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1:I come to a world of iron to make a world of gold. ~ Cervantes,

2:A golden chain is as much a chain as an iron one. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 55),

3:Jnana-Yoga is exceedingly difficult in this age, the Kali-Yuga (Iron Age). ~ Sri Ramakrishna,

4:The Ancestors fashioned the gods as a workman fashions iron. ~ Rig Veda, the Eternal Wisdom

5:The jiva resides in the heart like iron and the Atman in the head like a magnet. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,

6:frost on a iron kettle has a cold voice ~ Matsuo Basho, @BashoSociety

7:In this Iron Age, violent devotion is more suitable and brings speedier fruition. The citadel of God must be taken by storm! ~ Sri Ramakrishna,

8:Freedom may be illusory and our apparent freedom may be a real and iron bondage. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Fate and Free-Will,

9:In past ages people would be busy with devotional exercises. In this Iron-Age, Kali Yuga, life resides in food and the mind is weak. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,

10:Iron must be hammered before it becomes good steel, just as one must be hammered with the persecutions of the world to be pure and humble. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,

11:Kali (Iron Lords of Time) Am love, am passion; I create the world. I am the only Brahma. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Kama,

12:What we want is vigour in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. III. 278),

13:My Child, What I want is Muscles of Iron and Nerves of Steel, inside which Dwells a Mind of the same Material as that of which the Thunderbolt is Made.    ~ Swami Vivekananda,

14:The Society of men is on the eve of the most terrible scourges and of gravest events. Mankind must expect to be ruled with an iron rod and to drink from the chalice of the wrath of God." ~ Our Lady of La Salette ,

15:There is great battle raging: for my mouth not to harden and my jaws not to become like heavy doors of an iron safe, so my life may not be called pre-death." ~ Yehuda Amichai, (1924-2000) considered as Israel's greatest modern poet, Wikipedia.,

16:If anyone - superior or inferior - comes to hinder your practice, you should be unshakable, like an iron boulder pulled by a silk scarf. It won't do to be a weak character whose head bends in whichever direction the wind blows, like grass on a mountain pass. ~ Dudjom Rinpoche,

17:Something they forge there sitting unknown in the silence eternal, Whether of evil or good it is they who shall choose who are masters Calm, unopposed; they are gods and they work out their iron caprices. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, Ilion,

18:Then a sound pealed through that dead monstrous realm: Vast like the surge in a tired swimmer's ears, Clamouring, a fatal iron-hearted roar, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Journey in Eternal Night and the Voice of the Darkness,

19:This iron, brute, gigantic helpless toy They call a world, this thing that turns and turns And shrieks and bleeds and cannot stop, this victim Broken and living yet on its own wheel, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Meditations of Mandavya,

20:2. O knower of all things born, high-kindled, iron-tusked, touch with thy ray the demon-sorcerers; do violence to them with thy tongue of flame, the gods who kill,28 the eaters of flesh, putting them off from us shut them into thy mouth. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns To The Mystic Fire, 2 - Other Hymns,

21:'O strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry.    One shall descend and break the iron Law,    Change Nature's doom by the lone spirit's power.    A limitless Mind that can contain the world,    A sweet and violent heart of ardent calms    Moved by the passions of the gods shall come.    ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon,

22:Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them. It depends on the mood of the man, whether he shall see the sunset or the fine poem. There are always sunsets, and there is always genius; but only a few hours so serene that we can relish nature or criticism. The more or less depends on structure or temperament. Temperament is the iron wire on which the beads are strung. Of what use is fortune or talent to a cold and defective store? ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

23:If iron is once changed to gold by the touch of the philosopher's stone, it may be kept in the earth or thrown into a mass of ordure, but always it will be gold and can never go back to its first condition. So is it with him whose heart has touched, were it but a single time, the feet of the Almighty; let him dwell amidst the tumult of the world or in the solitude of the forest, by nothing can he again be polluted. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom

24:We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming 'sub-creator' and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

25:And yet, and yet... Denying temporal succession, denying the self, denying the astronomical universe, are apparent desperations and secret consolations. Our destiny ... is not frightful by being unreal; it is frightful because it is irreversible and iron-clad. Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges.~ Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths, Selected Stories and Other Writings,

26:If renunciation is not embraced By the pure motivation of bodhicitta, It will not become a cause for the perfect bliss of unsurpassed awakening, So the wise should generate supreme bodhicitta. Beings are swept along by the powerful current of the four rivers, Tightly bound by the chains of their karma, so difficult to undo, Ensnared within the iron trap of their self-grasping, And enshrouded in the thick darkness of ignorance. Again and yet again, they are reborn in limitless saṃsāra, And constantly tormented by the three forms of suffering. This is the current condition of all your mothers from previous lives— Contemplate their plight and generate supreme bodhichitta. ~ Tsongkapa,

27:At one stage in the initiation procedure, Christian tells us...the postulant climbs down an iron ladder, with seventy-eight rungs, and enters a hall on either side of which are twelve statues, and, between each pair of statues, a painting. These twenty-two paintings, he is told, are Arcana or symbolic hieroglyphs; the Science of Will, the principle of all wisdom and source of all power, is contained in them. Each corresponds to a "letter of the sacred language" and to a number, and each expresses a reality of the divine world, a reality of the intellectual world and a reality of the physical world. The secret meanings of these twenty-two Arcana are then expounded to him. ~ Ronald Decker and Thierry Depaulis and Michael Dummett, A Wicked Pack of Cards - The Origins of the Occult Tarot,

28:She sets the hard inventions of her brain In a pattern of eternal fixity: Indifferent to the cosmic dumb demand, Unconscious of too close realities, Of the unspoken thought, the voiceless heart, She leans to forge her credos and iron codes And metal structures to imprison life And mechanic models of all things that are. For the world seen she weaves a world conceived: She spins in stiff but unsubstantial lines Her gossamer word-webs of abstract thought, Her segment systems of the Infinite, Her theodicies and cosmogonic charts And myths by which she explains the inexplicable. At will she spaces in thin air of mind Like maps in the school-house of intellect hung, Forcing wide Truth into a narrow scheme, Her numberless warring strict philosophies; Out of Nature's body of phenomenon She carves with Thought's keen edge in rigid lines, Like rails for the World-Magician's power to run, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri,

29:From the twilight of day till the twilight of evening, a leopard, in the last years of the thirteenth century, would see some wooden planks, some vertical iron bars, men and women who changed, a wall and perhaps a stone gutter filled with dry leaves. He did not know, could not know, that he longed for love and cruelty and the hot pleasure of tearing things to pieces and the wind carrying the scent of a deer, but something suffocated and rebelled within him and God spoke to him in a dream: ""You live and will die in this prison so that a man I know of may see you a certain number of times and not forget you and place your figure and symbol in a poem which has its precise place in the scheme of the universe. You suffer captivity, but you will have given a word to the poem.    God, in the dream, illumined the animal's brutishness and the animal understood these reasons and accepted his destiny, but, when he awoke, there was in him only an obscure resignation, a valorous ignorance, for the machinery of the world is much too complex for the simplicity of a beast. ~ Jorge Luis Borges,

30:... Every one knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas, by his contrivance, the most ignorant person, at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, might write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws, mathematics, and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study." He then led me to the frame, about the sides, whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty feet square, placed in the middle of the room. The superfices was composed of several bits of wood, about the bigness of a die, but some larger than others. They were all linked together by slender wires. These bits of wood were covered, on every square, with paper pasted on them; and on these papers were written all the words of their language, in their several moods, tenses, and declensions; but without any order. The professor then desired me "to observe; for he was going to set his engine at work." The pupils, at his command, took each of them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were forty fixed round the edges of the frame; and giving them a sudden turn, the whole disposition of the words was entirely changed. He then commanded six-and-thirty of the lads, to read the several lines softly, as they appeared upon the frame; and where they found three or four words together that might make part of a sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys, who were scribes. This work was repeated three or four times, and at every turn, the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down. ~ Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels,

31:Many Blows are Needed: Mother, even when one tries to think that one is powerless, there is something which believes one is powerful. So? Ah, yes, ah yes! Ah, it is very difficult to be sincere.... That is why blows multiply and sometimes become terrible, because that's the only thing which breaks your stupidity. This is the justification of calamities. Only when you are in an acutely painful situation and indeed before something that affects you deeply, then that makes the stupidity melt away a little. But as you say, even when there is something that melts, there is still a little something which remains inside. And that is why it lasts so long... How many blows are needed in life for one to know to the very depths that one is nothing, that one can do nothing, that one does not exist, that one is nothing, that there is no entity without the divine Consciousness and the Grace. From the moment one knows it, it is over; all difficulties have gone. When one knows it integrally and there is nothing which resists... but till that moment... And it takes very long.    Why doesn't the blow come all at once?    Because that would kill you. For if the blow is strong enough to cure you, it would simply crush you, it would reduce you to pulp. It is only by proceeding little by little, little by little, very gradually, that you can continue to exist. Naturally this depends on the inner strength, the inner sincerity, and on the capacity for progress, for profiting by experience and, as I said a while ago, on not forgetting. If one is lucky enough not to forget, then one goes much faster. One can go very fast. And if at the same time one has that inner moral strength which, when the red-hot iron is at hand, does not extinguish it by trying to pour water over it, but instead goes to the very core of the abscess, then in this case things go very fast also. But not many people are strong enough for this. On the contrary, they very quickly do this (gesture), like this, like this, in order to hide, to hide from themselves. How many pretty little explanations one gives oneself, how many excuses one piles up for all the foolishnesses one has committed.    ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1954,

32:reading :::    Self-Help Reading List:    James Allen As a Man Thinketh (1904)    Marcus Aurelius Meditations (2nd Century)    The Bhagavad-Gita    The Bible    Robert Bly Iron John (1990)    Boethius The Consolation of Philosophy (6thC)    Alain de Botton How Proust Can Change Your Life (1997)    William Bridges Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes (1980)    David Brooks The Road to Character (2015)    Brené Brown Daring Greatly (2012)    David D Burns The New Mood Therapy (1980)    Joseph Campbell (with Bill Moyers) The Power of Myth (1988)    Richard Carlson Don't Sweat The Small Stuff (1997)    Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)    Deepak Chopra The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (1994)    Clayton Christensen How Will You Measure Your Life? (2012)    Paulo Coelho The Alchemist (1988)    Stephen Covey The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (1989)    Mihaly Cziksentmihalyi Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1991)    The Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler The Art of Happiness (1999)    The Dhammapada (Buddha's teachings)    Charles Duhigg The Power of Habit (2011)    Wayne Dyer Real Magic (1992)    Ralph Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance (1841)    Clarissa Pinkola Estes Women Who Run With The Wolves (1996)    Viktor Frankl Man's Search For Meaning (1959)    Benjamin Franklin Autobiography (1790)    Shakti Gawain Creative Visualization (1982)    Daniel Goleman Emotional Intelligence (1995)    John Gray Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus (1992)    Louise Hay You Can Heal Your Life (1984)    James Hillman The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling (1996)    Susan Jeffers Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway (1987)    Richard Koch The 80/20 Principle (1998)    Marie Kondo The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2014)    Ellen Langer Mindfulness: Choice and Control in Everyday Life (1989)    Lao-Tzu Tao-te Ching (The Way of Power)    Maxwell Maltz Psycho-Cybernetics (1960)    Abraham Maslow Motivation and Personality (1954)    Thomas Moore Care of the Soul (1992)    Joseph Murphy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (1963)    Norman Vincent Peale The Power of Positive Thinking (1952)    M Scott Peck The Road Less Traveled (1990)    Anthony Robbins Awaken The Giant Within (1991)    Florence Scovell-Shinn The Game of Life and How To Play It (1923)    Martin Seligman Learned Optimism (1991)    Samuel Smiles Self-Help (1859)    Pierre Teilhard de Chardin The Phenomenon of Man (1955)    Henry David Thoreau Walden (1854)    Marianne Williamson A Return To Love (1993)    ~ Tom Butler-Bowdon, 50 Self-Help,

33:30. Take the same position as heretofore and visualize a Battleship; see the grim monster floating on the surface of the water; there appears to be no life anywhere about; all is silence; you know that by far the largest part of the vessel is under water; out of sight; you know that the ship is as large and as heavy as a twenty-story skyscraper; you know that there are hundreds of men ready to spring to their appointed task instantly; you know that every department is in charge of able, trained, skilled officials who have proven themselves competent to take charge of this marvelous piece of mechanism; you know that although it lies apparently oblivious to everything else, it has eyes which see everything for miles around, and nothing is permitted to escape its watchful vision; you know that while it appears quiet, submissive and innocent, it is prepared to hurl a steel projectile weighing thousands of pounds at an enemy many miles away; this and much more you can bring to mind with comparatively no effort whateveR But how did the battleship come to be where it is; how did it come into existence in the first place? All of this you want to know if you are a careful observer.    31. Follow the great steel plates through the foundries, see the thousands of men employed in their production; go still further back, and see the ore as it comes from the mine, see it loaded on barges or cars, see it melted and properly treated; go back still further and see the architect and engineers who planned the vessel; let the thought carry you back still further in order to determine why they planned the vessel; you will see that you are now so far back that the vessel is something intangible, it no longer exists, it is now only a thought existing in the brain of the architect; but from where did the order come to plan the vessel? Probably from the Secretary of Defense; but probably this vessel was planned long before the war was thought of, and that Congress had to pass a bill appropriating the money; possibly there was opposition, and speeches for or against the bill. Whom do these Congressmen represent? They represent you and me, so that our line of thought begins with the Battleship and ends with ourselves, and we find in the last analysis that our own thought is responsible for this and many other things, of which we seldom think, and a little further reflection will develop the most important fact of all and that is, if someone had not discovered the law by which this tremendous mass of steel and iron could be made to float upon the water, instead of immediately going to the bottom, the battleship could not have come into existence at all. ~ Charles F Haanel, The Master Key System,

34:A God's Labour I have gathered my dreams in a silver air    Between the gold and the blue And wrapped them softly and left them there,    My jewelled dreams of you. I had hoped to build a rainbow bridge    Marrying the soil to the sky And sow in this dancing planet midge    The moods of infinity. But too bright were our heavens, too far away,    Too frail their ethereal stuff; Too splendid and sudden our light could not stay;    The roots were not deep enough. He who would bring the heavens here    Must descend himself into clay And the burden of earthly nature bear    And tread the dolorous way. Coercing my godhead I have come down    Here on the sordid earth, Ignorant, labouring, human grown    Twixt the gates of death and birth. I have been digging deep and long    Mid a horror of filth and mire A bed for the golden river's song,    A home for the deathless fire. I have laboured and suffered in Matter's night    To bring the fire to man; But the hate of hell and human spite    Are my meed since the world began. For man's mind is the dupe of his animal self;    Hoping its lusts to win, He harbours within him a grisly Elf    Enamoured of sorrow and sin. The grey Elf shudders from heaven's flame    And from all things glad and pure; Only by pleasure and passion and pain    His drama can endure. All around is darkness and strife;    For the lamps that men call suns Are but halfway gleams on this stumbling life    Cast by the Undying Ones. Man lights his little torches of hope    That lead to a failing edge; A fragment of Truth is his widest scope,    An inn his pilgrimage. The Truth of truths men fear and deny,    The Light of lights they refuse; To ignorant gods they lift their cry    Or a demon altar choose. All that was found must again be sought,    Each enemy slain revives, Each battle for ever is fought and refought    Through vistas of fruitless lives. My gaping wounds are a thousand and one    And the Titan kings assail, But I dare not rest till my task is done    And wrought the eternal will. How they mock and sneer, both devils and men!    "Thy hope is Chimera's head Painting the sky with its fiery stain;    Thou shalt fall and thy work lie dead. "Who art thou that babblest of heavenly ease    And joy and golden room To us who are waifs on inconscient seas    And bound to life's iron doom? "This earth is ours, a field of Night    For our petty flickering fires. How shall it brook the sacred Light    Or suffer a god's desires? "Come, let us slay him and end his course!    Then shall our hearts have release From the burden and call of his glory and force    And the curb of his wide white peace." But the god is there in my mortal breast    Who wrestles with error and fate And tramples a road through mire and waste    For the nameless Immaculate. A voice cried, "Go where none have gone!    Dig deeper, deeper yet Till thou reach the grim foundation stone    And knock at the keyless gate." I saw that a falsehood was planted deep    At the very root of things Where the grey Sphinx guards God's riddle sleep    On the Dragon's outspread wings. I left the surface gauds of mind    And life's unsatisfied seas And plunged through the body's alleys blind    To the nether mysteries. I have delved through the dumb Earth's dreadful heart    And heard her black mass' bell. I have seen the source whence her agonies part    And the inner reason of hell. Above me the dragon murmurs moan    And the goblin voices flit; I have pierced the Void where Thought was born,    I have walked in the bottomless pit. On a desperate stair my feet have trod    Armoured with boundless peace, Bringing the fires of the splendour of God    Into the human abyss. He who I am was with me still;    All veils are breaking now. I have heard His voice and borne His will    On my vast untroubled brow. The gulf twixt the depths and the heights is bridged    And the golden waters pour Down the sapphire mountain rainbow-ridged    And glimmer from shore to shore. Heaven's fire is lit in the breast of the earth    And the undying suns here burn; Through a wonder cleft in the bounds of birth    The incarnate spirits yearn Like flames to the kingdoms of Truth and Bliss:    Down a gold-red stairway wend The radiant children of Paradise    Clarioning darkness' end. A little more and the new life's doors    Shall be carved in silver light With its aureate roof and mosaic floors    In a great world bare and bright. I shall leave my dreams in their argent air,    For in a raiment of gold and blue There shall move on the earth embodied and fair    The living truth of you.    ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, A God's Labour, 534,

35:How to Meditate Deep meditation is a mental procedure that utilizes the nature of the mind to systematically bring the mind to rest. If the mind is given the opportunity, it will go to rest with no effort. That is how the mind works. Indeed, effort is opposed to the natural process of deep meditation. The mind always seeks the path of least resistance to express itself. Most of the time this is by making more and more thoughts. But it is also possible to create a situation in the mind that turns the path of least resistance into one leading to fewer and fewer thoughts. And, very soon, no thoughts at all. This is done by using a particular thought in a particular way. The thought is called a mantra. For our practice of deep meditation, we will use the thought - I AM. This will be our mantra. It is for the sound that we will use I AM, not for the meaning of it. The meaning has an obvious significance in English, and I AM has a religious meaning in the English Bible as well. But we will not use I AM for the meaning - only for the sound. We can also spell it AYAM. No meaning there, is there? Only the sound. That is what we want. If your first language is not English, you may spell the sound phonetically in your own language if you wish. No matter how we spell it, it will be the same sound. The power of the sound ...I AM... is great when thought inside. But only if we use a particular procedure. Knowing this procedure is the key to successful meditation. It is very simple. So simple that we will devote many pages here to discussing how to keep it simple, because we all have a tendency to make things more complicated. Maintaining simplicity is the key to right meditation. Here is the procedure of deep meditation: While sitting comfortably with eyes closed, we'll just relax. We will notice thoughts, streams of thoughts. That is fine. We just let them go by without minding them. After about a minute, we gently introduce the mantra, ...I AM... We think the mantra in a repetition very easily inside. The speed of repetition may vary, and we do not mind it. We do not intone the mantra out loud. We do not deliberately locate the mantra in any particular part of the body. Whenever we realize we are not thinking the mantra inside anymore, we come back to it easily. This may happen many times in a sitting, or only once or twice. It doesn't matter. We follow this procedure of easily coming back to the mantra when we realize we are off it for the predetermined time of our meditation session. That's it. Very simple. Typically, the way we will find ourselves off the mantra will be in a stream of other thoughts. This is normal. The mind is a thought machine, remember? Making thoughts is what it does. But, if we are meditating, as soon as we realize we are off into a stream of thoughts, no matter how mundane or profound, we just easily go back to the mantra. Like that. We don't make a struggle of it. The idea is not that we have to be on the mantra all the time. That is not the objective. The objective is to easily go back to it when we realize we are off it. We just favor the mantra with our attention when we notice we are not thinking it. If we are back into a stream of other thoughts five seconds later, we don't try and force the thoughts out. Thoughts are a normal part of the deep meditation process. We just ease back to the mantra again. We favor it. Deep meditation is a going toward, not a pushing away from. We do that every single time with the mantra when we realize we are off it - just easily favoring it. It is a gentle persuasion. No struggle. No fuss. No iron willpower or mental heroics are necessary for this practice. All such efforts are away from the simplicity of deep meditation and will reduce its effectiveness. As we do this simple process of deep meditation, we will at some point notice a change in the character of our inner experience. The mantra may become very refined and fuzzy. This is normal. It is perfectly all right to think the mantra in a very refined and fuzzy way if this is the easiest. It should always be easy - never a struggle. Other times, we may lose track of where we are for a while, having no mantra, or stream of thoughts either. This is fine too. When we realize we have been off somewhere, we just ease back to the mantra again. If we have been very settled with the mantra being barely recognizable, we can go back to that fuzzy level of it, if it is the easiest. As the mantra refines, we are riding it inward with our attention to progressively deeper levels of inner silence in the mind. So it is normal for the mantra to become very faint and fuzzy. We cannot force this to happen. It will happen naturally as our nervous system goes through its many cycles ofinner purification stimulated by deep meditation. When the mantra refines, we just go with it. And when the mantra does not refine, we just be with it at whatever level is easy. No struggle. There is no objective to attain, except to continue the simple procedure we are describing here. When and Where to Meditate How long and how often do we meditate? For most people, twenty minutes is the best duration for a meditation session. It is done twice per day, once before the morning meal and day's activity, and then again before the evening meal and evening's activity. Try to avoid meditating right after eating or right before bed. Before meal and activity is the ideal time. It will be most effective and refreshing then. Deep meditation is a preparation for activity, and our results over time will be best if we are active between our meditation sessions. Also, meditation is not a substitute for sleep. The ideal situation is a good balance between meditation, daily activity and normal sleep at night. If we do this, our inner experience will grow naturally over time, and our outer life will become enriched by our growing inner silence. A word on how to sit in meditation: The first priority is comfort. It is not desirable to sit in a way that distracts us from the easy procedure of meditation. So sitting in a comfortable chair with back support is a good way to meditate. Later on, or if we are already familiar, there can be an advantage to sitting with legs crossed, also with back support. But always with comfort and least distraction being the priority. If, for whatever reason, crossed legs are not feasible for us, we will do just fine meditating in our comfortable chair. There will be no loss of the benefits. Due to commitments we may have, the ideal routine of meditation sessions will not always be possible. That is okay. Do the best you can and do not stress over it. Due to circumstances beyond our control, sometimes the only time we will have to meditate will be right after a meal, or even later in the evening near bedtime. If meditating at these times causes a little disruption in our system, we will know it soon enough and make the necessary adjustments. The main thing is that we do our best to do two meditations every day, even if it is only a short session between our commitments. Later on, we will look at the options we have to make adjustments to address varying outer circumstances, as well as inner experiences that can come up. Before we go on, you should try a meditation. Find a comfortable place to sit where you are not likely to be interrupted and do a short meditation, say ten minutes, and see how it goes. It is a toe in the water. Make sure to take a couple of minutes at the end sitting easily without doing the procedure of meditation. Then open your eyes slowly. Then read on here. As you will see, the simple procedure of deep meditation and it's resulting experiences will raise some questions. We will cover many of them here. So, now we will move into the practical aspects of deep meditation - your own experiences and initial symptoms of the growth of your own inner silence. ~ Yogani, Deep Meditation,

*** WISDOM TROVE ***

1:Strike while the iron is hot. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove

2:The iron ring is worn out by constant use. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove

3:I'm gonna be Iron, like a Lion in Zion ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove

4:Ice and iron cannot be welded. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove

5:If gold rusts, what then can iron do? ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove

6:Put your iron hand in a velvet glove. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove

7:Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove

8:Everything has its limit - iron ore cannot be educated into gold. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove

9:Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove

10:Naught can deform the human race Like to the armor's iron brace. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove

11:We must beat the iron while it is hot, but we may polish it at leisure. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove

12:Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove

13:The hammers must be swung in cadence, when more than one is hammering the iron. ~ giordano-bruno, @wisdomtrove

14:The strongest iron, hardened in the fire, most often ends in scraps and shatterings. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove

15:My countrymen should have nerves of steel, muscles of iron, and minds like thunderbolt. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

16:The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron. ~ phyllis-diller, @wisdomtrove

17:Persistence is the iron quality of success; if you persist long enough you must eventually succeed ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove

18:Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove

19:Slavery is slavery. The chain of gold is quite as bad as the chain of iron. Is there a way out? ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

20:The iron bolt... mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in a gloomy prison. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove

21:The earth yields up her stores, of every ill The instigators; iron, foe to man, And gold, than iron deadlier. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove

22:All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune-make for a finer, nobler type of manhood. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove

23:It is an iron rule of history that what looks inevitable in hindsight was far from obvious at the time. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove

24:One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove

25:You must have an iron will, if you would cross the ocean. You must be strong enough to pierce mountains. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

26:I will perform the function of a whetstone, which is about to restore sharpness to iron, though itself unable to cut. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove

27:No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, can ever compel the soul of a person to believe or to disbelieve. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove

28:To be thoroughly conversant with Man’s heart, is to take our final lesson in the iron-clasped volume of Despair ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove

29:You know my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled by the iron feet of oppression ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove

30:I do not think you want too much sincerity in society. It would be like an iron girder in a house of cards. ~ william-somerset-maugham, @wisdomtrove

31:Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. ~ leonardo-da-vinci, @wisdomtrove

32:God Almighty Himself must have been hilarious when human beings so mingled iron and water and fire as to make a railroad train! ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove

33:I dont hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark; I dont. I dont! I dont hate it! I dont hate it! ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove

34:Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a book [The Lord of the Rings] which will break your heart." ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove

35:white-robed Angel, guide my timorous hand to write as on a lofty rock with iron pen the words of truth, that all who pass may read. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove

36:The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain — and the whole world is at your feet. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

37:. . . if gold rust, what then will iron do?/ For if a priest be foul in whom we trust/ No wonder that a common man should rust. . . . ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove

38:The hand of Vengeance found the Bed To which the Purple Tyrant fled The iron hand crush'd the tyrant's head And became Tyrant in his stead. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove

39:I pray for no more youth To perish before its prime; That Revenge and iron-heated War May fade with all that has gone before Into the night of time. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove

40:Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove

41:From behind the Iron Curtain, there are signs that tyranny is in trouble and reminders that its structure is as brittle as its surface is hard. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove

42:Responsible for wrapping the iron fist of authority in its velvet glove is Jane Axtell, head of the accountancy firm's Human Resources department. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove

43:The stubbornest of wills Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron, O'er-heated in the fire to brittleness,Flies soonest into fragments, shivered through. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove

44:My child, what I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

45:Ink, n. A villainous compound of tannogallate of iron, gum-arabic, and water, chiefly used to facilitate the infection of idiocy and promote intellectual crime. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove

46:This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove

47:Most of the grand truths of God have to be learned by trouble; they must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove

48:Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigour in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

49:The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove

50:Tom's great yellow bronze mask all draped upon an iron framework. An inhibited, nerve-drawn; dropped face - as if hung on a scaffold of heavy private brooding; and thought. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove

51:Winter! bar thine adamantine doors: The north is thine; there hast thou build thy dark, Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs, Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove

52:Dennis Thatcher, husband of Margaret Thatcher, when asked who wore the pants in his house, said "I do, and I also wash and iron them." I only like two kinds of men; domestic and foreign. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove

53:May every one of us believe Him better, and have greater thoughts of Him, and never let us be guilty henceforth of confining, as it were, within iron bonds the limitless One of Israel. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove

54:Trout was petrified there on Forty-second Street. It had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove

55:The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove

56:Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove

57:At the moment when her eyes closed, when all feeling vanished in her, she thought that she felt a touch of fire imprinted on her lips, a kiss more burning than the red-hot iron of the executioner. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove

58:Believe me, it is a great deal better to find cast-iron proof that you're innocent than to languish in a cell hoping that the police - who already think you're guilty - will find it for you. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove

59:All of us in the Senate live in an iron lung-the iron lung of politics, and it is no easy task to emerge from that rarified atmosphere in order to breathe the same fresh air our constituents breathe. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove

60:Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove

61:We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove

62:When confronted with iron-will determination, I can see Time, Fate and Circumstance calling a hasty conference and deciding, We might as well let him have his dream. He's said he's going to get there or die trying. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove

63:It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stoney street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass, just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove

64:We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources ... But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil and the gas are exhausted. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove

65:All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star stuff. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove

66:My hold of the colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. These are ties which, though light as air, are as strong as links of iron. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove

67:No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, could ever compel the soul of man to believe or to disbelieve: it is his own indefeasible light, that judgment of his; he will reign and believe there by the grace of God alone! ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove

68:What we want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel. We have wept long enough. No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

69:I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me? ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove

70:The Persians are called the French of the East; we will call the Arabs Oriental Italians. A gifted noble people; a people of wildstrong feelings, and of iron restraint over these: the characteristic of noblemindedness, of genius. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove

71:If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist, in economic, political, scientific, and all the other kinds of struggles, as well as the military, then the peril to freedom will continue to rise. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove

72:Cruelty has a Human Heart, And jealousy a Human Face; Terror the Human Form Divine, And secrecy the Human Dress. The Human Dress is forged Iron, The Human Form a Fiery Forge, The Human Face a Furnace seal d, The Human Heart its hungry gorge. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove

73:Through every trial we grow. All suffering we experience has a meaning. Though it seems very cruel, it is like the fire that smelts the iron ore: the steel that emerges from that furnace is beautifully strong, useful for many purposes. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove

74:The virtuous woman must be treated like a relic - adored, but not handled; she should be guarded and prized, like a fine flower-garden, the beauty and fragrance of which the owner allows others to enjoy only at a distance, and through iron walls. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove

75:A DIVINE IMAGE Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face; Terror the human form divine, And Secresy the human dress. The human dress is forged iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sealed, The human heart its hungry gorge. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove

76:You see, my friends... you begin to ask the questions, &

77:At the great iron gate of the churchyard he stopped and looked in. He looked up at the high tower spectrally resisting the wind, and he looked round at the white tombstones, like enough to the dead in their winding-sheets, and he counted the nine tolls of the clock-bell. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove

78:Pain reconciles one to existence. Infinite resignation is that shirt in the old fable. The thread is spun with tears, bleached by tears, the shirt sewn in tears, but then it also gives better protection than iron. The secret in life is that everyone must sew it for himself. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove

79:Pale and pinched-up faces hovered about the windows where was tempting food; hungry eyes wandered over the profusion guarded by one thin sheet of brittle glass&

80:Write while the heat is in you. The write who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience. To achieve something you've never achieved before, you must become someone you've never been before. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove

81:America is neither free nor brave, but a land of tight, iron-clanking little wills, everybody trying to put it over everybody else, and a land of men absolutely devoid of the real courage of trust, trust in life's sacred spontaneity. They can't trust life until they can control it. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove

82:We are faced with the task of convincing a myth infatuated world that love and curiosity are sufficient and you don't have to delude yourself and frighten yourself with Iron Age fairy tales. This is a monumental task. I don't think there is an intellectual struggle more worthy of our efforts. ~ sam-harris, @wisdomtrove

83:Next to a leisurely walk I enjoy a spin on my tandem bicycle. It is splendid to feel the wind blowing in my face and the springy motion of my iron steed. The rapid rush through the air gives me a delicious sense of strength and buoyancy, and the exercise makes my pulse dance and my heart sing. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove

84:You cannot make steel until you have made the iron white-hot in fire. It is not meant for harm. Trouble and disease have a lesson for us. Our painful experiences are not meant to destroy us, but to burn out our dross, to hurry us back Home. No one is more anxious for our release than God. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove

85:Here is tragedy - and here is America. For the curse of the country, as well of all democracies, is precisely the fact that it treats its best men as enemies. The aim of our society, if it may be said to have an aim, is to iron them out. The ideal American, in the public sense, is a respectable vacuum. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove

86:We shall look on crime as a disease, and its physicians shall displace the judges, its hospitals displace the Galleys. Liberty and health shall be alike. We shall pour balm and oil where we formerly applied iron and fire; evil will be treated in charity, instead of in anger. This change will be simple and sublime. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove

87:For the church is not a human society of people united by their natural affinities but the Body of Christ, in which all members, however different, (and He rejoices in their differences and by no means wishes to iron them out) must share the common life, complementing and helping one another precisely by their differences. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove

88:The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with a red hot iron. I have to pick up the incandescent metal and burn my own hand while burning the other person. Hate itself is the seed of death in my own heart while it seeks death of another. Love is the seed of life in my own heart while it seeks the good of another. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove

89:The knight is a man of blood and iron, a man familiar with the sight of smashed faces and the ragged stumps of lopped-off limbs; he is also a demure, almost a maidenlike, guest in hall, a gentle, modest, unobtrusive man. He is not a compromise or happy mean between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove

90:The whole trouble lies in that people think that there are conditions excluding the necessity of love in their intercourse with man, but such conditions do not exist. Things may be treated without love; one may chop wood, make bricks, forge iron without love, but one can no more deal with people without love than one can handle bees without care. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove

91:A golden chain is as much a chain as an iron one. Shri Ramakrishna used to say that, to pick out one thorn which has stuck into the foot, another thorn is requisitioned, and when the thorn is taken out, both are thrown away. So the bad tendencies are to be counteracted by the good ones, but after that, the good tendencies have also to be conquered. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

92:... the problem of space remained, she thought, taking up her brush again. It glared at her. The whole mass of the picture was poised upon that weight. Beautiful and bright it should be on the surface, feathery and evanescent, one colour melting into another like the colours on a butterfly's wing; but beneath the fabric must be clamped together with bolts of iron. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove

93:One thing you cannot know: The sudden extinction of every alternative, The unexpected crash of the iron cataract. You do not know what hope is, until you have lost it. You only know what it is not to hope: You do not know what it is to have hope taken from you Or to fling it away, to join the legion of the hopeless Unrecognized by other men, though sometimes by each other. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove

94:And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove

95:A man's usefulness depends on his living up to his ideals insofar as he can. It is hard to fail but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune, make for a finer, nobler type of manhood. Only those are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove

96:When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases - bestial atrocities, iron heel, blood-stained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder - one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy, the appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove

97:Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust. Envy of others comes from comparing what they have with what the envious person has, rather than the envious person realising they have more than what they could have and certainly more than some others and being grateful. It is really just an inability to get a correct perspective on their lives. ~ diogenes, @wisdomtrove

98:This London City, with all of its houses, palaces, steam-engines, cathedrals, and huge immeasurable traffic an tumult, what is it but a Thought, but millions of Thoughts made into One-a huge immeasurable Spirit of a Thought, embodied in brick, in iron, smoke, dust, Palaces, Parliaments, Hackney Coaches, Katherine Docks, and the rest of it! Not a brick was made but some man had to think of the making of that brick. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove

99:Let the labyrinth of wrinkles be furrowed in my brow with the red-hot iron of my own life, let my hair whiten and my step become vacillating, on condition that I can save the intelligence of my soul - let my unformed childhood soul, as it ages, assume the rational and esthetic forms of an architecture, let me learn just everything that others cannot teach me, what only life would be capable of marking deeply in my skin! ~ salvador-dali, @wisdomtrove

100:Everything in New Orleans is a good idea. Bijou temple-type cottages and lyric cathedrals side by side. Houses and mansions, structures of wild grace. Italianate, Gothic, Romanesque, Greek Revival standing in a long line in the rain. Roman Catholic art. Sweeping front porches, turrets, cast-iron balconies, colonnades- 30-foot columns, gloriously beautiful- double pitched roofs, all the architecture of the whole wide world and it doesn't move. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove

101:Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove

102:Every first-rate editor I have ever heard of reads, edits and rewrites every word that goes into his publication... . Good editors are not &

103:Under the spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. . . . He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man. . . . Toiling,-rejoicing,-sorrowing, Onward through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove

104:A strange thing has happened - while all the other arts were born naked, this, the youngest, has been born fully-clothed. It can say everything before it has anything to say. It is as if the savage tribe, instead of finding two bars of iron to play with, had found scattering the seashore fiddles, flutes, saxophones, trumpets, grand pianos by Erhard and Bechstein, and had begun with incredible energy, but without knowing a note of music, to hammer and thump upon them all at the same time. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove

105:There are many persons of combative tendencies, who read for ammunition, and dig out of the Bible iron for balls. They read, and they find nitre and charcoal and sulphur for powder. They read, and they find cannon. They read, and they make portholes and embrasures. And if a man does not believe as they do, they look upon him as an enemy, and let fly the Bible at him to demolish him. So men turn the word of God into a vast arsenal, filled with all manner of weapons, offensive and defensive. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove

106:After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains-one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither happiness nor misery. These are states, and states must ever change; but the nature of the Atman is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it; only wash away the dross and see it. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

107:When Satan cannot get a great sin in he will let a little one in, like the thief who goes and finds shutters all coated with iron and bolted inside. At last he sees a little window in a chamber. He cannot get in, so he puts a little boy in, that he may go round and open the back door. So the devil has always his little sins to carry about with him to go and open back doors for him, and we let one in and say, &

108:Your spirit is the duster of any spider web. Behind every finish line, there is a start one. Behind every success, there is another challenge. While you are alive, be alive. If you miss what you once did, do it again. Don't live in yellow photos... Continue although everyone expects you to give up. Don't let oxide the iron that is inside you. Do that instead of pity, and they will respect you. When because of years you cannot run, jog. When you cannot jog, walk. When you cannot walk, use a cane. But never stop! ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove

109:Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigor in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all these. Avoid all mystery. There is no mystery in religion. Is there any mystery in the Vedanta, or in the Vedas, or in the Samhit√¢s, or in the Puranas? What secret societies did the sages of yore establish to preach their religion? What sleight-of-hand tricks are there recorded as used by them to bring their grand truths to humanity? ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove

110:We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming &

111:All Fords are exactly alike, but no two men are just alike. Every new life is a new thing under the sun; there has never been anything just like it before, never will be again. A young man ought to get that idea about himself; he should look for the single spark of individuality that makes him different from other folks, and develop that for all he is worth. Society and schools may try to iron it out of him; their tendency is to put it all in the same mold, but I say don't let that spark be lost; it is your only real claim to importance. ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove

112:If one should give me a dish of sand, and tell me there were particles of iron in it, I might look for them with my eyes, and search for them with my clumsy fingers, and be unable to detect them; but let me take a magnet and sweep through it, and how would it draw to itself the almost invisible particles by the mere power of attraction. The unthankful heart, like my finger in the sand, discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day, and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some Heavenly blessings. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove

113:The poison was brewed in these West lands but it has spat itself everywhere by now. However far you went you would find the machines, the crowded cities, the empty thrones, the false writings, the barren beds: men maddened with false promises and soured with true miseries, worshipping the iron works of their own hands, cut off from Earth their Mother and from the Father in Heaven. You might go East so far the East became West and you returned to Britain across the great Ocean, but even so you would not have come out anywhere into the light.  The shadow of one dark wing is over all Tellus. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove

114:One of history’s fews iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations. Once people get used to a certain luxury, they take it for granted. Then they begin to count on it. Finally they reach a point where they can’t live without it. Over the few decades, we have invented countless time saving machines that are supposed to make like more relaxed - washing machines, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, telephones, mobile phones, computers, email. We thought we were saving time; instead we revved up the treadmill of life to ten times its former speed and made our days more anxious and agitated. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove

115:In one of his traditional sermons transmitted by his disciples, is the following apologue on the subject of charity : " When God created the earth it shook and trembled, until he put mountains upon it, to make it firm. Then the angels asked, &

*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***

1:cast-iron erection, on ~ M R James,

2:I wanted it-like iron. ~ Jean Rhys,

3:Even iron sometimes melts. ~ Henry James,

4:No mirror ever became iron again; ~ Rumi,

5:strike while the iron is hot, ~ Anonymous,

6:When the iron is hot, strike. ~ John Heywood,

7:I have kind of an iron stomach. ~ Joey Fatone,

8:Iron has powers to draw a man to ruin ~ Homer,

9:An iron? Was he kidding? God ~ Suzanne Johnson,

10:Bade Taj Iron Ki Sataayi Hui ~ Bashir Badr,

11:(Slaughter) means blood and iron. ~ Quintilian,

12:And thus we rust Life's iron chain ~ Oscar Wilde,

13:Strike while the iron is hot. ~ Geoffrey Chaucer,

14:But Fate does iron wedges drive, ~ Andrew Marvell,

15:The iron ring is worn out by constant use. ~ Ovid,

16:I'm gonna be Iron, like a Lion in Zion ~ Bob Marley,

17:Make the iron hot by striking it. ~ Oliver Cromwell,

18:Now you wear your skin like iron ~ Townes Van Zandt,

19:Staplers--- Excellent source of iron ~ Rick Riordan,

20:For the anvil never cries for the iron. ~ John Ringo,

21:I'm not perfect. I am not Iron Man. ~ Nobu Matsuhisa,

22:Soft pity enters an iron gate. ~ William Shakespeare,

23:We all assume the worst the best we can. ~ Iron Wine,

24:...for iron of itself draws a man thereto. ~ Homer,

25:Strike the iron whilst it is hot. ~ Francois Rabelais,

26:Iron might weep, but it did not break. ~ Susan Dennard,

27:Kindness is stronger than iron bars. ~ Margaret George,

28:Ice and iron cannot be welded. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson,

29:What Britain needs is an iron lady. ~ Margaret Thatcher,

30:If gold rusts, what then can iron do? ~ Geoffrey Chaucer,

31:I'm a real pussy cat - with an iron tail. ~ Rona Barrett,

32:Iron Sisters also badass at recycling! ~ Cassandra Clare,

33:Even in sleep, the wizard had an iron grip. ~ Jenny Nimmo,

34:God is an iron... and that's a hot one. ~ Spider Robinson,

35:I'm really a pussycat - with an iron tail. ~ Rona Barrett,

36:There are good places to play and bad places. ~ Iron Wine,

37:There is no purpose in hammering cold iron. ~ Idries Shah,

38:As rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man. ~ Antisthenes,

39:into the ground. Sixteen iron rods would be ~ Sean Patrick,

40:I've got a nine iron that says otherwise. ~ Kiersten White,

41:Put your iron hand in a velvet glove. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte,

42:Put your iron hand in a velvet glove. ~ Napol on Bonaparte,

43:To write a novel, you need an iron butt. ~ Richard M Nixon,

44:Iron hand in a velvet glove. ~ Charles V Holy Roman Emperor,

45:Iron is the final peal of a star’s natural life. ~ Sam Kean,

46:Read iron books! "To signs" (1913) ~ Vladimir Mayakovsky,

47:I am iron resisting the most enormous magnet there is. ~ Rumi,

48:Iron. Ice. A Love Doomed From the Start ~ Julie Kagawa,

49:Known to the Chinese as ‘Iron-Headed Old Rat ~ Niall Ferguson,

50:When I was a teenager, I was in an iron-lung. ~ Creed Bratton,

51:An iron curtain has descended over Europe. ~ Winston Churchill,

52:Gene Mean, look at our body. Cameraman, zoom! ~ The Iron Sheik,

53:Idleness is to the human mind like rust to iron ~ Ezra Cornell,

54:As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. ~ Solomon,

55:Chains of iron or of silk-both are chains. ~ Friedrich Schiller,

56:I come to a world of iron to make a world of gold. ~ Cervantes,

57:I'm one of those people who sort of feeds on music. ~ Iron Wine,

58:Nobody knew the Iron Man had fallen. Night passed. ~ Ted Hughes,

59:Debbie Reynolds is as wistful as an iron foundry. ~ Oscar Levant,

60:Historical experience is written in blood and iron. ~ Mao Zedong,

61:Historical experience is written in iron and blood. ~ Mao Zedong,

62:Iran? Number 1! Russia? Number 1! USA? Hacktui! ~ The Iron Sheik,

63:thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; ~ Joseph Smith Jr,

64:For winning Swaraj one requires iron discipline. ~ Mahatma Gandhi,

65:It is as if my self is hiding behind an iron door. ~ Alice Walker,

66:Gold and iron are good To buy iron and gold. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

67:building with a waist-high iron fence surrounding an ~ Stephen King,

68:A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron. ~ Joseph Stalin,

69:I come in a world of iron...to make a world of gold ~ Dale Wasserman,

70:A golden chain is as much a chain as an iron one. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

71:My son's name is Temujin," he said. "He will be iron. ~ Conn Iggulden,

72:Shooting arrows at the iron horses of Manifest Destiny. ~ Ken MacLeod,

73:. . . where an iron bedstead was wrapped in stillness. ~ Iris Murdoch,

74:You couldn’t hit the ball with a steam iron today, ~ Mary Kay Andrews,

75:You should hammer your iron when it is glowing hot. ~ Publilius Syrus,

76:It is hard to leave your iron lung, Dr. Scarpetta. ~ Patricia Cornwell,

77:Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. ~ Lisa Jackson,

78:The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. ~ Henry Rollins,

79:I wish I didn't have to perform 'Iron Man' every night. ~ Ozzy Osbourne,

80:parents why they chose Khantun, meaning “Iron Queen,” but ~ Peter David,

81:Thank God for the iron in the blood of our fathers ~ Theodore Roosevelt,

82:The Ancestors fashioned the gods as a workman fashions iron. ~ Rig Veda,

83:He looked like a Yanni fan at an Iron Maiden Concert. ~ Kelley Armstrong,

84:What is it with all these Iron Kings wanting to marry me? ~ Julie Kagawa,

85:Adolescence is about digging out the iron inside irony. ~ Andy Hargreaves,

86:Beware the People weeping When they bare the iron hand. ~ Herman Melville,

87:Cold walls do not a prison make, nor iron bands a bondsman. ~ Scott Lynch,

88:I'm sorry. But I am the Iron Queen, and you are in my way. ~ Julie Kagawa,

89:It's iron that can sharpen iron; wood cannot do that. ~ Israelmore Ayivor,

90:Laziness begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains. ~ Orison Swett Marden,

91:Money changes all the iron rules into rubber bands. ~ Ryszard Kapuscinski,

92:The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. ~ Charlie Munger,

93:Despair can be like an iron band constricting the heart. ~ Jurgen Moltmann,

94:No man can feel the iron which enters another man's soul. ~ Frances Harper,

95:Silver at her throat. Stone at her feet. Iron in her heart. ~ Jay Kristoff,

96:Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage. ~ Richard Lovelace,

97:There are magnets in my bones for that iron in her blood. ~ Atticus Poetry,

98:You can't weigh the soul of a man with a bar of pig-iron. ~ Samuel Gompers,

99:17    Iron sharpens iron,         and one man sharpens another. ~ Anonymous,

100:Everything you need to know about Iron Maiden is onstage. ~ Bruce Dickinson,

101:Hazel never cried. She was forged from iron; she never broke. ~ Holly Black,

102:If you don't judge my gold chains, I'll forget the iron chains. ~ LL Cool J,

103:Iron or glass? they'd asked. She was neither. She was steel. ~ Jay Kristoff,

104:Lice consume grass, rust consumes iron, and lying the soul! ~ Anton Chekhov,

105:Wisdom never kicks at the iron walls it can't bring down. ~ Olive Schreiner,

106:Concrete is heavy; iron is hard - but the grass will prevail. ~ Edward Abbey,

107:See what perils do environ those who meddle with hot iron. ~ John Galsworthy,

108:Theory attracts practice as the magnet attracts iron. ~ Carl Friedrich Gauss,

109:There are things that drift away like our endless, numbered days ~ Iron Wine,

110:But the future must be met, however stern and iron it be. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell,

111:He shall rule them with a rod of iron. —Revelations II:25 ~ Robert A Heinlein,

112:He would have said Stephen was a sort of human tire iron; ~ Caroline B Cooney,

113:Instinct's the iron skeleton under all our ideas of free will. ~ Stephen King,

114:Napoleon advised: Place your iron hand inside a velvet glove. ~ Robert Greene,

115:revealing a line of chest hair long enough for a curling iron. ~ Harlan Coben,

116:Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

117:With an iron-clad fist, I wake up and French-kiss the morning. ~ Jon Bon Jovi,

118:Could the word ‘iron’ be the root from which ‘irony’ is derived? ~ Victor Hugo,

119:Everything has its limit - iron ore cannot be educated into gold. ~ Mark Twain,

120:Give me silence, water, hope Give me struggle, iron, volcanoes. ~ Pablo Neruda,

121:I think all the beer I drank in college created an iron bladder. ~ Steve Wiebe,

122:Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

123:if they put an iron circle around your neck I will bite it away ~ Toni Morrison,

124:In the center of the kitchen hung a wrought iron pot hanger ~ Tanya Anne Crosby,

125:I prefer being penetrated by iron to seeing Palestine is loose. ~ Theodor Herzl,

126:Iron or glass? they'd ask. She was neither. She was steel. ~ Jay Kristoff,

127:Rules with an iron fist, but sometimes in that fist is a rose. ~ Ike Barinholtz,

128:The iron chain and the silken cord are both equally bonds. ~ Friedrich Schiller,

129:An iron chain is less difficult to break than a chain of flowers. ~ Eliphas Levi,

130:around, sirens wail, banshees made of iron, steel and steam. ~ Caitlin Kittredge,

131:Naught can deform the human race Like to the armor's iron brace. ~ William Blake,

132:She’s got iron flowing in her veins and blades for fingernails. ~ Pepper Winters,

133:The girl spoke, a tone of command that rang like iron on stone. ~ Steven Erikson,

134:the Iron Rule: “Never do for others what they can do for themselves. ~ Anonymous,

135:A man walks into a bar, and he said OUCH, cause it was an iron bar. ~ Tommy Cooper,

136:Courage to strengthen, fire to blind, music to daze, iron to bind. ~ Robert Jordan,

137:There are words which close a conversation as with an iron door. ~ Alexandre Dumas,

138:Within hours, all the Iron Wolves were starting to curse inventively. ~ Andy Remic,

139:Iron deficiency can lead to a wardrobe full of crumpled clothes ~ Benny Bellamacina,

140:To go into therapy is an adventure, not really to iron anything out. ~ Jeff Bridges,

141:Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking. ~ W B Yeats,

142:The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law. ~ Christopher Hitchens,

143:Iron was smelted in what is now Nigeria five centuries before Christ. ~ Thomas Sowell,

144:Of what use were wings to a man fast bound in chains of iron? ~ Adelbert von Chamisso,

145:Proverbs 27: 17 17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. ~ Anonymous,

146:We must beat the iron while it is hot, but we may polish it at leisure. ~ John Dryden,

147:But Fate does iron wedges drive, And always crowds itself betwixt. ~ Andrew Marvell,

148:This man, Comrades, has a nice smile, but he has iron teeth. ~ Alfred Whitney Griswold,

149:Trial by fire. It forges a heart of iron. And sets it alight. ~ Amanda Bouchet,

150:By the time The Iron Sheik gets to the ring, it will be Wrestlemania 37! ~ Bobby Heenan,

151:Habit with it's iron sinews, clasps us and leads us day by day. ~ Alphonse de Lamartine,

152:A good one iron shot is about as easy to come by as an understanding wife. ~ Dan Jenkins,

153:As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Proverbs 27: 17 ~ Brigid Kemmerer,

154:He has sat on the fence so long that the iron has entered his soul. ~ David Lloyd George,

155:Khatun Temur, literally “Queen Iron,” and Khatun Baatar, “Queen Hero. ~ Jack Weatherford,

156:She lives on the fumes of whiskey and the iron in the blood of her prey. ~ Hilary Mantel,

157:We're all going to die, Johnny. Hit the iron bell like it's dinnertime. ~ Cheryl Strayed,

158:honeyed words, smooth as butter and strong as iron, fall on open ears. ~ Victoria Aveyard,

159:I don't need an Iron Man suit. I'm already a weapon of mass seduction. ~ Robert Downey Jr,

