level of imagination and, higher still, to the level of intuition. They get
their ideas and images from above before bringing them down to earth in the
form of writings, designs or concrete realizations. Orthodox science has
never explored the possibilities of intuition or the nature of this faculty which
is like an antenna or radar that can see and foretell the future. Whenever a
scholar who is half-way between the accepted science of the day and esoteric
science, ventures to expose more advanced ideas, nobody believes him. His
ideas are condemned and rejected and it is only much later that he is
recognized as one of the great precursors of scientific knowledge. Take the
case of Jules Verne, for instance: he was not a scientist, only a novelist, and
he had never travelled when he wrote Five Weeks in a Balloon, Around the
World in Eighty Days, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, From the
Earth to the Moon, etc. At the time, his books seemed much too far-fetched.
In fact, he was a laughing-stock for many, but, today, even his most
extravagant ideas are beginning to come true.
Thus this faculty that we all possess, the faculty of imagination, is truly
creative and, if we learn how to purify it and cultivate it in conditions of
perfect clarity and lucidity, it is capable of showing us undreamed-of
realities. Inventors have always spent long hours totally absorbed in
meditation and research and we cannot deny that their intuition is a truly
authentic faculty. And we, in this Initiatic school, are doing exactly the same
thing, but consciously and deliberately. The only difference is that our
imagination is not orientated towards discoveries in the field of physics,
chemistry or technology, but towards inner, spiritual discoveries. In this area,
we discover things that would be unimaginable to many.
I cannot spend any more time on this question today, fascinating though it
may be, but I have already mentioned, on other occasions, that our
imagination is our spouse, an inner wife who brings children into the world.
And each of your children will turn out to be a success or a disaster
depending on the quality of what you have contributed to their creation. If
they behave badly and damage other people’s property, it is you, their father,
who have to pay their fines or, even, to forfeit your freedom or your property.
If the children win prizes, on the other hand, it is their father who receives all
the credit for them. You will ask, ‘But what children are you talking about?’ I
am talking about our thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts and feelings are our
children and we are their father.3 Here, again, is a very vast field of study and
research... but I must not digress. Let’s get back to the question under
discussion.
This creative instinct, that we all possess, inspires us to reach out beyond
our ordinary possibilities and puts us in touch with other regions and other
worlds inhabited by other subtler, etheric, luminous entities. And it is thanks
to this dimension of our being that frees itself from its earthly constraints and
rises to higher spheres where it receives other, entirely new elements, that we
can create children or works of art that are superior to ourselves. Indeed, it
often happens that a creation is far lovelier than its creator. When you see a
weedy little runt of a man, it is difficult to believe that he is capable of
producing tremendous works of art worthy of a giant, a Titan. And yet, that
subtle part of him that is capable of reaching beyond the physical realm,
frequently journeys far afield and rises to great heights and brings back a
wealth of new elements. And then the artist earns the praise and admiration of
the whole world when he uses these elements to produce and exhibit works of
art of exceptional power and beauty.
But, although all men need to create, very few are capable of becoming
creators on the spiritual plane. Very few rise to this level or realize that, in
order to produce sublime works of art, they must know certain laws and train
themselves in a very special way. What is that special way? You will
understand in a moment. How is it that, in winter, the earth is
unprepossessing, bare and sterile, and, then, in spring, it is covered with
beautiful, colourful vegetation? What has happened to produce the change? It
is because, in the spring, the earth is closer to the sun from which it receives
certain elements that it is incapable of producing by itself.4 Once it has
received these elements, it sets to work and surpasses itself, producing
quantities of extraordinarily beautiful, sweet, coloured, delicately scented
‘works of art’ which it exhibits for the delight of all creatures. If man wishes
to create and produce works of great beauty, therefore, he must also find a
sun, a being of greater power and intelligence than himself, with whom he
can unite himself and establish an exchange.
Now you can understand why we go and watch the sun rising in the
morning: in order to learn to create works that resemble the sun, works that
will be new and limpid and capable of conveying life, warmth and light to
others.5 In fact, the sun helps us to go much further than that. It helps us to
seek out and unite ourselves with God himself, because it is when we
establish a relationship of exchange with the Lord that we can become
creators as he is a creator. This is the reason for prayer, meditation and
contemplation.
I am not sure that all this is quite clear to you, however, so let me try to
explain it further.
For many years, I have had the desire to combat and destroy the
philosophy of materialism. You will, no doubt, say, ‘What terrible pride and
ambition! No one has been able to do that.’ But I have a handful of very
simple arguments which will enable me to do so. Suppose I take two different
perfumes which I pour into two glass flacons. The two flacons are quite
separate and distinct and a materialist would be perfectly correct in saying
that there was no connection between them. On the purely material level, as
far as the external form of the two containers is concerned, that is true, there
is no interaction, no connection. If you consider the contents of the flacons,
however, this is no longer true, for the subtle particles emanating from the
two perfumes touch and blend with each other as they rise into the
atmosphere. A scientific system that studies only visible, tangible,
measurable phenomena can have no perception of what goes on on the
subtler level of quintessences and invisible emanations. At this point,
therefore, that system ceases to be entirely truthful, for fifty percent of truth is
beyond its scope.
And, now, let’s take the case of the sun. It is very far from the earth,
millions of miles away, and yet we can feel its presence, here on earth, as it
touches and warms and heals us. How can it be so far away and, at the same
time, so near? It is by means of the quintessence emanating from it, by means
of its rays, that the sun touches us. The light and warmth of the sun caress
and kiss and penetrate us so that we become one with it. And since the light
and warmth of the sun are, really and truly, the sun itself, it is also true to say
– as I have already told you, a long time ago – that the sun and the planets
actually touch each other. I know that you half believed this and half doubted
it, but perhaps you will have a little more faith in what I tell you, when I say
that, last month, I came across an article by an astronomer who said exactly
the same thing. Do you want to know how I found it out for myself? It is very
simple. Look at our planet: it consists of dry land and, over parts of that land,
there is water. Over the water is a layer of air, and above the air is the ether,
or what the Hindus call Akasha. The ether, therefore, is a subtler state of
matter and it is on this etheric plane that we can say that the planets touch
each other. They are joined, not on the level of their solid, physical
dimension, but on the level of their subtle dimension, the level of their souls.
This explains why astrology has always believed in the influence of the
planets and constellations.
And, now, let’s study those miniature planets called man and woman.
What is it that happens between them? Here is a young man and, there, a girl,
and they are in love. They look at each other and smile. If we look at the
situation from a materialistic point of view, we would have to say, ‘Here are
two bodies, quite separate and distinct. They are not touching each other,
therefore there is no point of communication between them.’ But, from a
spiritual point of view, we would see things differently. We would say that,
since the souls of these two young people are in communion with each other,
they are really and truly joined by means of their fluids and emanations,
exactly as the rays of two suns meet and unite in space. Man takes up far
more space than the volume occupied by his physical body. If you study
man’s emanations and radiations, his aura and his magnetic field, you will
see that their action can be felt at great distances. Man is much more than his
physical body. His being reaches out into space, he moves about in space.
You have probably heard of the experiments in telepathy carried out by
the American army in an attempt to test certain possibilities of man’s mind
and see if they could be used for military purposes. Two people who were
known to be psychically sensitive were chosen. One of them remained in
Washington, under the observation of a special committee: his task was to
emit images and thoughts which he noted as he went along. These notes were
immediately placed in a safe, so that there was no possibility of anyone
cheating. The other person was thousands of miles away, in a submarine
submerged in the Pacific and he, too, was kept under constant observation by
a special committee. His task was to note the images and thoughts he
received and he, too, put his notes away, immediately, in another safe. At the
end of the experiment, everyone was astounded to find that, with a few minor
exceptions, the two files coincided exactly.
We are obliged to recognize that, if thought can penetrate the depths of the
ocean, it must be an extraordinarily powerful force. It is by means of these
radiations, these emissions of minute particles which vibrate extremely
rapidly and powerfully and which can be received by other minds, that man
can reach tremendously far out into space, as far as the sun. Materialistic
science has still not studied everything, that is why it should not lay down the
law about things it knows nothing about.
 I once told you that stones could fly, and you wondered what had got into
me, to say such a thing. But what is dust? Isn’t it minute stones floating in the
air? It is the same matter, for dust comes from the earth and the earth comes
from rocks and stones which have crumbled away. And water, too, can fly in
the form of vapour. Similarly, man, by means of his thoughts and feelings, by
his quintessence, can fly through space and unite with other beings. The
physical bodies are apart, but their souls meet and blend like perfumes.
Which is more important, the bottles or the perfume they contain, the
container or the contents? It all depends on your point of view, on whether
you are interested in the outer or the inner reality, the bark of the tree or the
life that flows through it, the mechanical or the living aspect of things. If you
adopt a mechanistic point of view, obviously, you will believe that the sun is
neither alive nor intelligent. But if you envisage the living dimension of the
universe, you will find that there is nothing more powerful or more intelligent
than the sun. You have the choice between two points of view, but it is
imperative to realize that, if you look only at the mechanical, lifeless aspect
of the universe, you will always be blind, unhappy and ill.
What I have been saying will help you to understand how man, by means
of his subtle bodies, can reach and unite himself with the Soul of the
Universe. And this is the reason for the existence of prayer. Prayer is simply
a communion and communication with our Maker, an act by which we rise
above our own level, by which we transcend ourselves in order to create
works of absolute, divine perfection. And this, too, is an essential element of
the cosmic moral law. A human creator who wishes to produce an immortal,
unforgettable masterpiece, must not make the mistake of so many
contemporary artists and remain on the level of the five senses. It is the
fashion, in modern art, to portray the most prosaic realities of everyday life.
Most artists do not know how to rise to the contemplation of sublime beauty;
they have nothing but platitudes and monstrosities, ‘gargoyles,’ to put before
the public because they have lost the secret of true creativity.
So this, then, is the third point of cosmic moral law: if you want to free
yourself from all the difficulties that beset you and become a true creator, you
must unite yourself with the Godhead. In this way you will receive something
divine, some minute, divine particles which you can, then, communicate to
your creations. Whatever you create in this manner, whether it be a child or a
work of art, will be far lovelier and more intelligent than you, its creator.
What unimagined vistas and vast, unexplored horizons open before you when
you see prayer, meditation and contemplation as a relationship of communion
and exchange with higher levels of being and a means of creation.6 When you
understand this, the possibilities that open up before you are so immense that
your whole lifetime will not be sufficient to explore them all.
Those who refuse to recognize the necessity of rising to a higher level in
order to create, should realize that they are sawing off the branch they are
sitting on! How can they ever hope to improve and grow? They will whither
and dry up and, once dried up, they will only be fit to be lopped off and
burned. There is nothing more important in the whole universe than to be
linked to the Creator. Have you never noticed that the birth of children is
based on the same law, that the mother must be united and become one with
the father? Every creation requires a union between father and mother and, if
the subtle dimension of the soul and imagination is excluded from that union
and fails to contribute any higher elements, the creation will be aborted or, if
not actually aborted, it will not be a step forward. True creation is not
something stagnant, it is not a mere reproduction, a copy; it is a step forward,
an evolution. It is thanks to this creative instinct that individuals and the
cosmos as a whole evolve. With the single exception of God himself,
everything has to evolve.
The Bonfin, 5 August, 1968

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s’ – Matt. 22: 21
1 See A New Dawn: Society and Politics in the Light of Initiatic Science, vol.
25, chap 3: ‘Youth in Revolt’.
2 See The Key to the Problems of Existence, Complete Works, vol. 11, chap.
14: ‘Render Therefore Unto Caesar’.
3 See Le grain de sénevé, Complete Works, vol. 4, chap. 12: ‘Croissez et
multipliez’.
4 See Langage symbolique, langage de la nature, Complete Works, vol. 8,

chap. 7: ‘Le premier jour du printemps’.

5 See Sunrise Meditations, Brochure n° 323.
6 See ‘Know Thyself’: Jnana Yoga, Complete Works, vol. 18, chap. 6:
‘Concentration, Meditation, Contemplation and Identification’ and chap. 7:
‘Prayer’.
 Chapter Four
Justice
I

Everybody, even a child, knows that, when you buy food or anything else,
you have to pay for it. The salesman weighs, measures or counts out your
purchases – so many kilos of apples, so many metres of cloth, so many tins of
peas – and then he expects you to give something in exchange, something
that is neither so heavy nor so bulky nor so numerous, but which is equivalent
in value to what you are buying. You will say that that is nothing new; you
know all that. True, but if you have just a little patience, you will learn a great
many things that are new to you. The little things we do every day are so
simple and have become so automatic, that we never take the trouble to
examine them and see how they can throw light on important truths on other
levels.
Suppose, for instance, that you fill your shopping bag with food at the
grocer’s and then go off without paying for it: what is he going to do about
it? He will chase after you, of course, and shout and threaten and insult you
and get you arrested. For thousands of years, human beings have understood
that life in a community is based on the law of exchange. Experience has
taught men that life is possible in human society only if all its members agree
to this notion of give and take, not only on the physical plane but, also, on the
psychic and spiritual plane. And this is what they call justice, this law of
exchange which decrees that if you take something you have to give
something of equal value in exchange. He who manages to maintain the
balance between the two sides of the scales manifests himself as a just man.
If the symbol of the Scales of Justice can be seen over the entrance of so
many Courts of Law, it is because justice is based on this notion of balance,
of equal exchange. But the notion of balance applies to all kinds of other
areas, as well. In the area of physical and psychic health, for instance, we say
that someone is well-balanced or not well-balanced, and the same notion
applies in politics, economics and finance. Through play, children learn the
notion of balance when they are still very young. They make a see-saw with a
plank poised on a big stone and then, with a child sitting on each end, another
stands in the middle and moves from one foot to the other, making the two
ends move alternately up and down. You can see the same thing with trained
animals in a circus. But how many people have understood the laws that lie
behind these games?
You will perhaps remember that I have already spoken to you about the
Cosmic Balance which is considered, in the Zohar, to be the foundation of the
universe in which the forces of nature are in a state of perfect equilibrium.1 In
actual fact, the equilibrium of the universe is not absolute, there is a constant
oscillation; if the two sides of the scales were absolutely immobile, all
manifestation would be impossible. It is thanks to this slight lack of
equilibrium that the forces of the universe are constantly in motion,
constantly active. If the universe were in absolute equipoise it would be in a
state of entropy, that is to say of inertia and stagnation. The important thing is
that this imbalance should not be too great because that would lead to total
destruction. An example of this can be seen in the area of psychology:
geniuses, for instance, are not well-balanced people, but their lack of balance
is within acceptable norms. This is why we say that genius is only a short
step from madness. A madman is someone who has gone just one step too
far!
If one learns to work with opposing forces without letting oneself go to
extremes one can become a very great creator. If an irrigation ditch is on a
very slight slope the water will flow gently down it and irrigate your garden.
But if the slope is too steep and there is too much water, everything will be
swept away in the flood. This is what happens when a dam bursts, and the
same phenomenon can be seen in man.
After thousands of years of experience, both happy and unhappy, human
beings have understood that a stable, harmonious society is impossible unless
the great law of balance is respected. They have always clamoured and even
fought for justice, but without really understanding it. You may be surprised
when I say this and feel like asking, ‘How can you say that men don’t
understand justice?’ The trouble is that they understand it on a purely
material level. They give someone something and expect to receive the
equivalent in return and, then, when they don’t get it, they accuse the other
person of injustice and try to revenge themselves. If you give a friend some
money you expect him to pay you back. Even in the past, before money or a
standard system of measurement existed, men practised a form of exchange.
They bartered something – wheat, oil, wine, livestock, skins or metals, for
instance – in exchange for an equivalent quantity of something else. And,
today, men recognize standard weights, measures and currency, but they go
no further than that.
A true understanding of justice can only be found on a higher level of life,
on the psychic level of thoughts and feelings. The phenomena that exist on
the physical level are also present, on the psychic level, but in a subtler mode.
And it is precisely on these subtler levels that, without anyone realizing it, the
greatest injustices occur. Take the well-known case of the relations between a
husband and wife. A man takes everything his wife has to offer, her youth
and beauty, her freshness and vitality, and gives nothing in exchange but
money and physical comfort. Obviously, this is not enough. She also needs
attention, warmth and affection, and he fails to give it to her. This is an
injustice: the balance is upset. This kind of injustice is at the root of all
hostility, not only on the family level but, also, on the level of society and of
mankind as a whole.
The fact that human beings are continually at each other’s throats is not
due to a lack of money, power or knowledge, but to their lack of a sense of
justice. Each one wants the biggest slice of pie for himself, each one tries to
monopolize and drain off all profits for himself without realizing that others
have exactly the same needs. Why do they behave like this? Because man has
developed his lower nature to the detriment of his higher nature. On the
psychic level man is an ellipse, that is to say that his emanations, his aura,
form an ellipse and, as you know, an ellipse has two focal points. The lower
of man’s focal points represents his personality, the stomach, belly and sexual
organs or, in symbolic terms, the earth. The higher focal point represents the
individuality, [This use of the words ‘personality’ and ‘individuality’ may be
misunderstood if it is not placed in the context of Omraam Mikhaël
Aïvanhov’s teaching concerning the two natures in man, the human and
divine, the lower self and the higher Self or, as he terms them, the personality
and the individuality. For a fuller treatment of the subject, see The Key to the
Problems of Existence, Complete Works, vol. 11, and Man’s Two Natures,
Human and Divine, Izvor Collection, No. 213.] the brain, which is the seat of
reason, intelligence and intuition or, symbolically speaking, the sun.2 And, as
the great majority of human beings have made it their rule to take care only
of themselves, to look out for their own comfort and well-being, their own
advantage, and care nothing for the state of their fellow men, their personality
has swollen out of all proportion, and the clamour of its demands, as it uses
hoof, nail and claw to get what it wants, drowns out the voice of the
individuality.
 Look at what happens with many married couples. The husband goes off
to work in the morning while his wife, left to herself at home, starts mulling
over all his shortcomings. ‘Why did I ever marry the imbecile? He’ll never be
a success; he earns next to nothing; I’ve got nothing decent to wear and none
of the comforts I’m entitled to in the house... Look at the woman next door,
she’s got everything, a fur coat, jewellery, a car, a new washing machine,
etc., etc.’ All day long, she grumbles about her husband, for no other reason
than that she only thinks of herself. And her husband does exactly the same.
He thinks to himself, ‘That woman will drive me crazy. She hasn’t got a
grain of sense. She thinks of nothing but gadding about, shopping and going
to the beauty parlour. Everything I earn goes on perfume and jewellery. And
to crown it all, she spends hours in tea-rooms, gossiping with her friends and
stuffing herself with cream cakes. I’m the one who has to bear all the
responsibilities!’ Well, after a day spent in thinking along these lines, is it any
wonder that, when the husband gets home in the evening, they are both ripe
for a fight?
For my part, I believe that it is all a question of one’s point of view: a
better, different point of view does exist, and, if these unhappy people
adopted it, they would see things in a different light and their lives would be
the better for it. What is this point of view? I will tell you. Instead of
criticizing her husband for not earning enough to satisfy her taste for smart
clothes and the comforts of life, the wife should change her outlook, and
think to herself, ‘The poor darling spends his life working his fingers to the
bone in a noisy, dusty factory, surrounded by all kinds of unpleasant people,
in order to earn enough money to keep me and the children. He’s always
exhausted when he gets home; he never has time to relax. While I’m free to
take as much time off as I want. I can sleep or watch a film, go for a walk or
to the beauty-parlour, play the piano and visit my friends whenever I please. I
must do something for him to make up for all his hard work...’ So she sets to
work and prepares his favourite meal and, when he gets home in the evening,
she hugs and kisses him and tells him that he is the best husband in the world
and makes him sit down and rest while she gets his supper ready! And he
stares at her in astonishment, wondering what on earth has got into her!
And the husband, for his part, should say to himself, ‘The poor darling
doesn’t have much fun. I’m free to have a game of cards or go to the pub
with my pals, while she has to stay at home and wash and clean and cook and
look after the children. She never has a minute to put her feet up. There’s not
a better wife in the world! I must change my attitude; I must be nicer to her.’
So he buys some flowers or a little present to surprise her with when he gets
home, and she is so touched that they bill and coo and live happily ever after!
Thus it is the point of view that needs to be changed. Instead of clinging to
one’s wretched little personality that sees only the worst aspects of people
and events, you must move up to the higher focal point of the ellipse, where
you will find the sun. Do this and you will see the results for yourself; it will
give you enormous happiness. It is the easiest thing in the world to use others
and dominate and crush them. Or perhaps I should say that it is not so easy as
all that; you can never be absolutely sure that you have put your adversaries
out of action once and for all. On the other hand, it is far easier simply to
change one’s point of view. Try it and you will begin to see all kinds of
qualities in that woman you used to complain about, qualities which she may
not really have, of course, but that does not matter. It will do no harm if you
idealize her a bit. And wives can invent a few qualities for their husbands.
Why do married people always think of their own happiness, their own
advantage, their own merits, and never of those of their partner? It is unjust to
think only of oneself. In fact, it is this injustice that causes such strife and
suffering in the world, for it exists absolutely everywhere.
The same kind of thing can be seen in the relations between employers
and employees: tensions and conflicts stem from the fact that both parties
think only of their own interests. And do you know what advice I would give
to workers? We all know that they are always asking for higher wages and,
when they get them, prices go up and their situation is exactly what it was
before. So, then, they want another rise and the vicious circle is perpetuated.
But we have to break out of that vicious circle. How? Instead of asking for
more money, I advise workers to ask for less. I know that this will astonish
you, but my advice to workers is to strike – but to keep on working while
they strike – for lower wages. Do you know what the result would be? Their
employers would begin to love and respect and admire them so much that it
is they who would decide to increase their wages. So I advise workers to ask
for less money! Of course, I know you will all be saying, ‘He’s joking. He
must be out of his mind!’ Possibly, but be patient; you may yet make some
very interesting discoveries.
There are a certain number of laws with which I am familiar, and one of
them says that an increase on one side is always accompanied by a decrease
on the opposite side. This is absolutely mathematical. We can see this law at
work, for instance, in the inverse proportion that governs the relation of speed
to time: when speed increases, time decreases and, when speed decreases,
time increases. You have all experienced this for yourselves: you know that if
you normally take ten minutes to walk from one place to another and, today,
you want to get there in five minutes, you will have to walk faster than usual.
But if you want to take twenty minutes on the way, you will have to walk
more slowly. Nothing could be clearer. Well, the same kind of relationship
exists between many different phenomena in life. Take the case of nutrition,
for instance: the more you eat, the less hungry you will be. Similarly, in the
area of love, which is a kind of nutrition, the more lovers ‘eat’ – you know
what I mean – the weaker their love will be; in fact they glut themselves to
such an extent that their love almost ceases to exist. When they learn to eat
less, to take only homoeopathic doses, their love increases in intensity,
strength and breadth and grows into something extraordinary.
It is vitally important to be aware of these laws. The more importance you
attach to wealth and material possessions the less intense will be your
spiritual and mental life, and the less inclination you will feel to read, study
or meditate. You will allow these levels of activity to slacken off because you
no longer feel the pressure of need. Those who are too comfortably provided
for on the material level run the risk of seeing the forces that once surged
through them dwindle away. Before becoming rich they were alert, active,
dynamic and ingenious and, then, once they are rich, they are weighed down
by their possessions and begin to lose their former qualities. They become
dull and sluggish. Their lives unwind in slow motion. To be sure, you will see
these people in public life and at social gatherings but, within themselves,
they are wilted, empty, burnt out: the fires of true life have been stifled.
If a man manages to deprive himself, even if only a little, in the area of
food and physical comfort, he will begin to feel a force awakening within
him which is capable of overcoming and transforming every obstacle. But
most people find themselves thickening and becoming heavier and more
materialistic and, then, they wonder why they no longer feel the same joy and
inspiration. They begin to be more and more disillusioned... sick and tired of
everything. Their life loses all meaning.
The meaning of life is to become, every day, more enthusiastic, energetic,
dynamic and ardent. What is the alternative? What is the point of depriving
oneself of life in order to accumulate masses of dead material? Those who
think of nothing but money and material possessions very soon lose all
sparkle and burn out. Their lives drag on without enthusiasm, without any
real joy, without inspiration, without any of those great illuminations which
reveal the meaning of life. If you offered me all the wealth in the world I
would say, ‘Do you want to kill me? Keep the world and its wealth for
yourself; the thing I’m interested in is life! Thanks to life, I shall possess the
whole world. You may rule the world, to be sure, but its quintessence will be
mine.’
I have already talked to you about how dangerous money can be in the
hands of someone who has no spiritual ideal, because he will think of nobody
but himself. The thought of money, the desire for money, grows and swells
within him until it blots out the heavens and, then, with so little light to guide
him, he ceases to see the subtler realities and makes more and more blunders.
Also, deprived of the warmth of the spiritual sun, his heart becomes hard and
cold and closed to others. Money is a necessary commodity, to be sure, but
you must take care to keep it in your pocket, in a drawer, in a safe or
wherever else you please, as long as you don’t keep it in your head.
Otherwise your money will become your master and you its slave. If you are
its master and you make it obey you, then you can do a lot of good with it; it
will never seduce you or incite you to crime.3 But if money is your master, it
will insist on your being ‘top dog’. It will want you to buy and monopolize
everything, to control everything and everyone and, in order to do this, you
will be obliged to break the laws of God. Only an initiate can safely possess
all the gold in the world because, being in complete mastery of himself and of
his gold, he will never use it for evil purposes. You must think about this,
examine your position in relation to money and, above all, you must be sure
never to make it your ideal, your goal in life, otherwise it will be the ruin of
you.
And now, let me go a step further. If men do not understand justice
properly, how can they be expected to understand love, which is a form of
injustice? ‘What are you saying?,’ you will exclaim; ‘How can love be a form
of injustice?’ A very simple example will answer that for you. Suppose you
go into a shop to buy a pound of cherries; the greengrocer weighs out the
cherries and, finding that there is one too many, he removes it, and gives you
exactly the pound you asked for. He is being perfectly just, but as that is not
the kind of justice you appreciate very much, next time you want some
cherries, you go to a different shop and, there, the man weighs out your
pound of cherries and then throws in three or four more for good measure.
This man is being unjust, but that is exactly what you like about him! The
nature of love, you must understand, is not the same as the nature of justice.
And, for my part, it is injustice that I am preaching. Believe me, people are
too just! I want nothing to do with their kind of justice.
The Old Testament says a lot about justice and very little about love. But
is the world any better because of that justice? ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for
a tooth...’ And people were stoned and killed in the name of justice, but that
never made anyone any better. And, then, Jesus came and preached injustice,
the injustice of generosity, kindness, mercy and forgiveness. And that is the
injustice that our Teaching preaches, too.
To be accurate, the word ‘injustice’ has two meanings. Absolute justice is
in the middle and on one side of it is the inferior form of injustice which
takes without giving in return and, on the other side, is the higher form of
injustice which gives without taking. The first kind of injustice stems from
the personality and gives rise to hatred, revenge and reprisals, whereas the
higher kind of injustice stems from the individuality and brings with it
happiness and every blessing. If, instead of trying to maintain the scales in
perfect balance, you lean a little to this side, you will be unjust, but your
injustice will be admirable. I wonder if you have really understood what I am
saying. Justice, you see, is very poor, it is no more than a thin dividing line
between two injustices. Injustice has a much broader range because it has two
keyboards to play on.
Actually, I should say that there is no such thing as justice; there are only
two kinds of injustice, the higher and the lower. It is extremely difficult,
impossible in fact, to be perfectly just, and so easy to be unjust, in one
direction or the other. In order to be absolutely just we would have to give
back exactly as much as we received, and this is not always possible. If you
give someone an apple, justice requires that he pay you back in kind, but the
apple he gives you will never exactly match yours; its size, colour or flavour
will never be quite the same. On the other hand, you may give someone an
object and receive something completely different in return, love, trust or
loyalty, for instance, or a service of some kind. Some people complain that
they have always treated everyone with kindness and respect and yet they
never receive anything good in return. They sometimes forget that they enjoy
good health, that their children love them, that they have a great many friends
and so on. They don’t realize that their reward takes other forms. You must
have a much broader understanding of justice.
 And then, I ask you: how can you ever hope to find anything remotely
equivalent with which to repay good thoughts and feelings or words and
looks full of warmth and encouragement, especially if you are always so
ignorant and selfish? If an initiate gives you a piece of advice that saves your
life, how can you repay him adequately for something so precious? It would
take you hundreds of years to do so, and where would he be by then? So, as
you can see, it is extremely difficult to manifest absolute justice because you
have not got the scales or the instruments you would need to calculate it. The
best thing you can do is not to worry about being absolutely exact but to
decide to give more and receive less. This is a simpler and much more rapid
solution than trying to tot up exactly what someone owes you or you owe
them.
Of course, I know very well that people are not particularly concerned
about being just and paying off all their debts. On the contrary, they take a lot
and give very little, and think that everything is settled. They don’t know the
karma that is in store for them or that their debts have all been recorded on
that minute spool which we all carry within us and which records everything
we do. I have already talked to you about this little spool of magnetic tape on
which it is recorded that they have not paid for what they have taken, and
which is going to oblige them, in the long run, to pay for it with suffering.
They have eaten and drunk and stolen; they have seduced and deceived
others and defiled their love; they have taken advantage of others without
paying, without giving anything in return. Many think they can escape by
changing their name and address and even their country, but karma always
catches up with them in the end. The Lords of Karma have a record of their
prints and can easily find them wherever they may be hiding and, in fact,
many years later, even in their present incarnation, they often knock on their
door and exact payment from them.4 Much of the suffering men endure is a
payment for past injustices.
The best way to understand justice is to see it as a liberation. It is only
when you have given back or paid for what you have taken that you are free.
Yes, you need the light of this Teaching in order to understand that cosmic
Justice exists, that when one takes one has to give. Those who become rich
by trickery and cheating are reputed to be very clever and people admire
them for it. Well that may be, but every one of their misdeeds is noted and,
sooner or later, karma will come to them and claim payment in the form of
illness, accidents or other kinds of problems. Justice, you see, is a kind of
commerce, a transaction. And love, too, is a transaction – a rather peculiar
kind of transaction, to be sure, in which, very often, one partner is unhappy
and accuses the other of taking everything and giving nothing in return.
And now I would like to help you to understand how justice manifests
itself in your families and in society. Man receives everything from his
parents: his body, life (although, of course, it is not they who create the life
they give him), his clothes, food and lodging, his education, etc., and all this
adds up to a considerable debt which he must pay back. A great many
children refuse to acknowledge this; they criticize and disobey their parents,
sometimes they even hate them. This is unjust. Their parents have loved them
and suffered for them, they have fed and clothed and protected them, nursed
them when they were ill and given them an education. Man’s first debt,
therefore, is to his parents.
Secondly, man owes a debt to the human society or nation to which he
belongs, for the culture and civilization it has bequeathed him; for all its
museums, libraries, laboratories and theatres; for all the means of transport by
land, sea and air; for doctors and nurses to give him the medical care he
needs; for the schools that provide for his education, and for the armed forces
and even the policemen who protect him. He owes something, too, to his
race, which has given him the colour of his skin and a particular physical and
psychic structure, a particular mentality.
But this is not all, he also has a debt towards the planet earth that has
borne and nourished him, towards the whole solar system (for it is the sun
and the other planets that constantly sustain, vivify and console us), towards
the universe as a whole and, finally, towards the Lord.
How many human beings realize that they have never done anything but
take, take, take and that they now have an enormous debt. According to them
they owe nothing to anybody. In fact, they seem to think, not only that they
owe nothing, but that they have the right to destroy everything. What a
mentality! What they fail to realize is that, if they persist in their ways, they
will be annihilated. Nature cannot tolerate those who have no respect for the
law, they are dangerous beings and, in one way or another, she gets rid of
them.
The first concern of a disciple who has understood the importance of the
law of justice, is to love his parents and repay his debt to them by his own
kindness and generosity. He also pays his debt to society, to his country, to
the whole of mankind, to the solar system and the entire cosmos and, finally,
to God Himself. He expresses his gratitude by dedicating all his work,
thoughts and feelings to them. Thus, by means of his activities, he is
continually giving something good to the entire universe and paying off his
debts and, when he does this, nature recognizes him as an intelligent being.
But those who fail to pay their debts are ranked as thieves, as dishonest,
unjust creatures, and nature provides them with a few difficulties in order to
chasten them and make them correct their ways.
We may say, therefore, that to be just is, first and foremost, to recognize
that there are certain laws and that we incur a debt towards nature for the air
and water, the warmth and sunshine, for all that we receive from her. And, as
we cannot pay our debt to nature with money, we have to pay it with love,
gratitude and respect and our willingness to study all that she has written in
her great book. We can also pay our debts by doing good to all creatures, by
sharing our love and light with them. And suppose you have a Master who
gives you everything: what can you give him in return? Are you going to
preach to him and instruct him? Are you going to take care of him and
console him as he consoled you? Of course not: he does not need any of that.
Instead of doing it for him you must do it for others. Do for others the good
that your Master has done for you and he will be satisfied. He will be repaid.
We are not obliged to give back the air we breathe in the form of air, nor
the water we drink in the form of water. How could we manufacture air or
water or the light and warmth of the sun? We have received our bodies from
the earth and, one day, we are going to have to give them back, that is
unavoidable, but, in the meantime, as long as we are alive, we have the right
to keep them, nobody asks us to give them back. But what we can give are
our luminous emanations, for man was designed by the Lord to shine, to
radiate, to project rays of light into the universe. He has been given a
quintessence of light and the power to amplify and vivify it and send it out
into space. But to do this requires a great deal of practice, otherwise he is
capable of projecting nothing but darkness. All these ideas are new to you, I
know, but it is now up to you to apply them. Our possibilities on the physical
plane are severely limited but, on the spiritual plane, they are infinite. It is on
this plane that we can pay back a hundredfold all we have received.
It is very important for you to understand the nature of justice. If someone
detests you, for instance, there must be a reason, and you must try to find that
reason. Perhaps you owe him something. Why not free yourself from his
hatred by doing something good for him either on the physical or the spiritual
plane? Justice is the only thing that can free you. But if you want to free
yourself even more rapidly, you will have to choose the higher form of
justice that manifests itself in kindness, generosity, love and self-sacrifice.
Thanks to this higher justice, a debt that would otherwise take years or even
centuries to repay can be repaid very rapidly, sometimes immediately. This is
why some people have accepted persecution, martyrdom and death, in order
to free themselves by paying off the debts incurred in the course of several
incarnations. Those who are truly enlightened choose the shortest route; they
are in a hurry to stop wasting time in the lower regions, to break their bonds
and leave unhappiness behind them. They want to be free and are prepared to
accept the suffering that that entails.
To be sure, there are not very many beings of this stamp. The majority
would rather cheat and try to wriggle out of paying their debts. The trouble is,
of course, that the law of karma always catches up with them in the end and
obliges them to pay. I know that many of you who are listening to me will
stop up your ears, but, one day, you will understand the truth of what I am
saying. Unfortunately, not a single human being has ever escaped the hand of
Cosmic Justice. Not one! Not even that exceptional being St John the Baptist.
Even amongst Jesus’ disciples, St John the Evangelist was the only to be
spared because he was already free, he had no more debts to pay. This can
happen, therefore, but it is extremely rare. As for all those who ‘eat’ and take
advantage of all that is available, one day they will be caught and made to
pay their debts.
The law of equilibrium that all men know and apply on the level of
physics and economics, must now be transposed onto the psychic, mental and
spiritual planes. In the area of feelings, for example, you must know when
you are taking and when you are giving, because that is the only way to
understand the nature of love. If you do not understand justice, how can you
understand the mysteries of the universe? The doors of Initiation will remain
closed to you. They can only open to those who know and apply, first and
foremost, the law of justice and, then, the law of love.5
When a human being is still a child he does not want to give; on the
contrary, he only wants to take, to eat, to keep things for himself, to be
greedy and demanding. Later, when he is an adult, he marries and has
children of his own and reaches a balance between giving and taking. Later
still, in his old-age, he begins to distribute his belongings to his children and
grandchildren. He strips himself of everything, money, land and houses; even
his own body shrinks (which proves that he is beginning to give back
particles of air, water and earth) until the final ‘diminishment’ of burial. This
is the pattern of man’s life: to begin with he only takes; later, he gives and
takes, and, finally, he only gives. He gives everything he has, even his own
body, his last dwelling place, and, having given everything, he leaves this
world.
Justice is one of the cosmic moral laws that no one can ever destroy
because it is an inherent part of nature. Even very small children have an
instinct for justice, they know very well whether you are just or unjust with
them. They don’t have to go to college to learn how to say, ‘That’s not fair!’
How do they know what is fair if no one has ever told them? Where did they
learn that? In fact, even animals have a sense of justice. I read a scientific
article, recently, in which the author described how he had watched a trial
conducted by a group of crows. They stood round in a circle, ‘discussing’ the
case (there was even a lawyer for the defence!) while the culprit listened with
a hangdog expression. It seems that he had committed adultery! The outcome
was that the guilty bird was condemned to death and, with one accord, the
other birds fell on him and tore him to pieces.
So, even animals have a certain sense of justice. You have certainly
already noticed that, when a cat or dog has stolen something from the
kitchen, its whole attitude expresses a guilty conscience. And a bird or animal
that has ventured into territory that does not belong to it knows that it is in the
wrong and is much more likely to flee at the slightest sign of hostility on the
part of the rightful owner. Nature has given every creature an innate sense of
justice and neither scientists nor philosophers can prove the contrary. They
are obliged to bow before it and to recognize that Cosmic Intelligence has
engraved this law on our hearts and souls and that we may break it only under
pain of punishment of all kinds.
And now, let’s draw some conclusions from all this. Since everything that
goes wrong on earth is the consequence of injustice, we are under an
obligation to settle all our debts as quickly as possible; we must calculate
what and how much we owe and to whom, and pay it back in one form or
another. If we cannot pay the father, we must pay the son or the wife. This is
the task of a disciple, to set about paying his debts and, even, to give back
more than he owes in order to free himself all the sooner. One day, in fact, his
Master will show him what he owes to certain people on earth, and, then, he
will have to go to them and make reparation, otherwise he will continue to
drag his chains after him for a long time to come.
For a few days, therefore, take the time to review your life and see how
you have behaved and what you have taken without giving anything in
exchange, and from whom. Then go and apologize to these people and give
them what you owe them or do them a service of some kind and tell them, ‘I
am sorry, I didn’t realize what I was doing. Please forgive me for the
mistakes I have made and accept this so that we may be at peace with each
other.’ You have probably never realized that the day would inevitably come
when you would be obliged to face up to this problem. But now that time has
come: you must face up to it and solve it, otherwise the implacable,
inescapable response of justice will be terrible.
But what if you cannot find the people to whom you owe something
because they have already left this world? Then you must turn to God and ask
him to settle things for you. Tell him, ‘Lord God, at last I am beginning to
understand how unjust I have been to others. I have cheated and deceived
them, and now it’s too late to make reparation. And yet I do want to advance
and improve. Lord, I want to make a bargain with You (you remember, we
said that justice was a commerce, a kind of bargain). Take my life, I dedicate
it to Your service. It’s the most precious thing I have and I want You to use it
to pay all my debts. You know far better than I, how much I owe and to
whom; I am at Your service for all eternity.’ This is really the best way to
settle everything.
When the Lord sees that you have reached a sufficiently high level of
consciousness to want to dedicate your life to him for eternity (and be sure to
make it quite clear that it is for eternity and not just for your present
incarnation), he will be amazed by the light flowing from you. He knows
very well that if you can feel and promise such a thing, it means that you
possess a great deal of light and he will be dazzled by it. And, as he will not
want to be outdone by your generosity, he will be even more generous, and
tell you, ‘There, we’ll say no more about it. It has all been paid, wiped out.
Go, now, and work!’6
What I am revealing to you, today, is one of the greatest secrets that exists.
All the secrets contained in books, all the secrets of a magus or magician, are
insignificant compared to this. I have read a great many of these so-called
secrets and, I assure you, they are worth nothing. What are their secrets all
about? The goose that lays the golden eggs? The treasure of the old man of
the pyramids? The red dragon or the green dragon? None of it is worth
anything. What good can any of that do? Whereas the secret that I have
discovered is the secret of divine commerce in which you say to the Lord,
‘Lord, give me Heaven; I give You my life in exchange.’ If you are capable
of giving your life, you can have everything you want. But people keep their
lives for themselves. Their lives belong to them, they are not going to give
them away so easily.
Some people, when they are in difficulty, promise to give some little
thing, a candle, a statue of a saint or some oil for the church. But I have rarely
heard anyone say, ‘Here You are, Lord. Here’s my life, take it in exchange
for such and such.’ Why does everyone hang on to his life so jealously?
Because they want to do all kinds of stupid things with it. But if you give
God only a few worthless bits and pieces, you cannot really expect heaven to
give you anything more valuable in return, can you? You can only receive as
much as you have given. If you give a few pennies, you will not get much in
exchange, but if you give your life, you will be given life in exchange:
Eternal Life, heaven, Light, everything.
People are very miserly, it is true, but it is because they are ignorant; they
have never explored the depths of these truths. They are always thinking up
ways to outwit others and turn everything to their advantage, without
knowing that Cosmic Intelligence has laid down a law of justice which
declares that in order to receive one has to give. This is why I tell you, ‘Put a
stop to your sly, miserly practices and dedicate your lives to the service of
God and you will receive everything your heart desires.’ That is my
philosophy, my creed, my life. This is no mere theory; this philosophy is my
whole life. It makes no difference to me whether you sense this or not, I
know what my life is.
For years, when I was young, I would implore heaven to transform me. I
would say, ‘What can I do for you? I’m feeble, stupid, mediocre, worthless.
Do you really want me to be like this for the rest of my life? I warn you, I
shall not be much use to you like that; in fact you’ll have a great deal to
complain about! So, hurry up and take it all. Make me die, if you like, but
come and take possession of me. I can’t go on living as I am now. Send some
angels to help me, send me all kinds of pure, noble, intelligent creatures. It
will be to your advantage because, if you don’t answer my prayer, I’ll never
do anything right and it will be all your fault!’ And my threats seem to have
done the trick. They realized that this troublesome fellow had got them with
their backs to the wall! After much discussion and scratching of heads, they
decided that they had better give me what I was asking for because, if they
left me as I was, I could do a lot of damage. And it seems to me that, as a
result, I occasionally do something that is not too reprehensible.
And what about you? What are you waiting for? Why don’t you make the
same request? Go on, ask! Oh, I know what it is: you are afraid to consecrate
your life to God, you want to keep it for yourself. Time and again I have
heard people say, ‘I intend to live my own life!’ And what kind of life do
they live, I wonder? A senseless, idiotic life, or a divine life? Everybody is
intent on living their own life and this means a life that has no rhyme or
reason.
Henceforth, you must give yourself another goal in life, the goal of serving
the Lord. Tell him, ‘Lord, I’m beginning to realize that without You, without
your light and intelligence, I’m nothing at all. I’m so ashamed and so
disgusted with myself! I want to work for You and do something for Your
children and for the rest of the world.’ Keep repeating this, day and night.
Even if the Lord is so tired of hearing you that he blocks up his ears, keep
repeating your prayer. If you are insistent enough, the twenty-four elders will
hear you and call a Council meeting. I know this Council and the sublime,
magnificent Being who presides at its debates, and I know that, when they
see that you are determined to go on badgering them, they will issue a decree,
saying that, at a given moment on a given day, your life shall be changed.
And this decree will be made known throughout the length and breadth of the
universe; the angels and all God’s servants will immediately put it into effect,
and you yourself will find that something really has changed in your life.
You attach so much importance to the things of the world, to pleasure,
parties and amusements. You spend your time overburdening yourself,
squandering your fluidic forces and all your strength, health and light and, in
this way, you lose the love of heaven, too. Take my advice: put in your
application to serve the Lord. The radiance and glory of the light that starts to
flow from you when you do this, will be so great that even the angels in
heaven will see it and, knowing what it means, they will come hurrying down
to help you and take care of you. Many people shrivel up and lose all their
light, and then heaven cannot see them any more, they are completely
forgotten and neglected. Their worldly affairs mean so much to them that
they forget all about heaven and, then – what else can you expect? – heaven
forgets them, too.
To my mind, neither heaven nor the earth should be forgotten or
neglected. I am in favour of both as long as the right proportions are
respected. Moses, in the Book of Genesis, says, ‘In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth.’ Heaven, as you see, came first and the
earth second. This is meant to show us that heaven is more important than
earth, but most people put things the other way round: it is earth that comes
first and heaven second – always supposing that there is a little time and
space left over. A true disciple, on the contrary, attaches far more importance
to the things of heaven. This does not mean that he neglects the material
dimension; as long as he is on earth the material dimension is necessary, but
heaven is more important than earth. He gives three quarters to heaven and
one quarter to earth.7
Our Teaching neglects neither the one nor the other. Nor does it separate
the parts from the whole, and this is why it offers you fulfilment and
perfection. Instead of being jumbled up higgledy-piggledy in the kind of
disorder that reigns in the heads of most human beings, our Teaching gives
each element its rightful place and, in this way, human life can unfold
harmoniously. A body cannot function properly if there is no order in the way
its limbs are disposed. Try putting your legs on your shoulders and your head
between your legs, and see how you get along!
Although I have not exhausted the subject, I know that you have sensed
and understood a great many things, today. The law of justice is unchanging
and eternal and, for this reason it is worthy to take its place amongst the great
moral laws of the cosmos. As far as they were able, human beings have
invented laws, rules, codes and tribunals to conform to and reflect this eternal
moral law, but it existed long before man appeared. Its presence can be seen
and felt throughout nature and its name is balance, equilibrium.
As a matter of fact, every human being bears the symbol of justice and
balance in his own body. Our bodies are built on the principle of symmetry,
the number two. Why does the brain have two hemispheres? Why have we
got two eyes, ears and arms, two lungs, two legs and two kidneys, etc?8 And
why have we got only one heart, liver and spleen, one spine and one mouth
(although the mouth contains one tongue and two lips, and I have already
explained this to you in another lecture)?9 What is the reason for this
symmetry? If the right and left hemispheres of the brain do not match
perfectly, a person is unbalanced. Balance is written into the structure of our
being. Of course, this point of the moral law is the one we like least, because
it is always a question of paying, settling debts, balancing the books... and we
do so love to take, to snatch up something and disappear without paying!
The Bonfin, 6 August, 1968