160:Iron can be bent to your will, if your will is stronger than the iron. But ~ Kevin Hearne,

161:Morality, a muzzle for the will; logic, a climbing iron for the mind. ~ Franz Grillparzer,

162:Stephen was shaped like a tire iron, all his bones a little too long: ~ Caroline B Cooney,

163:Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~ Dwight D Eisenhower,

164:Who says organization, says oligarchy.” This was Michels’s “iron law. ~ Lawrence Freedman,

165:Women shouldn't iron, ever. It's our wrinkles that make us interesting. ~ Lisa Scottoline,

166:Cage an eagle and it will bite at the wires, be they of iron or of gold. ~ Henrik Ibsen,

167:He felt free at last. He also felt under the seat and found a tire iron. ~ Terry Pratchett,

168:I want to be America's Margaret Thatcher. I will be the next Iron Lady. ~ Michele Bachmann,

169:man is not molded from clay . . . he is pounded like hot iron on an anvil. ~ Terry Mancour,

170:Big iron kitchen scales and a full set of weights aren't carried lightly. ~ Terry Pratchett,

171:Born of Sin, Made from Iron To find the Light, Must Pass Through Fire ~ Anonymous,

172:Iron was black and sheenless, but cleansing and polishing washed away its blackness. ~ Rumi,

173:On the other hand it might be better to strike the iron before it freezes. ~ Samuel Beckett,

174:We can all live with doubts. It's the knowing that breaks us. Iron House ~ John Hart,

175:I eat a variety of foods like vegetables, fruit and beef for protein and iron. ~ Sasha Cohen,

176:Miss Renata Tebaldi was always sweet and very firm... she had dimples of iron. ~ Rudolf Bing,

177:Not all prisons are made of iron bars, some are made of feather beds. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold,

178:Test of Metal: Will of Iron, Nerves of Steel, Heart of Gold, Balls of Brass. ~ George Carlin,

179:With a rumble and a roar, an iron curtain is descending on Russian history. ~ Vasily Rozanov,

180:cheap Mossberg that had seen better days, the barrel hot enough to iron with. ~ John Sandford,

181:I like listening to books as well, as that way you can iron at the same time. ~ David Sedaris,

182:Memory and intention and intuition are fused. The iron is always hot. ~ Stephen Nachmanovitch,

183:No iron spike can pierce a human heart as icily as a period in the right place. ~ Isaac Babel,

184:As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion. ~ Antisthenes,

185:He drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek and make Hell grant what Love did seek. ~ Edith Hamilton,

186:They were called turtle-boats and they were the first iron warships in history. ~ Pearl S Buck,

187:As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion. ~ Jeff Wheeler,

188:Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking. ~ William Butler Yeats,

189:Podo winked at Janner, then reached inside his shirt and removed an iron cup. ~ Andrew Peterson,

190:The song succeeds or fails just based on whether you argue your point successfully. ~ Iron Wine,

191:Water is powerful. It can wash away earth, put out fire, and even destroy iron. ~ Arthur Golden,

192:Here the scent of fake roses was underscored with the bright iron reek of blood. ~ Christa Faust,

193:I fooled you. I fooled you. I got pig iron. I got pig iron. I got all pig iron. ~ Lonnie Donegan,

194:Just as iron rusts from disuse... even so does inaction spoil the intellect. ~ Leonardo da Vinci,

195:The hammers must be swung in cadence, when more than one is hammering the iron. ~ Giordano Bruno,

196:The strongest iron, hardened in the fire, most often ends in scraps and shatterings. ~ Sophocles,

197:Beauty is a handcuff and a leg iron; it captures you and it immobilizes you! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,

198:Everyone dwelt in it without realizing it. The Black Iron Prison was their world. ~ Philip K Dick,

199:Lady's mouth tasted like blood and iron all the time now. It tasted like defeat. ~ Kiersten White,

200:Let's strike while the iron's hot, as the soldier said when he entered the laundry. ~ Neil Gaiman,

201:No iron can stab the heart with such force as a period put just at the right place. ~ Isaac Babel,

202:But it was iron after all, and when you ask iron a question it doesn't answer. ~ Wies aw My liwski,

203:Ghosts are most often seen by girls, and certain young men with an iron deficiency. ~ Alan Bradley,

204:  HIORDIS. Cage an eagle and it will bite at the wires, be they of iron or of gold. ~ Henrik Ibsen,

205:Negative self-criticism is an iron chain that will never let you ascend to real greatness. ~ Jewel,

206:Poetry is about as much a 'criticism of life' as red-hot iron is a criticism of fire. ~ Ezra Pound,

207:Whetstones are not themselves able to cut, but make iron sharp and capable of cutting. ~ Isocrates,

208:and I guess I believe instinct’s the iron skeleton under all our ideas of free will. ~ Stephen King,

209:She pushed herself upright, stumbling as pain closed iron bands around her ankles. ~ Steven Erikson,

210:(When asked who wore the pants in his house:) I do, and I also wash and iron them. ~ Denis Thatcher,

211:Hammer the iron that lies on your anvil instead of daydreaming about working silver. ~ Robert Jordan,

212:I'm not the kind of person you think I am, I'm not the anti-Christ, or the iron man. ~ Ozzy Osbourne,

213:the boy walks another soldier, another one bright heart not yet cooled to hard iron ~ Steven Erikson,

214:Families hold each other in an iron grip of definition. One must break the grip, somehow. ~ Paula Fox,

215:He’s a poison more potent than iron, a scourge that needs to be swept from the land. ~ Laura Thalassa,

216:There are three iron links in the neurotic's chain: unloving, unlovable, unloved. ~ Mignon McLaughlin,

217:Where she was headed, the cast iron skillet had been seasoned before she was born. Her ~ Kelly J Ford,

218:Yeah, exactly. But, actually, boards prefer iron. All that glitters is not hovery. ~ Scott Westerfeld,

219:Her soul knew a moment's calm, as if it had been uncrumpled and smoothed under an iron. ~ Stephen King,

220:If you feel like you've got something to offer you should do it while the iron's hot. ~ Clint Eastwood,

221:Laziness grows on people; it begins in cobwebs and ends in iron chains ~ Sir Fowell Buxton 1st Baronet,

222:Only his eyes remain the same. Bronze, red-gold, like iron brought to blazing heat. ~ Victoria Aveyard,

223:So be it. I'll wear my iron and hold my tongue. A man who won't listen can't hear. ~ George R R Martin,

224:The colour of my soul is iron-grey and sad bats wheel about the steeple of my dreams. ~ Claude Debussy,

225:Bacteria mineralized the rocks; they deposited the iron. They made the geology we see. ~ Bonnie Bassler,

226:Love with attachment consists of waves of emotion, usually creating invisible iron chains. ~ S N Goenka,

227:Mom covers the wrought-iron patio table with newspaper, and Dad dumps the steaming crawfish ~ Greg Iles,

228:No iron can pierce the human heart as chillingly as a full stop placed at the right time. ~ Isaac Babel,

229:No performer should attempt to bite off red-hot iron unless he has a good set of teeth. ~ Harry Houdini,

230:Stronger than iron crueler than death sweeter than springtime it lives beyond breath ~ Juliet Marillier,

231:Love of knowledge can draw on its credit indefinitely ... love of knowledge is iron-clad. ~ Lydia Millet,

232:Rights and rules, which are bonds of iron to a little man, are packthread to a giant. ~ Anthony Trollope,

233:The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails whereon my soul is grooved to run ~ Herman Melville,

234:But let's just say, I'm Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist. ~ Liam Neeson,

235:the colour of my soul is iron-grey and sad bats wheel about the steeple of my dreams. ~ Claude Debussy,

236:The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, wheron my soul is grooved to run. ~ Herman Melville,

237:You, the strong, have I loved, though the marks of your iron hoofs are yet upon my flesh. ~ Khalil Gibran,

238:Nothing like an attempted murder to feel close to someone, right? -Puck, Iron Fey Series ~ Julie Kagawa,

239:The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. ~ Herman Melville,

240:I have always believed the iron rule of politics was that women don't vote for men who yell. ~ Gail Collins,

241:I have legs of iron, but to tell you the truth, they're starting to rust and buckle a bit. ~ Jeanne Calment,

242:Just to iron out the details so I can be sure we both understand—we will be engaged and married. ~ K M Shea,

243:Mummy had then appeared, telling the press that her son needed his daily dose of iron tonic. ~ Tarquin Hall,

244:My countrymen should have nerves of steel, muscles of iron, and minds like thunderbolt. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

245:Reader, pray that soon this Iron Age Will crumble, and Beauty escape the rusting cage. ~ Philip Jose Farmer,

246:The only time I ever enjoyed ironing was the day I accidentally got gin in the steam iron. ~ Phyllis Diller,

247:The reason why the stone is red is its iron content, which is also why our blood is red. ~ Andy Goldsworthy,

248:followed my niece into the kitchen, where bacon was frying in a cast-iron skillet and ~ Kathy Hogan Trocheck,

249:Free as air; that's what they say- "free as air". Now they bring me my air in an iron barrel. ~ Evelyn Waugh,

250:I am the rightful khan of the nation. I am the gur-khan. My word is iron and my word is law. ~ Conn Iggulden,

251:The iron heart that does not bleed The iron wing that does not break They exist, here and now ~ Tsugumi Ohba,

252:An iron curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind. ~ Winston S Churchill,

253:I know we were conjugating the verb love like two maniacs trying to fuck through an iron gate. ~ Henry Miller,

254:In a sky of iron the points of the Dipper hung like icicles and Orion flashed his cold fires. ~ Edith Wharton,

255:Our ancestors have travelled the iron age; the golden is before us. ~ Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint Pierre,

256:I like writing in an illustrative, descriptive way. I prefer describing to rather than explaining. ~ Iron Wine,

257:I’m awed by how much iron will it would take to override his instinctive needs. And how much trust. ~ Susan Ee,

258:Not with dreams, but with blood and with iron, Shall a nation be moulded at last. ~ Algernon Charles Swinburne,

259:O hope, most futile of futilities! Thine iron summons comes again, O inevadible Pain! ~ Francis Thompson,

260:War seems to come out of nowhere, like rust that suddenly pops up on iron after a storm. ~ Victor Davis Hanson,

261:Women always persuade men they have made into sheep that they are lions with a will of iron. ~ Honor de Balzac,

262:Might and wrong combined, like iron magnetized, are endowed with irresistible attraction. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne,

263:Stone Age. Bronze Age. Iron Age. We define entire epics of humanity by the technology they use. ~ Reed Hastings,

264:The Talmud says that when two intellects debate they sharpen each other like iron against iron. ~ Joshua Safran,

265:When I was really young, I was really into Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden and those kinds of bands. ~ David Pajo,

266:Awesome!” Preppy hopped from one foot to the other. “I’m going to go iron my good bow tie.” “Prep? ~ T M Frazier,

267:I don't normally wear armor, but then, I don't normally have to face an army of Iron fey, either. ~ Julie Kagawa,

268:Some days I feel like playing it smooth. Some days I feel like playing it like a waffle iron. ~ Raymond Chandler,

269:From bells to cannons and back again, from now until the end of time. Such is the fate of iron ore. ~ Amor Towles,

270:I hold the Fates bound fast in iron chains, And with my hand turn Fortune's wheel about; ~ Christopher Marlowe,

271:I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. ~ Henry Rollins,

272:I've banged my head quite a bit. I liked Iron Maiden, Ozzy, AC/DC. And of course, Ratt and Poison. ~ Cameron Diaz,

273:Not that I really think the Caine is inanimate. It’s an iron poltergeist sent into the world by God ~ Herman Wouk,

274:Stronger than iron crueler than death sweeter than springtime it lives beyond breath ~ Juliet Marillier,

275:The past was still a Golden Age, of ignorance, while the present is an Iron Age of willful bliss. ~ Jared Diamond,

276:Today we should make poems including iron and steel And the poet should know how to lead an attack. ~ Ho Chi Minh,

277:barrel-chested general was like the proverbial boxer with an iron right punch and a granite jaw. ~ Peter G Tsouras,

278:Hallelujah might be putting itself on the map, but that mark would be made in blood, as well as iron. ~ Devon Monk,

279:Meryl Streep, despite not being a Prime Minister, is reasonably convincing in 'The Iron Lady.' ~ Sasha Frere Jones,

280:Push out a bayonet. If it strikes fat, push deeper. If it strikes iron, pull back for another day. ~ Robert Harris,

281:Rutherford showed how radio waves could travel long distances, penetrate walls, and magnetize iron. ~ Paul Halpern,

282:Stupidity is an attempt to iron out all differences, and not to use them or value them creatively. ~ Bill Mollison,

283:The iron bolt...mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in a gloomy prison. ~ Charles Spurgeon,

284:The rise of a British iron and steel industry was intertwined with the development of coal mining. ~ Thomas Sowell,

285:I been packin’ iron for so long that if I don’t have one on me somewheres, I walk slant-wise. ~ William W Johnstone,

286:I'm kind of interested in visual communication. For me it's more about suggesting than arguing a point. ~ Iron Wine,

287:I'm ready to see that new RZA movie [The Man With The Iron Fists] too, it looks kind of Tarantino-ish. ~ Sean Price,

288:Ordinary men died, men of iron were taken prisoner: I only brought back with me men of bronze. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte,

289:Slavery is slavery. The chain of gold is quite as bad as the chain of iron. Is there a way out? ~ Swami Vivekananda,

290:The most difficult book I have ever read was a manual on the use of iron bangles by A.J. Thompson. ~ Spike Milligan,

291:The most important qualities a human can possess are an iron will and a persevering spirit, ~ Christina Baker Kline,

292:We too could wrest iron from the bowels of the earth and fashion it into ships and machines. ~ Jose Clemente Orozco,

293:The iron heart that does not bleed The iron wing that does not break They exist, here and now ~ Tsugumi Ohba,

294:The past was still a Golden Age, of ignorance, while the present is an Iron Age of wilful blindness. ~ Jared Diamond,

295:How could there be a bad song called ‘Iron Man’, or ‘War Pigs’, or – my cup ranneth over – ‘Rat Salad’? ~ Nick Hornby,

296:Irishmen are best at the specially hard professions—the trades of iron, the lawyer, and the soldier. ~ G K Chesterton,

297:Iron will not touch you, lord. Stone will not break you. You are the Wolf and the sky father watches. ~ Conn Iggulden,

298:When Cecily said she wanted something, it did not express an idle desire but an iron determination. ~ Cassandra Clare,

299:I am now a man of despair, rejected, abandoned, shut up in this iron cage from which there is no escape. ~ John Bunyan,

300:I enjoy pumping iron, but I do try and get the yoga, 'cause it's a nice balance to the weightlifting. ~ Adrian Grenier,

301:JUNE 14TH HEAVY METAL MANIA!! JUDAS PRIEST IRON MAIDEN BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE OR AT ANY TICKETRON OUTLET ~ Stephen King,

302:Temujin snorted. "Never lose faith in me, little brother. My word is iron and I will always come home. ~ Conn Iggulden,

303:The ocean, whose essence is fluid and unresisting, is more prison than the staunchest bricks or iron bars. ~ Eli Brown,

304:When two people are at one in their inmost hearts, they shatter even the strength of iron or bronze. ~ Cassandra Clare,

305:Why I enjoyed doing Iron Man because it opened me up to this new world where fans are so passionate. ~ Gwyneth Paltrow,

306:Women, when they have made a sheep of a man, always tell him that he is a lion with a will of iron. ~ Honore de Balzac,

307:All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune-make for a finer, nobler type of manhood. ~ Theodore Roosevelt,

308:Craftsmen and artisans created items that were brittle rumors compared with his father’s iron facts. ~ Colson Whitehead,

309:Elsewhere, on worlds designed with less imagination, the needle turns because of the love of iron. At ~ Terry Pratchett,

310:Love is the victor in every case. Love breaks down the iron bars of thought, and sets the captive free. ~ Ernest Holmes,

311:Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing Such notes as, warbled to the string, Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek. ~ John Milton,

312:Railroad iron is a magician's rod, in its power to evoke the sleeping energies of land and water. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

313:There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. ~ Martin Luther King Jr,

314:THE ULULATING HOWLS of the Iron Dogs floated behind us, constant now, like an eerie, bone-chilling din. ~ Ilona Andrews,

315:We began our prerace rituals as the rising wind turned the bay from placid green Jell-O to corrugated iron. ~ Jim Lynch,

316:You can't hammer tin into iron, no matter how hard you beat it, but that doesn't mean it's useless. ~ George R R Martin,

317:Give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils. ~ William Shakespeare,

318:Being in charge can seem like a thing iron-forged, but in the end it’s just an idea everyone agrees to. ~ Joe Abercrombie,

319:Briony scared?” said Eldric. “I’ve never seen anyone less scared in my life. She has nerves of iron. ~ Franny Billingsley,

320:Evil thought is a dangerous pet. It is safer to play with it from behind the iron bars of circumstance. ~ Jerome K Jerome,

321:I don't use a lint brush or anything, and I don't iron, but I could easily pick lint off of someone else. ~ Courteney Cox,

322:If the iron is hot, I desire to believe it is hot, and if it is cool, I desire to believe it is cool. ~ Eliezer Yudkowsky,

323:The iron from that meteorite and the iron from your blood have common origin in the core of a star. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson,

324:Tony Stark in 'Iron Man' helped wider audiences finally embrace the enormous talent of Robert Downey Jr. ~ Tom Hiddleston,

325:Truth is always present; it only needs to lift the iron lids of the mind's eye to read its oracles. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

326:Its not always you get to hit the iron when it is hot. I believe in hitting it so hard, that it gets hot. ~ Lakshmi Mittal,

327:made of iron and steel and everything strong all bound up in feathers and kitten fur and everything soft. ~ Kristen Ashley,

328:The iron did not remember the blood it had once moved within, the phosphorous had forgot the savage brain. ~ Loren Eiseley,

329:The most important qualities a human can possess are an iron will and a persevering spirit,” Mamey ~ Christina Baker Kline,

330:the obliterated graves being commemorated by eighteen-penny cast-iron crosses warranted to last five years. ~ Thomas Hardy,

331:There is within every human being a deep well of thinking over which a heavy iron lid is kept clamped. ~ Sherwood Anderson,

332:The skilled artisan uses the same iron to make a horseshoe As he does for a polished mirror for the King. ~ Idries Shah,

333:Yet the ink on the page was ancient, faded. (...) Fresh iron-gall ink was as black as Beelzebub's beards. ~ Karen Maitland,

334:All daring and courage, I said, All iron endurance of misfortune, make for a finer, nobler type of manhood. ~ Tom Spanbauer,

335:Dianne is like a waterfall of spark pouring off a sharp iron edge that God is holding to the grindstone. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,

336:For now indeed is the race of iron; and men never cease from labour and sorrow by day and from perishing by night. ~ Hesiod,

337:For ten years Caesar ruled with an iron hand. Then with a wooden foot, and finally with a piece of string. ~ Spike Milligan,

338:Jonathan Wayland shrugged. “I applied to the Iron Sisters, but they sent me a hurtful and sexist refusal. ~ Cassandra Clare,

339:We will not stop until the sea bounds us in every direction. I am Genghis who say this and my word is iron. ~ Conn Iggulden,

340:As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. ~ Anonymous,

341:Being in charge can seem like a thing iron-forged, but in the end it’s just an idea everyone agrees to. By ~ Joe Abercrombie,

342:Britain's iron ore and coal deposits were located near to one another and both were located near the sea"-an ~ Thomas Sowell,

343:for the entire wrought-iron gate, not just the lock, liquefied into a puddle of molten metal. Whoops. My bad. ~ Rick Riordan,

344:It was done by Brother Zachariah, and a female warlock stood in as the Iron Sister. I named you—after her. ~ Cassandra Clare,

345:One of history’s few iron laws is that luxuries tend to become necessities and to spawn new obligations. ~ Yuval Noah Harari,

346:There is a magic to intimacy, a world built of sighs and skin that is thicker than brick, stronger than iron. ~ Jodi Picoult,

347:We are not in the business of iron ore. Whatever captive iron ore sources we have, we use it to make steel. ~ Lakshmi Mittal,

348:You must have an iron will, if you would cross the ocean. You must be strong enough to pierce mountains. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

349:Grief handed me a heart of iron, and I rusted it with my tears, a muscle not made of flesh, not pumping blood. ~ Kennedy Ryan,

350:I might have preferred iron - but bronze will do. It won't rust. This time I hope, the head will stay on. ~ Margaret Thatcher,

351:Iron necessity is a thing which in the course of history men come to see as neither iron nor necessary. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,

352:I think controlling the future with an iron grasp only limits the possibilities of tolerance and positive change. ~ Emma Hamm,

353:It's instinct, babe . . . and I guess I believe instinct's the iron skeleton under all our ideas of free will. ~ Stephen King,

354:Seriously," said Kami, her voice faint. "I think I left the oven on at home. Or the iron. Possibly both. ~ Sarah Rees Brennan,

355:The only time I ever iron the sheets or make meringues is when there is an ... urgent deadline in the offing. ~ Angela Carter,

356:Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ -- For My Sake. It is that which makes the iron saint. ~ Oswald Chambers,

357:From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. ~ Winston Churchill,

358:I keep busy. That was my nickname in college, 'Iron to the Fire.' I like to keep several things going at once. ~ Creed Bratton,

359:I will perform the function of a whetstone, which is about to restore sharpness to iron, though itself unable to cut. ~ Horace,

360:The pilot of the Galilean lake; Two massy keys he bore, of metals twain (The golden opes, the iron shuts amain). ~ John Milton,

361:Hate-hardened heart, O heart of iron, iron is iron till it is rust. There never was a war that was not inward; ~ Marianne Moore,

362:Life, precious life, always bound to her by a spider's thread when everyone else had an iron chain. (Spice Bringer) ~ H L Burke,

363:No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, can ever compel the soul of a person to believe or to disbelieve. ~ Thomas Carlyle,

364:Oh no, praying is great, without it the thumbscrews and the Iron Maiden probably never would have been invented. ~ Stephen King,

365:You're mine, little red," Iron growled. " And I'm marking you in every damn way so you know who you belong to. ~ Laurann Dohner,

366:A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron. ~ Horace Mann,

367:I do not think you want too much sincerity in society. It would be like an iron girder in a house of cards. ~ W Somerset Maugham,

368:I know what you mean. All those people who lived through the war. You’d think they were made out of cast iron. ~ Jennifer Robson,

369:Iron bars make a cage all right, and the more you look at them or reproduce them the more you know it’s a real cage. ~ A S Byatt,

370:It appeared that the swift wings of their desires would have shattered against the iron gates of the impossible. ~ Stephen Crane,

371:Life seemed to him to be a narrow cage, and her iron bars were many and dense, and there was only one way out. ~ Leonid Andreyev,

372:My mother is from Cairo, Georgia. This makes everything she says sound like it went through a curling iron. ~ Augusten Burroughs,

373:There was an iron will inside me, I knew that now, and I hoped I could hang on to it even as my life grew softer. ~ Ransom Riggs,

374:America is a nation of illusions; illusions in the media, schools and government — an iron curtain of propaganda. ~ Bryant McGill,

375:Is the soul solid, like iron? Or is it tender and breakable, like the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl. ~ Mary Oliver,

376:It takes courage to say goodbye. To stare at a thing lost and know it is gone forever. Some tears are iron forged. ~ Jay Kristoff,

377:Just as rust produced by iron corrodes iron, so is the violator of moral law destroyed by his own wrong action. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh,

378:Soldiers must be first treated in the first instance with humanity, but kept under control by means of iron discipline. ~ Sun Tzu,

379:Stone, Bronze, and Iron, naturally enough, he did so in accordance with the physical tools that defined each epoch. ~ Amor Towles,

380:The iron rule of nature is: you get what you reward for. If you want ants to come, you put sugar on the floor. ~ Charles T Munger,

381:To be thoroughly conversant with Man’s heart, is to take our final lesson in the iron-clasped volume of Despair ~ Edgar Allan Poe,

382:While Zinoviev is in the majority he is for iron discipline.... When he is in the minority... he is against it. ~ Anastas Mikoyan,

383:Wild liberty breeds iron conscience; natures with great impulses have great resources, and return from far. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

384:Any leader has to have a certain amount of steel in them, so I am not that put out being called the Iron Lady. ~ Margaret Thatcher,

385:At the heart of the industrialization process was iron and steel, and Britain was pre-eminent in their production. ~ Thomas Sowell,

386:In the Iron Range, an area noted for its independent, unpredictable, and generally cantankerous population, ~ William Kent Krueger,

387:Nobody has any business to use the word “progress” unless he has a definite creed and a cast-iron code of morals. ~ G K Chesterton,

388:Southern towns had simply not welcomed the iron road with the same warm embrace as their northern counterparts. ~ Christian Wolmar,

389:What use would wings be to a man bound in iron fetters? They would only drive him to even greater despair. ~ Adelbert von Chamisso,

390:When I said I'd follow you to hell and back, I wasn't trying to be literal, princess. -Puck, The Iron Fey Series ~ Julie Kagawa,

391:Access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron ore was to steel-making. ~ Richard Florida,

392:Death has come in the pantry door: stands watching them, iron and patient, with a look that says 'try to tickle me. ~ Thomas Pynchon,

393:Hobie had an iron constitution. Whenever he came down with something himself, he drank a Fernet-Branca and kept going. ~ Donna Tartt,

394:I’m no match for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, however, who pumps iron and does planks and push-ups two days a week. ~ Hillary Rodham Clinton,

395:I think that a lot of us at home are iron chefs in their own right in that we have to come up with meals real quickly. ~ Jose Garces,

396:It is true of course, that I have a will of iron, but it can be switched off if the circumstances seem to demand it. ~ P G Wodehouse,

397:Then those silver eyes dimmed, like the sun vanishing behind a cloud, and he crumpled to the ground —Iron Daughter ~ Julie Kagawa,

398:Understanding isn't learned from punishment and anger. An iron has no gentle touch, and love ain't learned from hate. ~ Dolly Parton,

399:When my dad needed a shirt ironed, he would yell downstairs to my mother, who would drop everything and iron his shirt. ~ Hope Davis,

400:Death has come in the pantry door: stands watching them, iron and patient, with a look that says try to tickle me. • ~ Thomas Pynchon,

401:The way to transmute your iron duty into gold in everyone's eyes is this: always deliver more than you promise. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,

402:When she bleeds the smells I know change colour. There is iron in her soul on those days. She smells like a gun. ~ Jeanette Winterson,

403:Wild liberty develops iron conscience. Want of liberty, by strengthening law and decorum, stupefies conscience. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

404:An impossibly huge castle of rock and iron, floating in an endless expanse of sky. That is the entirety of this world. ~ Reki Kawahara,

405:Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. ~ Leonardo da Vinci,

406:Kali (Iron Lords of Time) Am love, am passion; I create the world. I am the only Brahma. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Kama,

407:My word is iron," Kublai said to the guards, as Meng Guang was led away. "Your people will come to know this, in time. ~ Conn Iggulden,

408:The great questions of the time will be decided, not by speeches and resolutions of majorities, but by iron and blood. ~ Robert Greene,

409:Access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron ore was to steelmaking.” —RICHARD ~ Anonymous,

410:Death is appalling to those of the most iron nerves, when it comes quietly and in the stillness and solitude of night. ~ James F Cooper,

411:If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron. ~ Spider Robinson,

412:I took in another mouthful of iron-tasting water and was so dazed I had to remind myself to spit it out, not swallow it. ~ Stephen King,

413:There is no iron that can enter the human heart with such stupefying effect, as a period placed at just the right moment. ~ Isaac Babel,

414:We play some smaller songs larger than they are the record, and vice versa. It took me a while to get used to playing live. ~ Iron Wine,

415:When we sit down to work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete. ~ Steven Pressfield,

416:if gold rust, what shall iron do? For if a Priest, upon whom we trust, be foul, no wonder a layman may yield to lust. ~ Geoffrey Chaucer,

417:The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood ~ Otto von Bismarck,

418:When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete. ~ Steven Pressfield,

419:Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen, was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men. ~ Richard Watson Gilder,

420:Books have that strange quality, that being of the frailest and tenderest matter, they outlast brass, iron and marble. ~ William Drummond,

421:Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship. ~ Tahir Shah,

422:Look at you, standing there in your iron- gray dress, feeling pious and self- righteous while you starve small children! ~ V C Andrews,

423:The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood. ~ Otto von Bismarck,

424:We can hold to the iron rod even if others slip away and a few end up mocking us from "the great and spacious building." ~ Neal A Maxwell,

425:After Iron Man came out, Favreau began talking up Musk’s role as the inspiration for Downey’s interpretation of Tony Stark. ~ Ashlee Vance,

426:After the golden age of Latinity, we gradually slide into the silver, and at length precipitately descend into the iron. ~ Isaac D Israeli,

427:He that by harshness of nature rules his family with an iron hand is as truly a tyrant as he who misgoverns a nation. ~ Seneca the Younger,

428:If ordinary means I have suddenly got to produce a household of kids and iron Peter's shirts, I'm sorry, I'm not interested. ~ Helen Clark,

429:It's like Tiger Woods' wife, we should take a nine iron to the back windshield of big government spending and smash it out. ~ Tim Pawlenty,

430:It's you people dying from nothing that are screwed. I got all sorts of neat gadgets waiting for me...oxygen tent, iron lung. ~ Bill Hicks,

431:The desire for perfection is like a pit of wet coal silt: it will grab your boots like iron hands and never let you go. 13. ~ Chuck Wendig,

432:The torch must be spent, he thought—but the Fangs! The hounds! Janner put his ear up to the cold iron door and listened. ~ Andrew Peterson,

433:This fact is that the heaviest and more burdensome load ever is neither the cement bag nor the iron rod. It is hatred. ~ Israelmore Ayivor,

434:Also, I used to think that one day I might get someone to iron my shirts, but the truth is I really like doing them myself. ~ David Sedaris,

435:At the top of the iron staircase leading to the stage, the good, dry, dusty warmth wraps me round like a comfortable dirty cloak. ~ Colette,

436:Certain districts are rich in iron ores, its iron production gave its name to the city of Ilorin, from Ilo irin, iron grinding, ~ Anonymous,

437:Socialism means keeping account of everything. You will have socialism if you take stock of every piece of iron and cloth. ~ Vladimir Lenin,

438:There is no day that one should skip But one should seize, without distrust, The possible with iron grip ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,

439:Tolerance is a one-way street in the Age of Obama. 'Choice' is in the eye (and iron fist) of the First Amendment usurper. ~ Michelle Malkin,

440:And if you don’t accept my challenge,” shouted the Iron Man, “then you’re a miserable cowardly reptile, not fit to bother with. ~ Ted Hughes,

441:I have seen giraffes in junglejims their necks like love wound around the iron circumstances of the world. ~ Lawrence Ferlinghetti,

442:There is in hell a place stone-built throughout, Called Malebolge, of an iron hue, Like to the wall that circles it about. ~ Dante Alighieri,

443:Golden fetters are no less galling to a self-respecting man that iron ones; the sting lies in the fetters, not in the metal. ~ Mahatma Gandhi,

444:Good heavens,’ cried Mr White. ‘To fire great iron balls at people you have never even spoken to – barbarity is come again. ~ Patrick O Brian,

445:I am iron butterfly ... / I am she/we / of flesh / and iron / and silk wings, / healing, flying / into a gentle blue sky. ~ Janice Mirikitani,

446:Would you let the fish in the ocean dictate who is fit to eat them, or allow the iron in the ground decide when to be forged? ~ Pittacus Lore,

447:You didn’t have to say it. It’s written all over your face. You think more of that oversized iron-bender than you do of me. ~ Karen Witemeyer,

448:You know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. ~ Martin Luther King Jr,

449:Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity… even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. — LEONARDO DA VINCI ~ Michael J Gelb,

450:Sometimes just looking at [my parents] I wanted to bash their heads with a tire iron. Not to kill them, just to wake them up. ~ Katherine Dunn,

451:When I was a kid I was very particular. I was actually beyond particular. I would iron my money and spray it with Polo cologne. ~ Mark McNairy,

452:I love wearing my hair curly, but turning the curling iron all the way up creates curls that look really made up and artificial. ~ Camila Alves,

453:My mother's last word to me clanks inside me like an iron bell that someone beats at dinnertime: love, love, love, love, love. ~ Cheryl Strayed,

454:The sky was becoming iron, and the trees seemed to rustle uneasily at an unfelt wind, murmuring to one another, Weather is coming. ~ Tanith Lee,

455:Any Iron bastard that wants you will have to get past me, first.' He rolled his eyes. 'And of course, the dark knight over there. ~ Julie Kagawa,

456:Our principle is, that books, instead of growing mouldy behind an iron grating, should be worn out under the eyes of many readers. ~ Jules Verne,

457:Quotations can be valuable, like raisins in the rice pudding, for adding iron as well as eye appeal. ~ Peg Bracken, I Didn't Come Here to Argue.,

458:the iron determination with which we must carry out Hitler’s orders could only be obtained by a stifling of all human emotions. ~ William Styron,

459:We put things in order - God does the rest. Lay an iron bar east and west, it is not magnetized. Lay it north and south and it is. ~ Horace Mann,

460:When a woman with an iron fist tells you to get out there and clean spit off the door, you do it. Especially when the iron's hot. ~ Markus Zusak,

461:When a woman with an iron fist tells you to get out there and clean spit off the door, you do it. Especially when the iron’s hot. ~ Markus Zusak,

462:Yes, I have an ulcer, for Chrissake. This is Kaliyuga, buddy, the Iron Age. Anybody over sixteen without an ulcer’s a goddam spy. ~ J D Salinger,

463:1st Gent. Our deeds are fetters that we forge ourselves. 2d Gent. Ay, truly: but I think it is the world That brings the iron. [1] ~ George Eliot,

464:Even the aesthetic activities of political opposites are one in their enthusiastic obedience to the rhythm of the iron system. ~ Theodor W Adorno,

465:I dont hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark; I dont. I dont! I dont hate it! I dont hate it! ~ William Faulkner,

466:Iron helmets will not save/ Even heroes from the grave/ Good man's blood will drain away/ While the wickid win the day. ~ Heinrich Heine,

467:It sort of depends on the song. Some of them are pretty easy to write, and others take a while. I do a lot of writing in the morning. ~ Iron Wine,

468:NUM35.16 And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. ~ Anonymous,

469:The softest, freest, most pliable and changeful living substance is the brain-the hardest and most iron-bound as well. ~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman,

470:Your castles and strongholds shall have bars of iron and bronze, and as your day, so shall your strength, your rest and security, be. ~ Anonymous,

471:Among my kindred, it is said that the gods of the deep places created stone to house us, iron to serve us, and gold to feed us. ~ Jonathan Moeller,

472:Go get dressed, Eddie,” she called out. “If any hopeful murderers attack us, Lizzy has promised to beat them with her curling iron. ~ Shannon Hale,

473:Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a book which will break your heart." [on Lord of the Rings] ~ C S Lewis,

474:Spend time with people who know how to use their days well. Just as iron sharpens iron, positive people will inspire you to be positive. ~ Rihanna,

475:You are my father, Incarceron. I was born from your pain. Bone of steel; circuits for veins. My heart a vault of iron. ~ Catherine Fisher,

476:You did more than anyone could ask. You bought more than enough time for Cornelius to deploy his iron pan and for Rynda to escape. ~ Ilona Andrews,

477:Hard rock for me is AC/DC, Def Leppard, Tesla, Kiss. Metal tends to be louder, ruder, darker, like Judas Priest, Slayer, Iron Maiden. ~ Eddie Trunk,

478:Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a book [The Lord of the Rings] which will break your heart." ~ C S Lewis,

479:Iron bridges hum and lofty buildings of steel and glass glint in the sun’s rays and lean over everything with stretched shadows. ~ Logan Ryan Smith,

480:Iron Maiden is an institution, and I'm delighted that I'm involved in it, but there was a time that I wasn't delighted so I quit. ~ Bruce Dickinson,

481:On the Iron Chef episode “Battle Offal,” judges swooned over raw heart tartar, lamb’s liver truffles, tripe, sweetbreads, and gizzard. ~ Mary Roach,

482:The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain — and the whole world is at your feet. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

483:The iron may not be hot early if you want to wait for it to get heated; it will get hot if you strike it hardly! Strike it now! ~ Israelmore Ayivor,

484:What we want is vigour in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

485:And yet there is space for human creativity to creep between those iron bars. We bend them, we slip through them from time to time. ~ Marius Gabriel,

486:Freedom may be illusory and our apparent freedom may be a real and iron bondage. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Fate and Free-Will,

487:I fear yet this iron yoke of outward conformity hath left a slavish print upon our necks: the ghost of a linnen decency yet haunts us. ~ John Milton,

488:That thing was too big to be called a sword. Too big, too thick, too heavy, and too rough, it was more like a large hunk of iron. ~ Kentaro Miura,

489:This policy cannot succeed through speeches, and shooting-matches, and songs; it can only be carried out through blood and iron. ~ Otto von Bismarck,

490:Those haughty English aristocrats are like that. Tough babies. Comes of treading the peasantry underfoot with an iron heel, I guess. ~ P G Wodehouse,

491:..jailer is no man to a prisoner - he is a living door, a barrier of flesh and blood adding strength to restraints of oak and iron. ~ Alexandre Dumas,

492:Jude did not flip them off and then drove for a few blocks feeling good about himself, proud of his restraint. His will, it was like iron. ~ Joe Hill,

493:lunar material, it is thought, came from the Earth’s crust, not its core, which is why the Moon has so little iron while we have a lot. ~ Bill Bryson,

494:One must dig deeply into opposing points of view in order to know whether your own position remains defensible. Iron sharpens iron. ~ Francis Collins,

495:O white-robed Angel, guide my timorous hand to write as on a lofty rock with iron pen the words of truth, that all who pass may read. ~ William Blake,

496:The people I respect all died broke and despairing. They didn't leave a lot of hammered iron behind them like Donald Trump has done. ~ Kinky Friedman,

497:... With a slight miscalculated leap cleared to the iron picket fence. Put the fear of God into me, picket fences and balls don't mix. ~ J P Donleavy,

498:chambers and rattled even the iron-bound door in its frame. It taunted the flames in the firepit and they spat and crackled in their ~ Joe Abercrombie,

499:He gestured at himself. “You see this, Bekah? This whole package here? It contains multitudes.” “I knew you were full of something.” “Iron ~ Tim Pratt,

500:I am going to stand against him now, though his hands are like flame, though his hands are like flame, and his heart like the shining of iron. ~ Homer,

501:Kiddo, I’d let you brand me with a hot iron if you wanted to.” “Still a sucker for punishment?” He grinned. “Something like that. ~ Karina Halle,

502:Leave them,” said Isabel. “Jamie can iron them himself. It’s very therapeutic for men to iron. Therapeutic for women, that is. ~ Alexander McCall Smith,

503:A sharp clip-crop of iron-shod hoofs deadened and died away, and clouds of yellow dust drifted from under the cottonwoods out over the sage. ~ Zane Grey,

504:Botox should be banned for actors, as steroids are for sportsmen. Acting is all about expression; why would you want to iron out a frown? ~ Rachel Weisz,

505:Even the sea had lost its deep blue colour and, beneath the misty sky, took on the sheen of silver or iron, making it painful to look at. ~ Albert Camus,

506:I didn’t teach her. You should get her IQ tested. Maybe she’ll be like the next Stephen Hawking…” My eyes widened. “Or the next Iron Man. ~ Elicia Hyder,

507:. . . if gold rust, what then will iron do?/ For if a priest be foul in whom we trust/ No wonder that a common man should rust. . . . ~ Geoffrey Chaucer,

508:The Center squatted on the corner of Juniper and Montfort behind a wrought-iron gate, like an old bulldog used to guarding its territory. ~ Jodi Picoult,

509:What is drawing? It is working oneself through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. ~ Vincent Van Gogh,

510:When he returned to the Iron Man production office, Downey asked that Favreau be sure to place a Tesla Roadster in Tony Stark’s workshop. ~ Ashlee Vance,

511:For perfectly crisp waffles, melt butter to add to the batter, but brush the hot iron with fat that’s rendered out of the breakfast bacon. ~ Samin Nosrat,

512:If you think about my filmography, I have never done a movie that a kid could go see, except for Iron Giant, and I'm not even on the screen. ~ Vin Diesel,

513:I had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth ~ Kurt Vonnegut,

514:The bright bite in Mary Lee Kortes' voice [has] the high-mountain sunshine of Dolly Parton, with a sweet-iron undercoat of Chrissie Hynde. ~ David Fricke,

515:There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal trimuph if you have the iron will and the neccessary skill. ~ Nelson Mandela,

516:I had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth. ~ Kurt Vonnegut,

517:Our body is not made of iron. Our strength is not that of stone. Live and hope in the Lord, and let your service be according to reason. ~ Clare of Assisi,

518:Strong men greet war, tempest, hard times. They wish, as Pindar said, to tread the floors of hell, with necessities as hard as iron. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

519:And what eyes they were. Calm and blue as deep water. Bright as stars. Hard as hammered iron. And ruthless as a backstreet knifing. Javre ~ Joe Abercrombie,

520:Daughter of Jove, relentless power, Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour The bad affright, afflict the best! ~ Thomas Gray,

521:David Nicholas drove the bony spike of his knee into her chin. Her teeth snapped shut on her tongue. The iron taste of blood flooded her mouth. ~ S M Reine,

522:I'm not sure I've turned your Commander inside out, but I can assure you if that iron skillet was empty, I would bring him down a peg or two. ~ Julia Mills,

523:It dates to antiquity, and it’s called the Iron Law of Responsibility. Those with great power must exercise equally great responsibility. ~ L E Modesitt Jr,

524:I want to be healed and whole and perfect again, like a misshapen slab of iron that comes out of the fire glowing, glittering, razor-sharp. ~ Lauren Oliver,

525:Just as iron which is not used grows rusty, and water putrefies and freezes in the cold, so the mind of which no use is made is spoilt. ~ Leonardo da Vinci,

526:Long ago she'd clamped an iron shell around her heart and nothing and no one could pry it lose, but deep inside the tender flesh still beat. ~ Sarah Sundin,

527:Money and power can liberate only if they are used to do so. They can imprison and inhibit more finally than barred windows and iron chains. ~ Maya Angelou,

528:Taken individually, the link was not much. But in concert with its fellows, a mighty iron that subjugated millions despite its weakness. ~ Colson Whitehead,

529:The hand of Vengeance found the Bed To which the Purple Tyrant fled The iron hand crush'd the tyrant's head And became Tyrant in his stead. ~ William Blake,

530:What was it the old salts use to say about who and what conquered the seven seas? Iron men and wooden ships, not wooden men and iron ships. ~ Robert Zubrin,

531:Almost every day, someone asks if I ever flat iron my hair. I say, 'No, because I'm afraid it wouldn't look good and wouldn't come back curly.' ~ Carrot Top,

532:had been put there by the masons of the Queen of Sheba. Today, remembering the world of other Iron Age peoples in Europe and the civilizations ~ J M Roberts,

533:If you believe in the maternal instinct and fail at mother love, you fail as a woman. It is a controlling idea that holds us in an iron grip. ~ Nancy Friday,

534:In the 7th verse, 1st Kings, chapter 6, it is written: "there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.",

535:The reward in heaven is the perpetual bait, a bait that has caught man in an iron net, a strait-jacket which does not let him expand or grow. ~ Emma Goldman,

536:THE TOP PART OF PRIDMORE TURNED INTO PAINTED IRON AND GLASS. “Oh, my poor child,” said the King, “your maid has turned into an Automatic Machine. ~ E Nesbit,

537:An earth hard as iron lay locked beneath a sky whose mottled clouds spit snow like ashes sucked up a chimney and then dispersed with the smoke. ~ John Updike,

538:At the top of the iron staircase leading to the stage, the good, dry, dusty warmth wraps me round like a comfortable dirty cloak. ~ Sidonie Gabrielle Colette,

539:Dentists tell you not to pick your teeth with any sharp metal object. Then you sit in their chair and the first thing they grab is an iron hook. ~ Bill Cosby,

540:Each successive Labour Government has been the most rapacious, doctrinaire and unpatriotic conspiracy to be seen this side of the Iron Curtain. ~ Roy Jenkins,

541:Hand of iron! Head of iron! Heart of iron!” And he lashed blindly with his sword over the shield wall. “Your death comes, sang the hundred! ~ Joe Abercrombie,

542:How come? I think of this as an illustration of what I call “the Iron Law of Marriage,” which says that you can’t be happier than your spouse. ~ Alvin E Roth,

543:THUNDER BAY, Ontario — The trip to pick up a load of iron ore powder in Conneaut, Ohio, was supposed to take four days by way of the Great Lakes. ~ Anonymous,

544:When I was in employment as a regular line pilot, I used to take unpaid leave to go on tour with Iron Maiden. I got lucky - they let me off ~ Bruce Dickinson,

545:A man without passion is only a latent force, only a possibility, like a stone waiting for the blow from the iron to give forth sparks. ~ Henri Frederic Amiel,

546:And yet I quickly might arrive Where my extended soul is fixt, But Fate does iron wedges drive, And always crowds itself betwixt. ~ Andrew Marvell,

547:Just as iron rusts from disuse, and stagnant water putrefies, or when cold turns to ice, so our intellect wastes unless it is kept in use. ~ Leonardo da Vinci,

548:Something tells me you might soon be changin’ your tune about that iron-bender. He ain’t all he seems. Trust me, darlin’. You can do better. ~ Karen Witemeyer,

549:In this wrought-iron world of criss-cross cause and effect, could it be that the hidden throb I stole from them did not affect their future? ~ Vladimir Nabokov,

550:It had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth. The ~ Kurt Vonnegut,

551:It's a hell for the poor, in New York. An iron, grinding city. It frightens you. It's so big and hard and cruel. It takes the fight out of you. ~ P G Wodehouse,

552:The church has no power over our lives any more, which is something of a blessing for those who do not enjoy red-hot pokers or iron thumb-screws. ~ Stephen Fry,

553:The day then trapped me in its iron bars of phone calls and meetings, letters to read, letters to write, decisions to make, promises to break. ~ Josephine Hart,

554:I pray for no more youth To perish before its prime; That Revenge and iron-heated War May fade with all that has gone before Into the night of time. ~ Aeschylus,

555:Iron against iron would only make for more sparks—a fact he wished he’d learned earlier in life. “Either we stand together, or we die together. ~ Michelle Griep,

556:Stone walls confine a tinker; cold iron binds a witch; but a musician's music can never be fettered, for it lives first in her heart and mind. ~ Charles de Lint,

557:Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it. ~ Charles Spurgeon,

558:B2FH traces these various fusion reactions and explains the recipe for producing everything up to iron: it’s nothing less than evolution for elements. ~ Sam Kean,

559:for now, bread and mead call us, appetites whetted, to witness what I have been nursing, encased in iron, licked by flame, and tended with relish. ~ Kevin Hearne,

560:Love transforms our fragile, cowardly hearts into hearts of stone, hearts of blade, hearts of hardest iron. Because love makes heroes of us all. ~ Kelly Barnhill,

561:piled on grief’ referred to the iron the smith was beating, since (on his interpretation of the metaphor) the discovery of iron brought grief to men. ~ Anonymous,

562:And I wish that I were not any part of the fifth generation of men, but had died before it came, or been born afterward. For here now is the age of iron. ~ Hesiod,

563:Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind. ~ Leonardo da Vinci,

564:Luke Cage: "It's my house! I paid for it with my own money!" Iron Fist: "My money." Luke Cage: "His money, but it's still my house! ~ Brian Michael Bendis,

565:Soldering iron, Max.” Tim cauterised the severed veins. Medical instruments were often just precision variations of the same tools handymen used. ~ Nick Cutter,

566:The interior designer must’ve been a medieval vampire, judging from the cold, lifeless colors and the giant iron chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. ~ L J Shen,

567:Twixt devil and deep sea, man hacks his caves; Birth, death; one, many; what is true, and seems; Earth's vast hot iron, cold space's empty waves. ~ William Empson,

568:When you initially forgive, it is like letting go of a hot iron. There is initial pain and the scars will show, but you can start living again. ~ Stephen Richards,

569:I'd get me a bunch of bats and balls and sneak me a couple of umpires and learn them kids behind the Iron Curtain how to tote a bat and play baseball. ~ Dizzy Dean,

570:If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron. ~ Spider Robinson, in "God Is An Iron" (1977),

571:If a person who indulges in gluttony is a glutton, and a person who commits a felony is a felon, then God is an iron. ~ Spider Robinson, in "God is an Iron" (1977),

572:Religious moderates seem to believe that what we need is not radical insight and innovation in these areas but a mere dilution of Iron Age philosophy. ~ Sam Harris,

573:A Brotherhood with the grim knowledge of what is better for other people and the iron determination to better them whether they like it or not. ~ Leonora Carrington,

574:By striking contrast, there is not a single non-renewable resource that has run out yet: not coal, oil, gas, copper, iron, uranium, silicon, or stone. ~ Matt Ridley,

575:Lark Iron Cloud, used to say that if you don’t die screaming in this war, then you’re fuckin’ doing it wrong. At least I’m fucking doing it right. ~ Daniel H Wilson,

576:Responsible for wrapping the iron fist of authority in its velvet glove is Jane Axtell, head of the accountancy firm's Human Resources department. ~ Alain de Botton,

577:So he held toward them an attitude of iron reserve; he lived with them, but behind a wall, a curtain. And toward himself he was even more exacting. ~ Richard Wright,

578:The stubbornest of wills Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron, O'er-heated in the fire to brittleness,Flies soonest into fragments, shivered through. ~ Sophocles,

579:This iron world (the same he weeping says)Brings down the stoutest hearts to lowest state:For misery doth bravest minds abate.Spens.Hubberd’s Tale. ~ Samuel Johnson,

580:Words were only an approximation of meaning. The meaning escaped between the words, dissolved, disappeared, like fog fading away between iron bars. ~ Charlotte Lamb,

581:From behind the Iron Curtain, there are signs that tyranny is in trouble and reminders that its structure is as brittle as its surface is hard. ~ Dwight D Eisenhower,

582:I just try to use my own life to build a human song: something that people can relate to in some way. It's not like the psychiatrist's couch or anything. ~ Iron Wine,

583:Lily was a bunch of crumpled pockets and Sylvie is a black dress, perfumed scarves, iron posture and whatever else turns a person into an atmosphere. ~ Helen Oyeyemi,

584:The iron bolt which so mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in gloomy prison, needs a heavenly hand to push it back. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

585:I'm actually so low maintenance when it comes to my hair. It's naturally stick-straight, but I do like to use a curling iron to give my locks some life. ~ Laura Osnes,

586:People may say I developed an iron will, but what really happened is that I made myself much fitter. I think an iron will is always supported by fitness. ~ Ivan Lendl,

587:23“Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24that they were inscribed with an iron tool on† lead, or engraved in rock forever! ~ Anonymous,

588:Ego non baptizo te in nomine patris, sed in nomine diaboli!" deliriously howled Ahab, as the malignant iron scorchingly devoured the baptismal blood. ~ Herman Melville,

589:I brought seaweed snacks from home,' chimed in another kid. "Seaweed got iron, right?" 'I don't think the teachers meant that kind of iron,' said Hui Ann. ~ Zen Cho,

590:I wanted to surround myself with the kind of people who could help me turn my life around; people whom I could rub up against like iron and be sharpened. ~ Eric Thomas,

591:Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing Such notes as warbled to the string, Drew Iron tears down Pluto’s cheek, And made Hell grant what Love did seek. ~ John Milton,

592:The enemy say that Americans are good at a long shot, but cannot stand the cold iron. I call upon you instantly to give a lie to this slander. Charge! ~ Winfield Scott,

593:Earth, for example, is made up of oxygen (almost 50 percent) and smaller amounts of iron (19 percent), silicon (14 percent), magnesium (12.5 percent), ~ David Christian,

594:I remember everything about that day, like the images have been burned into my brain by a branding iron. But I wish they would blow away in the wind. ~ Jessica Sorensen,