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
The twenty-four elders – Revelation 4: 4 and 9-11
‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ – Gen. 1: 1

II

I would like to add a few words to what I said, yesterday, about justice.
The subject is so vast that I feel as though I had not told you anything.
As I have said, justice is associated with the symbol of the scales, but it is
also associated with all the different instruments that are used to weigh or
measure. You probably know that, a few years ago, a Bureau of Weights and
Measures was established in Sèvres. Why is this bureau necessary? Because,
if there are no standards to which everybody can refer, weights and measures
would be purely arbitrary and vary from one person to the next. In order to
ensure the absolute accuracy of these standards, a special building was
needed to protect them from fluctuations in temperature and humidity or the
effects of earth tremors, for heat and cold cause bodies to expand and contract
and earthquakes can throw delicate instruments out of order. So these
instruments are now housed in a subterranean shelter which is insulated
against external vibrations and in which a constant temperature is maintained.
As you see, elaborate precautions have been taken.
But when it comes to the inner world of thoughts and feelings, do human
beings ever wonder what their system of weights and measures is worth?
They are always weighing, evaluating and pronouncing judgement, but can
they rely on their instruments? Can they be sure that their faculties are in
perfect condition and not slightly out of order? They all have their own tastes
and preferences, their own points of view, and it never occurs to them that
their psychic instruments should be as sophisticated and as accurate as their
material instruments. Men, too, are exposed to the influence of heat and cold,
symbolically speaking; they, too, live in the midst of noise, trepidation and
volcanic eruptions; how could their instruments fail to be out of order? And
yet, with complete self-assurance, they lay down the law about absolutely
everything. It never crosses their minds that they might do well to have their
instruments checked by a spiritual Bureau of Weights and Measures, that is to
say, by a genuine initiate.
Instead of asking whether their hearts and wills, their brains or their tastes
and preferences are in order, they firmly believe themselves to be perfect and
eminently fit to express their opinions about anything and everything and
make the most extraordinary and idiotic pronouncements about the existence
of God, morals and politics, love and, especially, other people. Everybody
thinks that this is normal. Take the case of a young girl: when she is
influenced by a warm feeling for a young man, she finds him handsome,
brilliant, godlike! But if her feelings towards him cool, she speaks of him as
though he were the devil himself. How can he have changed so radically?
The answer is that it is not he that has changed, but her own standards. Where
can we find reliable standards of measurement? How can we tune our
instruments to such a degree of accuracy that all that we see and hear, feel,
think and desire corresponds exactly to the truth, the whole and unadulterated
truth?
Actually, our five senses are not the only instruments we possess with
which to weigh and measure; we have others, in every part of our body and in
all our cells. Suppose that someone has never washed his intestines with a
purge or an enema, isn’t it inevitable that the wastes sticking to the walls of
his bowels will end by affecting him psychologically? And, when this
happens, how will he judge things? What will be the effect on his tastes and
opinions? I have already spoken to you, several times, about the need for
purification and I cannot dwell on it again, today. You must learn to fast and
wash, not only outwardly but, above all, inwardly. I have even explained how
you can invoke the angels of the four elements and ask each one of them to
cleanse you from the impurities that come within its particular scope. Earth
buries, water washes, air purifies and blows things away and fire burns.
Thanks to each of the elements, we can rid ourselves of all impurities.10
But let’s get back to the question of our precision instruments. Men and
women are subject to so many influences and have so many prejudices and so
little notion of the criteria needed to form an opinion! If you are asked to
form an opinion of a perfume when you have a cold in the head, will you be
able to do so? No, you won’t. In fact, your sense of taste will be affected, too,
and even the most succulent dishes will have no flavour. And yet, people
whose inner senses have been blunted and deformed still have the temerity to
state their opinion about even the most profound problems. They would do
better to go and have their instruments checked by an expert before saying
anything. Once that is done, they will be in a position to judge, but not
before. But, today, whatever state he may be in, everybody has his own
opinion, absolutely everybody.11
Let me give you the example of two men: one of them has suffered a great
deal because of his wife. His unhappiness has soured him and made him
pessimistic and embittered and he has begun to write books condemning all
women. But not all the women in the world are like his wife; why does he
paint such a hideous portrait of them? The other man enjoys a very happy
marriage and writes only beautiful things about women. He is not completely
realistic either. The measuring devices of both these men are warped. Every
individual has his own truth. Give a string of pearls to one woman and she
will be furious: ‘What do you take me for?’ Give the same thing to another,
and she will cling to you; you will never be able to get rid of her! Can you
draw a conclusion that applies to all women? No, it is impossible. And it is
equally impossible where men are concerned.
Justice can be found only in the mind of someone who is perfectly
balanced. All injustice stems from imbalance, and imbalance is the result
either of a misapprehension, a lack of light or a lack of goodwill. In a living
organism, this is called illness. Illness is simply an injustice on the level of
the physical body. If a person always favours one side of the scales and gives
nothing to the other, one pan will be weighed down and the other will rise
and he will be ill.
When an acrobat walks the tightrope, he has to stretch out his arms on
either side of him to keep his balance. Morally speaking, we are all on a
tightrope, life is a tightrope, and, if we fail to add a little here and subtract a
little there in order to keep the two pans of heart and mind on a level, if we
neglect one side in favour of the other, the resulting imbalance will express
itself in the form of dark thoughts, hostile feelings or destructive acts or in the
form of illness. Every minute of the day, we must take care to keep the two
sides of our inner balance level.
If someone concentrates all his attention on his money, his land or his car,
and never thinks of his spirit or of heaven, the lack of balance that this creates
within him will show up even in his body, in his facial expression or his eyes,
in the way he talks and acts: there will be no sense of joy or spaciousness in
him. It is important to know this law by which every gratification of a need
on one level gives rise to a lack that must be taken care of on another level.
Most of the people I see around me are unbalanced: they are either too
intellectual or too sentimental, too mystical or too down-to-earth. For my
part, I preach a philosophy of equilibrium.
The notion of Justice is very vast and it includes many other elements,
such as balance, harmony, health and so on. And the thing to remember, in
particular, is that, every now and then, you must check to see if your
measuring devices are in order. Ask yourself whether what you think and
believe and desire are what they should be. Go and consult an expert and ask
him to adjust your instruments. He knows his business and he will be able to
tell you if your yardstick has shrunk, if your compass is a little rusty or if
your scales are slightly off balance.
It is very easy for me to tell whether someone’s measuring devices are in
order or not. I only need to listen to him talking for a quarter of an hour about
any subject at all. For psychological, or ‘diplomatic’ reasons I may refrain
from telling him what this teaches me because, very often, if you tell people
the truth, not only do they not understand you but they become your enemies.
Why do people come and see me? So that I can lie to them, of course! To be
sure, they start by saying that they are ready to accept the truth from me,
however unpleasant it may be, but, when it comes down to it, they would
much prefer me to lie to them. They are all like the woman who knows very
well that her husband does not love her any more, but who pleads, ‘Darling,
tell me you love me; it does me so much good to hear you say it!’ She knows
the truth but she prefers to listen to lies.
Justice is a commerce, an exchange; even on the spiritual level justice
consists in taking one thing and giving something of equal value in exchange.
And the most valuable thing we have to give is our life. If you succeed in
giving your life, you can take whatever you want: heaven will be ready to
give you everything. But if you are not ready to give away any part of your
life, heaven will not give you anything either. That is justice.
Here, on earth, you give your work, your time, your writings, words or
songs and you receive money in exchange. The same is true on the spiritual
plane. In fact, a higher law of justice sometime makes it possible for you to
pay certain debts spiritually. For example, if your karma destines you to
experience illness, accidents or great difficulties, you may be allowed to
avoid these trials and cancel out your debts by paying in a higher currency.
But, although this can happen, it is not very frequent because, generally
speaking, these things exist in separate, watertight compartments.
Suppose that you want to render someone a service and, through ignorance
or clumsiness, you hurt him instead: human justice, which looks, not at your
motivations but at your acts, will declare you guilty. But heavenly justice,
which knows how well-intentioned you were, may allow you to be punished
by the laws of man, because it does not interfere on that level, but it will
reward you generously for your divine, impersonal intentions. And the
reverse is also true: suppose, for instance, that you are very generous with a
young girl because you secretly intend to seduce and despoil her, your actions
may win praise and admiration on earth, but heaven will punish you because
the higher Courts of Law judge you, not on your acts but on your
motivations. Actions and the motivations of the soul come under two
different jurisdictions. But, of course, if both your motives and your acts are
divine and irreproachable you will be rewarded on both levels and, in the
same way, if you break the laws on both levels, you will be condemned by
both tribunals.
Justice, as you are beginning to see, is a whole science in itself!
The Bonfin, 7 August, 1968
1 See Cosmic Balance – The Secret of Polarity, Izvor Coll. n° 237.
2 See The Key to the Problems of Existence, Complete Works, vol. 11, chap.

3: ‘Giving and Taking’.

3 See A New Dawn: Society and Politics in the Light of Initiatic Science,
Complete Works, vol. 25, chap. 6: ‘Gold, or the Light?’.
4 See Angels and other Mysteries of The Tree of Life, Izvor Coll. n° 236,

chap. 15: ‘Binah: I - The Laws of Destiny’.

5 See Vie et travail à l’École divine, Complete Works, vol. 31, chap. 8:
‘Comment dépasser la notion de justice’.
6 See Freedom, the Spirit Triumphant, Izvor Coll. n° 211, chap. 6: ‘True
Freedom: a Consecration of Self’.
7 See The Key to the Problems of Existence, Complete Works, vol. 11, chap.

14: ‘Render Therefore Unto Caesar’.

8 See Cosmic Balance – The Secret of Polarity, Izvor Coll. n° 237, chap. 9:
‘The Caduceus of Hermes – The Astral Serpent’.
9 See Langage symbolique, langage de la nature, Complete Works, vol. 8,
chap. 10: ‘Comment les deux principes sont contenus dans la bouche’.
10 See The Mysteries of Yesod – Foundations of the Spiritual Life, Complete

Works, vol. 7.
11 See Truth: Fruit of Wisdom and Love, Izvor Coll. n° 234.
 Chapter Five
The law of affinity: peace
All men wish for peace, peace in their families, peace in society and peace
between nations, and yet, in spite of all their efforts, they never seem to be
any nearer their goal. As for inner peace, the thing is hardly worth
mentioning.
Even when they go off alone into a forest or to the top of a mountain,
people cannot find inner peace. Why not? Because the transistor that they
carry about with them in their heads continues to spill out its noise and, as
often as not, it is tuned to a programme from hell. Yes, hell has its own
broadcasting stations, and what a racket it makes! And yet, there they are, in
outward peace and quiet and silence. Outwardly, all is calm, but turmoil is
raging within because of that transistor which never stops or because they
cannot stop mulling over their arguments with their wife, their mother-in-law
or their boss. To obtain peace is one of the most difficult things in the world
and it requires a great deal of knowledge.
The human organism is a microcosm which exactly reflects the
macrocosm (the universe) and this means that man and the universe are
bound together by numerous correspondences. The whole of Esoteric Science
is based on the law of correspondences. Man is infinitely small and the
cosmos is infinitely big, but there is an absolute correspondence between
them; each organ of man’s body has a special affinity with a specific region
of the universe. Of course, one must not imagine that the universe has organs
like ours, but in their essence, the organs of the cosmos and ours have
something identical in common; they correspond absolutely one to the other
and, through the law of affinity, we make contact with the centres and worlds
which correspond to certain elements within us. A knowledge of these
correspondences opens up unheard-of possibilities for us.
The human body is composed of a great many interdependent organs; each
one has its own particular task, but they must all work together in harmony,
otherwise the result is disorder or – to put it in musical terms – dissonance.
Man can be healthy and at peace only if each of his organs works
disinterestedly and selflessly for the good of the whole. But that kind of
peace and well-being is purely physical. To obtain peace of the soul and spirit
we have to go much higher. All the different elements which go to make up
that other whole, our psychic organism, must also vibrate in unison,
selflessly, impartially and without friction, like the organs of a healthy
physical body. Peace and harmony, therefore, must be sought on a higher
level, they are a higher state of consciousness and, as our state of
consciousness largely depends on the state of our physical body and the least
little problem on the physical plane has repercussions on the psychic plane,
the different levels of our organism must be in harmony with each other
before peace can dwell permanently in us.1
Peace such as most people understand it, is not true peace. Your problems
and anxieties may vanish for a few minutes, but that is still not peace, for it
does not last. Once true peace dwells in you nothing can ever dislodge it
again. Peace is not simply a question of feeling carefree and at ease for a few
minutes; it is something much deeper and much vaster; it is already the result
of a combination of elements. In an orchestra, when all the instruments are
tuned to the same pitch and the musicians follow the leadership of their
conductor, the result is perfect harmony. And in a human being, peace is also
harmony, the perfect accord that reigns amongst all the various elements,
forces, thoughts and feelings.
This deep peace is impossible to describe; it is also very difficult to attain,
because it requires tremendous will-power and love as well as great
knowledge. When a disciple begins to know and understand the nature and
properties of all the elements he absorbs on both the physical and psychic
levels and when he has finally managed to rid his organism, as well as his
thoughts and feelings, of all discordant elements, then, and only then, will he
possess true peace. If you smoke or if you eat and drink without
discrimination, you are introducing harmful elements into your organism
which will make you ill and, when you have a toothache or a stomach ache or
palpitations, how can you be at peace? You must begin by getting rid of those
particles you absorbed and which are now festering inside you and hampering
your circulation. And the same law applies on the psychic plane: as long as
man is ignorant of the true nature of his feelings, thoughts, desires, passions
and instincts and continues to breathe them in and feed on them, without
knowing whether they are good or bad for him, he will never possess peace.
Peace, therefore, is the result of an accurate perception of the nature of the
different elements. But, as I have just said, knowledge is not enough: a
person must also be very vigilant and really determined never to admit any
discordant element into himself. When you reach the stage of being
reasonable, prudent and alert and constantly vigilant in the defence of your
kingdom, the kingdom of your inner Self, then, and only then, will you obtain
true and lasting peace. And what can we say about that peace? That it will be
bliss beyond the power of words to describe, an endless symphony, a sublime
state of consciousness in which all your cells bathe in an ocean of light, swim
in living waters and feed on ambrosia. Imbued with this peace, you will live
in such perfect harmony that all the glory of heaven will be reflected within
you. Released from the inner turmoil which prevented you from focussing
both inwardly and outwardly, on the reality around you, you will begin to
discover the splendours which, today, are still concealed from you.
Only peace enables us to see and understand the presence of the subtlest
realities and this is why, when an initiate begins to taste true peace, he begins
to discover the marvels of the universe. Other people rush frantically in all
directions, so anxious and tormented that they have no time to pause to read
and decipher the book that is lying open before their eyes and in their
innermost hearts: they go through life seeing nothing.
The truth is that peace can only enter you if your whole being has begun to
vibrate in unison with a sublime, disinterested idea. You will never know
peace until your whole being, even the cells of your physical body, are
steeped in thoughts of love, that is, in mercy, generosity, forgiveness and
self-sacrifice. Only thoughts of this nature can give you peace. Suppose you
bear a grudge against your neighbour, you cannot find it in your heart to
forgive him and keep trying to devise ways of revenging yourself; or suppose
someone owes you money and you keep worrying about it and wishing he
would pay it back. In these conditions you will never know peace because
your preoccupations are too personal, too selfish. You may have a few
moments or a few hours of tranquillity, but that is not peace; it is no more
than a respite, a lull (which even the wicked enjoy at times), and those
moments soon give way to renewed torment and mental anguish. True peace
is a spiritual state which can never be lost once you are in possession of it.
When the one thing you most desire is to do God’s will and work for the
good of all mankind, to love, serve and understand all men, this single idea
makes all the particles of your being vibrate on the same wavelength and you
are capable of enjoying peace. And this peace, once you have found it, will
follow you wherever you go; you felt its presence yesterday, it is with you
again all day today, and tomorrow it will be waiting for you when you wake
up in the morning. You will even be astonished to find that you no longer
have to make an effort to feel its presence. Before, in order to recapture a
sense of peace, you always had to concentrate for a long time or pray or sing
– or take a tranquilizer – and, now, none of that is necessary.
Man and the universe, the microcosm and the macrocosm, are bound to
each other by the bonds of an absolute correspondence. Due to his disruptive
way of life, however, man has broken these bonds, he is no longer in tune, his
organism is no longer in a state of ideal, perfect harmony with the
macrocosm, with God. And it is this condition of harmonious correspondence
that man must, now, attempt to restore. He is perfectly capable of doing so,
for, when he was first created in the workshops of the Lord, he was given
everything he would need in order to develop and – if he got lost – find his
way back to his heavenly homeland. When a child comes into the world, it
has everything it needs; perhaps the heart is a little too far to the right, the
stomach too small or the kidneys not quite up to the mark, but at least he has
a heart, a stomach, kidneys and lungs and so on. It is all there. Similarly, a
spirit that incarnates on earth possesses the organs and instruments which
correspond to all the qualities and virtues which exist above, in heaven,2 and
it can, therefore, do everything it needs to do. Not all at once, of course, but
progressively; and the first step is to know the laws.
What are they, these laws that we have to know? Let me explain with the
help of an example: suppose you have two identical tuning forks. If you set
one of them vibrating, the other will also start to vibrate even though you had
not touched it. This is what we call resonance. Everybody is familiar with the
physical phenomenon but no one ever stops to study it more closely and
understand how it operates in man. If man succeeds in tuning his physical
and psychic being to the same pitch as the universe, he becomes capable of
making contact with heavenly powers and establishing a relationship of
exchange which will be a source of great comfort and strength to him. It is all
a question of communication. You speak and can be heard. In fact, you can
even draw certain forces to you and benefit from their presence. In this way
you can communicate with whatever region of the universe you choose and it
is precisely in these relationships of exchange that God has placed the
greatest possibilities for man’s perfection.
I know that you will be wondering how to tune your organism to the
cosmos. You have the impression that there are so many details to be
considered. Don’t worry: it will all take care of itself. All you have to do is
cultivate love, selflessness, mercy, forbearance and broad-mindedness and
your organism will begin to tune itself, because you will be working with
forces which automatically harmonize everything else. Take the example of
someone whose nervous system has broken down: is this something he did
consciously, deliberately and systematically? Did he know exactly where and
how he was disrupting it? Of course not, but when he allowed all kinds of
bizarre thoughts and feelings into his inner fortress he upset the whole
system. It was simple: no need to know exactly where each centre of his
nervous system was in order to disrupt it. In the same way, you can tune your
entire organism to the right pitch simply by working with thoughts and
feelings of a high order which will set all your spiritual centres vibrating
harmoniously.
Many people, when things are not going as they would like, complain that
life has no meaning and that God does not exist. But the fact that they are
stupid, unhealthy and unhappy is no proof that there are no intelligent,
healthy, happy people anywhere in the world! It is their reasoning that is at
fault. When you find yourself in this state, when you are unhappy and
tormented and nothing seems to be going right, what can you do? Instead of
weeping and wringing your hands and going round in circles, why not go and
ask for help from somebody who is capable of giving it to you? You will ask,
‘Where are these beings? How can I find them?’ They are there, with you and
in you. All you have to do is go to them in thought and, thanks to the
acoustical law of resonance (or, as I sometimes call it, the law of affinity or
of sympathy), you will reach them. Once you know this law, you are obliged
to transcend and surpass yourself in order to touch the subtlest, most sensitive
chords of your being and set them vibrating, in the sure knowledge that they
will awaken a response from higher forces and entities and regions.
I have so often spoken to you about this acoustical law which I also call
the law of echo response. You call out, ‘I love you,’ and, even if you are all
alone, a throng of voices replies, ‘I love you’. And if you shout ‘I hate you,’
the voices will echo, ‘I hate you’! If this is a reality on the physical plane,
why should it not be equally real on the mental plane?
Take a ball and throw it against a wall. If you don’t get out of the way, it
will bounce back and hit you because of a law similar to the law of the echo.
This is what I call the law of reaction, rebound or backlash. Here, too, you are
familiar with this law on the physical plane but it never occurs to you that it
is operative on the psychic plane as well. Whatever you do, whether good or
bad, you will inevitably feel the backlash, one day. Every feeling that you
experience has specific characteristics and, in virtue of the law of affinity, it
awakens forces of a like nature in space, which rebound onto you. If your
feelings are bad, the results will be bad; if they are good, you will receive
something good. Thanks to this law we can obtain whatever we want from
the great reservoirs of the universe, on one condition: that we emanate and
project thoughts and feelings of the same nature as those we wish to obtain.
The nature of the elements and forces which we summon from space and
which, eventually and inevitably, reach us, is unconditionally determined by
the nature of our own thoughts and feelings.
This law of affinity is, to my mind, the most important key, the greatest
arcanum, the magic wand. My whole life is based on it. Knowing this law, I
know that I only have to work in a particular direction with the thought of all
that is best and most beautiful in mind, and wait for it to materialize. Many
things have already materialized, and many others are still to come. This is
the only law I work with and it embraces all the others. Thanks to this law,
everything can be explained: the structure of human beings, their intelligence
or stupidity, their kindness or cruelty, their fortunes and misfortunes, all their
wealth and all their poverty. Everything.
An excellent example of how this law applies is shown by fish in the
ocean. The ocean contains every chemical element and mineral that exists;
some fish take one kind of particle from it and form a beautiful, brilliantly
coloured, phosphorescent body, whilst others take particles that give them a
dull, dingy body. None of this is conscious, of course, but each fish takes
elements from the sea which correspond to its nature. And that is exactly
what we do. Our habitat is the etheric Ocean which contains an abundance of
every created element, and we are what we are because of the type of element
we have used to form our bodies. This explains everything. If someone is
ugly, miserable and always ill, for example, it is not because of his present
incarnation. It is because, in previous incarnations, he was not properly
instructed or enlightened and, in his ignorance, he attracted various
pernicious elements from the environment and, now, he does not know how
to get rid of them.
So, I am warning you: now that you know this law of affinity – the most
potent law of magic and the foundation of all creation – you must
immediately set to work to draw particles from the universe so luminous and
precious, that everything in and around you begins to improve. And, when
people see that you have changed and become much more attractive, more
radiant, more intelligent and even more powerful, they will treat you quite
differently and your destiny will change. As you can see, everything in life is
connected. If you are ignorant and don’t know the laws on which life is
based, if you destroy and lay waste all round you, the forces of nature are
obviously going to have to abandon you. They will help you for a time, but if
they see that you continue to plunder and destroy all that God has given you,
they will abandon you. And then what sorrow and distress!
I’m afraid that a great many people are in this situation. I have met a lot of
them, and I have found that they don’t understand how they managed to get
into such a state. Unfortunately, I have never been able to explain it to them
because their heads were too full of obscurity and illogical notions; they
could see no meaning or order in anything. I would have had to start from the
very beginning and instruct them for years and years! Above all, they would
have had to show a readiness to listen patiently and that, unfortunately, they
could not do. It would have taken more than five minutes to show them when
and how they had begun to go astray and how, step by step, they had reached
their present deplorable situation. Unfortunately, most people are incapable
of recognizing the sequence of cause and effect. Even when one shows them
arguments and proofs that are almost tangible, they refuse to admit it. The
truth is that every single thing that happens in our lives or in the universe was
prepared in advance. This is important; make a note of it because, in the
Third Testament, this and many other great truths, will be shown to be
incontrovertible facts.
It is no good clinging fondly to the idea that you will find peace by
changing your house or your friends, by getting a new job, a new nationality
or a new religion – or a new husband or wife! If it were as easy as that I
would have been the first to do it. But I don’t believe that peace has anything
to do with changes of that sort and you would do better not to believe it
either. You might get a breathing space, a brief respite, in that way but, in no
time at all, wherever you went, other problems would crop up and begin
tormenting you all over again if you had not understood that peace can only
be obtained by changing the way you think, feel and behave. Change your
thoughts and feelings and the way you behave and, then, even if you stay in
the same place, in exactly the same difficult circumstances, you will know
peace.
True peace does not depend on external circumstances; it comes from
within, and all the turmoil and agitation of the whole world cannot prevent it
from surging up and flooding your innermost being.3 It is like a river pouring
down a mountainside. Once you possess that peace and are capable, in turn,
of pouring it out on others and communicating it as a tangible, living reality,
once you start working for the good of the whole world by giving peace to
others, you become a different being; you rise to a higher level in the
hierarchy of beings, you become a son of God and his representative on earth,
for, in virtue of the law of universal correspondences, you are distributing the
very blessings, treasures and splendours that exist in heaven.
In the meantime, in order to obtain this peace, you must prepare the
ground for it. In other words, you must pay all your debts and free
yourselves, then you will not be disturbed by someone intruding on you and
clamouring for his rights. How can you expect to find peace if you have a
pack of creditors looking for you because you have robbed and plundered
them? ‘By running away and hiding,’ you say? No, with human creditors that
might work, but what about the ones inside you? How can you get away from
the thoughts that pursue you wherever you go? To reason like that is to show
how little you really know. Don’t delude yourselves: your thoughts will
always catch up with you! Now that you know the truth, stop hiding behind
your illusions and get these great laws firmly into your heads. When one
understands the affinity that binds kindred beings to each other, one is
obliged to change the way one lives for the better, even if one does not want
to.
For me, the word ‘affinity’ is one of the most potent, one of the most
magical words that exist. It is thanks to the law of affinity that each one of us
is able to draw all the best, subtlest and most radiant elements from the
cosmic Ocean with which to build our Body of Glory, that wondrous Body of
immortality and light. I have already spoken to you about the Body of Glory
in previous lectures and explained how to form it and build it up.4 The
Gospels mention it also, but without really explaining it. Each human being
carries his potential Body of Glory within him, but we have to keep giving it
the materials it needs so that it can reach maturity.
How does a woman form the child in her womb? All that she eats and
drinks, the air she breathes, the thoughts she thinks and the way she lives,
give her child the materials it needs gradually to grow and develop. It is the
mother who forms her child, but it is not she who creates it. And nor do we
create the Christ within us. Our soul must first be fertilized by the cosmic
Spirit in order to conceive Christ, and then, like a mother, we give him form
by our emanations, by living in the best possible way.
 When, from time to time, we experience a very elevated state of
consciousness, when we feel the desire to embrace the whole world, to work
for the Lord, to strip ourselves of self and do something really noble and
great, then the particles that emanate from us go to feed our Body of Glory.
This is how we contribute to its growth: it can use only what is best in us, and
if we nourish it for a long time with our flesh and blood, with our own fluid,
our own life, one day it will begin to shine and radiate light. And, because it
is formed of materials that cannot rust or corrode or tarnish, it will be
immortal and very strong, powerful and invulnerable, capable of
accomplishing wonders, not only within us but also all round us. Through
this vehicle of the Body of Glory, the Body of Light, Christ can work
miracles.
Before his Body of Glory takes shape within him, man is lacklustre, weak,
vulnerable and sickly, but every human being bears within himself a germ of
Christ which he can tend and cultivate. And this brings us back full-cycle to
the law of affinity: the work of a disciple is to transcend and surpass himself
in order to draw in to himself the purest and most luminous particles from the
etheric Ocean and incorporate them into his Body of Glory. We can begin to
gather these particles at once, today; in minute quantities to start with, but we
shall gradually learn how to obtain more and more of them. This is what we
do every morning at sunrise: leaving the earth behind us, we reach up to
heaven and the sun and gather some of these bright, shining particles to add
to our Body of Glory. This is one more page from the book of true
knowledge.
For years and years I worked with only one idea in mind: to contemplate
and comprehend the structure of the universe. For years, it was the only thing
that interested me. I spent days and nights out of my body, striving for a clear
vision of that structure, of the bonds that tie all the disparate elements
together. I knew that everything else was unimportant. The only thing that
mattered was to see the overall structure. As long as human beings are
content to study the multifarious phenomena of the physical world, the world
of facts, the conclusions they reach will always be erroneous. Only if they
look higher, at the world of laws and principles, and contemplate the overall
structure, will they obtain an authentic vision of the whole. For my part, it
took me years to achieve, but now I have it. This is why I am in a position to
instruct, enlighten and advise you: because I have this model of perfection to
refer to.
 Almost nobody recognizes the value of this philosophy. But that will not
always be the case. There are forces in the world that are more powerful than
men, and, one day, they will oblige men to appreciate the true worth of this
Teaching. I don’t worry about it because I am completely confident of the
outcome. I live with the conviction that, sooner or later, everything will slip
into place.
For the moment, everything is upside down, on this earth: that which has
real value is despised and rejected, while that which is worthless is treasured
above all else. Look at what men prize most: gold, jewellery, houses and
cars! And what about divine ideas? They think they are totally unimportant!
Well, this is just the reverse of what I see in the cosmic edifice. Above, in the
divine world, it is an idea, a truth that holds the highest place; everything else
is secondary. It is human beings that have turned everything upside down and
given first place to that which Cosmic Intelligence puts last, and vice versa.
But this state of affairs will not last for ever because the law of
correspondences says that inner beauty must be clothed in outer beauty and
inner ugliness in outer ugliness. This is how the Intelligence of Nature has
ordered things.5
In the world of men, as we all know, the opposite is often true: the most
vicious and diabolical live in the midst of rich, sumptuous surroundings,
whereas those with sublime inner qualities enjoy none of the external
trappings that correspond to these qualities. As they are not greedy for
possessions, they make no effort to obtain wealth, with the result that they
often possess only the barest necessities on the physical plane. Outwardly,
nothing in their way of life corresponds to all the splendour within.
In the distant past, when things were given their rightful place, those who
were inwardly poor were also outwardly poor, and those who had inner
wealth also enjoyed external wealth. This is how it is with the Lord himself!
He who possesses all qualities and all virtues, possesses, also, all the wealth
of the universe. It is only here, amongst human beings, that this order no
longer exists but, as the law is absolute (all that is below must, one day, be
like that which is above), another order will eventually prevail in which every
being will find his rightful place. Those who are rich in intelligence, kindness
and nobleness will also possess external riches, and those who have none of
these qualities will have no external wealth. Of course, it will not be human
beings who restore this order, for they have no way of knowing who is
deserving and who is not. It will be the work of Cosmic Intelligence, for the
law of correspondences is one of the absolute laws of the universe.
With the key that I have given you, today, you can restructure your whole
being by using your thoughts and feelings to produce vibrations and
emanations of a far higher nature, and sending them to seek out from
amongst the billions of elements that exist in space, those which correspond
to them. The law of affinity makes everything possible on condition, first of
all, that you know this law and, secondly, that you apply it with perseverance.
Some of you come to me and complain, saying, ‘Master, I’ve been praying
and meditating for years and years without results: I have nothing to show for
it!’ How mistaken you are! If you really think that, it means that you have not
understood the first thing about this extraordinary Teaching.
I sense that you sometimes think this about my work, too. You think, ‘You
say that you are working, but what do you have to show for it? There are no
visible results?’ That is perhaps true for the moment, but there is one thing
you must know, and that is that it takes a great deal of time for spiritual work
to produce material results,6 and I, for one, am not interested in undertaking
something easy that can be achieved rapidly. I have embarked on the most
difficult undertaking of all, and it is going to take a very long time to achieve
it. If I had aimed at something easy the results would have been visible and
fully accomplished by now, like plants which produce fruit in only a few
months. Yes, but my plants are of a kind that requires much more time to
grow and produce fruit. But what fruit, when it does come!
The only things that interest and attract me are those that are very difficult,
wellnigh impossible, to achieve. Why ask for something that can be had
easily but that won’t last? Isn’t it worth working exclusively for something so
glorious that it is beyond all imagining? Someone who wants to become a
doctor, engineer or chemist, is prepared to spend five or six years on his
training: but five or six years is not very much. Why not concentrate on
acquiring a quality that can only be fully developed by working at it for
centuries: divine intelligence, heavenly kindness or self-mastery for instance?
Could you earn a doctorate in self-mastery in five or six years? These are the
things you should be striving for, the things that are not easy. You can get a
diploma as a manicurist or a chiropodist in only a few months. That is easy –
too easy!
So, now, I am urging human beings to enter other fields and other areas of
study, to undertake other activities and, in five or six or even ten years, we
shall see whether they have earned a diploma. It takes centuries to achieve
success in these areas, but it is well worth the effort!
The Bonfin, 10 August, 1968
1 See Harmony and Health, Izvor Coll. n° 225.
2 See Man’s Subtle Bodies and Centres – the Aura, the Solar Plexus, the

Chakras…, Izvor Coll. n° 219.

3 See The Path of Silence, Izvor Coll. n° 229, chap. 2: ‘Achieving Inner

Silence’, chap. 7: ‘Harmony, the Essential Condition for Inner Silence’ and
chap. 9: ‘The Quest for Silence is the Quest for the Centre’.
4 See ‘Au commencement était le Verbe’ – commentaires des Évangiles,
Complete Works, vol. 9, chap. 13: ‘Le corps de la résurrection’.
5 See ‘Know Thyself’: Jnana Yoga, Complete Works, vol. 18, chap. 1:
‘Beauty’.
6 See The Faith That Moves Mountains, Izvor Coll. n° 238, chap. 13:

‘Rabota, Vreme, Vera: Work, Time, Faith’.

 Chapter Six
The law of affinity: true religion
Now that you have understood that peace is the result of harmony, of the
harmony that unites all the disparate elements which constitute man, you
must get into the habit of devoting a few minutes every day to filling your
being with harmony. Don’t wait until you feel completely crushed and
annihilated, and are wondering desperately how you managed to get into such
a piteous state and how you can possibly find a way out. Take stock of your
situation every day, and, as soon as you feel troubled, anxious or agitated,
pause in whatever you are doing and take the time to restore your inner
harmony before getting back to work. Why are you all so ready to accept
suffering? When it is a question of happiness, you haven’t got time, you are
in a hurry, but when it comes to suffering, you are always available. This is
the worst possible attitude you could have, and yet it is the attitude of almost
all human beings.
If you get into the habit of putting yourself in harmony with the divine
world, everything will become clear to you and you will even be able to
glimpse something of the prodigious harmony of the cosmos. Your spirit
already sees all this; it senses and takes part in all the events of the universe,
but, as your brain, heart and lungs are not sufficiently developed to transmit
these impressions to your conscious mind, you know nothing, see nothing
and feel nothing. And yet, in actual fact, you know it all.
Information about everything that occurs in the universe reaches us in the
form of waves which are unavoidably received and recorded by us. But it is
only the highest, most sublime part of ourselves, the part that is furthest away
from us, that hears and responds to these messages. We, ourselves, can have
no notion of them. Our situation is exactly that of a radio: the waves carrying
radio messages from all the transmitting stations of the world reach us here,
in this room, and if you turn on your radio, you can hear them. But if you
switch off your radio it is as though there were nothing there any more; all is
silence. And yet, all that music and all those words are still being broadcast.
Each one of us is like a radio receiver: from every corner of the universe the
waves reach us and flow round us without our having the least idea that they
are there.
You will probably want to know what you should do in order to receive
these messages consciously. ‘Should we try to strengthen and enlighten our
spirit?’ you will ask; ‘Or educate and train it to receive these waves?’ No, it is
not the spirit but the physical body that needs to be purified, sublimated and
spiritualized. Ancient alchemists were on the right track when they
concentrated on matter; what they wanted was to transmute matter by
replacing some of its grosser elements with subtler, more sensitive elements.1
And this is exactly what we have to do, too. We have to nourish our physical
body with pure food and drink, pure air and sunlight and, even, with all that
is most beautiful in the way of forms, colours and music. We shall achieve
our goal much sooner and more effectively by concentrating on our physical
body. The spirit does not need any of that; it is omnipresent and omniscient,
like God.
Suppose you have before you a child who is mentally handicapped or
retarded, who can neither talk nor play. You might be tempted to think that it
was his spirit that was retarded. Not at all. His spirit is a virtuoso, but it has
been given a faulty instrument, that is to say, a brain that is defective and, for
this reason, it is incapable of manifesting itself. If it were given an instrument
that was in good condition you would soon see how talented it was. It is the
body, the brain, that hampers the child’s spirit. You must never confuse the
instrument, the physical body, with the entity who inhabits it and who, for
one reason or another, is being punished by not being allowed to express
itself or contribute anything to others. But this is not a situation that will last
for ever.
Picture to yourself a man who is in prison, forced to endure frightful
conditions of filth and foul, cramped quarters. His excellent reasoning powers
and a lively appreciation of beauty have left him totally unprepared for such
conditions so that they cause him great suffering and unhappiness. But, as he
has broken certain laws, he is obliged to submit to his punishment. This is a
faithful image of the case of someone who is an idiot at birth: his body is in
poor shape but not he himself. In a later incarnation, when he has served out
his term of imprisonment, he will be given a different body and will manifest
himself, perhaps, as a genius.
This is why we must always try to improve the condition of our physical
body so that it may be capable of receiving and transmitting properly. Take
the case of musical geniuses such as Mozart or Beethoven: they were beings
whose brain – or, rather, whose musical nerve centres – had attained such a
degree of perfection that they could listen to melodies of the invisible world
and, then, write them down on paper. To be sure, it is always possible to
‘create’ a certain kind of music; all you need is some knowledge of the laws
of harmony. In fact, nowadays, music can even be made by computers. But
that kind of music cannot give us anything. Many modern musicians are
fascinated by these methods of composition and, instead of rising to the
highest regions of their soul in order to receive and record divine harmonies,
they sink to a lower level and become more material. It is the machines that
are making music for them!
Today’s artists are no longer the inspired beings of the past whose first
concern was to rise to a higher level and contemplate the beauty of the world
above, before trying to express it through their art. In those days they would
not begin to create until they sensed that they were in communication with
the heavenly regions and had succeeded in contemplating their beauty. They
respected and followed the rules of a certain discipline which they handed on
to others. Whereas, today, artists have forgotten these traditions; each one
works according to his own whims and fancies and it is the most eccentric
that are considered to be the finest artists. The truth is that art demands that
the artist be initiated, that he know the laws of the universe, for, without that
knowledge, he can never be a creator.
Now, to complete what I was saying yesterday, let me add that true
religion is founded on the law of universal correspondence. This law, which
is valid on the physical, magical, chemical and spiritual planes, states that
when one creates a bond with any form of perfection, whether it be perfection
of intelligence, power or form, perfection of colour, perfume or beauty, one
benefits personally from that perfection because it becomes part of one’s own
being. This is an infallible law and, once you know it, you cannot rid yourself
of this idea of perfection without feeling that you are destroying something of
yourself.
True religion is based on the knowledge of laws that are perfectly real and
verifiable, since they can be seen to apply in every aspect of nature, in
zoology, entomology, etc., etc. Suppose that you have a tremendous
admiration for someone whom you see as a divinity and whom you take as
your model: you contemplate and meditate on him and, in this way, form a
bond with him so that all that perfection and splendour that you contemplate
begins to penetrate your own being. Gradually, you will become more and
more beautiful and powerful, until you reach the same degree of perfection as
your model. This is how the law operates.
However, it is very important to know, also, that if you fail to respect this
law, you will lose all the good, all the sensible, splendid things you have
accumulated so far, and no one in heaven or on earth will be able to help you.
Before, when you respected this law, who was it that helped you? The Lord?
No, he probably did not even know what you were up to! It was the law itself
that helped you. As soon as it is touched, it begins to take effect and is
obliged to encourage and help you and free you from all your difficulties and
suffering. If, in spite of your great love of the Lord, you have not yet reached
this degree of freedom, it is not because the law lies, but because you have
worked so negatively for so long and have built up such a thick, tough shell,
that it is going to take a long time to break through it. But, one day, you will
no longer be able to escape from this law; once it has got you in its grip, you
will find that the good in you is so strong and unwavering that you will never
again be able to demolish it.
If, at the moment, you do not feel that you are making progress, it is not
the fault of the law. It is because, in previous incarnations, you have allowed
so many layers to build up and fence you in that even if you are working with
this law now and amassing marvellous treasures, you cannot see or feel them.
The law itself is infallible and, if you persevere, your outer shell will
gradually be worn away until there is nothing left of it and all the treasure
that you have been storing up through your thoughts and prayers and
contemplations, all that wealth and beauty, all that splendour, will pour over
you and flood your being. The ocean of blessings that you have accumulated
without realizing it, is ready to engulf you.
If your religion is based on nothing but the habits or beliefs acquired
through education, the family or society, it cannot be solid and durable.2 True
religion is based on the knowledge of the law of affinity. Knowing this law,
we understand that we must love and think of the Lord, not because the
Church tells us to or because it says so in the Bible, but because there is a
great and absolute law by reason of which we ourselves – and, through us,
the whole world – benefit from that love. But this knowledge has not sunk in
to men’s minds yet; this is obvious from the fact that so many christians are
leaving the Church. They have not understood the first thing. Their religion
was based on nothing solid. What men need, now, is Initiatic knowledge, the
secret knowledge that used to be revealed in the course of Initiation. A
disciple who went through certain experiences under the guidance of his
Master was in no doubt that he had actually touched reality; he could never
forget or doubt what he learned in this way; it was as though his knowledge
had become part of his own flesh and nothing could separate him from it.
The stronger your bonds with the Lord, the more happiness, power,
omniscience and eternity will be yours because you will be receiving and
drawing into yourself all these particles, forces, rays, currents... call them
what you will. Don’t listen to all those ignorant people who lay down the law
about God with such self-assurance, telling you, as likely as not, that he does
not exist! What secret source of knowledge do they have to dare to make
these judgements? The truth of what I teach you has been verified over and
over again, for thousands of years. I have verified them for myself, too. In
fact I continue to do so every moment of the day. I know only too well that,
the day I cease to love the Lord and think of him, I shall be lost and nobody
will be able to help me. I have understood that it is in my own interest to love
him.
God does not need our love any more than he needs our gratitude or our
prayers. It is we who need to love him and to pray to him. Some people
decide not to go to church or light any candles to him any more as a
punishment. He has not made them rich, for instance, so he has to be
punished! Can’t you just see him, weeping and gnashing his teeth because
some poor fool has thrown him over? What a mentality... The truth is, as I
have said, that it is to man’s advantage to believe in the Lord and to pray to
him. If you do away with the Lord, you will necessarily substitute other gods
for him and, as these new gods have none of his perfection, you will begin to
attract to yourself their vices, weaknesses and disease. So, do as you please,
but God will not even notice if you turn your back on him. He is far too
exalted to be affected by the chattering of idiots. It is they who suffer if they
deprive themselves of his splendour.
Although its members may not realize it, every society that has chosen to
do away with God deteriorates and begins to become weaker and less
intelligent. They start by believing that they are invulnerable but, one day,
they will realize what they have lost. They are like the man who made a pact
with the devil. The devil agreed to give him as much money as he wanted on
condition that he give him one hair from his head every time he asked for
more. ‘Pooh!,’ said the man; ‘That’s nothing.’ Before very long, however, he
discovered to his dismay that he was quite bald and his baldness caused all
kinds of other changes in his life. A great many people reason like that:
‘What does it matter if I cut myself off from God and live as I please?
Nothing happens...’ That is where they are mistaken: something does happen.
Every time you do something wrong, you lose a tiny particle of your vitality,
beauty and charm and, in the end, even if you have gained a great deal on the
material level, you will have lost everything that is most precious.
This is why I insist that you renew your links with heaven every day and,
thanks to this law of affinity, set in motion a process which will have very
important repercussions for you. To my mind, the greatest mistake anyone
can make is to cut himself off from the Almighty. There is no need for me to
enumerate all the foolish things people do; you know them well enough; but
this is the most foolish of them all, for it opens the door to all the others.
Don’t be alarmed; I’m not asking any of you to become religious fanatics,
always muttering and mumbling prayers in church. People like that are so
often grumpy and unfriendly; if they were sincerely religious they would at
least radiate a little light and warmth. The fact that they never change shows
that their religion is still external. It seems that there are all kinds of religion...
People today do not have the respect that they had in the past for religion
and, especially, for the Church and churchmen. As a matter of fact, many
priests are well aware of this and try to keep in touch and cultivate popularity
with the crowd by lending their churches for all kinds of secular activities.
You can see them, rosy-cheeked and chubby, full of fun, with a smile for
everyone, in the midst of noisy crowds of dancers disporting themselves in
their churches. They are constantly wracking their brains for new ways of
attracting people to these churches which have nothing sacred about them any
more.
There is only one thing that can save religion and that is Initiatic Science,
because it is the only thing that can put religion on a sure footing. A lot of
people have stopped praying because they see that they get better results by
working. When there is work to be done, why take the time to pray and
meditate? Prayer and meditation only lower one’s income!
Of course, the purpose of prayer is not to obtain material advantages –
money, houses, cars, high office or a wealthy match – but advantages of quite
another order. When you love God and your thoughts are in touch with him,
you constantly receive qualities, forces and light and all kinds of spiritual,
invisible gifts and, although all these things are invisible, they are very real
and they influence all those who come into contact with you. In your
presence they feel vivified, comforted and consoled, so they begin to trust
you and give you all sorts of advantages, even material advantages. But it is
the spiritual aspect that is first.
 You must not expect any physical benefits from your love of God or your
prayers. A lot of people say, ‘I keep praying and praying and I’m as poor as I
ever was!’ In other words, they expected their prayers to make them rich. It is
truly amazing to see how some people understand these things. Human
beings badly need instruction in the realities and laws of the invisible world
in order to understand, at last, what true religion, true knowledge and true life
really are. At the moment they are suffering from a profound
misapprehension: they continue to look for certain advantages and fail to find
them, whereas they are continually receiving others and fail to realize it.
When you are united to the Lord you draw to yourself all his virtues and
qualities: they filter in and penetrate into your deepest being and you become
radiant, intelligent and well-balanced.3 When this happens you may also be
given material wealth, if such is your destiny. But to ask, first and foremost,
for material wealth, is to show that you have not understood the first thing.
To begin with, of course, you will not necessarily succeed in all you do, but
things will begin to improve on the invisible plane, and although you cannot
see this you can feel it. Have you never felt, for instance, that the mere
presence of certain people soothes and quietens you and gives you a
sensation of well-being, whereas others irritate you without your knowing
why? This is an invisible phenomenon, to be sure: invisible but no less real
for all that.
Religion is based on the knowledge of the law of affinity. As soon as you
tune in to a given source, power station or transmitter, you necessarily
receive some of its particles. And if you tune in to one that is in direct
opposition to the first, the particles and messages you receive will also be in
contradiction. Can’t you see this? Well, it does not really matter if you
cannot; you will see it one day. What I am giving you today is part of the true
knowledge possessed by the initiates of old. If you accept it you will become
invincible.
If someone tells me, ‘I put your Teaching into practice. I do everything
you tell us to do, but I still feel unbalanced and tense, almost out of my
mind,’ I would have to say, ‘You are obviously mistaken in thinking that you
are applying the Teaching correctly in your life. Inwardly, you are almost
certainly giving a free rein to some negative tendency, pride, perhaps, or a
lack of restraint on the sexual level or an undisciplined imagination. Or
perhaps you are trying to rush things, trying to achieve great spiritual
progress too quickly. None of that is in accordance with the Teaching, so
don’t blame it. Blame yourself for not going about it the right way. Look for
the cause of your problems in yourself.’
The Teaching is there to help people to find their balance, to give them
strength and happiness, not to destroy them. If you are not at ease, therefore,
try to find out which law you have broken. Suppose, for instance, that you
feel that you don’t want to have anything to do with your family any more.
You think that they are not very highly evolved and not at all mystical and
you would rather be completely free of them. Isn’t your reasoning a bit
extreme, even dangerous? After all, you have ties to your family and they
cannot be severed as easily as all that. If your reasoning, the decisions you
make and the way you feel about things are too personal, it will always lead
to anomalies. When you notice an anomaly, therefore, you must look for the
cause in yourself, not in the Teaching. If you know how to work with it
correctly the Teaching harmonizes everything.
Others may think what they like, but you, who are being entrusted with the
great secrets of life, you must remember that you have an obligation to seek
true life, that is to say, to seek Immensity and Perfection. What kind of life is
it if you limit yourself to eating, drinking, sleeping and working? In the name
of science, today’s so-called ‘civilized’ and ‘cultured’ minds have done away
with all that is most vibrant and spiritual in life and are leading humanity
straight into the jaws of death.4 For my part, I am a great advocate of science;
how can anyone be opposed to it? The results it gets are so eloquent. What I
am opposed to, at the moment, is the direction it has taken, but when it finally
applies itself to the study of life, its achievements will be even more
sensational.
Science is like money. People say, ‘Money is evil. It corrupts men and
makes them unhappy.’ But that is untrue: money is neutral. If a man is evil he
will use it for evil purposes but if he is upright and generous he uses it quite
differently. It is not money that is the cause of man’s misfortune. In fact, as
exchanges are necessary to human society, if money were no longer used, we
should have to find some other matter or invent something else to take its
place; it would no longer be money but it would fill exactly the same role as a
medium of exchange. Money corresponds to the blood in society and, as
such, it is indispensable. The same is true of science. Science stems from a
divine source but, as it embraces both good and evil (‘the Knowledge of
Good and Evil’), it supplies a means for those who seek to do evil, but it also
supplies a means for those who seek to do good. Science is neutral, it has no
moral conscience. It is the human beings who use it who have a moral
conscience.
What I am telling you today about the law of affinity is extremely
important. When we do not know these things we stifle all the best
possibilities that God has given us in order to enable us to become like him,
for these possibilities depend exclusively on our fervour and the intensity of
our desire to accelerate this process of divinization. Obviously, if we pray
from force of habit or in order to conform to convention, nothing will happen.
You can pray your whole life long like that without results. What we need is
to set forces in motion and project them all the way to heaven. But, for this,
faith and love are needed.
All those who have discarded religion, saying, ‘The only thing that matters
is to work to organize society. It makes no difference whether one believes in
God or not,’ are deluding themselves for, before very long, that society will
start to decay. Having no central focal point to revolve around it can only
crumble away, and they, themselves, will cease to be ideal social creatures.
Greed, prejudice and injustice will begin to worm their way into their
dealings. All societies, empires and kingdoms begin to disintegrate in this
way once they have nothing solid to hold on to and can no longer prevent the
development of negative forces. On the other hand, when a society is firmly
centred on the higher, sublime, divine dimension, forces of such power
inhabit it that its wild animals are muzzled and too cowed to manifest
themselves. In these conditions, it becomes possible to institute just laws and
the individuals in that society have a better chance of enjoying a life of
abundance and harmony. But when the spiritual intensity of a society
diminishes, when the centre or head is no longer there, all kinds of negative
forces awake and take possession of the individuals, for there is nothing to
threaten or subdue them any more. All the evils of the world have come about
in this way: because human beings have allowed the divine, beneficial forces
within them to weaken.
This, then, is the life of a disciple, a life that turns on one, central idea, and
the first effect of this idea is to inhibit the enemies concealed within him. Let
me illustrate this with an example, that of people who have ruined their health
by their disordered life and who are now devoured by tuberculosis. If they go
to hospital for treatment and are made to lead a quieter, more balanced life,
with less turmoil of the passions, a healthier diet and more sleep, their bodies
begin to secrete certain substances which counteract and neutralize the bacilli
and they regain their health. But if they go back to drinking and smoking and
spending their nights in revelries, their defences will crumble and disease will
regain its hold on them.
Exactly the same phenomenon can be seen on the psychic plane: the life of
the spirit helps man to build barriers against the evil that is trying to invade
and devour him. All the workers he needs are there, hard at work within him,
for there are veritable factories within every human being. But if a man
begins to indulge his lower appetites again, forgets to be on his guard and
abandons a harmonious way of life, the forces of perversion and evil will
break loose within him and he will begin to decay and disintegrate. The most
powerful focal point, the only centre that can give us complete protection, is
God Himself. We must maintain and strengthen the bonds that tie us to this
pivotal point so that the forces it awakens within us disarm and neutralize the
entities that are always lying in wait, ready to attack us. Of course, if we want
to cut our ties with this central point, we are always at liberty to do so, but,
sooner or later, we shall have to pay very dearly for that liberty.5
Here, then, is a page from the book of true science. And it is absolute; it is
not an invention. I have studied it in great detail all my life, not in books, but
in the depths of my inner being. I have immersed myself in it and, now, it is
perfectly clear to me. And you, too, whatever philosophy may be going the
rounds today, cling to this idea of the Deity. Try to find him, think of him,
love him and call on him. If you do this you will be given tremendous
energies which will protect you and prevent your enemies from injuring you.
Perhaps you will be bitten a little, from time to time, while your defences are
still imperfect, but, once they are completed, evil will no longer be able to
reach you. Christians sing, ‘The Lord is my shepherd,’ but the words have no
meaning for them because they know nothing of the extraordinary science
that lies behind them. They recite them mechanically without realizing that
they have magical power.
Believe me, nothing is more important for you than to love your Creator.
All the rest follows on from that. Thanks to that love, everything else slips
into place and order and harmony reign. Even if the effects are not visible in
this incarnation, it does not matter, for the beings who look down at us from
above will commend and bless you for behaving intelligently.
The Bonfin, August 11, 1968

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘The Lord is my shepherd’ – Ps. 23: 1
1 See The Philosopher’s Stone – in the Gospels and in Alchemy, Izvor Coll. n

° 241, chap. 9: ‘The work of the alchemist: 3 over 4’ and chap. 11: ‘The
regeneration of matter: the cross and the crucible’.
2 See The Faith That Moves Mountains, Izvor Coll. n° 238, chap. 3: ‘Faith

and Belief’ and chap. 7: ‘A Religion is only one Form of Faith’.

3 See above, chap. 10: ‘Identifying with God’, and What is a Spiritual

Master?, Izvor Coll. n° 207, chap. 11: ‘Identification’.

4 See The Faith That Moves Mountains, Izvor Coll. n° 238, chap. 4: ‘Science
and Religion’.
5 See The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Izvor Coll. n° 210, chap.
7: ‘The Undesirables’.
 Chapter Seven
The laws of nature and moral law
When we look at the world around us and think about the conversations
we have with others, the books we read or the films we see, we cannot help
but realize that more and more human beings are unhappy, ill and
unbalanced. What is the reason? It is no good trying to find the answer to this
question by looking at individual cases. That would take centuries. If you
want to reach conclusions that are valid in every case, you must arrive at a
synthesis of the problems that exist. I have already given you an example of
this in my lecture about simplicity and complication1 or in the one about
presence and absence,2 in which I studied every aspect, from the presence or
absence of an object to the presence or absence of God himself.
It is enough to observe the way men and women behave and the choices
they make, to realize that they do everything to excess. Either they stuff
themselves with food, or they don’t eat enough, and in both cases, they
undermine their health. Either they work themselves to death or they get rusty
because they never do a hand’s turn. Some drink too much, others not enough
etc., and all these different anomalies come from their tendency to ‘overstep
the mark,’ to transgress the law. This leads us to conclude that nature has
laws which men should know and obey. But, if you question people, you will
find that most of them do not even know that there are certain laws that
govern not only our bodies but nature itself. How can you talk about the
moral law to people who don’t even take into account the basic physical laws
and who bring all kinds of misfortunes, difficulties and illness on themselves
by breaking them?
In prehistoric times, when primitive men still lived in caves, they knew
nothing about the laws of nature. It was only much later, after they had
acquired a great deal of experience and endured terrible suffering, that they
began to understand that there were laws which must not be transgressed.
And, later still, when they decided to improve their material conditions by
grouping together into clans, tribes and nations, they were obliged to adopt
laws based on those they had observed in nature. They saw that, when there
were no laws, they spent their time fighting each other and that these
incessant wars destroyed whatever gains they had managed to make. Human
laws, therefore, the same laws that today’s young people are bent on
destroying, were elaborated by men at the price of centuries of experience,
great suffering and great losses. As to whether they must all be respected, that
is another question and I do not intend to deal with it today.
The fact that so many people continually transgress the laws of nature
shows that they are unaware of their existence. In India, when I saw the lack
of hygiene in which Indians lived, I realized that it was not surprising that
they were riddled with disease. There are also some who, because they refuse
to eat, grow weaker and weaker and, eventually, die: they, too, transgress
laws which they should have known and respected in order to remain alive
and healthy. Those who know certain rules of hygiene have more respect for
the laws of nature and try to give themselves better conditions. Nowadays,
everyone knows that an alcoholic will end by having cirrhosis of the liver and
that those who smoke or eat or work too much will end by making it
impossible for their organism to function as it should.
Most human beings, therefore, understand that they must obey a certain
number of laws concerning their health. Similarly, they know that, if they
break the laws of society, they will have to pay a fine or go to prison. They
have learned all this from experience. But those who know and obey the
moral laws are few and far between, and it is these laws that I want to talk to
you about today. Something is lacking in human knowledge today, something
essential, and although men may still cling to some vestiges of belief in the
existence of a certain order in creation, the majority of today’s writers,
philosophers, artists and scientists formulate theories, write books and
produce works that can only contribute to the destruction of these beliefs.
And yet, since these moral laws belong to a world which is not entirely
separate from the physical world, human beings should be able to recognize
or discover them for themselves. It is easy to see that the two worlds are
connected. Take the case of a man whom you know, today, as a confirmed
drunkard. Only a few years ago he was a sensitive, well-mannered,
cultivated, thoughtful, noble, generous person; he had all the virtues. And
then, once he had started to drink, all his virtues and qualities began to fade
or even disappeared completely. What was it that changed? The moral
dimension: his qualities and virtues and his code of behaviour. It all crumbled
away because of his excessive drinking. Take another example, that of a man
who has such a passion for gambling that he ends by neglecting all his
obligations, duties and promises. To begin with, his gambling has no moral
implications but, in the long run, it is the moral dimension that is destroyed
by it. How can human beings be so blind to the obvious connection between
these two worlds? I know that they only believe in the material dimension,
but the moral, inner dimension also exists.
There are three worlds: the divine world, which is the world of Ideas; the
psychic world of thoughts and feelings – and it is this that is the moral world
– and the physical world of forms and concrete manifestation. The material
world is linked to the moral world which, in turn, is linked to the much higher
world of Ideas, the divine world. If human beings fail to see these
connections it is because they have never observed or studied things with
enough care and, as long as this deficiency is not corrected, it will continue to
have disastrous results.
Even if you know nothing about the laws that govern human behaviour,
once you begin to break them and have to put up with the consequences,
whether grave or otherwise, you begin to realize that they exist. You also
begin to realize that they are far subtler than the physical laws because they
are inherent not only in man’s physical body but also in his soul and spirit.
He who fails to respect them will be accused of egotism and self-seeking and
will gradually find himself deprived of the support and friendship of his
fellow men, and, whatever his offence, he will have to pay. How? In all kinds
of ways, by remorse, suffering, regrets, disillusionment, bitterness and,
perhaps, even with money. You can see examples of this in every domain.
The day human beings understand that everything hangs together, that
everything is connected and that, in the moral dimension, there are certain
unchanging, inexorable laws that they must know, they will begin to evolve.
People ignore these laws because they are not written down anywhere and
they think that they have the right to behave as they please, but they will
never make any real progress until they realize that these laws exist. You are
going to find this out for yourselves, one day. You have no right to go by
your own rules of conduct, saying, ‘I can do as I like.’ Why not? Because you
will have to pay for it, if you do. You say, ‘I have every right!’ Well, please
yourself, but I’m warning you: you will pay for it. Everything in the natural
order has to be paid for, even happiness and joy, even ecstasy. And it is no
good objecting that you cannot pay because you have not got any money,
because these laws do not ask for your money (it is only human beings who
are always asking for money). They will ask you to pay with some of your
strength or knowledge, some of your health or beauty, some of your inner
light. Sooner or later, if you are clairvoyant or have true knowledge, you will
realize that there is a hole in your bank balance: the Lawmakers, the cosmic
Powers, the Intelligences who rule the universe, have withdrawn something
from it and you are poorer than you were.
Initiates understand that if someone wants to become extremely rich he
must never break any laws: neither the divine nor the moral nor the physical
laws, nor even the laws of man. Although man-made laws do not have the
same fundamental reason for existing as the natural laws, as long as you live
in a society in which they still hold good, it is better to obey them (and not
drive through a red light, for instance). If you manage to break these laws
without being found out, nature will not hold it against you because it does
not concern her. But if you break one of nature’s laws, even if human society
continues to respect and honour you, you will fall ill. The natural law will
punish you by putting you to bed, and there will be no escaping your
punishment. Go where you will, the law will always catch up with you
because you carry your criminal record within you.
Nature foresaw that men would always manage to break her laws, so she
installed recorders in them, and now she only has to glance into a man to see
exactly how much he has eaten or drunk and what he has thought, felt or
done. And it is no good trying to lie; it cannot be done! Do you still want to
convince me that only human beings know how to record things? How could
man invent anything if nature did not first show him an example? Nature
recorded things long before man, but he is too blind to recognize this. Nature
has taken all the necessary precautions, and if man breaks the law he has to
pay.
Henceforth, try not to break any laws, neither those of man nor those of
nature nor the moral laws, which are a degree above the laws of nature. Of
course, the moral dimension is still part of nature, but nature has different
degrees. On the lowest level is physical nature; above this is a subtler level of
nature which includes thoughts and feelings and, finally, above both these
levels of nature, is the divine world. Nature also has to obey. Just as we obey
the laws of nature, she, in turn, obeys the laws of the spirit, for the spirit
commands nature. When man succeeds in rising above the first two levels of
nature – the purely physical and the subtler level of thoughts and feelings –
he is no longer subject to their laws. He becomes so pure, so luminous and
powerful, so perfectly in harmony with the spirit that it is the turn of nature to
obey him and, whatever he does, it will never be in contradiction with the
law. This is the only instance in which a man can do exactly as he pleases and
never break a law.
 But only the most exceptional beings, only those who are predestined to
do so, manage to rise above the natural and moral laws. Such beings have
always existed, they exist today and they will continue to exist, but there are
very few of them. They can do whatever they like without ever committing a
crime or a sin. Truly fantastic things have been revealed to me about this, but
it is very difficult to explain; I could not begin to give you even the faintest
idea; it is something that cannot be put into words.
But let me try, anyway. Perhaps I can help you to understand: when
someone is very pure and luminous, whatever he does will always be good.
And when someone is dirty and full of darkness, when he dwells in the
depths of hell, even if he would like to do something good, he only manages
to cause harm. It is as though he tried to wipe a speck of dust off a friend’s
face when his own hands were filthy: he can only make matters worse. In his
desire to purify a friend, he only succeeds in making him dirtier. In his desire
to make life simpler for someone, he can only complicate it even more. Why?
Because all that emanates from him is so chaotic and vile that he destroys
whatever he touches. On the other hand, when a being is pure light, pure love
and pure intelligence, even a blow from him can save someone rather than
injuring him, because all that emanates from him is divine. No one can attain
this height and dwell in the Sephirah Kether unless he has been predestined to
do so, long, long before, by the twenty-four elders.3 A disciple must
understand that, until such time as he has reached this goal, there are certain
laws to be respected. This must be the point of departure for everything he
does.
Human beings are ready to admit that, in their professional activities,
certain types of behaviour are acceptable and others are not, but where morals
are concerned, they think that they can do as they like. Not at all! This is the
truth that Hermes Trismegistus proclaimed, in general terms, when he said,
‘That which is below is like to that which is above, and that which is above is
like to that which is below,’ and these words apply to all levels, all areas, all
human activities. A tremendous number of principles, activities, objects,
colours, forms, creatures and regions are contained in these two words,
‘below’ and ‘above’. Many people have understood the saying to mean that
that which is below – that is to say, that which is here, on earth – is similar to
that which is in heaven. But this is not quite true: that which is below, on
earth, is not exactly like that which is in heaven. Neither the forms nor the
dimensions, neither the light nor the colours, neither the glory nor the
splendour that we know on earth are those of heaven. The laws, however, are
the same. Hermes Trismegistus did not specify this in detail because he
wanted his words to conceal a meaning so vast that it could be discovered
only by those who were capable of penetrating the mind of a great thinker or
initiate. For years and years I struggled to see things as the initiates see them
and, today, I know what Hermes Trismegistus meant by the words, ‘That
which is below is like to that which is above... to accomplish the miracle of
one thing.’ The two have to unite in order to create a third, the power, the
wonder of wonders, the splendour of unity.
Very few men have discovered this secret, but I have done so. Why don’t I
tell you what it is? Because it is something that cannot be told. The initiates
of old had the precept, ‘Know, will, dare and be silent.’ I must be silent,
therefore, for the secret I discovered is terrifying. It is titanic, ‘Babylonian,’
as Berlioz said of his own music. What a Requiem that is! What a painting of
heaven and hell, of God and his angels and of the multitude cowering in
terror when the ground trembles and the blare of trumpets is heard to the ends
of the earth. And to think that Berlioz did not believe any of it! What an
extraordinary creature he was; great and petty at the same time, great and
terrible...
Thanks to their understanding of the physical laws, scientists have
achieved some amazing results. The moon flights are a case in point. But if
they knew the moral laws their achievements would be greater still, not only
on the material plane, but in the vast, infinite realm of the soul and spirit.
They study physics and chemistry but they know nothing of another kind of
physics and chemistry. An essential factor is missing, therefore, in
conventional scientific knowledge, in the minds of today’s intellectuals, the
knowledge of these moral laws. And since, to add to this, they do their best to
destroy and erase from men’s minds the last vestiges of these moral laws,
they are working towards the destruction of the whole world. They do not
realize that they are sapping the foundations, the roots, the pillars on which
human life is built. It will all crumble and come tumbling down because of
those who deny the existence of moral laws.
To be sure, human beings have made laws of their own, but they have
nothing in common with the laws of nature. In the first place, they are much
too changeable. Take the question of dress, for instance: in the old days it
was immoral for a woman to show an ankle below her skirt. Today, women
are practically naked when they are on the beach and it is considered
perfectly moral! What kind of morality is that if it keeps changing? True
morality is eternal and one of its laws can be seen very clearly in agriculture.
It is this, ‘You reap whatever you sow.’ This is a law that has been in vigour
since the creation of the world. [See Chapter 1 of this volume.]
Perhaps you will say that this is a question of agriculture and that it has
nothing to do with ethics or morals. But what you must realize is that the
realm of thoughts and feelings is governed by exactly the same laws as those
that govern agriculture. Thoughts have the same properties as seeds. When
you plant a thought in someone’s mind, it produces fruits in accordance with
its nature, for the mind is a soil in which seeds can be planted. This is why I
say that this law is one of the eternal moral laws and not a purely human law.
The saying, ‘They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind’
also exists, and this, too, is a moral law that has never changed. It is just as
absolute as the laws of physics and chemistry. To be sure, it is not always
easy to identify the moral laws, but the fact that human beings have never
discovered them does not mean that they don’t exist. No one can be justified
in belittling or denying what I am saying. Anyone who is sufficiently patient
and capable of observing and analysing himself, will be forced to conclude
that every inner breach of the law must be paid for, because our inner world
is governed by the immutable precepts of eternal moral law.
Suppose that you have broken one of these laws and you tell me that you
continue to eat and sleep and earn money as usual, that your health is as good
as ever, that nothing has changed. Well, my friend, all I can say is that you
are blind. You cannot see what is changing on the subtler levels of your
being. You may go on trafficking and conniving for years and never realize
that you are losing something. What exactly it is that is slipping away from
you is something you are going to have to discover for yourself. All I can say
is that I know, in advance, what you will lose and what tremendous and
terrifying changes will take place within you. Why do people tell each other
that the only thing that matters is to ‘eat, drink and be merry’... and make
money? It only takes a few years of that kind of life to kill all your
enthusiasm and spontaneity and, especially, your taste for life. These are
immense losses from the spiritual point of view, and if you cannot see this it
is because you are still on a level with the animals. You may go on working
and earning a lot of money, but you will no longer be sons and daughters of
God, supple, alive and as radiant as light. Deep inside you, great changes
have taken place.
 This is a school, and the purpose of this school is to help us to become
whole beings by teaching us to live in the subtler regions of life. I give you
one week in which to examine and review your lives, to see how you have
behaved in the past, whom you have wronged and the consequences your
actions have entailed, to count the joys and difficulties you have experienced,
to see whether you have advanced or regressed. In doing this you will
discover a world in which everything is logical and true. One week should be
enough for you to discover what I and many others before me have
discovered, thanks to a familiarity with the higher, subtler world, the psychic,
moral world that modern men have eliminated from their lives. When man
denies and rejects this world he falls back to the level of the animals.4
Animals live, too. They eat and sleep and mate with each other, but have
you ever known an animal to compose a Mass or an oratorio, like Beethoven,
Mozart, Haydn, Handel or Berlioz? Have you ever heard of an animal that
wrote plays, like Shakespeare? Do they read the Bible? Are there libraries in
the world of animals? Perhaps there are, but they are not like ours. What
about churches or temples? They may have them, for they certainly know
how to pray; have you never listened to doves? You say that doves coo, but
isn’t their cooing a formula that they recite while bowing in a special way? It
is all a mystery to us. When a hen drinks, for instance, first of all it lowers its
head and then throws it back and looks up; perhaps it is giving thanks. We
don’t know much about the life of animals, yet. I will talk to you about this,
one day, and you will learn some fantastic things that even zoologists still
don’t know.
So animals eat, hunt, fight and fondle each other and protect their young,
and many human beings do no more than that. They don’t know that they
have been sent to earth in order to develop other potentialities, that their
mission is different from that of the animals, that they must become servants
of God and conductors of the light. Men are in the world in order to manifest
the glory of God and bring to full flowering the subtle, divine potential
inherent in each one. They have been sent to turn the earth into a Garden of
Eden, to establish heaven on earth. That is their mission, but they have
forgotten it; they eat and drink and put down roots in the world and have no
desire ever to detach themselves from it. So, after a certain number of years,
they are uprooted and packed off to the other world where they learn that
they have not lived as they were meant to: they forgot that their mission was
to incarnate in order to learn to overcome their weaknesses and give priority
to the divine dimension.
Most human beings conform without more ado to the laws of this world
and become completely materialistic, believing in nothing. But then, when
they return to the other world and are shown how many laws they have
transgressed, they suffer greatly. This is what hell and purgatory are: the
suffering that comes from this realization.5 Later, when they have paid their
debts and been washed clean, they move to a higher level, to the first heaven,
before returning once more to earth, in order to continue their evolution
towards perfection. This is the life history of the human race.
Men constantly have to be reminded of their mission on earth. They have
to ask themselves, ‘What did you come here to do? Try to remember.’ But
how can they remember? In an Initiatic school, surrounded by so many great
truths and good influences and with the help of the angels, a disciple begins
to remember the world of light from which he came and to which he must,
one day, return. This is the greatest blessing a disciple can have, to recover
this memory. He will also remember all the suffering he has had to endure,
the faults he has committed and the debts he still owes. He needs to
remember all this because he still has to seek out those he has wronged and
pay off his karmic debt by making his peace with them and atoning for his
faults. This is what lies ahead of every disciple, of every one of you.
Eventually you are going to have to pay for what you have taken unjustly
from others. Oh, I know that you will probably not enjoy hearing these things
– human beings much prefer to be praised and left in blissful ignorance of all
unpleasant truths – but, even if you are not particularly eager to hear this,
today, you should realize that you are very privileged to have the opportunity
to do so because, sooner or later, you will be obliged to learn the truth.
Prepare yourselves to atone for your past faults, therefore, just as I am
preparing myself. Let’s say that I have been the greatest scoundrel, the most
destructive arsonist in the world and that now I repent and am sorry for all the
wrong I have done and want to atone for it. Let’s say – just for the sake of
argument – that I have wronged you, that I have disgraced and robbed and
assassinated every one of you and that, now, I am paying my debt to you and
making reparation for my sins by putting up with you, loving you and talking
to you. And if it is not true that I have ever wronged you: what then? So
much the better. I don’t intend to tell you whether it is true or not. I have no
obligation to tell you how or why I came into this world, nor where I came
from. That is my own business. Just take it that I am a man who has broken
all the laws and that I have been condemned to pay back what I owe you.
That is more to your liking, isn’t it? You enjoy hearing that!
Now, if I can admit this to you without embarrassment, why can’t you do
the same with your husband or wife, or your children, family and friends?
Why can’t you say, ‘If our Master is paying his debt to us, couldn’t we do the
same for each other?’ Of course, I understand, you would rather believe
yourselves to be above reproach whereas I am a confirmed criminal. I have
no objection, the only question is, ‘Is it true?’ No matter... The point is, if I
am capable of admitting to you that I am not perfect, surely you can do the
same to others? Every now and then, someone will come and complain to me
that he has a child who constantly torments and disgraces him. He asks,
‘What have I ever done to God to deserve a child like that?’ and I tell him,
‘You have certainly incurred a debt towards that being in the past, otherwise
he would not have incarnated in your family.’ It is sometimes astonishing to
see how many just, honourable men and women have disreputable children; it
seems to be in direct contradiction to the natural law, for they have never
sown seed of that kind, and yet there is always a reason. The law is always
just.
A brother came to see me recently. He was in great distress, because,
although he was unfailingly kind and generous with his family, he received
only ingratitude and unkindness in return. The injustice of it was almost
destroying him. I said to him ‘Would you like me to give you a key, a
remedy, the perfect antidote? You will never be angry or in revolt again, in
fact you will feel completely fit and happy, if you realize just one thing, and
that is that the invisible world uses these means to strengthen you, to set you
free, to force you to reflect or to make a better person of you. It is the feeling
that all this is unjust that is eating your heart out and destroying your health.
Make up your mind that you are receiving your just deserts and you will
begin to feel better.’ Well, this brother took my advice. He had faith in what I
told him, with the result that he soon began to feel much better about it and,
today, he is radiant and in peace. He knows that he is probably paying for
past transgressions and this thought has saved him. You have to be able to see
things from this point of view, otherwise your torment will continue to eat
away at your heart, your stomach or your nervous system.
And, today, I say the same to all of you: if the injustice of your situation
torments you, accept the notion that it may seem to be injustice, but that it is
not so in reality. Even if it is not true, the idea in itself is very effective and,
by accepting it, you free yourself, suffer less and become a much better
person. I have proved the truth of this for myself. In the past, I did not know
this remedy and I often wondered why certain things happened to me.
Nowadays, I never need to wonder: I tell myself that I am getting my just
deserts... even if it is not true. What had Jesus done to others that made him
deserve to be crucified? To be sure, Jesus’ destiny was something quite
exceptional and you must not start thinking that your situation is the same as
his. But it can happen that the innocent are imprisoned or put to death, and if
they rebel against the injustice of it they simply torture themselves to no
purpose. Here, on earth, even if you are innocent, you would do better to
consider yourself as guilty as everyone else, for it is this thought that can free
you.
There are beings on this earth who have really and truly come from
heaven, but most of them don’t know it; no one has revealed the truth to them
and they have no memory of it. Those who come to earth with a special
mission do not necessarily remember immediately what they have been sent
to do. They think that they are like everybody else, weak and feeble and
incapable. In fact, they often suffer quite dreadfully and can be overcome by
their own sadness and sense of desolation. But, sooner or later, the truth
about themselves and their mission is revealed to them.6
We sometimes hear stories of kings, in past ages, who knew how to bring
up their children wisely. In order to ensure that his heir acquire the virtues of
kindness, patience, compassion and mercifulness and, above all, a knowledge
of human nature, a monarch would send him to be brought up in humble
surroundings, far from the glitter of the royal palace. He was forced to work
hard and experience poverty and even occasional humiliations, until his
education was completed. Then, when the time came, a large delegation was
sent to fetch the prince and take him back to the king, his father, and his true
identity, which he had never suspected, was revealed to him. In later life,
even in the midst of wealth and honours, a prince who had been brought up in
such a way would continue to be kind, fair and compassionate with his
subjects, instead of becoming a tyrant like so many others. The same thing
happens with certain initiates: they don’t know that they are the sons of a
king and that, one day, they will be called on to reign. They don’t even know
what mission has been entrusted to them until the day of their coronation
comes.
You have been given the task of discovering, within yourselves, a spiritual
realm whose laws are immutable and, sooner or later, you are going to have
to pay for the slightest infringement of these laws. The thing that misleads
you is that you are not called to account immediately, but that does not
prevent everything from being recorded and having certain repercussions.
The same law can be found in many other areas. Take an example from
chemistry: you have to wait quite a long time before you see a piece of
Litmus paper turning from red to blue or vice-versa. The change comes all of
a sudden, when just one drop of acid or alkali is added to the mixture in your
beaker. But that one drop is the last in a long series of drops. Similarly, the
hands of a watch move only as the result of a series of imperceptible
movements in the wheels and cogs of the mechanism. The time that elapses
between the initial movement and the ultimate result that you can see or feel
may be short or it may be long but, as everything is connected, you can be
sure that the result will come.
Suppose that you have a particular vice or passion. You cannot see any
immediate repercussions and you continue to indulge yourself. The first
wheels that are set in motion move others and they, in turn, move yet others
until, one day, you wonder why you are worn out and ill. But the effects that
you are just beginning to feel actually began a long time ago. It is simply that,
today, the bailiff has turned up with the summons! But you should have
known, long before this, that he would come. Why have human beings never
understood this law which exists in every area? All men’s trials and
tribulations come from the fact that they have never studied and interpreted
the mechanisms of their organs and even of their brains. Let me give you a
very simple proof of this.
Imagine that you are eating a lemon. People say that thought is immaterial,
but if that is true, how can it cause your salivary glands to start secreting?
And when a young man, in his imagination, embraces his beloved, how is it
that the mere thought is enough to trigger physiological reactions as though
he had actually experienced in the flesh what he has only imagined in his
mind? His thought was not a material reality, it was only an image. Where
was that image? If human beings had learned to observe and analyse
phenomena of this kind, they would have discovered other laws and other
truths. You have all had occasion to see that thought alone is capable of
triggering visible, tangible effects and you must realize that this is one of the
foundation stones of morality. As to why punishment is not meted out as
soon as we break a law, it is, as I have already explained, because the glass is
not yet full, it has not begun to overflow. Go on breaking the law and you
will see what happens. If human beings took the trouble to study, they would
discover a world whose existence they have never suspected but which is,
nonetheless, real, almost tangibly real. They don’t want to know this world
and yet they dare to hope that their lives will be beautiful and extraordinary.
That is impossible. As long as they continue to build their lives on illusions
they will be bizarre and tormented. They will continue to live, to be sure, but
they will live like animals.
If you really want to be a child of God, a truly complete being, living the
life of the soul and spirit, you must abide by the laws of true morality; there is
no other way. The doors are closed to those who transgress these laws. The
invisible world cannot be subjected to the whims of irreverent, anarchical,
depraved human beings. ‘But what is this invisible world?’ you will say; ‘I
can’t believe in something invisible.’ Well, let me repeat that the world I am
talking about is, indeed, invisible and that you are being illogical if you say
that you cannot believe in something you cannot see. Can you see your
thoughts? Can you see your consciousness, your soul, your feelings? Are
these things visible? Can you see your hopes and plans for the future? Of
course you cannot, and yet you admit that they exist. As for your convictions
or religious beliefs, they are not visible either, but you are ready to fight and
even kill people in defence of them. Have you never realized that your whole
life is built on things you cannot see? In fact, the invisible world is the only
reality; all the rest is open to doubt. To deny the existence of the invisible
world is to saw off the limb you are sitting on and, one day, you will find
yourself on the floor. You should be ashamed to deny the existence of these
truths rather than admit that you have never studied the question. A man who
denies the existence of the invisible world is signing his own death warrant.
How can you accept people like that as instructors and guides? You must not
follow them any longer, for they know nothing. They are as blind as you –
and you know what happens when the blind lead the blind, don’t you? They
all fall into the ditch together! You must follow those who not only possess
true knowledge but who also live by it.
Human beings will continue to suffer until they understand that the
invisible world is the only reality. Do you know what argument I use to
convince someone who refuses to accept this? I tell him, ‘You say that you
refuse to believe in something that you cannot see. Very well, but suppose
that you are on your way home, one dark night, and a thief suddenly jumps
out at you and holds a knife to your throat, saying, “Your money or your
life!” You, who have plenty of money and who have never believed in life
before – after all, it’s invisible. How could you believe in it? – all of a sudden
you begin to believe. In fact, you are ready to give up all your visible
possessions for the sake of your life, which is invisible; how inconsequential
of you! If you were logical you would say, “Take my life, but leave me my
money.” Yes, but then, of course, you would be dead, and what good would
your money be?’ Nothing is more precious than what you cannot see. Life is
an invisible reality and yet you would be ready to give up everything else in
order to keep it. What extraordinary creatures men are!
Does the invisible world really exist? Should it be given the same
recognition and respect as the visible world? It does and it should – much
more so, in fact! Don’t be misled by the fact that the penalty for transgressing
its laws is slow in coming. It is bound to come sooner or later.7 The time has
come, now, for you to be aware of the existence of this subtle level of life and
to learn to value it. When you do this, you will see the change in yourselves.
Even if no one else notices anything, even if you don’t become king or prime
minister, your life will begin to take on a new inner freedom, joy, buoyancy
and inspiration; it will become musical, harmonious, truly poetical. And, if
you manage to reach this ideal, it will reflect even on your material well-
being. People will begin to notice the kind of life you are living and – who
knows? – the whole world may begin to bring you gifts! Everything is
connected; even if it takes time to see the effects, inner wealth necessarily
attracts external, material wealth. If you attain this level of perfection in your
inner life, your vibrations and emanations will reach out to the whole world,
to the farthest star, and bring back to you all kinds of joys and blessings.
Many of these blessings are already on the way; they are getting closer
and closer and, when they arrive, you will ask them, ‘But where have you
come from? Who called you and when?’ and they will answer, ‘You yourself
called us a long time ago.’ Yes, happiness is on its way but it takes time to
get here, because it has to come a long way. And the same is true of sorrows:
you may not realize it, but, a long time ago, you called upon all these sorrows
and, eventually, they will arrive. Actually, this should not surprise us, for
what else can a man expect if he has no inner light and is ignorant or stupid?
Can he expect to be clothed in glory and light? Will he be visited by
archangels? Of course not. He cannot possibly attract heavenly splendour to
himself. Why not? Because there is such a thing as a law of affinity.
Primitive man was unable to comprehend the science behind such a law, so
the initiates expressed it in the form of a proverb or popular saying: ‘Birds of
a feather flock together.’ This simple phrase sums up the immense science of
the law of correspondences (which we have also called the law of affinity or
of echo response, the boomerang effect or the law of polarity). Men ask,
‘How did I bring all this misfortune on myself?’ and an initiate would
answer, ‘By your own attitude. Your way of thinking and acting made it
inevitable,’ And is this true for joys and blessings, too? Yes, when you work
hard, make sacrifices and are generous with others, you bring blessings on
yourself. All this is a question of justice. You will not be consulted about
what reward you would like; you will be given exactly what you deserve.
Study yourself; study the depths of your being, for this is where you will
find all the sciences and all moral laws. Observe yourself attentively. You,
who are in a divine school, do you really need to follow ignorant, anarchical
people? Can they teach you to be luminous, radiant and free if they are none
of these things themselves, if they don’t even know what these things mean?
What an absurd idea!
Let me say one more thing before concluding. If a policeman gives you a
ticket for speeding and you try to excuse yourself on the grounds that you did
not know that you were breaking the law, he will tell you that ignorance is no
defence before the law, and you will still be obliged to pay your fine. This
rule is equally applicable to our inner life: everyone is supposed to know the
law and, whether you know it or not, you will have to pay for breaking it.
Henceforth, don’t try to find excuses; they will not do you any good. And
don’t think that I exclude myself from this: it is just as true for me as it is for
you. If I want to advance and see results I am obliged to know the laws and
put them into practice. People have often told me, ‘You should slow down
and rest. You have already done so much.’ They don’t realize that, to my way
of thinking, I have not even begun my real work. It is a bit too soon to think
of resting on my laurels! Obviously, their yardstick is rather small, whereas
mine is enormous. I am not going to tell you what my real work is; for the
moment I am only preparing the ground. If I compare myself to those who
are ignorant, I shall obviously see myself as an elephant. But I’m not
interested in being an elephant in comparison to a multitude of ants, because
that could lead to pride. I prefer to compare myself to suns and stars because,
then, when I see how tiny I am compared to them, it encourages me to
humble myself in order to learn and make more progress. If you use the first
scale of comparison, you will stop moving ahead and, both physically and
spiritually, you will stagnate and die.
The keys, norms and criteria that I have given you, today, belong to the
higher moral world. As I have already told you, I don’t try to learn from the
ignorant. My only instructor, my only authentic frame of reference, is the
Intelligence of Nature, for the Intelligence of Nature can never lie or mislead
me.
The Bonfin, September 4, 1968