595:No people to whom liberty is given can hold it as firmly and wear it as grandly as those who wrench their liberty from the iron hand of the tyrant. ~ Frederick Douglass,

596:Often, city fathers blamed prostitutes for the disease, and some threatened to brand their cheeks with hot iron if they did not desist from their vices. ~ Peter B Lewis,

597:Raindrops felt his cheeks with blind, questing fingers...the black trunks of the trees were like iron bars against the gray of gathering pools." Radigan ~ Louis L Amour,

598:Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark. ~ Henri Fr d ric Amiel,

599:Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark. ~ Henri Frederic Amiel,

600:But to use the knowledge of the threading, you must learn the making of the shades. When to sadden with the iron pot. How to bloom the colors. How to bleed. ~ Lois Lowry,

601:How Superheroes Make Money: - Spider-Man knits sweaters. - Superman screw the lids on pickle jars. - Iron Man, as you would suspect, just irons. ~ Jim Benton,

602:Is not Fire a Body heated so hot as to emit Light copiously? For what else is a red hot Iron than Fire? And what else is a burning Coal than red hot Wood? ~ Isaac Newton,

603:Not by speeches and votes of the majority, are the great questions of the time decided — that was the error of 1848 and 1849 — but by iron and blood. ~ Otto von Bismarck,

604:She said, ‘Forgive me for being a dreamer,’ and he took her by the hand and replied, ‘Forgive me for not being here sooner to dream with you.’”—J. Iron Word ~ Vi Keeland,

605:She was iron,” I whispered. “Iron and steel and granite and everything strong packaged up in feathers and goose down and kitten fur and everything soft. ~ Kristen Ashley,

606:Sometimes, from beyond the skycrapers, the cry of a tugboat finds you in your insomnia, and you remember that this desert of iron and cement is an island. ~ Albert Camus,

607:There is a curtain, thin as gossamer, clear as glass, strong as iron, that hangs forever between the world of magic and the world that seems to us to be real. ~ E Nesbit,

608:Under Thatcher, who ruled us with an iron rod, great art was made. Amazing designers and musicians. Acid house was born. Very colourful and progressive. ~ Noel Gallagher,

609:When we think of Communism,” read a sign at the conference, “we think of the Iron Curtain. BUT when THEY think of democracy, they think of Coca-Cola.” When ~ Gary Taubes,

610:(before the Bessemer process, iron was hardened into steel at the rate of 3 to 5 tons a day; now the same amount could be processed in 15 minutes). Machines ~ Howard Zinn,

611:Think of how hot a fire must be to call out the will of iron that is in the ore. Iron is strong against every force except the one that made it into iron. ~ Norman Mailer,

612:Words are one thing - deeds something entirely different. Fine words are a mask to cover shady deeds. A sincere diplomat is like dry water or wooden iron. ~ Joseph Stalin,

613:At twilight I went into the street. The sun hung low in the iron sky, ringed with cold plumage. If I could write to you about this emptiness-- ~ Louise Gl ck,

614:I had all these songs lying around. They had all these woman characters, and I thought the idea of the Woman King would be a good way to tie them all together. ~ Iron Wine,

615:I heard the story of a Pittsburgh actor who was asked to say “tire iron” in a play. He found the line so difficult the director changed it to “crowbar. ~ Edward McClelland,

616:It's fun to be able to revisit a song and do something that doesn't really illustrate the song but works tangentially or runs parallel to the song in some way. ~ Iron Wine,

617:My child, what I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

618:The knife felt like hot iron in my fist. I hated myself for what I was going to do, and just as much for hesitating. I hated myself for the weakness in me. ~ Mark Lawrence,

619:To give me a wife made of iron and steel and everything strong all bound up in feathers and kitten fur and everything soft. One I’ll always know loves me. ~ Kristen Ashley,

620:We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read. ~ Jules Verne,

621:Custom is custom: it is built of brass, boiler-iron, granite; facts, reasonings, arguments have no more effect upon it than the idle winds have upon Gibraltar. ~ Mark Twain,

622:Ignorance was ever the iron of certainty, for it was as blind to itself as sleep. It was the absence of questions that made answers absolute—not knowledge! ~ R Scott Bakker,

623:I heard her voice, her stories, her softness as she spoke of her family, and her iron as she spoke of me - I heard her scream, and I moved without thought. ~ Meagan Spooner,

624:There's iron, they say, in all our blood, And a grain or two perhaps is good; But his, he makes me harshly feel, Has got a little too much of steel. ~ Anonymous,

625:We're better than Metallica. We're better musicians, better players. Put it this way, they can try to walk onstage after an Iron Maiden show if they want. ~ Bruce Dickinson,

626:When the Iron Curtain fell, all of the West rejoiced that the East would become just as free as the West. It was never supposed to be the other way around. ~ Rick Falkvinge,

627:His decision had been made in the valley, and it lay as an iron warp in his mind. He could have turned back no more easily than he could have killed himself. ~ Norman Mailer,

628:I wish I had thought of Velcro muscles myself. I didn't have to go to the gym for all those years, all the hours wedded to the iron game, as we call it. ~ Sylvester Stallone,

629:As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he who turns completely to God is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new man. ~ Thomas Kempis,

630:I know that spot,” Puck said, standing several feet back from the Iron knight. “A woman with crazy long hair used to live on the top floor, but it's empty now. ~ Julie Kagawa,

631:I stare up at the wrought iron fence. It took losing all that I held dear for me to learn a valuable lesson: only when everything is gone are you truly free. ~ Laura Thalassa,

632:My Child, What I want is Muscles of Iron and Nerves of Steel, inside which Dwells a Mind of the same Material as that of which the Thunderbolt is Made.    ~ Swami Vivekananda,

633:The writer of Proverbs observed that sharp people sharpen one another, just as iron sharpens iron. If you want to be a sharp thinker, be around sharp people. ~ John C Maxwell,

634:An iron railroad would be a cheaper thing than a road of the common construction." Here lay in a few words the idea from which our railway system has sprung. ~ Andrew Carnegie,

635:Folks had draped strange flags over their iron porticoes with drawings of pineapples and the word WELCOME. The South was like that, festive but impenetrable. ~ Gary Shteyngart,

636:From the biography of Freud, by Irving Stone, said by Freud's fiance after he teased her for being sweet, "Beware of truly sweet people. They have will of iron. ~ Irving Stone,

637:Ignorance was ever the iron of certainty, for it was as blind to itself as sleep. It was the absence of questions that made answers absolute—not knowledge! To ~ R Scott Bakker,

638:As iron cast into fire loses its rust and becomes glowing white, so he who turns completely to God is stripped of his sluggishness and changed into a new man. ~ Thomas a Kempis,

639:Do you need to be the Iron Chef to cook a grilled-cheese sandwich? No, and once you make your first meal, it’ll be easier to cook the next most complicated thing. ~ Ramit Sethi,

640:Forgiveness is a clean lotion that heals the wounds of misunderstandings! To iron out the differences; get the painful sores dressed up; Forgive and Forget! ~ Israelmore Ayivor,

641:He was a big, bony man. Iron muscles shaped his jacket sleeves and quickly wore through new trousers. He had a way of imposing himself just by standing there. ~ Georges Simenon,

642:The stubbornest of wills Are soonest bended, as the hardest iron, O'er-heated in the fire to brittleness, Flies soonest into fragments, shivered through. ~ Sophocles,

643:we are the boat returning to dock we are the footprints on the northern trail we are the iron coloring the soil we cannot be erased ~ Remi Kanazi,

644:We should be used to it," Tatiana reasons. "There have always been lines separating us from the rest of the world, whether they were satin ribbons or iron rails. ~ Sarah Miller,

645:Any other iron on you?” he asked impatiently. “Just my tongue stud.” His look was a mixture of curiosity and horror. “I’m kidding, you idiot. Let’s go. ~ Kiersten White,

646:Do you have a cast iron skillet?” Nathan called out to Ashley. “We don’t have a cauldron.” “Duh. I’m a Texan. That’s the only way to make decent refried beans. ~ Rhiannon Frater,

647:most of the iron that has found its way into the Earth's core and its surface rocks - and into our own blood, as well - once existed in white dwarfs that exploded ~ Isaac Asimov,

648:The line between ‘mathematicians’ and ‘engineers’ was demarcated very clearly, and if not quite an Iron Curtain, it was a barrier as awkward as the MacMahon Act. ~ Andrew Hodges,

649:There is nothing but is related to us, nothing that does not interest us,--kingdom, college, tree, horse, or iron show,--the rootsof all things are in man. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

650:It was a crushing defeat, but it put iron in my backbone and sulphur in my blood. I knew at least what it was to fail. I knew what it was to attempt something big. ~ Henry Miller,

651:It was the time of year, the time of day, for a small insistent sadness to pass into the texture of things. Dusk, silence, iron chill. Something lonely in the bone. ~ Don DeLillo,

652:Discipline, comrades, iron discipline! That is the watchword for today. One false step, and our enemies would be upon us. Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back? ~ Anonymous,

653:I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds ~ Henry Rollins,

654:The weather-cock on the church spire, though made of iron, would soon be broken by the storm-wind if it did not understand the noble art of turning to every wind. ~ Heinrich Heine,

655:When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us . . . we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete. ~ Anonymous,

656:Iron is full of impurities that weaken it; through forging, it becomes steel and is transformed into a razor-sharp sword. Human beings develop in the same fashion ~ Morihei Ueshiba,

657:It's not always so great to be objectified, but I don't feel I have much of a choice right now. I'm young in my career. I know I have to strike when the iron is hot. ~ Jessica Alba,

658:7When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. ~ Anonymous,

659:Does it pay to change a bar of rough pig iron into hairsprings for watches, thus increasing its worth to more than fifty times the value of its weight in gold? ~ Orison Swett Marden,

660:If you don’t give yourself room to fail, Zack, you’ll live your life inside an iron cage that will gradually get smaller and smaller until you can’t even breathe. ~ Jayne Ann Krentz,

661:I should be proud to have my memory graced, but only if the monument be placed... here, where I endured three hundred hours in line before the implacable iron bars. ~ Anna Akhmatova,

662:There is something about a bathroom that feels like a fortress. A closed bathroom door may only be about two inches of plywood, but it feels like an iron bar. ~ Ursula Vernon,

663:To be alone: icy, iron terror, foretaste of the grave, forerunner of unpitying death. Oh, whoever has been himself alone can never find another's loneliness strange. ~ Robert Walser,

664:When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. ~ Henry Rollins,

665:an iron law of warfare. No matter how clever you are at finding a new tool, your opponent will come up with a counter long before that can possibly be convenient for you. ~ Glen Cook,

666:For here now is the age of iron. Never by daytime will there be an end to hard work and pain, nor in the night to weariness, when the gods will send anxieties to trouble us. ~ Hesiod,

667:... is there anything more unjust than to build gold and brass and iron on poor, well-meaning clay, -- and then blame the clay when the whole image falls into dust? ~ Margaret Deland,

668:Peace without Justice is a low estate,— A coward cringing to an iron Fate! But Peace through Justice is the great ideal,— We'll pay the price of war to make it real. ~ Henry Van Dyke,

669:Their gunnin' for me, want to see me fall, you know my story, been through it all, times I felt like dyin', but I ain't cryin', what didn't kill me, makes me strong as iron. ~ Jay Z,

670:Those diseases which medicines do not cure, iron cures; those which iron cannot cure, fire cures; and those which fire cannot cure, are to be reckoned wholly incurable. ~ Hippocrates,

671:The Lakota warrior Iron Hawk later explained why he had pounded a trooper’s head into jelly. “These white men wanted it, they called for it, and I let them have it.”16 ~ Peter Cozzens,

672:You should have allowed me to feed you so I could have removed them and replaced them with the wrought iron chains that sat in the blankets I’d brought to you.” Fury ~ Amelia Hutchins,

673:If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're out of your mind. There are more kicks to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung. ~ Billie Holiday,

674:The corpse fell forward and hit its forehead on the iron handle. - That would have been really painful if the circumstances had been a little different, said Allan ~ Jonas Jonasson,

675:This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats high mountain down. ~ J R R Tolkien,

676:When iron and carbon come together, there emerges steel! To be something stronger and better, you must mostly unite with something else and melt in something else! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,

677:A number of the wrought-iron fences that encircled the courtyards and gardens of the homes were painted the color of gold on their European-inspired spikes and finials. ~ David Baldacci,

678:Flowers grow on her tiny wrought-iron balcony, and in summer she can estimate what time of day it is by feeling how wide the petals of the evening primroses have opened. ~ Anthony Doerr,

679:Most of the grand truths of God have to be learned by trouble; they must be burned into us with the hot iron of affliction, otherwise we shall not truly receive them. ~ Charles Spurgeon,

680:No single living entity really influenced my life as did my father ... He lived as if he were poured from iron, and loved his family with a vulnerability that was touching. ~ Mari Evans,

681:The iron tongue of Midnight hath told twelve lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. I fear we shall outstep the coming morn as much as we this night over-watch'd. ~ William Shakespeare,

682:Ancient stars in their death throes spat out atoms like iron which this universe had never known. ... Now the iron of old nova coughings vivifies the redness of our blood. ~ Howard Bloom,

683:I like that color you turn. It makes you look like a tomato. A very dignified tomato. A tomato above all other tomatoes, one that rules his garden with a squishy iron fist. ~ James Riley,

684:My father taught me that words shape people as the hammer shapes iron. Leaders bend religions to their purposes, and religions in turn bend the people who believe in them. ~ Kevin Hearne,

685:Russia has the largest reserves of natural resources, including iron and natural gas. The market will develop in the long term, and the VW Group will benefit from it. ~ Martin Winterkorn,

686:The Bolsheviks could not have retained power for two and a half months, let alone two and a half years, without the most rigorous and truly iron discipline in our Party. ~ Vladimir Lenin,

687:The proposition that the meek (that is the adaptable and serviceable), inherit the earth is not merely a wishful sentiment of religion, but an iron law of evolution. ~ Kenneth E Boulding,

688:The spiritual decadence of man, according to Hindu tradition, goes hand in hand with progress in metallurgy from the Golden Age (Satyä Yugä) to the Iron Age (Kali Yugä). ~ Alain Dani lou,

689:The steel reddens, warming under Cal's fiery touch, and bits of the gilded hilt melt between his fingers. Gold and silver and iron, dripping from his hands like tears. ~ Victoria Aveyard,

690:Will looking after her, sighed.not for her, he said under his breath, though there was no one to hear him, for me.... And he leaned his head against the cold iron gate. ~ Cassandra Clare,

691:Common sense tells us that the world is flat, that the sun goes around the earth, that heavy bodies always fall faster than light bodies, that boats made of iron will sink. ~ Stuart Chase,

692:When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us . . . we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete. ~ Steven Pressfield,

693:an iron rule exists in genetic social evolution. It is that selfish individuals beat altruistic individuals, while groups of altruists beat groups of selfish individuals. ~ Edward O Wilson,

694:As iron rusts when not used, and water gets foul from standing or turns to ice when exposed to cold, so the intellect degenerates without exercise. -Leonard Da Vinci ~ Leonardo da Vinci,

695:Beware trying to iron out all your quirks, perceived flaws and doubts. It's often these things that help you find strength, compassion, empathy for others and heart. ~ Rasheed Ogunlaru,

696:Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigour in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

697:Remember iron sharpens iron. People inspire people, therefore, always ensure that you read books that can easily guide you to discover strategies of making a good name. ~ Israelmore Ayivor,

698:You can't interrupt the process of making a key once you've started. It lets a kind of hesitation into the iron. That happens and the key will never sit well in its lock. ~ Henning Mankell,

699:But an important point is that, once again as with "scientific" proofs of atheism, it is not the cast-iron intellectual reasoning which convinces, but the relief of revolt. ~ Charles Taylor,

700:Give yourself permission to not be perfect. Life's too short, but you're still young. Give up that iron-knuckle grip you have on excellence and just...have fun. For a change. ~ Cherrie Lynn,

701:On with you, horse-taming Trojans! Never give Greeks best in your will to fight! They are not made of stone or iron. Their flesh can't keep out penetrating spears when they are hit. ~ Homer,

702:The ladies of Italy, seemingly carefree, wore constructions of iron beneath their silks. It took infinite patience, not just in negotiation, to get them of of their clothes. ~ Hilary Mantel,

703:The most stable elements, Clarice, appear in the middle of the periodic table, roughly between iron and silver. Between iron and silver. I think that is appropriate for you. ~ Thomas Harris,

704:The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff. ~ Carl Sagan,

705:I have always smoked and drunk and loved too much. In fact I have lived not too long but too much. One day the Iron Crab will get me. Then I shall have died of living too much. ~ Ian Fleming,

706:Man is frail. Man is prone to fallacies, errors, vice, and greed, but good iron never fails. Combine hard iron with a good man and you have the makings of a legend or a myth. ~ John Matthews,

707:The hands of a pianist, or a painter, or a sushi chef, or even, as with Thomas Newcomen, hands that could use a hammer to shape soft iron, are truly, in any functional sense, ~ William Rosen,

708:Tom's great yellow bronze mask all draped upon an iron framework. An inhibited, nerve-drawn; dropped face - as if hung on a scaffold of heavy private brooding; and thought. ~ Virginia Woolf,

709:You are frowning. Why?’ ‘Well, I’ve already killed a god today,’ Iron Bars said. ‘If I’d known this was going to be a day for killing gods, I might have paced myself better. ~ Steven Erikson,

710:As iron sharpens iron, we need confrontation and truth from others to grow. No one likes to hear negative things about him or herself. But in the long run it may be good for us. ~ Henry Cloud,

711:From a pound of iron, that costs little, a thousand watch-springs can be made, whose value becomes prodigious. The pound you have received from the Lord,--use it faithfully. ~ Robert Schumann,

712:If being "iron headed" is to be lacking such feelings, then Kant's position is that an ironheaded person could not be a moral agent because such a person would not be rational. ~ Allen W Wood,

713:In some songs, like propaganda songs-and don't get me wrong, I love some propaganda songs. They're some of my favorite songs in the world. It's just that I don't enjoy writing it. ~ Iron Wine,

714:In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago. ~ Christina Rossetti,

715:Populism is not a style, it's a people's rebellion against the iron grip that big corporations have on our country - including our economy, government, media, and environment. ~ Jim Hightower,

716:Their friendship is like a tapestry in a drawer. Today is the iron passing over the cloth, smoothing out the wrinkles, bring out the pattern that makes it unique and beautiful. ~ Nancy Thayer,

717:The third day, Matrona awoke with bones of iron instead of lead, a headache that tapped instead of pounded, and clear vision that only spotted when she moved too quickly. ~ Charlie N Holmberg,

718:We are often criminals in the eyes of the earth, not only for having committed crimes, but because we know what crimes have been committed. - The Man in the Iron Mask (155) ~ Michael Robotham,

719:We got touring with the Stones, and people were trying to keep up with Keith. He's like a human machine with a constitution of iron, and they all thought they could do the same. ~ Ronnie Wood,

720:The Wolf gave me an eerie smile, all fangs, and his eyes glinted in the shadows. " I will be in this tale one way or another, little prince," he warned. (The Iron Knight) ~ Julie Kagawa,

721:I'd love to see the Iron Jackal's face when he finds out I'm already dead," he said with half a grin. "Now that's irony." "No it ain't, Cap'n. It's just some shit that happened. ~ Chris Wooding,

722:Love is like chains of unbreakable steel. Love is like iron weights, heavier than the world. Love can crush just as surely as it can lift up. Everything else wilts before it. ~ G Norman Lippert,

723:O Winter! bar thine adamantine doors: The north is thine; there hast thou build thy dark, Deep-founded habitation. Shake not thy roofs, Nor bend thy pillars with thine iron car. ~ William Blake,

724:An academical system without the personal influence of teachers on pupils, is an arctic winter; it will create an icebound, petrified, cast-iron University, and nothing else. ~ John Henry Newman,

725:As, blind and deaf, the whale plunged forward, as if by sheer power of speed to rid himself of the iron leech that had fastened to him; as we thus tore a white gash in the sea, ~ Herman Melville,

726:As iron put into the fire loseth its rust and becometh clearly red-hot, so he that wholly turneth himself unto God puts off all slothfulness, and is transformed into a new man. ~ Thomas a Kempis,

727:Hard Wind Sister with iron hooves Together we shall travel steppes that no man nor mount has seen Courage will be my saddle And your bridle shall be my faith in you … ~ Greg Keyes,

728:There's iron, they say, in all our blood,   And a grain or two perhaps is good;   But his, he makes me harshly feel,   Has got a little too much of steel.' ANON. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell,

729:There was a day on the set of Iron Man where I said, "I remember some of this stuff. I definitely had some Iron Man books. But, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a little bit of a weak spot for me." ~ Clark Gregg,

730:The strongest shoulders are not the well-built shoulders of a weight lifter who carries iron dumbbells, but they are of a mother’s weak shoulders which carry three children! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,

731:When I heard the draw I was out on the golf course. I had an eight-iron in one hand and my mobile in the other. When we came out with United, my club went further than the ball. ~ Harry Redknapp,

732:I'm not a huge comic book fan, but I'm a closet fan of certain Marvel heroes, two of those being Iron Man, and the other being Guardians of the Galaxy, which I'm looking forward to. ~ Kevin Feige,

733:In the midst of the battle between rebellion and surrender Bantry was suddenly uncertain what Flynn was starved for. The sensuality of a man’s kiss? Or the rich, iron taste of blood? ~ Mel Keegan,

734:It gnaws iron, and bites steel; Grinds hard stone to meal. It slays all in its path, and will ruin many a town, And it will beat the mighty mountain down.   What is it?   It is time. ~ C L Bevill,

735:Lobsters, snails, crabs, clams, squids, slugs, and members of the European royal families, by contrast, have blue blood, due to the fact that it’s based on copper rather than iron. ~ Alan Bradley,

736:We need to insist on making culture out of our desire: making paintings, novels, plays and films potent and seductive and authentic enough to undermine and overwhelm the Iron Maiden. ~ Naomi Wolf,

737:As iron is fashioned by fire and on the anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive that form which our Lord desires them to have. ~ Madeleine Sophie Barat,

738:If you have the ability to work with people smarter than you, always try to be the least smartest person in the room and surround yourself with talent, because iron sharpens iron. ~ Jake M Johnson,

739:The most stable elements, Clarice, appear in the middle of the periodic table, roughly between iron and silver. Between iron and silver. I think that is appropriate for you. ~ Thomas Harris,

740:There is nothing in machinery, there is nothing in embankments and railways and iron bridges and engineering devices to oblige them to be ugly. Ugliness is the measure of imperfection. ~ H G Wells,

741:Those who are backslidden are much more hardened in their sin than they were before. They are like iron which being once heated and cooled again becomes much harder than before. ~ Jonathan Edwards,

742:When the dark comes rising, six shall turn it back; Three from the circle, three from the track; Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone; Five will return, and one go alone. ~ Susan Cooper,

743:Children make prayers so thoughtlessly, building them up like sand castles—and they are always surprised when suddenly the castle becomes real, and the iron gate grinds shut. ~ Catherynne M Valente,

744:Humans take. They plough with iron. They ravage the land.' 'Some do, I'll grant you that. Others put back more'n they take. They put back love. They've got soil in their bones. ~ Terry Pratchett,

745:I am a disaster magnet. I came home from our first anniversary vacation with jellyfish stings, a puncture wound from a wrought iron pineapple and a cork-shaped bruise in my cleavage. ~ Molly Harper,

746:I do give them to you," he announced. "Of my free will. Because this is my sword." He laid a hand on Arisa's shoulder. "And Weasle is my shield. What you hold are only pieces of iron. ~ Hilari Bell,

747:I would by no means call myself an expert or say that I'm extremely into superhero movies, but I've pretty much seen every Avengers movie and Iron Man, so I'd say a good amount. ~ Jonathan Lipnicki,

748:Spokespeople sell women the Iron Maiden and name her "Health": if public discourse were really concerned with women's health, it would turn angrily upon this aspect of the beauty myth. ~ Naomi Wolf,

749:That's the secret, Frank. Always have an iron in the fire. Always have another angle ready to go... Remember, if you can't outplay them, you have to outwork them. - Charles Schulz ~ David Michaelis,

750:The iron tongue of Midnight hath told twelve lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. I fear we shall outstep the coming morn as much as we this night over-watch'd. ~ William Shakespeare,

751:And I felt antagonism for all these things when I was with La Maga, for we loved each other in a sort of dialectic of magnet and iron filings, attack and defense, handball and wall. ~ Julio Cort zar,

752:James Davis Nicoll, on the 1962 nominees: "Terry Pratchett has his own sword forged by his own hands from meteoric iron, which must be of considerable utility when negotiating contracts. ~ Jo Walton,

753:The crowd in the street jostling the crowd in his mind, and the two crowds making a confusion, he avoided London Bridge, and turned off in the quieter direction of the Iron Bridge. ~ Charles Dickens,

754:Cut nerves left lying on the threshing floors drift and roll and wind up all aligned with the earth's magnetic field, like iron filings swayed by a magnet in a classroom experiment. ~ Shelley Jackson,

755:Fey bersifat magis, tidak logis, dan tidak bisa dijelaskan. Sains tidak dapat membuktikan keberadaan faery. Jadi menurut sains, kami tidak ada. -- Grimalkin, tokoh dalam The Iron King) ~ Julie Kagawa,

756:It's not," Mormont told him. "Gods save us, boy, you're not blind and you're not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne? ~ George R R Martin,

757:Sofia take up the clothes, straighten them out, stand by the ironing board with her hand on the iron. Sofia the kind of woman no matter what she have in her hand it look like a weapon. ~ Alice Walker,

758:That there is no need for iron to be the same as copper, or copper the same as gold. Each preforms its own exact function as a unique being, and everything would be a symphony of peace ~ Paulo Coelho,

759:Time passes and the pain begins to roll in and out as though it’s a woman standing at an ironing board, passing the iron back and forth, back and forth across a white tablecloth. ~ Audrey Niffenegger,

760:Yes, that's the way they think, these hundred thousand Kantoreks! Iron Youth! Youth! We are none of us more than twenty years old. But young? That is long ago. We are old folk. ~ Erich Maria Remarque,

761:An academical system without the personal influence of teachers on pupils, is an arctic winter; it will create an icebound, petrified, cast-iron University, and nothing else. ~ Saint John Henry Newman,

762:But he would protect her with his heart for a little while. For a little while, before the insentient iron world and the Mammon of mechanised greed did them both in, her as well as him. ~ D H Lawrence,

763:Plus the public's attention span is so short right now, if a skater doesn't strike while the iron is hot... well it's not like people will forget you, but they just won't care anymore. ~ Brian Boitano,

764:She tried to imagine Master Z’s Schloss. A huge grey mansion out in the lonely countryside with a turret on each corner, set in its own gardens enclosed by a terrifically tall iron fence. ~ Tyburn Way,

765:The grounds had an iron fence set in a stone knee wall, which was just wide enough for a small person to sit on, and Turner was a small person, and Reacher was used to being uncomfortable. ~ Lee Child,

766:Twelve times did the iron register of time beat on the sonorous bell-metal, summoning the ghosts to rise, and walk their nightly round. - In plainer language, it was twelve o'clock... ~ Henry Fielding,

767:Fertile soil, level plains, easy passage across the mountains, coal, iron, and other metals imbedded in the rocks, and a stimulating climate, all shower their blessings upon man. ~ Ellsworth Huntington,

768:I’ll bring her into my dark world where pain is the king over pleasure. He rules with an iron fist. And pleasure bends to the will of pain. I will show her my kingdom. She will be my queen. ~ Ker Dukey,

769:Just as rust, which arose from the iron itself, wears out the iron, likewise, performing an action without examination would destroy us by projecting us into a negative state of existence. ~ Dalai Lama,

770:Occasionally a red taxi or Mercedes-Benz would squeeze by along the iron fence and burst free, the driver holding down the horn button so furiously that he might detonate the air bag. ~ Neal Stephenson,

771:Superman, Iron Man, Batman”—Flyaway Hair winces visibly—“you name it. Rich, powerful, white alpha males who dress up in gimp suits and beat up ethnically diverse lower-class criminals. ~ Charles Stross,

772:An hour and forty-five minutes before Nazneen's life began-began as it would proceed for quite some time, that is to say uncertainly-her mother, Rupban, felt an iron fist squeeze her belly. ~ Monica Ali,

773:But he instantly saw that it would be impossible for him to escape from the regiment. It inclosed him. And there were iron laws of tradition and law on four sides. He was in a moving box ~ Stephen Crane,

774:Her hand rooted in her purse and produced a roll of Tums. That purse was like the stomach of Jaws—she was always pulling out a pair of sunglasses, a new shade of lipstick, a waffle iron. ~ Gregg Hurwitz,

775:I never really saw my dad around when the Iron Maiden and the AC/DC were playing. But he knew what I was doing. I was just absorbing music. So he just kind of left me to my own devices. ~ Dhani Harrison,

776:My hair is naturally curly, and in the 80's, even though I experimented with different lengths, I generally wore it curly. Since then, I've learned how to use a blow dryer and flat iron. ~ Susanna Hoffs,

777:Then might I exemplify how an influence beyond our control lays its strong hand on every deed which we do, and weaves its consequences into an iron tissue of necessity. (Wakefield) ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne,

778:When they dreamed of turning iron and metal into gold, they called it alchemy. The much more far-fetched dream of turning bound sheafs of plain paper into fortunes, they call publishing. ~ Matthew Pearl,

779:Carbon is the basis of human life and iron of robot life. It becomes easy to speak of C/Fe when you wish express a culture that combines the best of the two on an equal but parallel basis. ~ Isaac Asimov,

780:even if Guy Pratt was the last out of the bar the night – or morning – before, his playing was faultless on stage, a tribute to his iron constitution or the fact that our music was too easy. ~ Nick Mason,

781:May every one of us believe Him better, and have greater thoughts of Him, and never let us be guilty henceforth of confining, as it were, within iron bonds the limitless One of Israel. ~ Charles Spurgeon,

782:The lawyer Thien, when Morath was ushered into his office by a junior member of the staff, turned out to be an ancient bag of bones held upright only by means of a stiff, iron-coloured suit. ~ Alan Furst,

783:The only reason I don't kill him," he remember the woman saying, her voice sounding like the scrape of iron against iron, a corrosion of vocal cords, "is because he's not important enough. ~ Frank Beddor,

784:There's iron, they say, in all our blood,   And a grain or two perhaps is good;   But his, he makes me harshly feel,   Has got a little too much of steel.'           ANON. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell,

785:Eragon doubted that he would ever like an Urgal, but the iron certitude of his prejudice only a few minutes before now seemed ignorant, and he could not retain it in good conscience. ~ Christopher Paolini,

786:I love motorcycles and riding bikes. Like a lot of riders, I look at a bike like it's an iron horse - a living thing that you have to build a relationship with - and that bike is my horse. ~ Diego Sanchez,

787:... it is to your credit that you recognize that if he was a monster then it was other monstrous things which made him so. The iron forged on the anvil cannot be blamed for the hammer... ~ Terry Pratchett,

788:My father wasn't a cruel man. And I loved him. But he was a pretty tough character. His own father was even tougher - one of those Victorians, hard as iron - but my dad was tough enough. ~ Anthony Hopkins,

789:Richard has informed me he’s shopping for his white picket fence. I’m happy behind my black wrought-iron fence. The one with the pointy spikes on top. White never really was my color. ~ Laurell K Hamilton,

790:Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience. ~ Henry David Thoreau,

791:Besides Archimboldi, there was one thing Morini, Pelletier, and Espinoza had in common. All three had iron wills. Actually, they had one other thing in common, but we’ll get to that later. ~ Roberto Bola o,

792:Richard has informed me he is shopping for his white picket fence. I'm happy behind my black wrought iron fence. The one with the pointy spikes on top. White never really was my color. ~ Laurell K Hamilton,

793:That was just it, wasn’t it? That’s what we were: dwellers all in time and space. Not old scraps of iron lashed together like a Meccano set by some invisible builder—not on your bloody life! ~ Alan Bradley,

794:Then I’ll bring her into my dark world where pain is the king over pleasure. He rules with an iron fist. And pleasure bends to the will of pain. I will show her my kingdom. She will be my queen ~ Ker Dukey,

795:Trout was petrified there on Forty-second Street. It had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth. ~ Kurt Vonnegut,

796:We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains. 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names. ~ Nikita Gill,

797:Believe me, it is a great deal better to find cast-iron proof that you're innocent than to languish in a cell hoping that the police---who already think you're guilty---will find it for you. ~ Douglas Adams,

798:By lunchtime the valley was lightly coated, like a cake with confectioner's sugar...there was white fur on the antlers of the iron deer and on the melancholy boughs of the Norway spruce. ~ Elizabeth Enright,

799:Such preponderance of women workers resulted all too often in the invisibility of the cotton industry, overshadowed by the male-dominated coal-mining, iron-making, and railroading industries. ~ Sven Beckert,

800:Thank Artemis, it is you! That little scar on your lip--you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!" ... Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers--excellent source of iron. ~ Rick Riordan,

801:The man who is ... physically able to handle pig-iron and is sufficiently ... stupid to choose this for his occupation is rarely able to comprehend the science of handling pig-iron ~ Frederick Winslow Taylor,

802:The nanny’s iron rule terrified the little boys, according to a family acquaintance. In addition to being overbearing, she was a fervent Nazi sympathizer, who frequently touted Hitler’s virtues. ~ Jane Mayer,

803:The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! ~ Henry Ward Beecher,

804:War is food and drink and disease and patience and anger and hate and cold and stealth and terror as well as sweet silver and bitter iron and the glitter of arms in the sun or under the moon. ~ Miles Cameron,

805:You should only attempt to borrow from those who have but few of this world's goods, as their chests are not of iron, and they are, besides, anxious to appear wealthier than they really are. ~ Heinrich Heine,

806:You spent it on oil for your hair,’ I said, ‘and on baubles for your whores, on furs and on horses, on jewels and on silk. A man, Lord Eardwulf, dresses in leather and iron. And he fights. ~ Bernard Cornwell,

807:Cuba,” he said in his resounding defense plea, “continues to be a producer of raw materials. We exhort sugar to import candy, we export hides to import shoes, we export iron to import plows. ~ Eduardo Galeano,

808:Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron bands. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,

809:If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, if you insist on leaving your fate to the gods, then the gods will repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense. ~ Tom Robbins,

810:It is like an iron country, and the spirit is oppressed by its rigor and melancholy. One could easily believe that in that dead landscape the germs of life and fruitfulness were extinct forever. ~ Willa Cather,

811:My father always said that you cannot graft a culture of science and engineering onto an Iron Age society. And so it’s proving.’ Bisesa studied him. ‘You’ll have to tell me about your father. ~ Arthur C Clarke,

812:The material world coexists alongside the ideal life, and the purest intentions are bound to the earth by ridiculous threads, but they are threads of iron and they are not easily broken. ~ Alexandre Dumas fils,

813:At the moment when her eyes closed, when all feeling vanished in her, she thought that she felt a touch of fire imprinted on her lips, a kiss more burning than the red-hot iron of the executioner. ~ Victor Hugo,

814:INTO HER DARKNESS, a churning synaesthesia, where her pain was the taste of old iron, scent of melon, wings of a moth brushing her cheek. She was unconscious, and he was barred from her dreams. ~ William Gibson,

815:May every one of us believe Him better, and have greater thoughts of Him, and never let us be guilty henceforth of confining, as it were, within iron bonds the limitless One of Israel. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

816:Sugar is gone; silk has gone; iron is threatened; wool is threatened; cotton will go! How long are you going to stand it? At the present moment these industries...are like sheep in a field. ~ Joseph Chamberlain,

817:What business have I with this pipe? This thing that is meant for sereneness, to send up mild white vapors among mild white hairs, not among torn iron-grey locks like mine. I'll smoke no more. ~ Herman Melville,

818:October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. ~ J K Rowling,

819:Unless Russia is face with an iron fist and strong language, another is in the making. Only one language do they understand - 'How many divisions have you?' ... I'm tired of babying the Soviets. ~ Harry S Truman,

820:Formats are just illusions, and it's about the relationship between the person that makes music and the person that listens to music. Every time there's a new format, the iron is hot, and you can mold it. ~ Bjork,

821:He liked the woods and the iron-cold air, and he liked snapping the rifle to his shoulder as the game came into view. But he did not like the killing, the thing lying there, bewildered, eyes open. ~ Ernest Hebert,

822:Thank Artemis, it is you! That little scar on your lip--you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!" ... Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason's taste. "Staplers--excellent source of iron. ~ Rick Riordan,

823:You can. It's not a matter of feeling it, it's a matter of doing it - making the decision to bend that iron will of yours in God's direction so that He can hear your prayers and unleash blessings. ~ Julie Lessman,

824:You saw Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and you may or may not have seen the Stone Age. This is the Condom Age. Today, we have ways to keep girls from getting pregnant from a night of hot, mind-blowing sex. ~ Sara King,

825:she feels still that grasp upon her ankle as if it were a circlet of iron: the embodiment of matrimony. She would be pinned, like the museum butterflies. He would remain free to flutter. ~ Emmanuelle de Maupassant,

826:The essence of the iron law of oligarchy, this particular facet of the vicious circle, is that new leaders overthrowing old ones with promises of radical change bring nothing but more of the same. ~ Daron Acemo lu,

827:...The silence of a place where there were once horses is a mountain and I have seen by lightning that ever mountain once fell from the air ringing like the chime of an iron shoe... ~ W S Merwin,

828:when art is good it is because it touched upon the inexpressive, the worst art is expressive, that art which trangresses the piece of iron and the piece of glass, and the smile, and the scream. ~ Clarice Lispector,

829:A sense is what has the power of receiving into itself the sensible forms of things without the matter, in the way in which a piece of wax takes on the impress of a signet-ring without the iron or gold. ~ Aristotle,

830:Comparing the humped herds of whales with the humped herds of buffalo, which, not forty years ago, overspread by tens of thousands the prairies of Illinois and Missouri, and shook their iron manes ~ Herman Melville,

831:In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter Long ago. ~ Christina Rossetti,

832:...along the road. He heard the iron tires of the cart grinding on the road. He turned and looked after it, and on the slope he saw old Samuel against the sky, his white hair shining with starlight. ~ John Steinbeck,

833:Death stripes away many things, especially when it arrives at a temperature hot enough to vaporize iron ... The immortal remains of Brother Watchtower watched the dragon flap away into the fog .... ~ Terry Pratchett,

834:It would be a greater pity to prostitute lessons of wisdom to rascals incapable of understanding and appreciating them; there is no file that can clean iron of its rust after the rust has eaten through. ~ J A Rogers,

835:She was not light, but she was not as heavy as she should be. Her bones should be made of iron, for what else was fit to support her bravado? It would shame generals. Emperors. Professional pirates. ~ Meredith Duran,

836:some travelers are drawn forward by a goal lying before them in the way iron is drawn to the magnet. Others are driven on by a force lying behind them. In such a way the bowstring makes the arrow fly. ~ Isak Dinesen,

837:The Eurythmics were back on the charts. Dirty Dancing was at the box office. The Iron curtain was still standing. Margaret Thatcher had been re-elected for a third term. There we were, back in 1987. ~ Nicola Lagioia,

838:This your bomb? I'm here to return it to you. Up your ass. Hey, speaking of which, you used to work with Iron Fist a lot, right? How is that 'SPEAKING OF WHICH?!!- Power man & Deadpool ~ Daniel Way,

839:Trout was petrified there on Forty-second Street. It had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth. ~ Kurt Vonnegut,

840:All of us in the Senate live in an iron lung-the iron lung of politics, and it is no easy task to emerge from that rarified atmosphere in order to breathe the same fresh air our constituents breathe. ~ John F Kennedy,

841:Armor-piercing shells for iron-heads have not yet been invented! In arguing with them, you wear yourself out, unless you accept in advance that the argument is simply a game, a jolly pastime. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,

842:If you don't kill all of us all at once, those who remain will not be the weak. It's the strong who remain, the bent but unbroken, like the iron rods that used to give this concrete its strength. ~ Rick Yancey,

843:Many in Hollywood viewed the public persona of the young Debbie Reynolds as demure and vulnerable to be a complete facade. Pianist Oscar Levant once quipped, "She's as wistful as an iron factory." ~ Elizabeth Taylor,

844:People are like, 'What's Game of Thrones about?' I'm like, 'It's in the title.' For real, this is a game for the Iron Throne. No matter what character you are, you're sucked into that at some point. ~ Maisie Williams,

845:You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, You shall find what you seek make it your own, But despair for your life entombed within stone, And fail without friends, to fly home alone. ~ Rick Riordan,

846:In Hitler the rare union has taken place between the most acute logical thinker and truly profound philosopher, and the iron man of action...I follow no leadership but that of Adolf Hitler and of God. ~ Hermann Goring,

847:In World War II, jazz absolutely was the music of freedom, and then in the Cold War, behind the Iron Curtain, same thing. It was all underground, but they needed the food of freedom that jazz offered. ~ Herbie Hancock,

848:Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day. ~ Charles Dickens,

849:Pop culture, commercials. You only come across a commercial if you're watching a TV all the time. I've never been all that upset. I like hearing the songs. I guess I've never been all that caught up in it. ~ Iron Wine,

850:Times like these I wonder if I ever been happy. From the start there's been a film of dingy on my days.... I see some folks walk easy and carry peace on their shoulders, but I been chained to a iron life. ~ Leah Weiss,

851:Guard-Duty A star frightens the steeple cross a horse gasps smoke iron clanks drowsily mists spread fears staring shivering shivering cajoling whispering You! ~ August Stramm,

852:I laugh at everything, even at that which I love the most. There is no fact, thing, feeling or person over which I have not blithely run my clownishness, like an iron roller imparting sheen to cloth. ~ Gustave Flaubert,

853:I try to shake it loose-but these ideas, they cling. It's like I'm shackled to them with an iron chain. They rattle along behind me, dragging against the ground, always reminding me of their presence. ~ Maureen Johnson,

854:It’s bound to be one hell of a steel wheelin, railroadin good time…while the western country rolls by and the smoke rises blacker than musical notes pouring out of that stoked-up-and-chuggin iron chariot. ~ Ketch Secor,

855:Yes, they put their babies inside an iron stove full of coals. So, if you see a Russian person doing something crazy, as you sometimes do, remember—they have been doing that shit forever. It’s nothing new. ~ Jesse Ball,

856:Gold is for the mistress -- silver for the maid -- Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade." "Good!" said the Baron, sitting in his hall, "But Iron -- Cold Iron -- is master of them all. ~ Rudyard Kipling,

857:What do you two talk about, anyway?" I asked curiously. I still didn't quite understand Genya's fascination with the Fabrikator. She sighed. "The usual. Life. Love. The melting point of iron ore. ~ Leigh Bardugo,

858:Hill tops like hot iron glitter bright in the sun, And the rivers we're eying burn to gold as they run; Burning hot is the ground, liquid gold is the air; Whoever looks round sees Eternity there. ~ John Clare,

859:Loyalty must be forged - to him, to his: stronger than iron, from experience, from risk - it can't be bought, or taught, or promised before the fact. Allegiance must be earned so it will hold, win or lose. ~ Janet Morris,

860:She was a dangerous, dangerous girl. A plague. A Mountain of Adamant who tore the iron from ships, sinking them to their watery graves without a second thought. With a mere smile and a wrinkle of her nose. ~ Ren e Ahdieh,

861:There are kids out there that are into Iron Maiden and others who are strictly into industrial music, but they come for the same reason; they all like us and they different things out of the band's music. ~ Scott Putesky,

862:We truly are all one tribe,” said the iron-haired ghost softly. “Human, vampire, spirit, ghost—we’re all sentient creatures bound to this planet. Why can’t we work together in the face of something like this? ~ Anne Rice,

863:All golfers fear the one-iron. It has no angle, no loft. The one-iron is a confidence-crusher, a fear trip, an almost guarantee of shame, failure, dumbness and humiliation if you ever use it in public. ~ Hunter S Thompson,

864:Give all of your worries to God and let him iron your problems. "do not be anxious about anything,but in everything,by prayer and pentition,with thanks giving, presnet your requests to God." philippians 4:6 ~ Anonymous,

865:How long does godliness remain in man? Iron is red so long as it is in the fire, but it becomes black the moment it is removed from fire. So man is imbued with God so long as he is in communion with Him. ~ Sri Ramakrishna,

866:Meghan rose with the regal grace of a queen, calm and unruffled. I noticed she subtly moved in front of me when facing Ariella, a familiar gesture that caught me off guard. The Iron Queen was protecting me. ~ Julie Kagawa,

867:A few of these interviews have gone slightly awry, because every now and again there has been the odd conflict of interest between interviews because of the Iron Maiden record, and I am a bit long-winded. ~ Bruce Dickinson,

868:Comrade Mao, whether he was crossing 'a sea of surging waves' or scaling 'a mountain pass impregnable as iron' always held unwaveringly to his course, setting a shining example for the Chinese Communist Party. ~ Xi Jinping,

869:In the back corner, a stairwell led down. It was blocked by a row of iron bars like a prison door. Percy wondered what was down there—monsters? Treasure? Amnesiac demigods who had gotten on Reyna’s bad side? ~ Rick Riordan,

870:that of dealing death, of loosing another man’s soul and sending it down to hell. You want to savor it, to twist the blade deeper and pull the man’s heart and guts out upon the iron point of your spear, ~ Steven Pressfield,

871:What is peace? Balance three iron skewers tip to tip, one upon the other; at the summit, emplace an egg, so that it too poises static in mid-air, and there you have the condition of peace in this world of men. ~ Jack Vance,

872:will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons ~ Anonymous,

873:I always figured we were born to fly, one way or other, so I couldn't stand most men shuffling along with all the iron of the earth in their blood. I never met a man who weighed less than nine hundred pounds. ~ Ray Bradbury,

874:If the German people lay down their arms the whole of Eastern and Southern Europe, together with the Reich, will come under Russian occupation. Behind an iron curtain mass butcheries of people would begin. ~ Joseph Goebbels,

875:In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, Snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago. ~ Christina Rossetti,

876:What is peace? Balance three iron skewers tip to tip, one upon the other; at the summit, emplace and egg, so that it too poises static in mid-air, and there you have the condition of peace in this world of men. ~ Jack Vance,

877:You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone, You shall find what you seek and make it your own, But despair for your life entombed within stone, And fail without friends, to fly home alone. ~ Rick Riordan,

878:In the biotech revolution, it is the human body, not iron or steel or plastic, that's at the source. Are the biocapitalists going to be allowed to dig without consent into our genetic codes, then market them? ~ Ellen Goodman,

879:I know that once I get moving I'll be fine even though I'm a little untidy FUCKIN DAEIN IT AGAIN!! Ah ken that once ah git movin ah'll be fine, even though ah'm a bit scruff order and ask tae borrow Gran's iron ~ Irvine Welsh,

880:It wasn’t the dying that bothered her in that statement. It was the here. She didn’t want to die here in this cold, cold house with this cold, cold husband she slept with in a bed made of cold, cold iron. “And ~ Tiffany Reisz,

881:The one piece of nostalgia he has allowed himself is the gleaming cast-iron wood-burning stove in the center of the room, which replaced his mother’s that was stolen during the years the studio lay derelict. ~ Pierre Lemaitre,

882:Time itself is a thing, so it seems to me, that stands solidly like a fence of iron palings with its endless row of years; and we flow past like Gyoll, on our way to a sea from which we shall return only as rain. ~ Gene Wolfe,

883:Track coach Bill Bowerman decided that his team needed better, lighter running shoes. So he went out to his workshop and poured rubber into the family waffle iron. That’s how Nike’s famous waffle sole was born.‡ ~ Jason Fried,

884:We need the iron qualities that go with true manhood. We need the positive virtues of resolution, of courage, of indomitable will, of power to do without shrinking the rough work that must always be done. ~ Theodore Roosevelt,

885:When confronted with iron-will determination, I can see Time, Fate and Circumstance calling a hasty conference and deciding, We might as well let him have his dream. He's said he's going to get there or die trying. ~ Jim Rohn,

886:Acrisius tried not to choke on his own tongue. The word Perseus meant avenger or destroyer, depending on how you interpreted it. The king did not want the kid growing up to hang out with Iron Man and the Hulk... ~ Rick Riordan,

887:Real cars were made here in America: Fords, Chevys, Plymouths. These were large chunks of Detroit iron - cars that had the size, weight, and handling characteristics of aircraft carriers but worse fuel efficiency. ~ Dave Barry,

888:Thank Artemis, it is you. That little scar on your lip—you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!” Leo laughed. “Seriously?” Hedge nodded like he approved of Jason’s taste. “Staplers—excellent source of iron. ~ Rick Riordan,

889:and in its place was an iron resolve to do anything and everything necessary to accomplish his goals. Was this evil, then? The acceptance of casualties, the willingness to accomplish one’s objectives by any means? ~ Phil Tucker,

890:I've dreamed again of being in hell, vast cliffs with eyes, iron streets populated with gargoyles, half-dressed harpies, and in the streets chariots going of themselves, spitting the stench of pitch and sulphur ~ Michael Gruber,

891:Mail armor continued in general use till about the year 1300, when it was gradually supplanted by plate armor, or suits consisting of pieces or plates of solid iron, adapted to the different parts of the body. ~ Thomas Bulfinch,

892:Physician of the Iron Age, Goethe has done his pilgrimage. He took the suffering human race, He read each wound, each weakness clear -- And struck his finger on the place, And said -- Thou ailest here, and here. ~ Matthew Arnold,

893:There are a number of recommended methods of dealing with ghosts—salt and iron, harmonic resonance, some people swear by exorcism, and not just the priests—but that's the fist time I've seen anyone try a left hook. ~ K J Charles,

894:Unless by hating something you straightaway started to turn into it. As though your hate was a sort of magnetic field, turning you around like a compass needle, dragging you into a new shape like iron filings. Jess’s ~ M R Carey,

895:Battlefield Tender sods fallen asleep at their iron Blood fluffing outpost scum Rusted crusts Slimy flesh skinned Sucking scores the dessicated. Baby-faced Killerkillers Winking ~ August Stramm,

896:Subway Down between the walls of shadow Where the iron laws insist, The hunger voices mock. The worn wayfaring men With the hunched and humble shoulders, Throw their laughter into toil. ~ Carl Sandburg,

897:The historic idea that the devil tempts men had this remarkable effect, it produced the man of iron who fought; the modern idea of blaming his heredity or his circumstances produces the man who gives in at once. ~ Oswald Chambers,

898:There are a number of recommended methods of dealing with ghosts—salt and iron, harmonic resonance, some people swear by exorcism, and not just the priests—but that's the first time I've seen anyone try a left hook. ~ K J Charles,

899:She said, ‘Forgive me for being a dreamer,’ and he took her by the hand and replied, ‘Forgive me for not being here sooner to dream with you.’” ―J. Iron Word Thank you for making all of my dreams come true. Your love, ~ Vi Keeland,

900:The things... which are proper to the understanding no other man is used to impede, for neither fire, nor iron, nor tyrant, nor abuse, touches it in any way. When it has been made a sphere, it continues a sphere. ~ Marcus Aurelius,

901:When things were wet, the minerals calcite, CaCO3 (carbonate with a calcium atom hooked on), and hematite, Fe2O3 (iron oxide, also known as rust), dissolved in the ancient water and cemented every sand grain into place. ~ Bill Nye,

902:Darna felt the breath stolen from her lungs. The prince looked at her. He looked with a kind of desire, as if this kitchen girl had suddenly turned into some piece of iron with mystic powers. Darna could not breathe. ~ Amelia Smith,

903:The paradigm of the development of natural resource-based industry - meatpacking, lard, timber, iron and coal, grain. Cincinnati's lard processing plants looked a lot like JDR's oil refineries thirty years later. ~ Charles R Morris,

904:Think of a field of daisies: they bloom, they wither, and in the spring they grow again. Who wants to see the same stupid daisy year after year, especially with a bunch of crappy iron-lung-type equipment bolted to it? ~ Rudy Rucker,