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
The twenty-four elders – Revelation 4: 4 and 9-11
1 See ‘Know Thyself’ – Jnana Yoga, Complete Works, vol. 17, chap. 9:
‘Truth’, parts I and II.
2 See Life Force, Complete Works, vol. 5, chap. 5: ‘Presence and Absence’.
3 See Angels and other Mysteries of The Tree of Life, Izvor Coll. n° 236,
chap. 2: ‘Introduction to the Sephirotic Tree of Life’.
4 See The Key to the Problems of Existence, Complete Works, vol. 11, chap.
19: ‘Your Inner Animals’ and chap. 20: ‘But Which Nature?’ .
5 See Death and the Life Beyond, Brochure n° 304.
6 See The Wellsprings of Eternal Joy, Izvor Coll. n° 242, chap. 7: ‘A
commitment to heaven’.
7 See ‘Au commencement était le Verbe’ – commentaires des Évangiles,
Complete Works, vol. 9, chap. 11: ‘La Résurrection et le Jugement dernier’.
 Chapter Eight
Reincarnation
I

Today, I want to talk to you about reincarnation because I see that some of
you are worried about the question and don’t know what to make of it. You
have always been taught that man lives only once and, now, all this talk about
reincarnation upsets you. The thing is not clear in your minds.
One could talk endlessly about the subject. I could tell you, for instance,
what the Tibetans, Hindus and ancient Egyptians taught about reincarnation
and about their practices and experiments in this area. But what I want to do
today is to interpret a few passages from the Gospels to prove to you that
Jesus himself knew and accepted the fact of reincarnation. You will probably
object that you have read the Gospels from cover to cover and never once
come across the word ‘reincarnation’. That is nothing to be surprised at: why
should the question be mentioned explicitly when everybody knew it and
took it for granted? How could the Evangelists imagine that they should talk
about it specifically in view of an age when men would no longer believe in
it? Their accounts were already so condensed, they were not very likely to
enlarge on something that was part of their traditional belief. You are not
convinced? Very well; but you soon will be.
Let’s see what the Gospels tell us about some of the questions and answers
exchanged between Jesus and his disciples. One day, Jesus asked, ‘Who do
people say that I am?’ What does this mean? Have you ever heard anyone
asking, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ Everybody knows who they are, they
don’t need to be told by others. To ask such a question means that one
believes in reincarnation. And look at the answer the disciples gave him:
‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or
one of the Prophets.’ If reincarnation did not exist, how could Jesus have
been someone who had died long before his time?
On another occasion, when Jesus and his disciples met a man who was
born blind, his disciples asked, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?’ Would anyone who did not believe in reincarnation
ask such a ridiculous question? How could the man have sinned while he was
still in his mother’s womb? When could he have spent his nights carousing?
How did he manage to swindle others? Who did he murder? Either the
question is absurd or it implies a belief in a previous existence.
Perhaps you will object that the disciples were simple fishermen who had
never been to school, so they might well have asked some very strange
questions. But if that had been the case in this instance, Jesus would have
pointed it out to them. The Gospels tell of several occasions on which Jesus
reprimanded his disciples, but this is not one of them. He replies, quite
simply, to their question: ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was
born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.’ And this, too, is an
important point. If the disciples asked whether the man was born blind
because his parents had sinned, it was because they knew, from Jewish law,
that every anomaly, infirmity or affliction was a result of having broken the
law, but that, very often, a person may be paying the penalty for someone
else. This is why, when one sees someone suffering, one can never know
whether he is atoning for his own faults or is sacrificing himself for another.
This was the accepted belief amongst the Jews. If the disciples asked this
question it was because they knew that when a man suffered it meant that
there had been a transgression of the law. No one can be born blind without
good reason, or, as christians fondly imagine, because it has pleased God to
afflict him with blindness. Jesus answered, therefore, ‘Neither this man nor
his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed
in him.’ In other words, ‘So that, seeing him as I passed this way, I should
heal him and that all who see this, should believe in me.’ And then Jesus
explained the whole question to his disciples: ‘You have been taught that
there are two reasons for the sufferings of men, either they have sinned and
are being punished, or they are innocent and are paying someone else’s debts
and sacrificing themselves in order to hasten their own evolution. But there is
a third category and that consists of those who have completed their
evolution and are free. Although they are not bound to return to earth again,
they do so in order to help mankind by accepting illness, suffering or
infirmity and, even martyrdom. This man, who was born blind, belongs to
that third category. Neither he nor his parents sinned. He came into the world
with this infirmity so that I should heal him and, seeing this, the multitudes
should believe in me.’ This blind man was a saviour for countless others.
Are you still sceptical? Then, let me give you more evidence. One day,
Jesus was told that John the Baptist had been thrown into prison. The Gospel
text simply says, ‘Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he
withdrew to Galilee.’ Some time later John was beheaded by order of Herod.
After the Transfiguration, the disciples asked Jesus, ‘Why, then, do the
scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ Jesus answered, ‘Elijah is indeed
coming and will restore all things, but I tell you that Elijah has already come,
and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased.’
And the Gospel adds, ‘Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to
them about John the Baptist.’ Obviously, therefore, Jesus was saying that
John the Baptist was the reincarnation of the Prophet Elijah. Notice, also, that
the Gospels tell us that when the angel appeared to Zacharias, John’s father,
to tell him that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son, he added, ‘With the
spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him.’
And now, if we look at the life of the Prophet Elijah, we shall see what he
had done to deserve to be beheaded when he reincarnated as John the Baptist;
as you will see, it is a very interesting story. Elijah lived during the reign of
King Ahab whose Queen, Jezebel, was the daughter of the King of Sidon.
Because of Jezebel, Ahab and all his people had switched their allegiance to
her god, Baal. Elijah, who had been sent by God to reproach Ahab for
deserting the God of Israel, said to the King, ‘As the Lord the God of Israel
lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years,
except by my word.’ After this, Elijah went and hid in the mountains, as God
had commanded him, to escape the wrath of the King. At the end of three
years, when the country was ravaged by drought and famine, and the people
were starving, Elijah was, once again, sent by God to speak to King Ahab.
When Ahab saw him he cursed him bitterly for causing the drought, but
Elijah answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house
have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and you have
followed the Baals. Now, therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on
Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal... who eat at
Jezebel’s table.’ When the prophets and all the people were assembled, Elijah
said, ‘If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. I alone am
left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty
men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for
themselves, cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it;
and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under
it. Then you will call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of
the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, he is God.’
The prophets did as Elijah said and, all morning long they invoked the
name of Baal, ‘Baal, O Baal, hear us!’ But there was no answer, and Elijah
mocked them, saying, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a busy god; either he is
meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and
must be awakened.’ The prophets cried all the louder and, because they had
some knowledge of magic, they slashed their bodies, hoping that the blood
would attract spirits and elementals to set fire to the altar. But nothing
happened and, after a time, Elijah decided that that was enough. Taking
twelve stones, he built an altar to the Lord, dug a trench round it, put wood on
it and, cutting the bull in pieces, laid it on the wood. Then he said, ‘Fill four
waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.’
After they had done this three times, and the trench round the altar was full of
water, Elijah stood by the altar and cried out, ‘Lord God of Abraham, Isaac
and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am
your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Hear me, O
Lord, hear me, that this people may know that you are the Lord God!’ Then
fire fell from heaven with such power that everything was consumed: nothing
was left, neither victim nor wood nor stones nor water, and the people were
so terrified that they fell on their faces and acknowledged that the God of
Elijah was the true God. But Elijah, intoxicated with his triumph, ordered the
four hundred and fifty prophets to be led to a mountain stream where their
throats were slit.
This is why it was only to be expected that Elijah would have to submit to
the same treatment and lose his head. That is the law. And it was this law that
Jesus referred to when, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he rebuked Peter for
cutting off the ear of Caiphas’ servant, saying, ‘Put your sword back into its
place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.’ But, as we have
seen, these words do not always prove true in the same incarnation. How did
Elijah die? Not only was he not beheaded, but a chariot of fire caught him up
and carried him straight to heaven. It was only in a later incarnation, as John
the Baptist, that he paid for his crime. Jesus knew who he was and spoke of
him in glowing terms, saying, ‘Truly I tell you, among those born of women
no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.’ But Jesus also knew the
destiny that was in store for him and this is why he did nothing to save him:
he knew that justice must take its course. Now you can see why Jesus left the
country when he heard that John had been thrown into prison: he was not
meant to save him. The law is the law.
Now, let’s go a step further and I will show you that, without
reincarnation, nothing in religion or even in life has any sense. Ask any priest
or minister to explain why some people are rich, handsome, intelligent and
powerful and succeed in everything, whereas others are sickly, poor, ugly,
miserable and stupid, and they will tell you that it is the will of God.1
Sometimes they will talk about predestination and grace, but that will not
make anything clearer. It all boils down to ‘the will of God’.
Well, if we analyse this answer – after all, God gave us our brains, we
must not let them get rusty from disuse – we have to conclude that God is
capricious, that he is moved to act by his arbitrary whims, that he gives
everything to some and nothing to others. Well, he is God, after all. He has a
right to do as he pleases, and if that is his will, I can only bow before it. But
there is still something that I cannot comprehend, and that is why he should
be offended and fly into a rage when those to whom he has never given
anything good, are vicious and sinful, stop believing in him and turn to crime.
If God gave them a mentality that is so lacking in intelligence and love, why
does he also have to punish them for it? If he is almighty and omniscient
couldn’t he make all men good, honest, intelligent, wise and devout? Why
shouldn’t all his creatures be magnificent? We are expected to believe that,
not only is it his fault if men commit crimes, but that he then punishes them
for doing so. I simply cannot subscribe to such nonsense! I agree that God is
all-powerful; I agree that he can do whatever he pleases; I have no argument
with that. But then why is he not more consistent, logical and just? Surely,
the least he could do would be to leave human beings alone? But we are
asked to believe that he sends them to hell for eternity.
And this, again, is something I cannot accept. What I say, is, ‘Did they sin
for thirty or forty years? In that case, it would be fair if they were condemned
to burn for thirty or forty years. Not more... not for eternity.’ This I cannot
accept. Use your reason. People are afraid to use their reason; their minds are
paralysed by what they have been taught. They behave as though it were a
crime to think for themselves. But, what are our minds for? What did God
give us intelligence for?
From the moment we accept reincarnation, from the moment we study and
understand it, all that is changed. We see that God is truly the Almighty Lord
of the Universe, in Whom is all nobility and justice, and that it is our own
fault if we are poor, stupid and unhappy. It is our own fault, because we have
failed to make good use of what he gave us to start with, we have insisted on
making our own costly experiments. And, as God is also generous and
tolerant, he allows us to do as we wish. No doubt he said to himself, ‘They
are bound to suffer and run into trouble, but that doesn’t matter. I shall
always have plenty of love and all the other things they need, when they are
ready for them. They have enough reincarnations ahead of them in which to
learn wisdom.’ In other words, God has left us our freedom so that, now,
everything negative that happens to us is our own fault.2 Why does the
Church put all the blame on God for what happens to us? Perhaps you will
object, ‘The Church has never blamed God; it simply suppressed the belief in
reincarnation.’ Well, if you think about it, you will see that it amounts to the
same thing.
Until the fourth century, christians as well as Jews, Egyptians, Hindus,
Tibetans, etc., believed in reincarnation. But the Fathers of the Church
probably thought that the faithful were not progressing rapidly enough, that
the idea of reincarnation made them think that they had plenty of time ahead
of them, so they decided to suppress the belief and teach people that they had
only one life in which to strive for perfection. Gradually, the Church invented
more and more horrors in the hope of frightening the faithful into obedience.
By the Middle Ages, in fact, all they believed in was hell, the devil and
eternal damnation! Reincarnation was abolished in the hope of forcing people
to improve more rapidly, but the result was just the opposite: not only did
they not improve, they became worse – and ignorant to boot! It is essential
that we return to this belief. Without it everything is absurd: life has no
meaning, God is a monster, etc., etc.
The question of reincarnation has been studied seriously and in detail, so I
shall not go into it any further. There are quantities of books about every
aspect, including the way Tibetan lamas choose the new Dalai Lama. But I
want to tell you about one, really exceptional case that I came across in
Bulgaria.
One day a couple came to the Brotherhood; they were worried about their
little boy who was always saying things that seemed incomprehensible to
them. ‘One day,’ they said, ‘We took him for a walk to a place he had never
been to before and, when we got there, he exclaimed, “Oh, I know this place.
I’ve been here before.” He even described things that were not visible from
where we stood, and it was exactly as he described it. And yet, he had never
been there before.’ (The couple knew that their first child had been to that
place, but not this one.) But the boy insisted, ‘Don’t you remember? This is
where I hid on my way to school... and that’s the river where I drowned.’
And, in fact, it was exactly at that spot that their first son had drowned, but
this child had never been told about it. It was clear that it was the first child
who had reincarnated in the same family. It is very rare that a child should
reincarnate twice in the same family, but it can happen. If you question
children under seven, you will find that they sometimes remember a great
deal of their past lives but, instead of taking it seriously, their mothers scold
them and tell them not to talk nonsense. After two or three attempts, they
don’t dare to talk about their memories any more.
As I have shown you, the word reincarnation does not appear in the
Gospels, but there are several passages in which it is obvious that it was an
integral part of traditional belief at the time. Let me give you yet another
example: there is a passage in which Jesus says, ‘Be perfect, therefore, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.’ What are we to make of this precept? It
seems that either Jesus spoke without thinking (for how could he expect men
who are so imperfect to attain the perfection of their heavenly Father within a
few years?) or he had absolutely no notion of the immensity of the heavenly
Father and imagined that it was easy to be as perfect as He. In neither case
does Jesus appear in a very good light. The truth is that he was speaking in
the context of a belief in reincarnation. He certainly knew that man could not
reach the perfection of his heavenly Father in the space of one lifetime, but he
also knew that, after many incarnations, those who yearned for that perfection
and continued to strive for it would eventually attain it.
This question is referred to in the Old Testament as well. Let’s see how
Moses describes the Creation of man in the Book of Genesis. ‘Then God said,
“Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and
over the cattle…” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of
God he created them…’ What has become of the word ‘likeness’ in the
second part of this text? No doubt God meant to create man in his own image
and likeness, that is to say, as perfect as himself, and yet he did not do so. He
created him only in his image, that is to say, with the same faculties as his,
but without the full maturity of those faculties, in other words, without the
likeness.
An acorn is a good illustration of this. An acorn is in the image of its
father, the oak tree, that is to say that it possesses all its father’s potential, but
it does not yet resemble an oak tree; it will only begin to be ‘like’ its father
once it is planted and starts to grow. Man is in the image of God, he has been
given the same wisdom, love and power, but in infinitesimal amounts,
compared to the Wisdom, Love and Power of his Maker. In time, as he grows
and develops, he will come to be like God and possess the fullness of his
qualities. Thus you can see that this growth, this passage from ‘image’ to
‘likeness,’ implies reincarnation. God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our
image, according to our likeness’, but he did not do so. ‘God created
humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them…’ It is in the
omission of the word ‘likeness’ and the repetition of the word ‘image’ that
Moses conceals the notion of reincarnation.
But men do not know how to read books. Still less do they know how to
read what is written in the great Book of Living Nature which is full of
references to reincarnation. Take the example of a tree. Only the Cabbalists
really understand what a tree is; that great Cabbalistic symbol, the Tree of
Life, is an image of the universe in which every living creature has its rightful
place, as part of the roots, the trunk or the branches or as a leaf, flower or
fruit. According to this vast and comprehensive science, every form of life,
every activity and every region has its own particular place on the Tree of
Life. At different times of the year, the leaves, flowers and fruit fall off the
tree and rot, thus becoming food for the roots. And this happens, also, with
human beings. When a man dies, he is absorbed by the roots of the Cosmic
Tree only to reappear, before long, in another form, as branch, leaf or flower.
Nothing is lost, human beings appear, disappear and reappear ceaselessly on
this marvellous Tree of Life.
So, as you see, reincarnation exists on every level of being. Where can we
find other examples? In the phenomenon of evaporation, for instance. A drop
of water evaporates from the ocean into the air where it is transformed into
rain or snow. In this form it falls back to earth and, eventually, finds its way
to the ocean again. A drop of water never really disappears, it undertakes a
long, long journey of exploration, mounting to the heavens, falling to the
mountain tops, flowing down valleys and sinking into the depths of the earth
where it takes on the yellow, red or green tints of the soil. The cycle of water,
alternately rising and falling back to earth, is yet another manifestation of this
law of reincarnation: like a drop of water, the human spirit journeys through
space and time in its quest for knowledge and perfection.3
Would you like yet another argument? Very well, take this one: every
night, before going to bed, you undress. One by one, off come your jacket,
your shirt, vest and socks, etc. To go to sleep at night is a symbol of death,
and the clothes you take off represent the different bodies from which you
must progressively free yourself when you die. First, the physical body; then,
a week or two later, the etheric body; then the astral body. To divest oneself
of one’s astral body takes much longer because it is in this body that all the
passions, desires and sentiments of a lower order accumulate. This is the
stage that we call hell, the astral and lower mental planes. It is here that we
have to stay to be purified. It is only later, when we have divested ourselves
of our mental body, that we are allowed into Paradise and rise to the first,
second and third heavens. Tradition claims that there are seven heavens and it
is only when we are stripped of all impedimenta and completely ‘naked,’ that
is to say, completely purified, that we may enter the seventh heaven.4
And then, once again, morning comes, symbolizing man’s return to earth,
the birth of a baby. We put on our clothes again: vest, shirt, jacket, etc., just
as a child, coming back to earth, clothes himself in his subtle bodies (Atmic,
Buddhic and Causal) before putting on his mental, astral, etheric and, finally,
his physical bodies. Thus, every night of our lives, we undress and, every
morning, we dress again, and we have been doing it for years without ever
pausing to reflect on our gestures and see that they correspond to the process
of incarnation and disincarnation, to birth and death. And yet, if we knew
how to interpret our everyday gestures, work and behaviour, the automatic
processes of eating and breathing, etc., we would make some astounding
discoveries. All the great mysteries of the universe are contained and
reflected in the gestures, words and acts of our everyday lives, but only those
who have studied in an Initiatic school are capable of deciphering them.
Some people are waiting for the Church to recognize reincarnation
officially before making up their minds. But when will that happen? I have
often had occasion to talk to members of the clergy and I can see that many
of them do believe in reincarnation, but they do not dare to admit it openly
for fear of stirring up various problems. However that may be, I assure you
that if you do not accept the fact of reincarnation you will never fully
understand your present situation nor the events in your life (why you always
seem to be persecuted and hounded by misfortune, for instance or, on the
contrary, why you always find the help and encouragement you need), nor
how to work in order to prepare your next incarnation. And when one is not
guided by the truth, how far can one go?
Videlinata (Switzerland), December 11, 1966

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘Who do people say that I am?’ – Matt. 16: 13-15
‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents…?’ – John 9: 2-4
‘Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee’
– Matt. 14: 13
‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ – Matt. 17: 10-13
‘Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things’ – Luke 1: 17.
‘There shall be neither dew nor rain these years’ – I Kings 17: 1
Elijah and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal – I Kings 18: 20-36
‘Put your sword back into its place’ – Matt. 26: 52
‘Among those born of women’ – Matt. 11: 11
‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect’ – Matt. 5: 48
‘Let us make humankind in our image’ – Gen. 1: 26
‘God created humankind in his image’ – Gen. 1: 27

II

When we read the lives of some of the Saints, Prophets and Initiates and
see what terrible sufferings they had to endure, we wonder, ‘Why did they
have to go through such martyrdom? They hadn’t done anything to deserve
it.’ But we have to look for the cause of their suffering in a previous
incarnation, for the fact that someone has restored a state of divine order
within himself does not necessarily mean that all his debts have been paid off
or that his past is totally obliterated. Our past is always with us and we cannot
be completely free until we have paid every last penny of our debts.
Take the case of Jesus’ disciples: they spent all their days with him; they
lived in the light and did not sin, and yet they were put to death or thrown to
the lions. Why did Jesus not help them? Because he knew that they had not
finished paying off their debts. They had committed faults in previous
incarnations and had not had time to make reparation before leaving the
world. This is why the Scriptures say, ‘Do not let the sun go down on your
anger’ and, ‘Before the sun sets, go and forgive your brother.’ But the true
meaning of these precepts has never been understood. If we take them
literally, we don’t have much time in which to heal the breach with our
brother – especially in winter when the sun sets very early. But these words
do not refer to the setting of the physical sun. Sunset, in the symbolic
language of the initiates, means man’s physical death, his departure to the
next world. So, in actual fact, he is given plenty of time, several years, in
which to pay his debts. But once his time has run out and the sun sets, if he
has forgotten or been unable to pay, the law of karma takes effect. A record
exists of everything we have ever done, because everything leaves an imprint
which hardens and crystallizes and there is no way of getting off cheaply or
settling ‘out of court’ as it were. If we have not cleared all our debts by the
time the sun sets, we shall be obliged to pay every last penny in a later
incarnation.
And you, who live according to a spiritual Teaching, who live in the light,
you are also subject to mishaps and misfortunes. To be in an Initiatic school
does not necessarily make you immune from all negative influences. The
only way to be sure that suffering cannot touch you is to be free of your past
debts. If you still owe something, then, Teaching or no Teaching, light or no
light, you are going to have to pay. As you see, the question becomes clearer:
you are a faithful follower of this divine Teaching, you live in the light and
do nothing but good, but you have to remember that good bears fruit in the
future, not in the immediate present. Thus, when you have problems, you
should accept them willingly, knowing that they cannot obliterate the good
work you have been doing. In fact, you can say to the Lord, ‘Dear Lord, so
much the better if I have to suffer, today. In that way, I shall be freeing
myself. Now that I know why I have to endure all this I have no desire to
rebel against it; I don’t ask to be spared.’
Perhaps you will wonder about Jesus: ‘Does his crucifixion mean that
even he had a karmic debt to pay?’ No, the case of Jesus was completely
different. The case of Jesus raises the vital question of self-sacrifice. There
are beings who are willing to sacrifice their lives and accept terrible pain and
hardship even though they have no debts of any kind. But such beings are the
exception. When one does not have a detailed understanding of the question
of reincarnation one is liable to be very much mistaken in one’s judgements.
People come in four categories as far as reincarnation is concerned. First
we have those who are so ignorant and unaware, so lacking in all inner light
or moral sense, that they live lives of crime. They break the laws and run up
huge debts and, as a result, when they come back to earth, they have to suffer
terrible conditions in order to pay their debts and make reparation. This is
why they have such unhappy lives.
The second group consists of more highly evolved beings who try to
develop the qualities and virtues they need to free themselves. But, however
hard they work, one incarnation does not give them enough time in which to
settle all their debts, so they have to come back again to complete their task.
Next time, better conditions will enable them to work more usefully and on a
higher plane. But they must still keep coming back until all their debts are
settled and they are completely free.
In the third group are those who have reached an even higher degree of
evolution and who return to earth to complete certain specific tasks. They
have very few debts still to pay and they stand out from the masses owing to
the great breadth of their consciousness and their virtues. Their whole life is
spent doing good. When beings such as these leave the world, their task is
accomplished and they will not come back again.
Some of them, however, are willing to give up the blissful state of joy and
boundless freedom that is theirs in the bosom of the Lord. They are so filled
with pity and compassion for men that they leave this sublime state
voluntarily and return to earth to help them, even when they know that it will
mean torture and a violent death.5 Others, who wish to pursue a spiritual
work begun on earth, may, without actually reincarnating, come to dwell
within a highly evolved human being and manifest themselves through him.
As a matter of fact, Jesus referred to such a possibility when he said, ‘Those
who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will
come to them and make our home with them.’ These beings have no need to
reincarnate. Without assuming a physical body of their own, they can enter
into a living man and accompany him every step of the way, through
gestation, infancy, youth and mature adulthood, working with, in and through
him.
A great many people desire freedom, but they don’t really know what it
means. They do everything possible to avoid their obligations, shirk their
duty and sever their ties to others – and they think that when all that is done
they will be free. But that is not the way to achieve freedom. The first step
towards freedom is to pay all one’s debts. People want to free themselves
from their wife or children, from their boss, society and even life itself, by
committing suicide. But freedom is an impossible illusion as long as you
have still not paid off all your debts and wiped out your karma.
It is perfectly legitimate to want to be free, but freedom can only be
achieved in accordance with divine law, and very few human beings know
how to go about it.6 Even here, in the Brotherhood, many of you still see it
the wrong way round: you try to achieve independence by dodging your
obligations. But this is as though you ate a hearty meal in a restaurant and
then tried to slip out without paying the bill. It is a dishonest, dishonourable
way to behave and it will not be countenanced by the spirits of light in the
world above. People often imagine that they have freed themselves because
they have left their job – or their wife – but to do this is to jump from the
frying pan into the fire: they will soon see that they picked the wrong solution
when they meet all kinds of new problems and fall into new traps.
The best way, the best method to use in order to free yourself, is love. The
worst way is selfishness, greed, craftiness and guile. Every time you act with
generosity and self-sacrifice, every time you are kind, every time you give,
you are working towards your liberation. This is why, instead of clinging to
possessions, instead of always trying to dodge the issue or calculate what you
can get out of a situation, you must give, give, give. Look at how couples
behave when they separate or get a divorce, how fiercely they defend their
own interests! What they don’t realize is that, because of their attitude, they
will have to meet and come to terms with each other again in future
incarnations.
It is love, kindness, compassion and generosity that set a disciple on the
path of true liberation. To be sure, if you talk about kindness and self-
sacrifice to the average human being, he will take you for an imbecile
because he is not guided by this light and does not know the value of
generosity. But an initiate knows how important it is to give, to help others
and be generous and magnanimous, because that is how one frees oneself. So,
give! Always give more than justice demands, because this is the quickest
way to free yourselves.7
The Bonfin, September 29, 1963

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘Do not let the sun go down on your anger’ – Ephesians 4: 26
‘Those who love me will keep my word’ – John 14: 23

III

The fate of nations, countries and peoples exactly reflects that of

individual human beings and all other living creatures which are born, grow
and mature before growing old and moving on to make way for others. They
give what they have to give and then they fade out. It is as though they had to
rest for a time before coming back to distribute new gifts and riches. This is
the pattern followed by all civilizations and, even, all religions. One after the
other, they are born and expand, gradually achieve greater influence until
they reach their peak, then fall into a state of inertia and, finally, decline and
lose the keys they once held to the great mysteries of life. What is left of the
Mysteries? Where are those keys, where is the knowledge, where are the
powers once possessed by the temples of ancient Egypt? Where are all those
hierophants? What is left of that vast science?8 They have all come and gone
in keeping with this unchanging law of life: every object and every being that
is born into this world must die and make way for others. Only that which has
no beginning can have no end.
Look at ancient Greece, at the extraordinary number of creative geniuses it
once contributed to the world: poets, playwrights, painters, sculptors,
architects, philosophers. And now? A country is like a river. The river bed is
always the same but the water that flows along it is always new and different.
The inhabitants of the river, the myriad drops of water, come and go on their
way down to the sea while other drops take their place. When they reach the
sea and are heated by the sun, the drops of water become so light and subtle
that they rise into the atmosphere before falling back to earth in the form of
rain or snow and, once again, pouring down the valleys in streams and rivers.
It is a never-ending cycle.
And what is a country? A country is simply a river, a river in which an
endless succession of different beings reincarnate, coming from a variety of
other lands. Or, if you prefer, a country is a house which is destined to be
occupied by one group of people for ten years, say, and by another group for
the next five years, and so on. For the first ten years, the house is filled with
music, song and harmony and, then, when the tenants change, the atmosphere
changes and becomes dull and utilitarian or noisy and disorderly. But it is
still the same house. The destiny of a country can be explained in this way.
Geographically, modern Greece is the same country as the Greece of two or
three thousand years ago, but the inhabitants are not the same. And this could
be said of all countries.
Perhaps you will ask, ‘How is it that the Tibetans, for example, seem to
have retained the same concepts, ideas and customs for thousands of years?’
Comparison with the human body gives us a clue to this question: the cells of
a human organism are constantly changing and being renewed, but the work
they do is always the same. The same is true of a factory: the personnel is
constantly being changed and renewed. Some work with computers, others
with optical instruments or electrical circuits, and the newly hired workers
have the same skills and have been trained to do the same work as those they
replace. Similarly, the entities who reincarnate in Tibet are those that have an
affinity with Tibetans and have prepared themselves to live there. But
Tibetans who have prepared themselves to live in France, for instance,
reincarnate in France. In fact, there are many former Tibetans in France, even
amongst the children of the Brotherhood.
You will, perhaps, wonder about the Jews, who have been persecuted for
so many centuries. The Jews that have been martyred came from many
different countries in the world. They reincarnated into Jewish families
because it was their karma to be persecuted and put to death, but they had not
necessarily always been Jews. Heaven arranged that they should reincarnate
as Jews at a particular stage of their evolution so that they could pay their
debts. And the citizens of modern Greece have also come from other
countries – from Bulgaria, perhaps, for these two countries have always been
at loggerheads, and people often reincarnate in the country of their former
enemies. Many Greeks have reincarnated in Bulgaria, also, but whether as a
reward or as a punishment, I would not like to say!
When you hate someone the effect is the same as if you loved him, for
love and hatred both create bonds. Hatred is as strong as love. If you want to
be free of someone and never see him again, you must neither hate nor love
him. You must be indifferent to him. If you hate someone you will tie
yourself to him with bonds that no one can ever untie and will have to
associate with him for centuries to come. This is something people do not
know; they imagine that hatred severs their bonds with others. On the
contrary, hatred is a force that binds you to those you hate just as love binds
you to those you love. The nature of the bond, of course, is not the same. The
bonds of love will have certain effects and the bonds of hatred others, but the
effects of hatred are just as unavoidable and just as powerful as those of
love.9 If the different countries knew this they would understand how
ridiculous it was to hate each other.
You must not be surprised or offended if I tell you that France will begin
to lose her remaining men of genius. French artists, writers and philosophers
have given extraordinary treasures to the world, but if the country continues
to turn its back on heaven from which all this wealth comes, future men of
genius will choose to reincarnate somewhere else. Truly great minds have no
special attachment to any one country, they are citizens of the universe. A
country may take pride in the fact that great geniuses have been born there,
but if you asked those concerned for their opinion, they would tell you that
they are at home in the whole universe, that their fatherland is the universe.
Besides, when you get to the next world, the question of nationality does not
count any longer. If you could only see all those French and German soldiers
who died in the war, toasting each other and laughing at how stupid they had
been to kill each other when they were all sons of God!
It is very easy for the Entities of the invisible world to let one country slip
into decadence and raise another to prominence. Just why they do this is their
secret. Take the case of Bulgaria: a few centuries ago it was a poverty-
stricken, down-trodden country that never produced any thinkers, artists or
scientists of note. Now, all that is beginning to change. The situation is
improving, for neither the glory nor the decadence of a nation lasts for ever.
And what about China? For centuries it was a sleepy, backward, lethargic
nation and, now that it is beginning to rouse itself, the whole world looks on
in fear and trembling. How do you explain this? Who decides these things
and why?
Everything is planned from above, it is the heavenly Hierarchies that
decide these things and for them, of course, it is easy. It is like the
international programmes of aid to the Third World countries. If a country is
poor and backward, a richer, more advanced country sends teams of
economists and technicians and, in no time at all, the country is on its feet
again. This is what the invisible world does: it sends engineers, scientists and
artists, that is to say, a picked team of very advanced souls, and that is
enough. They renew the whole culture of the country. Sometimes, in fact, it
takes only one really good political leader to set a country on the right path
within a few years.
Some of you may feel offended and angry when I say that your country is
losing its grip, but it does not depend on me: all I can do is recognize what is
happening. I have no nationalistic axe to grind; I am neither French nor
Bulgarian. I am a citizen of the universe, a child of the sun. I do not belong to
the world, so why should I quarrel with anyone over Bulgaria, Greece or
France? I am above national boundaries. But there is one thing I have
noticed, and that is that scientists in the Slavic countries have gone further
than anyone else, today, in the field of parapsychic research, subjects such as
telepathy, psychometry, clairvoyance, divining, etc., and, even if there is still
no visible sign that this is happening, Russia will eventually abandon
Marxism, and Communists will become our brothers in the great Universal
White Brotherhood.
Actually, although the parapsychological discoveries of the Russians
indicate considerable progress in this area, they represent barely one
hundredth of what I have revealed to you over the years. One day, though,
Initiatic Science will be known throughout the length and breadth of the
world. Not, of course, the very highest degrees of this Science. There will
always be certain limits, certain forbidden areas. Human beings will not be
given access to the ultimate secrets because they are not ready for them yet,
they still have a pronounced tendency to use their discoveries for their own
self-interest and in order to dominate and assimilate others. But, before long,
certain realities will be brought to light and known throughout the world and
it will be the dawn of a solar civilization.
The Bonfin, August 11, 1974

IV

The Master reads the Meditation for the day:

‘The least little flower that makes its appearance on earth is linked to the
whole universe and needs the consent of all of nature to survive. If it appears
before its time, nature may withhold her support and the flower will die.
‘And for each one of you, too, the whole of Creation had to consent to
your appearance on earth. Perhaps you will think that, because you are
somebody quite unimportant, it is unlikely that nature should have been in
any way concerned with your birth; and yet it is so. Every detail, including
the amount of food and drink you will consume during your lifetime, is on
record somewhere, and for you to appear when you did, the cosmic budget
must have had room for you at that time. Everything is connected to
everything else. Every living thing is part of the cosmos and nothing can
appear in heaven or on earth without the consent of all Creation.’
I know that many of you will be surprised, perhaps even shocked, when
you hear this, because it is not the usual way of looking at things. People
believe that things happen by chance, that nothing is intentional or planned in
advance, that there is no higher Intelligence to preside over the course of life
on earth. It is this false philosophy that prevents them from understanding
what goes on in the world.
Take the example of a tree. All of nature must be ready to participate in
the life of a tree before it can grow and bear fruit. If the earth does not give it
the nourishment it needs it dies. It cannot survive without water, sunshine and
warmth and, in some cases, the care of human hands. A tree needs the help of
all Creation but, as the processes involved are imperceptible, men think that
the tree springs up and grows simply by chance. And what of man? Man also
exists, lives, breathes and moves thanks to the consent and collaboration of
all Creation. If only a few minute elements are withheld, if he is denied air,
water, or certain vitamins or hormones, he dies. Where do these vital
elements come from? It is the whole universe that consents to supply him
with them.
Look at all the planning that goes into the running of nations, businesses
and even families. ‘That’s different,’ you will say; ‘In human organizations
there are people who plan operations, calculate expenses and draw up a
budget to determine how much to spend on food, heating, upkeep, and so on.
They decide what sectors can be trimmed, how many workers must be fired
or how many new hands taken on, and so on.’ That is perfectly true and,
precisely because it is true, doesn’t it seem reasonable to suppose that human
beings don’t just arrive in this world without their arrival being planned for
and approved in advance? What makes you think that, although men plan for
expansion and organize resources on a national, municipal or family level,
there is no equivalent foresight on the part of nature, and that everything just
happens by chance? Human ignorance is, indeed, abysmal! The fact is that
everything in the universe is planned in keeping with an extraordinarily
detailed economy. In the world above there are intelligent Beings who
determine how many human beings shall be born and exactly how long they
shall live.
Every human need is provided for in advance and yet men still think that it
all happens haphazardly and that, even for an exceptional being such as
Jesus, there was no one to pick the most auspicious astrological conjunctions,
the most favourable moment for his birth. Jesus, they think, just ‘happened’
by chance – nobody knows exactly why. The truth is that his coming had
been ordained in advance by heavenly Entities. Nothing is left to chance.
Even the advent of Hitler was planned and determined in advance so that
many people – himself included – should learn some very hard lessons.
Perhaps you are wondering how the invisible world above can possibly
foresee every last detail in this way. Would you believe me if I said that it
was all done automatically by computers? It was not human beings that first
invented computers; nature has been using them for a very long time. The
Cosmic computer contains all the essential data on every creature and, on the
basis of his past record, it determines exactly when and where he shall
incarnate, what kind of physical body he shall have, what talents and faculties
he shall be given, and so on. Then other spirits are assigned to see that these
decisions are carried out. Everything takes place exactly as and when it was
planned: if there is to be an ‘accident,’ for instance, they wait for the precise
moment and, unfailingly, the accident occurs as planned. People think that
these things happen by chance; they don’t realize that they have been
foreseen with mathematical precision. If a child is to be born at a particular
moment, the computer calculates the astrological data, draws up his birth
chart and determines his sun sign, his ascendant and the position and aspects
of the planets, and the child is born – and even conceived – at precisely the
right moment. All the elements in a person’s horoscope correspond exactly to
the life he has lived in previous incarnations. This is what determines whether
he is destined to know happiness or sorrow, whether he will have an accident
or not, etc. It is all decided automatically.
‘If all that is true,’ you will ask, ‘how can we still say that we are free?’
Freedom abides in the spirit. It is at work wherever and whenever the spirit
manifests itself and decides to modify, improve or hasten the pre-ordained
processes.10 Broadly speaking, though, life is triggered and set in motion in
the manner of a child’s clockwork train which, eventually, comes to a stop
when the spring runs down. Man is like that clockwork train, he is wound up
just enough to enable him to live a fixed number of years and, like the train,
he encounters certain ‘hurdles’ and has to go through tunnels or over bridges
on the way. And all this is planned in advance, even the apparently ‘chance’
events. When you unexpectedly meet someone who revolutionizes your
entire life, you can be sure that it was planned long ago. Even before you
were born it was decided that you would fall in love at first sight with So-
and-so. When you see a new-born baby, there will be no outward
manifestation of all the equipment, all the switches and circuits and chips that
have been put into him, but it is all there. A baby is a veritable factory, a
State, a constellation, a whole universe.
Don’t be surprised when I say that for one tiny flower to grow and
blossom, the whole universe must give its unanimous consent and provide for
all its needs, otherwise it will die. The same is true for you, too. If you are
given advantageous spiritual, mental and physical conditions, you will grow
and prosper, whereas adverse conditions will hinder your development. Also,
conditions that are favourable for others may be unfavourable for you and
vice versa. You may, therefore, be endowed with certain qualities and talents
and deprived of others, such as health, for example, because some of the
currents and forces of the universe were opposed to your coming into the
world and make trouble for you.
This is why you must work to cultivate harmony in your lives. You must
introduce into yourselves the very harmony of the universe, of the stars, of
the whole cosmos, otherwise there will always be someone or something to
make trouble for you. You may have a harmonious relationship with your
family and your neighbours, but if there are people somewhere in the world
who wish you ill, they will inevitably cause you certain difficulties. Good is
often intertwined with evil. This is why I always insist so much on the
necessity of reaching a state of harmony, of being in tune with the whole
cosmos, so that everything within you may be ideally beautiful and
luminous.11
Let me give you another example: suppose that you have a very dear
friend who loves you and is a true help to you and, on the other hand, you
have an enemy who is constantly trying to harm you. Unfortunately, you can
never have the one without the other. You will share some of the best
moments of your life with your friend – or sweetheart – but your enemy is a
constant source of problems, arguments and distress. Whether you like it or
not, therefore, you cannot ignore him; he is a negative but integral part of
your life. This is why it is so important to be in harmony with the whole
world.
It is true that this is difficult, but you can, at least, try. Try, above all, to be
in tune with the entities of a higher level who guide and direct our lives and,
secondly, try to establish harmonious relations with other human beings. This
is why the Scriptures tell us to make our peace with our brother before the
sun sets. ‘Before the sun sets,’ that is to say, before the end of this
incarnation, because it becomes much more difficult to make reparation later
on. It is in this life that we must go and find those we have injured and atone
for the wrong we have done and make our peace with them. Every negative
thought, feeling or action that emanates from you does harm to someone.
You may not see what they are doing but you must remember that they are
living entities that seek out their target and do their evil work.12 One day, you
will have to pay for the harm they have done.
 And now, let’s pause to look at this question of our destiny being mapped
out for us in advance. As I have already explained in another lecture, the
heavenly Hierarchies sometimes allow us to change and improve certain
elements before coming back to earth but, once we are born, we no longer
have that possibility. Our lives have to unfold as planned. Our bone structure,
the muscular, circulatory and nervous systems of our bodies, our health and
intelligence – all these different elements are predetermined. Our destiny,
therefore, is laid out in advance. If a person is ugly or deformed at birth, he
will not enjoy much joy, happiness or success in this world. And the destiny
of a girl who is born with great charm and beauty will also be predetermined.
She will win the title of ‘Miss World,’ her life will be a constant round of
receptions, she will be besieged by photographers, and a handsome young
multimillionaire will beg her to marry him!
This is why I often tell you that you cannot change your destiny very
much in your present incarnation. On the other hand, every possibility is open
to you for your next one if you start, now, to prepare it with your work,
thoughts and prayers. During your present life your possibilities are limited,
but whatever you ask for today will be yours in your next incarnation. It is
important to know this, otherwise nothing will be any better next time. Why
are some people in such deplorable situations? Because, in their previous
incarnation, they did not know what to ask for or how to work in order to
obtain the possibilities or virtues they would like to have in this incarnation.
They did not know what to do in the past and, if they continue to be just as
ignorant in the present, their next incarnation will also be a disaster.
Listen carefully to what I am telling you. Listen and apply it for your own
good. Make up your minds to use the years of life that remain to you to
meditate, hope and pray for all that is best. In this way you will be launching
plans and ideas which will crystallize and take concrete shape in the future.13
Your present circumstances are the crystallization of other hopes and wishes
in the past and, for the time being, they stubbornly resist change. This is only
to be expected: they cannot be exchanged for new forms until they have
served their time and are worn out. But when a man dies, he takes with him
all the good things he has created in his mind during his lifetime, and now it
is their turn to crystallize and become concrete on the physical plane so that
the next time he returns to earth he will have all the beauty, intelligence,
health and generosity he wished for. His desires will materialize in new forms
which resist erosion by negative, destructive forces with the same
unshakeable tenacity as the old ones. The work we are doing today is not
really for the benefit of our present incarnation. This is why many of you tell
me, ‘I can’t see any results, Master. I’ve been working for years and nothing
changes. I’m no better than I used to be.’ But I tell them, ‘You don’t
understand. You have really and truly changed, but you cannot see it yet.
When the present structure disappears you will see the new one that you are
working on today, and you will be astounded by the beauty and splendour of
it.’
A few minutes ago, I said that freedom was in the spirit. I must explain
this a little more.
If you observe the behaviour of an animal or of an infant, you will see that
the animal obeys the natural law. It does not try to oppose or change the
course of events because it has not been given the liberty to do so. An animal,
therefore, is obedient and submissive; it faithfully observes the natural law
and, for that reason, we can say that it is innocent. Even when an animal
attacks and devours its prey no blame attaches to it for it is acting according
to its nature. It is obeying the law of nature. Similarly, an infant is like a baby
animal, its intelligence and will are still undeveloped so it obeys its instincts
and impulses. Only later, when it is older, does a child become capable of
choosing to obey or to defy the laws of nature, to live in harmony with the
law or in opposition to it.
When an adult human being spends his life eating, sleeping, amusing
himself, procreating children and working to earn his living, then, whatever
illusions he may have on the subject, his life is that of an animal, governed by
instinct and his biological urges. Animals and even plants do as much. His
life follows its course as though he himself, his consciousness and will, had
nothing to do with it. He goes from childhood to adulthood and from
adulthood to old-age, sickness and death without any active participation at
all.
But as soon as a man uses his consciousness and his intelligence to
intervene actively in his instinctive life, to take control of it and purify it and
add a spiritual dimension to it, he becomes an extremely important factor,
capable of changing his destiny. What is destiny? It is an implacable chain of
cause and effect to which only the animal, biological, instinctive level of life
is wholly subject. What, for instance, is the destiny of a hen? Can it hope to
become king, poet or musician? No, its destiny is the pot. Every creature has
its own destiny: a wolf is destined to be hunted, trapped and killed or bundled
off to a zoo. Even sheep, even doves have a destiny in keeping with what
they stand for, consistent with their activity and the elements of which they
are formed.
If you want to escape blind subservience to your destiny, you must not be
so weak and so completely enslaved and subjugated by the lowest, instinctual
levels of life: the functions of breathing, procreating, eating, drinking and
sleeping. This level of life is very far from being divine. True, it is divine to
the extent to which it comes from God – everything comes from God – but in
the spiritual sense of the term, it is far from divine.14 Divine life begins when
a man becomes aware that there is more to him than a stomach, a belly,
sexual organs, flesh, muscle and bone, when he realizes that he is also a
spirit, and decides to act as such. Divine life begins when man feels the desire
to act in the realm of the spirit and to create something divine, luminous and
grandiose. At this point he escapes the stranglehold of destiny, for destiny is
to fall ill, to die and be buried and to rot in the grave. This is the destiny that
cannot be changed, the destiny of the physical body, and no man can escape
it.
The spiritual life gives us the possibility of adding something to our purely
biological, instinctual life and of rising to a higher plane beyond the reach of
destiny. But to achieve this the spirit must be given the freedom to work and
manifest itself, to direct our lives, to put its seal and signature on everything
we do. In this way we escape the grip of destiny and move into the world of
Providence. All bodies are destined to return to dust. The body, yes, but not
the spirit. The spirit is not subject to destiny, it is governed by the laws of
Providence.
The question then arises: what do we have to do to enter the realm of
Providence? First of all, we have to realize that, between these two levels,
between destiny and Providence, lies a zone in which free will comes into
play and that the principal task of a disciple is to free his will so completely
that it is able to move, work and be active in the world of the spirit. In this
way the disciple becomes subject to Providence and is in a position to choose
from an infinite range of possibilities. He can choose whatever he likes and
his choice will always be excellent. Whereas, in the realm of destiny, there is
no choice, only one obligatory path for all: the path of destruction,
disintegration and annihilation. What is the destiny of an ox? To be yoked to
the plough, poor beast, and to spend its life toiling in the fields – unless, of
course, it gets sent to the slaughterhouse and ends up on somebody’s plate.
An ox cannot change its destiny and nor can any other animal.
Those who are deprived of the light of Initiatic Science spend their lives in
the grip of destiny and are ceaselessly jostled, oppressed and tormented. The
world of destiny is implacable and the man who is subject to it, be he king or
emperor, is obliged to accept its unswerving, inexorable conclusion, even if it
means losing his head under the guillotine! It is extremely difficult to escape
from destiny because, during the course of innumerable previous
incarnations, we have often built up a heavy karmic debt. The laws of cause
and effect are absolute and destiny, which is unconscious and pitiless, takes
effect as inevitably as the law of physics which causes a glass to shatter if
you hit it with a hammer. Destiny is a set of rigid, unswerving laws.
We have the opportunity, in this incarnation, to create good conditions for
the next one, providing we know what to do and do it consciously. If we do
not work in this direction today, our next incarnation may well be worse than
this one. By depriving people of their belief in reincarnation, the Church
deprived them of the opportunity to create a brighter future. Christians have
no idea of their true potential. They are told that, if they go to Mass on
Sundays, they will go straight to heaven when they die and be seated at the
right hand of God. As though it were so easy to win a seat at the right hand of
the Almighty. But if they don’t go to Mass regularly, they will spend the rest
of eternity burning in the fires of hell. Why does the Church mislead people
so? Does it want to console them? But they should not be consoled, they
should be told the truth.
And, now, let me summarize this question: all those – and there are a great
many of them on earth – who allow their instincts and physiological urges to
dominate them and who do no spiritual work will never be in a position to
change their destiny. Their lives will unfold as decreed. But those who work
with ardour and do their best to enter the world of light and love will be able
to escape. Destiny is cruel and relentless, but they will no longer be
completely in its power. They will have attained a subtler region from which
they receive beneficial elements to counteract the negative influences of
destiny. Of course, we could say that this is still destiny, that Providence is a
kind of destiny. Yes, but it is destiny of a different kind. Under the rule of
Providence things are still predetermined, but divinely so.
What I have been telling you is extremely important. Henceforth you can
be aware that if you are content to live like everybody else and never do any
work on a higher plane, you will not have much hope of changing your
destiny, you will never be able to create your own future, for you will be
submitting to the status quo. Of course, you may think that your destiny is not
bad at all. Some people have a destiny that, on the surface, is very favourable:
they have a life of wealth, ease and luxury. No one bothers them, they eat and
drink, travel all over the world, marry and have children. It’s the good life!
But an initiate would not agree with that evaluation. He sees other men
toiling, struggling and suffering, stumbling up against innumerable obstacles
and bereft of every comfort, and he knows that, in reality, it is their lives that
are more fruitful than the lives of those who seem to be favoured by destiny.
Men’s conception of happiness is far too materialistic. Even astrologers
have been contaminated by this mentality. They will read a chart and
exclaim, ‘Oh, but this is magnificent: you have Jupiter in the second house,
the Sun in the tenth and Venus in the seventh. That means that you will be
rich, important and famous and lucky in love. You’ll have everything your
heart desires!’ Whereas, if they see Squares and Oppositions in your
horoscope, they are sorry for you because they foresee all kinds of difficulties
and disasters. But they obviously have not understood the first thing about it.
An initiate would never interpret a chart like that. He would study it to see if
you were ready to do God’s will, to achieve certain tasks, to accomplish
something divine. He would not bother about Squares and Oppositions, nor
about planets in Detriment or Fall – all that is unimportant.
But very few astrologers today are guided by this new light or are capable
of seeing and interpreting things from this point of view. They are prisoners
of the popular conceptions, they judge things by a materialistic scale of
values according to which success in life depends on money and material
success. But material wealth and success are ephemeral. They can’t last, and
what will be left once they have gone? It is not given to every astrologer to
discern the spiritual significance of a birth-chart. Often, when others study a
chart and exclaim in admiration, I only have to look at it to see that that
person will never do anything worthwhile for heaven. They have what would
generally be considered a good horoscope because it promises them talent,
wealth and a respected position in society, and yet, in the eyes of heaven,
they are the most unexceptional, insignificant beings. I would never want to
be in their shoes or have a ‘good’ horoscope such as theirs. There are other
standards by which to evaluate a horoscope which are unknown to the
average astrologer.
Let me give you another example of the kind of thing that shows that
today’s astrologers have a false scale of values. Instead of telling you, for
instance, that you still have a debt to pay in a particular area and explaining
what you can do to pay it and be free, they will tell you how to try and avoid
an accident which is supposed to happen to you on such and such a day. But
their advice will be no use; the accident will happen anyway, if not the day
they warned you about, the day before or the day after. Karma has no time for
those who try to cheat or wangle things to their advantage, so it deliberately
misleads the astrologer in his calculations.
What is the use of astrology if it can’t help us to improve our destiny? Ah,
but it can help us to improve our destiny, but not by urging us to run away
from it.15 It would take too long to explain this fully, but let me give you just
one example to illustrate my point. Let’s say that you are aware that if you
fail to pay a large sum of money by a certain day, your furniture and all your
belongings will be seized and you will be evicted from your home. With no
roof over your head, you will be exposed to the wind and rain, in danger of
falling ill. Rather than standing by and waiting passively for disaster to
overtake you, you start to prepare for the day of reckoning by working and
saving as much as you can and, when the day comes, you are able to pay
every penny and keep your home and your belongings. This situation can be
transposed onto every plane of existence: if you work and ‘save’ on the
spiritual level, you can avoid the accidents, illnesses or bankruptcy that may
otherwise be in store for you.
Think about the absolute truths that I have revealed to you today. Study
them, verify the truth of them for yourselves, and you will see that I have not
been misleading you. Tremendous possibilities are open to you because the
Teaching helps you to prepare yourselves and shows you how to create a
truly sublime future.
The Bonfin, July 25, 1974
1 See The Wellsprings of Eternal Joy, Izvor Coll. n° 242, chap. 4: ‘Seeking
God’s answers within’.
2 See Les deux arbres du Paradis, Complete Works, vol. 3, chap. IX-3: ‘Le

retour de l’enfant prodigue’.

3 See The Mysteries of Fire and Water, Izvor Coll. n° 232, chap. 11: ‘The

Cycle of Water: Reincarnation’.

4 See ‘Et il me montra un fleuve d’eau de la vie’, Synopsis Coll., Part X,

chap. 5: ‘Enfer, Purgatoire et Paradis’.

5 See The Wellsprings of Eternal Joy, Izvor Coll. n° 242, chap. 7: ‘A
commitment to heaven’.
6 See Truth: Fruit of Wisdom and Love, Izvor Coll. n° 234, chap. 18: ‘The
Truth shall Make you Free’.
7 See Vie et travail à l’École divine, Complete Works, vol. 31, chap. 8:

‘Comment dépasser la notion de justice’.

8 See Life and Work in an Initiatic School – Training for the Divine,

Complete Works, vol. 30, chap. 8: ‘The Meaning of Initiation’.

9 See Love and Sexuality, Complete Works, vol. 14, chap. 26: ‘The Bonds of
Love’.
10 See Freedom, the Spirit Triumphant, Izvor Coll. n° 211.
11 See Harmony and Health, Izvor Coll. n° 225, chap. 2: ‘The World of
Harmony’.
12 See Life Force, Complete Works, vol. 5, chap. 6: ‘Thoughts are Living

Entities’.
13 See The Seeds of Happiness, Izvor Coll. n° 231, chap. 12: ‘The Spirit is
Above the Laws of Fate’, and chap. 21: ‘We are the Artisans of Our Own
Future’.
14 See Sons and Daughters of God, Izvor Coll. n° 240, chap. 1: ‘I came that

they should have life’.

15 See The Zodiac, Key to Man and to the Universe, Izvor Coll. n° 220, chap.
4: ‘The Cross of Destiny’.
 Chapter Nine
Don’t stop half-way
Most human beings spend their lives in pursuit of pleasure as though
nothing more important existed. In this they are sadly mistaken, and I
propose to make this clear to you with the help of an example that no one
would ever think of using because it is taken from the prehistoric days of
man.
Matches and cigarette lighters are modern inventions; our forefathers had
several other methods of producing a flame and one of these consisted in
rubbing two pieces of wood together. The friction produced heat and,
eventually, a spark and a flame – light. Everyone knows this, but how many
have ever thought about its underlying significance and realized that, since it
is a mechanical, physical phenomenon, it must correspond to some important,
hidden truths on the psychological level. People are content simply to
observe such things; they never try to probe them and learn how to interpret
them.
So, now, let’s see what we can learn from this phenomenon. We take two
pieces of wood and rub them against each other. The rubbing is a movement;
the movement produces heat, and heat is converted into light. Movement,
heat and light are the three sides of the triangle with which you are all
familiar, and which represents a human being. Movement is associated with
the will, activity, strength and power; heat is associated with the heart,
feelings and love, and light is associated with intelligence, thought and
wisdom.1 And, just as man is capable of producing light on the physical
plane, he can also produce light within himself. By his actions, by the
practice of certain exercises, he can produce a form of heat and begin to
experience certain feelings. If he does not stop there, if he knows how to go
beyond this level, he will eventually reach understanding, that is to say, light.
We must now study this process as it applies to the realm of love. What do
human beings do when they make love? Symbolically speaking, we could say
that they are like the two pieces of wood rubbing against each other to
produce heat, that is to say, a sensation of pleasure. That is all right as far as
it goes, but why stop there? Why is there no light? Why are they not
illuminated? Their love should illuminate them, give them an understanding
of the mysteries of creation, make them lucid and clairvoyant. But this is not
the case; on the contrary, it is quite likely to make them even more obtuse.
Movement and heat, these are the only aspects of love that human beings
understand. They stop half-way; they never reach light. In order to produce
light, one must not make pleasure one’s only objective, for pleasure absorbs
all one’s energies and prevents the light from shining forth. This is very
simple and clear: you have to go all the way to the top, to the light; you must
not stop on the way. To be sure, there are a great many things to be seen on
the way, some very interesting and seductive scenery and many sparkling
decoys to attract your attention, but if you stop for all these things you will
never reach the goal. This is why I say to lovers: you have set things in
motion and produced some warmth, but then you stop there, in the warmth,
whereas you should keep going until you reach the light, for light is the goal
and purpose of all activity.
Almost everybody stops half-way because they find so much to attract
them there, so many fascinating, glittering things. But this is where the Sirens
are lying in wait to destroy us. Remember Ulysses. Ulysses was a wise man,
he knew that he would have to pass within earshot of the Sirens who would
try to enchant him with their song and lure him to his death, so he took
precautionary measures to protect himself and his men. He stopped up the
ears of his men with wax so that they would not hear the voices of the Sirens,
otherwise they would never have been strong enough to resist their call. But,
as he wanted to hear them himself, instead of stopping up his ears, he told his
sailors to bind him to the mast and, on no account to release him, even if he
beseeched and implored them to do so, until the danger was safely behind
them. As their ship came closer to the island where the Sirens lived, Ulysses
nearly went mad as he began to come under the spell of their singing, and
begged and implored his men to release him and even threatened them with
death if they refused to obey him. But the sailors followed the orders he had
given them earlier and only tightened his bonds. Ulysses encountered the
Sirens when he was exactly half-way home, [Is it no more than a coincidence
that the episode of the Sirens appears in Canto XII of the Odyssey (the Iliad
and the Odyssey both consist of twenty-four cantos), exactly half-way
through the story that tells of the return of Ulysses to his homeland of Ithaca?
(Editor’s note)] and you must never stop half-way. To be sure, this is where
you will find everything that is most charming and seductive, but you must
still not stop.
You are probably familiar, also, with Wagner’s opera, Parsifal. At one
point, the hero finds himself in a meadow with the Flower Maidens, a
multitude of beautiful young women who attempt to seduce him. Hiding
behind each maiden is a snake.
These tales – of which there are many examples in the literature of the
world – contain some important occult truths. Ulysses and Parsifal are
symbols of the initiate whose path is strewn with temptations which he must
steadfastly resist; if he dallies on the way he will die. He has to persevere
until he reaches the summit and, once there, he will be given everything he
needs or desires: rest, food, beauty and love.
There are other ways of presenting this adventure: suppose, for instance,
that you are sent on a mission and that your path takes you through a forest in
which there are all kinds of delightful flowers and fruit, in particular, some
perfectly delicious little wild strawberries. You begin to stray from the path
and wander here and there – those little strawberries are so pretty and so
tempting – and you suddenly realize that time has passed while you were
looking for them and it is later than you thought. Night is falling, you cannot
see the path any longer. You are lost. And to make matters worse, the cries of
animals and the eerie creaking of the trees begin to make you very nervous.
Well, this is what happens to a disciple who strays from the path to look for
some pretty little strawberries. Are you telling me that you never pick
strawberries? Perhaps not, but the strawberries in my story could also be
pretty girls, or even a few drinks in a bar. They are a symbol. The little
strawberries could well be some very big strawberries!
And it is pleasure that is represented by all these appetizing things –
strawberries, Sirens or Flower-Maidens – and if you succumb to their
attractions you will be devoured. By whom? By elementals, ghosts, the
undesirable spirits of the underworld. They see that you are offering a
banquet and they arrive in droves. In the past – and even today, in some
Oriental countries – when there was a royal wedding or the birth of a royal
baby, a great feast was prepared and everybody could come and eat and drink
to their heart’s content; all were welcome, even the tramps and the beggars.
And the same thing happens when two lovers are ‘feasting’: they produce
quantities of appetizing nourishment for the spirits of the lower world who
flock to them, to eat and drink, for this is the custom. Who is it that benefits
from all that food and drink? Not the lovers, in any case. It is the others who
gorge themselves at their expense.
Does it always have to be like that? Is there no other way? No, it does not
have to be like that, there is another way, and that way implies a whole
science. If a man and woman know how to prepare themselves consciously so
as to spiritualize and consecrate their whole being, instead of nourishing
elementals, they can nourish angels with their love. And, in this case, they
will not be robbed and impoverished; on the contrary, they will be enriched
with greater beauty and better health. Why does everything have to be ruled
by ignorance? Men’s greatest ignorance consists in not knowing the
consequences that the word ‘pleasure’ necessarily entails. They do not know
that when their only goal is pleasure they are inviting all kinds of entities to
come and feast at their expense while they themselves waste away.
There is a great deal that could be said about feasts and banquets. When a
rich man gives a dinner party or a reception, quantities of different dishes,
wines and flowers are required, not to mention all the china and glass,
silverware, tablecloths etc., etc. All this costs a lot of money. In fact, some
people ruin themselves by giving too many sumptuous receptions. This is
exactly what happens to lovers when they are not enlightened; they squander
their reserves with the utmost extravagance. They don’t realize this. They
have never noticed that they are spending their strength and their fluidic
energies and they certainly have no idea where it has all gone. But you only
have to see what happens to them in the long run – they have been fleeced
and ruined.
And there is another thing that goes on at these receptions: pick-pockets
and thieves often slip in among the guests and take advantage of the crush to
steal money, jewellery and works of art. And this, too, happens with lovers.
While they are feasting, thieves slip into them, but thieves of the worst
possible kind, for, instead of stealing money or ornaments, they steal the
treasures from the hearts and minds of their host and hostess. They steal all
their inspiration; they steal their ideas; they steal their plans for the future,
and the wretched couple, stripped of all their valuables, no longer have the
same impetus, the same desire to know the secrets of the universe. On the
contrary; their desires become altogether prosaic. It is extremely important to
learn to observe and study and, with the help of the law of analogy, to
interpret everything that happens in life.
I am leading you towards the truths that Initiatic Science has revealed to
me. I have studied and observed human beings and I know that what I am
telling you is absolutely true. When men and women are dominated by their
desire for pleasure, they are opening their doors to thieves. They must go
beyond pleasure and bring forth light. Light may encourage them to give
banquets and invite guests, also, but, instead of bringing in all the riffraff of
the astral world, they will invite angels and heavenly entities to come and
rejoice with them. And, when these heavenly entities go, they will leave gifts
a hundred times more valuable than anything they received.2 In this way,
instead of being impoverished, the lovers will find that they have gained, that
they have gained revelations, ecstasy, a tremendous input of energy. They
will find themselves rejuvenated, revitalized. You have to know who to invite
to your parties and, if you want to be sure of inviting the right people, you
have to understand that you must go beyond pleasure.
Nowadays, everybody is gorged and intoxicated with pleasure. But this is
not the solution to the problem of sexuality. Human beings need to be told
that pleasure is only half the story and that, if they stop there, they will be
invaded by undesirable guests and subjected to some very costly experiences.
They will be tied hand and foot and deprived of their liberty. When a
butterfly’s wings are too damp it cannot fly. This is what pleasure is:
dampness. When I see someone whose wings can no longer lift him
(symbolically speaking), I don’t need to ask him how he got himself into
such a state. It is obvious that he has exposed himself to too much humidity.
Humidity, dampness, makes flight impossible – and it takes a long time to
dry out one’s wings in the light.3 So, don’t let yourselves be blinded by
pleasure, for it will stop you when you are only half-way. Go all the way to
the light.
Of course, I know that many of those who read or listen to my
explanations about pleasure will be astonished – perhaps even angered – by
such monstrous ideas. Innumerable books have been written about pleasure in
all its forms. In fact, for most people, pleasure is indispensable, essential
even, almost the goal of life itself. No, pleasure is not the goal; it is only half
the story. You will ask, ‘But does this mean that we should never have any
pleasure?’ Certainly you must have pleasure, but a much subtler, much more
spiritual form of pleasure. Pleasure as people know it today inevitably turns
to poison and bitterness. When you cut a piece of lead, it shines for a few
moments and then it quickly tarnishes and becomes dull. Pleasure is like lead.
If you want your pleasure to be always as bright and untarnished as gold, you
must give it nobility by adding another element to it, the element of thought
and, in order to do that, you must, first, replace the idea of pleasure with the
idea of work.
Work begins when a man decides to stop squandering his strength and
energies on the pursuit of pleasure and to use them to set in motion other,
higher centres in his brain. Instead of allowing storms and volcanic eruptions
to rage within him, he must learn to channel and control them and awaken
new faculties capable of making a genius, an initiate, a divinity of him. This
is how he transforms heat into light, by substituting work for pleasure. And,
as soon as he does this, genuine pleasure, the kind of pleasure that will not
defile but exalt and ennoble him, begins to flood his being.
The Bonfin, July 24, 1969
1 See The Symbolic Language of Geometrical Figures, Izvor Coll. n° 218,

chap. 3: ‘The Triangle’.

2 See The Wellsprings of Eternal Joy, Izvor Coll. n° 242, chap. 18: ‘Visits

from angelic beings’.

3 See La pédagogie initiatique, Complete Works, vol. 28, chap. 7: ‘La

chenille et le papillon’.
 Chapter Ten
Know how to use your energies
If you read the great Book of Living Nature you will realize that, in order
to evolve satisfactorily, it is essential to know exactly where one’s energies
go, what one spends them on, what use one makes of them. This is just one
more area in which human beings do not have the light they need. They
squander their energies frivolously and unthinkingly on whatever takes their
fancy. But to live in ignorance of how to use one’s energies makes it virtually
impossible to advance and evolve. We are responsible for our energies;
heaven has not given them to us so that we can waste them, and the use we
make of them will be noted on our record. The Book of Living Nature says,
‘Blessed are those who devote all their physical, emotional and mental
energies to working for the good of mankind and for the kingdom of God and
his righteousness.’1
A close look at human beings will show you that they are not really aware
of all the energy that has been given to them so that they may live. They have
no idea how precious it is, how much the Lord values it, where it comes from
or what it has cost nature to manufacture it for them. It is in things like this
that one sees that man is not very highly evolved, for he wastes his energies
on fits of anger, orgies of sensuality and selfish, criminal activities without
realizing that, in this way, all that priceless treasure goes to feed the forces of
hell. If I told you that it was human beings that nourished the forces of hell
you would be astonished, and yet this is the truth. Out of ignorance, most
human beings spend their lives nourishing, sustaining and supporting hell.
They are extraordinarily well-informed in the sciences, but they have never
been told that they are responsible for the way in which they use their
energies – and it is not at University that they are going to learn this.
One of the first tasks of a disciple is to become conscious of how he
spends his energies, for they have been carefully counted, weighed and
measured. When heaven sees someone wasting his energies in harmful
activities, it shuts off the supply. It says, ‘That man is dangerous; he has got
to be put out of action.’ Do you know, for example, why some people are
drunkards? It is because the invisible world chose that way to render them
harmless. If they were in full possession of their faculties they would use
their destructive energies to create havoc in the world, but their abuse of
alcohol chloroforms and stupefies them. They are incapable of doing any
harm. This is not true in every case, of course; there are all kinds of reasons
why people become alcoholics.
You should continually be aware of how you are using your energies,
continually ask yourself to what purpose, in what direction you are using
them. There is nothing more important than this, for heaven watches you and
sees what you are doing with all that wealth it has entrusted to you, whether
you are using it for purely selfish purposes or for a divine purpose. That is the
question. If you ask yourself this question lucidly every day, many things
within you will improve unbelievably. To be sure, you will not succeed in
bringing everything into line from one day to the next, but at least you will
learn to be conscious. Never forget that without this consciousness you will
continue to be subject to karma.
As long as you have still not consciously taken control of your life and
started to synchronize the vibrations of every particle of your being with the
vibrations of the divine world, you will be subject to the blind forces of
nature. This is the situation of most human beings, because no one has ever
shown them the importance of working on their inner life. It is of vital
importance to realize that, if you oppose Cosmic Intelligence with a way of
life contrary to Its design, you will progressively disintegrate until there is
nothing left of you. Perhaps you will exclaim at the cruelty of Cosmic
Intelligence in destroying those who reject Its laws, but the truth is that it is
not Cosmic Intelligence that destroys people. It has never wished to destroy
anyone. But if a man is stupid enough to pit himself against Immensity, the
forces opposing him are so powerful that he will, inevitably, be torn to
pieces. It is only to be expected. If one puny human being tries to stand up to
a whole army, he will soon be wiped out. If an insect batters itself against a
window-pane until it knocks itself out, is it the fault of the window? Men
behave like insects: they pit their strength against the divine law, against the
splendour of the universe... they love a good fight! But they are heading
straight for destruction and it will not be God who destroys them, but
themselves.
A disciple must seek, first and foremost, to attune himself to Cosmic
Intelligence. Every day, he must try to vibrate in harmony with this
Immensity, to melt into It, to open himself to It, to let himself be caught up
and swept away by It. The only way to do this is by love, for the only way to
become one with another being is to love them. This is why Jesus said, ‘You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all
your mind, and with all your strength.’2 God does not need our love, he can
get along very well without it. It is we who need to love Him; it is to our
advantage. Jesus did not say, ‘Think of the Lord, unite yourselves to him, do
his will’. He simply said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God,’ because only
those who love each other can be in tune with each other.
And this is what I am saying, also, when I ask you to attune yourselves
every day to that Supreme Intelligence, to act in accordance with his will
without even knowing exactly what it is. We often do not know what God’s
will is, but we should always be ready to do it whatever it may be. That is
what love is. When you love someone you are always in harmony with him;
even before you know what he is going to ask of you, you are ready to trust
him and do everything in your power to please him.
Amongst all the things I tell you, there are some points that you should
think about every day and others that may apply only in certain
circumstances.3 What I am telling you, today, about how you use your
energies, is one of the things that you must note down and think about every
single day, for I shall not always be there to remind you of it. There are a
great many things that you can leave to one side, but this is not one of them.
Every day, in all the different circumstances in which you find yourself, you
are asked to be conscious of how you are using your energies. You can do
this wherever you are: in the street, on the bus, at the dentist’s, in your own
kitchen – wherever you are you can glance into yourself and ask yourself,
‘Let’s see, if I do this or that, what is it going to cost me? Ah, I can see that I
shall be feeding the swine with all that is most pure and divine in me. No, I’m
certainly not going to commit myself in that direction. I don’t intend to spend
my energies on bringing back the dead.’ As Jesus said, ‘Follow me and let
the dead bury their own dead.’4
As you see, it is essential to be clear about the work to which we must
devote our energies. I cannot insist too much on this point.
Sèvres, April 11, 1966

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…’ – Matt. 22: 37
‘Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead’ – Luke 9: 60
1 See A New Dawn: Society and Politics in the Light of Initiatic Science,

Complete Works, vol. 26, chap.5: ‘The Kingdom of God and His
Righteousness’
2 See Les deux arbres du Paradis, Complete Works, vol. 3, chap. 2: ‘Les
deux premiers commandements’.
3 See Golden Rules for Everyday Life, Izvor Coll. n° 227.
4 See Sons and Daughters of God, Izvor Coll. n° 240, chap. 4: ‘Let the dead

bury the dead’.

 Chapter Eleven
How to distil the quintessence
I want to talk to you, today, about the work you can do with thought. I
know that most people have completely lost the habit of all mental activity
and never attempt to concentrate or meditate. They think that it is pointless,
that time is too precious and should be used for much more important things.
People have become so used to acting only on the surface of reality that it is
very difficult to get them to envisage things differently. They are a long way
from suspecting that the work of the mind contains untold possibilities that
no other activity can match.
Let me give you an example to illustrate the difference between work, as it
is generally understood, and the work of the mind. When you extract copper
or iron ore from the ground, you need thousands of tons of ore to produce
only a small amount of metal. All the rest is worthless gangue or rock.
Similarly, to produce a few litres of Bulgarian essence of roses, you need
several wagon-loads of rose-petals. But this essence, once you have distilled
it from the flowers, is worth a fortune. And do you know how much a few
grams of radium or uranium are worth? In other words, it is always necessary
to have enormous quantities of raw material in order to obtain the tiniest
quantity of the precious element it contains, the quintessence.
And this brings me to what I want you to understand, that almost all
human work is equivalent to shifting tons of soil and rock, great masses of
raw material, whereas, by the work of the mind, we extract the quintessence
from this raw material. If you never learn to use your mind in order to
concentrate, to control and master yourself, to channel your energies and
project them to higher levels, whatever you obtain from life will be like so
much raw ore which will simply weigh you down. It will be no use to you
unless you learn to extract the quintessence from it.
The prodigious amount of work accomplished by an initiate is all done
with a view to extracting the quintessence from raw matter. Quintessence is
that intangible element without which everything would be insipid and
meaningless. Even if you possess all the wealth in the world, if you do not
possess the quintessence of that wealth on the mental plane, you will still feel
poor, empty, dissatisfied and restless. It is not the quantity of your material
possessions that gives meaning to your life; it is the quality, the quintessence.
Unfortunately, all human activity consists – symbolically – in grinding up
and storing huge quantities of rocks and mineral ore without ever getting at
the quintessence, because to extract the quintessence requires a totally
different kind of work.
If you look at human beings, you will see that they work hard and earn a
lot of money but, whatever they do, they continually complain that something
is missing. Well, what is missing is this, the quintessence, that intangible,
imponderable something that gives meaning to life.1 They concentrate on
quantity, whereas the quintessence implies quality. Nowadays, people are
interested in producing and consuming ever greater quantities of goods, they
are not interested in quality. Quantity corresponds to the physical world,
rocks and earth. Quality corresponds to the spiritual, divine world.
It is only in an Initiatic school that a disciple learns to seek the
quintessence of reality. An Initiatic school, in fact, is like a distillery in which
the disciples learn to distil the essence from their total life-experience. All
that they have accumulated in the form of thoughts, feelings and sensations,
all their successes and failures, all their sufferings and, even, their faults and
mistakes, are mashed in the still and then the quintessence, that is to say, the
lessons they contain, are extracted from the mash. The pure liqueur of
wisdom flowing from the still enables a disciple to understand how the laws
operate and why success crowned some of his endeavours whereas others
failed.
An initiate is a being who has succeeded in distilling the quint- essence of
his own life. It is no more than a tiny phial but its perfume never fades or
evaporates. When an initiate possesses this, the quintessence of his life, the
quintessence of his being, he possesses the purest and most precious of all
things, God himself, for it is God who is the quintessence of all creation.2 A
quintessence is all that is most perfect in creation. It is a perfume, something
infinitely precious that emanates and radiates ceaselessly and tirelessly. Only
one gram of this precious substance emanates an infinite quantity of particles
without ever being diminished. The quintessence of man is his spirit.
Scientists are excited and fascinated by all that they discover in the world
around them, but it does not occur to them to be excited by themselves even
though they are a far more precious quintessence than uranium or plutonium.
It is human beings, we ourselves, who should be our principal source of
wonder and admiration, for we are more than plutonium and radium, we have
been radiating for billions and billions of years and we shall continue to do so
for thousands of years more. Human beings are like children, unconscious of
their own inner reality, always busy and fascinated by their exploration of the
world around them.
If a man abandons meditation and the work of thought which, alone, can
bring direction and order to his life, he will slowly but surely slide towards
hell, for hell, too, is present in every man. Heaven and hell exist within each
one of us and we are free to choose which one we shall aim for. Most people,
led by the desire to be free and independent and to ‘live their own lives,’
choose the path of disorder and chaos which leads straight to hell. Don’t let
yourselves be influenced by ignorant people who try to persuade you that you
would be happier if you abandoned the spiritual life. You will never find
happiness that way. Listen, instead, to the initiates who tell you to pray3 and
meditate4 every single day. Obviously, you must also continue to work in the
world; you have your job and you have to go on earning your living, but be
sure never to give up entirely the only thing that can lead you to a richer,
more meaningful life. I am constantly struck by the fact that people work
against their own best interest. They do away with all activity of the mind,
and yet this is the only thing that is essential, the only thing that can give
them the knowledge and mastery they need to live a life of splendour. You
have to begin working in this direction with patience and perseverance when
you are still very young, for this is the only way to get good results.
When human beings sink a mine shaft into the bowels of the earth, they
can bring up tons and tons of earth and rock. That is the easy part. The
difficult part begins when they try to extract something of value from all that
raw material. The work of thought, too, is difficult. Most people imagine that
their meditations should produce immediate results and, when that does not
happen, they stop trying. Why are they in such a hurry? It takes time to
extract all that is most precious – a great deal of time. Try to understand what
I am saying: once you have begun this work, you must never abandon it. You
must meditate, if only for a few minutes, every day, and if you can do so for
an hour or two, so much the better. In fact, it would be better still to devote
whole days to meditation if this were possible, for how much quintessence
can you hope to extract in only a few minutes?5
Look at all the poor, infertile countries in which fantastic wealth – oil, gas,
gold or diamonds – has been found underground. Similarly, however
destitute and wretched a man may be, if he understands these truths and
undertakes a process of elimination and distillation in his life, all his failures,
errors and misfortunes will yield their quintessence of wisdom and he will
discover the laws and understand the designs of Providence, his path will lie
open before him.
Believe me, if you succeed in extracting the quintessence of your life, you
can become extremely valuable, extremely precious. You will be like the
poorest country in the world that suddenly discovers diamonds in its subsoil
and becomes immensely rich, thanks to those diamonds. Even the most
abandoned, the most despised human beings can become multimillionaires,
kings of wisdom and virtue.
Thought is the most effective means that exists of living the divine life,
but on one obvious condition, that we focus our thought exclusively on good
things. Everybody thinks. The question is, how do they think? Everyone
knows that if you stir up a dunghill it will give off a nauseating stench. Well,
this is how many people think: they stir up the filth in their minds and poison
the whole atmosphere. Everyone thinks; there is not a living human being
who does not think. Even when they are not concentrating on anything in
particular, they are still thinking. The trouble is, though, that they think in the
wrong way. I am not saying that people should make the effort to think,
because they do that already. Thought exists before everything else and takes
precedence over everything else. Even the laziest people think, but their
thought floats like a leaf in the wind, while others think about how to swindle
and thieve and murder. But that is not really thought.
In order to think, one has to know, first of all, what to think about and how
to think. When I talk about thought I am talking about an instrument that we
must use in order to be ever closer to the divine world, the world of light,
certainty and peace. If our thought does not bring us closer to the divine
world it will inevitably bring us closer to hell, for the fact is that the faculty
of thought has equally strong ties with both worlds. A great deal of practice
and hard work is needed to detach it from the lower powers to which it is
subject and direct it Heavenwards. But if you fail to make this effort you will
be living in hell. Even if you are always beautifully dressed and frequently
invited to sumptuous receptions where distinguished people gather to
congratulate and flatter you, in reality you will be in hell. Whereas, if you
know how to direct your thought towards the divine world, even if you are all
alone in the world, your joy will overflow, for you will possess heaven and
earth within you. They will belong to you. Of course, people who see how
happy you are may say, ‘Poor fool! He’s got nothing to be happy about.’ But
what does it matter what other people say?
 Man was constructed in the Lord’s workshops in such a way that he is
capable of vibrating in unison with either heaven or hell. The Lord has not
restricted his choices. When people say to me, ‘If God existed he would
prevent people from committing crimes,’ I tell them that they don’t know
what they are talking about, because God’s greatness is revealed precisely in
this, that he gave man the power to become a malefactor. If he had made it
impossible for man to do wrong we should all be robots, automatons. How
would God’s glory be served if we had no freedom of choice? We should all
sing the same tune – and how dull that would be! God must have said to
himself, ‘It will be dreadfully boring if they all do the same thing all the time.
Let’s give them some freedom.’ And now he is the spectator at the show, for
‘all the world’s a stage...’
Oh, I know what you are going to say. You are going to tell me that I am
contradicting myself because I have often said that God never even looks at
what human beings are doing. Well, that is true. He never looks. Why should
he look at them when he knows only too well what they are capable of? He
knows exactly what they are going to do next; nothing astonishes him. That is
why he has packed his bags and gone off to the farthest heights where he has
other things to do. He leaves human beings to their own devices.
Well, this is not the moment to go into all that; the question is too
complicated. What I am really interested in getting you to understand is the
importance of this habit of never letting a day go by without raising your
thoughts to focus on the world above, for it is at these moments that you
trigger forces of a higher order, that you are in direct communication with
regions of the most sublime purity from which come help and support.
Perhaps you wonder if the advantages of this habit are really so great. Yes,
they are. They are immense. In the first place, your health improves because
you stop wasting so much energy on external and internal battles. Secondly,
you are cleansed of many impurities and enriched by all kinds of new and
more spiritual elements. And, finally, the entities of these higher planes will
get to know you better. When they see a beam of light coming from you,
even if you are almost hidden amidst the shadows of earth, they will feel
obliged to take an interest in you.
So, get into the habit of meditating. It is of first importance for you. Of
course, I am not recommending that you live like yogis and meditate all day
long, but nor do I recommend that you sever all your ties with heaven simply
because you have to carry on your business and earn your living. If you
follow my advice you will be taking the best course: go ahead, make money,
acquire knowledge and anything else you want, but don’t forget to set aside
some time in which to distil the quintessence of your activities. Without this
quintessence, even if the world itself belonged to you, you would still be
unhappy. In the back of your mind would always be the thought, ‘What use is
all that? It’s nothing but a burden...’ Without this quintessence, even if the
world itself belonged to you, you would not be any better off.
You must remember, though, that this quintessence can only be obtained
by thought. Suppose you find yourself in an extremely difficult situation, for
instance, and have lost everything you possessed, you still have the faculty of
thought and the possibility of working with it. You can still use your mind to
concentrate and focus your thoughts on heaven. When you do this you make
contact with entities of a higher order and you may be sure that things will
begin to take a turn for the better. Through prayer and meditation one can
always regain that which was lost. I have known men and women who were
so unhappy that they were on the brink of suicide and then, by their thoughts,
they made contact with these worlds of wondrous beauty and, instantly, it
was as though they had lost nothing. Once again, they felt that they were rich
and happy. This is the quintessence.
There is a great deal more that could be said about quintessence. The
quintessence is simply the fifth essence – in Latin, quinta essentia. ‘What
about the other four?’ you will ask; ‘What are they?’ There is the essence of
earth, the essence of water, the essence of air and the essence of fire. And the
essence of these four essences combined is the quintessence, the fifth essence
distilled from the four others, the etheric essence. The ether is above fire,
even above light. Fire is still in the physical, material domain; you can see
and touch and measure it. Light, also. Light borders on the etheric domain,
but it is still material. As a matter of fact, the ether also belongs to the
physical, material dimension; it is the subtlest level of the physical
dimension, the quintessence of the four physical elements. Man has still not
discovered the tremendous wealth of the physical plane, the wealth of its
subtle, etheric aspects. But the etheric world is still not the spiritual world.
Crystals and precious stones are the quintessence of the earth.6 All the
purest and most luminous elements of earth have gone into the making of
precious stones. Flowers, the loveliest and most perfect flowers that exist, are
the quintessence of water. Birds are the quintessence of air. And the
quintessence of fire is the initiates, God’s representatives on earth. You find
this astounding, I know. You would never have imagined anything like that,
would you? Indeed, you will not find this in any book. And the quintessence
of the ether, that is to say the quintessence of these quintessences, is the
angelic world reaching all the way to God himself, the ladder that Jacob saw
in his dream, on which angels ascended and descended.
What about the four-legged animals whose home is on the ground? They
are an essence that has not yet reached the perfection of birds. Similarly, the
imperfect, less highly developed forms of plant life are imperfect degrees of
the essence of water. As for gems which are flawed or imperfect, they have
not yet become the quintessence of the earth, they are still on the way.
Why are flowers the children of the angels? Why do gnomes work on
precious stones? There is a whole science in these things. Sacred Scripture
says that man must become a precious stone in the crown of his Creator. This
is a symbol. Precious stones belong to the earth and are nourished by the
earth; flowers cannot live without water; birds live in the air, and men die if
they cannot have access to fire. Fire is the food of initiates. When Zoroaster
asked the god Ahura-Mazda how the first man was able to survive, Ahura-
Mazda replied, ‘He ate fire and drank light.’7
Reflect on these things and you will understand a great deal.
Sèvres, January 23, 1966
1 See The Seeds of Happiness, Izvor Coll. n° 231, chap. 6: ‘The Meaning of
Life’.
2 See The Mysteries of Yesod – Foundations of the Spiritual Life, Complete

Works, vol. 7, chap. 1: ‘Yesod reflects the Virtues of All the Sephiroth’.
3 See ‘Know Thyself’: Jnana Yoga, Complete Works, vol. 18, chap. 7:
‘Prayer’.
4 See above, chap. 6: ‘Concentration, Meditation, Contemplation and

Identification’.
5 See above, chap. 2: ‘Spiritual Work’.
6 See A New Dawn: Society and Politics in the Light of Initiatic Science,
Complete Works, vol. 26, chap. 6: ‘The New Jerusalem’.
7 See ‘Boire l’élixir de la vie immortelle’, Pamphlet n° 5.
 Chapter Twelve
The moral law exemplified in a spring
A new idea always leads to complications, everybody knows that. You
may have a very good idea, but if it is new it will upset all your old habits and
your cells and all your organs will rise up in rebellion. Human beings are
often taken unawares and so upset by the inner upheaval caused by a new
idea that they abandon it. They say, ‘We were much better off before.
Everything was tidy and nicely organized, and now look at the mess we’re
in!’
Suppose, for instance, that you start having new ideas about the food you
eat. You used to eat meat and now you want to be a vegetarian. What
problems in store for you! All your eating habits are going to be turned
upside down and even if you, personally, are not upset, your family and
friends will be. Nobody is going to understand your decision. Everyone will
criticize and badger you and try to persuade you to revert to ‘carnivoracity’!
And that is not the only example. I could give you plenty more. If you
move so much as a scrap of paper, for instance, you stir up countless motes of
dust; if you start to dig a hole in the ground in order to plant a tree or build a
house, what an upheaval follows! Pandemonium breaks out amongst the
insects, worms, field-mice and moles and even amongst the fungi and
bacteria in the soil. But all that is normal and natural and has to be accepted.
Those who always refuse to envisage new ideas because they are afraid to
face the inner changes and upheavals they involve, will never get anywhere.
And not only that, but the difficulties they will have to face, later on, will be
far worse. What kinds of difficulties? Every sort and kind! For, if the
invisible world decides to transform mankind by sending new currents and
new influences into the world, those who resist them will find themselves at a
great disadvantage. This has already occurred in the past. At each phase of
man’s evolution, those who refused to accept the new conditions imposed by
life lagged far behind.
I have already told you, in other lectures, how some creeping animals
succeeded in flying and becoming birds, whereas the others remained
reptiles. Man has also had to make great efforts in the past before becoming
what he is today, and all those who refused to make the necessary effort
remained at a lower stage of evolution. Anyone who reflects about these
things, therefore, and wants to evolve further says to themselves, ‘If heaven is
offering us conditions that are more conducive to new qualities and virtues,
why stagnate? Why stay stuck in our old rut?’ And they prepare themselves
for a glorious future.1
If you study the history of the human race – not in history books, of
course, for they only go back a few thousand years, but in the libraries of
nature – you will see that, several times, in the past, there has been a split, a
separation between those who advanced and those who refused to advance.
This split was inevitable if the race was to continue to evolve, otherwise
those who held back would have hindered the progress of the innovators.
Those who refuse to move forward are weeded out and thrown aside; this is
the law. This is why Jesus, who knew that law, said, ‘When the Son of Man
comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the
throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will
separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the
goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.’
You will say, ‘But that is cruel. Doesn’t God show any pity or
generosity?’ Well, the truth is that God would like it to be otherwise. He
would like all his children to be on his right hand, that is to say, to enjoy
fulfilment and bliss, but he has created Mother Nature, and Mother Nature
knows no pity, she only knows justice. She is implacably just. So when
Mother Nature sees creatures who are deformed and without light, she says,
‘I cannot do anything with such shoddy material. Put them with the rejects
and send them back to the factory to be melted down and recast.’ But she
transforms those who have come through the sorting process into marvellous
statues, crowns, stars, whole worlds. There is no viciousness in Mother
Nature.2
What does a jeweller do? With a magnifying glass and various instruments
he tests and examines precious stones in order to sort them according to their
quality. ‘This diamond is perfect. That one is flawed. This one is not of the
first water,’ etc. In other words, he grades his stones – diamonds, rubies,
emeralds, topazes and sapphires, etc. – and rejects some and selects others,
before mounting them in rings and brooches and so on. In every area of life,
human beings do this; they are constantly screening things and keeping some
and rejecting others. Why shouldn’t Nature do as much?
Let’s take the question a step further with a very simple, very prosaic
example. There are restaurants for the very rich, in which the food is always
fresh and so rich and rare that only millionaires can afford to dine there.
Other, cheaper restaurants go and collect the left-overs from these smart
restaurants, and dish them up in stews or soups for their own customers who
cannot afford anything better. And, while we are on the subject, let me
remind you of what I explained to you about water.3 It is amazing how much
can be learned by studying water. The whole of the moral law is contained in
it; the true moral law, that is, not the morality invented by human beings
which changes according to time and place. You can see this in the question
of dress, for instance: fifty or sixty years ago, men and women wore the most
incredible bathing costumes because it would have been considered immoral
not to conceal one’s body. What a difference, today – and yet no one is
outraged! And dress is not the only example of this; there are many others.
As I have already said, there is such a thing as an immutable,
unchangeable moral law, the law of nature, and water can teach us something
about that moral law. Perhaps you will say, ‘How can it do that? Water has
nothing to do with morals. That is a department that belongs to theologians.’
True, theologians debate certain questions, questions such as how many
devils can sit on the point of a pin, for instance! Many theologians have spent
days and months racking their brains about this and other, more indelicate
questions! But it is water that teaches us true morality.
Take the example of the water that flows from a natural spring high up in
the mountains: not only does it taste delicious when you drink it, but it also
gives you an element that strengthens you, clears your brain and makes you
feel happier. This is because it is still unpolluted, it is still pure and crystal-
clear. But suppose you follow that water as it flows downhill and becomes,
first, a stream and then a river, you will see that the people who live along the
river banks wash their clothes in it, let their animals wade in it and drink from
it and generally use it as a sewer and a rubbish dump. At this stage, you
would probably be poisoned if you drank the water from that river.
Perhaps you will say, ‘Well we know all that, but what does it tell us about
morality?’ This: that if you want to be healthy and happy you must go and
look for life at its source. A river, from its source to its mouth, represents a
hierarchy. And we, too, are a hierarchy that extends from our higher, divine
Self, through our subtle bodies and on, down, to the astral, etheric and
physical planes. If we want to be nourished by the purest form of life, we
must go high up into the mountains – symbolically speaking – and drink from
the source. Those who drink from every ditch and stream fall ill, on the
psychic plane, to begin with, and, eventually, on the physical plane as well.
They become vulnerable to every conceivable misfortune simply because
they are in the habit of drinking polluted water. And if, for the word ‘water,’
you substitute ‘Teaching,’ ‘philosophy,’ ‘activity’ or ‘behaviour,’ you will
see, at once, that the image of the spring and that of the first-class restaurant
represent the same idea: if you want only the purest, richest and most
substantial food, you must go to the best restaurants – symbolically speaking.
We can also apply this notion of hierarchy to a hierarchy of beings, with
the initiates at the summit and the masses of ordinary, ignorant men and
women below. Through meditation, contemplation and identification, the
initiates climb to the heights and drink from the springs of cool, crystal-clear,
living water, and this purity is reflected in their health, intelligence and
beauty. But the vast majority of mankind make no effort to climb up to the
spring; they stay down below and drink water polluted by the coarse thoughts
and desires of everybody else. How do you expect them to feel, after that?
Initiates are rich. They have worked hard and earned a lot of gold, so they
can afford to go to the very best restaurants in the world above, the divine
restaurants where they are given food of the highest quality. Others, who
have never worked to earn that gold, have to make do with other kinds of
restaurants – sometimes, even, with the restaurants of hell. It is important to
understand that there is a hierarchy in nature and that, in order to obtain
something, one has to know on what level it exists and how to reach that
level. This is why initiates teach their disciples certain exercises and methods
which they can use to go and seek their food in the highest places.
Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life,’ and we shall understand
these words if we understand the image of the river, of the water flowing
from the mountain spring. Jesus was saying, ‘I am the source of the river, that
is to say, the truth from which everything else flows. I am the bed, or path, of
the river, and I am life, that is to say, the water, for water is life.’ This means,
therefore: I am the spring (that is to say, the truth) from which flows pure
water. Water (that is to say, life) needs a bed, a path along which to flow, and
this path is wisdom, for life and love must follow the path of wisdom in order
to find their way back to the truth. In saying, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the
life,’ therefore, it was as though Christ were saying, ‘I am love, wisdom and
truth.’4 This is clear to me because I have the key with which to unlock these
words which are still so mysterious. Nothing could be clearer.5
You can give another, slightly different, interpretation to these words if
you apply them to the Blessed Trinity. The Father is the source, truth; the
Son, Christ, is the way, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit is water, love. But, as
the three Persons of the Trinity are one, Christ, the Son, can also express
himself in the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit. The whole of the
spiritual moral law is contained in this image of the river flowing from its
source at the top of the mountain.
Some of you may feel like asking, ‘But why should I make an effort to
accept new ideas? Why study? Why pray? It’s all so dreadfully boring!’ The
answer to that is simply that it is the only way to be healthy and happy, to
have a clear brain and to assuage all the pangs of hunger and thirst. If you
don’t pray and meditate or have an active spiritual life, you will always
remain on such a low level that you will be obliged to eat and drink vile,
unhealthy food that will poison you. This is what the initiates have always
understood and it is they who have given us this moral law, the moral law of
the spring, of water.
I am well aware that you were never taught anything like this when you
were young. Nor was I, for that matter, so I understand the situation very
well. It was only later on in life that it was revealed to me that there is an
eternal, immutable moral law which is none other than the law of nature.
Whether you believe this or not will not change anything. The only thing to
do is to accept it, to submit to it and to say, once and for all, ‘Very well,
that’s settled. I’m going to go mountaineering!’ You will often get very hot,
of course; you will strip off layers of clothes, mop the sweat from your
forehead, sigh and cough, throw yourself down on the ground, shout for help
and goodness knows what else... but you must not give up. Keep going out on
these mountaineering expeditions, keep trying to reach the summit and drink
the pure spring water.
You will say, ‘Ah, now I understand,’ and you will all go off and ransack
the sports shops until the salesmen exclaim, ‘What on earth is going on?
Everything has been bought up. All the climbing equipment, all the boots,
shoes, trousers, knapsacks, ice-axes and ropes have all disappeared!’ Well, go
and climb some mountains if you like; it is a marvellous experience, I know,
because I have often been mountaineering. But that is not exactly what I have
in mind. What really matters is to climb mountains symbolically. The highest
mountains are inside us and we must continually climb up to breathe the pure
air at the tops of these spiritual mountains and nourish ourselves with the
food that we find up there.
And now let me tell you something: the best restaurant of all is the sun.
That is why we go there every morning. But, if you want to eat at that
restaurant, you must have some gold. Not the gold that you can carry in your
pocket: that is no use at all. What you need is the gold that is carried in the
brain, in the mind.6 When the proprietor of that restaurant, the Solar Spirit,
sees that you have that kind of gold, he will serve up the most succulent
dishes. Otherwise, you will simply sit there, yawning and scratching yourself
and moaning, ‘I’m not getting anything to eat. There’s no point in coming
here again.’ Others will be served but you will get nothing. You will be told
to come back when you have some gold.
Somewhere in the Bible it says that in order to have money one must first
possess gold, but nobody understands what this means. To have gold is to
have spiritual gold, that is to say, the golden-yellow light that all initiates
have in their aura. To have gold is to understand divine wisdom, to value,
love and cherish it. When the sun sees that we have this gold he takes special
care of us. And the others? Well, the others are still there, of course, they
receive a little warmth and light, but that is all.
You must be ready to accept new, divine ideas. If others misunderstand
and criticize you or even give you a hard time, that is no reason to stop going
up to the mountain tops for your food and water. The Universal White
Brotherhood has repeatedly sent messengers to earth to incite human beings
to enter a new phase and there have always been divisions: some accepted to
advance and others stayed where they were. The two groups continued to live
side by side for a time, for the initiates accepted persecution and opposition;
when one wants to help human beings one has to be extremely patient. But
nature has imposed certain limits, and all those who are incapable of
following the leadership of the exceptional beings who have been sent to
guide and direct them, are discarded and left by the wayside. A sorting out
takes place and it is nature that does the sorting.
Jesus also spoke of this sorting out: ‘It will be like that on the day that the
Son of Man is revealed… I tell you, on that night there will be two in one
bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding
meal together; one will be taken and the other left. Two will be in the field;
one will be taken and the other left.’ It would be impossible to understand
how Jesus could say such a thing if he did not know these laws, for it would
mean that everything was purely arbitrary. Why should one be taken and the
other left? Even in the same family there can be no favouritism. No one can
claim privilege because he is your brother or your father or mother. If
someone follows with trust, faith and love, then he will be taken: not
otherwise. Jesus has given us this one image, but you can find the same law
in every area of life. We see all kinds of things that have to be sorted and
graded. Nature judges us all and when she sees someone who behaves
without kindness, intelligence or respect, she excludes them from certain
graces and blessings. ‘But can’t beings of a higher order intervene?’ No, once
the sorting machines have done their work, no one can intervene.
There are occasional exceptions, of course, such as the good thief who was
crucified at the same time as Jesus and who rebuked the other thief who was
scoffing at Jesus,7 saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’
The good thief acknowledged that he was guilty and deserved to be punished
but that Jesus had done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, ‘Jesus,
remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And Jesus answered,
‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ But this, as I have
said, is a very exceptional case and only a Master as great as Jesus can plead
for such a man.
From all that I have been saying, remember this one thing most
particularly: that the image of water flowing from the mountain heights can
give you an understanding of true morality. On condition, of course, that you
are capable of deciphering what the great Book of Nature says about affinities
and correspondences. For my part, I see the whole of moral law exemplified
in this image of the water flowing from the mountain tops – and I am not
alone in seeing this.
If I were to interpret the natural life-cycle of water: evaporation, the
formation of clouds, rain and snow, etc., I could show you that it, too,
contains a lesson for us, for it exemplifies the laws of reincarnation. Yes, all
the laws of reincarnation are there, concealed in the saga of the oceans,
clouds, rain and snow, in the rising and falling of water.8 Only the initiates
have discovered that natural phenomena of this kind conceal so much secret
knowledge. This is why, for years, now, I have been trying to teach you to
read and decipher this great Book that lies open before you. For years, I have
been doing nothing else, but you still stubbornly refuse to see it. It is nature
that has taught me all these things, why shouldn’t she teach you, too? You
could benefit from her teaching exactly as I have, but on condition, of course,
that you trust her, as I have, and know that her book is the only one that will
never deceive or mislead you. God alone knows how much truth there is in
all the other books that you have so much faith in.
 Sèvres, January 5, 1964

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory’ – Matt. 25: 31-33
‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ – John 14: 6
‘On that night there will be two in one bed…’ – Luke 16: 34-36
‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ – Luke 23: 39
‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’ – Luke 23: 42
‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise’ – Luke 23: 43
1 See La pédagogie initiatique, Complete Works, vol. 28, chap. 2: ‘Le sens de

la vie, l’évolution’.
2 See Angels and other Mysteries of The Tree of Life, Izvor Coll. n° 236,

chap. 15: ‘Binah: I - The Laws of Destiny’.

3 See The Mysteries of Yesod – Foundations of the Spiritual Life, Complete

Works, vol 7, Part II, chap. 5: ‘The River of Life’.

4 See Truth: Fruit of Wisdom and Love, Izvor Coll. n° 234, chap. 6: ‘I am the
Way, the Truth and the Life’.
5 See The Philosopher’s Stone – in the Gospels and in Alchemy, Izvor Coll. n

° 241, chap. 1: ‘On the interpretation of the Scriptures’.

6 See above, chap. 14: ‘The gold of true knowledge: the alchemist and the
gold prospector’.
7 See Spiritual Alchemy, Complete Works, vol. 2, chap. 1: ‘Gentleness and
Humility’.
8 See The Mysteries of Fire and Water, Izvor Coll. n° 232, chap. 11: ‘The

Cycle of Water: Reincarnation’.

 Chapter Thirteen
Why look for models in the world above
Man can never improve anything on this earth if he has not first learned to
rise mentally to higher levels so as to contemplate other images, other modes
of existence superior to his own, and find his models and guidelines in them.
Jesus said, ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’1 He could not
have expressed such a prayer if he had not already contemplated heaven and
compared it with earth – and seen that there was simply no comparison!
Above, in heaven, everything is so perfect, so glorious, that when one sees
how different it is from earth, one cannot help wishing what Jesus wished for
in his prayer. But for man to achieve heaven on earth implies, necessarily,
that he must be capable of rising above the shabby, mediocre, fragmented
realities of this earth in order to contemplate the realities of heaven and,
having contemplated them, of returning to organize and adjust earthly
realities to conform to the models he has seen on high. And this is the work
of initiates: through their meditations and contemplations they perceive and
tune in to the perfection of the world above, which they then endeavour to
reproduce here, on earth.
It is only in Initiatic schools that human beings learn to do this: most men
have no idea how to rise to a higher plane, above and beyond that of the
earth, and to contemplate that higher world, and this is why they have made
such a ghastly mess of this world below. Only nature is truly beautiful, with
its lakes and mountains and flowers. The things that man has built in the
midst of nature are often dreadfully ugly. But, in spite of all obstacles and
thanks to all those beings who bring to earth new notions more akin to those
of heaven, humanity has gradually been improving over the course of the
centuries. The only purpose of meditation and contemplation is to enable man
to reach a higher plane of consciousness capable of influencing and colouring
his tastes, judgements and attitudes. The problem is, however, that one has to
know how to meditate, how to contemplate, and what subjects to choose. A
great many people meditate, but they meditate about the most prosaic things:
how to organize their businesses, how to earn more money, how to steal a
kiss from a lovely woman! If you ask somebody what he is doing, he will tell
you, ‘I’m meditating,’ but only the Lord knows what he is meditating about!
A cat meditates, too: it meditates on the problem of how to catch a mouse.
So, you see, there are different kinds of meditation. And since, in spite of all
their meditations, human beings are still bogged down in the same old faults
and failings, the same perversions, the same infamy, it is obvious that they
have not yet grasped the secret of true meditation.
True meditation is, first and foremost, to rise to a higher world, to lose
oneself in wonder and admiration and, then, to reflect that wonder in oneself.
If you still feel apathetic, dull and uninspired after your meditation it means
that it was a failure. Meditation should change something in the way you
look, in your smile, your gestures, the way you move. It should give you
something new, something subtler, just one little particle, perhaps, but a
particle that vibrates in harmony with the divine world. This is how you can
tell whether you have meditated well or not.
Meditation begins with the choice, by the intellect, of an elevated subject
on which you fix your mind. After a few moments you can relax your mental
concentration and simply contemplate the beauty you have conjured up in
your mind’s eye and let yourself be steeped in it. And finally, if you are able,
you identify with that beauty. The first stage, therefore, is concentration and
meditation, and then, once the ground is prepared, comes the stage of
contemplation in which you bask in the image of perfection that fills your
heart and mind, you drink deeply of its beauty, you savour it and find
happiness in it. And, finally, you identify with it – and this is plenitude.2
These are useful, magnificent methods and if you apply them you should be
able to draw great benefit from your meditations. Otherwise you will fritter
your life away, deluding yourself into believing that you have done
something worthwhile, whereas in reality you have accomplished nothing.
These methods used to be applied by the great geniuses of the past,
painters, sculptors, musicians and poets, and it was thanks to such methods
that they were able to bequeath so many masterpieces to humanity. Today,
unfortunately, artists have forgotten these helpful practices, they prefer to
create amidst the noise and prosaic ugliness of everyday life. This is why
their creations are incapable of bringing you closer to the world of beauty and
perfection, whereas, in contemplating the masterpieces of the past, you are in
direct contact with more advanced beings and you begin to feel and
experience what they felt and experienced. Without any deliberate effort on
your part, you are practically obliged to follow them into the sublime regions
that they contemplated and in which they found such delight.
This is the great advantage, the educational value of art but, unfortunately,
it does not apply to contemporary art. Contemporary art, instead of reflecting
the sublime regions of the superconsciousness, often reflects the infernal
regions of the subconscious. Today’s artists who create works of this kind are
leading mankind to destruction. And the same must be said of thinkers and
writers who have never meditated or experienced ecstasy, who have never
risen to celestial heights or contemplated the structure of the universe: they
write books which have a destructive, disintegrating effect on their readers by
filling them with doubt and revolt and a taste for disorder and anarchy. A
great many of the books published today are written by authors who have
never made the effort to rise to the higher regions of the spirit. Perhaps you
will ask, ‘How can you know that?’ Simply by seeing the effect they have on
you. If a writer fails to awaken your higher nature it is a sure sign that he has
never visited the heavenly world above. When a man rises to higher spheres
he absorbs particles from those regions and those particles continue to be
active and to vibrate within him; in fact, they vibrate in such a way as to
operate all kinds of transformations in the world. This is the ideal of a true
artist, the ideal of an initiate.
In short, initiates, mystics and artists resemble each other in that they all
have a favourable influence on mankind: artists, through their works of art;
mystics, through their spiritual emotions and virtues, and initiates and the
great Masters (whom I rank above all others because they are in almost direct
contact with Heaven), through their power to propagate light. Artists work to
produce forms which adhere as closely as possible to the ideal of perfect
beauty; mystics and religious men and women work towards the perfection of
the psychic and moral dimension, that is to say that they work on the level of
content, whereas initiates and the great Masters work on the level of
meaning, on the level of ideas and principles. These three categories of
beings are united in their desire ceaselessly to improve and perfect humanity,
but they go about it in different ways, in keeping with their different
capacities and talents: artists on the level of form, mystics on the level of
content and initiates on the level of meaning. Artists, mystics and initiates all
have different faculties, different means of expression and different missions.
But the reality, the quintessence, is one and the same; only the expression is
different.
These three categories of human beings correspond to the three essential
principles in man: spirit, soul and body; intellect, heart and will; thought,
feeling and action.3 All three are essential, but intelligence and understanding
take priority; ethics, mysticism and a generous, sensitive heart come second,
and action, the work of making the world a better place, comes third. A
whole man is one who is capable of embracing all three worlds: philosophy,
religion (including ethics or morals) and art.
The foremost desire of a true initiate is to work for the accomplishment of
Jesus’ prayer: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’. Even the
religious have never really probed the meaning of this phrase which contains
the whole of Initiatic philosophy, the whole plan of action for a disciple, for a
true Christian. It is no good just reciting the words and hoping that the Lord
will send someone else to accomplish it in actuality. It is up to us to do it; it is
our job to set to work and make the earth like heaven.
But there is one thing you have to realize, and that is that if you are not
willing to spend enough time, effort and love to rise to a higher level so as to
contemplate and comprehend the realities of heaven, you will never bring it
down to earth in any form whatsoever. Something like this cannot be done
haphazardly. You cannot express beauty unless you have some contact with
beauty. And yet there are a great many artists who think that their shallow,
sordid lives will enable them to create sublime works of art. They are far
more likely to produce gargoyles and monstrosities – accurate expressions of
their own degree of evolution!
Besides, man is only man. He cannot give more than he has got. The
French have the saying, ‘Even the prettiest girl can only give what she’s got’.
If you want to give, therefore, you must have something to give and, even
more obviously, if you want to create, you must possess the elements of that
creation within you. If someone produces a monstrously ugly creation, it
means that he has monsters of ugliness within him; there is no need to look
further for an explanation. No one can produce divine works of art if he is not
inhabited by divine beings. In order to produce something that is better than
oneself, one has to transcend one’s own limitations, penetrate into more
perfect regions and there gather divine elements which may then be
communicated to others. This is the secret of divine art.
One always has to transcend oneself in order to give mankind something
better. If I had not had that ambition, I would not have been able to give you
anything better than the most ordinary philosophy. If I am able to reveal to
you truths that no one has ever known or experienced before, it is because I
have always had the ambition to create something new and better. Human
beings are always looking for something better, something new and more
beautiful. This is what they are looking for in theatres and cinemas, concerts,
libraries, exhibitions and museums. Every human being has this deep-seated
instinct to seek something better. But the poor creatures don’t know that,
instead of looking for it in concert halls, theatres or night-clubs, they must
rise to the higher levels of the soul and spirit by means of meditation and
contemplation.
Cosmic Intelligence has instilled in man the instinctive desire to open new
horizons, thus ensuring that the human race shall continue to evolve and
progress. Look at plants and animals: they are still the same after thousands
of years, their evolution is very slow, whereas human beings are capable of
advancing very rapidly. But the external, objective, superficial aspect of life
has such a fascination for men that, if they are not guided and taught by
initiates and Masters, they easily fall under its spell and become enslaved.
They always look to external things for satisfaction. They always expect to
find greater joy on the fringes of reality, in human creations. But they will not
find it there. To find what they are looking for they have to look upwards – or
down into their own depths, if you prefer; it is simply a different way of
expressing the same reality – for all the wonders created by man are no more
than a pale, distant reflection of the divine world.
Even the very greatest artists are limited in their means of expression; they
can never transcribe exactly what they see, hear or feel in their moments of
inspiration. Even Beethoven, Mozart, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo or
Rembrandt were unable to communicate all that they saw and heard. So you
must not think that the best way to hasten your evolution is to visit museums
and art galleries. Of course, I am not saying you should not do so; on the
contrary, it can certainly be useful. For my part I have visited museums and
art galleries, temples and churches, and attended concerts and plays in every
country I have been to; but that is nothing, really nothing, compared to my
excursions into other regions. It is in those other regions that I have seen and
understood and contemplated splendours which surpass all the masterpieces
of this world. This is why I cannot summon up any great respect or
admiration for certain human ‘creations’. It is not my fault: I have been
shown things which are so much more beautiful and more perfect!
And now, since you already know that my advice and the methods I have
given you over the years have always been true, useful and full of good
sense, I ask you to listen attentively to the advice I am giving you today and
to surpass and transcend yourselves in order to become true creators. You
might begin, for instance, by improving the way in which you create your
own children, for children should be better than their parents. They should
not have the same faults and weaknesses. Parents who have already learned
how to bring into the world children who are superior to them, are very few
and far between, so you must not think that you are already beyond
reproach.4 As you can see, there is a lot more to learn, even in this respect.
The Bonfin, September 17, 1973

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ – Matt. 6: 10
1 See The True Meaning of Christ’s Teaching, Izvor Coll. n° 215, chap. 5:
‘On Earth as it is in Heaven’.
2 See ‘Know Thyself’: Jnana Yoga, Complete Works, vol. 18: chap. 6:
‘Concentration, Meditation, Contemplation and Identification’.
3 See Man’s Psychic Life: Elements and Structures, Izvor Coll. n° 222, chap.

6: ‘Body, Soul and Spirit’.

4 See Education Begins Before Birth, Izvor Coll. n° 203, and Hope for the
World: Spiritual Galvanoplasty, Izvor Coll. n° 214.
 Chapter Fourteen
Man creates in the invisible world
by means of his thoughts and feelings
The Master reads the Meditation for the day:
‘All the thoughts and feelings that take shape in the minds of human
beings, whether they are conscious of this or not, are living beings, and those
who bring them into existence nourish them invisibly, every day, with their
own emanations. At the moment of death, some people actually see and
recognize these beings as their own children and, although they may try to
flee from them, they cannot shake them off. This is why we must learn to
focus on light, every single day, and renew our ties with our Maker as often
as possible, for it is these ties that will deliver us from the monstrous
creatures that ignorance has led us to create.’
I am well aware that, in the present state of things, human beings are a
very long way from envisaging or accepting the truth of such a statement, for
they know nothing about the nature or power of their thoughts and feelings.
They have become so materialized, so fossilized, that this subtle, vibrant
world escapes them. They neither feel it nor believe in its existence – and yet
they continually manufacture it. Human beings are ceaselessly engaged in
manufacturing thoughts and feelings, good or bad, without realizing that they
are bringing tiny entities into the world which, in order to survive, have to
feed on those who produce them. This means that, if those entities are evil,
they will drain them of all their strength and, if they are good, they will
enrich them with many precious gifts.1
If I were the only one to tell you such things you might be justified in
refusing to believe me but, from time immemorial, Masters, initiates and
clairvoyants have taught the same thing, and this teaching constitutes a large
part of Initiatic Science. If a man’s mind is so benighted that he denies these
realities, he will remain in his ignorance, but what trials, tribulations and
hardship are in store for him! Actually, it is not so much a matter of believing
as of studying, observing and verifying things for oneself, and if you want to
verify something, you must accept a certain discipline and certain exercises.
What do those who deny the reality of the astral world claim to know that
justifies this denial? Sooner or later, when they are being besieged by their
own children, their own monstrous offspring, they will understand and no
longer deny anything, for these children are terrifying.
 On the physical plane, the thing is very obvious. If your children are
rebellious, violent and undisciplined, if they make too much noise or
vandalize the neighbourhood, you will receive complaints from passers-by,
neighbours and even the police. And, since parents are responsible for any
damage caused by the rowdy behaviour of their children, you will be obliged
to compensate your neighbours and pay for the damage. Exactly the same
situation prevails in our inner world which is teeming with our own creations,
our own children who cause untold damage in all directions, simply because
they are the fruit of dark, evil motives and intentions and, one day, the cosmic
moral law is going to demand that we make reparation for all the damage
they have done. The father has to pay for his children, and if he wants to
avoid this, it is up to him not to create rebellious, destructive, unruly children.
As long as human beings are instructed by the ignorant, these subtle,
secret, mysterious realms will remain closed to them and they will continue
to wonder why they are continually harassed, tormented and unhappy. The
answer is simple: they are being persecuted by their own children. It is man’s
own hatred, anger and spirit of revenge that has produced them, for, like the
Lord, we are true creators, not only on the physical level but on all levels.
Just as you create children on the physical plane, you also create them on the
astral and mental planes. Of course, the material of which your astral and
mental children are made is not the same as that of your physical children.
Your physical children can be seen and touched and judged by others, but
those that you create on the astral and mental planes are invisible. Only
clairvoyants can see them emerging from the head of their creator. In some
cases they are monsters and, in others, they are luminous, winged creatures.
Whether you believe this or not, therefore, the fact remains that fortune or
misfortune will come to you through your own children. You can see this
amongst your own friends: those who have energetic, intelligent children
receive a lot of help in their work; they get through their household chores in
record time because they have good, co-operative children. But those whose
children are hooligans are constantly obliged to answer complaints and pay
for damages. On the astral and mental planes, the pattern of events is exactly
the same as on the physical plane; the evidence speaks for itself. Why are
some people inwardly tormented and persecuted? As far as one can see from
outward appearances, they have never committed a crime and no one bears
them any ill will. True, but you should hear the uproar, the pandemonium, the
bedlam going on inside! Their children do nothing but shout and scream and
clamour for what they want – it is far worse than anything on the physical
plane. One can at least send one’s physical children out of the house to play,
or put them to bed. But you cannot get rid of your inner state.
Here, then, lies the true moral consciousness, in this realization that each
one of us is responsible for everything we do, not only on the physical plane
– that would be poverty, indeed – but on every plane. On the physical plane,
in their acts, people are always – or nearly always – admirable, wise, beyond
reproach: they obey the law and abide by the rules. But, inwardly, they feel
free to transgress all the rules. True morality consists in knowing and
applying these truths of the inner world in order to be a creator, consciously
and unceasingly, day and night. A genuine Master is extremely prolific; he is
continually creating tiny winged children, little angels that fly in all directions
to do good throughout the world. A genuine Master has quantities of
children.
Try to get it into your heads, therefore, that true morality is not a question
of conforming to external rules and regulations; to be truly moral is to be in
the habit of creating beneficial, luminous thoughts and feelings, it is to send
out from one’s heart and soul a constant stream of these tiny beings –
invisible but nonetheless real – that have a beneficial influence on every
creature in the universe. Unfortunately, what goes on in the thoughts and
feelings of men and women is just the opposite. They spend their time
creating evil, monstrous creatures and then wonder why they are unhappy, ill
and weak. Anyone who, in good faith, paused to reflect on this for a few
moments, would be obliged to admit that, at some point or another, they had
allowed themselves to harbour truly diabolical thoughts and feelings. These
thoughts and feelings necessarily trigger certain effects. It is not only words
and gestures, external actions, that have consequences; everything that goes
on in a man’s inner life also has its consequences. There, too, everything one
does sets other things in motion, triggers, disturbs or displaces something
else, so that consequences of some kind are inevitable.
Ignorance, ignorance, ignorance – ignorance is the cause of all
misfortunes. But how can anyone dispel this ignorance? Even if someone
tries to show men the truth they dig in their toes and say, ‘Oh, I don’t think
that’s true... I don’t believe that...’ Instead of saying, ‘I don’t really know
much about it but I shall study the question and observe things and do some
experiments,’ they say, ‘I don’t believe it.’ But who do they think they are?
Have they studied and probed all the secrets of the universe? Do they have
some special qualifications or powers? Not a bit of it: they are non-entities
and they take themselves for the hub of the universe. A disciple never says, ‘I
believe’ or ‘I don’t believe’. When you have actually experienced something
for yourself you can tell someone that what he says is right or wrong because
you really do know. But if someone refers only to what he believes or does
not believe it means that he does not actually know anything.2 All these
people who believe this and believe that – the Lord alone knows what they
really believe. All kinds of idiotic and monstrous things. They are ready to
believe anything that is not true but they refuse to believe the truth.
If, for once in their lives, they could bring themselves to say, ‘Who am I to
lay down the law? I don’t know the first thing about it. But I’m going to
study the question; I accept to be like a child in kindergarten who still has to
learn his A B C.’ This at least would show that they were humble and, later
on, they would be in a position to take a stand. But they study nothing, they
are dinosaurs, prehistoric monsters – and they think they know everything! If
you want to evolve you must change your attitude, otherwise you will make it
impossible for yourself to advance. I know the laws and I know what makes
human beings advance or regress. If you cling to this obstinate attitude you
will never advance, you will never even begin to understand the spiritual
realities and, at the end of your life, if you are honest, you will have to say, ‘I
came in as a calf and I’m leaving as an ox.’ Nothing will have changed; you
will not have got beyond the stage of the bovine!
You are astonished to hear me speak so harshly, with such severity. I
assure you, if you were in my shoes and could see the aberrations of human
beings as clearly as I see them, you would be much more violent... you would
lash out in all directions. I am really very gentle; I have not broken anything!
So, it is not a question of believing or not believing, it is a question of
knowing that the thoughts and feelings that you project follow the trajectory
that corresponds to their nature, their quality, their intensity and the force
with which you project them, and that they complete their course by returning
to the centre from which they came: yourself. If they are good they return in
the form of blessings that rain down on you and, if they are evil, if they
contain a venom secreted by your brain or your heart, you will feel the sting
of that venom. This is what I call the backlash or return shock and it is a law
that operates both for good and for evil. A disciple who strives to become
more and more aware, every day, of the importance of this question, will
quickly master his own thoughts and feelings. And even if alien, hostile
feelings attempt to get a footing within him, he will be in a position to eject
them and put his own, wonderful children in their place.
I know very well that it is not because you have listened to this talk, today,
that you will instantly be capable of keeping a check on your thoughts and
feelings. But, with the knowledge you now have, you will be in a position to
see where you stand, and this is one of the positive aspects of this science.
The ability to reject and replace undesirable thoughts and feelings with better
ones depends on your degree of evolution, your ideal, your intelligence and
perseverance and, above all, on your love. If you love this ideal, if you really
and truly want to be good, luminous and radiant, you will succeed much
sooner and more easily than others.3 But if you are so proud and imbued with
your own worth that you think you have no further progress to make, you will
not advance much.
Everything depends on yourself, therefore. I am obliged to reveal these
great truths to you, because that is part of my programme. If you neglect
them, you will be obliged, one day, to pay dearly for doing so. But if you
become conscious of the need to apply them, you will be the first to benefit,
for you will be given great joy and wonderful revelations. These laws that I
have explained to you about the reality and power of your thoughts and
feelings are infallible. The question is far too important to be left to one side;
I am obliged to talk about it. As a matter of fact, men will soon be able to
photograph thoughts and feelings and record their colour and form, their
dimensions and their intensity. Before the end of this century all this will be
revealed. Let us hope that it will not come too late.
It is important to know that black, chaotic thoughts and feelings leave
indelible traces on the physical body. Very often a person’s face reveals the
kind of life he lives. Others will see him as someone unpleasant, even
repugnant, without quite understanding why. They are uncomfortable in his
presence and find it impossible to love him; their one idea is to get as far
away from him as possible. The reason is simply that, through ignorance, he
has admitted inferior entities into his inner sanctuary and, as a result, has
created a brood of lawless children who break and soil everything. Someone
else, on the contrary, who has learned to keep a watch on his thoughts and
feelings, will advance and make progress and everybody will love him and
find him attractive.
If you do not sense that what I reveal to you is absolutely true, it is a sign
that your place is not in an Initiatic school. If you belonged here, you would
have learned these things a long, long time ago. When I reveal them to you,
your reaction should be, ‘That is not new to me. I know that already. I don’t
know when, but I have already experienced what he is saying: it is absolutely
true.’ You should almost feel that these truths are so much a part of you, that
I am not teaching you anything. Don’t worry, I shall not be insulted if that is
your reaction! But if what I say awakens no echo within you or if you reject it
because you think you know better, then it is pointless to come here, to our
school; you are wasting your time. Perhaps you would be more usefully
employed breaking stones or sawing wood or tending a flock of geese.
The Bulgarians have a proverb which says, ‘It is the intelligence that
reigns, the intelligence that becomes a slave and the intelligence that tends
geese.’ In other words, whatever your circumstances, it is the work of your
intelligence. In any case, either you are king or you are a slave or you tend
geese and, when you reach that point, you should tell yourself, ‘It’s your own
doing, old man! It’s your intelligence that brought you to this.’ In other
words, instead of blaming others, you must admit that it is you who are to
blame. This is what I do and it is this that enables me to keep making
progress. As long as you blame everyone else for your misfortunes you
paralyse yourself and hinder your advancement and you will never
understand exactly why. You will never learn the real reason. But, if you say
to yourself, ‘If I had been wiser and a little more reasonable and intelligent I
wouldn’t be in such a fix, today...’ you will continue to make progress. There
are many of these truly powerful formulas that we can use.
The Bonfin, August 23, 1974
1 See Le grain de Sénevé, Complete Works, vol. 4, chap. 12: ‘Croissez et
multipliez…’, Life Force, Complete Works, vol. 5, chap. 6: ‘Thoughts are
Living Entities’ and chap. 7: ‘Unwanted Guests’.
2 See The Faith That Moves Mountains, Izvor Coll. n° 238, chap. 5: ‘Faith

always Precedes Knowledge’.