905:Her communicative presence is radiant heavy metal, searing crystallized magnetic lines of meteoric iron, and more complex layers underneath this, all so sharp-edged and powerful that Gaewha and I both inhale in wonder. ~ N K Jemisin,

906:In a scene right out of Catch-22, the construction firm requested the “best” iron available for some components. Little did they know that the foundry sold three grades of iron ingots: best, best best, and best best best. ~ Sam Kean,

907:It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stoney street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass, just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun. ~ Henry Ward Beecher,

908:The iron arc of the avoiding journey Curves back upon my weakness at the end; Whether the faint light spark against my face Or in the dark my sight hide from my sight, Centre and circumference are both my weakness. ~ Stephen Spender,

909:Then a sound pealed through that dead monstrous realm: Vast like the surge in a tired swimmer’s ears, Clamouring, a fatal iron-hearted roar, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Journey in Eternal Night and the Voice of the Darkness,

910:A good method of discovery is to imagine certain members of a system removed and then see how what is left would behave: for example, where would we be if iron were absent from the world: this is an old example. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg,

911:anything you want to know about Kingston’s green versus orange war, everything you ever need to know about the rudeboy-cum-gunman is not in Bob Marley’s lyrics or in Peter Tosh’s but in Marty Robbins’s “Big Iron.” He’s ~ Marlon James,

912:Cover your cocks,” the men sailors sometimes joked. “They’re always hunting sodomites.” “What do they do to sodomites?” Baru asked. They looked at her with some astonishment. “Hot iron,” one said. “Hssssssssss. ~ Seth Dickinson,

913:dressed in blue-and-orange and red-and-white. “What is this?” she asked numbly. “On the screen?” “It’s the Iron Bowl from ’thirteen. Auburn–’Bama. Auburn wins with a one-hundred-and-nine-yard kick back run. War Damn Eagle. ~ J R Ward,

914:He could feel the Great Iron War coming to an end now, but he no longer had his finger on the button. The curtains of the world were about to close, and the play of life would soon be over. There would be no applause. ~ Dean F Wilson,

915:If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you. ~ Margaret Thatcher,

916:Is, then, the crown too heavy that I wear? … Yet it is bright with many a gem; I, the wearer, see not its far flashings; but darkly feel that I wear that, that dazzling confounds. ’Tis Iron – that I know – not gold. ~ Herman Melville,

917:The phrase 'battling' the principalities and powers took on a whole new aspect, prayer becoming as physical as any piece of steel or iron they could wield against an enemy along with their holy water and crucifixes. ~ E A Bucchianeri,

918:Rage needs expression. Dhritarashtra expresses it by crushing the iron effigy of Bhima while Gandhari expresses it by burning Yudhishtira’s toe with a glance. Once expressed, rage dissipates and reason returns. One ~ Devdutt Pattanaik,

919:She said, ‘Forgive me for being a dreamer,’ and he took her by the hand and replied, ‘Forgive me for not being here sooner to dream with you.’”—J. Iron Word Thank you for making all of my dreams come true. Your love, Reed ~ Vi Keeland,

920:skintight layer of clothing that extends from my feet to my neck that’s supposed to help improve my hypertrophic scarring. The Iron Maiden describes hypertrophic scarring as skin that exhibits the three Rs of being red, ~ Alan Russell,

921:And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. ~ Joseph Smith Jr,

922:At the end of the block, inside an iron fence, the bronze statue of Leif Erikson stood on his pedestal, his hand cupped over his eyes. Leif gazed toward the Charlesgate overpass as if to say Look, I discovered a highway! ~ Rick Riordan,

923:It sounds like a lot of work for my mother, but cooking was almost all she did. In suburban Connecticut, middle-class women were required to stay at home and do nothing but cook and iron. Housecleaning was for immigrants. ~ Donald Hall,

924:Promises bind our kind as surely as iron chains or ropes of human hair. The fae never swear by anything we don't believe in. We don't ask for thanks and we don't offer them; no promises, no regrets, no chains. No lies. ~ Seanan McGuire,

925:The average result has to be the average result. By definition, everybody can't beat the market. As I always say, the iron rule of life is that only 20% of the people can be in the top fifth. That's just the way it is. ~ Charlie Munger,

926:We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources ... But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil and the gas are exhausted. ~ Theodore Roosevelt,

927:And rumor has it that the Central Ammunition Depot hanging off Box Tunnel still contains two thousand barrels of iron-tipped English longbow arrows, in case it becomes urgently necessary to re-fight the Battle of Crécy. ~ Charles Stross,

928:And then there were the poets, those unbelievable people so different from other men, who told anyone who would listen that a wish is more important than a fortune, and that a dream can weigh more than iron or steel. ~ Jacques Lusseyran,

929:Battlefield Yielding clod lulls iron off to sleep bloods clot the patches where they oozed rusts crumble fleshes slime sucking lusts around decay. Murder on murder blinks in childish eyes. ~ August Stramm,

930:Let us roll all our strength, and all Our sweetness, up into one ball: And tear our pleasures with rough strife, Through the iron gates of life. Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run. ~ Andrew Marvell,

931:Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

932:My mother really held the family together. She was a perfect example of the kind of black woman I would love to see again. She ruled my father with an iron hand, yet she barely ever raised her voice above a whisper. ~ John Henrik Clarke,

933:She was a mighty woman, tall as he was, and built on aggressive lines, like a battleship, with a square squat head to which the iron-grey hair was bound as tight as possible in an intricate mystery of tiny plaits. He ~ Margery Allingham,

934:Thoughts and reasonings are like the steel wedges which give a hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever, the prise which forces open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the treasure hidden within. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

935:1Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, + 2speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, ~ Anonymous,

936:All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star stuff. ~ Carl Sagan,

937:I gave him a pleasant smile, which said, If I could see your intestines very slowly embracing a large wooden drum rotated by means of a small iron crank turned gently and softly by myself, I should be extraordinarily happy ~ E E Cummings,

938:My hold of the colonies is in the close affection which grows from common names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges, and equal protection. These are ties which, though light as air, are as strong as links of iron. ~ Edmund Burke,

939:In the ancient tales, to which each Viking aspired, strenght was the only virtue, iron the only currency that mattered. Loki with his cunning, whereby a weaker man might outdo a stronger one, was an anathema to these folk. ~ Mark Lawrence,

940:Sometimes he thinks the walls are throbbing, as if the water-stained concrete has developed a tic, and then he allows himself to close his eyelids which are as heavy as iron shields, so that he can tell himself who he is. ~ Salman Rushdie,

941:Thery're both iron, isn't that funny?" "Funny haha or funny strange?" James handed them back to me "Funny 'occult'" "Ah. Funny strange" James looked at me sternly, "Don't start that. I'm supposed to be the humorous one ~ Maggie Stiefvater,

942:Carryin' a gun is a chancy thing. Sooner or later a man is put in a position to use it. And a body has to figure that if somebody packs iron he plans to use it when the time comes; and if he draws it out, he plans to shoot. ~ Louis L Amour,

943:I am Friend to Carrion Crows and Wolves. I am Carry Me and Kill with Me, and Die with Me Where the Road Ends. I am not the Honeyed Promise of Length of Life in Years to Come, I am the Iron Promise of Never Being a Slave. ~ Richard K Morgan,

944:I know emptiness. I know the taste of blood against my teeth. I know what it is to fill your belly with iron. I know hunger. I know pain. I know memories that won’t stay. I know the ghost of life and the perfume of souls. ~ Roshani Chokshi,

945:Joss Whedon and all the writers of 'Iron Man' and 'Thor' found a way to keep Coulson saying something that keeps you guessing. I'm really lucky because a lot of people play agents and don't get nearly as much fun stuff to do. ~ Clark Gregg,

946:No iron chain, or outward force of any kind, could ever compel the soul of man to believe or to disbelieve: it is his own indefeasible light, that judgment of his; he will reign and believe there by the grace of God alone! ~ Thomas Carlyle,

947:As a people, we have the problem of making our forests outlast this generation, or iron outlast this century, and our coal the next; not merely as a matter of convenience or comfort, but as a matter of stern necessity. ~ William Howard Taft,

948:If you desire a man to tell you comfortable lies about your prowess, and so fetter any hope of true excellence, I'm sure you may find one anywhere. Not all prisons are made of iron bars. Some are made of feather beds. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold,

949:Industrial man—a sentient reciprocating engine having a fluctuating output, coupled to an iron wheel revolving with uniform velocity. And then we wonder why this should be the golden age of revolution and mental derangement. ~ Aldous Huxley,

950:Jacob studied the iron graveyard, where every vehicle was its own gravestone. He drove slowly through, as if he was afraid to wake the dead. That was not it though. The general made it clear that they should fear the living. ~ Dean F Wilson,

951:Kyra did not even slow as she rode up beside a carriage, raised her sword high, and brought it down in a great slash, aiming for the thick, iron chains. Sparks flew as the chain, severed, fell to the ground with a great clank. ~ Morgan Rice,

952:shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,            You shall find what you seek and make it your own,            But despair for your life entombed within stone,            And fail without friends, to fly home alone. ~ Rick Riordan,

953:The snowmobiles were out in force on Iron Lake, zipping about the ice like ants frenzying on a frosted cake. In summer it was motorboats and Jet Skis and sailboats. No matter what the season the lake had little peace. ~ William Kent Krueger,

954:You're not supposed to have iron bars around you - no one is supposed to have that. You're supposed to fall down hills and get lonely, and find your own food and get wet when it rains. That's what happens when you're alive. ~ Sonya Hartnett,

955:As Hurston herself noted, “Roll your eyes in ecstasy and ape his every move, but until we have placed something upon his street corner that is our own, we are right back where we were when they filed our iron collar off. ~ Zora Neale Hurston,

956:Before it had awoke to die on the instant of its waking, a score of bells and clocks had shouted midday and for a minute after its death, from near and far the clappers in their tents of rusted iron clanged across Gormenghast. ~ Mervyn Peake,

957:So, it's the ever popular Firstborn Child of Doom prophecy,huh, ice-boy? How very cliche. Why can't it ever be the third nephew twice removed who's fated to destroy the worls? Iron Prophecy: The Iron Fey~ Julie Kagawa Puck ~ Julie Kagawa,

958:What we want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel. We have wept long enough. No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

959:but when I moved to kiss her she pushed me to arm´s length, snorting as if to clear her nose. She told me I reeked of iron and sent me into the forest telling me not to return until I got the bitter stink of it from my face ~ Patrick Rothfuss,

960:I could have clasped the red walls to my bosom as a garment of eternal peace. "Death," I said, "any death but that of the pit!" Fool! might I have not known that into the pit it was the object of the burning iron to urge me? ~ Edgar Allan Poe,

961:All iron comes from stars,” Seeker replied, her hand still not quite brushing the hilt of the blade. “It’s the last element they can burn before they go nova. Iron’s the skeletons of stars, and it’s what makes our blood red. I ~ Elizabeth Bear,

962:It's hard to get a movie made about characters these days. We're in a climate where, unless it's based on a toy or it's a superhero where somewhere it ends in man - like Spider-Man, Superman or Iron Man - it's hard to get it made. ~ Doug Liman,

963:Not celibate are they who wear monastic garb and shut themselves away behind thick walls and massive iron gates, But celibate are they whose hearts and minds are celibate, whether they be in cloisters or in the public marts. ~ Mikhail Naimy,

964:On Fixing Physical Weaknesses LAIRD: “All you flexible people should go bang some iron, and all you big weight lifters should go do some yoga. . . . We always gravitate toward our strengths because we want to be in our glory. ~ Timothy Ferriss,

965:She already got the blue dress on I ironed this morning, the one with sixty-five pleats on the waist, so tiny I got to squint through my glasses to iron. I don’t hate much in life, but me and that dress is not on good terms. ~ Kathryn Stockett,

966:You too are an exile, I thought. You morn for the broad open steppes where you have room to spread your icy wings. Here you feel stifled and constricted, like an eagle that cries and beats against the bars of its iron cage. ~ Mikhail Lermontov,

967:The horrors of the Second World War, the chilling winds of the Cold War and the crushing weight of the Iron Curtain are little more than fading memories. Ideals that once commanded great loyalty are now taken for granted. ~ Jan Peter Balkenende,

968:They talk o' rich folks bein' stuck up and genteel, but for iron-clad pride o' respectability there's nowt like poor chapel folk. Why, 'tis as cold as the wind on Greenhow Hill -- aye, and colder, too, for 'twill never change. ~ Rudyard Kipling,

969:This piece of iron which he had been allowed to keep aroused a more profound wave of gratitude towards heaven in his heart than he had experienced, in his previous life, from the greatest blessings that had descended upon him. ~ Alexandre Dumas,

970:Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance,

971:When people attempt to rebel against the iron logic of Nature, they come into conflict with the very same principles to which they owe their existence as human beings. Their actions against Nature must lead to their own downfall. ~ Adolf Hitler,

972:He felt what the earth may possibly feel, at the moment when it is torn open with the iron, in order that grain may be deposited within it; it feels only the wound; the quiver of the germ and the joy of the fruit only arrive later. ~ Victor Hugo,

973:Holy water, a couple cloves of garlic, vials of salt, and iron fillings filled the basket, intended to be door prizes for anything that showed up in an attempt to suck my blood, carry me off to faerieland, or sell me stale cookies. ~ Jim Butcher,

974:How should one periphrase Vídarr? He maybe called the Silent God, Possessor of the Iron Shoe, Foe and Slayer of Fenris-Wolf, Avenger of the Gods, Divine Dweller in the Homesteads of the Fathers, Son of Odin, and Brother of the Aesir. ~ Anonymous,

975:I thought that the grounded-ish nature of the first Iron Man and where I think the success of it was based was I think people got excited that this was a technologically possible occurrence; and didn't Obama order an Iron Man? ~ Robert Downey Jr,

976:Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart. - from "The Iron ~ Henry Rollins,

977:There are two competing philosophies in Wool: one is that people have to live under an iron thumb in order to survive, and the other one is that everyone should live completely freely and happily and everything will sort itself out. ~ Hugh Howey,

978:Sociological claptrap also rears its ugly head. When one reads that (for example) ‘Dark Age leaders sought re-validation through the extensive reuse of Iron-Age hill forts’, or similar, one has to question what the writer was smoking. ~ Jim Storr,

979:The Persians are called the French of the East; we will call the Arabs Oriental Italians. A gifted noble people; a people of wildstrong feelings, and of iron restraint over these: the characteristic of noblemindedness, of genius. ~ Thomas Carlyle,

980:Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him. Or give it up. This is not a game of cards! This is your life and mine! I've spent a whole lifetime building this and as long as I'm in charge, nobody is going to knock it down. ~ Lee Kuan Yew,

981:1236 Whether they have forgotten Whether they have forgotten Or are forgetting now Or never remembered Safer not to know Miseries of conjecture Are a softer woe Than a Fact of Iron Hardened with I know ~ Emily Dickinson,

982:My mother is from Cairo, Georgia. This makes everything she says sound like it went through a curling iron. Other people sound flat to my ear; their words just hang in the air. But when my mother says something, the ends curl. ~ Augusten Burroughs,

983:Upstream, Arkansas and Ohio have their bottomlands, too, populated by a jaundiced and hungry-looking race, prone to fevers, whose eyes gleam at the sight of stone and iron, for they know only sand and driftwood and muddy water. ~ Jorge Luis Borges,

984:And all I could see would be stars. And stars are the places where the molecules that life is made of were constructed billions of years ago. For examples, all the iron in your blood, which stops you being anaemic, was made in a star. ~ Mark Haddon,

985:In part, that's because when we delay marriage, it's not just women who become independent. It's also men, who, like women, learn to clothe and feed themselves, to clean their homes iron their shirts and pack their own suitcases. ~ Rebecca Traister,

986:Lots of Americans, they do think that yes, Russian hackers are everywhere. Russian hackers are in every fridge, Russian hackers are in every iron and so on and so forth. But this is not true. Those are fake news and this is slander. ~ Dmitry Peskov,

987:And all I could see would be stars. And stars are the places where the molecules that life is made of were constructed billions of years ago. For example, all the iron in your blood which stops you from being anemic was made in a star. ~ Mark Haddon,

988:coincidences are strange and dangerous things. Believe me, it is a great deal better to find cast-iron proof that you’re innocent than to languish in a cell hoping that the police—who already think you’re guilty—will find it for you. ~ Douglas Adams,

989:If the Modern Technical Age is to remain human, it cannot overlook the trust that our ancestors have left with us. Our past cannot be mere matter for a more or less curious utilitarianism, like iron deposits, say, on the moon. ~ Marshall G S Hodgson,

990:My dad had this rock hard body and would work 12- to 13-hour days. The guys he worked with were scrap-iron guys. Nobody on that road crew had read a book in 10 years, but there was something about the way they lived I really admired. ~ Richard Russo,

991:No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going. Not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged. ~ Oliver Cromwell,

992:The Indian vessels, a contemporary British observer wrote, ‘united elegance and utility and are models of patience [sic] and fine workmanship.’ Indian workers were considered expert in all shipbuilding materials—wood, iron and brass ~ Shashi Tharoor,

993:The wreath of cigarette smoke which curls about the head of the growing lad holds his brain in an iron grip which prevents it from growing and his mind from developing just as surely as the iron shoe does the foot of the Chinese girl. ~ Hudson Maxim,

994:Washington gave orders to construct six frigates—the birth of the U.S. Navy—and Hamilton negotiated contracts for many naval components: cannon, shot and shells, iron ballast, sailcloth, live oak and cedar, and saltpeter for gunpowder. ~ Ron Chernow,

995:If the October days were a cordial like the sub-acids of fruit, these are a tonic like the wine of iron. Drink deep or be careful how you taste this December vintage. The first sip may chill, but a full draught warms and invigorates. ~ John Burroughs,

996:People behind the Iron curtain have such an incredible image of America and jazz. I expected to find a Gerry Mulligan or Miles Davis on every corner...I almost expected a Shorty Rogers to deliver the milk, a Bud Shank to be the mailman. ~ Gabor Szabo,

997:Thery're both iron, isn't that funny?" "Funny haha or funny strange?" James handed them back to me "Funny 'occult'" "Ah. Funny strange" James looked at me sternly, "Don't start that. I'm supposed to be the humorous one ~ Maggie Stiefvater,

998:Affliction hardens and discourages us because, like a red hot iron, it stamps the soul to its very depths with the scorn, the disgust, and even the self-hatred and sense of guilt that crime logically should produce but actually does not. ~ Simone Weil,

999:Everything in Irenaeus is bathed in a warm and radiant joy, a wise and majestic gentleness. His words of struggle are hard as iron and crystal clear, ... so penetrating that they cannot fail to enlighten the unbiased observer. ~ Hans Urs von Balthasar,

1000:There's always the sense that you should strike while the iron's hot and while there are all these opportunities, but that's not the way I get ideas. It has to be more organic, building up through living and through experiencing things. ~ Miranda July,

1001:There was a tendency by some to romanticize love, to make a fetish out of it. The poets made love seem like a bar of iron coming out of the furnace at the blacksmith's, red hot and staying so forever. Soto did not think much of such notions. ~ Ken Liu,

1002:The song succeeds or fails just based on whether you argue your point successfully. I like throwing images together, which create meaning if you listen to it one time, but if you listen to it another time you might get a different meaning. ~ Iron Wine,

1003:A stupid despot may constrain his slaves with iron chains; but a true politician binds them even more strongly by the chain of their own ideas… on the soft fibers of the brain is founded the unshakable base of the soundest of Empires. ~ Michel Foucault,

1004:If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist, in economic, political, scientific, and all the other kinds of struggles, as well as the military, then the peril to freedom will continue to rise. ~ John F Kennedy,

1005:I said, 'Yes theres a lot to look a head to. Like croaking iron at Widders Dump. We do the croaking and they get the iron.' He said, 'Riddley theres other things to do as wel.' I said, 'Yes and they all smel of cow shit dont they? ~ Russell Hoban,

1006:I've been very lucky. All I wanted was to pay the rent. Then these characters took off and suddenly there were Hulk coffee mugs and Iron Man lunchboxes and The Avengers sweatshirts everywhere. Money's okay, but what I really like is working. ~ Stan Lee,

1007:Maybe Michael left a candle burning. Maybe be forgot to turn off his iron, or the oven. Maybe he left his dishwasher running and it was flooding the place, or a thirsty plant desperately needed water. Maybe I was way out of line. ~ Myra McEntire,

1008:Nothing like that,” she said, shaking her head. Well, that ruled out Jinx’s pooka orgy theory. I’d worked a few pooka infestations, and the supernatural rodents were notorious for stealing anything shiny that wasn’t nailed down with iron. ~ E J Stevens,

1009:There is an iron “scold’s bridle” in Walton Church.  They used these things in ancient days for curbing women’s tongues.  They have given up the attempt now.  I suppose iron was getting scarce, and nothing else would be strong enough. ~ Jerome K Jerome,

1010:There will have to be rigid and iron discipline before we achieve anything great and enduring, and that discipline will not come by mere academic argument and appeal to reason and logic. Discipline is learnt in the school of adversity. ~ Mahatma Gandhi,

1011:The seals I told you about in the book. They were forged from iron. God created a substance toxic to anything not of earth and used it to make the seals. He also placed iron in the blood of man to help prevent evil from inhabiting us. ~ Iain Rob Wright,

1012:Lenin is an artist who has worked men, as other artists have worked marble or metals. But men are harder than stone and less malleable than iron. There is no masterpiece. The artist has failed. The task was superior to his capacities. ~ Benito Mussolini,

1013:Something they forge there sitting unknown in the silence eternal, Whether of evil or good it is they who shall choose who are masters Calm, unopposed; they are gods and they work out their iron caprices. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, Ilion,

1014:I dreamt that Earth was finished. And the only human being to contemplate the end was Franz Kafka. In heaven, the Titans were fighting to the death. From a wrought-iron seat in Central Park, Kafka was watching the world burn. ~ Roberto Bola o,

1015:It is remarkable that Providence has given us all things for our advantage near at hand; but iron, gold, and silver, being both the instruments of blood and slaughter and the price of it, nature has hidden in the bowels of the earth. ~ Seneca the Younger,

1016:Marvel is very secretive, so there was no script. About six months before production, they gave me some pages and it was from a cop movie. And then, six months later, I got a phone call saying, "Do you want to come do this?" [iron Man] ~ James Badge Dale,

1017:My cheek blanches white while I write; I start at the scratch of my pen; my own mad brood of eagles devours me; fain would I unsay this audacity; but an iron-mailed hand clenches mine in a vice, and prints down every letter in my spite. ~ Herman Melville,

1018:soy beans contain potent enzyme inhibitors that cause intestinal problems, cancer and growth retardation. Soy is also high in phytic acid, which blocks the absorption of essential minerals, such as iron, calcium, magnesium and zinc. ~ Sally Fallon Morell,

1019:This iron, brute, gigantic helpless toy They call a world, this thing that turns and turns And shrieks and bleeds and cannot stop, this victim Broken and living yet on its own wheel, ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Meditations of Mandavya,

1020:We all know he ranks me above Iron Man, Thor, and whatever other Avenger makes an on-screen appearance. Not just because I'm clearly better and clearly not fictional. But because I'm his bodyguard. His real-life superhero. ~ Krista Ritchie,

1021:Snow was forecast, and the pavements were hard as iron.You felt it in each step, the bone-cold stones hammering through your frame, because this was what London did, when the weather reminded the city it was temporary: it hunched down tight. ~ Mick Herron,

1022:The flexible muscles growing daily more rigid give character to the countenance ; that is, they trace the operations of the mind with the iron pen of fate, and tell us not only what powers are within, but how they have been employed. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft,

1023:It means she's amazing - and terrifying. Annwyl kills without question, rules with an iron fist, and has little patience for anyone. She can be cruel , she can be loving, she can be heartless, and she can care too much... I can't explain Annwyl ~ G A Aiken,

1024:No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses. ~ John Steinbeck,

1025:The modern hallucination in which women are trapped or trap themselves is similarly rigid, cruel, and euphemistically painted. Contemporary culture directs attention to imagery of the Iron Maiden, while censoring real women’s faces and bodies. ~ Naomi Wolf,

1026:Time neither flies nor sleeps. It is flexible, plastic, ever changing. Spend two hours watching a movie curled up with your lover and time ceases to exist. Spend two hours waiting for your lover to come and time is the iron bars of a prison ~ Chloe Thurlow,

1027:To me, words are like stickpins. I can throw a word at you and it will bounce right off your body. But if I take that little stickpin and wire it to the back of an iron bar called human emotion, I can put that thing right through your heart. ~ Tony Robbins,

1028:What is to be remembered, I suppose I remember; everything else dissolves and vanishes: breath on an icy mirror. ~ Daniel Quinn, The Frog King, or Iron Henry, in Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (eds.) Black Thorn, White Rose (1994), ISBN 0-380-77129-2, p. 97,

1029:Did you know they call the tower the "Iron Lady"? Hmm. Isn't that Margaret Thatched called that, too? Frankly, they don't look anything alike to me. For one thing, Maggie has two legs, and the Parisian Iron Lady has four on the floor, like me. ~ Sheron Long,

1030:In days of yore, the poet's pen From wing of bird was plunder'd, Perhaps of goose, but now and then, From Jove's own eagle sunder'd. But now, metallic pens disclose Alone the poet's numbers; In iron inspiration glows, Or with the poet slumbers. ~ John Adams,

1031:Love Thy Neighbor Love thy neighbor, to Christ be leal! Crush him never with iron-heel, Though in the dust he's lying! All the living responsive await Love with power to recreate, Needing alone the trying. ~ Bjornstjerne Bjornson,

1032:On the top of the tomb, seemingly driven through the solid marble—for the structure was composed of a few vast blocks of stone—was a great iron spike or stake. On going to the back I saw, graven in great Russian letters: 'The dead travel fast. ~ Bram Stoker,

1033:The Mallen Girl The Mallen Litter FEATURING HAMILTON Hamilton Goodbye Hamilton Harold AS CATHERINE MARCHANT Heritage of Folly The Fen Tiger House of Men The Iron Façade Miss Martha Mary Crawford The Slow Awakening CHILDREN’S Matty Doolin ~ Catherine Cookson,

1034:We hence acquire this sublime and interesting idea; that all the calcareous mountains in the world, and all the strata of clay, coal, marl, sand, and iron, which are incumbent on them, are MONUMENTS OF THE PAST FELICITY OF ORGANIZED NATURE! ~ Erasmus Darwin,

1035:His heart hurt, like it was being squeezed in an iron fist. He heard some kind of sound come out of his throat, and then he wrapped her up tight in his arms and tucked his head against her neck, letting the soft warmth of her skin soothe him. ~ Susan Fanetti,

1036:I drank lots of water and orange juice and took a multivitamin and iron supplement for breakfast, which was my regimen since Bill had come into my life and brought (along with love, adventure, and excitement) the constant threat of anemia. ~ Charlaine Harris,

1037:Oh, let what I am keep on existing and ceasing to exist, and let my obedience align itself with such iron       conditions that the quaking of deaths and of births doesn't shake the deep place I want to reserve for myself eternally. ~ Mark Eisner,

1038:To gibbet is to dip a corpse in tar and suspend it in a flat iron cage (the gibbet) in plain view of townsfolk while it rots and gets pecked apart by crows. A stroll through the square must have been a whole different plate of tamales back then. ~ Mary Roach,

1039:A crystal of aluminum oxide is colorless if pure but becomes blue when it contains impurities of iron atoms: it is the gemstone called sapphire. Exactly the same aluminum oxide crystal containing impurities of chromium is the gem called ruby. ~ Mark Miodownik,

1040:She was iron,” I whispered. “Iron and steel and granite and everything strong packaged up in feathers and goose down and kitten fur and everything soft. She was the most precious gift I’ve ever received and will be until I have my own babies. ~ Kristen Ashley,

1041:Still the strange ships glittered and shone, and this led to some discussion as to what they might be made of. The Admiral thought perhaps iron or steel. (Metal ships indeed! The French are, as I have often supposed, a very whimsical nation.) ~ Susanna Clarke,

1042:The unknown is uncontrolled; no strategies exist that will enclose the endless territory of the new. Only by trusting in yourself and in this world can you get past the watchdogs of your fears and out of the iron gates of the already-known. ~ Arthur J Deikman,

1043:Through every trial we grow. All suffering we experience has a meaning. Though it seems very cruel, it is like the fire that smelts the iron ore: the steel that emerges from that furnace is beautifully strong, useful for many purposes. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda,

1044:CITY OF THE WORLD (FOR ALL RACES ARE HERE, ALL THE LANDS OF THE EARTH MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS HERE), CITY OF THE SEA! CITY OF WHARVES AND STORES - CITY OF TALL FACADES OF MARBLE AND IRON! PROUD AND PASSIONATE CITY - METTLESOME, MAD, EXTRAVAGANT CITY! ~ Walt Whitman,

1045:Hate is of all things the mightiest divider, nay, is division itself. To couple hatred, therefore, though wedlock try all her golden links, and borrow to tier aid all the iron manacles and fetters of law, it does but seek to twist a rope of sand. ~ John Milton,

1046:Is, then, the crown too heavy that I wear? This Iron Crown of Lombardy. Yet it is bright with many a gem; I, the wearer, see not its far flashings; but darkly feel that I wear that, that dazzling confounds. 'Tis Iron - that I know - not gold. ~ Herman Melville,

1047:Sometimes I think it must have been nice to be alive in the days where everyone knew that Faerie existed. Sure, bands of angry humans sometimes tried to kill us with iron and fire, but nobody questioned where we wanted to celebrate the seasons. ~ Seanan McGuire,

1048:The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff. How far had he walked? Nobody knows. Where did he come from? Nobody knows. How was he made? Nobody knows. Taller than a house the Iron Man stood at the top of the cliff, at the very brink, in the darkness. ~ Ted Hughes,

1049:The panel on the right portrayed Jesus emerging from his tomb, as Mary Magdalene, in a red dress (also iron, or perhaps grated particles of gold), holds out to him a purple garment (manganese dioxide) and a loaf of yellow bread (silver chloride). ~ Alan Bradley,

1050:“The Self is like a powerful magnet within us. It draws us gradually to Itself, though we imagine we are going to It of our own accord: whereas the truth is that we are iron filings and It is the Atman-magnet that is pulling us towards Itself.” ~ Raman Maharshi,

1051:If there are indeed any iron laws of history, one of them is surely that in any major crisis of the capitalist system, a sector of the liberal middle class will shift to the left, and then shift smartly back again once the crisis has blown over. ~ Terry Eagleton,

1052:As she passed through the wrought-iron gate, she found herself walking the same path she had walking the night she went to bid good-bye to Liviana. The night she had found Mariabella’s body and met Falco. The night her whole life had changed forever. ~ Fiona Paul,

1053:borrowed the carrying strength of water and the driving force of the wind, he quickened his fire by blowing, and his simple tools, pointed first with copper and then with iron, increased and varied and became more elaborate and efficient. He sheltered ~ H G Wells,

1054:Carnegie survived and triumphed in an environment rife with cronyism and corruption. Much of the capital invested in his iron and steel companies was derived from business activities that might be today, but were not at the time, regarded as immoral ~ David Nasaw,

1055:Men call it the tyranny of tears, it is an iron tyranny—no man could be so cruel, so devilish, as a woman with her weakness, recrimination, convenient ailments, nerves, and tears. We men are all weak as water before the primitive devices of Eve. ~ Christina Stead,

1056:There are several dubious assumptions about the early West. One is that it was the home of intractable self-reliance amounting to anarchy, whereas in fact large parts of it were owned by Eastern and foreign capital and run by iron-fisted bosses. ~ Wallace Stegner,

1057:ACT12.10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. ~ Anonymous,

1058:All day you have been on my mind, a steam iron pressing the convolutions from my cortex, ironing me flat. Worrying cooks my cells feverish. I am irritable with love boiling into anxiety, till I grow furious with you, lying under the surgeon’s knife. ~ Marge Piercy,

1059:Deborah just watched him as he skidded to a stop in front of her. He seemed young for a dentist, maybe thirty, and in all honesty he looked a little too buff, too, as though he had been pumping iron when he should have been filling cavities. Deborah ~ Jeff Lindsay,

1060:Ich mag eure kalte Gerechtigkeit nicht; und aus dem Auge eurer Richter blickt mir immer der Henker und sein kaltes Eisen. (Ich don't like your cold justice; and from the eyes of your judges seems to always gaze the hangman and his cold iron.) ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,

1061:I prioritize in life. I like to work, I do TV shows, I do a lot of Iron Man training. I enjoy kicking back on a good night and drinking wine until I go to bed, and having fun with my friends. You just have to make time for it and keep it balanced. ~ Joe Bastianich,

1062:It's as if the railroad were looming on the horizon, and the most visionary thing the futurists of the day can think of to say about it is that these iron horses will have a disastrous effect on the hardworking manufacturers of oat-bags for horses. ~ Cory Doctorow,

1063:Somewhere along the way, their passion had become bottled anger. The anger had fermented into bitter hatred. Then the hatred had fed upon itself, gnawing away at them over years, even decades, until only a shell of cold iron and colder hate remained. ~ Jim Butcher,

1064:Certain things in life will cut you open like a knife. When that happens—at that exposing moment—the world gets a glimpse of what’s truly inside you. So what will be revealed when you’re sliced open by tension and pressure? Iron? Or air? Or bullshit? ~ Ryan Holiday,

1065:father worked behind closed doors inside the house, had a huge ancient Latin dictionary on a wrought-iron stand, spoke Spanish on the phone, and drank sherry and ate raw meat, in the form of chorizo, at five o’clock. Until the day in the yard with my ~ Alice Sebold,

1066:It’s the strong who remain, the bent but unbroken, like the iron rods that used to give this concrete its strength. Floods, fires, earthquakes, disease, starvation, betrayal, isolation, murder. What doesn’t kill us sharpens us. Hardens us. Schools us. ~ Rick Yancey,

1067:The pain in my heart was worse than anything I ever imagined. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. All I could feel was the void of her absence growing stronger inside me, and the panic of not ever seeing her eyes open again struck me like an iron whip. ~ Nely Cab,

1068:Big lots,' I said, seeing the eighty-year-old oaks and shady lawns. The houses were set way back and had iron fences and stone drives. The harder to hear your neighbors scream, my dear,' was David’s answer, and I sent my head up and down in agreement. ~ Kim Harrison,

1069:Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:5–6). Like a surgeon, friends cut you in order to heal you. Friends become wiser together through a healthy clash of viewpoints. “As iron sharpens iron, so friend sharpens friend” (Proverbs 27:17). ~ Timothy J Keller,

1070:I take back everything I ever said about that boy being clever." He turned around to face the bar while leveling an accusatory finger at the closed door. "That," he said firmly to the room in general, "is what comes of working with iron every day. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,

1071:I wonder what Tommy Morris would have had to say to all this number 6-iron, number 12-iron, number 28-iron stuff. He probably wouldn't have said anything, just made one of those strange Scottish noises at the back of his throat like someone gargling. ~ P G Wodehouse,

1072:No-one gets an iron-clad guarantee of success. Certainly, factors like opportunity, luck and timing are important. But the backbone of success is usually found in old-fashioned, basic concepts like hard work, determination, good planning and perseverance. ~ Mia Hamm,

1073:When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen. ~ Jackson Pollock,

1074:Knowing nothing shuts the iron gates; the new love opens them. The sound of the gates opening wakes the beautiful woman asleep. Kabir says: Fantastic! Don't let a chance like this go by! ~ Kabir, Knowing Nothing Shuts The Iron Gates ,

1075:Certain things in life will cut you open like a knife. When that happens—at that exposing moment—the world gets a glimpse of what’s truly inside you. So what will be revealed when you’re sliced open by tension and pressure? Iron? Or air? Or bullshit? As ~ Ryan Holiday,

1076:He is solid; immovable, iron-willed. He showed me one day his killing bottle. I'm imprisoned in it. Fluttering against the glass. Because I can see through it I still think I can escape. I have hope. But it's all an illusion. A thick round wall of glass. ~ John Fowles,

1077:Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil. -The Iron Code of Druss the Legend ~ David Gemmell,

1078:the pole’s center was a gleaming lump about the size of a person’s head, which any Spacer would recognize as a small nickel-iron asteroid, as common in space as dead leaves were on the reforested surface. But rare down here, even after the Hard Rain. ~ Neal Stephenson,

1079:The virtuous woman must be treated like a relic - adored, but not handled; she should be guarded and prized, like a fine flower-garden, the beauty and fragrance of which the owner allows others to enjoy only at a distance, and through iron walls. ~ Miguel de Cervantes,

1080:When driven to the outhouse by sheer urgent need, she carried the big iron skillet. If that beast showed up again, teeth bared, she’d knock him into the middle of next week. She might not be a hunter, but she’d been a damn fine softball player in her day. ~ Robyn Carr,

1081:Butterflies were small and light, and very magic sensitive. For some reason I made them feel safe and they gravitated to me like iron shavings to a magnet. They ruined my ferocious badass image, but you'd have to be a complete beast to swat butterflies. ~ Ilona Andrews,

1082:Nor did she merely smile, she glowed with inner goodness that made him think of the vast iron cookstove in his grandmother's kitchen back on the farm. Here, he knew by certain instinct, was a woman who made wonderful cookies and would give you some. ~ Charlotte MacLeod,

1083:seemed as if she could dream her life away in such luxury of pensiveness, in which she made her present all in all, from not daring to think of the past, or wishing to contemplate the future. But the future must be met, however stern and iron it be. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell,

1084:The iron hand of necessity commands, and her stern decree is supreme law, to which the gods even must submit. In deep silence rules the uncounselled sister of eternal fate. Whatever she lays upon thee, endure; perform whatever she commands. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,

1085:Three studies have focused on nonanemic iron deficiency leading to fatigue. Two studies showed that oral iron supplementation reduces fatigue, with no significant change in hemoglobin levels, in women with a ferritin level of less than 50 ng per milliliter, ~ Anonymous,

1086:You see, my friends...you begin to ask the questions, 'Who owns the oil?' You begin to ask the question, 'Who owns the iron ore?' You begin to ask the question, 'Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is two-thirds water?' ~ Martin Luther King Jr,

1087:Big lots,' I said, seeing the eighty-year-old oaks and shady lawns. The houses were set way back and had iron fences and stone drives. The harder to hear your neighbors scream, my dear,' was David’s answer, and I sent my head up and down in agreement. ~ Kim Harrison,

1088:Innumerable stains splashed wildly against the floor, the walls, the iron stanchions … everywhere. Fet recoiled in disgust. “This is all …?” “It is excrement,” said Setrakian. “The creatures will shit while they eat.” Fet looked around in amazement. ~ Guillermo del Toro,

1089:Man...heats up like a lightbulb: red hot in the twinkling of an eye and cold again in a flash. The female, on the other hand...heats up like an iron. Slowly, over a low heat, like tasty stew. But then, once she has heated up, there's no stopping her. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,

1090:Man...heats up like a lightbulb: red hot in the twinkling of an eye and cold again in a flash. The female, on the other hand...heats up like an iron. Slowly, over a low heat, like tasty stew. But then, once she has heated up, there's no stopping her. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zafon,

1091:Greeks who coined the term “Amazon.” The word literally means “without breast.” It is said that in order to facilitate the drawing of a bow, the female’s right breast was removed, either in early childhood or with a red-hot iron after she became an adult. ~ Stieg Larsson,

1092:He is solid; immovable, iron-willed. He showed me one day his killing bottle. I'm imprisoned in it. Fluttering against the glass. Because I can see through it I still think I can escape. I have hope. But it's all an illusion. A thick round wall of glass. ~ John Fowles,

1093:I've been experimenting more and more with LN2, liquid nitrogen. I've used it in battle on 'Iron Chef America,' but have also made some great ice creams at home for my family. Since it freezes basically on contact, you can have ice cream ready in mere minutes. ~ Cat Cora,

1094:Never fear quarrels, but seek adventures. I have taught you how to handle a sword; you have thews of iron, a wrist of steel. Fight on all occasions. Fight the more for duels being forbidden, since consequently there is twice as much courage in fighting. ~ Alexandre Dumas,

1095:poet should not be some sweet-singing bird in a trap, feasting on the meat while blind to the net. The net is the meat, all those entanglements and snares and iron claws that hobble us and prevent our escape from the limits of our weak and fallen flesh. ~ Bruce Holsinger,

1096:Tallie looked for something to throw, but considering the fact that she threw like a girl, she dumped that plan in lieu of grabbing her new iron and swinging it like a bowling ball between the bad man's legs, where it connected with a nauseating thunk . ~ Stephanie Bond,

1097:When the man arises who can make you laugh, solemn Ista, angry Ista, iron Ista, then will your heart be healed. You have not prayed for this: it’s a guerdon even the gods cannot give you. We are limited to such simples as redemption from your sins. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold,

1098:A DIVINE IMAGE Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face; Terror the human form divine, And Secresy the human dress. The human dress is forged iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sealed, The human heart its hungry gorge. ~ William Blake,

1099:all the atoms that make each of us up—the iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones, the carbon in our brains—were manufactured in red giant stars thousands of light-years away in space and billions of years ago in time. We are, as I like to say, starstuff. ~ Carl Sagan,

1100:Chocolate thickens the saliva, which isn't good news if you've gotta recite Shakespeare or sing Iron Man. Having said that, you're not supposed to drink tea either but I still do before gigs. It's not very rock and roll, but it's like a magic potion to me. ~ Ozzy Osbourne,

1101:I blinked until my eyes were clear. I was glad Cole wasn’t here. He thought that I was some sort of iron maiden and I didn’t like to convince him otherwise. Only Sam was allowed to see what a mess I really was, because Sam knowing felt like me knowing. ~ Maggie Stiefvater,

1102:To go from Jon Favreau for Iron Man 1 and 2 to Kenneth Branagh for Thor and the very different world of Thor, it's about how to adapt to Coulson in a different setting and a different world while, at the same time, still have him be a part of the same world. ~ Clark Gregg,

1103:If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, then the gods will repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense. Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked. ~ Tom Robbins,

1104:Never fear quarrels, but seek adventures. I have taught you how to handle a sword; you have thews of iron, a wrist of steel. Fight on all occasions. Fight the more for duels being forbidden, since consequently there is twice as much courage in fighting. I ~ Alexandre Dumas,

1105:They seemed to fall forever. Geryon retained an iron-edged grip on the trembling Kadence, her hair whipping around them like angry silk ribbons. She didn't scream something he'd expected, but she did turn and wind her legs around him, something he had not. ~ Gena Showalter,

1106:When God wants to move a mountain, he does not take a bar of iron, but he takes a little worm. The fact is, we have too much strength. We are not weak enough. It is not our strength that we want. One drop of God's strength is worth more than all the world. ~ Dwight L Moody,

1107:You know, I'm the only one in this family who has no problems, . . . And you know why? Because any time I'm feeling blue, or puzzled , what I do, I just invite a few people to come visit me in the bathroom, and--well, we iron things out together, that's all. ~ J D Salinger,

1108:If you’re an older man, you should not have a supplement with iron because iron accumulates in the heart and can lead to a condition called hemosiderosis. Look on the market for vitamin supplements that do not have iron that are designed specifically for men. ~ Dan Buettner,

1109:Real disciples absorb the fiery darts of the adversary by holding aloft the quenching shield of faith with one hand, while holding to the iron rod with the other (see Eph. 6:16; 1 Ne. 15:24; D&C 27:17). There should be no mistaking; it will take both hands! ~ Neal A Maxwell,

1110:She looked up through a haze of pain. At the edge of the garden, a dark figure approached—the silhouette of a man whose eyes shone like miniature headlamps, blinding Reyna. She heard the scrape of iron against leather as he drew another arrow from his quiver. ~ Rick Riordan,

1111:You think angels are gentle," said Julian, "they are anything but. They bring justice in blood and heavenly fire. They take vengeance with fists and iron. Their glory is such it would burn out your eyes if you looked at them. It is a cold and brutal glory. ~ Cassandra Clare,

1112:A house of stone and glass and iron should be stark and sober, a watchtower from which a benevolent guard is kept over society. But the white stone of this particular house rippled as if reacting to a hand that had found its most pleasurable point of contact. ~ Helen Oyeyemi,

1113:As by knowing one tool of iron, dear one, we come to know all things made out of iron: that they differ only in name and form, while the stuff of which all are made is iron- so through that spiritual wisdom, dear one, we come to know that ll of life is one. ~ Eknath Easwaran,

1114:I like cats.... When I meet a cat, I say, "Poor Pussy!" and stoop down and tickle the side of its head; and the cat sticks up its tail in a rigid, cast-iron manner, arches its back, and wipes its nose up against my trousers; and all is gentleness and peace. ~ Jerome K Jerome,

1115:Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat, or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil. That was the iron code of Druss the Legend. ~ David Gemmell,

1116:Not knowing what else to try, she got out her heavy cast-iron skillet and banged it against the top of the rad in hopes of reviving the ageing pipes. The noise was deafening, vibrating through the room like a jet aircraft crashing through the sound barrier. ~ Debbie Macomber,

1117:People have no idea how much work it is for a man to produce an ejaculation. You have this seminal vesicle churning out this fluid, the prostate gland producing an alkaline solution. It's like having five iron chefs in your crotch working to cook up this stuff. ~ Mark Leyner,

1118:While illusion distorts reality for a moment, error can reign for a millennia in abstractions, throw its iron yoke over whole peoples and stifle the noblest impulses of humanity; those it cannot deceive are left in chains by those it has, by its slaves. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer,

1119:While in the case of his iron money, as I have explained, Lycurgus arranged for heavy weight to be matched by low value, he did the opposite for the currency of speech. Here he developed the technique of expressing a wide range of ideas in just a few, spare words. ~ Plutarch,

1120:Cows eat grass and silage. This is melting the ice caps and killing us all. So they need a new foodstuff: something that is rich in iron, calcium and natural goodness. Plainly they cannot eat meat so here is an idea to chew on. Why not feed them vegetarians? ~ Jeremy Clarkson,

1121:One of the zombies lunged at Monkeypants, but before the golden sword could reach the iron armor, Gameknight blocked the attack, allowing his father to counter. He scored three quick hits before the monster disappeared, littering the ground with armor and XP. ~ Mark Cheverton,

1122:If anyone - superior or inferior - comes to hinder your practice, you should be unshakable, like an iron boulder pulled by a silk scarf. It won't do to be a weak character whose head bends in whichever direction the wind blows, like grass on a mountain pass. ~ Dudjom Rinpoche,

1123:Netherton was watching the intricate texture of her bustier, which resembled a microminiature model of some Victorian cast-iron station roof, its countless tiny panes filmed as by the coal smoke of fingerling locomotives, yet flexing as she breathed and spoke. ~ William Gibson,

1124:Presently he added to himself the power of the horse and the ox, he borrowed the carrying strength of water and the driving force of the wind, he quickened his fire by blowing, and his simple tools, pointed first with copper and then with iron, increased and varied ~ H G Wells,

1125:She lifts her eyes, and there is Death in the corner, but not like a king with his iron crown, as the epics claimed. Why, it is a giant brush loaded with white paint. It descends upon her with gentle suddenness, obliterating the shape of the world. ~ Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,

1126:To ADMOVE  (ADMO'VE)   v.a.[admoveo, Lat.]To bring one thing to another. If, unto the powder of loadstone or iron, we admove the northpole of the loadstone, the powders, or small divisions, will erect and conform themselves thereto.Brown’sVulgar Errours,b. ii. ~ Samuel Johnson,

1127:12.00 midnight: whilst soaking in my bath I hear a distant shout. "I'm going to bed, but I don't necessarily have to go alo-o-ne." It's Dr Chapman in the passage. He repeats the line three times, like someone selling scrap iron and it recedes along the corridor. ~ Michael Palin,

1128:He dreamed of what he called a Chinese Cromwell, “to carry out harsh rule, and with iron and fire to forge and temper our countrymen for twenty, thirty, even fifty years. After that we can give them the books of Rousseau and tell them about the deeds of Washington. ~ Evan Osnos,

1129:Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way! ~ Herman Melville,

1130:What can not be overcome in prayer? Answer me! What cannot be done by the hand of the Almighty? Answer me! What can be done by your feeble arms!? ANSWER ME! He can take down the iron curtain in a day, He CAN convert a nation in an hour. Call upon Him, believe Him. ~ Paul Washer,

1131:When you do the math and examine how much energy is produced per atomic union, you find that fusing anything to iron’s twenty-six protons costs energy. That means post-ferric fusion* does an energy-hungry star no good. Iron is the final peal of a star’s natural life. ~ Sam Kean,

1132:You know, I'm the only one in this family who has no problems, . . . And you know why? Because any time I'm feeling blue, or puzzled, what I do, I just invite a few people to come visit me in the bathroom, and—well, we iron things out together, that's all. ~ J D Salinger,

1133:You know, I’m the only one in this family who has no problems,” Zooey said. “And you know why? Because any time I’m feeling blue, or puzzled, what I do, I just invite a few people to come visit me in the bathroom and–well, we iron things out together, that’s all. ~ J D Salinger,

1134:Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. So we must stretch ourselves to the very limits of human possibility. Anything less is a sin against both God and man. ~ Leonardo da Vinci,

1135:I was so bad with the food and alcohol in Nashville. If you saw me naked compared to what I looked like when I did Iron Man 2, when I was exercising every day - I'll get it back together, but I've never eaten so much fried food and white flour in my life, ever. ~ Gwyneth Paltrow,

1136:Long ago I learned that even the most inanimate things we know of—stone, iron columns, copper pipes, gravel roads, a piece of paper—won’t last very long without attention and fixing and the loan of additional order. Existence, it seems, is chiefly maintenance. What ~ Kevin Kelly,

1137:Respectability, regularity, and routine - the whole cast-iron discipline of a modern industrial society - have atrophied the artistic impulse, and imprisoned love so that it can no longer be generous and free and creative, but must be either stuffy or furtive. ~ Bertrand Russell,

1138:Star, that looked so long among the stones And picked from them, half iron and half dirt, One; and bent and put it to her lips And breathed upon it till at last it burned Uncertainly, among the stars its sisters— Breathe on me still, star, sister ~ Randall Jarrell,

1139:The controlled binding and unbinding of iron and oxygen- the cyclical rusting and unrusting of blood-allows effective oxygen delivery into tissues. Hemoglobin allows blood to carry seventyfold more oxygen than what could be dissolved in liquid blood alone. ~ Siddhartha Mukherjee,

1140:The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the incandescent metal and burn my own hand while burning the other. Hate itself is the seed of death in my own heart, while it seeks the death of the other. ~ Thomas Merton,

1141:The old notion that the savage is the freest of mankind is the reverse of the truth. He is a slave, not indeed to a visible master, but to the past, to the spirits of his dead forefathers, who haunt his steps from birth to death, and rule him with a rod of iron. ~ James G Frazer,

1142:When Jan was called up to service a fourth time...my mother waited outside...the two of them were convinced that this time Jan would have to go, that they would surely send him off to cure his ailing chest in the air of France, famed for its iron and lead content. ~ G nter Grass,

1143:Heat can also be produced by the impact of imperfectly elastic bodies as well as by friction. This is the case, for instance, when we produce fire by striking flint against steel, or when an iron bar is worked for some time by powerful blows of the hammer. ~ Hermann von Helmholtz,

1144:How much does the iron in your blood and the calcium in your bones remember of the heart of the star in which they were born? And if they can forget that terrible, magnificent heat and light, what hope do I have of being more than an unremarkable footnote to you? ~ Seanan McGuire,

1145:I believe instinct's the iron skeleton under all our ideas of free will. Unless you're willing to take the pipe or eat the gun or take a long walk off a short dock, you can't say no to some things. You can't refuse to pick up your option because there is no option. ~ Stephen King,

1146:Schinkel's aesthetic was not a crudely materialistic "truth to material" affair... but rather an attempt to inform iron and other industrial materials with an appropriate beauty through the direct collaboration of the artist in the manufacturing process. ~ Karl Friedrich Schinkel,

1147:The writers we absorb when we're young bind us to them, sometimes lightly, sometimes with iron. In time, the bonds fall away, but if you look very closely you can sometimes make out the pale white groove of a faded scar, or the telltale chalky red of old rust. ~ Daniel Mendelsohn,