3 See Life Force, Complete Works, vol. 5, chap. 10: ‘A High Ideal’.
 Chapter Fifteen
We must not sever the link between
the world below and the world above
You must not think that I continually feel obliged to attack the glory and
prestige of scientists; on the contrary, there is only one point on which I
criticize them, and that is the fact that they have cut the link between the
external world of matter, which is their particular field of action, and the
inner world of the soul and of consciousness. This is where they are at fault
and this is where I quarrel with them. Only when the link between the
spiritual world and the physical, mechanical, material world is restored, will
true progress become possible. Perhaps you feel like asking, ‘But why do you
attach so much importance to this link? Surely it doesn’t change things all
that much?’ This is precisely what saddens me, the fact that nobody
recognizes the importance of this link. If it were not vitally important, I
would not waste my time and energies on it. I insist on it because, as long as
this link is severed, nothing in life will ever be clear and comprehensible.
Hermes Trismegistus said, ‘That which is below is like to that which is
above,’ and this precept has constantly guided my research. Let me give you
an example. When a doctor auscultates a patient, he may discover a
deficiency in one of his organs which is upsetting the balance of the whole
system, and then he will use all the means at his disposal to correct that
imbalance. But the point is that we should go beyond the purely physiological
question and let the human organism teach us how to solve the problems of
mankind as a whole. An organ is composed of cells; the cells are composed
of particles, and the particles, themselves, are composed of even smaller
particles (in fact, today, no one knows just how far the analysis of the
infinitely small can be taken). A multitude of cells, therefore, forms an organ;
many organs form a unit, a human body, and the body, in turn, represents one
minute particle in relation to the whole universe. Of course, you all know
this.
But if this unit is to be healthy and to eat, move about, speak and think,
etc., its organs must all be in good working order and this is possible only if
each one works for all the others. The stomach digests food, but it does not
keep it all for itself, it distributes it to the rest of the body. The heart does not
keep all the blood for itself, it pumps it through the blood vessels. And the
eyes do not see or the ears hear only for themselves. They are all at the
service of the whole organism; their job is to feed or protect or warn or guide
or transport the whole. None of them works exclusively in its own interests,
to ensure its own livelihood or wealth, or to establish its pre-eminence over
the others. They all obey the law of self-sacrifice, disinterestedness or
brotherliness – call it what you will – and when a person falls ill, it means
that microbes, viruses or impurities of some kind are preventing one of his
organs from carrying on its divine work of selflessness.
From all this we can draw the conclusion that there is a higher Intelligence
who has established certain laws and that every breach of these laws, that is
to say, every manifestation of egoism or disorder, leads to illness and death.
Human beings have known all this for thousands of years: why have they
never seen what it meant? Since that which is below is like that which is
above – and this means, too, that that which is small is like that which is big –
we can conclude that what is true for the individual is also true for the
collectivity. Mankind is an organism and each country is an organ which, in
turn, is made up of the individual cells that live and work there.1 But the
organs of mankind are not animated by the same spirit of disinterestedness,
the same love, as the organs of the body. Each one seeks its own interest and
works exclusively for its own welfare, to the detriment of its neighbours.
The human body functions according to laws conceived by a Sublime
Intelligence, whereas the ‘body’ of mankind functions according to rules laid
down by human minds. This is why it is not functioning properly: the body is
ill, so ill, in fact, that it is in danger of death. If mankind is to be restored to
health, we must take the human body built by nature as our example, see how
it functions and what makes it healthy or sick, and apply the same rules to the
whole of humanity.
I know what your objections will be. You will say that it can’t be done
because human beings are still like animals, they are still too narrow-minded,
selfish and cruel. I know better than you why things are as they are today, but
that is not the point. The elite, the leaders are in a position to intervene and
change things, but they do nothing. All of them work for only one organ
whereas each organ should work for all the others; if they did this, the whole
of mankind would live in prosperity and peace.
When a body is healthy, all its cells benefit. When your brain is lucid and
your heart is beating regularly, without tension, even your feet are
comfortable – you can actually feel that your feet and even your toes are
happy! Have you never noticed? On the other hand, when your feet are cold,
you start to sneeze; it is your feet that suffer from the cold and your nose that
reacts by sneezing. I don’t need to give you more examples. It is obvious that
when one organ is comfortable, all the others benefit and feel comfortable,
too, and when one organ is in a tight spot, all the others feel the pinch.
Human beings are the only creatures that rejoice when someone else, another
country, is in a tight spot, and that is because they have severed the link.
Human beings have broken the link that connects them to each other, and
that break is called hatred, hostility, revenge or spite. You only have to look
at Israel and the Arab countries, or the United States and Vietnam. Perhaps
you will say, ‘But they haven’t broken off relations; on the contrary, they are
fighting each other.’ That is true. On the physical plane, at least, the link has
not been broken, they are continually at each other’s throats. But the link I
am talking about is the spiritual bond and it is this that has been broken – and
the breaking of this bond is called war. Of course, there is a link of a kind
there, too. There is certainly a link between two people who loathe each other
and who are locked in a struggle to the death; they could hardly be closer!
And others, too, even if they are thousands of miles apart, may be joined by a
very strong bond. My understanding of the link, the connection, is that of a
mechanic or an electrician faced with the problem of a machine that is not
working because one little bit of wire is missing. If he can just replace that
length of wire, the connection will be restored and the machine can function
again. It is the link that is all-important.
Once men have really understood that that which is below is like that
which is above, the groundwork will have been done and it will be possible to
establish the Kingdom of God on earth. The vital thing is to understand that
there is a link, a bond between heaven and earth. At the moment, it is obvious
that this link has been severed, for even scientists and philosophers claim that
nature is neither intelligent nor conscious. But if they continue to divide
matter into smaller and smaller particles, they will eventually discover the
intelligence that rules these particles. And, let me tell you, there are three
categories of particles, just as there are three categories of men.
The first category of men includes those who are content with the laws as
they exist. They are the respectable, law-abiding citizens. A second category
includes those who are not content with the present state of things and want
to get humanity to rise to a higher state, to the divine, angelic state. These are
all the great initiates who have come to earth and tried to help man to free
himself from the condition of an animal and rise to a higher plane where there
is greater justice and love. And, finally, there is a third category, and these are
the destroyers, the anarchists, who have appeared at different moments of
history in order to lay waste and introduce their pernicious philosophies.
Thus, there are three categories, one of which respects the established order,
and two of which want to change it. One of these wants to change it for a
divine order and the other for a diabolical order. These three categories can
also be found in atoms. The question is, what is the Intelligence that
commands these particles, these three categories of particles?
But scientists have never accepted the system of correspondences which
would have enabled them to draw a parallel between the life of man in the
family and society, and the life of atoms. It was a blow to their hopes and
expectations when, in spite of themselves, they discovered that the atom was
built on the same pattern as the solar system. Many of them were shaken by
the discovery because it upset some of their theories. But, whether they liked
it or not, it was so obvious that they were obliged to recognize it. And one
day, in their studies of the atom, they are going to find some ‘comets,’ some
foreign particles that are not part of the system, and this is going to puzzle
them very much, for they will not understand where they have come from. In
other words, scientists are going to find so many things that surprise them
that, in the end, they will have to give in and recognize the law of
correspondences. In the meantime, they have been misleading mankind
because, once you sever the link between heaven and earth, true morality
begins to break down.
When human beings cease to believe in the existence of a Supreme
Intelligence that presides over all that exists, they lose their faith in the
meaning of life.2 And once faith is shaken, love also begins to wane, for faith
and love are linked. As I have said: ‘Believe in someone and he will love
you; love someone and he will believe in you’. If you believe in nothing, why
should you love your neighbour? What is the point of trying to do good?
Surely it would be more logical and more profitable to do just the opposite
and take advantage of others, to do them down or even assassinate them, if
need be, in order to get them out of your way?
This shows how the mere fact of severing the link between heaven and
earth, between the great and the small, between the inner consciousness and
the outer world, has led to an upheaval in behaviour and attitudes. The
present situation is a result of this rupture for which scientists and
philosophers are largely responsible. They failed to foresee that, by
destroying the two pillars of faith and love on which the whole edifice
depended, it would all come crashing down. And, today, the situation has
reached catastrophic proportions, and nobody knows what to do about it. You
will say, ‘But these people were very sincere’. True, but they were blind, they
did not possess the light. This is why, in spite of all their discoveries and
inventions, I have to criticize them. They should have foreseen the disastrous
consequences that their theories would lead to; they should have understood
that there is a connection between what a man believes and what he does.
They thought that even if he no longer believed in God or Cosmic
Intelligence, man would continue to be virtuous, honest, noble and
disinterested. But this is one more link that they cut in failing to see the
connection between the two things. I have always insisted on that connection
– always!
Philosophy and science have destroyed man’s faith in something
reasonable, in something with meaning, only to drive him to believe in
something senseless, in chance, in the absurd. Could the unutterably complex
arrangement of the atoms and molecules that go to make up an intelligent
being have happened by accident? Are we to believe that intelligence is the
outcome of chance, of the absurd? What strange reasoning that is! The fact is
that everything in nature flatly contradicts that idea, for a seed cannot
produce something that does not correspond to its own nature. Even the
alchemists used to say that one cannot manufacture gold if one does not have
at least one particle of gold to begin with. But now, because scientists and
philosophers proclaim that it was mindless chance that gave birth to an
intelligent being, everything becomes monstrous.
The link. I can never insist enough on the importance of the link, and life
will prove how right I am, events will vindicate me. The other day I heard a
so-called thinker talking on the television, explaining that he was in favour of
disorder. But what kind of men are these who claim to instruct mankind? He
was in love with disorder! I can assure you, if I could meet that man face to
face he would have a very bad time of it! I would say, ‘Ah, so you love
disorder, do you? Then, of course, I presume that you are perfectly willing to
suffer from cancer?’ ‘No, no, certainly not.’ ‘Well, that is the disorder you
appreciate so much, cancer. Since you like disorder around you, you must
accept its presence within you as well. And, I promise you, when that
happens you will see what disorder really is. You are an imbecile; you don’t
know what you are saying!’ And to think that it is people like this that are
welcomed with open arms on television programmes.
If human beings sincerely want to work for good they must first realize
that they will never manage to do so as long as each one works for himself;
never! Everything may go smoothly for a time, they may become rich and
powerful, but nothing can save them from being attacked and destroyed by
others. No one who works exclusively for himself can ever be safe. True
safety is to be found by working, first and foremost, for others. If you work
for others, you need never fear that someone might attack you, because
everyone will love you.
This tendency on the part of human beings, which is so widespread today,
to work only for themselves, for their own safety and well-being, will never
bring them the fruits they hope for. They must get rid of that idea. Individuals
will be in safety only when all members of the collectivity are linked together
to form one mind and one conscience. Once again, we can see this mirrored
in the human body: the different organs don’t consume each other. I have
never heard of a stomach attacking the heart or liver and devouring it. To be
sure, there are cases of men whose hand has picked up a revolver and blown
their brains out, but that is abnormal. In normal human beings one organ
never tries to harm another. On the contrary, if your head aches or you have a
pain somewhere, consciously or unconsciously, your hand will go to the spot
that hurts to soothe and warm it. Our different organs help and collaborate
with each other.
In the long run, a philosophy which urges men to work exclusively for
their own country can only bring misfortune. History gives us ample proof of
this. Look at how many powerful kingdoms have disappeared – and other
powers are doomed to disappear, one day. What will become of England,
France, America and Russia if they continue to cultivate a jealously
separative spirit. Ours is the only philosophy that can lead mankind to
happiness and fulfilment. The great need, now, is to find intelligent men and
women in government who will understand and decide to apply it. To
understand it is not difficult; it is the practical application of it that is
difficult. Political leaders will say, ‘It is not possible to put it into practice
yet. We represent a country and it is our duty to work only for that country.
Apart from that, we absolutely agree with you. Clearly, what you say is quite
true’. Thus, even the heads of State are not free.
Mankind has such powerful means at its disposal, today that, if this
philosophy were accepted, the Kingdom of God would very soon be
established on earth. All the means and possibilities we need are there, but
there is still something missing in the minds of men. All that is needed is for
those at the top to decide to form a world government that would ensure
peace for all men. Then, as it would no longer be necessary to spend billions
on weapons and defence systems, all that money could be used to ensure a
better life for each individual.
When you hear me denouncing scientists you always wonder what I have
against them. Nothing; I have absolutely nothing against scientists. It is their
mentality that I am opposed to. I would like to destroy their attitude and put a
different one in its place, but they themselves are magnificent, wonderful
people. I would like to embrace them all! What I am fighting is an idea, but
the scientists themselves are very precious people for, while spiritualists,
[The word ‘spiritualist,’ in the language of Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov,
simply means one who looks at things from a spiritual point of view, whose
philosophy of life is based on belief in a spiritual reality.] mystics and the
religious do nothing at all, scientists work very hard, so we must take care of
them. If only they would restore the link between the physical world and the
moral, spiritual world! If they did that, they would be so useful, so necessary
and admirable, that everybody would embrace them and serenade them – by
moonlight, perhaps! It is this link, therefore, that matters, this tiny wire that
needs to be put back where it belongs so that the current can flow, once
again, between heaven and earth, between the world above and world below.
When Hermes Trismegistus, speaking of the force of Telesma, says, ‘It
doth ascend gently from Earth to heaven. Again it doth descend to Earth, and
uniteth in itself the force from things superior and things inferior,’ he is
referring to this communication, this contact between the divine and the
physical worlds. This force is life, the current that flows between heaven and
earth. Everything is connected. Outwardly, everything seems to be
disconnected but, in reality, everything is tied in to everything else.
All the power of magic is here, in this one thing, the link. A magic wand3
is simply a rod that links the two worlds, and he who wishes to be a magus
must possess this little rod within himself. If he does not possess it, if all he
has is the wand he is holding in his hand, he will be incapable of setting in
motion the forces of nature or of working magic of any kind, because it
means that he has not understood that the only true magic wand is this living
link which allows the current to flow between the two worlds, the plug that
must be connected to the mains. The function of a magic wand is to close the
circuit so that energy can flow from one world to the other. If you want your
lamps to light up you have to connect them to the electric current from the
power station, and a magic wand is the plug that makes this connection.
When a magus possesses this wand in his head and his heart, therefore,
and, in addition, he holds a physical magic wand as a symbol of this
connecting rod, he is able to trigger the flow of current from the divine world
to the physical world. I realize that this is new to you; in fact, I am convinced
that it is also new for most occultists, who often have rather vague ideas on
the subject. They use various props but without understanding what they
mean or how they should be used and, as long as they fail to understand this,
as long as there is no little ‘fuse wire’ within them to ensure the connection
between the two worlds, there can be no spark of magic. This is what a magic
wand is, a fuse wire.
No matter what I tell you, it seems that you still do not see the importance
of this thread that links the two worlds. You say, ‘He keeps talking about a
thread, a connection, that science has cut. Pooh. Who needs it?’ You do!
Without this thread you will never get anywhere. For my part, I have this
thread, but I am the only one who can use it. I cannot lend it to you,
everybody has to have it for themselves, it is not something that you can
borrow and plug in, mechanically. Each individual must understand what it is
and accept and agree to it in order to plug it in for himself. For my part, I
have already done this; but we are not talking about me, we are talking about
you and all the others like you. Believe me, all the misfortunes of mankind
stem from the fact that this connection has been cut. Of course, everyone
explains these misfortunes in his own way; economists see them as a result of
economic factors; politicians explain them in terms of politics; the clergy will
say that it is because people have stopped going to Mass, and doctors will say
that it is because people refuse to take their advice. But I am telling you that
all the misery in the world is a consequence of the rupture of this link. It now
remains to restore the connection, to rebuild it with wisdom, intelligence and
skill.
Hermes Trismegistus said something else, too. He said, ‘You shall
separate the subtle from the gross with great diligence.’ Why must they be
separated? And what must we do with them once we have separated them?
The answer is simple: we must break our bonds and separate ourselves from
all that is dense, obscure and mindless, and bind ourselves to all that is subtle,
luminous and intelligent. When one cuts one’s ties with Cosmic Intelligence,
as contemporary scientists and thinkers have done, one establishes ties with
the absurd. To detach oneself from one thing always implies an attachment to
something else. If you detach yourself from the Lord you will inevitably
attach yourself to demons. If you move farther away from the light you will
be closer to darkness. Nobody has ever envisaged this broader application of
the words of Hermes Trismegistus. The precept, ‘You shall separate the
subtle from the gross’ implies the underlying notion that this separation is
followed by an attachment, that when one detaches oneself from an object or
being, one inevitably attaches oneself to another object or being.
Perhaps you understand, now, that if I am always scolding scientists and
philosophers, it is not that I believe myself to be any better than they are, but
because my point of view is superior to theirs. I am like a child who, from his
perch at the top of a tree, can see things that those on the ground cannot see.
When I was very young, about four or five, I had four passions which I have
kept to this very day – although in a different form, of course. I loved to
climb trees, light fires, collect threads and bits of string – it may seem very
stupid, but I was fascinated by threads – and watch running water. In the
village in Macedonia, where I was born, at the foot of the Babuna Planina
(the Grandmother Mountain), there were some very big trees, mostly poplars,
and I loved to climb up as high as possible into the branches of those trees
and stay there a long time. When my mother called me – she always knew
where to find me – I would get down by sliding down the trunk and, as I
never wore a shirt in summer, the skin of my tummy became as tough as
leather! How I loved those trees. I could stay there for hours, perched up in
the highest branches.
As for my love of threads, I remember that, one day, when I was only five
or six years old and not fully conscious of what I was doing, it caused
something of a tragedy. One of the women in our family was a weaver and,
one day, when I saw her loom standing there, with all the threads so
beautifully arranged on it... Well, I don’t know what got into me, but I
wanted those threads so badly that I cut them all off her loom and took them.
There, now I have confessed my sin of destruction to you. Of course, I was
duly punished, but what a tragedy! I can still see everybody running round in
circles in a panic while I looked on, wondering why they were so upset. I had
cut everything off the loom just because I wanted the threads! And what did I
do with them when I had got them? Nothing. Why did I want those threads?
It was only much later that I began to understand my fascination with threads
and, also, with fire and running water.
I did quite a bit of mischief with fire, too. I used to light a fire anywhere I
could, just for the joy of watching it burn and, one day, it was my parents’
barn that burned down! I could not understand, on that occasion, either, why
everybody was in such a panic and rushed to put it out. I thought it was so
beautiful. The flames were so bright.
Water, also, had the same enchantment for me. I shall never forget the
little spring that bubbled up from the ground quite near where we lived; I
would sit there for hours, watching it, entranced by that pure, crystal-clear
water flowing out of the ground. To this day, I have a vivid picture in my
mind of the pure, transparent waters of that spring. And ever since then, all
my life long, I have had this constant preoccupation with water and fire.4
That is why the very first lecture I gave here, in France,was about fire and
water and the relationship between the masculine principle (fire) and the
feminine principle (water). 5 None of this was accidental: something within
me, something from the past, drew me to these two elements and allowed me
to discover a whole new world in them.
Even my passion for threads can be explained. Why was I never interested
in needles? All I was interested in was the threads; needles held no attraction
for me. What did that mean? Needles did not interest me because they
represented the masculine principle and I already possessed that. What I
needed was the feminine principle, matter, the thread with which to weave
my cloth. Eventually, after a great deal of hard work, God gave me the
threads I needed, so now I have them. But I can see that you have never
looked for threads; you have never cut all the threads off a loom, as I have. It
was a crime, I admit, but I made reparation for it, later on. A few years ago, I
returned to the village where I was born (it is now in the part of Macedonia
which belongs to Yugoslavia), and the people who were there at the time of
my ‘crime’ were very old but they were still there, so I was able to give them
something to atone for the disaster I had inflicted on them. We must never
leave things unfinished. Sooner or later, we have to pay all our debts.
As for my passion for climbing trees, it was an early indication of my
determination to see everything from above, from very high up.6 God did not
give me the intellectual faculties that I see in today’s scientists and
philosophers. Their intellectual capacity is truly phenomenal. I do not have
that, but I am the little boy who loves to climb up to the top of a tree. His
father, who has doctorates from several universities is downstairs, in his
study, reading or writing, and he hears his son calling out, ‘Dad, Uncle is
coming. I can see him at the bottom of the road.’ ‘What else can you see?’
asks his father. ‘Aunty is with him.’ ‘What else?’ ‘He’s carrying a big
basket...’ etc. Thus the son can explain certain things to his father because he
can see a long way from his vantage point at the top of the tree. He may be
ignorant, that little boy, but, thanks to his viewpoint, he can see things at a
great distance, whereas his father, for all his brainpower and his numerous
degrees, sees nothing, because he is too low down. There, that is my
explanation. I am not as proud or conceited as I may seem. I know how
limited I am, but I also know that I have been placed on a summit from which
I can see a great deal farther afield than all those who have much greater
intellectual ability.
You never imagined that my passion for threads could lead me such a long
way, did you? But a magic wand is a thread, a wire. Even in our own bodies
we see examples of this: what are muscles, nerve fibres, blood vessels? They
are threads. And plants and trees? Threads again. And rays of sunlight are
also threads which come all the way down to earth so that we can tie
ourselves to the sun with them. You see? The ramifications are endless. Isn’t
life itself a fabric of interwoven threads? Nature works with threads. Indeed,
all human beings also work with threads, particularly women, when they sew,
embroider or knit. Nowadays, even in industry, in the manufacture of
plastics, for instance, we see nothing but threads, threads and still more
threads.
How could I have sensed the significance of threads at the age of five or
six? Obviously, at that age, it was unconscious, but there was certainly a
hidden intelligence behind it. It was given to me in order to show me that
nothing happens by chance for, as soon as I began to examine my seemingly
strange childhood passions, I discovered the existence of a marvellous,
extraordinary world. Life itself is a tissue of threads. Chromosomes are
threads and the character, heredity and structure of a living being are all
contained in these threads. And telephones, radios, computers – they are all
threads, a mass of interwoven threads. You could say that everything that
exists consists of threads. Isn’t it extraordinary?
Human beings constantly work with threads but they have cut the one
thread that matters, the one I am talking about, the one that I am working to
restore in order to restore the connection between the two worlds. This is the
only true magic. Can you define magic? I was very young, about fifteen, and
still living in Bulgaria, when I first read a definition of magic. I had got hold
of a book about chiromancy by Desbarolles in which, amongst many other
interesting things, I found this definition of magic: ‘Magic is a comparison
between the two worlds.’ This definition made a great impression on me,
although, as you can imagine, I was too young to understand it. At fifteen,
after all, one cannot be expected to grasp the full significance of such a
profound thought. I imagined that magic was the ability to command the
spirits and work miracles. But, even so, that phrase stuck in my mind, I kept
thinking about it and, later, when I studied it and reflected about these things,
I realized that it expressed a very important truth. You cannot compare two
things unless there is a link between them. That is what a comparison is,
therefore, first and foremost, a connection. True magic is the comparison
between the divine and the physical worlds which is made possible by the
link between them. Without this link there can be no magic.
This is what I understood and this explains why, for years, now, I have
been so insistent about this question of the link. The whole of my philosophy
is based on this little thread, the fragile link between the two worlds. Do
away with this link and, not long after, it is all over: nothing has any sense
any more, you find yourself floundering in the absurd, everything is confused
and disorganized. But as soon as the link is restored, things become clear and
simple once again. When it gets dark, you plug in your lamp and, at once, the
light comes on and you can see everything as clear as day.
Instead of speaking of a link you might prefer to speak of a bridge, for it
amounts to the same thing. A bridge joins the two opposite banks of a river, if
there is no bridge you cannot cross to the other side. In wartime, the opposing
forces try to destroy all the bridges so as to disrupt the enemy’s progress. And
highways? Roads, paths, highways are also links. The destruction of all its
bridges and roads is a disaster for a country because the cessation of all traffic
and communication spells inevitable ruin. An exact parallel can be seen in the
physical body: if an artery is cut, the organ that depended on it dies, for its
supply of nourishment is cut off. And yet human beings think that they can
cut their link with heaven with impunity, that nothing will be changed, that
they will continue to receive nourishment, happiness and fulfilment. Good
God, how stupid they are! Fortunately there are still some links that they have
not managed to cut. The fact that they are still alive means that they have not
cut the silver cord that links them to their physical body. And they still have
their links to air, water and food. Many of them still retain their links with
society and their families, also. But they have severed the link that joined
them to their heavenly Father and, gradually, if they don’t change their
attitude, they will destroy all their other links as well.
We can find the equivalent of the word ‘link’ in other contexts, too. Why
do we speak of a ‘liaison’ between a man and woman? The coming of a child
into the world is the result of a link between the father and mother. This is a
good example of the magic of it: a man and woman form a bond, a link, and
the result is this child that we see walking and talking and playing! It is
always a question of a rod, a magic wand that has to be plugged in, inserted
into something so that the current can circulate. Every man possesses this
wand, but if he does not ‘plug it in,’ there can be no child. Men and women
do this all the time, but without understanding the first thing about what they
are doing. There is no higher magic than to restore the link, restore contact
between the two worlds: between the feminine and the masculine worlds,
between the world below and the world above, between the receptive and the
emissive worlds. Where will you find a more significant event than the birth
of a child? Everything else pales in comparison.
But the conception of a child is not a phenomenon that takes place only on
the physical plane between a man and woman. There are other realms in
which a child can be conceived,7 and this is the vital work that is waiting for
you. If this is not completely clear to you yet, don’t worry. It will become
clearer as you listen to other lectures.
Sèvres, January 14, 1968
1 See The Wellsprings of Eternal Joy, Izvor Coll. n° 242, chap. 10: ‘Our place
on the Cosmic Tree’.
2 See Harmony, Complete Works, vol. 6, chap. 8: ‘The Human Intellect and
Cosmic Intelligence’.
3 See The Book of Divine Magic, Izvor Coll. n° 226, chap. 3: ‘The Magic
Wand’.
4 See The Mysteries of Fire and Water, Izvor Coll. n° 232.
5 See The Second Birth – Love, Wisdom, Truth, Complete Works, vol. 1,

chap. 1: ‘The Second Birth’.

6 See ‘Know Thyself’: Jnana Yoga, Complete Works, vol 18, chap. 5: ‘The
Causal Plane’.
7 See La pédagogie initiatique, Complete Works, vol. 28, chap. 9: ‘La

naissance dans les différents plans’, and The Philosopher’s Stone – in the
Gospels and in Alchemy, Izvor Coll. n° 241, chap. 10: ‘The philosopher’s
stone, fruit of a mystic union’.
 Chapter Sixteen
If you are light
you will seek the company of light
One day, the Master Peter Deunov said, ‘A sheep knows that it is a sheep,
and seeks the company of other sheep. A wolf knows that it is a wolf, and
seeks the company of other wolves. A man knows that he is a man, and seeks
the company of other men. Every creature is determined by its species. And
what of you? What company do you seek? If you are light you will seek the
company of light.’ The greatest laws of life are concealed in this simple
picture of each creature seeking the company of its own kind. It is through
the application of this law that every being determines its own future.
Those who have studied the relation between a human being and the
forces of nature, have found that there is an absolute correspondence between
the two. Every wavelength tends to seek out and attach itself to an identical
wavelength. Thus, every creature of whatever wavelength or rate of vibration,
makes contact with other beings, entities and forces in the universe of the
same wavelength, the same vibratory rate. By means of his thoughts, feelings
and actions, a man has an affinity with regions and entities in the universe
that vibrate on the same wavelength, and the force of attraction is such that it
is bound, eventually, to bring them together. But, as human beings are
ignorant of these things, they end by finding themselves in the company of
terrifying beings or situations.
The light of Initiatic Science gives us all the powers we need to create the
destiny and future that we dream of. If we learn to nourish certain spiritual
desires, nothing can stand in our way or prevent us from reaching higher
planes and associating with the beautiful, luminous, noble creatures that we
aspire to associate with. All this is contained in these words: ‘A sheep knows
that it is a sheep, and seeks the company of other sheep. A wolf knows that it
is a wolf, and seeks the company of other wolves.’ Every living creature
decides its own destiny by choosing its ideal. In the invisible, subtle world
above, this is effected instantaneously, but it takes time before the
consequences are seen on the visible plane. Every day, every hour of the day,
and every minute of every hour, you determine your own future: if you
choose the light, the effect is instantaneous: your future will be one of eternal
glory. And if, a moment later, you choose darkness, the thing is immediately
determined: you will find yourself in hell.
 You determine your own future at each instant, therefore, but it may be
centuries before the material consequences of that determination appear.
Nothing is seen to change on this level, but something changes in the world
above and affects the direction you are taking. It is as though you threw the
switch that changes the points and made your train run on a different track.
This is what man does every day, a thousand, sometimes ten thousand times a
day. At one moment he is heading straight for hell and the next for heaven.
Here, on the physical plane, we see no difference, but on the invisible plane,
each change of direction is recorded. If you want to set yourself on an
unalterable course and determine your life once and for all, you must steer
unwaveringly in the same direction. If you keep changing direction, every
train that passes will pick you up and carry you to other regions.
At each instant, therefore, man determines his destiny. This is not
manifested outwardly, yet, because it takes a long time to change the
crystallized forms of matter. Take the example of a piece of iron: suppose
you don’t like its shape, you want to bend it and shape it differently. You can
hammer and hammer at it, but it is going to take you a very long time to
make any impression on it, and you cannot be sure that the result will be to
your liking. But if you put it in the fire, it becomes malleable and you can
give it whatever form you like. We have to keep hammering away for a long
time; in other words, we have to cherish the same ideal and the same hopes
and desires, think the same thoughts, and persevere at the same work for a
long time, in order to shape our lives and our destiny differently.1 That is the
idea behind these words, ‘If you are light you will seek the company of light.’
It is inevitable. A foregone conclusion. And if you are darkness...
No one can change the laws that God himself has implanted in matter. No
one can take disharmony with him into the regions of light and he who is
imbued with light will be refused admittance to hell – however hard others
may try to push him in that direction – unless, of course, he changes direction
himself. In this case, he will, eventually, arrive in hell. This is what those
words of the Master Peter Deunov mean.
Very few human beings realize where they are going, the direction in
which they are heading. Consciously or unconsciously, everyone has already
bought his ticket but he is still not clear about his destination. You must buy
your ticket, consciously and deliberately, for the Kingdom of God, for the
world above. How long it will take you to get there is not important. What is
important is that if you have bought your ticket you can be sure of getting
there. The journey may be slow or very fast; it all depends on the love you
bring to it and the intensity of your desire to reach your goal. If you have an
ardent desire and unshakeable faith, you will soon be in God’s Kingdom.2 ‘If
you are light you will seek the company of light.’
Sèvres, April 15, 1965
1 See The Mysteries of Fire and Water, Izvor Coll. n° 232, chap. 6: ‘A

Blacksmith Works with Fire’.

2 See The Faith That Moves Mountains, Izvor Coll. n° 238, chap. 13:

‘Rabota, Vreme, Vera: Work, Time, Faith’.

 Chapter Seventeen
Duplicates – new recordings
The Master reads the Meditation for the day:
‘Everything in nature exists in duplicate. Whatever you do always has its
‘carbon copy’. If you help someone or, on the contrary, injure them, the
original of your action leaves you but its imprint remains within you. This is
why you must try never to do anything that is not good. By your prayer and
meditations, try to strengthen your desire to help and love all men.’
This is quite true, everything exists in duplicate in nature. Even our
physical body has its duplicate, the etheric body, which has exactly the same
shape and functions as the physical body, even though it is made of a
different, much subtler matter. Everything you do leaves a trace, an imprint
within you. If you do a good turn to somebody, that good goes out from you
and disappears, but it leaves an exact reproduction of itself in you. Similarly,
if you do evil, the evil leaves you but its double, which is animated by the
same virulence, remains and continues its damaging, destructive work within
you. This is something that human beings do not realize. When they do
something, be it good or evil, they think that it has no repercussions beyond
the act itself. Unfortunately – or fortunately – it does not stop there:
unfortunately, if what they do is evil; fortunately, if it is good.
It is not only man and his actions but everything in nature that exists in
duplicate. Plants, insects, animals, the stars, mountains – they all have their
double. Today, however, it is man’s double that interests us. A man’s etheric
double can be seen by clairvoyants and, in certain cases, even, it can be taken
from him. When this happens, the person ceases to have any feeling, he can
be pricked or slapped or burned without feeling anything. Actually, even
when the etheric double is detached from the physical body, the silver cord
that links the two is not cut. If the cord is cut because of a shock, a wound or
an illness, for example, the person dies.1
I should add that our astral and mental bodies also have their double. The
astral double conveys energy in the area of feelings to the astral body,
whereas the mental double contributes energy in the area of thought, to the
mental body. If a man’s astral body is deprived of its double, he sinks into a
state of apathy, he has no more sentiments or emotions. Similarly, if his
mental body is deprived of its double, he becomes incapable of thought. Very
few know or understand these things, but if doctors and psychiatrists
understood them, it would help them to explain many, apparently
inexplicable, psychic phenomena. Very often they look for the cause of these
problems on the physical plane when their origin is not physical at all.
And now, let’s talk about man’s double. As you know, when a
government department or business office draws up a document of some
kind, it always makes a copy (nowadays, a photocopy). The original is
delivered to its destination, but the copy is kept on file for future reference.
This is exactly what happens in nature, and this is why I say that every one of
our actions exists in duplicate. The original of our actions leaves us and may
go as far as the other planets or the stars and, once it has gone, we can never
get it back. But there is always an exact copy filed within us, and it is this
copy – or, rather, these copies, the physical, astral and mental duplicates of
all our actions, thoughts and feelings – that we take with us when we leave
this world.
When a human being arrives in the next world, he is summoned before an
assembly of highly evolved spirits and is obliged to witness the film of his
life. The imprint of all he has done in life becomes audible and visible to him
and he has to see and hear it all. This is not for the benefit of the spirits of the
other world. They have no need to be informed about his life; they already
know about his qualities, the degree of evolution he has reached and all his
sins and crimes as well as all his good deeds. It is he who does not know
himself, it is he who is ignorant and imagines that he is a monster – unless, of
course, he imagines himself to be a divinity. In either case he is mistaken and
has to be shown exactly what he was in life. It is not the entities of the other
world who need to be instructed, it is man.
I repeat, therefore, every man carries these duplicates within him and takes
them with him when he leaves for the next world. Whether you believe this
or not will not change the reality; these are the hard facts and they owe
nothing to your belief or lack of belief. To be sure, it is far better to believe
and accept them, for they will give you all the more reason to improve your
life and try to perfect yourself. In fact, if everybody knew these great truths,
very few would choose to remain with their weaknesses. It is because they
don’t know them that they continue to live as they have always lived without
the least idea of the consequences of their acts. This is why it is imperative to
instruct human beings. Children, in particular, should be told that certain laws
exist and, even if they don’t fully understand at the time, they will reflect
about these things as they grow older and, above all, they will be able to
verify the truth for themselves.
What happens, for instance, when a man commits a crime? Why does the
memory, the imprint of it continually return to haunt him? The crime itself is
over and done with. It is a thing of the past, there is no visible clue to it and
the criminal is safe from discovery or pursuit. True, but the duplicate of his
act is still with him and he does not know how to free himself from it. It is
not necessary to delve into the Sacred Books of mankind in order to believe
in these things; everyone can see them at work in themselves. Why can we
not free ourselves from remorse? Why does our conscience trouble us to such
an extent that we cannot eat or drink or sleep until we have atoned for a
crime? Because a ‘carbon copy’ of everything we do is on file within us.2
Cosmic Intelligence has had plenty of time in which to adjust everything
perfectly and organize the universe with the utmost wisdom. It is only in the
minds of men, poor creatures, that things are chaotic, meaningless and
without order. Whatever one tries to tell them, they say, ‘I don’t believe it.’
But who do they take themselves for to say such a thing? If they are such
great minds, why are they so puny and weak in their everyday lives? Why are
they powerless to change the course of events and free themselves from all
the things that worry and torment them?
Everything is recorded. To know that this law exists is enough to make
you understand, for instance, that you must be very careful not to let negative
thoughts slip into your mind for, even if you don’t entertain them for long,
they leave their imprint in you for eternity. What is more, once the stereotype
has been engraved in your mind, it has a tendency to repeat itself indefinitely.
I have often talked to you about this and explained how you can cut new
stereotypes so that any deplorable habits you may have cultivated in the past
will stop repeating themselves. But if you do nothing to replace them, they
will go on and on repeating themselves in each reincarnation, each time you
come back to earth. If you do nothing to change your faults, there is no
reason why they should not reappear exactly as before in each incarnation.
You must keep and strengthen your good qualities, of course; even something
that is good can always be improved on. But you must work to correct your
faults.
Human beings are always at a loss to know how to correct their faults.
They are often unhappy, depressed and discouraged because they are forever
wrestling unsuccessfully with their bad habits, not knowing how or when
they acquired them nor how to get rid of them. The truth is that, instead of
dwelling on the deformities caused by a work of destruction in the past, they
would do much better to concentrate on making sure that the future will be
better. From now on, therefore, you should promise yourselves that you will
repair and rebuild your lives. Tenaciously, every day, with unshakeable faith
and absolute conviction, you must concentrate all your energies to that end,
using the elements that God has given you – imagination, thought and feeling
– to project the most beautiful images into yourself. See yourself bathed in
music and light, see yourself in the sun, in the perfection of forms and gifted
with qualities of kindness and generosity and the capacity to help, encourage
and enlighten others.
Since everything you do is going to be recorded, the important thing is to
record only the best in every area, and you will see, once you embark on this
work, that you will be so busy and so gripped by it, it will give you such
inspiration, that it will become an inexhaustible source of joy to you; you will
be building the temple of the Lord in your own being. I know of no work that
is superior to this: to build within oneself the temple of the Almighty, with
materials of the highest quality, with the purest and most disinterested
thoughts, feelings and acts.3
Considerations of this nature are very far from the minds of most human
beings. Their only thought is to file a little information in their brains; they
never even begin the real work.
The difference between our Teaching and all other schools is that, in the
schools, people learn, whereas here they work. A certain amount of
knowledge can be very useful, but it cannot transform us. The only thing that
can transform us is the work we do, not what we read or hear. Knowledge can
incite us to work, but we shall never transform ourselves if we refuse to
move, if we don’t set forces in motion within us. Whatever we learn, we shall
remain the same unless we work.
We do acquire some knowledge, here, in the Universal White
Brotherhood, to be sure, but what we receive, above all, is the impetus for
this work of transformation of our whole being. Every day, we are
encouraged to climb to higher planes and, like architects, masons or
carpenters, find the materials we need. Some of you will say, ‘But I get no
pleasure out of this work,’ and, in saying this, they reveal what category they
belong to. Every single creature belongs to one or other category in nature.
They all have their lair or burrow or nest; they have all manufactured their
own skin or pelt or feathers, depending on their tastes and tendencies. And,
one day, nature will put each one of us into the category that fits our
preferences. This is what destiny is.
Some people are predestined to be ill, others are predestined to fail in what
they undertake, others are predestined to be ill-used and persecuted. But it is
they who predestine themselves, who determine their own destiny. You will
ask, ‘Can someone escape his destiny?’ Not in his present incarnation, no. It
was in his previous incarnation that he should have been reasonable and
intelligent enough to make this one as good as possible. But in this
incarnation, we have tremendous possibilities for the preparation of our next
incarnation, on condition that we work unceasingly, night and day, to make
new stereotypes.
I know that what I am talking about is very difficult to carry out, in
practice. How can we summon up the necessary goodwill and enthusiasm we
need in order to begin – and continue – this work? It is, first and foremost, a
work that we must do on ourselves, because any improvement in ourselves
reflects advantageously on others (the Lord alone knows whether all the other
things we do, all our highly organized physical activities, do any good to
others). And all this is recorded and kept on file. And, at the end of his life,
when a man arrives in the next world, heavenly entities don’t ask him how he
has lived or whether he has done anything useful during his life. They don’t
ask him whether he helped or comforted others and guided them towards the
Source. They don’t ask him any questions at all, in fact, because they know
that he would only tell them a pack of lies, so they take the tiny spools of
recorded material from him and project them on to a screen where he can see
it all for himself. And what a sight it is!
You will object that that is not possible but, I assure you, it is! We all
carry within us these minute spools, mere atoms, on which the whole of our
life is recorded. Look at the magnetic ribbon in a cassette: can you see or hear
anything? No, but if you put it in the right kind of machine you will hear...
what? The Barber of Seville perhaps? So, instead of being given an
opportunity to tell things your own way and try to justify yourself, you are
told to sit down in front of a screen and then you see everything in the
minutest detail. History does not tell us how your hair stands on end at the
sight of it. And it is no use objecting that you will not have any hair, at that
moment, for there are other kinds of hair. You have left your physical hair
behind you, but you will have another kind of hair which will stand on end.
And there you are: you cannot lie any more!
 All this has been described in various Sacred Scriptures, particularly in the
Egyptian Book of the Dead, for instance. Of course, it is not explained in
exactly the same way. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, we are told that the
dead are brought before Osiris, that their soul is weighed, and so on. Then
there is also the Tibetan Book of the Dead which tells us about the different
phases of a soul’s passage through the next world, how it is judged and the
conditions necessary for its rebirth.
In this brief explanation about the way our lives are recorded you will
have seen, in particular, how important it is to make new and better
recordings every day. In this way, you will gradually cover up the old
recordings with new ones. This is a prospect which can encourage you.4
Unfortunately, you are bound to make a certain number of bad recordings
in the days to come, simply because of the influence of the old ones which
are still there, inside you. But, at least, now, you will be aware of all this and
in a position to prevent things from getting any worse. As soon as you notice
that you have slipped up and recorded something negative, you can react and
make reparation to prevent it from having any evil consequences. If you have
thought ill of someone, said something wounding or destroyed something, be
aware of it and make up for it. For the time being you will often be unable to
do more than that but, do it! Time and time again I have seen people who do
nothing, absolutely nothing, to make up for a negative thought or action,
whereas others at least say to themselves, ‘Oh, it slipped out. I couldn’t catch
it in time.’ This can happen to anybody but the least you can do is realize it
and try to atone for it.
The truths that I have given you today are priceless. Personally, I have
given up everything in order to know them; I was so convinced of their value
that I was ready to sacrifice everything else in order to possess them. And
you? They are not worth twopence to you. The things that you value are
money, a house, your car, clothes, dogs and cats – your own little backyard!
heaven judges people on their attitude towards divine ideas. Have you never
seen the price-list that shows the true value of things? To my mind, nothing is
more important than to know the true value of each thing.
The Bonfin, September 5, 1973
1 See ‘Et il me montra un fleuve d’eau de la vie’, Synopsis Coll., Part IV,

chap. 2 and 4, Part VIII, chap. 1.