1148:A ranch hand, equivalent of the old gaucho, rides after an ostrich, swinging three-thonged and weighted baleadoras. Note how only the toe of the boot is in the stirrup iron. In old times, the gaucho often rode with only the great toe of the bare foot in a metal ring. ~ Luis Marden,

1149:Men not men, but animas of coal and iron and clay. Fauna of the elements, carbon, iron, silicon: elementals. They had perhaps some of the weird inhuman beauty of minerals, the lustre of coal, the weight and blueness and resistance of iron, the transparency of glass. ~ D H Lawrence,

1150:The Sinhalese were perplexed by their endemic restlessness and their eating habits, declaring the Portuguese to be “a very white and beautiful people, who wear hats and boots of iron and never stop in one place. They eat a sort of white stone and drink blood.” Such ~ Roger Crowley,

1151:They’re cloaking,” I said, as the pieces clicked into place. “They’re using Iron glamour to twist the light around themselves so they appear invisible.” I felt a thrill of discovery, of knowing I was right. All those years of watching Star Trek had finally paid off. ~ Julie Kagawa,

1152:When I was a freshman in high school, I got a letterman jacket, which you'd think would be great stock. The jacket had the big S on it, for Santa Monica. But rather than having a football or a baseball on the S, I had a little nine iron. Girls thought it was a flute. ~ Carson Daly,

1153:you are a night walker. a moon follower. you must be safe from iron, from cold, from spite. you must be quiet. you must be light. you must move softly in the night. you must be quick and unafraid.” She nodded to herself. “this means I must make you a shaed.” She ~ Patrick Rothfuss,

1154:You’re playing with fire right now, you know that don’t you?” Her hand slides slowly up and down me on the outside of my pants and she bites her lip, then smirks. “I’m pretty sure I’m playing with Iron.” Control. I am merely praying for control and she is tempting me. ~ M J Fields,

1155:Jackson fingers the gold, the jet, the horn, the glass, the iron. Then - because he is a man and a Welsh man at that, one for whom hitting things only ever lies a short half-step away from consciousness - he stands in my living room, sword in hand, feeling its heft. ~ Harry Bingham,

1156:My hairstylist taught me a trick for my hair. You section off your hair and put them up in these crazy little knots and then it looks like you curled your hair. It's saved me so much time 'cause on the road you don't have time or plugs to plug your curling iron in. ~ Sara Bareilles,

1157:Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He'll break before he bends. And Renly, that one, he's copper, bright and shiny, pretty to look at but not worth all that much at the end of the day. ~ George R R Martin,

1158:But we have never stopped it [war] and never shall, because war is not the law of one age or civilization, but of eternal nature itself, out of which every civilization proceedes, and into which it must sink again if it is not hard enough to withstand its iron ordeal. ~ Ernst J nger,

1159:Feminism, like Boston, is a state of mind. It is the state of mind of women who realize that their whole position in the social order is antiquated, as a woman cooking over an open fire with heavy iron pots would know that her entire housekeeping was out of date. ~ Rheta Childe Dorr,

1160:One invisible puff-puff whisk of economically priced Ubik banishes compulsive obsessive fears that the entire world is turning into clotted milk, worn-out tape recorders and obsolete iron-cage elevators, plus other, further, as-yet-unglimpsed manifestations of decay. ~ Philip K Dick,

1161:Fun my ass. The only thing remotely pleasant about this experience is that Des is wearing an Iron Maiden shirt, his tattoos are on full display, and his leather pants are hugging the shit out of his backside. I mean, I can be mad at him and still enjoy the view. Over ~ Laura Thalassa,

1162:He had the odd idea that, though only a whisper, it could have passed through stone or iron or brass. It could have spoken to you from a thousand feet beneath the earth and you would have still heard it. It could have shattered precious stones and brought on madness. ~ Susanna Clarke,

1163:Our Sun is a second- or third-generation star. All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star-stuff. ~ Carl Sagan,

1164:The start and unexpected miracle of a night fades out with the lingering death of the last starts and the premature birth of the first newsboys. The flame retreats to some remote and platonic fire; the white heat has gone from the iron and the glow from the coal. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald,

1165:Ursula wondered if it was not preferable to lie down once and for all in her grave and let them throw the earth over her, and she asked God, without fear, if He really believe that people were made of iron in order to bear so many troubles and mortifications. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,

1166:He bent down burying his face in my neck. I reached back to grab onto the iron bars behind me to hold myself up. My jacket slipped off my shoulders. I was pretty sure I was on fire and at that moment I would have sworn that bursting into flame was a glorious way to go. ~ Myra McEntire,

1167:In a sense, my grandmother was living in the Iron Age. There was no system of writing among the nomads. Metal artifacts were rare and precious.... The first time she saw a white person my grandmother was in her thirties: she thought this person's skin had burned off. ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali,

1168:I step up to the platform that it sits on and trail my hands across it. The surface is metal-cold and pockmarked from thousands of tiny impacts. I close my eyes, let my fingers dip in and out of the divots. It’s hard to believe that this hunk of iron is from outer space. ~ Nicola Yoon,

1169:Should the German people lay down their arms, the Soviets... would occupy all eastern and south-eastern Europe, together with the greater part of the [German] Reich. All over this territory, which would be of an enormous extent, an iron curtain would at once descend. ~ Joseph Goebbels,

1170:Some think to avoid the influence of metaphysical errors, by paying no attention to metaphysics; but experience shows that these men beyond all others are held in an iron vice of metaphysical theory, because by theories that they have never called in question. ~ Charles Sanders Peirce,

1171:The director sets the tone, and if someone's ruling it with an iron fist, people are quiet and the days go long in my experience, when there's a very serious tone, the days just drag. When there's someone who, in between takes, is joking or laughing the days go quick. ~ Channing Tatum,

1172:He was a prosperous old bachelor, and his open window looked into a prosperous little garden and orchard, and there was a prosperous iron safe let into the wall at the side of his fireplace, and I did not doubt that heaps of his prosperity were put away in it in bags. ~ Charles Dickens,

1173:I think that every show on television has its place. I think Married With Children or, I don't know, The Nanny... some people want to go home, turn on the TV and be able to iron their clothes or grab a sandwich. Come out and catch a joke and not have to follow the story. ~ Peter Krause,

1174:The Iron Rule of prudence for an Istanbulite Woman: If you are as fragile as a tea glass, either find a way to never encounter burning water and hope to marry an ideal husband or get yourself laid and broken as soon as possible. Alternatively, stop being a tea-glass woman! ~ Elif Safak,

1175:We don’t disturb the moment, though. The truth might be that both of us are strong as iron, tough as flint, but holding each other, we know how precious it is that we’re here, together. The randomness of chance keeps us both in awe, and for that, we treasure these moments. ~ Tia Louise,

1176:Well, then, how can you possibly trust them?" "For the same reason I can trust you Coll. Because I know them. Because I understand them." Carnac curled his hand around the cold iron railing. "Because at the end of the day, who else can one trust, if not one's family? ~ Manna Francis,

1177:Determined independence of spirit walks at freedom in a tyrant's Bastille, and defies a despot's hosts; but a mind enslaved by sin builds its own dungeon, forges its own fetters, and rivets on its chains. It is slavery indeed when the iron enters into the soul. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

1178:Glad was I when I reached the other bank. Now for a better country. Vain presage! Who were the strugglers, what war did they wage, Whose savage trample thus could pad the dank soil to a plash? Toads in a poisoned tank Or wild cats in a red-hot iron cage- ~ Robert Browning,

1179:There’s something inside me, something as hard as an iron bar, that crushes my will and stops every flicker of enthusiasm or desire. I strip my heart bare, and have a soul as black as any pitch. The thought that mine is not an isolated case offers me no consolation. ~ Simone de Beauvoir,

1180:If you wish, you may run ahead screaming. It makes no difference now, although five minutes ago we were in something of a hurry … the servants to be tied up … the silver to collect … Richard’s personal hoard to recover from its usual cache. A man of iron habit, Richard. ~ Dorothy Dunnett,

1181:I guess it was the first time I really thought about leaving. I don't just mean Iron Maiden, I mean quitting music altogether. I just thought, 'Nothing is worth feeling like this for.' I began to feel like I was a piece of machinery, like I was part of the lighting rig. ~ Bruce Dickinson,

1182:Maybe everyone here slept better than my family did—surrounded by kin, lulled to sleep by the river-roar motion of wheels. No matter that some of those wheels glided on pavement instead of iron; they heeded the call to move, always move, rocking us to sleep with dreams ~ Barbara Nickless,

1183:Then Elka stepped up beside me. Our transformation from two filthy castoffs was staggering. She was carved out of glittering ice. And I was golden, forged in flames. The only discordant thing about our reflection was the dull iron rings we still wore around our necks. ~ Lesley Livingston,

1184:We who are left behind watch you on your way. The long prison of the years unlocks its’ iron doors..go free now, into the beautiful land. Forgive us who suffer in this clouded world. Guide us and wait for us, as we wait for you. We will meet again. We will meet again. ~ William Nicholson,

1185:A throng of bearded men in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and other bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne,

1186:At the great iron gate of the churchyard he stopped and looked in. He looked up at the high tower spectrally resisting the wind, and he looked round at the white tombstones, like enough to the dead in their winding-sheets, and he counted the nine tolls of the clock-bell. ~ Charles Dickens,

1187:He felt, though, that if love was the desire to possess someone, it was in reality the poor substance of self-love. It seemed to him that a greater, truer love was the desire to open a cage—be it made of iron bars or the bones of tormented injustice—and set the nightbird free. ~ Anonymous,

1188:I listen to tons of hard rock and metal, like Iron Maiden, Motorhead, etc., but I also listen to Beethoven and Mozart, to Discharge and the Bad Brains, and to Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington. So I think there's merit to both the melodic punk and to the hardcore stuff too. ~ Dave Smalley,

1189:Montrose decided then and there that a full library, one made of old-fashioned paper books with bindings, the kind that cannot be electronically re-edited by anonymous lines of hidden code, was just as much a necessity for a free man as a shooting iron or a printing press. ~ John C Wright,

1190:Our whole lives, Jefferies said, are wasted traveling in endless small circles; we are all “chained like a horse to an iron pin in the ground.” The richest person, Jefferies believed, is the one who works least. “Idleness,” he wrote, “is a great good.” For Jefferies, like ~ Michael Finkel,

1191:The funny thing was that the sisters were hardly nubile, creamy-skinned Lolitas blushing on the bough. In fact, one of them looked like she'd beaten herself with a tire iron during a smallpox-induced hallucination, and the other looked like a close-up photo of a wolf spider. ~ Diablo Cody,

1192:This is not wilderness for designation or for a park. Not a scenic wilderness and not one good for fishing or the viewing of wildlife. It is wilderness that gets into your nostrils, that runs with your sweat. It is the core of everything living, wilderness like molten iron. ~ Craig Childs,

1193:As Aeduan stalked through the oaks of the Contested Lands, his pocket felt light without the arrowhead. He hadn’t realized how accustomed he’d grown to its weight. To its iron presence. But now it was gone, and that was that. No dwelling on it. Simply moving forward. ~ Susan Dennard,

1194:I’m suggesting that Christ’s suffering shatters the iron walls around individual human suffering, that Christ’s compassion makes extreme human compassion—to the point of death, even—possible. Human love can reach right into death, then, but not if it is merely human love. ~ Christian Wiman,

1195:Mimicque—zombies—can only be killed with an iron or obsidian blade, so don't think you can just act like the wrestler El Santo in the 1970s film El Santo Versus the Mummies of Guanajuato. If a walking undead is after you, run. Let the experts take care of the zombies. ~ David Bowles,

1196:The Iron Child culture was contagious; it was hard for kids and parents to resist the pressure to study more and more. But all the while, they complained that the fixation on rankings and test scores was crushing their spirit, depriving them not just of sleep but of sanity. ~ Amanda Ripley,

1197:IN GENERAL CANFAB ,TERRORISM IS BREWED AND COUNSELED BY WORLD MATURED MASTER BRAINS. RESULTING ENTIRE GLOBAL CITIZENS BROOKING THE CREAM OF CROP. OBVIOUSLY, POWER FIRE ON LINE LIVE HAS TO BE ENGULFED RIGHT NOW TO CATECHIZE IRON PRESS ON EX-CON WRONG DOER TOUR DE FORCE STUNT FEATS. ~ Various,

1198:Pale and pinched-up faces hovered about the windows where was tempting food; hungry eyes wandered over the profusion guarded by one thin sheet of brittle glass--an iron wall to them; half-naked shivering figures stopped to gaze at Chinese shawls and golden stuffs of India. ~ Charles Dickens,

1199:The single static note amidst the swirl of activity was Grandmother deShiel, who sat small and hunched on the cast-iron garden seat outside the library, lost in her cobwebbed memories and completely oblivious to the round glass lanterns being strung up in the trees around her— ~ Kate Morton,

1200:This barricade is made neither of paving stones, nor of timbers, nor of iron; it is made of two mounds, a mound of ideas and a mound of sorrows. Here misery encounters the ideal. Here the day embraces the night, and says: I will die with you and you will be born again with me. ~ Victor Hugo,

1201:I am unassailable. I intimidate. I am a polar icebreaker. I walk and climb and lift things, I can open your jar, I can absorb blows - literal and metaphorical - meant for other women, smaller women, breakable women, women who need me. My bones feel like iron - heavy, but strong. ~ Lindy West,

1202:It is not true that fate slips silently into our lives. It steps in through the door that we have opened, and we invite it to enter. No one is strong enough or cunning enough to avert by word or deed the misfortune that is rooted in the iron laws of his character and his life. ~ S ndor M rai,

1203:Pasamos al mecanismo de reclamo primario, porque cada ejército tenía ya uno: los británicos usaban gaitas, los chinos usaban cornetas, los sudafricanos golpeaban los fusiles con los assegais y entonaban cánticos zulúes a grito pelado. Nosotros teníamos a los duros de Iron Maiden. ~ Anonymous,

1204:With iron and blood, it seems, and from the rich depths of the earth, John Griswold has fashioned a classic American novel, its dignified intonations of our young nation's sweat and tears evocative of the indelible storytelling of Dos Passos, Frank Norris, and Upton Sinclair. ~ Bob Shacochis,

1205:Danny North grew up surrounded by fairies, ghosts, talking animals, living stones, walking trees, and gods who called up wind and brought down rain, made fire from air and drew iron out of the depths of the earth as easily as ordinary people might draw up water from a well. ~ Orson Scott Card,

1206:Each one's no longer conscious Of the high wall, or the rest: Since the one enduring fortress, Is the soldier's iron breast. If you’d live unconquered, Quickly arm, and fight the real foe: Every wife an Amazon bred, And every child a hero. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,

1207:Except for hydrogen, all the atoms that make each of us up—the iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones, the carbon in our brains—were manufactured in red giant stars thousands of light-years away in space and billions of years ago in time. We are, as I like to say, starstuff. ~ Carl Sagan,

1208:I had heard “communist bloc” and “behind the iron curtain” so much in the media, that i had naturally formed the impression that these countries were all the same. Although they are all socialist, East Germany, Bulgaria, Cuba, and North Korea are as different as night and day. ~ Assata Shakur,

1209:I saw that Donald Trump is selling his penthouse suite at the Trump Park Avenue building here in New York City for $21 million. When asked why he's selling it now, Trump said 'Hey, Americans seem to be buying everything else I'm selling, so why not strike while the iron's hot.' ~ Jimmy Fallon,

1210:196. "Look on the bright side, suicide Lost eyesight I'm on your side Angel left wing, right wing, broken wing Lack of iron and/or sleeping Protector of the kennel Ecto-plasma, Ecto-skeletal Obituary birthday Your scent is still here in my place of recovery!" ~ Kurt Cobain,

1211:One of the great things about the 'Iron Man' franchise is that they employ fascinating actors who don't necessarily do action movies. Before 'Iron Man' you didn't associate Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow with those kinds of films. There's an emphasis on repartee and wit. ~ Rebecca Hall,

1212:Pain reconciles one to existence. Infinite resignation is that shirt in the old fable. The thread is spun with tears, bleached by tears, the shirt sewn in tears, but then it also gives better protection than iron. The secret in life is that everyone must sew it for himself. ~ Soren Kierkegaard,

1213:...and she felt the words come from some iron place within her that hadn't existed an hour ago. She didn't speak loudly, but there was such a change in her voice. Coming from that iron place, it was heavy and true; it wasn't persuasive, or desperate, or antagonistic. It just was. ~ Laini Taylor,

1214:And then there were the others, who were interested only in gold. They never found the secret. They forgot that lead, copper, and iron have their own Personal Legends to fulfill. And anyone who interferes with the Personal Legend of another thing never will discover his own.” The ~ Paulo Coelho,

1215:As by knowing one tool of iron, dear one, We come to know all things made out of iron - That they differ only in name and form, While the stuff of which all are made is iron - So through spiritual wisdom, dear one, We come to know that all of life is one. ~ Eknath Easwaran,

1216:iron law of Canadian hockey: in any elite group of hockey players—the very best of the best—40 percent of the players will have been born between January and March, 30 percent between April and June, 20 percent between July and September, and 10 percent between October and December. ~ Anonymous,

1217:Temporary marks, like bruises or welts that last a few days, are common occurrences in S/M. However, some people – such as those with vanilla partners at home – might have problems with them, so it’s probably a good idea to ask about marks before you haul out the cast-iron cane. ~ Dossie Easton,

1218:Control is the main thing, and the tee shot is the most important shot in golf. You've got to hit the fairway before you have a good chance of putting the ball close to the pin. You can be the greatest iron player in the world, but if you're in the boondocks it won't do you any good. ~ Ben Hogan,

1219:Everything is destroyed by its own particular vice: the destructive power resides within. Rust destroys iron, moths destroy clothes, the worm eats away the wood; but greatest of all evils is envy, impious habitant of corrupt souls, which ever was, is, and shall be a consuming disease. ~ Menander,

1220:I have a vague memory of seeing an image of a child in an iron lung and the phrase "sad little breathing machine" coming into my head. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that on certain days - the worse ones - we could all be described as sad little breathing machines. ~ Matthea Harvey,

1221:I slept and saw God's forge in frost. Its hearth was quelled, and as it cooled so swooned the verdancy it kept above. In slumber it grew a thick winter skin, white as bedsheets. In their folds the waker dreamt, her breath as steam, her touch as hot as iron, forgotten in the fire. ~ Andrew Hussie,

1222:It seems to be saying perpetually; 'I am the end of the nineteenth century; I am glad they built me of iron; let me rust.' ... It is like a passing fool in a crowd of the University, a buffoon in the hall; for all the things in Paris has made, it alone has neither wits nor soul. ~ Hilaire Belloc,

1223:Really living without clutter takes an iron will ... This involves eternal watchfulness and that oldest and most relentless of the housewife's occupations, picking up. I have a feeling that picking up will go on long after ways have been found to circumvent death and taxes. ~ Ada Louise Huxtable,

1224:The scene fascinated me: a round straw hat; the funnel leaning left, the stairway leaning right; the white drawbridge, its railings made of chain; white suspenders crossed on the back of a man below; circular iron machinery; a mast that cut into the sky, completing a triangle. ~ Alfred Stieglitz,

1225:Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind. ~ Henry Rollins,

1226:America is neither free nor brave, but a land of tight, iron-clanking little wills, everybody trying to put it over everybody else, and a land of men absolutely devoid of the real courage of trust, trust in life's sacred spontaneity. They can't trust life until they can control it. ~ D H Lawrence,

1227:But what a delight and comfort, this iron ring which pierces the flesh and weighs one down forever, this mark eternal, how peaceful and reassuring the hand of a master who lays you on a bed of rock, the love of a master who knows how to take what he loves ruthlessly, without pity. ~ Pauline R age,

1228:Captain America is definitely the most handsome Avenger,' said Cristina. 'But I like the Hulk. I would like to heal his broken heart.' 'We're Nephilim,' said Julian. 'We're not even supposed to know about the Avengers. Besides,' he added, 'Iron Man is obviously the best-looking. ~ Cassandra Clare,

1229:[...] little Belgium once again busy at what she does best, tamely offering her battlefield-ready lowlands to boots, hooves, iron wheels, waiting to be first to go under before a future no one in Europe has the clairvoyance to imagine as anything more than an exercise for clerks. ~ Thomas Pynchon,

1230:A lion is a mammal like us; an octopus is put together completely differently, with three hearts, a brain that wraps around its throat, and a covering of slime instead of hair. Even their blood is a different color from ours; it’s blue, because copper, not iron, carries its oxygen. ~ Sy Montgomery,

1231:Natural, hell! What was it Chaucer Said once about the long toil that goes like blood to the poems making? Leave it to nature and the verse sprawls, Limp as bindweed, if it break at all Life's iron crust Man, you must sweat And rhyme your guts taut, if you'd build Your verse a ladder. ~ R S Thomas,

1232:When I get to the movie set, I don't need to have a sort of iron fist that a movie is about me and my ideas. A lot of filmmakers don't have that benefit, so when they have their moment to let all that creativity out of them, it's all about them. It's their movie; it's their thing. ~ Andrew Levitas,

1233:Cyphus bears the blue flame. Stercus is in thrall of iron. Ferule chill and dark of eye. Usnea lives in nothing but decay. Grey Dalcenti never speaks. Pale Alenta brings the blight. Last there is the lord of seven: Hated. Hopeless. Sleepless. Sane. Alaxel bears the shadow’s hame. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,

1234:It could only be the employment of carriage whips, tongs, iron pokers, handsaws, stones, paperweights, or whatever might be handy to break the black body, the black family, the black community, the black nation. The bodies were pulverized into stock and marked with insurance. And ~ Ta Nehisi Coates,

1235:It's true that private enterprise is extremely flexible, But its only good within very narrow limits. If private enterprise isn't held in an iron grip it gives birth to people who are no better than beasts, those stock-exchange people with greedy appetites beyond restraint. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,

1236:Pierre sipped, and nodded. It was relaxing being around Chef Véronique, though he knew she scared the crap out of the new employees. She was huge and beefy, her face like a pumpkin and her voice like a root vegetable. And she had knives. Lots of them. And cleavers and cast-iron pans. ~ Louise Penny,

1237:Robin Goodfellow is a very old faerie. Not only that, he has ballads, poems, and stories written about him, so he is very near immortal, as long as humans remember them. Not to say he is immune to iron and technology-far from it. Puck is strong, but even he cannot resist the effects. ~ Julie Kagawa,

1238:viv·i·an·ite  n. a mineral consisting of a phosphate of iron that occurs as a secondary mineral in ore deposits. It is colorless when fresh but becomes blue or green with oxidization.  early 19th cent.: named after John H. Vivian (1785-1855), British mineralogist, + -ITE1. ~ Oxford University Press,

1239:Yet each country had items that the other needed. The Arridi had reserves of red gold and iron in their deserts that the Toscans required to finance and equip their large armies. Even more important, Toscans had become inordinately fond of kafay, the rich coffee grown by the Arridi. ~ John Flanagan,

1240:But to the last question," Zelig replied, "he probably flew to beyond the Dark Regions, where people don't go and cattle don't stray, where the sky is copper, the earth iron, and where the evil forces live under roofs of petrified toadstools and in tunnels abandoned by moles. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer,

1241:2. O knower of all things born, high-kindled, iron-tusked, touch with thy ray the demon-sorcerers; do violence to them with thy tongue of flame, the gods who kill,28 the eaters of flesh, putting them off from us shut them into thy mouth. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns To The Mystic Fire, 2 - Other Hymns,

1242:I wonder if perhaps you are thoroughly acquainted with what he (St. Francis of Assisi) said when they were about to cauterize one of his eyeballs with a red-hot, burning iron? He said as follows: "Brother Fire, God made you beautiful and strong and useful; I pray you be courteous to me. ~ J D Salinger,

1243:men call it the tyranny of tears, it is an iron tyranny- no man could be so cruel, so devishlish,as a woman with her weakness, recrimination, convenient ailments, nerves and tears. We men are all weak as water before the primitive devices of Eve. I was patient at first, many years. ' ~ Christina Stead,

1244:To be a serious writer requires discipline that is iron fisted. It's sitting down and doing it whether you think you have it in you or not. Everyday. Alone. Without interruption. Contrary to what most people think, there is no glamour to writing. In fact, it's heartbreak most of the time. ~ Harper Lee,

1245:But the world of Despicable Me is such a cartoony world. It is much more Looney Tunes than I would say the Pixar world or those movies. We can get away with a little more, although I know some people responded negatively to the Iron Maiden beat in the first movie where it looks like Edith. ~ Cinco Paul,

1246:Captain America is definitely the most handsome Avenger,” said Cristina. “But I like the Hulk. I would like to heal his broken heart.” “We’re Nephilim,” said Julian. “We’re not even supposed to know about the Avengers. Besides,” he added, “Iron Man is obviously the best-looking.” “Can ~ Cassandra Clare,

1247:I put my energy into writing songs. I have to carve out a living somehow doing this, and licensing is one way. It's hard to register what's "too much" for other people. I don't watch TV, so it's tough for me to gauge. I just take it as it comes, and don't put a whole lot of thought into it. ~ Iron Wine,

1248:I want to talk to the bullied kids of the world. Tell them to hang on, it will get better. Know that an 'Iron Chef,' actors, musicians, artists and all successful people have probably been bullied in their life. And the best part of your life is yet to come. Whatever it takes to live, do it! ~ Cat Cora,

1249:men call it the tyranny of tears, it is an iron tyranny- no man could be so cruel, so devishlish,as a woman with her weakness, recrimination, convenient ailments, nerves and tears. We men are all weak as water before the primitive devices of Eve. I was patient at first, many years. ' ~ Christina Stead,

1250:She breathed deeply of the scent of decaying fiction, disintegrating history, and forgotten verse, and she observed for the first time that a room full of books smelled like dessert: a sweet snack made of figs, vanilla, glue, and cleverness. The iron door settled shut behind them, the weight ~ Joe Hill,

1251:When, in the street, I see a mother walking with her grown-up daughter, I can hardly bear to witness the mother’s pride, the softening of her face, her incredulous joy at being granted her daughter’s company; and the iron discipline she imposes on herself, to muffle and conceal this joy. ~ Helen Garner,

1252:You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave! You move merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before the bloody whip! You are freedom's swift-winged angels, that fly round the world; I am confined in bands of iron! O that I were free! ~ Frederick Douglass,

1253:You mustn't tell your dreams. Miss Testvalley says nothing bores people so much as being told other people's dreams. Nan said nothing, but an iron gate seemed to clang shut in her - the gate that was so often slammed by careless hands. As if anyone could be bored by such dreams as hers! ~ Edith Wharton,

1254:As Robert Bly laments in Iron John, “Some women want a passive man if they want a man at all; the church wants a tamed man—they are called priests; the university wants a domesticated man—they are called tenure-track people; the corporation wants a . . . sanitized, hairless, shallow man. ~ John Eldredge,

1255:But I was also becoming aware of the changes in my own energy as I walked over different kinds of terrain. Sometimes there was clay under my feet, sometimes iron ore, sometimes quartz or copper. I wanted to try to understand the connections between human energy and the earth itself. In ~ Marina Abramovi,

1256:Captain America is definitely the most handsome Avenger," said Cristina. "But I like the Hulk. I would like to heal his broken heart." "We're Nephilim," said Julian. "We're not even supposed to know about the Avengers. Besides," he added, "Iron Man is obviously the best-looking. ~ Cassandra Clare,

1257:Ideals of liberty , freedom and righteousness do not prosper in the 20th century excepts they coincide with oil, rubber, gold, diamond, coal, iron, sugar, coffee, and such other minerals and products desired by the privileged, capitalists and leaders who control the system of government. ~ Marcus Garvey,

1258:It was a fabled railway that was the issue of desperation and fanaticism, made as much of myth and unreality as it was to be of wood and iron and the thousands upon thousands of lives that were to be laid down over the next year to build it. But what reality was ever made by realists? ~ Richard Flanagan,

1259:This is what the Problem means,” he went on. “This is the effect it has. Lives lost, loved ones taken before their time. And then we hide our dead behind iron walls and leave them to the thorns and ivy. We lose them twice over, Lucy. Death’s not the worst of it. We turn our faces away. ~ Jonathan Stroud,

1260:I like that stick of yours," he said. "It's a staff." Jem swung out to knock another automaton sideways. "Made by the Iron Sisters, only for Silent Brothers." [...] "Anyone can sharpen a stick." "It's a staff," Jem repeated, and saw Will's quicksilver smile out of the corner of his eye. ~ Cassandra Clare,

1261:Lords are gold and knights steel, but two links can't make a chain. You also need silver and iron and lead, tin and copper and bronze and all the rest, and those are farmers and smiths and merchants and the like. A chain needs all sorts of metals, and a land needs all sorts of people. ~ George R R Martin,

1262:The type of cuisine I do, especially after being on 'Iron Chef' for several years, is a lot of global cuisine. My strength has always been Mediterranean cuisine across the board from Morocco, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, but I think now I'm doing a lot of very different cuisines all the time. ~ Cat Cora,

1263:Twenty years ago, the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500 either dug something out of the ground or turned a natural resource (iron ore or oil) into something you could hold. Today, fewer than half of the companies on the list do that. The rest make unseemly profits by trafficking in ideas. ~ Seth Godin,

1264:When you consider the many pressures that couples face today, only an iron-clad determination will hold them together for a lifetime. Those who go into marriage with a mushy commitment are likely to wobble and fall apart when the hard times come. And as we all know, hard times will come. ~ James C Dobson,

1265:Within a quarter of an hour we came to Miss Havisham's house, which was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred. There was a courtyard in front, and that was barred; ~ Charles Dickens,

1266:You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayer. Thoughts and reasonings are like the steel wedges which give a hold upon truth; but prayer is the lever, the prise which forces open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we may get the treasure hidden within. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

1267:But there I was, surrendering to a most extraordinary call from the grave, the mass-grave-to-be of Europe, as if somewhere ahead lay an iron gateway, slightly ajar, leading to a low and sombre country, with an incalculable crowd on sides eager to pass into it, and bearing me along. ~ Thomas Pynchon,

1268:But what death is not stupid? asked Arseny. Is it not stupid that coarse iron enters the flesh, violating its perfection? He who is not capable of creating even a fingernail on a little finger is destroying a most complex mechanism, something inaccessible to human comprehension (264). ~ Evgenij Vodolazkin,

1269:Good stuff!" [Knud] said. "All organic, of course! All fresh! We take care of the earth here! You like smoked herring? You will. Of course you will! I work in iron, though I have also done some of these wood carvings. All of my work is based on traditional Danish art. I am a Viking! Eat! ~ Maureen Johnson,

1270:he lived among fallen empires, and in reading these languages that had not been spoken by the common man in centuries, he had all about him the ruins of language, evidence of toppled suburbs, grass growing among the mosaics, and voices that had been choked with poison, iron, age, or ash. He ~ M T Anderson,

1271:The one-eyed man watched them go, and then he went through the iron shed to his shack behind. It was dark inside. He felt his way to the mattress on the floor, and he stretched out and cried in his bed, and the cars whizzing by on the highway only strengthened the walls of his loneliness. ~ John Steinbeck,

1272:We are faced with the task of convincing a myth infatuated world that love and curiosity are sufficient and you don't have to delude yourself and frighten yourself with Iron Age fairy tales. This is a monumental task. I don't think there is an intellectual struggle more worthy of our efforts. ~ Sam Harris,

1273:And my cases end like all stories end: with a sunset, and a kiss, and redemption, and iron shoes, and a sear of light from the shadows, a gun-muzzle flash that illuminates everything as the rain just keeps coming down in the motley, several-colored light of the back end of the world. ~ Catherynne M Valente,

1274:Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face; Terror the human form divine, And Secresy the human dress. The human dress is forged iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sealed, The human heart its hungry gorge. - "A DIVINE IMAGE ~ William Blake,

1275:Every society, big or little, misses out on “obvious” technologies. The lacunae have enormous impact on people’s lives—imagine Europe with efficient plows or the Maya with iron tools—but not much effect on the scale of a civilization’s endeavors, as shown by both European and Maya history. ~ Charles C Mann,

1276:I'm extraordinarily passionate about the idea of asteroid mining in the future. Asteroids out there, we know them from those that have fallen on the Earth, there is a class of asteroids, sub-class of nickel/iron asteroids, which are 50,000 times more enriched than Platinum mines on earth. ~ Peter Diamandis,

1277:My dear, dear girl [. . .] we can't turn back the days that have gone. We can't turn life back to the hours when our lungs were sound, our blood hot, our bodies young. We are a flash of fire--a brain, a heart, a spirit. And we are three-cents-worth of lime and iron--which we cannot get back. ~ Thomas Wolfe,

1278:on Broadway money rules. Like a host of vultures, the ticket brokers, the speculators, the craft unions, the agents, the backers, the real estate owners move in on the creative body and take their bite. The world of dreams breathes in an iron lung; and without this mechanical pumping it dies. ~ Marya Mannes,

1279:Por otra parte, Iron Mountain, una de las empresas de almacenamiento y manejo de documentación más grandes del mundo, había sido premiada por el jefe de Gobierno porteño, Mauricio Macri, en 2009, por ser una de las tres primeras firmas en el Registro de Empresas TIC de la ciudad de Buenos Aires. ~ Anonymous,

1280:There were no shortcuts, I realized. It took years of racing to build up the mind and body and character until a rider had logged hundreds of races and thousands of miles of road. I wouldn't be able to win a Tour de France until I had enough iron in my legs, and lungs, and brain and Heart. ~ Lance Armstrong,

1281:It's always better to like a gangster from a distance anyway. Like a tiger cub in a cage. They always look soft and cute and warm behind those iron bars. Everybody's happy, smilimg, waving, taking pictures. But you take away those bars and all that goes away. All that's left is the fear. ~ Lorenzo Carcaterra,

1282:Next to a leisurely walk I enjoy a spin on my tandem bicycle. It is splendid to feel the wind blowing in my face and the springy motion of my iron steed. The rapid rush through the air gives me a delicious sense of strength and buoyancy, and the exercise makes my pulse dance and my heart sing. ~ Helen Keller,

1283:The exposition of Atrocious Torture Instruments could not fail to appeal to a connoisseur of the worst in mankind. But the essence of the worst, the true asafoetida of the human spirit, is not found in the Iron Maiden or the whetted edge; Elemental Ugliness is found in the faces of the crowd. ~ Thomas Harris,

1284:All that winter's day and far into the night the kings twisted and squirmed, but Merlin held them in his iron grasp and would not let go. He became first a rock, and then a mountain in Arthur's defence. Arthur stood equally unmoved. No power on earth could have prevailed against them . . . ~ Stephen R Lawhead,

1285:As iron sharpens iron, we need confrontation and truth from others to grow. No one likes to hear negative things about him or herself. But in the long run it may be good for us. The Bible says that if we are wise, we will learn from it. Admonition from a friend, while it can hurt, can also help. ~ Henry Cloud,

1286:Just then, thunder boomed overhead. Lightning flashed, and the bars on the nearest window burst into sizzling, melted stubs of iron. Jason flew in like Peter Pan, electricity sparking around him and his gold sword steaming. Leo whistled appreciatively. “Man, you just wasted an awesome entrance. ~ Rick Riordan,

1287:Wood is strong, light, flexible, nontoxic, and weather-resistant; thousands of years of human civilization have yet to produce a better multipurpose building material. Inch for inch, a wooden beam is as strong as one made from cast iron but is ten times more flexible and only one-tenth as heavy. ~ Hope Jahren,

1288:Even the reeking dark in the lion's cage seemed precious and infinitely preferable to whatever lay beyond. She would go out like the flame of a candle. Where does the candle flame go when the candle is blown out? She laid her painted face against the iron bars and bared her teeth at death. ~ Kerry Greenwood,

1289:I don’t care what he thinks. Only what you think.” He holds me tighter. “Like if you think I need to stop biting my nails.” “You’ve worn your pinkies to nubs,” I say cheerfully. “Or if I need to start ironing my bed spread.” “I DO NOT IRON MY BED SPREAD.” “You do. And I love it. ~ Stephanie Perkins,

1290:I feel that, as—   Stone walls do not a prison make,   Nor iron bars—a cage, so peril, loneliness, an uncertain future, are not oppressive evils, so long as the frame is healthy and the faculties are employed; so long, especially, as Liberty lends us her wings, and Hope guides us by her star. ~ Charlotte Bront,

1291:Its powers?' Dallben answered with a sad smile. 'My dear boy, this is a bit of metal hammered into a rather unattractive shape; it could better have been a pruning hook or a plow iron. Its powers? Like all weapons, only those held by him who wields it. What yours may be, I can in no wise say. ~ Lloyd Alexander,

1292:Men-kind shared this world for but a blink, then, sadly, they became enlightened, found science and religion. The new world of men left little room for magic or the magical creatures of old. Earth’s first children were driven into the shadows by flame and cold iron, by man’s insatiable need of conquest. ~ Brom,

1293:She slides through the door with a gust of cold and locks the door behind her and I see her fingers trail across the polished steel—tip of each finger the same color as her lips. Funny orange. Like the tip of a soldering iron. Color so hot or so cold if she touches you with it you can’t tell which. ~ Ken Kesey,

1294:Some seek pleasure in love blind to the trials of a mortal body others see a bubble or mirage and realize impermanence undoes us all a real man's will is straight like iron in an uncrooked heart the Way is true dense and tall bamboos in the snow show you the mind not used in vain ~ Hanshan,

1295:We split a bottle of Norman cider. Not everybody sells Norman cider by the bottle. "Has a European feel" Susan said. "That sounds terrific" I said. "Can I have one?" Susan grinned at me. "How did you ever get to be so big without growing up?" she said. "Iron self-control" I said. ~ Robert B Parker,

1296:Yet this corporate being, though so insubstantial to our senses, binds, in Burkes words, a man to his country with ties which though light as air, are as strong as links of iron. That is why young men die in battle for their countrys sake and why old men plant trees they will never sit under. ~ Walter Lippmann,

1297:You know that proper doctoring means hard choices.” She gave me an unflinching look. “We hain’t like other folk. You burn a man with an iron to stop his bleeding. You save the mother and lose the babe. It’s hard, and nobody ever thanks you for it. But we’re the ones that have to choose.” She ~ Patrick Rothfuss,

1298:Below lies the dark core, that great iron ball beneath all things. Its compressed weight is fantastic; it is older than time itself. It is a vestige of the blackness that predates all existence, when a formless universe existed in a state of chaotic un-creation, lacking awareness even of itself. ~ Justin Cronin,

1299:In Sardinia one summer my best friend Marisa Berenson and I ironed each other's hair. We used a hot laundry iron and took turns putting our hair on the ironing board, literally ironing it. That's a recipe for straightening that may be highly successful, but is definitely not recommended. ~ Diane von Furstenberg,

1300:I scrambled backward on the bed, moving toward the headboard. "Where you going, sweet Caroline?" he asked, crawling across the bed to get to me. "I wanted to hold on for this," I quipped, arching an eyebrow and my back as I grabbed on to the iron headboard. "That's my girl. ~ Alice Clayton,

1301:Many worlds are iron, at the core. But the Discworld is as coreless as a pancake. On the Disc, if you enchant a needle it will point to the Hub, where the magical field is strongest. It’s simple. Elsewhere, on worlds designed with less imagination, the needle turns because of the love of iron. ~ Terry Pratchett,

1302:Only Aviva’s long habit of taking the temperature of her own racism, of her biases and stereotypes about young black males (or about the iron-hard perdurance of their grandmothers) enabled Aviva to set aside, for the time being, her gut reaction—the boy was trouble—and admire Titus’s stillness. ~ Michael Chabon,

1303:I did not matter what distant iron city had raised him. He had been made by Sorry-in-the-Vale, his bones as much a part of it as the valley and the woods. It was as if she had the whole town spread underneath her. Or the whole world, since right then he was the only part of it that mattered. ~ Sarah Rees Brennan,

1304:I felt betrayed, as if what we shared on our journey to the Iron King was only a farce, a tactic the cunning Ice prince had used to get me to come to the Unseelie Court. Or perhaps he had just grown tired of me and moved on. Just another reminder of how capricious and insensitive the fey could be. ~ Julie Kagawa,

1305:I still held his automatic more or less pointed at him, but he swung on me just the same. It caught me flush on the chin. I backstepped fast enough to keep from falling, but I took plenty of the punch. It was meant to be a hard one, but a pansy has no iron in his bones, whatever he looks like. ~ Raymond Chandler,

1306:It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilized man. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi,

1307:rude cross lay flat upon the barren earth and on it was bound a man—half-naked, wild of aspect with his corded limbs, glaring eyes and shock of tangled hair. His executioners were Roman soldiers, and with heavy hammers they prepared to pin the victim’s hands and feet to the wood with iron spikes. ~ H P Lovecraft,

1308:While the Soviet Union has imposed its rule on its neighbours and drawn an iron curtain between east and west, we in Great Britain have given freedom and independence to more than forty-eight countries whose populations now number more than a thousand million - a quarter of the world's total. ~ Margaret Thatcher,

1309:You cannot make steel until you have made the iron white-hot in fire. It is not meant for harm. Trouble and disease have a lesson for us. Our painful experiences are not meant to destroy us, but to burn out our dross, to hurry us back Home. No one is more anxious for our release than God. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda,

1310:Max took a bag of smoke and flash grenades, the .45 and shotgun Lee had left behind, an Uzi, two short tripod- and swivel-mounted guns with radio antennae, a bag of extra clips, and the bag of surveillance equipment. As an after-thought, he took out the tire iron and jammed it into the ammo bag. ~ Chet Williamson,

1311:Otrera stayed dead the second time," Kinzie said, batting her eyes. "We have to thank you for that. If you ever need a new girlfriend...well, I think you'd look great in an iron collar and an orange jumpsuit." Percy couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. He politely thanked her and changed seats. ~ Rick Riordan,

1312:The lye clinging in the exact shape of Tyler's kiss is a bonfire or a branding iron or an atomic pile meltdown on my hand at the end of a long, long road I picture miles away from me. Tyler tells me to come back and be with him. My hand is leaving, tiny and on the horizon at the end of the road. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,

1313:Though her husband often went on business trips, she hated to be left alone. "I've solved your problem," he said. "I've bought you a St. Bernard. Its name is Great Reluctance. Now, when I go away, you shall know that I am leaving you with Great Reluctance!" She hit him with a waffle iron. ~ Charles M Schulz,

1314:God's Fatherly prerogative, " is a kingly attribute so sweetly veiled in love, that the King's crown is forgotten in the King's face, and His sceptre becomes, not a rod of iron, but a silver sceptre of mercy—the sceptre indeed seems to be forgotten in the tender hand of Him who wields it. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

1315:I thought we had reached an understanding, the institution of marriage and I. Weddings are like the triathalon of female friendship: the Shower, the Bachelorette Party, and the Main Event. It's the Iron Woman and most people never make it through. They fall of their bikes and choke on ocean water. ~ Sloane Crosley,

1316:Wanted to give you a heads up: I heard that Flat Finn sustained an injury the other day. Nothing major, though. Something to do with Matt, a steaming iron, and maniacal shouts of, “There are no wrinkles allowed in this house! You may be flat, but you’re not smooth enough yet for this family!” ~ Jessica Park,

1317:The Age Demand The age demanded that we sing And cut away our tongue. The age demanded that we flow And hammered in the bung. The age demanded that we dance And jammed us into iron pants. And in the end the age was handed The sort of shit that it demanded. ~ Ernest Hemingway,

1318:I kept my hands firmly on the iron rail before me. Grabbing the weight bar and walloping the Beast Lord upside the head wouldn’t be the best diplomatic move. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.” There. I was civil. It almost killed me. “Apology accepted.” “Will there be anything else?”Your Arrogance. ~ Ilona Andrews,

1319:May we forever be rulers, may our enemies tremble at our feet, may we never forget our great love that is the family. Which we will rule with an iron fist.” “May we be ruthless and have no regrets,” she added gripping onto my back. “May we take what we want, when we want it, with the world at our feet. ~ J J McAvoy,

1320:There are some griefs so loud They could bring down the sky, And there are griefs so still None knows how deep they lie, Endured, never expended. There are old griefs so proud They never speak a word; They never can be mended. And these nourish the will And keep it iron-hard. ~ May Sarton,

1321:Among the mighty store of wonderful chains that are for ever forging, day and night, in the cast iron-works of time and circumstance, there was one chain forged in the moment of that small conclusion, riveted to the foundations of heaven and earth, and gifted with invincible force to hold and drag. ~ Charles Dickens,

1322:Here is tragedy - and here is America. For the curse of the country, as well of all democracies, is precisely the fact that it treats its best men as enemies. The aim of our society, if it may be said to have an aim, is to iron them out. The ideal American, in the public sense, is a respectable vacuum. ~ H L Mencken,

1323:I like that stick of yours," he said. "It's a staff." Jem swung out to knock another automaton sideways. "Made by the Iron Sisters, only for Silent Brothers." [...] "Anyone can sharpen a stick." "It's a staff," Jem repeated, and saw Will's quicksilver smile out of the corner of his eye. ~ Cassandra Clare,

1324:Otrera stayed dead the second time," Kinzie said, batting her eyes. "We have to thank you for that. If you ever need a new girlfriend...well, I think you'd look great in an iron collar and an orange jumpsuit." Percy couldn't tell if she was kidding or not. He politely thanked her and changed seats. ~ Rick Riordan,

1325:The Convicts Rum Song Cut yer name across me backbone Stretch me skin across a drum Iron me up to Pinchgut Island From today till Kingdon Come! I will eat yer Norfolk dumplings Like a juicy spanish plum Even dance the Newgate Hornpipe If ye'll only give me Rum! ~ Anonymous Oceania,

1326:Then we went up iron steps that clanked under one’s feet to a station right up in the air on a level with the treetops and took a train which ran high above parks in which boys were playing football, a sight which almost made me glad I was a girl and could do really interesting and adventurous things. ~ Rebecca West,

1327:You have such a low opinion of this place. Of me.” She looked at me, and I saw actual hurt in her eyes. Her gaze drifted down to the iron ring that was still around my neck. I had refused to go with Elka when she’d gone to have hers removed. She’d told me I was an idiot, and perhaps she was right. ~ Lesley Livingston,

1328:As we approach the crucial battleground, believe that our blades will not shatter. Believe that our resolve will not weaken. Though our paths may diverge, our iron hearts remain together. Swear, that though the land itself may break asunder...We will come back alive! ~ Tite KuboRenji Abarai ~ Tite Kubo,

1329:Life is not a symbol, is not one riddle and one failure to guess it, is not to inhabit one face alone or to be given up after one losing throw of the dice; but is to be, however inadequately, emptily, hopelessly into the city’s iron heart, endured. And out again, upon the unplumb’d, salt, estranging sea. ~ John Fowles,

1330:The sound Viserys Targaryen made when that hideous iron helmet covered his face was like nothing human. His feet hammered a frantic beat against the dirt floor, slowed, stopped. Thick globs of molten gold dripped down onto his chest, setting the scarlet silk to smoldering… yet no drop of blood was spilled. ~ Anonymous,

1331:He felt again the sharp kick of jealousy, the iron weight of dread he had felt two years ago when he realized, She doesn’t look at me that way. . . . And he’d tried to ignore the growing fear that he was losing her. To his very own brother. A man who would never appreciate her, never love her as he did. ~ Julie Klassen,

1332:While I talked about comparisons between Cap and Cable, there's also a parallel with Tony Stark. Iron Man thinks of himself as a 'futurist,' Cable is from the future. Both have been at war with their own bodies. We look for characters with touch points to Cable. Their legacy means an enormous amount to him. ~ Jeph Loeb,

1333:If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, if you insist on leaving your fate to the gods, then the gods will repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense. Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked. ~ Tom Robbins,

1334:I know not whether the remark is to our honour or otherwise, that lessons of wisdom have never such power over us, as when they are wrought into the heart, through the ground-work of a story which engages the passions: Is it that we are like iron, and must first be heated before we can be wrought upon? ~ Laurence Sterne,

1335:The Iron Law of Liberalism states that any market reform, any government initiative intended to reduce red tape and promote market forces will have the ultimate effect of increasing the total number of regulations, the total amount of paperwork, and the total number of bureaucrats the government employs. ~ David Graeber,

1336:It is most difficult to understand the disposition of the Bible God, it is such a confusion of contradictions; of watery instabilities and iron firmness; of goody-goody abstract morals made out of words, and concreted hell-born ones made out of acts; of fleeting kindness repented of in permanent malignities. ~ Mark Twain,

1337:My grandfather was an autoworker, and I have a weapon he manufactured to protect himself from the company that he would carry to work. It's a big iron pipe with a hunk of lead on the head. I think about how far we've come as companies from those days, where workers had to protect themselves from the company. ~ Larry Page,

1338:The citizenry’s primary occupations are rubbish picking and luring strangers into the Acre to cosh them on the head and rob them. For amusement, they ingest whatever flammable liquids are at hand and sing badly at the top of their lungs. The area’s main exports are smelted iron slag, bone meal, and misery. ~ Ransom Riggs,

1339:He was aware now of many things—of statecraft and profound consequences in the smallest decisions. Yet he felt this knowledge and subtlety as a thin veneer covering an iron core of simpler, more deterministic awareness. And that older core called out to him, pleaded with him for a return to cleaner values. ~ Frank Herbert,

1340:I’m never going to let you,” she whispered, holding herself stiff and still in his arms. “You might as well forget it and let me go right now.” The arms around her tightened like iron bands and his voice was a low, possessive growl. “Never. You’re mine, Olivia. The sooner you realize that the better. ~ Evangeline Anderson,

1341:Laurent wasn't loved. Laurent wasn't liked. Even among his own men, who would follow him off a cliff, there was the unequivocal consensus that Laurent was, as Orlant had once described him, a cast iron bitch, that it was a very bad idea to get on his bad side, and that as for his good side, he didn't have one. ~ C S Pacat,

1342:Look. If you are having pains, scream. If you are seeing thousand-pound elephant birds with reinforced iron nests, tell us and we shall believe you. If you want to climb up and jump from the roof, let me tell you that we feel exactly the same. Only don’t lock your door like a maiden aunt with the gravel. ~ Dorothy Dunnett,

1343:political life in a position such as this is one long strain on the temper, one long acceptance of the second best, one long experiment of checking one’s impulses with an iron hand and learning to subordinate one’s own desires to what some hundreds of associates can be forced or cajoled or led into desiring. ~ Jon Meacham,

1344:It’s funny how you get under his skin.” At first, I’m not sure I heard him right. I almost ask whom he’s talking about, because I can’t quite believe he’s admitting that high and mighty Cardan is affected by anything. “Like a splinter?” I say. “Of iron. No one else bothers him quite the way that you do. ~ Holly Black,

1345:The road is covered by jagged serrations of ice hard as iron. I pull aside the boot soles that are strapped to my feet. Underneath, my feet are streaked with cuts and dark abrasions. Thorns, branches and sharp ice graved their signs on me unknown, leaving behind a medley of runes written in some strange tongue. ~ Ned Hayes,

1346:You ever see a man who doesn’t know he’s unhappy, Leopard? Look for it in the scars on his woman’s face. Or in the excellence of his woodcraft and iron making, or in the masks he makes to wear himself because he forbids the world to see his own face. I am not happy, Leopard. But I am not unhappy that I know. ~ Marlon James,

1347:I had seen a herd of Buffalo, one hundred and twenty-nine of them, come out of the morning mist under a copper sky, one by one, as if the dark and massive, iron-like animals with the mighty horizontally swung horns were not approaching, but were being created before my eyes and sent out as they were finished. ~ Isak Dinesen,

1348:Quote taken from Chapter 1 of The Corpse Wore Gingham: "You love to figure out things as much as I do,” Piper said. “Like what?” Bill asked. “You fix broken stuff,” Piper replied. “Repairing a broken toaster or steam iron is far different than unraveling a murder mystery," Bill said. ~ Ed Lynskey,