2 See Man’s Psychic Life: Elements and Structures, Izvor Coll. n° 222, chap.

11: ‘Consciousness’.
3 See Life and Work in an Initiatic School – Training for the Divine,
Complete Works, vol. 30, chap. 8: ‘The Meaning of Initiation’, part III.
4 See On the Art of Teaching – from the Initiatic Point of View, Complete
Works, vol. 29, chap. 5: ‘On Perfection’, part III.
 Chapter Eighteen
Morality comes into its own
in the world above
Do you know why scientists are so successful? Because they have a
religion, their own, rather special kind of religion. They have studied all
bodies and all elements and have seen that each one has its own stable,
unchanging properties, so that, now, they have an absolute certitude, an
unwavering faith in their discoveries concerning the chemical, physical and
mechanical properties of physical bodies and, thanks to this firm faith, they
achieve remarkable successes – even to the point of launching men into
space.
This is the religion of scientists, but it is a religion that is restricted to
matter. They have not gone beyond the realm of matter or tried to find out if
there was a higher Intelligence that organized the world and determined the
properties of each thing. They still have to find out that their successes prove
beyond a shadow of a doubt the existence of a Cosmic Intelligence. After all,
it is not the elements themselves that decided, one fine day, what weight,
properties, colour or consistency they would like to have; it was not they that
determined their affinities, their radiations or the number of electrons their
atoms should have.
This, then, is the source of the tremendous success of scientists, today; this
absolute certainty that bodies and elements have fixed, unchangeable
properties. If they were not so sure of this they would never dare to launch
the dangerous undertakings they launch today. Their conviction is a kind of
religion, a creed based on the knowledge of the chemical, physical and
mechanical properties of bodies. But what exactly are chemistry, physics and
mechanics? Chemistry is the study of matter; physics is the study of forces
and energies, and mechanics is the study of motion which is intermediary
between matter and forces.
In their own special way, therefore, scientists even have a trinity. The only
thing is, I repeat, that they still have to climb a few steps higher. They still
must recognize the existence of a Cosmic Intelligence which has so
marvellously organized all those elements they study. They must stop turning
their backs on It and trying to turn others from It by insisting that they rely
only on the physical dimension.
As I said, yesterday, life is very short. Life is no more than a dream. All
religions teach that we are on earth for a very short time and that we must not
forget the true meaning of life and imagine that this is all there is. If we think
that this world is all that matters and that the only thing that counts is to be as
comfortable as we can while we are here, when we get to the other side, we
shall be treated as ignoramuses. There is a great deal that could be said about
this, of course. We live on earth for a very short period, then we go back to
the other world for a long time; we come back again and leave, once again,
and so on. The significance of all that is very profound. All religions mention
these successive arrivals and departures, but human beings have hardly ever
understood the deeper meaning of this and, today, they are so hypnotized by
life on earth and material success that they understand it less and less.
Success on the physical plane is one thing; success on the invisible,
spiritual plane is quite another. How does one succeed in the invisible world?
I have already explained to you, at length, that, contrary to what most people
believe, morality is not a human invention, that it is based on the laws of
nature and that this cosmic moral law which is inherent in everything that
exists, is an essential principle, the most important principle of Creation.
Human beings have chosen to abandon the moral law, thinking that, in doing
so, they would be freer and have less constraints, and have adopted the laws
of the physical plane where morality is unnecessary, where one can steal,
swindle, destroy and commit murder with an easy conscience. It is true, one
can get along perfectly well on the physical plane without a moral law. You
will object that that is not quite true, that there is a judicial system and courts
and prisons that punish thieves and criminals. To be sure, there are some
minor human institutions which occasionally upset people’s plans: if they get
caught, these institutions punish them, but if they manage to break the law
without being caught, if they commit ‘the perfect crime,’ they can rest easy,
they will never be punished. What kind of morality is that?
This is why I said that, as long as man is on this earth, he does not really
need to be moral. Once he leaves this world, however, he finds himself face
to face with the full force of the moral law and is obliged to make reparation
and atone for his wrongdoing, to suffer for his faults and to pay his debts to
the last penny. It is on the other side, therefore, in the invisible world, that
morality really comes into its own and assumes its full importance. Here, on
earth, you can do without it. You can transgress all the laws; you only have to
be sufficiently tough and astute. In this life there is only one circumstance in
which morality becomes indispensable, and that is when a man wants to live
a celestial, harmonious life and attune himself, once again, with divine
splendour and perfection. In this case, of course, he is obliged to respect the
moral law but, apart from this, a great many people get along perfectly well
without moral considerations of any kind. That does not prevent them from
living a normal life: they eat, drink and sleep and live like animals without
worrying about morals. The only problem with this is that it becomes very
difficult to get along with each other, and that is tiresome. As soon as men
want to live in society, the same old question of morality crops up again and
obliges them to accept certain constraints and make certain efforts, because it
is not possible to live with others in harmony, friendship and love without a
moral law.
Morality is linked to the subtle dimension of life and it is because human
beings no longer believe in this subtle dimension, because they have never
studied the invisible world, its foundations and laws, that they have rejected
morality.1 They don’t know that, when they get over to the other side, the
only thing that will count is morality, that is to say, the laws of harmony,
love, generosity, purity and justice. If you have transgressed these laws on
earth, when you get to the other side you will see each one of your
transgressions in the form of a monster which will pounce on you and grind
you to dust.
Human beings sometimes imagine that they would have been freer and
happier if there had been no moral law to respect. But Cosmic Intelligence
did not ask advice from ignorant fools when It made this world. On the
contrary, It weighed, measured and foresaw in such detail all the causes and
effects that would come into play, and so delicately adjusted and regulated
the elements of the universe, that it would be impossible to conceive a design
for a better organized world. Some people think that God has not made the
world very well, that things would be much better if this, that or the other
were done differently. Poor fevered minds! If what they wanted came about,
they would soon be calling for help, for their situation would be far worse.
The story goes that a tribe of gypsies once sent a delegation to discuss
their problems with the Lord. ‘Lord,’ they said, ‘you haven’t organized things
very well. Look at us: we’re always on the road, life is never easy and, in
winter, we have trouble finding enough wood to build a fire, so we spend our
days and nights shivering with cold. In fact, many of us die of cold. So,
couldn’t you please do away with winter all together?’ ‘Very well,’ said the
Lord; I’ll do exactly as you ask and there will be no more winter.’ As you can
imagine, the gypsies were delighted. The months went by and, in the warm
weather, the insects became more and more numerous. There had never been
so many mosquitoes, grass-hoppers, wasps, toads and so on. As there was no
more winter, instead of dying, they just went on getting bigger and more
numerous, devouring everything they came across and generally becoming a
plague for human beings. So the gypsies, bitten, stung and invaded by all
these little creatures, sent another delegation to talk to the Lord. The poor
wretches were in a piteous state and petitioned the Lord, saying, ‘Lord, look
what’s happening. It was much better before. Please, it would be better if you
brought back the winter’. They had, at last, understood that there was an
intelligence that presided over nature.
There is a great deal of medical research being done, today, with a view to
prolonging human life as much as possible. But whose life is prolonged?
Very often those who live useless lives, who are only interested in eating,
drinking and amusing themselves and making mischief. They are rich and
can pay well, so they must be cured, and no questions asked about whether it
is for the good of humanity to keep people like that alive! People consider
that that is not their business. As long as they can pay, their lives should be
prolonged. Others, even if they are saints or geniuses, will not be cured
because they have not got any money. In this way, all the best will die and
the most depraved will continue to live. Isn’t there something peculiar in this
situation? Wouldn’t it be far more sensible to prolong the lives of those who
do good and let those who do evil go to the other world and learn a few
lessons so that they could repent and come back in a better frame of mind?
You will protest that it is cruel to say this. On the contrary; isn’t it the present
situation that is cruel when such efforts are made to prolong the lives of
people so that they can go on doing harm? As I have already said, human
beings can get along perfectly well without taking into account the moral law;
they can perfectly well prosper and multiply while living an immoral life.
But, once they get to the other side, they are going to understand that
morality is the only thing that matters for, there, they will find themselves
examined and weighed, they will be shown all the harm they have done to
others and they will have to suffer. They will suffer because, when we injure
someone, we have to suffer that same injury ourselves. That is what morality
is: it is based on absolute justice. On earth it is perfectly possible to commit
all sorts of crimes with impunity. We can cheat and steal and kill, etc., but on
the other side we receive exactly the punishment that each crime merits and
suffer exactly the same injuries that we have inflicted on others.
True morality, therefore, is first and foremost, justice. It is important to
know this. This truth was brought to earth by beings who, when they
reincarnated, wanted to warn men what was in store for them, for they had
seen how they were received and judged in the other world, and how they
suffered for their faults. If men believe them, all will be well; if they don’t...
well, they will find it all out for themselves, one day.
Morality and religion are not inventions of the human mind, they are
founded on experience.2 Some people have tried to show that religion was a
kind of drug invented in order to chloroform human beings and exploit them
more easily. That is a totally false theory invented by people who had not
studied the question properly. It is quite true that there have been Popes and
members of the clergy who misused their powers in order to exploit the
masses, but it was not they who invented religion; they only used it. They
were unworthy individuals whose goals and ambitions were not at all what
they should have been and they used religion for their own ends. Religion can
be used, just as science or anything else can be used, but to say that religion
was invented by human beings is completely untrue.
Religion, I repeat, is not a human invention. Religion is a knowledge, the
truest, most luminous, most vital knowledge, the knowledge of the Universal
Soul and of our relation to that Soul and to the world in which we live. True
religion is simply a knowledge of God, of the world and of man and of the
relations between them. When a man knows all these relations, he adopts a
certain attitude, a certain discipline and certain rules of life which are the
necessary outcome of that fundamental knowledge. I have never opened a
dictionary to see how it would define the word ‘religion,’ but my definition
of it is the absolute truth and every initiate would agree with me.
If you restrict yourself to the meaning derived from the Latin root,
religare (which means to attach or tie up), and say that religion is a link
between man and God, it is true but it does not go far enough. The word
cannot explain everything. True initiates tell us that religion is an absolute
knowledge concerning God, the Creator, the universe that he created and
man, his creature. In order to forge a strong, profound link with God, a man
must possess this knowledge. He cannot attach himself to the Lord nor avail
himself of the influences of the cosmos if he knows nothing about the centres
and organs in his own being or how to make the connections that trigger
forces and allow him to vibrate in unison with them.3 If he does not possess
this knowledge, what kind of religion can he possibly have? It is not enough,
therefore, to say that religion is a link.
As long as human beings have no knowledge and no certainty about life
after death, they will never become truly moral beings because they will not
see any need to do so. For this reason, we need not be surprised to see that
when the light of Initiatic Science fades, men reject all the rules of morality,
honesty, justice, gratitude and kindness.
I have studied for centuries to acquire this Science and verify it for myself
and, now, I am handing it on to you. The only things that count for most
human beings are financial profit and success. They accumulate great
material riches but, inwardly, they run up huge debts because they are ready
to be as dishonest as need be to gain their ends. Here, in the world, their
success makes a great impression, but the entities of the invisible world are
not at all impressed. Heaven does not care one jot for your worldly successes.
It is only interested in your character and your moral integrity and, as It often
cannot give you your reward on earth, It is waiting for you to get up there to
give you everything: you will live for centuries in joy, happiness and
freedom.
I have a great deal of respect for people with outstanding intellectual and
artistic gifts, but I do not rank those gifts above everything else. I consider
that it is a man’s moral sense that is most important, how he behaves, where
he draws his strength from, what he thinks and why and what his goals are,
etc. The perfect man is one who has outstanding moral qualities and is, at the
same time, extremely talented and gifted and, when I find someone like that, I
want to do everything possible for him.
As you can see, the things that count most for the majority of mankind are
not those that initiates value most highly. As I have often said, your earthly
wealth is not going to be yours for very long. None of it will last; it is all a
dream and you will forget about it, one day. But you will also see, one day,
what real rewards are in store for you in the other world. This is why I always
insist so strongly on the goal, the ideal, the way you think and act, the
direction you take.
Wonderful things are in store for those who are willing to understand and
follow me. When Jesus said, ‘Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and
steal’, what treasure was he talking about? Why lay up treasure? In what
world should we lay up treasure?4 This is an extremely important question.
 You must begin to think about your future and stop making such a
commotion, stop trying to massacre others – or yourselves – for the sake of
things that are purely and exclusively material. All that is nothing and will
soon be forgotten. You are going to have to leave it all behind you. It is much
more worthwhile to start working inwardly, by means of your thoughts,
feelings and actions, to prepare a magnificent, royal life for yourself in the
world above.5 This is the meaning of morality. It may well be that those who
reject it leave this world rich and covered in glory, but this is no reason to
rejoice. It is much better to pay one’s debts here than on the other side; it is
far worse, there. Every thought or feeling of hatred and jealousy, all the
calumnies we have ever voiced, confront us in the other world in the form of
ferocious animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, monstrous devil-fish, or else as
wasps or mosquitoes, and we are horribly gnawed, stung, bitten and pursued
and, however much we cry for help, no help is forthcoming.
To sum up, then, morality may not seem to be very important on earth, but
in the next world it is extremely important and, if men’s moral conscience
seems to be less and less in evidence, today, it is because their sense of the
invisible, divine world is also becoming less and less pronounced. And yet, it
is this that is the supreme reality.
Blessed are those who have understood me!
The Bonfin, August 7, 1969

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven’ – Matt. 6: 20
1 See Looking into the Invisible – Intuition, Clairvoyance, Dreams, Izvor
Coll. n° 228, chap. 1: ‘The Visible and the Invisible’ and chap. 3: ‘The
Entrance to the Invisible World: From Yesod to Tiphareth’
2 See The Faith That Moves Mountains, Izvor Coll. n° 238, chap. 4: ‘Science

and Religion’.
3 See Man’s Subtle Bodies and Centres – the Aura, the Solar Plexus, the

Chakras…’, Izvor Coll. n° 219.

4 See Spiritual Alchemy, Complete Works, vol. 2, chap. 5: ‘Lay Up for
Yourselves Treasures’.
5 See Love Greater Than Faith, Izvor Coll. n° 239, chap. 6: ‘Only our actions

witness to our faith’.

 Chapter Nineteen
Example is the best teacher
I have often told you about the Book that is my favourite reading matter,
that extraordinary Book in which the Creator has written all his secrets. Of
course, I have not got to the end of it yet. It is very long and there is so much
in it, but the things I explain to you are all things that I have gleaned from
this Book. To be sure, I sometimes have to hold back a few things because I
can only give you this knowledge step by step, as your development enables
you to receive it. But, don’t worry, I tell you all the most important things,
everything that is essential for you.
On Easter Sunday I spoke to you about the Resurrection, and I think that,
now, you have a better understanding of it and know what you have to do to
attain it.1 Today, I want to add to what I said on Sunday. Try to listen very
carefully, for what I am going to explain is very important and should be
enormously helpful to you.
I have often been asked to express my views on the education of children.
As I always say, tremendous efforts have been made in schools, in recent
years, for the benefit of children and adolescents, but the improvements that
have been made are all external: bigger and handsomer schools, playing
fields and swimming pools, more expensive equipment and machines.
Everything possible has been done to facilitate the education – or, rather, the
instruction – of the young.
There was nothing like this in the past. Outward appearances mattered far
less, then. Any house – even any stable or barn – was good enough to be used
as a school. The wind blew in through the windows that were stuffed up with
newspaper; there was no wood for the fire, so the children trudged long
distances every morning, each carrying a log for the fire. Sometimes, in fact,
there were no books; only the schoolmaster had one. And yet these schools
produced some very exceptional men and women, people with strong
characters and of a high moral stamp, models for their fellow men. Today, by
contrast, we see that the material aspects of schools are vastly improved but
the young people they turn out are sly, dishonest, selfish, worthless
individuals. Oh, to be sure, they are very well-informed. They can dazzle you
with reams of facts and figures, but their characters lack the nobility and
honesty, the solid virtues of the past.
In their desire to improve material conditions, people have forgotten the
inner dimension, the question of character. Teachers and professors, even
parents, thought that what the children needed were more attractive books
and more sophisticated equipment. Unfortunately, the results are not
excellent. Many people realize this, of course, they can see that in spite of all
this material progress and in spite of all the remonstrances and punishments
meted out to the youngsters, they are not getting any better. Rather the
contrary, in fact. Why? Because they have no living examples of excellence
before them.
If instructors and educators want magnificent results they must be
magnificent examples. A child’s principal educators are its parents, and if
parents are unfit for their mission and tell their children to do one thing while
they do just the opposite, the children notice the contradiction. Then, not only
do the parents lose all authority, but their children begin to follow their
example. They learn that there are two kinds of truth, one for others and one
for self, and that what counts is to cover things up and save face. In other
words, young people are brought up to lie and cheat because the importance
of example has not been sufficiently emphasized.
To be sure, it is not easy to be an example, a model, for it is not enough to
put up a façade, to act a part. One has to have the intelligence, will and
character to sustain a high standard. If human beings are not capable of being
models, it is because they don’t understand the great laws of nature properly.
This is why I am going to read you a page from this book, this great book of
psychology and cosmogony which contains every science that exists. What
does this book say about education? It says that unless you know how to be
an example you will never be fit to instruct or educate anyone.
When I speak of being an example, I am not referring only to the necessity
of being a visible, external example for others, but of being an example for
oneself in front of the cells that inhabit us. Our cells are intelligent, they
watch what we do and, as they are permanently in contact with us, we cannot
elude them. They register the slightest duplicity, the first sign of foul play on
our part and, before long, they start copying what we do. They say, ‘Let’s eat
and drink and do as much damage as we like; our master is like us and we’re
like him!’ This is what people don’t know; they don’t know that our cells
follow our example, that our thoughts, desires and actions influence them and
lead them to imitate us. If you are dishonest they will be dishonest, too, and
do all kinds of fraudulent, unjust things... and it is you who will suffer.
There is such a thing as absolute justice and it is no use looking for it
outside ourselves because that is not where we shall find it. It does not exist
outside ourselves. Absolute, divine justice exists within us because every
move we make, every great deed and every tiny gesture, is recorded within
us. When you are alone in your room, plotting some morally dubious action,
you think that no one sees you, whereas, in fact, it is all being recorded
within you. This is the terrible thing about it – perhaps I should say, the
wonderful thing, also, because the same law applies to good, as well as evil –
you cannot get away from the fact that everything is recorded.
Nature has installed meters in man to count how much water, gas and
electricity we use, in other words, how many thoughts, feelings and acts and
what kind of thoughts, feelings and acts.2 I repeat: everything is recorded and
man, poor wretch, is the only one who is unaware of this. Whatever you do is
recorded. This is why, when you are alone, at home, try to do something
good, knowing that what you do will be recorded. You don’t have to tell
anyone about it; do it in secret. In the past, God was often represented as an
eye within a triangle. This was another way of saying that God has installed a
recorder in every man.
Some people are very good at keeping up appearances; when they are at a
reception or a public event of some kind, they put a good face on things, but
when they find themselves in a difficult situation, if they have never
consolidated their character, the façade is liable to crack and their real
weakness becomes apparent. The only ones that can really be relied on are
those who have worked in secret and achieved something within themselves,
in their character and their thoughts. Their foundations are solid and, sooner
or later, their true value will become evident even in spite of them; even if
they try to hide it, it will come to light. If you are full of fear and hatred,
jealousy and sensuality and you try to look as though butter wouldn’t melt in
your mouth, sooner or later, your true self will show through. And if you are
good, wise and patient and full of love, whatever you do to conceal it will be
useless. It is a waste of time to attempt to hide either love or hatred; they
always show up in the end.
Once you know that everything is recorded you will make great strides in
your evolution for, from then on, you can no longer let things slide. Even
when you are alone, you have to be on your guard, and say to yourself,
‘Careful! There are billions of eyes watching me. They see everything I do,
even if I try to keep it secret’. This is a new point of view for you, isn’t it?
You have never envisaged this before. Man is inhabited by a vast population
which is bound to him, welded to him, and this population imitates their
master in everything he does. If he lets himself go and defies the law, they
see it and do the same, and it is he who has to suffer the consequences of
their behaviour. If he begins to have some health problems, for instance, he
will wonder what has gone wrong and complain that his inhabitants are
rioting. But it is his own fault. It was he who taught his cells to behave like
that, to be disobedient, recalcitrant and anarchical.
All the disorders we suffer from are the result of the bad upbringing we
have given our cells. You grumble as you sweep your room, you bump into
chairs, slam doors and kick the furniture and, without your realizing it, these
disharmonious gestures leave their imprint on your cells and they begin to
imitate you. When they move, they do so clumsily, with kicks and bumps.
You cry out in pain and wonder what is going on and it is simply that your
cells are doing what you taught them to do: they are kicking the furniture
about.
If you have always given your cells a bad example, you must now show
them the example of a better attitude, more harmonious movements, better
behaviour. When they see the changes in you, they will imitate you in your
new ways, just as they imitated you in the past. To begin with, of course,
your new behaviour will not seem natural to you, but it will gradually
become second nature and you will constantly receive the encouragement and
help you need to persevere in the right direction.
If someone has already worked to give the children within him a good
education in this way and is then called upon to educate other people’s
children or even adult men and women, there will be nothing hollow about
him, nothing that rings false. On the contrary, people sense a fullness, a
power and vibrancy about him. They sense that his inner population supports
him and gives him strength and that he is a true pedagogue, an integrated,
unified being without pretence of any kind. This explains why his mere
presence is magical. Every word he utters takes effect because his whole
being is accustomed to working as one; he is not divided in himself,
outwardly showing one thing while inwardly it is just the opposite. All of you
must attain this integrity, this unity, and be on the outside what you are on the
inside. When someone achieves this, he can be extremely effective as an
educator, a teacher. This is true power, magic power, because every single
cell of his being emanates something genuine and true. Otherwise, only the
part of him that talks emanates a few little rays of truth while all the rest of
his being cries, ‘No, no, no. It’s not true!’
Genuine magic lies in truth and unity. Magic always implies a unification
of all one’s forces, all one’s energies. There can be no magic where there is
dislocation, dissipation. But, when I speak of magic, you must understand me
correctly: I do not deal in magic, I don’t read books about magic or sorcery. It
is a very long time since I leafed through a book of this kind, just to have an
idea of what was in it. I have no time to waste on books of this kind. For me,
it is the universe itself, the whole of life, that is magic. The only authentic
book of magic is lying open before you, but you do not know how to read it.3
Actually, there are three kinds of educators: those who oblige their
children or pupils to respect certain rules while letting it be seen that they
themselves respect nothing; those who give a good example in front of
others, but who do so out of vanity or self-esteem, to protect their reputation,
and who allow themselves a great deal of latitude in private, and, finally, the
third category, those who are not divided in themselves. These are the
initiates, the only true pedagogues; whatever they say or wish for is
absolutely themselves, their body, their quintessence. This is the state that
you must all reach.
Now, let me go one step further and tell you that, when you give a good
example to your cells, not only do you receive their help and support, but
what you do is recorded on other tapes in a higher world and, in virtue of the
law of affinity, a relationship begins to build up between you and beings of a
higher order who are working in the same direction but who are already more
advanced. These beings receive you into their circle, you begin to dwell with
them, because there is a law of magic (you see: once again it is a question of
magic!) that we call the law of affinity. Otherwise, if you give your cells a
bad example, you will be a hypocrite and a liar, and this, too, will be recorded
in other regions and, one fine day, you will find yourself with all those who
are like you. No one has ever evaded these laws. No one! Each individual
prepares himself to dwell in a specific region; each one eventually arrives at
his destination, and each one attracts other entities with which he has an
affinity. There can be no cheating, no injustice.
If you believe that it is possible to cheat the laws of nature you had better
get the idea out of your heads at once. It is easy to cheat human beings, they
are so blind that you can do what you like with them, but not with the laws of
nature. And, as the thing that counts is not to pull the wool over people’s eyes
but to learn to work with the great laws of life, you would be better occupied
thinking about these laws rather than putting on an act for the benefit of the
blind. You can always hoodwink human beings. You only have to tell them a
few lies: they love to be lied to. If you tell them the truth they are sure to
doubt you, but if you lie and cheat you will always get your way with them.
Unfortunately, all this will be recorded in the world above, and you will end
by losing all that is most precious to you. True, you will have got the better of
all those dimwits, they are yours for the plucking, but you will have lost a
kingdom in the world above.
You did well to come here, today, because now you have acquired yet
another great truth. If you only knew how highly heaven values these truths!
They are priceless treasures.
Sèvres, April 11, 1966
1 See ‘Au commencement était le Verbe’ – commentaires des Évangiles,

Complete Works, vol. 9, chap. 11: ‘La Résurrection et le Jugement dernier’

and chap. 13: ‘Le corps de la résurrection’.
2 See Les deux arbres du Paradis, Complete Works, vol. 3, chap. 3: ‘Ce que
révèle le visage humain’.
3 See The Book of Divine Magic, Coll. Izvor n° 226.
 Chapter Twenty
Turn the other cheek
It says in the Gospel, ‘If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the
other also’. I sincerely hope that the christians who hear what I am going to
say about this phrase will forgive me, for it goes far beyond anything they
could ever imagine. Let me assure them, at once, that the future will prove
that my interpretation of it is the right one.
Certain moral precepts which were valid in the past are no longer right or
useful for the present or the future. Jesus’ words do not mean that we must
always be passive in the face of insults and ill-treatment. He was not telling
us always to accept and submit to violence and put up with every torment
and, in the long run, allow ourselves to be wiped out. It is true that this is how
these words have often been interpreted, but I shall show you that that is not
what he meant. Of course, if one does not possess the light, there is only one
solution: to submit passively and allow others to destroy you. But that is a
code of behaviour for the weak and ignorant and it must not last for ever. It
has never been decreed that spiritualists, the wise, initiates and sons of God,
should be perpetually oppressed, enslaved, ill-treated and put to death, while
idiots and criminals prosper. For the time being this is still the situation,
because men have lost the divine spark, they have lost the strength that comes
from the sun, they have lost all fire, warmth, light and life and, because they
have lost all this they will necessarily be beaten and ill-treated.
It has also been said, ‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its
taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but
is thrown out and trampled under foot’.1 So, there it is: if you lose your
flavour you will be trampled on by men until you find it again. The Gospels
do not say that you must be trampled underfoot for ever, but when you
deserted God you lost all your powers and, now, you are an easy prey for the
violent and corrupt.
At the time of Jesus, men needed to develop certain qualities and virtues
which had never been emphasized before that; qualities such as indulgence,
forgiveness and mercifulness. At the time, the code was one of justice, an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The new moral code that Christ introduced was
designed to encourage men to cultivate the qualities of the heart. Instead of
reacting to others with such crude weapons as stones or knives or the sword,
they had to learn to respond with nobler, more lofty means; with humility,
love, patience and magnanimity. This is what Christ meant. But he was
speaking to the men and women of his day and age, and what he said to them
is not necessarily valid for the rest of time. He is telling us, now, that there is
a better way: ‘When you are the victim of injustice, you must respond with
such intelligence, such strength of character, such understanding, light and
warmth, that your enemy is completely bowled over, blinded and
thunderstruck. Yes, thunderstruck; that is to say, transformed. Not
annihilated, not killed but regenerated. Instead of killing your enemy you
give him life by leading him closer to God. If you are capable of doing this,
you are a true hero, a true son of God.’
Why should we always let our enemies massacre us and crow over us? We
must not kill or hurt anyone, we all know that, but that is no reason why we
should be the eternal underdog. We have to learn to defend ourselves by
becoming like the sun and shining so brightly that even if people try to attack
us with senseless cruelty, they will be dazzled and blinded. In this way you
blind your enemies and then you open their eyes, just as Christ opened Saul’s
eyes when he was on his way to Damascus, bent on massacring the
Christians. One ray of light and he fell blinded to the ground. And Saul
became Paul. If you could blind people in this way, for just a few moments,
and then heal them again, do you think that they would still be determined to
persecute you? The new philosophy does not teach us to remain weak and at
the mercy of cruel and violent people; it teaches us to become like the sun so
that our enemies cannot touch or soil us and, if they approach us, they will
melt like wax.
If human beings do not possess the power to use light in this way it is
simply because it has never occurred to them. They have embraced a
mindless philosophy of weakness and impotence on the pretext that they are
supposed to turn the other cheek. Well, you can turn as many cheeks as you
like, it will not do you any good and you will not change your enemies that
way. They will continue to slap your face and, in the long run, to assassinate
you. You are just going to have to understand the question differently. The
‘other cheek’ is the other side, the other aspect of yourself, the side of the
spirit, the side of power and light. Jesus showed this other side to his
tormentors. His whole attitude proclaimed it: ‘You can imprison my physical
body, you can even crucify it, but I’ll show you the other side of my being,
the indestructible, divine side. Strike me, if you like, but within three days I
shall rebuild my temple’. And he kept his word: he showed his other side
with the result that the whole world was revolutionized. He showed the
divine side of his being, not the earthly side, and he rose from the dead!2
Christians and spiritualists in general still have a lot to learn and
understand. Instead of always allowing themselves to be overwhelmed by the
powers of darkness or by materialistic philosophies, they must learn to unite.
They have a habit of saying, ‘Amen. Amen. So be it,’ and accepting whatever
is flung at them. But it is time to stand together, now, for they have it in their
power to transform the world and restore the Kingdom of God on earth. The
time for saying that Jesus teaches us to turn the other cheek and let ourselves
be martyred is over. This may have been acceptable, in the past, because
people could not do otherwise, they were not sufficiently advanced to hit
back with sublime, divine weapons. But that is no longer true today.
Today we have the possibility of manifesting the power of the spirit
through our knowledge and love, through our gestures and the whole of our
behaviour. This is where true strength lies. Why should we forever try to
show that we are true Christians by being weak and spineless and cowardly?
If that were the Christian ideal I should be the first to say that the world will
never be rid of evil if we have to rely on a bunch of weaklings like that! We
have to be strong and mighty, dynamic, active, impetuous, even violent –
although, obviously, not with the violence of the physical plane. If
Christianity is not properly understood it is worthless. True Christianity
teaches us to be well armed, but with other arms and, when we are attacked,
to show that other side, the side that is well armed, not the puny, impotent
side.3 Until now no one has ever explained what that ‘other side’ was.
Many of the things that were not well understood in the past will be better
understood, today, and other, entirely new things will have to be learned, for
nothing is ever stagnant; everything changes and evolves. Jesus himself
demonstrated this very clearly in teaching a new morality which was not that
of Moses. The Gospels relate how, on several occasions, Jesus said, ‘You
have heard that it was said to those of ancient times… But I say to you…’ Let
me give you some examples of this: ‘‘You have heard that it was said to
those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall
be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother
or sister, you will be liable to judgement’; ‘You have heard that it was said,
“You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at
a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart’;
‘Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall
not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.” But I
say to you, Do not swear at all’, and, finally, ‘You have heard that it was
said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you,
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be
children of your Father in heaven.’
It is obvious, from these passages, that the moral law taught by Jesus was
no longer that of Moses. So why should there not be another, even more
perfect moral law today? Christians will be scandalized by this suggestion
because they consider that Jesus taught the definitive doctrine: there is
nothing more to be said. And what if Christ himself came and added some
new notions? Can christians deny him the right to do that? After all,
everything has to grow and evolve. The laggards and all those who are too set
in their ways will be left behind. We are in favour of evolution, of something
even more sublime, of the new life, the new religion which will be known
throughout the length and breadth of the world, the true religion of Christ
which has never yet been put into practice.
As long as men were still primitive, what could they be expected to
understand? Before anything else, they needed to learn justice, and Moses
was sent to teach them justice. Later on, Jesus was sent to teach love and
forgiveness. But, why stop there? That is not all there is. Forgiveness cannot
solve all our problems. If someone tries to thrash you, is there a law against
your being stronger than he is? Why shouldn’t you grab him by the leg and
hold him up in the air, saying, ‘Do you want me to break every bone in your
body?’ Not that you would do it, of course. On the contrary, very gently, you
would put him back on his feet again. Wouldn’t that be much better?
What kind of Christianity is it that obliges you to be constantly ill-treated
and massacred? I cannot accept that. You must be stronger than your enemy.
So strong that the slightest gesture, a glance, a divine vibration flowing
through you is enough to make him realize that you are far superior to him.
And, when he feels so small, he will beg you to spare his life. ‘Very well, my
friend,’ you reply; ‘You’re beginning to understand?’ And as soon as you put
him down, he will take to his heels and leave you in peace. Tell me frankly:
wouldn’t it be far better to be strong enough to react like that? I assure you it
would. But no one has ever dared to envisage the possibility. The very idea
seems far too ambitious, and that is exactly what I am interested in: giving
you this ambition. How long it will take you to achieve such strength is
another matter, but you can, at least, cultivate the desire to do so. You will
never do anything worthwhile in the world if you are always passive,
conciliatory, meek and vulnerable – wishy-washy.
There will be no more martyrs in the future. The martyrs of the past have
already made the contribution that was required of them. They have fulfilled
their mission. Besides, the main reason for their martyrdom was to allow
them to pay off their debts and make good their past misdeeds more rapidly.
Now that they have done that, why should they be martyred all over again? In
the future, some beings will be so strong that when they know that someone
is planning to injure them they will be able to put him to sleep at a distance,
before he can get close enough to do them any harm. You will say, ‘That’s a
bit far-fetched, isn’t it? You’re going too far.’ Not a bit of it. On the contrary,
the time has come to lead human beings very, very far. At the moment they
are in a dead-end street.
If you think that what I am saying is too much for you, very well, stay
where you are. Others have more heroic ambitions. They want to be strong,
powerful and full of light. They have no desire to be eternally victimized by
the powers of darkness. When people like that are attacked they put up a
fight. They know that they are not obliged to submit passively until they go
under, on the theory that their destruction is ‘the will of God’. When
Christians are stupidly submissive the powers of darkness smack their lips in
gleeful anticipation of a feast. ‘Oho,’ they say: ‘These christians are tasty
morsels. So juicy and tender! Let’s make a dainty dish of them.’ In other
words, by their attitude, christians actually serve themselves up as a choice
dish for the powers of darkness. Sometimes one gets the impression that that
is their only goal in life. Well, if they really want it that way, I have no
objections. Let them go ahead and nourish the powers of darkness, but a true
Christian defends himself by projecting a protective screen of light when he
is threatened by forces of darkness. And the light dispels the darkness. That is
the reaction of a true Christian.
Some of you may be tempted to object, ‘But we are not supposed to fight.
It is written that we shouldn’t try to contend with evil.’ It is absolutely true,
of course, that you should never try to battle with evil on its own home
ground because it is far too powerful and you would inevitably get the worst
of it. But move to a higher plane; get above your adversary and, from your
vantage point, hurl rockets and bolts of fire at it. You will soon see it turn tail
and run. Man has an impregnable inner fortress, the fortress of light, armed
with canons and machine-guns that spit fire. What is to prevent you from
turning the full force of that weaponry on your enemy and bombarding him
with light? You will not kill or even injure anyone that way. On the contrary,
you will transform them for the better. Aren’t you perfectly within your rights
in doing this? But people think that they have to behave ‘in a Christian
manner’ and, for them, that means letting themselves be martyred without
reacting in any way. But the only thing that we are told in this respect is not
to use the same weapons or react in the same way as the enemy.
Why assassinate someone who is trying to assassinate you? Paralyze him,
blind him, put him to sleep, if you like, but get him to change his mind. There
are some comic sketches based on this idea: we see someone plotting all
kinds of dastardly deeds against a whole family, then along comes a
neighbour who talks so much nonsense, asks so many stupid questions and
makes so many impossible suggestions that the villain is completely bemused
and disarmed. All that nonsense concealed the fact that the neighbour was
really far more intelligent than the villain. So, you must defend yourselves.
Not with the same arms, of course, with other, far more potent weapons
which no one ever thinks of using because they do not really believe in their
efficacy. In fact, most people have no inkling that they exist.
Christians will never get out of the morass they are in if they do not learn
to work with divine methods. The very fact that they neglect the sun and
attribute no spiritual value to it, proves that they have not got the means they
need to overcome evil. But once they realize that they have disdained and
neglected the sun, they will humble themselves and the sun will forgive them
and, when that day comes, they will be all-powerful and the reign of evil will
be over and done with. As long as christians refuse to recognize that the sun
is a gateway to God, they will always be weak. They can pray as much as
they like and fill their churches with the smoke of incense, but that will never
put anything right; the world will still be devastated by catastrophes, and
disorder and chaos will continue to reign. But the day they recognize that the
sun is the visible image of God and a doorway that gives them direct access
to him, it will be much easier for them to reach him.4
There is no doubt about it: the future belongs to the bold, to those who
fight and work according to the laws of their divine nature. It is they who will
have the last word. You must not believe that, just because things were thus
and so in the past, they are going to be like that for ever.
Now, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, in Bulgaria, there was a
young schoolteacher. He was not very big or strong, but he was an intelligent,
sensible young man. One day he was with some friends in the village square
and one of them, a big, hulking fellow who was not very bright, did not agree
with something the schoolteacher said and started to argue with him. When
the schoolteacher began to get the better of him with his intelligent
arguments, the colossus lost his temper and let fly: one, two, and our hero
was flat on his back! Of course, the others laughed and applauded the winner.
After all, he was a real heavyweight, and physical prowess is always much
admired. The poor young teacher went slowly and sadly home, the laughter
and jeers of his friends ringing in his ears. But then, wonder of wonders,
when he got home he found that his cow had calved and there was a lovely
little calf in the meadow. He bent over and stroked it and then picked it up in
his arms and hugged it, forgetting all about his recent humiliation. The next
morning, and every morning after that, he would go and pick up the calf and
pet it.
This went on for several months. The calf was rapidly growing into a full-
sized bullock but the schoolteacher never noticed. He just went on picking it
up. Then, one day, he suddenly realized that his muscles had developed
enormously and he decided to go down and join his friends in the village
square, once again. When he got there, there was the bully who had knocked
him out, bragging and preening himself, as usual. Going up to him, our hero
asked him, ‘Do you remember me?’ ‘I’ll say I do,’ said the bully; ‘You’re the
little chap I knocked out.’ Without a word the schoolteacher stooped, grabbed
him by the leg and held him up, at arm’s length, over his head. ‘Make your
peace with God,’ he said; ‘Because I’m going to throw you to the ground and
smash you to smithereens!’ Well, of course, the big bully started to whimper
and beg for mercy: ‘Forgive me, forgive me. I’m sorry I hit you. Don’t kill
me.’ ‘Very well,’ said the teacher; ‘As long as you’re sorry...’ and put him
gently down on the ground, whereupon the bully took to his heels and ran.
All the other young men laughed and cheered and the teacher went home
feeling very pleased and proud of himself: a true hero! So you see, you must
never let yourselves be vanquished and trodden underfoot because you will
not help others to be any better that way. They will just go on bullying you
and misusing their strength. If you are too meek and mild, people think, ‘Aha,
there’s someone who won’t fight back. Let’s take advantage of him’.
The Lord asks strength, intelligence, light and power of his servants. If
you want to conquer your difficulties, your enemies, therefore, you have to
build up your strength. See if you cannot find a little calf somewhere – in
your head, perhaps – and practise picking it up every day. You will soon be
so strong, and so luminous and powerful, that you will be capable of picking
up your enemies and holding them up in the air, telling them, ‘Make your act
of contrition; I’m going to smash you to smithereens!’ You will not kill them,
of course; you will not even hurt them, so you will have nothing on your
conscience. This is the true philosophy: instead of killing someone you help
him and give him a chance to become wiser, more reasonable and better
behaved. In other words you teach him something extremely important.
Don’t try to hide behind weakness. Weakness will not save you and nor
will stupidity nor indolence. You must meditate, search and practise and, one
day, when you are as bright and as hot as the sun you will be invulnerable
for, after all, can anyone touch the sun without burning himself? Ill-wishers
will steer clear of you because – symbolically speaking – you will be aflame,
a fiery furnace. In the face of true spiritual strength, everyone is obliged to
lay down their arms.
You will say, ‘Yes, but if I turn the other cheek, my enemy will be
ashamed and beg me to forgive him’. Don’t you believe it. He will not
repent; he is more likely to treat you worse than ever. No, you would do
much better to follow the example of that young schoolteacher who picked
up his calf every day. As an example, it is unique, you could find none better.
Day and night, for years on end, you must practise and grow stronger and
stronger until, one fine day, you seek out your enemies, saying, ‘Do you
recognize me? You’d better look out because you’re in for a surprise!’ And,
at the sight of your strength and the light radiating from you, they will realize
that while they were resting on their laurels, you have been in training and
have become invincible.
Take an example from mothers; they know what to do. When a child is
disobedient and does exactly the opposite of what she tells him, she shows
him the ‘other cheek’. That is to say, she begins by reasoning with him and
perhaps, even, sheds a few tears. But if the child still refuses to obey, she
gives him a taste of the slipper, and he instantly understands and obeys. She
does not kill him, but by showing him the ‘other side,’ the side of strength,
she teaches him a lesson. Instinctively, she reacts divinely.
There are two sides (in fact, there are three or four or, even, ten, but to
make things simpler, let’s just say that there are two), gentleness and
strength, and it is important to know when and how to use them. Very often,
when you are feeling depressed, worried or discouraged, it is because
undesirable spirits are tormenting you, attacking you like a swarm of wasps,
flies, mosquitoes or snakes.5 Is this the time for gentleness? Should you let
them invade you and feed on you without a word of protest? On the contrary,
it is time to show the other side, the side of strength. With words and
gestures, you must show your strength and light and, in this way, teach them
a much-needed lesson. And you can do this every single day. Why sit there
suffering and feeling sorry for yourself? Show the other side, show your
strength, your will-power. Get up and chase these entities away; don’t allow
thoughts and feelings that torment you and sap all your energies to drag on
and on.
Is all this clear, now? It goes against your traditional ideas, I know, but
that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that it is useful. And it works! You
must adopt ideas and methods that work instead of clinging indefinitely to
attitudes that are totally ineffective. To begin with, these new notions may
shock you, but, if you want to become stronger and stronger, always stronger,
but without violence, without killing or destroying, you will be obliged to
accept them. You can be strong, invincibly strong, thanks to the light.
Thus, each one of you must begin training and practising in order to be
strong. You can only do it with practice. When war breaks out and you have
to give battle to the powers of darkness, will you be ready? Start by trying to
overcome the minor enemies within. Put them to rout. Stop giving in to them
on the pretext that you are a Christian and don’t believe in violence. A
strange kind of Christian, indeed! Don’t you know that christians are knights-
errant? They are fighters, Christ’s soldiers, and they must be well armed.
Why do you suppose that so many Orders of knights were created in the
Middle Ages? Simply because a true Christian is just the opposite of a meek
and timid individual. He is a soldier, and his arms are light and the power of
the spirit.6
The Bonfin, September 12, 1963

BIBLICAL REFERENCES
‘If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also’ – Matt. 5: 39
‘You are the salt of the earth’ – Matt. 5: 13
Saul on his way to Damascus – Acts of the Apostles 9: 1-9
‘You have heard that it was said… But I say to you…’ – Matt. 5: 21-45
1 See The Philosopher’s Stone – in the Gospels and in Alchemy, Izvor Coll. n

° 241, chap. 3: ‘You are the salt of the earth’ and chap. 4: ‘But if the salt loses
its flavour…’
2 See Sons and Daughters of God, Izvor Coll. n° 240, chap. 10: ‘Jesus, dead

and resurrected?’.
3 See Love and Sexuality, Complete Works, vol. 15, chap. 27: ‘Our Only
Weapons: Love and Light’.
4 See The Splendour of Tiphareth – The Yoga of the Sun, Complete Works,

vol. 10.
5 See Life Force, Complete Works, vol. 5, chap. 7: ‘Unwanted Guests’.
6 See above, chap. 8: ‘The Strength of the Spirit’.