1349:What destroyed the Indian was not primarily political greed, land hunger, or military power, not the white man’s germs or the white man’s rum. What destroyed him was the manufactured products of a culture, iron and steel, guns, needles, woolen cloth, things that once possessed could not be done without.”19 ~ Robert D Kaplan,

1350:Past, present, future: unattainable, Yet clear as the moteless sky. Late at night the stool's cold as iron, But the moonlit window smells of plum. [1506.jpg] -- from Zen Poetry: Let the Spring Breeze Enter, Translated by Lucien Stryk / Translated by Takashi Ikemoto ~ Hakuin, Past, present, future- unattainable ,

1351:There was an object falling. “There is something up in the sky.” He pointed. The chief of the Tokubetsu Koto Keisatsu squinted. “Is it an aircraft?” The Iron Guard, fuming about the potential loss of such a valuable vessel, turned to look. “It’s a bird.” “No . . .” Hayate leaned forward. “I believe that is a man. ~ Anonymous,

1352:Chocolate is an extraordinary source of key stress-fighting minerals including: magnesium, iron, chromium, vanadium, copper, zinc, manganese, and phosphorus. These minerals favorably influence a woman's hormone system, which explains why chocolate has always been considered important for a woman's monthly cycle. ~ David Wolfe,

1353:He had known George Barton ever since the latter’s boyhood. Barton’s uncle had been a country neighbour of the Races. There was a difference of over twenty years between the two men. Race was over sixty, a tall, erect, military figure, with sunburnt face, closely cropped iron-grey hair, and shrewd dark eyes. ~ Agatha Christie,

1354:Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you tonight in my … chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved, the Iron Lady of the Western world. Me? A Cold War warrior? … Well, yes — if that is how they wish to interpret my defense of values of freedoms fundamental to our way of life. ~ Margaret Thatcher,

1355:Barney, the big purple cartoon dinosaur with the perpetual stupid grin. Barney, and Smurfs, Mickey Mouse, unicorns, and a lot of other fictional characters were painted on the truck. Whoever decided which characters to paint on the truck had made interesting choices, like, why was Iron Man waving to the Smurfs? ~ Craig Alanson,

1356:These atom substitutions happen naturally inside other crystals too. A crystal of aluminum oxide is colorless if pure but becomes blue when it contains impurities of iron atoms: it is the gemstone called sapphire. Exactly the same aluminum oxide crystal containing impurities of chromium is the gem called ruby. ~ Mark Miodownik,

1357:You have won the Cold War. ... [Your] underappreciated valor [helped] topple the Berlin Wall, and bring down dictators the world over. ... For the past four decades the world behind the Iron Curtain ... looked to Americans for hope, and America looked to you to get the job done. Today, the free world says thank you. ~ Bob Dole,

1358:And there were iron laws of tradition and law on four sides. He was in a moving box. As he perceived this fact it occurred to him that he had never wished to come to the war. He had not enlisted of his free will. He had been dragged by the merciless government. And now they were taking him out to be slaughtered. ~ Stephen Crane,

1359:Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed,” Eisenhower said. “This is not a way of life….Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ~ John A Farrell,

1360:I like all of the typical hard rock bands. I'm an AC/DC fanatic. I love ZZ Top, just about any Van Halen, any Judas Priest, the list goes on and on, most of the Iron Maiden stuff. Those are the big bands, but I got my feel from, I grew up on Mountain and Humble Pie. That kind of stuff is where I get my feel from. ~ Mark Mendoza,

1361:We are always getting ready to live, but never living... The wave moves onward but the particles of which it is composed do not... It cannot be but that at intervals throughout society there are real men intermixed . . . as the carpenter puts one iron bar in his bannister for every five or six wooden ones. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

1362:We shall look on crime as a disease, and its physicians shall displace the judges, its hospitals displace the Galleys. Liberty and health shall be alike. We shall pour balm and oil where we formerly applied iron and fire; evil will be treated in charity, instead of in anger. This change will be simple and sublime. ~ Victor Hugo,

1363:What they were really attempting was to wield an iron fist of control. With new species come new ideas, and that can create control issues for a leader. Make your people dependent on you, ensure they learn only the information you would have them know, and what a smooth ride you’ve created for yourself as a leader. ~ K F Breene,

1364:But I am greedy for life. I do too much of everything all the time. Suddenly one day my heart will fail. The Iron Crab will get me as it got my father. But I am not afraid of The Crab. At least I shall have died from an honourable disease. Perhaps they will put on my tombstone. 'This Man Died from Living Too Much'. ~ Ian Fleming,

1365:To wash and iron and paint over and to feel sorry about all the irreparable things, and to know that there would still be cracks everywhere, and that all the things had been in much better shape before... No, no! And to put them all back into place in the dark and black rooms and try to find them cosy once more... ~ Tove Jansson,

1366:Will you believe me when I tell you there was kindness in his heart? His left hand didn't know what his right hand was doing. It was only that certain important connections had been burned through. If I opened up your head and ran a hot soldering iron around in your brain, I might turn you into someone like that. ~ Denis Johnson,

1367:A landscape fossilized, It's stone-wall patternings Repeated before our eyes In the stone walls of Mayo. Before I turned to go He talked about persistence, A congruence of lives, How, stubbed and cleared of stones, His home accrued growth rings Of iron, flint and bronze - "Belderg ~ Seamus Heaney,

1368:It is not the weariness of mortality, but the strength of divinity, which we have to recognize in all mighty things; and that is just what we now never recognize, but think that we are to do great things by help of iron bars and perspiration. Alas! we shall do nothing that way but lose some pounds of our own weight. ~ John Ruskin,

1369:'O strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry.    One shall descend and break the iron Law,    Change Nature's doom by the lone spirit's power.    A limitless Mind that can contain the world,    A sweet and violent heart of ardent calms    Moved by the passions of the gods shall come.    ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon,

1370:I am like you, Bloodheart,” he said, his voice hoarse; but his voice always was hoarse now, for he had survived worse injuries than these. The iron collar, and his chains, weighed heavily on his neck. “My heart rests not within me but with another, and she is far away from here. That is why you will never defeat me. ~ Kate Elliott,

1371:I had never seen the jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera - the Panther - and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away; and because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan. ~ Rudyard Kipling,

1372:In no country has the historical blackout been more intense and effective than in Great Britain. Here it has been ingeniously christened The Iron Curtain of Discreet Silence. Virtually nothing has been written to reveal the truth about British responsibility for the Second World War and its disastrous results. ~ Harry Elmer Barnes,

1373:He stopped working and smiled at her. “What are you thinking that makes you look at me so?” “I’m thinking I’d best do something about you soon.” “Are you open to suggestions?” Setting aside an iron chisel, he brushed her cheek. The glove glided, hot and rough, on her skin. She pushed his hand aside. “Not of that sort. ~ Susan Wiggs,

1374:... I chanced upon these words from a letter by Van Gogh: "Like everyone else, I feel the need of family and friendship, affection and friendly intercourse. I am not made of iron, like a hydrant or a lamp post. Perhaps this is what really counts: to arrive at the core of human feeling, in spite of the evidence. ~ Paul Auster,

1375:On his first hand he wore rings of stone, Iron, Amber, Wood and Bone. There were rings unseen on his second hand, One blood in a flowing band, One was air all whisper thin, And the ring of ice had a flaw within. Full faintly shone the ring of flame, And the final ring was without name. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,

1376:to get ’emselves through the iron times. But I ain’t having elves here. You make us want what we can’t have and what you give us is worth nothing and what you take is everything and all there is left for us is the cold hillside, and emptiness, and the laughter of the elves.’ She took a deep breath. ‘So bugger off. ~ Terry Pratchett,

1377:We have different forms assigned to us in the school of life, different gifts imparted. All is not attractive that is good. Iron is useful, though it does not sparkle like the diamond. Gold has not the fragrance of a flower. So different persons have various modes of excellence, and we must have an eye to all. ~ William Wilberforce,

1378:The only way, they argued, to prevent a revolution was to rule Russia with an iron hand. This meant defending the autocratic principle, the unchecked powers of the police, the hegemony of the nobility, and the moral domination of the Church, against the liberal and secular challenges of the urban-industrialize order. ~ Orlando Figes,

1379:Dagmar faced the Iron, quickly bowed her head. “King Gaius, I’m sorry about the confusion. I’m Dagmar Reinholdt, Vassal of Garbhán Isle and Battle Lord—” “And my piece of ass!” Gwenvael announced from the other end of the table while he dropped into one of the chairs. “So keep your grubby Sovereign claws off her. ~ G A Aiken,

1380:Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and hate; debt, which consumes so much time, which so cripples and disheartens a great spirit with cares that seem so base, is a preceptor whose lessons cannot be foregone, and is needed most by those who suffer from it most. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

1381:Debt, grinding debt, whose iron face the widow, the orphan, and the sons of genius fear and hate;--debt, which consumes so much time, which so cripples and disheartens a great spirit with cares that seem so base, is a preceptor whose lessons cannot be forgone, and is needed most by those who suffer from it most. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

1382:Love was also an easy word, used carelessly. Felons and creeps could offer it coated in sugar, and users could dangle it so enticingly that you wouldn't notice it had things attached—heavy things, things like pity and need, that were as weighty as anchors and iron beams and just as impossible to get out from underneath. ~ Deb Caletti,

1383:Mr. Prime Minister,” I say, standing alone on the driveway, my hand extended. “Mr. President.” His expression implacable, his dark eyes peering into mine, he shakes my hand with an iron grip. He is dressed in a black suit and a tie that is a solid blue on the top half, red on the bottom, two-thirds of the Russian flag. ~ Bill Clinton,

1384:Only the spider paid no mind when the unicorn called softly to her through the open door. Arachne was busy with a web which looked to her as though the Milky Way had begun to fall like snow. The unicorn whispered, 'Weaver, freedom is better, freedom is better,' but the spider fled unhearing up and down her iron loom. ~ Peter S Beagle,

1385:And so it turns out that all talk of gradual moves toward a political union and toward “more Europe” are not first steps toward a European democratic federation but, rather, and ominously, a leap into an iron cage that prolongs the crisis and wrecks any prospect of a genuine federal European democracy in the future. ~ Yanis Varoufakis,

1386:For the church is not a human society of people united by their natural affinities but the Body of Christ, in which all members, however different, (and He rejoices in their differences and by no means wishes to iron them out) must share the common life, complementing and helping one another precisely by their differences. ~ C S Lewis,

1387:He couldn't tell that this was one of those occasions a man never forgets: a small cicatrice had been made on the memory, a wound that would ache whenever certain things combined - the taste of gin at mid-day, the smell of flowers under a balcony, the clang of corrugated iron, an ugly bird flopping from perch to perch. ~ Graham Greene,

1388:Human cruelty knows no limits and that one needs immense courage and a will of iron to help others understand that animals are made of flesh and blood like us, that they suffer the same pains as us, that they deserve the same respect as us and that their continuous slaughter should not be part of human entertainment. ~ Brigitte Bardot,

1389:The calcium in collarbones I have kissed. The iron in the blood flushing those cheeks. We imprint our intimacies upon atoms born from an explosion so great it still marks the emptiness of space. A shimmer of photons bears the memory across the long dark amnesia. We will be carried too, mysterious particles that we are. ~ Anthony Marra,

1390:I somehow cling to the strange fancy, that, in all men hiddenly reside certain wondrous, occult properties - as in some plants and minerals - which by some happy but very rare accident (as bronze was discovered by the melting of the iron and brass at the burning of Corinth) may change to be called forth here on earth. ~ Herman Melville,

1391:it is their faith that the only ultimate thing is fear and therefore that the very heart of the world is evil. They believe that death is stronger than life, and therefore dead things must be stronger than living things; whether those dead things are gold and iron and machinery or rocks and rivers and forces of nature. ~ G K Chesterton,

1392:One longs for news from the buried ruins of some stronghold miraculously untouched since Batu Khan set fire to it, the trove, perhaps, of some Transylvanian forester digging out a fox or a badger and suddenly tumbling through the creepers and the roots into a dry vault full of iron chests abrim with parchments... ~ Patrick Leigh Fermor,

1393:The day they brought him forth to die they feared he might incite the crowd (the man was famous for his eloquence). And so his captors placed upon his face an iron mask in which he could not speak. That is how they burned him. That is how he died, without a word, in front of everyone. ~ Heather McHugh,

1394:The Iron Throne is mine by rights. All those who deny that are my foes." "The whole of the realm denies it, brother," said Renley. "Old men deny it with their death rattle, and unborn children deny it in their mothers' wombs. They deny it in Dorne and they deny it on the Wall. No one wants you for their king. Sorry. ~ George R R Martin,

1395:This is the lesson history told me: when a religion gets so mired in bureaucracy that compassion takes second place to the law, and the law is iron-bound and iron-clad and has no room in it for exceptions, then it’s no longer a religion for humans, it’s a religion for paper-pushers, painted saints, and marble statues. ~ Mercedes Lackey,

1396:And history teaches this iron law of revolutions: the more extensive the eradication of existing authority, the more its successors must rely on naked power to establish themselves. For,in the end,legitimacy involves an acceptance of authority without compulsion; its absence turns every contest into a test of strength. ~ Henry Kissinger,

1397:Kublai went on as if he had not spoken. “Before you all, in the lands of my enemies, I declare myself great khan of the nation, of the khanates under my brothers, Hulegu and Arik-Boke, of the Chagatai khanate and all others. I declare myself great khan of the Chin lands and the Sung. I have spoken and my word is iron! ~ Conn Iggulden,

1398:That we have iodine in our thyroid glands proves that our bodies were fashioned from supernova material. The iron in our blood came from the cores of two previous star generations. The Sun gives off a bit of peculiar yellow light from fluorescing sodium vapor, an element inherited from its father, the type O or B blue star. ~ Bob Berman,

1399:Under what circumstances does such outrage thrive? The territory of Utah, glorious as it may be, spiked by granite peaks and red jasper rocks, cut by echoing canyons and ravines, spread upon a wide basin of gamma grass and wandering streams, this land of blowing snow and sand, of iron, copper, and the great salten sea. ~ David Ebershoff,

1400:Every way I turned the lush green peaks towered over me. Had it been winter or spring, they would have been iron gray or dappled with pink and white dogwood, sarvis, and redbud, but always they would be there, the mountains, their heights rounded by the elements like relics worn smooth by the hands of reverent pilgrims. ~ Denise Giardina,

1401:Love was also an easy word, used carelessly. Felons and creeps could offer it coated in sugar, and users could dangle it so enticingly that you wouldn't notice that it had things attached - heavy things, things like pity and need, that were weighty as anchors and iron beams and just as impossible to get out from underneath. ~ Deb Caletti,

1402:The next day, 25 February 1945, Goebbels warned, in an article in The Reich, that, if Germany surrendered, Stalin would immediately occupy south-eastern Europe, and ‘an iron curtain would immediately fall on this huge territory, together with the vastness of the Soviet Union, and nations would be slaughtered behind it’. ~ Richard J Evans,

1403:Then it seemed that a cloud formed itself into an enormous bumble bee as big as a sheep. She wore a tall iron crown studded with rock crystals, the stars of the underworld. All this may have been a collective hallucination although nobody has yet explained to me what a collective hallucination actually means. ~ Leonora Carrington,

1404:The surface of the iron was irregular, but though it showed no sign of having been polished it was completely smooth—smooth in a way that reminded him of a certain place in the rough stone floor of the kitchen, where all the roughness had been worn away by generations of feet turning to come round the corner from the door. ~ Susan Cooper,

1405:This was the theory of “contact as symbol” proposed by sociologist Bill Mathers of RAND Corporation in his book, The 100,000-Light-Year Iron Curtain: SETI Sociology. Mathers believed that contact with an alien civilization is only a symbol or a switch. Regardless of the content of the encounter, the results would be the same. ~ Liu Cixin,

1406:She yawned and stretched, and settled back again on her pillows and thought how perfect it would be if sleep could not only restore one but iron out all anxieties in the same process, so that one could wake with a totally clear and untroubled mind, as smooth and empty as a beach, washed and ironed by the outgoing tide. ~ Rosamunde Pilcher,

1407:We try to resist it by making things that will last—forever, we say—things that we don’t have to wash, things that we don’t have to iron. Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget that we are part of the natural scheme of things. ~ Pema Ch dr n,

1408:What is drawing? How does one get there? It's working one's way through an invisible iron wall that seems to stand between what one feels and what one can do. How can one get through that wall? - since hammering on it doesn't help at all. In my view, one must undermine the wall and grind through it slowly and patiently. ~ Vincent Van Gogh,

1409:When I look at the large green iron gate from my window it takes on the air of a prison gate. An unjust feeling, since I know I can leave the place whenever I want to, and since I know that human beings place upon an object, or a person, this responsibility of being the obstacle when the obstacle lies always within one’s self. ~ Ana s Nin,

1410:But its the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day. ~ Charles Dickens,

1411:Generally speaking I would say I enjoy the smaller films more because there's a less sense of pressure and often the material is more unusual. But in "Iron Man" it was kind of like both worlds colliding because there was a lot of improvisation, not that we improv-ed in the scenes but to discover the actual scenes themselves. ~ Jeff Bridges,

1412:The seven bad-humored and unfunny devils who eat ourselves and our narratives alive are Pretentiousness, Pomposity, Presumption, Pontificality, Pavoninity or Peacockery, Pornography, and Pride, these seven offenses to all life. They have oozed out from under the iron doors and then they have inflated themselves immeasurably. ~ R A Lafferty,

1413:used to dream of severed human heads. They hung above me, their skin gray and pasty as the elixir of life flowed out of them. I inhaled, and the metallic scent of iron infused itself into my cells. It was the iron and other nutrients in blood that our bodies needed, but that wasn’t the scent that drew us, the scent we craved. ~ Helen Hardt,

1414:What if I can’t?” I whispered. “What if the Iron King truly is invincible?” “Then we will all die,” said the Elder Dryad, and faded back into her oak. The other dryads left, leaving me alone with a cat, a prince, and a stick. I sighed and looked down at the wood in my hands. “No pressure or anything,” I muttered. ~ Julie Kagawa,

1415:Augustin calls diligens negligentia was the best diligence as to that; while I was yet a very young man I had learned out of him that it was no solecism in a preacher to use ossum for os, for (saith he) an iron key is better than one made of gold if it will better open the door, for that is all the use of the key. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo,

1416:Therein, ye gods, ye make the weak most strong; Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat. Nor stony wall, nor walls of beaten brass, Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, Can be retentive to the strength of spirit: But life being weary of these worldly bars Never lacks power to dismiss itself. ~ William Shakespeare,

1417:Eventually I got the call for 'Iron Man,' and I read sides that had nothing to do with what I did in the movie, and I performed it once while no one was in the room - it was videotaped, and I'm sure Shane Black was watching it from his helicopter or something. And then I got a call the next day that I was going down to shoot it. ~ Adam Pally,

1418:Hate-hardened heart, O heart of iron iron is iron till it is rust. There never was a war that was not inward; I must fight till I have conquered in myself what causes war, but I would not believe it. I inwardly did nothing. O Iscariot-like crime! Beauty is everlasting and dust is for a time. ~ Marianne Moore,

1419:He should be happy because he can think about the unhappiness of others! He’s stupid if he doesn’t know other people’s unhappiness is theirs, And isn’t cured from the outside, Because suffering isn’t like running out of ink, Or a trunk not having iron bands! There being injustice is like there being death. ~ Alberto Caeiro,

1420:He was not beyond knowing that they thought him - when he first arrived - a quiet patsy. The Arab. The Yank. The Judge. Your Harness. Mohammed. Mahatma. Ahab. Iron Pants. He wasn't interested in playing himself Irish or Lebanese. Not for him the simple ancestral heart: he wanted to make himself the smallest continent possible. ~ Colum McCann,

1421:...[I]ron discipline does not preclude but presupposes criticism and contest of opinion within the Party. Least of all does it mean that discipline must be 'blind'. On the contrary, iron discipline does not preclude but presupposes conscious and voluntary submission, for only conscious discipline can be truly iron discipline. ~ Joseph Stalin,

1422:It’s the enmity magic. Little children are unaffected by it—until they are hurt. Children are afraid of nothing. But soon they learn, and it is pain that teaches them. The scalding handle of an iron skillet. The sting of a bee. We are a weak and vulnerable race. A sack of watery blood and soft organs enmeshed in brittle bones. ~ Jeff Wheeler,

1423:There is a magic to intimacy, a world built of sighs and skin that is thicker than brick, stronger than iron. There is only you, and him, so impossibly close that nothing can come between. Not the enemy, not your allies. In this safe haven, in this hallowed place and time, I could even ask the questions whose answers I feared. ~ Jodi Picoult,

1424:The scourge, which the Romans called the flagrum, was a long-handled whip that branched out into multiple leather thongs a total of five feet in length. At the end of each thong was a knot with an embedded piece of iron or glass. The sharp material would rip the flesh from the victim in streaks of bloody gore down their backs. ~ Brian Godawa,

1425:The sky was a cold iron-grey, like the underside of a shield. A sharp breeze lifted the hems of skirts and rattled the leaves on the immature trees; a spiteful, chill wind that sought out your weakest places, the nape of your neck and your knees, and which denied you the comfort of dreaming, of retreating a little from reality. ~ J K Rowling,

1426:I wanted to be weak that I might avoid the awful passage of further suffering I saw laid out for me; and conscience, turned tyrant, held passion by the throat, told her tauntingly, she had yet but dipped her dainty foot in the slough, and swore that with that arm of iron he would thrust her down to unsounded depths of agony. ~ Charlotte Bront,

1427:If you don't kill all of us all at once, those who remain will not be the weak. It's the strong who remain, the bent but unbroken, like the iron rods that used to give this concrete its strength. Floods, fires, earthquakes, disease, starvation, betrayal, isolation, murder. What doesn't kill us sharpens us. Hardens us. Schools us. ~ Rick Yancey,

1428:I loved IRON MAN: Robert Downey Jr. has been and probably will be my favourite actor for a long time…but IRON MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, SUPERMAN RETURNS and all the others feel a little like Saturday morning cartoons next to the carbon black glory that is 'The Dark Knight.' Trust me, *this* is the future of this sort of thing. ~ Grant Morrison,

1429:Liza hated alcoholic liquors with an iron zeal. Dribking alcohol in any form she regarded as a crime against a properly outraged diety. Not only would she not touch it herself, but she resisted its enjoyment by anyone else. The result naturally was that her husband Samuel and all her children had a good lusty love for a drink. ~ John Steinbeck,

1430:My rule has been, so far as I could have any rule (I could have no cast-iron rule) - my rule has been, to write what I have to say the best way I can - then lay it aside - taking it up again after some time and reading it afresh - the mind new to it. If there's no jar in the new reading, well and good - that's sufficient for me. ~ Walt Whitman,

1431:The knight is a man of blood and iron, a man familiar with the sight of smashed faces and the ragged stumps of lopped-off limbs; he is also a demure, almost a maidenlike, guest in hall, a gentle, modest, unobtrusive man. He is not a compromise or happy mean between ferocity and meekness; he is fierce to the nth and meek to the nth. ~ C S Lewis,

1432:He’d never liked tea. It seemed somewhat ridiculous to him, to interrupt his day with miniature cakes and dry, crustless sandwiches, and fragile china that always seemed about to snap in half between his fingers. Tea, Kimber reasoned, was a feminine invention, ruled by females of a certain type: ruffled, beribboned, and iron-willed. ~ Shana Abe,

1433:It is the moment when our resolution seems about to become irrevocable--when the fatal iron gates are about to close upon us--that tests our strength. Then, after hours of clear reasoning and firm conviction, we snatch at any sophistry that will nullify our long struggles, and bring us the defeat that we love better than victory. ~ George Eliot,

1434:The inner censor of the mind of the true believer completes the work of the public censor; his self-discipline is as tyrannical as the obedience imposed by the regime; he terrorizes his own conscience into submission;he carries his private Iron Curtain inside his skull, to protect his illusions against the intrusion of reality. ~ Arthur Koestler,

1435:We divorced ourselves from the materials of the earth, the rock, the wood, the iron ore; we looked to new materials which were cooked in vats, long complex derivatives of urine which we called plastic. They had no odor of the living, ... their touch was alien to nature. ... [They proliferated] like the matastases of cancer cells. ~ Norman Mailer,

1436:Brad glanced from his locker to find the large form of his friend and hockey teammate Trey Arenson looming over him. Trey, whose two hundred pounds of hard muscle were spread over an imposing six-foot, two-nch frame, looked more like a linebacker than a goalie, but his build made him nothing short of an iron wall in the nets. ~ Stacy Juba,

1437:It is the moment when our resolution seems about to become irrevocable - when the fatal iron gates are about to close upon us - that tests our strength. Then, after hours of clear reasoning and firm conviction, we snatch at any sophistry that will nullify our long struggles, and bring us the defeat that we love better than victory. ~ George Eliot,

1438:Death! mysterious, ill-visaged friend of weak humanity! Why alone of all mortals have you cast me from your sheltering fold? Oh, for the peace of the grave! the deep silence of the iron-bound tomb! that thought would cease to work in my brain, and my heart beat no more with emotions varied only by new forms of sadness! ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

1439:In a regime of Free Trade and free economic intercourse it would be of little consequence that iron lay on one side of a political frontier, and labour, coal, and blast furnaces on the other. But as it is, men have devised ways to impoverish themselves and one another; and prefer collective animosities to individual happiness. ~ John Maynard Keynes,

1440:I loved IRON MAN: Robert Downey Jr. has been and probably will be my favourite actor for a long time…but IRON MAN, THE INCREDIBLE HULK, SUPERMAN RETURNS and all the others feel a little like Saturday morning cartoons next to the carbon black glory that is 'The Dark Knight.' Trust me, *this* is the future of this sort of thing. ~ Grant Morrison,

1441:Perhaps his gloom was due to his profession, that he lived among fallen empires, and in reading these languages that had not been spoken by the common man in centuries, he had all about him the ruin of language, evidence of toppled suburbs, grass growing among the mosaics, and voices that had been choked with poison, iron, age, or ash. ~ M T Anderson,

1442:She loved beyond measure, When I was young I thought her cold. But in time I came to understand that she was too tender for the world she’d been born into,” I said. Sorrow gave Dalia an iron gift. Behind that hard shelter, she loved boundlessly in the distance and privacy of her solitude, safe from the tragic rains of her fate. ~ Susan Abulhawa,

1443:The road is a river of ice, slick and unforgiving. A harsh sweep of white iron, smooth as glass and cold enough to freeze any uncovered inch of flesh to the surface. Hillocks and haystacks rise up, isles in a smoking brume. Here and there snow has blown aside, revealing the line of the great white stone road that slices through the hills. ~ Ned Hayes,

1444:In her mind the U.S. was nothing more and nothing less than a país overrun by gangsters, putas, and no-accounts. Its cities swarmed with machines and industry, as thick with sinvergüencería as Santo Domingo was with heat, a cuco shod in iron, exhaling fumes, with the glittering promise of coin deep in the cold lightless shaft of its eyes. ~ Junot D az,

1445:There is something in obstinacy which differs from every other passion; whenever it fails it never recovers, but either breaks like iron or crumbles sulkily away like a fractured arch. Most other passions have their periods of fatigue and rest; their suffering and their cure; but obstinacy has no resource, and the first wound is mortal. ~ Thomas Paine,

1446:BLACK HAIR, BLUE EYES, GRACEFUL CHEEKBONES, THICK DARK LASHES, FULL MOUTH—HE WOULD HAVE BEEN PRETTY IF HE HAD NOT BEEN SO TALL AND SO MUSCULAR. SHE HAD RUN HER HANDS OVER THOSE ARMS. SHE KNEW WHAT THEY FELT LIKE—IRON, CORDED WITH HARD MUSCLES; HIS HANDS, WHEN THEY CUPPED THE BACK OF HER HEAD, SLIM AND FLEXIBLE BUT ROUGH WITH CALLUSES… ~ Cassandra Clare,

1447:terrible worm in an iron cocoon,” as he was called in an anonymous poem, the knight rode on a saddle rising in a high ridge above the horse’s backbone with his feet resting in very long stirrups so that he was virtually standing up and able to deliver tremendous swinging blows from side to side with any one of his armory of weapons. ~ Barbara W Tuchman,

1448:One even tries to figure out why Donald Trump is so admiring of a leader who has cracked down on journalists and is suspected of using even violence, cracked down on civil society, ruling with an iron fist within Russia. To look with admiration on that sort of domestic leadership, I think is just really inconsistent with American values. ~ Philip Gordon,

1449:Swerve me? ye cannot swerve me, else ye swerve yourselves! man has ye there. Swerve me? The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run. Over unsounded gorges, through the rifled hearts of mountains, under torrents' beds, unerringly I rush! Naught's an obstacle, naught's an angle to the iron way! ~ Herman Melville,

1450:A terrible worm in an iron cocoon,” as he was called in an anonymous poem, the knight rode on a saddle rising in a high ridge above the horse’s backbone with his feet resting in very long stirrups so that he was virtually standing up and able to deliver tremendous swinging blows from side to side with any one of his armory of weapons. ~ Barbara W Tuchman,

1451:Beijing Coma took me 10 years to finish. The first few years, I wrote very little. A single recurrent image was blocking my progress: a man lying naked on an iron bed, a sparrow perched on his arm, his chest illuminated by a cold beam of light. Those 10 years were a struggle to prove to myself the power and meaning of that single beam of light. ~ Ma Jian,

1452:Even a superficial glance is sufficient to show that all the innumerable forms in which the life-urge of Nature manifests itself are subject to a fundamental law - one may call it an iron law of Nature - which compels the various species to keep within the definite limits of their own life-forms when propagating and multiplying their kind. ~ Adolf Hitler,

1453:Noon bells sang out with their usual ignorance of mood, marking out moments of grief and worry, elation and confusion. The bells said that at its core, human life was fundamentally a sort of organic clockwork, while the winds and skylarks that swept against the sound of metronomic iron timekeeping argued for variety, subtlety, epiphany. ~ Gregory Maguire,

1454:The Wickans know that the gift of power is never free. They know enough not to envy the chosen among them, for power is never a game, nor a glittering standards raised to glory and wealth. They disguise nothing in trappings, and so we all see what we’d rather not, that power is cruel, hard as iron and bone, and it thrives on destruction. ~ Steven Erikson,

1455:Umbridge. ‘STOP THEM!’ shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd. ‘Give her hell from us, Peeves.’ And ~ J K Rowling,

1456:I am Welcomed in the Home of Ravens and Other Scavengers in the Wake of Warriors," Ringil recited for him, hollowly. "I am Friend to Carrion Crows and Wolves. I am Carry Me and Kill with Me, and Die with Me Where the Road Ends. I am not the Honeyed Promise of Length of Life in Years to Come, I am the Iron Promise of Never Being a Slave. ~ Richard K Morgan,

1457:God has a mastermind. He arranged everything in His gigantic intellect long before He did it, and once having settled it, He never alters it. “This shall be done,” says He, and the iron hand of destiny marks it down, and it is brought to pass. “This is My purpose,” and it stands. Nor can earth or hell alter it. “This is My decree, ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,

1458:WE When it is over, we breathe and ache like old oak, like peeling birch. One of Our lost souls set free. We move, a chess piece in a dark room, cast-iron legs moving a centimeter at a time, crying out in silent carved graffiti. Calling to Our next victim, Our next savior. We carve on Our face: Touch me. Save my soul. ~ Lisa McMann,

1459:But suddenly he comprehended why her face haunted him, why he felt this terrible need to see her again: it was to possess her, to melt into her, to burn, to burn, to burn to ashes on that body and in those eyes. To postpone such a desire for a week, a month, a year, several years even, that can be done. But for eternity is when the iron bites. ~ John Fowles,

1460:My character on 'I'm In the Band,' Derek Jupiter of Iron Weasel, is definitely one of the crazier ones. That's completely on the other end of the spectrum. There's absolutely nothing like Derek any shape or form. I'm having so much fun playing this egotistical, '80s-era rockstar - everything he does is from the point-of-view of a rockstar. ~ Steve Valentine,

1461:Others? Other dragons? I think not, and let us be clear here, Kanyn Thrall, your other victories have all the bravado of rats crunched underfoot. I make breakfast of mortal heroes and shit out pitted iron at day’s end. I make morsels of Tiste champions, snacks of Thel Akai hunters, paltry meals of Jhelarkan, Dog-Runners, Thelomen and Jheck. ~ Steven Erikson,

1462:Rage needs expression. Dhritarashtra expresses it by crushing the iron effigy of Bhima while Gandhari expresses it by burning Yudhishtira’s toe with a glance. Once expressed, rage dissipates and reason returns. One is advised in many parts of India to eat sugar when angry, just like Gandhari did, so as not to end up cursing the Pandavas. ~ Devdutt Pattanaik,

1463:The earth in its rapid motion round the sun possesses a degree of living force so vast that, if turned into the equivalent of heat, its temperature would be rendered at least one thousand times greater than that of red-hot iron, and the globe on which we tread would in all probability be rendered equal in brightness to the sun itself. ~ James Prescott Joule,

1464:There is something in obstinacy which differs from every other passion. Whenever it fails, it never recovers, but either breaks like iron, or crumbles sulkily away, like a fractured arch. Most other passions have their periods of fatigue and rest, their sufferings and their cure; but obstinacy has no resource, and the first wound is mortal. ~ Samuel Johnson,

1465:Everything has changed. Because one upon a time I was just a child. Today I'm still a child, but this time I've got an iron will and 2 fists made of steel and I've aged 50 years. Now I finally have a clue. I've finally figured out that I'm strong enough, that maybe I'm a touch brave enough, that maybe this time I can do what I was meant to do. ~ Tahereh Mafi,

1466:The majority of the men of the North, and of the South and East and West, are not men of principle. If they vote, they do not sendmen to Congress on errands of humanity; but while their brothers and sisters are being scourged and hung for loving liberty,... it is the mismanagement of wood and iron and stone and gold which concerns them. ~ Henry David Thoreau,

1467:All the same, the fundamental truths which govern that art are still unchangeable; just as the principles of mechanics must always govern architecture, whether the building be made of wood, stone, iron or concrete; just as the principles of harmony govern music of whatever kind. It is still necessary, then, to establish the principles of war. ~ Ferdinand Foch,

1468:Grace, if you have used an iron within the last six months, I will eat that fork," Ms. Chancellor says. "Which one?" I try to tease. "You've got a lot of forks to choose from." "From which to choose, Grace. Do not end your sentences in prepositions, dear." "Of course, I totally see what you're getting at. I mean, at what you're getting. ~ Ally Carter,

1469:No one knows why dwarfs, who at home in the mountains lead quiet, orderly lives, forget it all when they move to the big city. Something comes over even the most blameless iron-ore miner and prompts him to wear chain-mail all the time, carry an ax, change his name to something like Grabthroat Shinkicker and drink himself into surly oblivion. ~ Terry Pratchett,

1470:Then you need to fight for him. Don't give up on something like that. It doesn't come along very often. And when you find it, you hold on tight. You lock that shit down with an iron fist and you never, ever let go. Even when life tries to take it from you, you smack life upside its head like a little bitch and you keep on fighting for it. ~ A Meredith Walters,

1471:The wise say that it is not an iron, wooden or fiber fetter which is a strong one, but the besotted hankering after trinkets, children and wives, that, say the wise, is the strong fetter. It drags one down, and loose as it feels, it is hard to break. Breaking this fetter, people renounce the world, free from longing and abandoning sensuality. ~ Gautama Buddha,

1472:You know nothing of war. War is dark. Black as pitch. It is not a God. It does not laugh or weep. It rewards neither skill nor daring. It is not a trial of souls, not the measure of wills. Even less is it a tool, a means to some womanish end. It is merely the place where the iron bones of the earth meet the hollow bones of men and break them. ~ R Scott Bakker,

1473:I look through the spaces between the iron steps at the colorless flow of the river down below, transporting chunks of ice like white clouds. In a distress that lasts an instant, I seem to be feeling what she feels: that every void continues in the void, every gap, even a short one opens another gap, every chasm empties into the infinite abyss. ~ Italo Calvino,

1474:I should say, perhaps, in explanation of this latter piece of description, that among the other blessings which public opinion secures to the negroes, is the common practice of violently punching out their teeth. To make them wear iron collars by day and night, and to worry them with dogs, are practices almost too ordinary to deserve mention. ~ Charles Dickens,

1475:Not every legend is a myth, some are flesh and blood. Some legends walk among us, but they aren’t born, they’re built. Legends are made from iron & sweat, mind and muscle, blood and vision and victory. Legends are champions, they grow, they win, they conquer. There’s a legend behind every legacy, there’s a blueprint behind every legend. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger,

1476:One can trace the relics of this former happiness in the trim shapes of the buildings, the occasional graceful churches, and the evidences of original art and background in bits of detail here and there - a worn flight of steps, a wormy pair of decorative columns of pilasters, or a fragment of once green space with bent and rusted iron railing. ~ H P Lovecraft,

1477:Perhaps his gloom was due to his profession, that he lived among fallen empires, and in reading these languages that had not been spoken by the common man in centuries, he had all about him the ruin of language, evidence of toppled suburbs, grass growing among the mosaics, and voices that had been choked with poison, iron, age, or ash. ~ Matthew Tobin Anderson,

1478:The whole trouble lies in that people think that there are conditions excluding the necessity of love in their intercourse with man, but such conditions do not exist. Things may be treated without love; one may chop wood, make bricks, forge iron without love, but one can no more deal with people without love than one can handle bees without care. ~ Leo Tolstoy,

1479:What appears to be definite and precise does not belong to any acceptable reality. It is only the experiences, the queer previsions, the fleeting premonitions, that are real. Vague and insubstantial though they may appear to be, compared with anything else in the mists and shifting lights of Time theory, they loom up like mountains of iron ore. ~ J B Priestley,

1480:Huge, dizzying, clumps and clusters of snow falling through the air, patches of white against an iron-gray sky, snow that touches your tongue with cold and winter, that kisses your face with its hesitant touch before freezing you to death. Twelve cotton-candy inches of snow, creating a fairytale world, making everything unrecognizably beautiful... ~ Neil Gaiman,

1481:What's it like to envision the ten-thousand-year environmental impact of tossing a plastic bottle into the trash bin, all in the single second it takes to actually toss it? Or the ten-thousand-year history of the fossil fuel being burned to drive to work or iron a shirt? It may be environmentally progressive, but it's not altogether pleasant. ~ Douglas Rushkoff,

1482:While the hardware of civilization - iron pots, blankets, guns - was welcomed by Native people, the software of Protestantism and Catholicism - original sin, universal damnation, atonement, and subligation - was not, and Europeans were perplexed, offended, and incensed that Native peoples had the temerity to take their goods and return their gods. ~ Thomas King,

1483:For a moment my soul was elevated from its debasing and miserable fears to which these sights were the monuments and the remembrances. For an instant I dared to shake off my chains, and look around me with a free and lofty spirit; but the iron had eaten into my flesh, and I sank again, trembling and hopeless, into my miserable self. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,

1484:As for us, we were never concerned with the Kantian-priestly and vegetarian-Quaker prattle about the "sacredness of human life." We were revolutionaries in opposition, and have remained revolutionaries in power. To make the individual sacred we must destroy the social order which crucifies him. And this problem can only be solved by blood and iron. ~ Leon Trotsky,

1485:Beauty in this Iron Age must turn, From fluid living rainbow shapes to torn, And sootened fragments, ashes in an urn, On whose gray surface runes are traced by a Norn, Who hopes to wake the Future to arise, In Phoenix-fashion, and to shine with rays, To blast the sight of modern men whose dyes, Of selfishness and lust have stained our days... ~ Philip Jose Farmer,

1486:he gave a thousand measures of the wine for trading, so the troops could barter for it, some with bronze and some with shining iron, others with hides and others still with oxen, some with slaves. They made a copious feast, and all night long Akhaians with flowing hair feasted, while the Trojans and their allies likewise made a feast. ~ Homer,

1487:I used to wonder: Is Huxley right or is Orwell right? It turns out they're both right. First you get the new world state and endless diversions as you are disempowered. And then, as we are watching, credit dries up, and the cheap manufactured goods of the consumer society are no longer cheap. Then you get the iron fist of Oceania, of Orwell's 1984. ~ Chris Hedges,

1488:Ronan was suddenly afraid of him. He was afraid of him in the same way that he was afraid of the night horrors. Because they had killed him before, and they would kill him again, and he precisely remembered the pain of each death. He felt the fear in his chest, and in his face, and in the back of his head. Sharp and stinging, like a tire iron. ~ Maggie Stiefvater,

1489:She'd been trained to survive many things: starvation and bullet wounds. Winter nights and scouring sun. Double-tied knots and interrogations at knifepoint. But this? A boy's lips on hers. Moving and melding. Soft and strength, velvet and iron. Opposite elements that tugged and tor Yael from the inside. Feelings bloomed, hot and warm. Deep and dark. ~ Ryan Graudin,

1490:A man is likewise form and expression, a written sign thrown unto boundless matter, an undifferentiated word of what is. I've therefore been created in the image of the inscriptions that, as a child, I used to project unto my bits of bone, stone, wood, and iron, probably even in the image of a single one of their words, a single one of their letters. ~ Mohammed Dib,

1491:Culture is a sham if it is only a sort of Gothic front put on an iron building -- like Tower Bridge -- or a classical front put on a steel frame -- like the Daily Telegraph building in Fleet Street. Culture, if it is to be a real thing and a holy thing, must be the product of what we actually do for a living -- not something added, like sugar on a pill. ~ Eric Gill,

1492:... Mother Nature is punishing us, ..., for our greed and selfishness. We torture her at all hours by iron and wood, fire and stone. We dig her up and dump her in the sea. We sink mine shafts into her and drag out her entrails - and all for a jewel to wear on a pretty finer. Who can blame her if she occasionally quivers with anger?" - Pliny, Pg. 176 ~ Robert Harris,

1493:You know what things. By now you of all people should know.” Silence. “Why are you telling me all this?” “Because I thought you should know.” “Because you thought I should know.” He repeated my words slowly, trying to take in their full meaning, all the while sorting them out, playing for time by repeating the words. The iron, I knew, was burning hot. ~ Andr Aciman,

1494:And truly it demands something godlike in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster. High be his heart, faithful his will, clear his sight, that he may in good earnest be doctrine, society, law, to himself, that a simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity is to others! ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

1495:In August Rafa quit his job at the carpet factory—I’m too fucking tired, he complained, and some mornings his leg bones hurt so much he couldn’t get out of bed right away. The Romans used to shatter these with iron clubs, I told him while I massaged his shins. The pain would kill you instantly. Great, he said. Cheer me up some more, you fucking bastard. ~ Junot D az,

1496:And truly it demands something god like in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster. High be his heart, faithful his will, clear his sight, that he may in good earnest be doctrine, society, law, to himself, that a simple purpose may be to him as strong as iron necessity is to others! ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,

1497:I was a heavy heart to carry My beloved was weighed down My arms around his neck My fingers laced to crown. I was a heavy heart to carry My feet dragged across ground And he took me to the river Where he slowly let me drown My love has concrete feet My love's an iron ball Wrapped around your ankles Over the waterfall ~ Florence Welch,

1498:My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him presume upon his iron strength until he has fainted from pure inanition. “At present I cannot spare energy and nerve force for digestion,” he would say in answer to my medical remonstrance. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle,

1499:she married my father, but she still sprinkled her phrases with French. “Do stop slouching.” “I can’t slouch in this getup.” I was crammed into a waist cincher like a band of iron, not that I needed one because I was built like a twig, but my froth of skirts wouldn’t hang right without it, so band of iron it was. That Dior, may he and his New Look rot in ~ Kate Quinn,

1500:A golden chain is as much a chain as an iron one. Shri Ramakrishna used to say that, to pick out one thorn which has stuck into the foot, another thorn is requisitioned, and when the thorn is taken out, both are thrown away. So the bad tendencies are to be counteracted by the good ones, but after that, the good tendencies have also to be conquered. ~ Swami Vivekananda,

  397 Integral Yoga
  191 Poetry
   71 Occultism
   70 Fiction
   44 Philosophy
   39 Christianity
   26 Yoga
   26 Psychology
   11 Philsophy
   10 Science
   10 Mysticism
   9 Theosophy
   9 Integral Theory
   7 Mythology
   5 Islam
   4 Cybernetics
   3 Sufism
   3 Hinduism
   3 Education
   1 Zen
   1 Thelema
   1 Kabbalah
   1 Buddhism
   1 Baha i Faith
   1 Alchemy


  318 Sri Aurobindo
  154 The Mother
   99 Satprem
   77 Nolini Kanta Gupta
   50 H P Lovecraft
   29 Walt Whitman
   26 Carl Jung
   22 Percy Bysshe Shelley
   22 Aleister Crowley
   19 William Wordsworth
   19 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
   19 James George Frazer
   17 Robert Browning
   15 Rudolf Steiner
   11 Sri Ramakrishna
   11 Ralph Waldo Emerson
   11 Plato
   10 Lucretius
   10 Jorge Luis Borges
   9 John Keats
   9 Friedrich Schiller
   8 William Butler Yeats
   8 Swami Krishnananda
   8 Sri Ramana Maharshi
   8 Saint Augustine of Hippo
   8 Friedrich Nietzsche
   8 Aldous Huxley
   8 A B Purani
   7 Swami Vivekananda
   6 Jordan Peterson
   6 George Van Vrekhem
   6 Anonymous
   5 Saint John of Climacus
   5 Ovid
   5 Muhammad
   5 Edgar Allan Poe
   4 Plotinus
   4 Paul Richard
   4 Norbert Wiener
   4 Franz Bardon
   4 Alice Bailey
   3 Thubten Chodron
   3 R Buckminster Fuller
   3 Peter J Carroll
   3 Nirodbaran
   3 Ken Wilber
   3 Henry David Thoreau
   2 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
   2 Patanjali
   2 Joseph Campbell
   2 Jorge Luis Borges
   2 Jalaluddin Rumi
   2 Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia
   2 Al-Ghazali


   70 Record of Yoga
   61 The Synthesis Of Yoga
   50 Lovecraft - Poems
   29 Whitman - Poems
   27 Savitri
   26 The Life Divine
   22 Shelley - Poems
   22 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
   19 Wordsworth - Poems
   19 The Golden Bough
   18 The Human Cycle
   17 Collected Poems
   17 Browning - Poems
   16 Agenda Vol 04
   14 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
   14 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
   13 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
   13 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
   13 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
   12 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
   11 Liber ABA
   11 Letters On Yoga IV
   11 Emerson - Poems
   11 Agenda Vol 03
   11 Agenda Vol 02
   10 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
   10 Questions And Answers 1956
   10 Questions And Answers 1953
   10 Of The Nature Of Things
   10 Labyrinths
   9 Schiller - Poems
   9 Magick Without Tears
   9 Keats - Poems
   8 Yeats - Poems
   8 Words Of Long Ago
   8 The Study and Practice of Yoga
   8 The Phenomenon of Man
   8 The Perennial Philosophy
   8 The Future of Man
   8 The Bible
   8 Talks
   8 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
   8 Questions And Answers 1954
   8 Mysterium Coniunctionis
   8 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
   8 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
   8 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
   8 Aion
   8 Agenda Vol 08
   7 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
   7 5.1.01 - Ilion
   6 The Secret Doctrine
   6 The Divine Comedy
   6 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
   6 Preparing for the Miraculous
   6 On the Way to Supermanhood
   6 Maps of Meaning
   6 Essays On The Gita
   6 Essays Divine And Human
   6 Agenda Vol 07
   6 Agenda Vol 06
   6 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
   5 Twilight of the Idols
   5 The Practice of Psycho therapy
   5 Theosophy
   5 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
   5 The Blue Cliff Records
   5 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
   5 Quran
   5 Metamorphoses
   5 Letters On Yoga I
   5 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
   5 City of God
   5 Agenda Vol 10
   5 Agenda Vol 09
   4 Some Answers From The Mother
   4 Questions And Answers 1955
   4 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
   4 Poe - Poems
   4 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
   4 Isha Upanishad
   4 Cybernetics
   4 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
   4 Agenda Vol 05
   4 Agenda Vol 01
   3 Walden
   3 Vedic and Philological Studies
   3 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
   3 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
   3 The Practice of Magical Evocation
   3 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
   3 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
   3 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
   3 Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
   3 Sex Ecology Spirituality
   3 Liber Null
   3 Letters On Yoga II
   3 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
   3 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
   3 Bhakti-Yoga
   2 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
   2 The Essentials of Education
   2 The Alchemy of Happiness
   2 Selected Fictions
   2 Raja-Yoga
   2 Prayers And Meditations
   2 Patanjali Yoga Sutras
   2 On Education
   2 Let Me Explain
   2 Kena and Other Upanishads
   2 Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin
   2 Agenda Vol 13
   2 Agenda Vol 12
   2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E

00.02 - Mystic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Thus there is a great diversity of symbols. At the one end is the mere metaphor or simile or allegory ('figure', as we have called it) and at the other end is the symbol identical with the thing symbolized. And upon this inner character of the symbol depends also to a large extent its range and scope. There are symbols which are universal and intimately ingrained in the human consciousness itself. Mankind has used them in all ages and climes almost in the same sense and significance. There are others that are limited to peoples and ages. They are made out of forms that are of local and temporal interest and importance. Their significances vary according to time and place. Finally, there are symbols which are true of the individual consciousness only; they depend on personal peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, on one's envIronment and upbringing and education.    Man being an embodied soul, his external consciousness (what the Upanishad calls jgrat) is the milieu in which his soul-experiences naturally manifest and find their play. It is the forms and movements of that consciousness which clo the and give a concrete habitation and name to perceptions on the subtler ranges of the inner existence. If the experiences on these planes are to be presented to the conscious memory and to the brain-mind and made communicable to others through speech, this is the inevitable and natural process. Symbols are a translation in mental and sensual (and vocal) terms of experiences that are beyond the mind and the sense and the speech and yet throw a kind of echoing vibrations upon these lesser levels.

00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    It may be asked why the dog has been chosen as the symbol of Intuition. In the Vedas, the cow and the horse also play a large part; even the donkey and the frog have their own assigned roles. These objects are taken from the envIronment of ordinary life, and are those that are most familiar to the external consciousness, through which the inner experiences have to express themselves, if they are to be expressed at all. These material objects represent various kinds of forces and movements and subtle and occult and spiritual dynamisms. Strictly speaking, however, symbols are not chosen in a subtle or spiritual experience, that is to say, they are not arbitrarily selected and constructed by the conscious intelligence. They form part of a dramatization (to use a term of the Freudian psychology of dreams), a psychological alchemy, whose method and process and rationale are very obscure, which can be penetrated only by the vision of a third eye.    I. The Several Lights   --    The secularisation of man's vital functions in modem ages has not been a success. It has made him more egocentric and blatantly hedonistic. From an occult point of view he has in this way subjected himself to the influences of dark and undesirable world-forces, has made an opening, to use an Indian symbolism, for Kali (the Spirit of the Iron Age) to enter into him. The sex-force is an extremely potent agent, but it is extremely fluid and elusive and uncontrollable. It was for this reason that the ancients always sought to give it a proper mould, a right continent, a fixed and definite channel; the moderns, on the other hand, allow it to run free and play with it recklessly. The result has been, in the life of those born under such circumstances, a growing lack of poise and balance and a corresponding incidence of neuras thenia, hysteria and all abnormal pathological conditions.    Chhandyogya, II, III.

0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism   It is Ironic that a period of the most tremendous technological advancement known to recorded history should also be labeled the Age of Anxiety. Reams have been written about modern man's frenzied search for his soul-and, indeed, his doubt that he even has one at a time when, like castles built on sand, so many of his cherished theories, long mistaken for verities, are crumbling about his bewildered brain.   The age-old advice, "Know thyself," is more imperative than ever. The tempo of science has accelerated to such a degree that today's discoveries frequently make yesterday's equations obsolescent almost before they can be chalked up on a blackboard. Small wonder, then that every other hospital bed is occupied by a mental patient. Man was not constructed to spend his life at a crossroads, one of which leads he knows not where, and the other to threatened annihilation of his species.   --   Fortunately many scientists in the field of psycho therapy are beginning to sense this correlation. In Francis G. Wickes' The Inner World of Choice reference is made to "the existence in every person of a galaxy of potentialities for growth marked by a succession of personalogical evolution and interaction with envIronments." She points out that man is not only an individual particle but "also a part of the human stream, governed by a Self greater than his own individual self."   The Book of the Law states simply, "Every man and every woman is a star." This is a startling thought for those who considered a star a heavenly body, but a declaration subject to proof by anyone who will venture into the realm of his own Unconscious. This realm, he will learn if he persists, is not hemmed in by the boundaries of his physical body but is one with the boundless reaches of outer space.

000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science   Iron, carbon, and manganese having a tensile strength of 50,000 p.s.i. as well as a   compression-resisting capability of 50.000 p.s.i. Steel has the same compression-   --   envIronment of each and every system requires several more intercovarying system   dimensions-planetary, solar, galactic, intergalactic. Because of the six positive and

0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism    On the appointed day, in the small hours of the morning, a fire was lighted in the Panchavati. Totapuri and Sri Ramakrishna sat before it. The flame played on their faces. "Ramakrishna was a small brown man with a short beard and beautiful eyes, long dark eyes, full of light, obliquely set and slightly veiled, never very wide open, but seeing half-closed a great distance both outwardly and inwardly. His mouth was open over his white teeth in a bewitching smile, at once affectionate and mischievous. Of medium height, he was thin to emaciation and extremely delicate. His temperament was high-strung, for he was supersensitive to all the winds of joy and sorrow, both moral and physical. He was indeed a living reflection of all that happened before the mirror of his eyes, a two-sided mirror, turned both out and in." (Romain Rolland, Prophets of the New India, pp. 38-9.) Facing him, the other rose like a rock. He was very tall and robust, a sturdy and tough oak. His constitution and mind were of Iron. He was the strong leader of men.    In the burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed the rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and the world. The leaping flame swallowed it all, making the initiate free and pure. The sacred thread and the tuft of hair were consigned to the fire, completing his severance from caste, sex, and society. Last of all he burnt in that fire, with all that is holy as his witness, his desire for enjoyment here and hereafter. He uttered the sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. The rites completed, the disciple received from the guru the loin-cloth and ochre robe, the emblems of his new life.   --    The Master wanted to train Narendra in the teachings of the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy. But Narendra, because of his Brahmo upbringing, considered it wholly blasphemous to look on man as one with his Creator. One day at the temple garden he laughingly said to a friend: "How silly! This jug is God! This cup is God! Whatever we see is God! And we too are God! Nothing could be more absurd." Sri Ramakrishna came out of his room and gently touched him. Spellbound, he immediately perceived that everything in the world was indeed God. A new universe opened around him. Returning home in a dazed state, he found there too that the food, the plate, the eater himself, the people around him, were all God. When he walked in the street, he saw that the cabs, the horses, the streams of people, the buildings, were all Brahman. He could hardly go about his day's business. His parents became anxious about him and thought him ill. And when the intensity of the experience abated a little, he saw the world as a dream. Walking in the public square, he would strike his head against the Iron railings to know whether they were real. It took him a number of days to recover his normal self. He had a foretaste of the great experiences yet to come and realized that the words of the Vedanta were true.    At the beginning of 1884 Narendra's father suddenly died of heart-failure, leaving the family in a state of utmost poverty. There were six or seven mouths to feed at home. Creditors were knocking at the door. Relatives who had accepted his father's unstinted kindness now became enemies, some even bringing suit to deprive Narendra of his ancestral home. Actually starving and barefoot, Narendra searched for a job, but without success. He began to doubt whether anywhere in the world there was such a thing as unselfish sympathy. Two rich women made evil proposals to him and promised to put an end to his distress; but he refused them with contempt.   --    It took the group only a few days to become adjusted to the new envIronment. The Holy Mother, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna's niece, Lakshmi Devi, and a few woman devotees, took charge of the cooking for the Master and his attendants. Surendra willingly bore the major portion of the expenses, other householders contributing according to their means. Twelve disciples were constant attendants of the Master: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam, Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, the-elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat, and the younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar, and Tulasi visited the Master from time to time and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing for his law examination, brought his books to the garden house in order to continue his studies during the infrequent spare moments. He encouraged his brother disciples to intensify their meditation, scriptural studies, and other spiritual disciplines. They all forgot their relatives and their    worldly duties.

0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy     subtly Ironical or cynical. At first sight the book is a     jumble of nonsense intended to insult the reader. It

0.00 - The Wellspring of Reality, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science   Intellectually advantaged with no more than the child's facile, lucid eagerness to understand constructively and usefully the major transformational events of our own times, it probably is synergetically advantageous to review swiftly the most comprehensive inventory of the most powerful human envIronment transforming events of our totally known and reasonably extended history. This is especially useful in winnowing out and understanding the most significant of the metaphysical revolutions now recognized as swiftly tending to reconstitute history. By such a comprehensively schematic review, we might identify also the unprecedented and possibly heretofore overlooked pivotal revolutionary events not only of today but also of those trending to be central to tomorrow's most cataclysmic changes.   It is synergetically reasonable to assume that relativistic evaluation of any of the separate drives of art, science, education, economics, and ideology, and their complexedly interacting trends within our own times, may be had only through the most comprehensive historical sweep of which we are capable.

0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga   The blacksmith: an Iron shaving got into his eye. Is   there any connection between the fact that I gave him

0.02 - The Three Steps of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Moreover the whole trend of modern thought and modern endeavour reveals itself to the observant eye as a large conscious effort of Nature in man to effect a general level of intellectual equipment, capacity and farther possibility by universalising the opportunities which modern civilisation affords for the mental life. Even the preoccupation of the European intellect, the protagonist of this tendency, with material Nature and the externalities of existence is a necessary part of the effort. It seeks to prepare a sufficient basis in man's physical being and vital energies and in his material envIronment for his full mental possibilities. By the spread of education, by the advance of the backward races, by the elevation of depressed classes, by the multiplication of labour-saving appliances, by the movement   The Three Steps of Nature

0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga   Mother, do You know, it is I who Ironed these two   blouses without spoiling them? This is the first time I   have Ironed a blouse. Mother, give me a "bravo" for   this. Tomorrow I am going to start on the other grey   --   do the Ironing? It is good that you are learning.   21 June 1933   --   Yesterday while Ironing the blouse I scorched it in a   few places.

0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   But the spiritual life, like the mental, may thus make use of this outward existence for the benefit of the individual with a perfect indifference to any collective uplifting of the merely symbolic world which it uses. Since the Eternal is for ever the same in all things and all things the same to the Eternal, since the exact mode of action and the result are of no importance compared with the working out in oneself of the one great realisation, this spiritual indifference accepts no matter what envIronment, no matter what action, dispassionately, prepared to retire as soon as its own supreme end is realised. It is so that many have understood the ideal of the Gita. Or else the inner love and bliss may pour itself out on the world in good deeds, in service, in compassion, the inner Truth in the giving of knowledge, without therefore attempting the transformation of a world which must by its inalienable nature remain a battlefield of the dualities, of sin and virtue, of truth and error, of joy and suffering.   But if Progress also is one of the chief terms of worldexistence and a progressive manifestation of the Divine the true sense of Nature, this limitation also is invalid. It is possible for the spiritual life in the world, and it is its real mission, to change the material life into its own image, the image of the Divine. Therefore, besides the great solitaries who have sought and attained their self-liberation, we have the great spiritual teachers who have also liberated others and, supreme of all, the great dynamic souls who, feeling themselves stronger in the might of the Spirit than all the forces of the material life banded together, have thrown themselves upon the world, grappled with it in a loving wrestle and striven to compel its consent to its own transfiguration. Ordinarily, the effort is concentrated on a mental and moral change in humanity, but it may extend itself also to the alteration of the forms of our life and its institutions so that they too may be a better mould for the inpourings of the Spirit. These attempts have been the supreme landmarks in the progressive development of human ideals and the divine preparation of the race. Every one of them, whatever its outward results, has left Earth more capable of Heaven and quickened in its tardy movements the evolutionary Yoga of Nature.

0.04 - The Systems of Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   For it is calculated on the amount of vital or dynamic force necessary to drive the physical engine during the normal span of human life and to perform more or less adequately the various workings demanded of it by the individual life inhabiting this frame and the world-envIronment by which it is conditioned.   34   --   Samrajya as well, outward empire, the control by the subjective consciousness of its outer activities and envIronment.   We perceive that as Hathayoga, dealing with the life and body, aims at the supernormal perfection of the physical life and its capacities and goes beyond it into the domain of the mental life, so Rajayoga, operating with the mind, aims at a supernormal perfection and enlargement of the capacities of the mental life and goes beyond it into the domain of the spiritual existence.

0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Prakriti and turn them towards the Divine. But the normal action of Nature in us is an integral movement in which the full complexity of all our elements is affected by and affects all our envIronments. The whole of life is the Yoga of Nature. The   Yoga that we seek must also be an integral action of Nature, and the whole difference between the Yogin and the natural man will be this, that the Yogin seeks to substitute in himself for the integral action of the lower Nature working in and by ego and division the integral action of the higher Nature working in and by God and unity. If indeed our aim be only an escape from the world to God, synthesis is unnecessary and a waste of time; for then our sole practical aim must be to find out one path out of the thousand that lead to God, one shortest possible of short cuts, and not to linger exploring different paths that end in the same goal. But if our aim be a transformation of our integral being into the terms of God-existence, it is then that a synthesis becomes necessary.   --   Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world-envIronment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection. And we recognise in ourselves with opened eyes the method of God in the world, His purpose of light in the obscure, of might in the weak and fallen, of delight in what is grievous and miserable. We see the divine method to be the same in the lower and in the higher working; only in the one it is pursued tardily and obscurely through the subconscious in   Nature, in the other it becomes swift and self-conscious and the instrument confesses the hand of the Master. All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.

0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga   see, feel and study, this Nature that has been our familiar envIronment since our birth upon earth, is not the only one. There   is a vital nature, a mental nature, and so on. It is this that, for

01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Through endless Space and on Time's Iron wings    A rhythm runs

01.02 - The Creative Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Now the centre of this energy, the matrix of creativity is the soul itself, one's own soul. If you want to createlive, grow and be real-find yourself, be yourself. The simple old wisdom still remains the eternal wisdom. It is because we fall off from our soul that we wander into side-paths, paths that do not belong to our real nature and hence that lead to imitation and repetition, decay and death. This is what happens to what we call common souls. The force of circumstances, the pressure of envIronment or simply the momentum of custom or habit compel them to choose the easiest and the readiest way that may lie before them. They do not consult the demand of the inner being but the requirement of the moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure the impulsions that thrill the hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify the immediate and forget the eternal, we clutch at the shadow and let go the substance. We are carried away in the flux and tumult of life. It is a mixed and collective whirla Weltgeist that moves and governs us. We are helpless straws drifting in the current. But manhood demands that we stop and pause, pull ourselves out of the Maelstrom and be what we are. We must shape things as we want and not allow things to shape us as they want.    Let each take cognisance of the godhead that is within him for self is Godand in the strength of the soul-divinity create his universe. It does not matter what sort of universe he- creates, so long as he creates it. The world created by a Buddha is not the same as that created by a Napoleon, nor should they be the same. It does not prove anything that I cannot become a Kalidasa; for that matter Kalidasa cannot become what I am. If you have not the genius of a Shankara it does not mean that you have no genius at all. Be and become yourselfma gridhah kasyachit dhanam, says the Upanishad. The fountain-head of creative genius lies there, in the free choice and the particular delight the self-determination of the spirit within you and not in the desire for your neighbours riches. The world has become dull and uniform and mechanical, since everybody endeavours to become not himself, but always somebody else. Imitation is servitude and servitude brings in grief.

01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   And mated her with her envIronment.   3.23   --   She matched with the Iron law her sovereign right:   Her single will opposed the cosmic rule.

0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga   minds. But we must understand all the Irony in these sayings, and   especially the intention behind his words. Moreover, cowards or   --   The "Iron Age" in which we live.   Series Ten - To a Young Captain   --   About individual transformation and social transformation You say: "Since the envIronment reacts upon   the individual and, on the other hand, the value of the   envIronment depends upon the value of the individual,   the two works should proceed side by side. But this   --   It is an Ironic way of saying that the most difficult cases, from   the standpoint of transformation, are gathered here to concretise

01.11 - Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    "To its heights we can always come. For those of us who are still splashing about in the lower ooze, the phrase has a rather Ironical ring. Nevertheless, in the light of even the most distant acquaintance with the heights and the fullness, it is possible to understand what its author means. To discover the Kingdom of God exclusively within oneself is easier than to discover it, not only there, but also in the outer worlds of minds and things and living creatures. It is easier because the heights within reveal themselves to those who are ready to exclude from their purview all that lies without. And though this exclusion may be a painful and mortificatory process, the fact remains that it is less arduous than the process of inclusion, by which we come to know the fullness as well as the heights of spiritual life. Where there is exclusive concentration on the heights within, temptations and distractions are avoided and there is a general denial and suppression. But when the hope is to know God inclusivelyto realise the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental."    The neatness of the commentary cannot be improved upon. Only with regard to the "Ironical ring" of which Huxley speaks, it has just to be pointed out, as he himself seems to understand, that the "we" referred to in the phrase does not mean humanity in general that 'splashes about in the lower ooze' but those who have a sufficiently developed inner spiritual life.    There is a quotation from Lao Tzu put under the heading "Grace and Free Will": "It was when the Great Way declined that human kindness and morality arose".

01.12 - Goethe, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Satan proposes to lead man down into hell through a sure means, nothing more sure, according to him, viz., love for a woman and a woman's love in return. Nothing like that to make man earth-bound or hell-bound and force out of him the nostalgic cry, "Time must have a stop." A most simple, primal and primeval lyric love will most suit Satan's purpose. Hence the Margaret episode. Love=Passion=Lust=Hell; that is the inevitable equation sequence, and through which runs the magic thread of infatuation. And that charm is invincible. Satan did succeed and was within an ace, as they say, of the final and definitive triumph: but that was not to be, for he left out of account an incalculable element. Love, even human love has, at least can have, a wonderful power, the potency of reversing the natural decree and bring about a supernatural intervention. Human love can at a crucial momentin extremiscall down the Divine Grace, which means God's love for man. And the soul meant for perdition and about to be seized and carried away by Satan finds itself suddenly free and lifted up and borne by Heaven's messengers. Human Jove is divine love itself in earthly form and figure and whatever its apparent aberrations it is in soul and substance that thing. Satan is hoisted with his own petard. That is God's Irony.    But Goethe's Satan seems to know or feel something of his fate. He knows his function and the limit too of his function. He speaks of the doomsday for people, but it is his doomsday also, he says in mystic terms. Yes, it is his doomsday, for it is the day of man's liberation. Satan has to release man from the pact that stands cancelled. The soul of man cannot be sold, even if he wanted it.

0 1958-01-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen    Note written by Mother in English (with a touch of Irony so reminiscent of Sri Aurobindo).    (Concerning Pakistan)

0 1959-01-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen    My body would also like to have a mantra to repeat. Those it has are not enough for it anymore. It would like to have one to hasten its transformation. It is ready to repeat it as many times as needed, provided that it does not have to be out loud, for it is very rarely alone and does not want to speak of this to anyone. Truly, the Ashram atmosphere is not very favorable for this kind of thing. You will have to take precautions so as not to be disturbed or interrupted in an inopportune way. Domestic servants, curious people, so-called friends can all serve as instruments of the hostile forces to put a spoke in the wheels. I will do my best to protect you, but you will have a lot to do yourself and will have to be as firm as an Iron rod.    I am not writing you all this to discourage you from coming. But I want you to succeed; for me that is more important than anything else, no matter what the price. So, know for certain that I am with you all the time and more so especially when you repeat your mantra

0 1959-07-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen    This handwritten note bore only this word and the date. Kalki is the name of the last Avatar who comes on a white winged horse to destroy the 'barbarians' (yavan) at the end of the Iron Age or the Kali Yuga, which is the period we are now passing through. His appearance marks the return of the Age of Truth, or the Satya Yuga.    7.9.59

0 1960-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen    Speaking of which, I looked at Ts most recent questions on the Aphorisms again. All these children havent the least sense of humor, so Sri Aurobindos paradoxes throw them into a kind of despair! The last aphorism went something like this: When I could read a wearisome book from one end to the other with pleasure, then I knew I had conquered my mind.2 So T asked me How can you read a wearisome book with pleasure?!! I had to explain it to her. And on top of that, I have to take on a rather serious tone, for were I to reply in the same Ironic fashion, they would be totally drowned! It throws them into a terrible confusion!    Its a lack of plasticity in the mind, and they are bound by the expression of things; for them, words are rigid. Sri Aurobindo explained it so well in The Secret of the Veda; he shows how language evolves and how, before, it was very supple and evocative. For example, one could at once think of a river and of inspiration. Sri Aurobindo also gives the example of a sailboat and the forward march of life. And he says that for those of the Vedic age it was quite natural, the two could go together, superimposed; it was merely a way of looking at the same thing from two sides, whereas now, when a word is said, we think only of this word all by itself, and to get a clear picture we need a whole literary or poetic imagery (with explanations to boot!). Thats exactly the case with these children; theyre at a stage where everything is rigid. Such is the product of modern education. It even extracts the subtlest nuance between two words and FIXES it: And above all, dont make any mistake, dont use this word for that word, for otherwise your writings no good. But its just the opposite.

0 1961-01-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I would like to ask you a question in turnbecause there are two ways of understanding your question. It can be taken in the same Ironic or humorous tone that Sri Aurobindo has used in his aphorism when he wonders at mans capacity for self-deception. That is, you are putting yourself in the place of the self-deceiver and saying, But I am of good faith! I always want the welfare of others the interests of humanity, to serve the Divine (of course!). Then how can I be deceiving myself?    But actually, there are really two quite different forms of self-deception. One can be very shocked by certain things, not for personal reasons but precisely because of ones goodwill and ardor to serve the Divine, when one sees people misconducting themselves, being egoistical, unfaithful, treacherous. There comes a stage when one has mastered these things and doesnt permit them to manifest IN ONESELF; but to the extent that one is in contact with ordinary consciousness, ordinary viewpoints, ordinary life and thought, their possibility is still there, latent, because they are the inverse of the qualities one is striving for. And this opposition always exists until one has risen above and no longer has either the quality or the defect. As long as one has virtue, one always has its latent opposite. The opposition disappears only when one is beyond virtue and sin.

0 1961-01-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    We think these people are the way they are because the envIronment is bad, the education is poor, the conditions are difficultits not true! In the universal economy of things they REPRESENT something, a certain type of force and vibration. It will have to be either dissolved or transformed. Transformed? But perhaps that is. It may disappear along with the hostile forces. Perhaps once everything has been transformed it will disappear I dont know when.    In any case, I really tried my best, with all the power I had, all the knowledge I had, because I liked this girl a lot, it wasnt at all a question of charity, I found her very interesting. But I watchedwith a kind of horror, reallyas this past repossessed her more and more, more and more each day, until we were finally obliged to dismiss her, to tell her, Go. Yes, I understand, she replied, I cant stay here.

0 1961-02-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Now the body has a kind of extraordinary smile for everything. At the end of the day, with the accumulation of everything coming from the people I have seen and the work I have done, when I have to push and pull myself just to climb the stairs because my legs are like Iron rods, without any will (thats the most terrible part: they dont respond to the will), even at times like these, when my arms are what pull me up the stairs (no longer my legs), the body doesnt protest, doesnt protest. Then it begins walking back and forth for japa. And after half an hour of walking, things are infinitely better (Mother makes a gesture of the Force descending into her body).    (silence)

0 1961-03-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I probably needed the experience. You remember that type of detachment I spoke of when I had that experiencewhen the BODY had that experience of January 24, 1961well, it has increased to such an extent that it now applies to anything and everything linked with action on earth. This detachment was probably necessary. It began with something like things dissolving (Mother makes a gesture of crumbling something between her fingers); certain kinds of links between my consciousness and the Work were dissolving (not links with me, because I dont have any, but with the body; the whole physical consciousness, all that attaches it to the things in its envIronment, to the Work and to the entourage I spoke to you about that in regard to physical immortality; well, thats what is happening now). Its like things dissolvingdissolving, dissolving, dissolving. And its more and more pronounced. During these last days, things have been becoming increasingly difficultdifficulties have been coming one after another, one after another. Formerly, I had the power to get a grip on them and hold them (Mother tightens her grip as though mastering circumstances); but now that this type of detachment has begun, things drift away everywhereeverywhere, everywhere.    So this episode with X is probably part of the same process. What has been affected is a certain confidence in the REALITY of the Power, the REALITY of spiritual action; there seems to be no communication between here (above) and there (below).

0 1961-04-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    One of my most terrible experiences took place in Venice (the cathedrals there are so beautifulmagnificent!). I remember I was painting they had let me settle down in a corner to paintand nearby there was a (what do they call it?) a confessional. And a poor woman was kneeling there in distresswith such a dreadful sense of sin! So piteous! She wept and wept. Then I saw the priest coming, oh, like a monster, a hard-hearted monster! He went inside; he was like an Iron bar. And there was this poor woman sobbing, sobbing; and the voice of the other one, hard, curt. I could barely contain myself.    I dont know why, but I have had this kind of experience so very often: either a hostile force lurking behind and swallowing up everything, or else manruthless man abusing the Power.

0 1961-06-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Its one of the most Ironic things Sri Aurobindo has written.    Ive known that and have always taken great care to avoid it, for it opens the door to all deformations. Lele3 was like thatLele did the same thing: he behaved like a lout; he said it wasnt himself, it was Naturehe had nothing to do with it. This is all very well, but still theres a sort of affinity between your physical comportment and what you are inside, isnt there?!

0 1961-07-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I am putting this purposely into rather childish terms so that it will be clearly understood. But this is the way it is. I am sure of it because I have observed it in myself for a VERY long time, and I had to. Due to the whole subconscious formation of childhoodenvIronment, education, and so forthwe have to DRUM into this (Mother touches her body) the consciousness of Unity : the absolute, EXCLUSIVE unity of the Divineexclusive in the sense that nothing exists apart from this Unity, even the things which seem most repulsive.    Sri Aurobindo also had to struggle against this because he too received a Christian education. And these Aphorisms are the result the floweringof the necessity to struggle against the subconscious formation which has produced such questions (Mother takes on a scandalized tone): How can God be weak? How can God be foolish? How. But there is nothing but God! He alone exists, there is nothing outside of Him. And whatever seems repugnant to us is something He no longer wishes to existHe is preparing the world so that this no longer manifests, so that the manifestation can pass beyond this state to something else. So of course we violently reject everything in us that is destined to leave the active manifestation. There is a movement of rejection.

0 1961-07-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    There are stories like this, you know, about people who lived in an ideal solitude, and its not at all impossible to imagine. When one is in contact with this Power, when it is within you, you can see that such things are childs play! It even reaches the point where there is the possibility of changing certain things, of influencing vibrations and forms in the surrounding envIronment by contagion, so that automatically they begin to be supramentalized. All that is possible but confined to the individual scale. While if we take the example of what is happening here, where the individual remains right in the midst of all this chaos. Thats the difficulty! Doesnt this very fact make a certain perfection in realization impossible to attain? But the other case, the individual isolated in the forest, is always the same thingan example giving no proof that the rest will be able to follow; while whats happening here should already have a much broader radiating influence. At some point this has to happenit MUST happen. But the problem still remains: can it happen simultaneously with or even before the supramentalization of the single individual?    (silence)

0 1961-08-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    No, receptive is one thing and responsive is another. To respond: Matter will respond to the conscious will. Indeed, this is why there is hopehow else could there be a transformation? Things would always remain as they are! What kind of earth would it be for the supramental race to live on if no Matter gave response, if Matter did not begin to vibrate and respond to the Will? The same difficulties would always be there. And it isnt limited: for instance, even if we imagine a power over the body making corporeal life different, this new corporeal life still has to exist within an envIronmentit cant remain hanging in thin air! The envIronment must respond.    Its quite obvious that the Inconscient, the Subconscient and the semi-conscient are accidental; they are not a permanent part of the creation, so are bound to disappear, to be transformed.

0 1961-08-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Another detail. In several places, Sri Aurobindo speaks of the circumconscient or envIronmental consciousness through which we enter into contact with the external world. Is this the same as the subtle physical, the subtle envelope? What is this circumconscient?    Its the encircling consciousness. Isnt it called the milieu in French?   --    Its strange. I say strange because its due to her that I took birth in this body, that it was chosen. When she was very young she had a great aspiration. She was exactly twenty years older than 1; she was twenty when I was born and I was her third child. The first was a son who died in Turkey when he was two months old, I thinkthey vaccinated him against smallpox and poisoned him, (laughing) god knows what it means! He died of convulsions. Next was my brother who was born in Egypt, at Alexandria, and then me, born in Paris when she was exactly twenty years old. At that time (especially since the death of her first child) she had a kind of GREAT aspiration in her: her children had to be the best in the world. It wasnt an ambition, I dont know what it was. And what a will she had! MY mother had a formidable will, like an Iron bar, utterly impervious to all outside influence. Once she had made up her mind, it was made up; even if someone had been dying before her eyes, she wouldnt have budged! And she decided: My children will be the best in the world.    One thing she did have was a sense of progress; she felt that the world was progressing and we had to be better than anything that had come before and that was sufficient.

0 1961-12-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Dear Sir I must begin by telling you that although this text is an excellent essay, it is not, in its present form, a book for the Spiritual Masters series. Let us enumerate the reasons for this. First of all, the general impression is of an ABSTRACT text. I can straight-away imagine your reaction to this and I dread misunderstandings! But putting myself in the readers place, since, once again, it does involve a collection intended for a wide public that we are beginning to know well, I can assure you that this public will not be able to follow page after page of reflections upon what one is bound to call a philosophical and spiritual system. Obviously this impression is caused primarily by the fact that you have begun with twenty-one pages where the reader is assumed to already know of Sri Aurobindos historical existence and the content of the Vedas and the Upanishads, plus I dont know how many other notions of rite, truth, divinity, wisdom, etc., etc. In my view, and the solution is going to appear cruel to you, for you certainly value these twenty-one pages [on the Secret of the Veda], they should purely and simply be deleted, for everything you say there, which is very rich in meaning, can only become clear when one has read what follows. There are many books in which readers can be asked to make the effort entailed in not understanding the beginning until they have read the end: but not books of popular culture. One could envisage an introduction of three or four pages to situate the spiritual climate and cultural world in which Sri Aurobindos thought has taken place, provided, however, that it is sufficiently descriptive, and not a pre-synthesis of everything to be expounded upon in what follows. In a general way you are going to smile, finding me quite Cartesian! But the readership we address is more or less permeated by a widespread Cartesianism, and you can help them, if you like, to reverse their methodology, but on the condition that you make yourself understood right from the start. Generally, you dont make enough use of analysis and, even before analysis, of a description of the realities being analyzed. That is why the sections of pure philosophical analysis seem much too long to us, and, even apart from the abstract character of the chapter on evolution (which should certainly be shorter), one feels at a positive standstill! After having waited patiently, and sometimes impatiently, for some light to be thrown on Sri Aurobindos own experience, one reads with genuine amazement that one can draw on energies from above instead of drawing on them from the material nature around oneself, or from an animal sleep, or that one can modify his sleep and render it conscious master illnesses before they enter the body. All of that in less than a page; and you conclude that the spirit that was the slave of matter becomes again the master of evolution. But how Sri Aurobindo was led to think this, the experiences that permitted him to verify it, those that permit other men to consider the method transmittable, the difficulties, the obstacles, the realizationsdoesnt this constitute the essence of what must be said to make the reader understand? Once again, it is the question of a pedagogy intimately tied in with the spirit of the collection. Let me add as well that I always find it deplorable when a thought is not expressed purely for its own sake, but is accompanied by an aggressive Irony towards concepts which the author does not share. This is pointless and harms the ideas being presented, all the more so because they are expressed in contrast with caricatured notions: the allusions you make to such concepts as you think yourself capable of evoking the soul, creation, virtue, sin, salvationwould only hold some interest if the reader could find those very concepts within himself. But, as they are caricatured by your pen, the reader is given the impression of an all too easily obtained contrast between certain ideas admired and others despised. Whereas it would be far more to the point if they corresponded to something real in the religious consciousness of the West. I have too much esteem for you and the spiritual world in which you live to avoid saying this through fear of upsetting you.    Amen.

0 1962-01-12 - supramental ship, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    For thought, its elementary, very simple. Its not difficult for the feelings either; for the heart, the emotional being, to expand to the dimensions of the Supreme is relatively easy. But this body! Its very difficult, very difficult to do without the body losing its center (how can I put it?) its center of coagulationwithout it dissolving into the surrounding mass. Although, if one were in a natural envIronment, with mountains and forests and rivers, with lots of space and lots of natural beauty, it could be rather pleasant! But its physically impossible to take a single step outside ones body without meeting unpleasant, painful things. At times you come in contact with a pleasant substance, something harmonious, warm, vibrating with a higher light; it happens. But its rare. Flowers, yes, sometimes flowers sometimes, not always. But this material world, oh! It batters you from all sides; it claws you, mauls youyou get clawed and scraped and battered by all sorts of things which which just dont blossom. How hard it all is! Oh, how closed human life is! How shriveled, hardened, without light, without warmth let alone joy.    While sometimes, when you see water flowing along, or a ray of sunlight in the treesoh, how it sings! The cells sing, they are happy.

0 1962-05-18, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    What is coming back is the way objects the whole mass of material substance making up this bodys envIronmenthad been organized; thats what is coming back, with some small changes (none of this comes through the head; the head has nothing to do with it). It is a sort of formation reconcretizing itself for lifes outer organization.    The old way of relating no longer exists at all.

0 1962-05-27, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    (With an Ironic smile) On the meandering path of the world, this trip doesnt look too bad! For you personally, its an experience that yes, that would give you a concrete sense of the vanity of a number of things that still. You see, throughout all ones lives and all of lifes circumstances, theres one thing after another, one thing after another, one thing after another (zigzag gesture) to remove the scales from your eyes.    (silence)

0 1962-05-29, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I was brought up by an ascetic, a stoic; my mother was a woman like an Iron bar, you know. When my brother and I were small she spent her time telling us over and over that we werent on earth to have fun; that its constant hell, but you have to put up with it, and the only possible satisfaction lies in doing your duty!    A splendid education, mon petit!

0 1962-05-31, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Obviously its the continuation of the same experience I told you about,1 but now it has come to this. I mean the two states are now distinctnoticeably distinct; but so far I havent found either the why or the wherefore. Is it something coming from outside or just an old rut: yes, it really feels like an old rut, like a wrinkle in a piece of cloth; you know, you Iron it out again and again, and the wrinkle comes back. Thats more the feeling it gives menot at all a conscious habit, just an old rut. But might something from outside also be provoking it?    And the dreams it gives me! Oh, theres a whole series of them, with particular styles and categories. You start down a flight of stairsno more stairs; you want to take a certain road the road closes; you want to catch someoneyou cant. All kinds of things. And although these dreams (I have a whole collection of them, in fact) recur with certain minor outward differences, they are all of the same type. Its a well-known type which I now classify as self-imposed troubles. When I get out of it and look, I see very clearly that its only this nasty habit we have of fretting over nothing! (Laughingly) Oh, whatever we want to do, immediately theres a complication, a difficulty.

0 1962-06-06, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Oh, mon petit, if you knew how hard some things become in the being! Oh, how much Ive had to struggle and struggle and struggle. This experience [of April 13] did the job, but otherwise it was a minute-to-minute struggle. Life turns you into something hard as Iron (Mother makes a fist).    And thats what has happened. Thats what has happened. Anyway, we can still try! (Mother laughs.)

0 1962-06-23, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    One or two days ago, I am not sure when, but anyway after our last meeting, suddenly, without thinking about it or wishing it or anything (I was walking or doing something or other), I suddenly became, or saw, a tall being, all white, with a kind of halberd in its hand and an expression of Iron will. And it seemed as if the world were being told: Enough shilly-shallying, enough wavering, now it is time: the thing must be done.    And the bodys activities hadnt the least importance; whatever I did, that remained. I was seeing that tall being from above, like a great transformative power in the vital. A huge being, very calm and powerfulwith no violence in it of course, but utterly indomitable, and: Enough waiting, enough shilly-shallying, enough vacillating: IT IS TIME.

0 1962-07-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    You write about the Deva Samgha and say, I am not a god, I am only a piece of much hammered and tempered Iron. No one is a God but in each man there is a God and to make Him manifest is the aim of divine life. That we can all do. I recognize that there are great and small adharas [vessels]. I do not accept, however, your description of yourself as accurate. Still whatever the nature of the vessel, once the touch of God is upon it, once the spirit is awake, great and small and all that does not make much difference. There may be more difficulties, more time may be taken, there may be a difference in the manifestation, but even about that there is no certainty. The God within takes no account of these hindrances and deficiencies. He breaks his way out. Was the amount of my failings a small one? Were there less obstacles in my mind and heart and vital being and body? Did it not take time? Has God hammered me less? Day after day, minute after minute, I have been fashioned into I know not whether a god or what. But I have become or am becoming something. That is sufficient, since God wanted to build it. It is the same as regards everyone. Not our strength but the Shakti of God is the sadhaka [worker] of this yoga.    Let me tell you in brief one or two things about what I have long seen. My idea is that the chief cause of the weakness of India is not subjection nor poverty, nor the lack of spirituality or dharma [ethics] but the decline of thought-power, the growth of ignorance in the motherl and of Knowledge. Everywhere I see inability or unwillingness to thinkthought-incapacity or thought-phobia. Whatever may have been in the middle ages, this state of things is now the sign of a terrible degeneration. The middle age was the night, the time of the victory of ignorance. The modern world is the age of the victory of Knowledge. Whoever thinks most, seeks most, labors most, can fathom and learn the truth of the world, and gets so much more Shakti. If you look at Europe, you will see two things: a vast sea of thought and the play of a huge and fast-moving and yet disciplined force. The whole Shakti of Europe is in that. And in the strength of that Shakti it has been swallowing up the world, like the tapaswins [ascetics] of our ancient times, by whose power even the gods of the world were terrified, held in suspense and subjection. People say Europe is running into the jaws of destruction. I do not think so. All these revolutions and upsettings are the preconditions of a new creation.

0 1962-07-25, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Some receive it from above; for others, it rises from below (gesture to the base of the spine). As I once told you, the old system always proceeds from below upwards, while Sri Aurobindo pulls from above downwards. This becomes very clear in meditation (well, in yoga, in yogic experience): for those who follow the old system, its invariably the kundalini at the base [of the spine] rising from center to center, center to center, until the lotus (in an Ironic tone) bursts open here gesture at the crown of the head). With Sri Aurobindo, it comes like this (gesture of descending Force) and then settles here (above the head); it enters, and from there it comes down, down, down, everywhere, to the very bottom, and even below the feet the subconscientand lower still, the inconscient.    Its the Shakti. He said, you know (I am still translating it), that the shakti drawn up from below (this is what happens in the individual process) is already what could be called a veiled shakti (it has power, but it is veiled). While the Shakti drawn down from above is a PURE Shakti; and if it can be brought down carefully and slowly enough so that it isnt (how shall I put it?) polluted or, in any case, obscured as it enters matter, then the result is immediately much better. As he has explained, if you start out with this feeling of a great power in yourself (because its always a great power no matter where it awakens), theres inevitably a danger of the ego meddling in. But if it comes pure and you are very careful to keep it pure, not to rush the movement but let it purify as it descends, then half the work is done.

0 1962-08-04, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    (With an Ironic smile) Ive made a conscious effort not to! Things are progressing, but they wont be interesting till a whole curve is completed. Its better not to talk in the middle of it. So read to me.    ***

0 1962-08-14, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    The curves of life go this way and that (meandering gesture), and only by being the supramental arrow can you go beyond. What happened [with X] was necessary. But theres a step that goes beyond holding a grudge against someone because you were mistaken about him. Thats such an ordinary human thingits nonsense. Thats how it is, though. He is what he is and has been all alonghe has never pretended to be anything else. But (with an Ironic smile for Satprem) the imagination has done a lot of gilding where there was nothing to begin with, and then through circumstances (which always result from the influence of consciousness), the gilding disappeared! But whatever you sincerely felt for him that wasnt the product of an effervescent imaginationall sincere feelingsshould remain.1    But they do!

0 1963-03-09, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I remember also, once, there were Iron hoops (I dont know if they still exist) bordering the lawns in the Bois de Boulogne and I used to take a walk on them! It was a challenge I threw to my brother (there was a difference of sixteen months between us, he was older and much better behaved too!). I told him, Can you walk on these? Leave me alone, he answered, its not interesting. Just watch! I told him. And I started walking on them, with such ease! As if I had done it all my life. It was the same phenomenon: I felt weightless.    Always the feeling of being carried: something holding me up, carrying me. And now if I compare the movement or the sensation its the same as that vast movement of wings the same vibration.   --    He told me (Mother speaks with an Ironic tone), Oh, you can certainly perform miracles! People will be wonderstruck.    (silence)

0 1963-03-13, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    He says (Death to Savitri, in a supremely Ironic tone):    Art thou indeed so strong, O heart,

0 1963-03-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    But that man, a MASS, ooh! harder than Iron. Truly interesting.    And he was blue. His aura was blue, with blue pulsationsnot radiating out or upward, but coagulated all around him. A blue like the sea when its very deep, very tranquil, but luminous. A magnificent blue.

0 1963-04-22, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I have just written a word to Mother to tell her that if I could, I would catch the first train home. When I arrived here, I got a horrible impression as never before, almost a panic. Everything was so terribly void and far away. Probably I have grown hypersensitive. If I were not afraid of yielding to that impression and if it werent rude to X, I would take noon train today. The new guest house is beyond description1: cement walls enclosed within cement walls; the plan is so wonderful that not a whiff of air can blow in here, nor can one see a single blade of grass. There are magnificent wrought-Iron railings and openwork cement designs, but not even the most basic amenities. I absolutely refused to enter that sarcophagus, so they put me up in an adjoining house purchased by X and used as a garage. Its unspeakably filthy. It didnt even occur to them to offer me a mat. Finally they brought a bench for me to sleep on, which I refused. So much for the material conditions. I hope the body will get better. As soon as I can decently leave, I shall weigh anchor.    Signed: Satprem

0 1963-06-08, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    On the contrary, there is a sort of like an acuteness, something more acute in the perception, a little bit Ironic I dont know why. A magnified impression that all the things in the world are much ado about nothing, a lot of fuss about nothing Ive had that feeling for for centuries, I could say, but there is in addition something ever so slightly acute and Ironic.    But otherwise, crystal clear!

0 1963-06-15, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    He must have some wit, a rather sharp wit. An Ironist: he must be very clever at answering, really what we call esprit in French.    There is no sign of powers in the photo, but if he has any over people, it must be a vital power.

0 1963-07-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Only, there is always an Irony in things: if they grow too vast, theyll be engulfed in their own magnitude! It cannot be otherwise.    If, out of the need to enlarge, the Pope accepts, for instance, all the different sects (theyve already started to accept the Protestants), if he accepts all those sects, (laughing) little by little they will either break apart or be drowned! You follow, if we look at it from above Lets even assume its an Asuric powerit isnt (Mother hesitates) it isnt clearly and distinctly an Asuric power, because by his very position, the Pope is OBLIGED to recognize a god higher than himself; that god may, of course, be an Asura, but I have a sort of memory the memory of a very ancient story no one ever told me in which the first Asura challenged the supreme Lord and told him, I am as great as You! And the answer was, I wish you would become greater than I, because then there will be no more Asura.

0 1963-07-17, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    And along with this, theres a vast, dead-calm rest (if you know what I mean?) in that Lightprobably the Light as it will manifest. Its a golden Light, not very intense or very pale either; a little less pale than the one that I said comes when I concentrate3; a little more intense than that, though not darka golden Light, absolutely immobile, with such an inner intensity of vibration that its beyond all perception. And then its perfect restinstantly. So as soon as I complain, the same Ironic remark always comes: Oh, when one can have that in the midst of work, one ought not to complain! The two states are I cant say simultaneous (naturally its not one after the other, both are there together), but its not like two things next to each other, its two ways of looking, I could say, two pointsnot points of view a horizontal look, and a look thats or rather, a specific look and an overall look. A specific look, that of the immediate activity, and an overall and constant look, that of the whole; and as soon as you look at the whole, its (dead-calm gesture) immutable peace, unvarying rest. And then things seem to become swollenswollen with an infinite content.    It requires no preparation, it isnt something you have to attain: its ALWAYS there. Only, it also stems from the fact that I am not here (thats so clear, so clear, it needs no reflection or observation, its such a well-established fact) I am not here for anything, anything whatsoever, any satisfaction of any sort, on any level, any pointnone of that exists any more, that has no more reality, no more existence. The only thing I still FEEL is a sort of not an aspiration, not a will, not an adherence or enthusiasm, but something that is maybe its more like a power: to do the Lords Work. At the same time, I feel the Lord you understand, He isnt in front of me or outside of me! Thats not it, He is everywhere and He is everywhere and I am everywhere with Him. But what holds these cells together in a permanent form is that something which is at once the will and power (and something more than both) to do the Lords work. It contains something which probably is translated in peoples consciousnesses as Bliss, Ananda (I must say its an aspect of the problem I am not concerned with). Something like the intensity of a superlove as yet unmanifestits impossible to say.

0 1963-08-07, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Lets take a practical example [Mother smiles Ironically at the practical! on another level than the corporeal level: say you have a garden invaded by crows and sparrows that are eating everything, insects, negligent gardeners. So you have a choice: either you wear yourself out and get worked up about it but you keep the garden, or you react against your reaction and you say, All right, I wont say anything, let things go as they like, and then everything gets spoiled.    Yes, yes.

0 1963-08-10, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    When the experience began, there was something looking on (you know, there is always in me something looking on somewhat Ironically, always amused) which said, Very well! If that happened to someone else, he would think he was quite sick! (laughing) Or half mad. So I stayed very quiet and thought, All right, let it be, Ill watch, Ill see Ill see soon enough! It has started, so it will have to end! Indescribable! Indescribable (the experience will have to recur several times before I can understand), fantastic! It started at 8:30 and went on till 2:30 in the morning; that is to say, not for a second did I lose consciousness, I was there watching the most extraordinary things for six hours.    I dont know where this is going.

0 1963-10-05, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I thought it was something in the vital, because all my relationships with the people downstairs, before going back upstairs, were with their character, their vitalnot with material matter but with the character, vital nature. And it was! You could write books: an Irony, a sharp perception, fine, delicatepriceless! Its charming, you know: each one with his own little flawthey were all people I know!    But there are some beings that have been in two or three persons: for example, a vital being that went from one person to another (a being I know very well, so I know it happened that way), and what I saw was the BEING, not the different persons. A vital, female-looking being (they take on a sexual appearance when they have been in human beings: they retain the female or male appearance), a female-looking being, and just when the question of preparing my bath arose (always that bath Ill have to find out what it means), she had something very urgent to do, went into her room, then (laughing) came out again a minute later with a dress a sort of green dressgrass green but brightwith an immense train! And she walked past so proudly: Yes, I wanted to show them who I am. What an admirable comedy! If I had the time to write, it could make utterly charming stories.

0 1963-10-16, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Here is what happened: I do my usual bath of the Lord and it is arranged that, after a time, Champaklal opens the doorwhich signals to me the end of the visit. So I looked at X, just to see (I had looked at him several times before, but there was nothing particular), I looked at him and saw in front of him a sort of mass of substance, not material but responsive to a mental formation, which means that mental thought and will can make this substance take different shapes I know it (Mother makes a gesture of fingering the substance), its very like the sort of substance mediums use for their apparitions (less material, more mental, but anyway the same kind). There was a sort of mass in front of him, which was hiding him; it wasnt luminous, not black either, but dark enough. So I looked at it, STARED at it to see what it was, and as I was staring, I saw that there was a will or an effort to give that mass of substance a shape. It was exactly in front of Xs head and shoulders. And there was a will to give it a shape (gesture of molding). As I stared very carefully, it took the shape of Sri Aurobindos head as it appears in newspapers and magazines (what I call the popular Sri Aurobindo, as he is shown in books), the substance took that form. Immediately I thought (Ironic tone), Oh, its the popular form, that doesnt resemble him! And instantly, the substance rearranged itself and took the form of Cartier-Bressons Sri Aurobindo1 (the three-quarter face photo, where he is seated in his armchair). That was better! (Mother holds back a chuckle) It wasnt yet quite good, but anyway it was better (although, mind you, it had neither light nor life: it was mattera subtle matter, of courseput into shape by a mental will). So I began to wonder: Whatever is this?! Does he want me to believe that Sri Aurobindo is in him, or what? Because Xs head and shoulders had completely disappeared, there was nothing left but that. And I thought (not a strong thought, just a reflection): No, its not very good, really not very lifelike! (Mother laughs) Then there was a last attempt and it became very like the photo that was taken when he left his body (that photo which we stood on end and called Meditation), it was very like the photo, (in an Ironic tone) a very good likeness. And it stayed. So I thought, Oh yes! This is the photo.    Then I concentrated just a little and thought, Lets see, now. Whom is he trying to delude? And instantly, everything vanished. And I saw X, his head.

0 1963-10-26, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Thats it, like red-hot Iron claws. And others too had the same thing, the very same thing.    My body and muscles are aching all over, as if I had been battered.

0 1963-12-11, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    And there is a kind of joy, an unobtrusive joy, always like a kind of smile a smile not Ironic, but a little    Putting it into words takes a sort of contraction, which is a pitya pity. I dont know when there will be a means of expressing ourselves without that contraction. I remember, I am seeing again or reliving just now the face of that boy, that Italian (he is a thirty-five or forty-year-old man, but young within, very young psychically), and there was this consciousness kneading something within, putting things back into place but smoothly, without violence or clashes or reactions. And when I told him, Now its time to go, it wasnt at all one person saying to another, Its time to go, its as if I said to myself, Now its time to go. Its very odd. Rather new. Because it has become much more conscious; it had been like that in a sort of natural and spontaneous way of being for a long time, but now its becoming conscious.

0 1963-12-25, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Afterwards, you go and sit and watch the waves. The waves thats pretty! (Mother laughs Ironically)    ***

0 1963-12-31, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    An Irony that joined the worlds contraries    And flung them into each others arms to strive,

0 1964-01-18, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Oh, are they conceited! And puffed up with their superior realization they were born to HELP the earth. They have such goodwill! They want to help the whole earth, (in an Ironic tone) help the earth. They come here, but instead of asking themselves what they can learn, they come TO HELP; they come to bring some order (theres no order!), to set right the things that are wrong, to bring some practical sense into these nebulous minds!    The other conceit seems to me more serious than the American one the European conceit. Because they really think they are very intelligent. The Americans want to helptheyre children. But the Westerners are sages of the intellect; so it takes some doing to penetrate their minds! Theres nothing they need to learn.

0 1964-08-11, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    He has sent me his usual message: its a sort of picture with all the colors. You know that Tantrism attributes a value to each color; they make a sort of play of forces with all those colors, depending on what they want to say or express theyre lights, very brightly colored lights. Its very particular; the first time I saw that, it was connected with Tantrism. And the other day there came to me (in a slightly Ironical tone) a very beautiful picture, this big (gesture: about six inches by twelve). So I knew it was coming from him and that he was happy!    ***

0 1964-10-14, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    It is building an Iron cage for yourself and getting into it.    It was exactly that.

0 1964-12-02, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    But I have noticed, especially for those who have had a Western education, that they shouldnt change their external occupations abruptly. Most people tend to want to change their envIronment, to want to change their occupation, to want to change their surroundings, to want to change their habit, thinking that will help them to change inwardlyits not true. You are much more vigilant and alert to resist the old movement, the old relationships, the vibrations you no longer want when you remain in a context that, in fact, is habitual enough to be automatic. You shouldnt be interested in a new external organization, because you always tend to enter it with your old way of being.    Its very interesting even, I made a very deep study of people who think that if they travel things are going to be different. When you change your external surroundings, on the contrary, you always tend to keep your internal organization in order to keep your individuality; whereas if you are held by force in the same context, the same occupations, the same routine of life, then the ways of being you no longer want become more and more evident and you can fight them much more precisely.    Basically, in the being, its the vital that has difficulty; it is the most impulsive part and has the greatest difficulty in changing its way of being. And its always the vital that feels free, encouraged and more alive during travels, because it has an opportunity to manifest freely in a new envIronment in which everything has to be learned: reactions, adaptations, etc. On the contrary, in the routine of a life that has nothing particularly exciting, it strongly feels (I mean, if it has goodwill and an aspiration for progress), it strongly feels its inadequacies and desires, its reactions, repulsions, attractions, etc. When one doesnt have that intense will to progress, it feels imprisoned, disgusted, crushed the whole habitual refrain of revolt.    (silence)

0 1965-06-23, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    The biggest difficulty is water, because there is no nearby river up there; but they are already trying to harness rivers. There is even a project to divert water from the Himalayas and bring it across the whole of India (L. had made a plan and discussed it in Delhi; of course, they objected that it would be a little costly!). But anyway, without going into such grandiose things, something has to be done to bring water; that will be the biggest difficulty, thats what will take the longest time. As for the restlight, powerit will be made on the spot in the industrial section but you cant manufacture water! The Americans have given serious thought to a way of using sea water, because the earth no longer has enough drinking water for people (the water they call fresh5 its Ironical); the amount of water is insufficient for peoples use, so they have already started chemical experiments on a big scale to transform sea water and make it usableobviously that would be the solution to the problem.    But it already exists.

0 1965-07-24, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    And what gave me an indication of the falsity of that consciousness and its activities was when I made that efforta tremendous effortto recall that my brother had died years earlier; from that I saw the distance between my true consciousness and the consciousness I was in for that dream. I saw the distance of falsity of that consciousness. It gave me a very clear indication. Instead of that quiet and peaceful consciousness which is like an undulationan undulation of light that always goes like this (gesture of great wings beating in the Infinite), a very vast, very peaceful movement of the consciousness, yet which follows the universal movement very quietlyinstead of that, there was something strained (gesture to the temples), it was as hard as wood or Iron and strained, tense, oh! Then I knew how false it was. It gave me the exact measure.    (long silence)

0 1965-08-04, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    It comes like this (Mother bangs her fist down as if into Matter). But its rather interesting because it comes straight from above and when it reaches the earth atmosphere, it gathers there all the energies of the earth, and then it enters (same gesture). Now it has become like that. A rather strong golden light, which comes massively, then touches the earth atmosphere and ATTRACTS and gathers the vital energies of the earth, and then it goes like this (same gesture banging down). I see it I see the thing and it goes through my arms, my hands. (With an Ironic smile:) Do you feel something or not?    Oh, yes, I feel the Force!

0 1965-08-18, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    (Ironically) But a large prison, not a small one!    Its coming. Dont be worried, it is coming.

0 1965-11-20, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    (Later, about a disciple who is very talkative but full of Ironic witBharatidi.)    She kept me almost an hour! She told me, The next time, I wont chatter. So this time it was only half an hour! But she has a very pleasant way of saying things. And there is a strange phenomenon, which took place some two or three years ago, I dont remember now. It was after the consciousness had entirely spread all over the world (all over the earth, in reality), but as if progressively, in the sense that its more intense close at hand and less intense farther away. But then, with Bharatidi, its not just a physical closeness: its a sort of closeness of vibration in a certain domain; and in her, the closeness lay in a certain Ironically benevolent observation. And while talking with someone, I dont know how many times I have caught myself having Bharatidis voice and using her words! And in my ingenuousness, I told her, Do you know, we have such an intimate relationship that at timesvery oftenwhen I speak I have your intonation and use your words. Ah, mon petit, since then But she isnt a bore! You can spend an hour with her without getting bored, which is remarkable.    ***

0 1965-11-30, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    They trusted in the uncertain envIronment    And waited for death to change their spirits scene.

0 1966-01-26, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    (Ironically) Its a pity we cant make pictures of those things, because Purani had lots of admirers and disciples, plenty in America, and so if I could send them a picture of Purani as I saw him, blue and pink (laughing), that would be charming!    (long silence)    There is at the moment a systematic demolition of all preconceived ideas, prejudices, habits, all the viewpoints the social, moral, hygienic, health viewpointsit takes hold of everything, one thing after the other, and it demolishes it with such Irony!    Last night it was about hygienic measures concerning food, and there was such a comical demonstration of how ignorant the precautions we take are and of all sorts of prejudices we have with scenes and pictures that would make priceless comedies on the stage, oh!

0 1966-04-13, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    She is a girl who has written to me several times (there are several like her), who has a well-built body, who should be quite solid and healthy, but she has an emotive and sentimental vital, and (somewhat Ironically) they arent loved as they would like to be loved. Result: one has a pain in her stomach, another has a pain elsewhere. Finally they write to ask me, Whats going on? And the other day, I said to myself, Why dont I tell them? So I wrote:    You feel lonely because you want to be loved. Learn the joy of loving without demand, just for the JOY OF LOVING the most wonderful joy in the world and you will never more feel lonely.

0 1966-08-10, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    They asked me, What message can we send? It will take two hundred years to reach its destination: the message sent from here reaches the star two hundred years later. But, of course, theres nothing to say that theyll understand French or English on the star! Its actually clear that they wont understand it. They want to send signals such as = 1, and they say they will understand theyll understand that we are intelligent beings! (Mother laughs Ironically)    I dont remember the message I gave them.

0 1966-09-21, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Whats proving to be the most refractory (and the Irony of it is wonderful) is the United Nations! Those people are outdated, oh! They havent yet gone beyond the materialistic, antireligious movement, and they made a derogatory remark about the Auroville brochure, saying it was mystic, with religious tendency. The Irony is lovely!    Besides, even quite outwardly, that fight between India and Pakistan1 was clearly (how can I put it? The words that come to me are English) initiated and driven, that is to say, set in motion by and under the impulsion of the forces of Truth that wanted to create a great Asian Federation with the power to counterbalance Red China and its movement. It was a federation that, as a matter of fact, needed the return of Pakistan and all those regions, and which includes Nepal, Tibet, also Burma, and in the south, Ceylon. A great federation with each country having its autonomous development, perfectly free, but which would be united in a common single aspiration for peace and fight against the invasion of forces of dissolution. That was very clear, it was willed and its the intervention of this United Nations that stopped everything.2

0 1966-11-12, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    (Mother nods her head) And it was amusing, because it wasnt just here, it wasnt just the earth, but it was a displeasure even at the way of acting of Natures forces. See this Irony: yesterday morning I got a telegraman S.O.S. from Bihar, telling me that they have no drinking water, they are in a dreadful condition of drought and deprivation, and calling for help. At the same time, here the waters are rising again and there is a threat of flood! The Irony of it is ridiculous. Thereupon she began saying her view of things. She said rather amusing things (it was in the afternoon).    Then, when she had left, I started laughing and I said, Dont worry! I, for one, am laughing. (Mother laughs) So hearts were comforted.   --    But I found it particularly Ironic: in the morning they had just told me, The flood is starting up again, the stream is rising; then a telegram: Were dying of thirst, everything has dried up!    Quite symbolic.

0 1966-12-31, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    But what one sees is the work of a priceless humorist! Things like mens great ambitions, for example, also their self-satisfaction, the opinion they have of themselves, oh, its all so comical! Those lives are shown in relation to (and, so to speak, in contact with) the Truth-Light, and then the difference between peoples movement (or thought or attitude or action, or state of consciousness) and the Truth, the state of Truth, becomes plain to see, oh, if you knew! But its not seen by someone severe or harsh, no, no! Its seen by someone very sharpvery sharpwith a wonderful sense of humor and a charming Irony.    It swarms and swarms.

0 1967-01-14, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Then I knew it was Sri Aurobindo speaking, because he started taking his Ironic tone, and he said:    Above all, no doctors! This body must be left in peace.1 Do not hasten, either, to announce my death (Mother laughs) and to give the government the right to intervene. Keep me carefully sheltered from all injuries2 that may come from outsideinfection, poisoning, etc.and have UNTIRING patience: it may last days, perhaps weeks, perhaps even longer, and you will have to wait patiently for me to come naturally out of that state once the work of transformation is accomplished.

0 1967-01-25, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I remember, some time ago, at night, I said to him (I see him almost every night, but for a few days I hadnt seen him, then I met him at night because he is always there (Mother makes a gesture enveloping her), but at night, in that subtle physical world, I see him objectively, as if I were meeting him), and I said to him, I didnt see you for a few days, like that, in jest. Then he put on his most serious air, but with all his Irony, Oh, I am very busy these days. And (laughing) the next day I learned they were shooting a film on Sri Aurobindos life!1 So I thought he must have been busy sending them good suggestions. But it was so comical! With straight-faced seriousness, Oh, I am very busy. (Mother laughs)    Thats how injury came about.

0 1967-03-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    It is the maximum use of all possibilities and all impossibilities, all capacities and all incapacities; a maximum use in a maximum power and a maximum Compassion, and then a smile! A smile, a sense of humour, oh! Such a benevolent Irony, so full of compassion, so wonderful. And this presumptuous mind, which is an incredible phenomenon indeed: it spends its time judging what it doesnt know and deciding on what it doesnt see!    (silence)

0 1967-05-24, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I know it is the Russian explanation of the recent trend to spirituality and mysticism that it is a phenomenon of capitalist society in its decadence. But to read an economic cause, conscious or unconscious, into all phenomena of mans history is part of the Bolshevik gospel born of the fallacy of Karl Marx. Mans nature is not so simple and one-chorded as all thatit has many lines and each line produces a need of his life. The spiritual or mystic line is one of them and man tries to satisfy it in various ways, by superstitions of all kinds, by ignorant religionism, by spiritism, demonism and what not, in his more enlightened parts by spiritual philosophy, the higher occultism and the rest, at his highest by the union with the All, the Eternal or the Divine. The tendency towards the search of spirituality began in Europe with a recoil from the nineteenth centurys scientific materialism, a dissatisfaction with the pretended all-sufficiency of the reason and the intellect and a feeling out for something deeper. That was a pre-war [of 1914] phenomenon, and began when there was no menace of Communism and the capitalistic world was at its height of insolent success and triumph, and it came rather as a revolt against the materialistic bourgeois life and its ideals, not as an attempt to serve or sanctify it. It has been at once served and opposed by the post-war disillusionmentopposed because the post-war world has fallen back either on cynicism and the life of the senses or on movements like Fascism and Communism; served because with the deeper minds the dissatisfaction with the ideals of the past or the present, with all mental or vital or material solutions of the problem of life has increased and only the spiritual path is left. It is true that the European mind having little light on these things dallies with vital will-o-the-wisps like spiritism or theosophy or falls back upon the old religionism; but the deeper minds of which I speak either pass by them or pass through them in search of a greater Light. I have had contact with many and the above tendencies are very clear. They come from all countries and it was only a minority who hailed from England or America. Russia is differentunlike the others it has lingered in mediaeval religionism and not passed through any period of revoltso when the revolt came it was naturally anti-religious and atheistic. It is only when this phase is exhausted that Russian mysticism can revive and take not a narrow religious but the spiritual direction. It is true that mysticism revers, turned upside down, has made Bolshevism and its endeavour a creed rather than a political theme and a search for the paradisal secret millennium on earth rather than the building of a purely social structure. But for the most part Russia is trying to do on the communistic basis all that nineteenth-century idealism hoped to get atand failedin the midst of or against an industrial competitive envIronment. Whether it will really succeed any better is for the future to decide for at present it only keeps what it has got by a tension and violent control which is not over.    Sri Aurobindo

0 1967-05-27, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I simply stop everything, and It is as if (I put it into words): Your presence, Lord, let there be nothing but That, and its over, everything stops. Then, at times I dont see anything, at other times But tell me, its Ironic; I always see something when youre there! Sometimes I see nothing at all, simply like this (blissful gesture). Sometimes I can hear, but thats when the concentration is shallower: then you can hear.    But that was very pretty! A very pretty spectacle in front of me! And they came like You know, like when they show slides: it comes from one side, pop! shows itself, and then goes away; then from the other side, another one comes, pop! and goes away. And it remained there, in front of you.

0 1967-07-26, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    There has been for some time, I dont know, a sort of benevolent, smiling and constructive Irony. As if a spirit had come. Then, there is something else (but I know that one), which Sri Aurobindo used to call a censor. He told me, You have a very strong censor in your atmosphere. It was all the time, constantly criticizing me; not so often now, but its still there. And now and then, it tells me, But you shock people! They expect something noble, great, imposing, and you always speak in an Ironic tone! Yesterday again, some people came to see meand jokes keep coming to me all the time. I tell them jokes, and I watch (laughing) they look appalled!    As if that was constantly saying, But dont take things seriously! Dont take things seriously, dont take things seriously thats what makes you unhappy! Thats what makes you unhappy, it makes you unhappy, you must learn to smile, like that. And above all, to make fun of ourselves, thats the most important thing: to see how ridiculous we are the slightest pain and we are full of self-pity, oh!

0 1967-08-02, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I saw him yesterday and spoke to him for half an hour, but he was like you know, like Iron bars; he had decided in advance that he wouldnt understand anything of what I would tell him. I tried to enter deep down, but He told me (its an old formation on him) that whatever he wants to do he does for a while, then he meets with disaster and the thing is stopped. And he says that now he is making his spiritual effort, and he has met with disaster (I dont know which one). Naturally, I told him it wasnt like that at all! That it was on the contrary the sign he had reached the point when the door could open and he could transform himself. But he refused to understand. You know, when people are obdurate like that, theres no way you can get through.    So I thought you could perhaps talk to him.   --    Then and good. You know, when you dress Iron bars like that and you say, Its impossible, impossible, impossible    The difficult problem for him now is, at bottom, all this Tantric japa he does.

0 1967-11-29, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    The body itself has more than an impression, its a sort of knowledgemore than a knowledge, its, well, a fact: there are lots and lots of beings, forces, personalities that manifest through it, at times even several at once. Thats a very common experience. For instance, the experience that Sri Aurobindo is here, and that he speaks and sees, with his own way of seeing (piercing and Ironic gesture) and his way of expressing himself that happens very often. Often too, its Durga, or Mahakali, or very often. Often, what manifests is a being from very high up, very permanentvery permanentand then there comes into the being a sort of absoluteness. At times, its beings from a nearby plane trying to make themselves felt, to express themselves, but thats under control.    The body is used to it, you understand.

0 1968-06-15, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    And I FEEL the atmosphere. There is the whole collective thought, people writing to me, I hope youll still live for a long time! (Mother laughs) And all the usual nonsense. You know, they are so full of idiotic goodwill. It makes a difficult envIronment.    I look at this body; at times it says (at times, when there is too much incomprehension, when the people around are too absolutely unwilling to understand), it says, Ah, let me go. It says to me (it, what is it? Whats still unconscious, too unconscious and not receptive enough), it says, Very well, leave me, it doesnt matter, let me go. Like that. Not disgusted or tired, but Then its really pitiful. So I say to it (in a tone of voice as if speaking to a child): No, no, no.

0 1968-08-07, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Good (Mother laughs Ironically).    Mon petit

0 1968-09-21, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Before going to sleep, Satprem saw all kinds of suggestions pass by, in particular one showing Sujata thrown down into a water tank that is being dug in the garden. A few hours later, Sujata was thrown down very near the water tank, against an Iron bar in the wall. Thus the really serious accident was averted and turned into a minor one (which, nevertheless, barely missed piercing Sujata's eye).    Mother means those attacks are the result of a conscious will somewhere.

0 1968-11-06, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    (Regarding a visit paid by Satprem to Bharatidi, an old French disciple, at the Vellore hospital where she is to be operated on. Bharatidi, a member of France's Far East College, is well known for her sparkling wit and liveliness and her biting Irony.)    So did you go and see Bharatidi?

0 1968-11-09, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I may say that Ive never been so occupied with someones departure as I have been with hersnever. And constantly, But what happens after death? As if Theres only thought and no form: I dont see her at allnot at all. I remember how she was physically, but I dont see her. And constantly the problem: what happens? Then I remember all my experiences, all the people Ive seen die, all my very concrete experiences. And why does it come like this: What happens after death? As if there were a sort of preoccupation: No one will ever know (I might translate it like this), no one will ever know what happened to Bharatidi after her death. And its SHE, its HER thought. I cant say she, but her thought. Her thought as if she were telling me (you know how she was!), No one will ever know what happened to Bharatidi after her death. Like that, with her Irony.    She didnt want to come back to Pondicherry.1

0 1969-02-15, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    The cells themselves were saying their effort to be transformed, and there was a Calm. (How can I explain this?) The body was saying its aspiration and will to prepare itself, and, not asking but striving to be what it should be; all that always with this question (its not the body that asks it, its the envIronment, those around the world, as if the world were asking the question): Will it continue, or will it have to dissolve? The body is like this (gesture of abandon, hands open upward), it says, What You will, Lord. But then, it knows the question is decided, and One doesnt want to tell itit accepts. It doesnt lose patience, it accepts, it says, Very well, it will be as You will. But That which knows and That which doesnt answer is something that cant be expressed. It is yes, I think the only word that can describe the sensation it gives is an Absolutean Absolute. Absolute. Thats the sensation: of being in the presence of the Absolute. The Absolute: absolute Knowledge, absolute Will, absolute Power Nothing, nothing can resist. And then this Absolute (theres this sensation, concrete) is so merciful! But if we compare it with all that we regard as goodness, mercy ugh! thats nothing at all. Its THE Mercy with the absolute power and its not Wisdom, not Knowledge, its It has nothing to do with our process. And That is everywhere, its everywhere. Its the bodys experience. And to That it has given itself entirely, totally, without asking anythinganything. A single aspiration (same gesture, hands open upward), To be capable of being That, what That wills, of serving Thatnot even serving, of BEING That.    But that state, which lasted for several hours never had this body, in the ninety-one years its been on earth, felt such happiness: freedom, absolute power, and no limits (gesture here and there and everywhere), no limits, no impossibilities, nothing. It was all other bodies were itself. There was no difference, it was only a play of the consciousness (gesture like a great Rhythm) moving about.

0 1969-04-02, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    You could be in meditation. (Ironically) Youll make a reputation for yourself as a sage!    And when I speak with them, very strangely, theres a sort of warrior in me, and some people give rise to reactions: I feel like striking. Sometimes its quite brutal, I dont know why. It comes and strikes. With others, on the contrary, I am very tranquil. Some tell Me, Youre hard!

0 1969-04-30, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    It has an answer for everything, all the time. Now its become quite active. I got a letter from Y. describing the activities of all those young people who have come for Auroville (they have a place of their own now, its the office of =1, somewhere at the back or in front of the Library). They have an apartment where they do all kinds of things, including improvised dances; Y. wrote about that (with much praise, besides), and she asked, But the important thing is to know what Sri Aurobindo and you too think about it? (Mother smiles Ironically) Then this Consciousness (laughing) made me answer her, Just see to it that it doesnt degenerate. And it added (I dont remember exactly because it wasnt I who wrote), See that it remains I forget the words. But mon petit, the Irony of it was priceless! And I sent it to her.    Constantly, constantly it says or answers something. It obliges me to write: Answer this. Say this. It has taken the place of the mind, you understand.

0 1969-08-23, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    But I must say that from the standpoint of action (not even merely material action, because I have almost no material action left, so to say), but of invisible action, with this Consciousness I have learned a LOT, quite a lot. It has our means are very childish, and, you know, it has such a wonderful sense of humor, a way of making people face their stupidity, which is really really charming. And I see it constantly, all the time, for very small things, for big things, for a countrys politics or the organization of a houseall the same thing. And with a delightful Irony and so benevolent: no sense of reprobation, no The idea of evil and sin and all thatprrrt! all gone.    Its only the pressure of the Consciousness on the inconscientand then, in people, the measure of the resistance or of the receptivity. its like that. In some people (and not always the apparently bad ones), theres such resistance! Its like like Iron. While others    Its going much faster. Things are moving fast just now.

0 1969-10-25, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    No, no! No, its amusing, mon petit! We must let things unfold and see! (Mother laughs Ironically) You can see him AFTER. As for me, I am keen to see him beforeyou would put something in him No, no! I want to see him.    Because, Mother, what he will do, what he does in front of you (or in front of anyone) is to dart up, catch hold of his thing, and there you are, he pulls it.   --    So youll see him this evening, after his visit (Mother laughs Ironically).    ***

0 1970-07-01, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    I had never bothered to know what it looked like. But when I saw that, I understood. And I see it, I still see it, I have kept the memory. Its hair almost looked red, strangely (it wasnt like red hair, but it looked like it). And its expression! Such a fine expression, gently Ironical oh, extraordinary, extraordinary!    You understand, my eyes were open, it was an almost material vision.

0 1971-05-01, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    But I didnt have a chance to tell him. He seemed to be a man (gesture like Iron). I dont know whats happening, but its like that everywhere, everywhere.    Yes, everywhere. One really gets the feeling that the world is in complete turmoil.2

0 1971-12-11, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    But if this new consciousness is not to be found on the peaks of the human, where then, are we to find it? Perhaps, quite simply in that which we have most neglected since we entered the mental cycle, in the body. The body is our base, our evolutionary foundation, the old stock to which we always return, and which painfully compels our attention by making us suffer, age and die. In that imperfection, Sri Aurobindo assures us, is the urge towards a higher and more many-sided perfection. It contains the last finite which yet yearns to the Supreme Infinite. God is pent in the mire but the very fact imposes a necessity to break through that prison.8 That is the old, uncured Illness, the unchanged root, the dark matrix of our misery, hardly different now from what it was in the time of Lemuria. It is this physical substance which we must transform, otherwise it will topple, one after another, all the human or superhuman devices we try to graft on it. This body, this physical cellular substance contains almighty powers,9 a dumb consciousness that harbors all the lights and all the infinitudes, just as much as the mental and spiritual immensities do. For, in truth, all is Divine and unless the Lord of all the universe resides in a single little cell he resides nowhere. It is this original, dark cellular Prison which we must break open; for as long as we have not broken it, we will continue to turn vainly in the golden or Iron circles of our mental prison. These laws of Nature, says Sri Aurobindo, that you call absolute merely mean an equilibrium established to work in order to produce certain results. But, if you change the consciousness, then the groove also is bound to change.10    Such is the new adventure to which Sri Aurobindo invites us, an adventure into mans unknown. Whether we like it or not, the whole earth is moving into a new groove, but why shouldnt we like it? Why shouldnt we collaborate in this great, unprecedented adventure? Why shouldnt we collaborate in our own evolution, instead of repeating endlessly the same old story, instead of chasing hallucinatory paradises which will never quench our thirst or otherworldly paradises which leave the earth to rot along with our bodies? Why be born if it is to get out at the end? exclaims the Mother, who continues Sri Aurobindos work. What is the use of having struggled so much, suffered so much, of having created something which, in its outer appearance at least, is so tragic and dramatic, if it is only to learn how to get out of itit would have been better not to start at all. Evolution is not a tortuous course that brings us back, somewhat battered, to the starting point. Quite the contrary, it is meant, says Mother, to teach the whole of creation the joy of being, the beauty of being, the grandeur of being, the majesty of a sublime life, and the perpetual development, perpetually progressive, of this joy, this beauty, this grandeur. Then everything has a meaning.11

0 1972-04-04, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    Some persons have been driven out of the Ashram into Auroville. Those, I admit, are difficult elements who make things difficult. I wish they would be naturally driven out of Auroville to somewhere else. This wouldnt be very nice for the rest of the world but never mind! Although in a free envIronment, they may be tolerable. Practically, one would have to speak to each one individually.    Now go on, tell me what you wanted to say.

0 1972-05-17, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga    It has reorganized the envIronment in a most interesting way. Most interesting.    As much as possible, as much as it can, the body tries to be nonexistent: just letting That pass through, That pass through all the time, like this (gesture with her hands). Let the body be only a point of concentration and diffusion, like this (gesture of something flowing through Mother). As supple, as impersonal, as (how to term it?) without any personal will. Without any personal will, just like that, like a transmitter: let That pass throughuntainted.

02.01 - The World-Stair, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga     Or were his soul's natural envIronment.     Tireless the heart's adventure of delight,

02.02 - Lines of the Descent of Consciousness, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The next stage of devolution is the Mind proper. There or perhaps even before, on the lower reaches of the Overmind, the gods have become all quite separate, self-centred, each bounded in his own particular sphere and horizon. The overmind gods the true godsare creators in a world of balanced or harmoniously held difference; they are powers that fashion each a special fulfilment, enhancing one another at the same time (parasparam bhvayantah). Between the Overmind and the Mind there is a class of lesser godsthey have been called formateurs; they do not create in the strict sense of the term, they give form to what the anterior gods have created and projected. These form-makers that consolidate the encasement, fix definitely the image, have most probably been envisaged in the Indian dhynamrtis. But in the Mind the gods become still more fixed and rigid, stereotyped; the mental gods inspire exclusive systems, extreme and abstract generalisations, theories and principles and formulae that, even when they seek to force and englobe all in their cast-Iron mould, can hardly understand or tolerate each other.    Mind is the birth-place of absolute division and exclusivismit is the own home of egoism. Egoism is that ignorant modea twist or knot of consciousness which cuts up the universal unity into disparate and antagonistic units: it creates isolated, mutually exclusive whorls in the harmonious rhythm and vast commonalty of the one consciousness or conscious existence. The Sankhya speaks of the principle of ego coming or appearing after the principle of vastness (mahat). The Vast is the region above the Mind, where the unitary consciousness is still intact; with the appearance of the Mind has also appeared an intolerant self-engrossed individualism that culminates, as its extreme and violent expression, in the asuraAsura, the mentalised vital being.   --    We say that at the lowest level of involution, in Matter, where consciousness has zero magnitude, there is no personality or individuality. It is all a mechanical play of clashing particles that constantly fly apart or come together according to the force or the resultant of forces that act upon them. An individuality means a bounded form as its basis of reaction and a form that tends to persist and grow by assimilation; it means a centre of a definite manner and pattern of reaction. Individuality, in its literal sense, designates that which cannot be divided (in + dividus). Division is only another name for death for the particular entity. Even in the case of cell-division or self-division of some lower organisms, in the first instance the original living entity disappears and, secondly, the succeeding: entities, created by division, always re-form themselves again into integral wholes. A material particle, on the other hand, is divisible ad infinitum. We have been able to divide even an atom (which means also that which cannot be divided) to such an extent as to reduce it to a mere charge of energy, nay, we have sublimated it to a geometrical point. Individualisation starts with the coming of life. It is a ganglion of life-force round which a particular system of action and reaction weaves itself. The characteristic of individuality is that each one is unique, each relates itself to others and to the envIronment in its own way, each expresses itself, puts forth its energy, receives impacts from outside in a manner that distinguishes it from others. It is true this character of individuality is not very pronounced in the earlier or rudimentary forms of life. Still it is there: it grows and develops slowly along the ladder of evolution. Only in the higher animals it attains a clear and definite norm and form.    In man something else or something more happens. For man is not merely an individual, he is also a personality. He is the outcome of a twofold growth and revelation. He has outgrown the vital and climbed into Mind, and he has dived into the Heart and touched his inner soul, his true psychic centre. It is this soul that is the source of his personality.

02.02 - The Kingdom of Subtle Matter, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Refined to the touch of finer envIronments   It drops old patterned palls of denser stuff,   --   Each rhythm is kin to its envIronment,   Each line is perfect and inevitable,

02.02 - The Message of the Atomic Bomb, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Man's invention of death-dealing weapons has an interesting history. It is, curious to say, the history of his progress and growing civilisation. The primitive man fought with the strength of his God-given limbstooth and nailto which he subsequently added the crudest of weapons, clubs, of wood or flint. A revolution was brought about when Iron was discovered and archery invented. Next revolution came with the appearance of gunpowder on the stage. And then the age of gun-cotton and T.N.T. which held sway till the other day. An interim period of poison gas and chemical warfare was threatened, but everything now has gone overboard with the advent of the atomic bomb and the threatened advent of the Cosmic Death-Ray.    In one sense certainly there has been a progress. This march of machinery, this evolution of tools means man's increasing mastery over Nature, even though physical nature. The primitive man like the animal is a slave, a puppet driven helplessly by Nature's forces. Both lead more or less a life of reflex action: there is here no free, original initiation of action or movement. The slow discovery of Nature's secrets, the gradual application and utilisation of these secrets in actual life meant, first, a liberation of man's conscious being originally imbedded in Nature's inertial movements, and then, a growing power to react upon Nature and mould and change it according to the will of the conscious being. The result at the outset was a release and organisation on the mental level, in the domain of reason and intelligence. Of course, man found at once that this increasing self-consciousness and self-power meant immense possibilities for good, but, unfortunately, for evil also. And so to guard against the latter contingency, rules and regulations were framed to control and canalise the new-found capacities. The Dharma of the Kshatriya, the honour of the Samurai, the code of Chivalry, all meant that. The power to kill was sought to be checked and restrained by such injunctions as, for example, not to hit below the belt, not to fight a disarmed or less armed opponent and so on. The same principle of morals and manners was maintained and continued through the centuries with necessary changes and modifications in application and finds enshrined today in International Covenants and Conventions.

02.03 - An Aspect of Emergent Evolution, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    In Indian terminology, it would be the advent of the Purna Bhagavan in the human bodymnusm tanumsritam. All previous Avatars are only a preparation for the coming of this Supreme Divine. It is said also that the present epoch marks a crucial turn and transition. We await the Kalki Avatar who will wipe off the past, the Iron Age, and bring in the Golden Age, Satya Yuga.    A question inevitably arises herewhat next? Once the evolutionary movement has reached the apex, does it stop there? After the apex, the Void? I t need not be so. The completion of the pyramid would mean simply the end of a particular order of creation, the creation in Ignorance. This is, indeed, what Sri Aurobindo envisages in his conception of the creation in supramental Gnosis. The evolutionary nisus, on its arrival at the apex, according to him crosses a borderland, leaps into another order of the world, of infinite Truth-Consciousness. Thereafter another new creation starts the building perhaps of another pyramid (if we want to continue the metaphor). The progression Of the evolutionary course is naturally expected to be an unending series. The pyramids rise tier upon tier ad infinitum. Only it is to be noted that in the basic pyramid the evolution starts from inconscience and moves from more ignorance to less ignorance through a gradually lessening density of darkness until the apex is reached where all shade of darkness is eliminated for ever. Beyond there is no mixture, however thin and diluted: it is a movement from light to light, from one expression of it to another, perhaps richer, but of the same quality.

02.03 - The Glory and the Fall of Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   There were worlds of her laughter and dreadful Irony,   There were fields of her taste of toil and strife and tears;

02.04 - The Kingdoms of the Little Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   A master of his life's envIronment,   A leader of a huddled human mass   --   And battle with envIronment and doom,   By suffering discover his deep soul   --   And hung on a bulge of its envIronment,   A little curve cut off in measureless Space,

02.05 - Federated Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The original unit of the human aggregate is the family; it is like the original cell which lies at the back of the entire system that is called the human body or, for that matter, any organic body. A living and stable nucleus is needed round which a crystallisation and growth can occur. The family furnished such a nucleus in the early epochs of humanity. But with the growth of human life there came a time when, for a better and more efficient organization in collective life, larger units were needed. The original unit had to be enlarged in order to meet the demands of a wider and more complex growth. Also it is to be noted that the living body is not merely a conglomeration of cells, all more or less equal and autonomous something like a democratic or an anarchic organization; but it consists of a grouping of such cells in spheres or regions or systems according to differing functions. And as we rise in the scale of evolution the grouping becomes more and more complex, well-defined and hierarchical. Human collectivity also shows a similar development in organization. The original, the primitive unit the familywas first taken up into a larger unit, the clan; the clan, in its turn, gave place to the tribe and finally the tribe merged into the nation. A similar widening of the unit can also be noticed in man's habitat, in his geographical envIronment. The primitive man was confined to the village; the village gradually grew into the township and the city state. Then came the regional unit and last of all we arrived at the country.    Until the last great war it seemed that the nation (and country) was the largest living unit that human collectivity could admit without the risk of a break-up. Now it was at this momentous epoch that the first concept or shape of a larger federationtypified in the League of Nationsstirred into life and began to demand its lebensraum. It could not however come to fruition and stability, because the age of isolated nationhood had not yet passed and the principle of selfdetermination yet needed its absolute justification.

02.05 - The Godheads of the Little Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   For none can see the masked Ironic troupe   To whom our figure-selves are marionettes,

02.06 - The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   They swallow, glutted, their envIronment.   Even of that largeness many a cabin make;

02.06 - Vansittartism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Hence it is suggested that for the postwar reconstruction of Germany what is required is the re-education of its people. For, only a psychological change can bring about a durable and radical change. But certain proposals towards this end raise serious misgivings, since they mean Iron regimentation under foreign control. Even if such a thing were possible and feasible, it is doubtful if the purpose could be best served in this way. Measures have to be taken, no doubt, to uproot Prussianism and Junkerism and prevent their revival, no false mercy or sympathy should be extended to the enemies of God and man. But this is only a negative step, and cannot be sufficient by itself. A more positive and more important work lies ahead. The re-education of Germany must come from within, if it is to be permanent and effective. What others can do is to help her in this new orientation. As we have said, there are the progressive elements in Germany too, although submerged for the moment. The task of reconstruction will precisely consist in calling up and organising and marshalling these forces that are for the Light. The Allied organisation, it may be noted, itself has grown up in this way. When one remembers how Britain stood alone at one time against the all-sweeping victorious march of the Titan, how slowly and gradually America was persuaded to join hands, at first in a lukewarm way, finally with all its heart and soul and might and main, how a new France is being built up out of a mass of ruins, we can hope that the same process will be adopted in the work that lies ahead even after victory, with regard to Italy and with regard to Germany. In the second case the task is difficult but it has got to be done.    ***

02.07 - The Descent into Night, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga     An Iron decree in crooked uncials written     Imposed a law of sin and adverse fate.   --     An Irony that joined the world's contraries     And flung them into each other's arms to strive,   --     And an embrace could be Doom's Iron cage.     Agony and danger stalked their trembling prey   --     A formal practice mailed and Iron-shod     Gave to a rude and ruthless warrior kind

02.08 - The World of Falsehood, the Mother of Evil and the Sons of Darkness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   And crown themselves the Iron Lords of Time.   Adepts of the illusion and the mask,   --   But ruthless strength and Iron moods had sway,   A dateless sovereignty of terror and gloom:   --   An evil envIronment worsened evil souls:   All things were conscious there and all perverse.

02.10 - The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Little Mind, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Or in an ancient Night’s dim envIrons   It dozes on a little courtyard’s stones   --   She leans to forge her credos and Iron codes   And metal structures to imprison life   --   Could Iron out a tranquil uniform world,   Aeonic seekings glut with outward truths

02.11 - The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Mind, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Our spirits break free from their envIronment;   The future brings its face of miracle near,

02.14 - Panacea of Isms, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    And yet internationalism is not the one thing needful either. If it means the obliteration of all national values, of all cultural diversity, it will not certainly conduce to the greater enrichment and perfection of humanity. Taken by itself and in its absolute sense, it cannot be a practical success. The fact is being proved every moment these days. Internationalism in the economic sphere, however, seems to have a greater probability and utility than in the merely political sphere. Economics is forcing peoples and nations to live together and move together: it has become the soldering agent in modern times of all the elements the groups and types of the human family that were so long separate from each other, unknown to each other or clashing with each other. But that is good so far as it goes. Powerful as economic forces are, they are not the only deciding or directing agents in human affairs. That is the great flaw in the "International", the Marxian type of internationalism which has been made familiar to us. Man is not a political animal, in spite of Aristotle, nor is he an economic animal, in spite of Marx and Engels. Mere economics, even when working for a greater unity of mankind, tends to work more for uniformity: it reduces man to the position of a machine and a physical or material machine at that. By an Irony of fate the human value for which the international proletariate raised its banner of revolt is precisely what suffers in the end. The Beveridge Plan, so much talked of nowadays, made such an appeal, no doubt because of the economic advantages it ensures, but also, by far and large, because it views man as a human being in and against the machine to which he belongs, because it is psychologically a scheme to salvage the manhood of man, so far as is possible, out of a rigidly mechanistic industrial organization.    Humanism

02.14 - The World-Soul, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   A spirit symbol envIroning a soul,   For world and self were one reality.

03.03 - The Inner Being and the Outer Being, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The individual is not limited to the physical body - it is only the external consciousness which feels like that. As soon as one gets over this feeling of limitation, one can feel first the inner consciousness which is connected with the body but does not belong to it, afterwards the planes of consciousness above the body - also a consciousness surrounding the body, but part of oneself, part of the individual being, through which one is in contact with the cosmic forces and with other beings. This last is what I have called the envIronmental consciousness.   By envIronmental consciousness I mean something that each man carries around him, outside his body, even when he is not aware of it, - by which he is in touch with others and with the universal forces. It is through this that the thoughts, feelings etc. of others pass to enter into one - it is through this also that waves of the universal force - desire, sex, etc. - come in and take possession of the mind, vital or body.   They [the envIronmental consciousness and the subconscient] are two quite different things. What is stored in the subconscient   - impressions, memories, rise up from there into the conscious parts. In the envIronmental things are not stored up and fixed, although they move about there. It is full of mobility, a field of vibration or passage of forces.

03.04 - The Vision and the Boon, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   One shall descend and break the Iron Law,   Change Nature's doom by the lone spirit's power.

03.05 - The Spiritual Genius of India, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Again, the Japanese, as a people, have developed to a consummate degree the sense of beauty, especially as applied to life and living. No other people, not even the old-world Greeks, possessed almost to a man, as do these children of the Rising Sun, so fine and infallible an sthetic sensibility,not static or abstract, but of the dynamic kinduniformly successful in making out of their work-a-day life, even to its smallest accessories, a flawless object of art. It is a wonder to see in japan how, even an unlettered peasant, away in his rustic envIronment, chooses with unerring taste the site of his house, builds it to the best advantage, arranges everything about it in a faultless rhythm. The whole motion of the life of a Japanese is almost Art incarnate.    Or take again the example of the British people. The practical, successful life instinct, one might even call it the business instinct, of the Anglo-Saxon races is, in its general diffusion, something that borders on the miraculous. Even their Shakespeare is reputed to have been very largely endowed with this national virtue. It is a faculty which has very little to do with calculation, or with much or close thinking, or with any laborious or subtle mental operationa quick or active mind is perhaps the last thing with which the British people can be accredited; this instinct of theirs is something spontaneous, almost aboriginal, moving with the sureness, the ruthlessness of nature's unconscious movements,it is a tact, native to the force that is life. It is this attribute which the Englishman draws from the collective genius of his race that marks him out from among all others; this is his forte, it is this which has created his nation and made it great and strong.

03.06 - Here or Otherwhere, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The question naturally turns upon the nature and the kind of workwhe ther there is a choice and selection in it. Gita speaks indeed of all works, ktsna-karmakt, but does that really mean any and every work that an ignorant man, an ordinary man steeped in the three Gunas does or can do? It cannot be so. For, although all activity, all energy has its source and impetus in the higher consciousness of the Divine, it assumes on the lower ranges indirect, diverted or even perverted formulations and expressions, not because of the inherent falsity of these so-called inferior strata, the instruments, but because of their temporary impurity and obscurity. There are evidently activities and impulsions born exclusively of desire, of attachment and egoism. There are habits of the body, urges of the vital, notions of the mind, there are individual and social functions that have no place in the spiritual scheme, they have to be rigorously eschewed and eliminated. Has not the Gita said, this is desire, this is passion born of the quality of Rajas? . . . There is not much meaning in trying to do these works unattached or to turn them towards the Divine. When you are unattached, when you turn to the Divine, these 'Simply drop away of themselves. Yes, there are social duties and activities and relations that inevitably dissolve and disappear as you move into the life divine. Some are perhaps tolerated for a period, some are occasions for the consciousness to battle and surmount, grow strong and pass beyond. You have to learn to go beyond and new-create your envIronment.    It was Danton who said, one carries not his country with him at the sole of his shoe. Even so you cannot hope to shift bodily your present social ensemble, place it wholesale in the divine life on the plea that it will be purified and transformed in the process. Purification is there indeed, but one must remember purification literally means burning and not a little of the past and present has to be burnt down to ashes.

03.08 - The Standpoint of Indian Art, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Apart from the beauty of the mere form, there is behind it and informing it what may be called the beauty of character, the beauty revealed in the expression of psychological movement. It corresponds to the beauty of rhythm in poetry. Considered sthetically, the beauty of character, in so far as it is found in what we have called formal art, is a corollary,an ornamental and secondary theme whose function is to heighten the effect of the beauty of form, or create the atmosphere and envIronment necessary for its display.    A Chinese or a Japanese piece of artistic creation is more of a study in character than in form; but it is a study in character in a deeper sense than the meaning which the term usually bears to an European mind or when it is used in reference to Europe's art-creations.

03.11 - Modernist Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    What Bottrall means is this in plain language: we reject the old-world myths and metaphors, figures and legends, wornout ornamentsmoon and star and flower and colour and musicwe must have a new set of symbols commensurate with our present-day mentality and envIronmentstone and steel and teas and talkies; yes, we must go in for new and modern terms, we have certainly to find out a menu appropriate to our own sthetic taste, but, Bottrall warns, and very wisely, that we must first be sure of digesting whatever we choose to eat. In other words, a new poetic mythology is justified only when it is made part and parcel, flesh and blood and bone and marrow, of the poetic consciousness. Bottralls epigram "A man is what he eats" can be accepted without demur; only it must also be pointed out that things depend upon how one eats (eating well and digesting thoroughly) as much as what one eatsbread or manna or air and fire and light.    The modernist may chew well, but, I, am afraid, he feeds upon the husk, the chaff, the offal. Not that these things too cannot be incorporated in the poetic scheme; the spirit of poetry is catholic enough and does not disdain them, but can transfigure them into things of eternal beauty. Still how to characterise an inspiration that is wholly or even largely pre-occupied with such objects? Is it not sure evidence that the inspiration is a low and slow flame and does not possess the transfiguring white heat? Bottrall's own lines do not seem to have that quality, it is merely a lessona rhetorical lesson, at bestin poetics.

03.12 - TagorePoet and Seer, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Tagore is modern in respect of all these higher aptitudes that man has gained today. He has the brilliance and curiosity of an alert and strong intelligence, the refined sensibility of a pagan and scientific intellect, he has an infinite sense of Irony and humour and, above all, he has that in him,a genial plasticity and sympathy and a warm sense of wide commonalty,which makes him easily a citizen of the world, feeling absolutely at home all over the world.    The breath of modernism that Tagore has brought into the life and letters of the Bengali race is, I repeat, suffused with a soul-feelinga sense of refinement and dignity, wideness and catholicity and urbanity in the inner make-up of life-attitude and consciousness, a feeling that one no longer lives in his village, confined to its insular limits, but that one lives a life coterminous with human life at large and at its best; one is cosmopolitan in the noblest sense of the word and one has to move and act and speak in a manner becoming such a position. A high sense of all the aristocratic virtues, plus a certain sunshine of wit and playful intelligence that prevents the serious and the lofty from becoming grim and Dantesque are part of the gifts that Tagore has brought us and made a living element of our literary and even social character.

03.13 - Human Destiny, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    But that perhaps is not the real truth of the matter. It may be considered in a somewhat different perspective. We say cultures, races, species die not because they become too refined, delicate, effeminate, but rather because they develop on a single track; they become lop-sided, specialised, rigid, fossilised, as we have already said. Circumstances change, the envIronment brings up new conditions and if the previous form continues in its groove and does not know how to react adequately to the demand, is petrified and unchanging, then it breaks and is thrown away as a thing of the dead past.    A certain plasticity, a good deal of it, a little less finality with regard to structure and function, youthfulness, in one word, is the basic condition of life and life's progress. Hence even an immaturity, a certain slowness in pubescence, a longer adolescence signifies a more enduring plasticity, that is to say, the capacity for change and progress. A quick leap into old age and fixity, as is the rule with the lower animals, means arrest of all growth and sooner or later decay and dissolution. Even if such a life-form continues to exist, the existence is only death in life; a fossil exists for millions of years: it is not a significant existence.   --    On a comparatively shorter view of the human evolution we observe as, for example, Spengler has shown, a serial or serials of the rise and fall of races and nations and cultures. Is that a mere repetition, more or less of the same or very similar facts of life, or is there a running thread that points to a growth, at least a movement towards some goal or purpose to attain and fulfil? The present cycle of humanity, which we may call and is usually called the historic age, dates from the early Egyptians and, in India, from the ancestral Vedic sages (prve pitra). On a longer outlook, what has been the nature of man's curve of life since then to the present day? Races and cultures have risen and have perished, but they have been pursuing one line, moving towards one direction the growth of homo fabricus the term coined by NietzscheMan the artisan. Man has become man through the discovery and use of toolsfrom tools of stone to tools of Iron, that marks his growth from primitiveness to civilisation. And the degree of civilisation, the distance he has travelled from his origins is measured precisely by the development of his tools in respect of precision, variety, efficiency, serviceability. Viewed from that standpoint the modern man has travelled indeed very far and has civilised himself consummately. For the tools have become the whole man; man has lost his human element and almost become a machine. A machine cannot run indefinitely, it has got to stop when life is not there. So it is often prognosticated now that man is at the end of his career. He is soon going to be a thing of the past, an extinct racelike one of the prehistoric species that died out because they could not change with the circumstances of life, because they became unchanging, hard and brittle, soto say, and fell to pieces, or otherwise they continued to exist but in a degraded, a mere vegetative form.    But, as we have said, man seems to have yet retained his youthfulness. He always just falls short of the perfect perfection, that is to say, in any single form or expression of life. Life did become stereotyped, mechanised, and therefore fossilised, more or less, in Egypt of the later Dynasties; in India too life did not become less inert and vegetative during two long periods, once just preceding the advent of the Buddha,.

03.15 - Towards the Future, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    This world, this material existence is to be transmuted the portion of earthly human existence at least, with which we are most concerned. It is at present made of ignorance and sorrow and incapacity-composed of the particles of these entities; poor and sorry as they are, these have to be replaced by entities of light and joy and love, of peace and strength and wideness. Well, it is a transmutation or transubstantiation of the kind which Nature has already attempted as an experiment; I am referring to the alchemy of fossilisation. The present human formation must be dipped and soaked-and held under high pressure in an envIronment of the desired material or materials that one has in view.    Such an envIronment does exist. It is pressing from within or from above and is heading towards a resultant material action. It is an awakened dynamic spiritual reality which awaits and is working for its supreme and inevitable destiny.    ***

04.02 - Human Progress, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Modern knowledge has taught us that what marks the growth of man is his use of tools. An animal has nothing else than its own limbs as its all-serving tool. Man emerged as man the day he knew how to use tools as an extension of his limbs. And the cycles of human growth have, in consequence, been marked off by the type of tools used. As we all know, anthropologists tell us, there have been four such cycles or ages: (1) the Old Stone Age, (2) the New Stone Age, (3) the Bronze Age and (4) the Iron Age.    In the first age, which is by far the longest period, a period of slow and difficult preparation, man had his first lessons in a conscious and victorious dealing with Nature. The day when he first started chipping a stone was a red-letter day for him; for, by that very gesture be began shredding his purely animal vesture. And when he not only chipped but succeeded in grinding and polishing a piece of stone, he moved up one step further and acquired definitely his humanity. Again, ages afterwards when his hand could wield and manipulate as it liked not only a stone but a metal, his skill and dexterity showed a development unique in its kind, establishing and fixing man's manhood as a new emergent factor. In this phase also there was a first period of training and experiment, the period of craftsmanship in bronze; with the age of Iron, man's arms and fingers attained a special deftness and a conscious control directed from a cranium centre which has become by now a model of rich growth and complex structure and marvellous organisation. The impetus towards more and more efficiency in the making and handling of tools has not ceased: the craftsmanship in Iron soon led to the discovery of steel and steel industry. The temper and structure of steel are symbolic and symptomatic of the temper and structure of the brain that commands the weaponstrong, supple, resistant, resilient, capable of fineness and sharpness and trenchancy to an extraordinary degree.    This growing fineness and efficiency of the tool has served naturally to develop and enrich man's external possession and dominion. But this increasing power and dominion over Nature is not the most important consequence involved; it is only indicative of still greater values, something momentous, something subjective, pregnant with far-reaching possibilities. For the physical change is nothing compared with the psychological change, the change in the consciousness. In taking up his tool to chip a stone man has started hewing out and moulding entire Nature: he has become endowed with the sense of independence and agency. An animal is a part and parcel of Nature, has no life and movement apart from the life and movement of Natureeven like Wordsworth's child of Nature   --    The question is now asked how far this self-consciousness given to man by his progress from stone to steelhas advanced and what is its future. The crucial problem is whether man has progressed in historical times. Granted that man with an Iron tool is a more advanced type of humanity than man with a chipped stone tool, it may still be enquired whether he has made any real advance since the day he learnt to manipulate metal. If by advance or progress we mean efficiency and multiplication of tools, then surely there can be no doubt that Germany of today (perhaps now we have to say Germany of yesterday and America of today) is the most advanced type of humanityindeed they do make the claim in that country.    So it is argued that man may have built up more and more efficient organisation in his outer life, he may have learnt to wield a greater variety and wealth of tools and instruments in an increasing degree of refinement and power; but this does not mean that his character, his nature or even the broad mould of his intelligence has changed or progressed. The records and remains of Pre-dynastic Egypt or of Proto-Aryan Indus valley go to show that those were creations of civilised men, as civilised as any modern people. The mind that produced the Rig Veda or the Book of the Dead or conceived the first pyramid is, in essential power of intelligence, no whit inferior to any modern scientific brain. Hence a distinction is sometimes made between culture and civilisation; what the moderns have achieved is progress with regard to civilisation, that is to say, the outer paraphernalia; but as regards culture a Plato, a Lao-tse, a Yajnavalkya are names to which we still bow down.   --    We characterise the change as a special degree or order of self-consciousness. Self-consciousness, we have seen, is the sine qua non of humanity. It is the faculty or power by and with which man appears on earth and maintains himself as such, as a distinct species. Thanks to this faculty man has become the tool-making animal, the artisanhomo faber. But on emerging from the original mythopoeic to the scientific status man has become doubly self-conscious. Self-consciousness means to be aware of oneself as standing separate from and against the envIronment and the world and acting upon it as a free agent, exercising one's deliberate will. Now the first degree of self-consciousness displayed itself in a creative activity by which consciousness remained no longer a suffering organon, but became a growing and directing, a reacting and new-creating agent. Man gained the power to shape the order of Nature according to the order of his inner will and consciousness. This creative activity, the activity of the artisan, developed along two lines: first, artisanship with regard to one's own self, one's inner nature and character, and secondly, with regard to the external nature, the not-self. The former gave rise to mysticism and Yoga and was especially cultivated in India, while the second has led us to Science, man's physical mastery, which is the especial field of European culture.    Now the second degree of self-consciousness to which we referred is the scientific consciousness par excellence. It can be described also as the spirit and power of experimentation, or more precisely, of scientific experimentation: it involves generically the process with which we are familiar in the domain of industry and is termed synthetic, that is to say, it means the skill and capacity to create the conditions under which a given phenomenon can be repeated at will. Hence it means a perfect knowledge of the process of thingswhich again is a dual knowledge: (1) the knowledge of the steps gradually leading to the result and (2) the knowledge that has the power to resolve the result into its antecedent conditions. Thus the knowledge of the mechanism, the detailed working of things, is scientific knowledge, and therefore scientific knowledge can be truly said to be mechanistic knowledge, in the best sense of the term. Now the knowledge of the ends and the knowledge of the means (to use a phrase of Aldous Huxley) and the conscious control over either have given humanity a new degree of self-consciousness.   --    We can thus note, broadly speaking, three stages in the human cycle of Nature's evolution. The first was the period of emergence of self-consciousness and the trials and experiments it went through to establish and confirm itself. The ancient civilisations represented this character of the human spirit. The subject freeing itself more and more from its envIronmental tegument, still living and moving within it and dynamically reacting upon itthis was the character we speak of. Next came the period when the free and dynamic subject feeling itself no more tied down to its natural objective sphere sought lines of development and adventure on its own account. This was the age of speculation and of scholasticism in philosophy and intellectual inquiry and of alchemy in natural sciencea period roughly equated with the Middle Ages. The Scientific Age coming last seeks to re-establish a junction and co-ordination between the free and dynamic self-consciousness and the mode and pattern of its objective field, involving a greater enrichment on one side the subjective consciousness and on the other, the objective envIronment, a corresponding change and effective reorganisation.    The present age which ushers a fourth stagesignificantly called turiya or the transcendent, in Indian terminologyis pregnant with a fateful crisis. The stage of self-consciousness to which scientific development has arrived seems to land in a cul-de-sac, a blind alley: Science also is faced, almost helplessly, with the antinomies of reason that Kant discovered long ago in the domain of speculative philosophy. The way out, for a further growth and development and evolution, lies in a supersession of the self-consciousness, an elevation into a super-consciousnessas already envisaged by Yogis and Mystics everywherewhich will give a new potential and harmony to the human consciousness.

04.03 - Consciousness as Energy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Consciousness has a fourfold potential. The first is the normal consciousness, which is predominantly mental; it is the sphere comprising movements of which man is usually and habitually aware. It is what the Upanishad names Jgrat or jgaritasthna and characterises as bahipraja: it is the waking state and has cognition only of external things. In other words, the consciousness here is wholly objectivised, externalisedextrovert: it is also a strongly individualised formation, the consciousness is hedged in, isolated and contoured by a protective ring, as it were, of a characteristically separative personality; it is a surface formation, a web made out of day-to-day sensations and thoughts, perceptions and memories, impressions and associations. It is a system of outward actions and reactions against or in the midst of one's actual envIronment. The second potential is that of the Inner Consciousness: its characteristic is that the consciousness here is no longer trenchantly separative and individual, narrowly and rigidly egoistic. It feels and sees itself as part of or one with the world consciousness. It looks upon its individuality as only a wave of the universal movement. It is also sometimes called the subliminal consciousness; for it plays below or behind the normal surface range of consciousness. It is made up of the residuary powers of the normal consciousness, the abiding vibrations and stresses that settle down and remain in the background and are not immediately required or utilised for life purposes: also it contacts directly energies and movements that well out of the universal life. The phenomena of clairvoyance and clairaudience, the knowledge of the past and the future and of other worlds and persons and beings, certain more dynamic movements such as distant influence and guidance and controlling without any external means, well known in all yogic disciplines, are various manifestations of the power of this Inner Consciousness. But there is not only an outward and an inner consciousness; there is also a deeper or nether consciousness. This is the great field that has been and is being explored by modern psychologists. It is called the subconscious, sometimes also the unconscious: but really it should be named the inconscient, for it is not altogether devoid of consciousness, but is conscious in its own way the consciousness is involved or lost within itself or lies buried. It comprises those movements and impulsions, inclinations and dispositions that have no rational basis, on the contrary, have an irrational basis; they are not acquired or developed by the individual in his normal course of life experience, they are ingrained, lie imbedded in man's nature and are native to his original biological and physical make-up. As the human embryo recapitulates in the womb the whole history of man's animal evolution, even so the normal man, even the most civilised and apparently the farthest from his ancient moorings and sources, enshrines in his cells, in a miraculously living manner, the memory of vast geological epochs, the great struggles and convulsions through which earth and its inhabitants have passed, the basic urges of the crude life force, its hopes, fears, desires, hungers that constitute the rudimental and aboriginal consciousness, the atavism that links the man of today not only to his primitive ancestry but even to the plant worldeven perhaps to the mineral worldout of which his body cells have issued and evolved. Legends and fairy tales, mythologies and fables are a rationalised pattern and picture of the vibrations and urges that moved the original consciousness. It was a collectivea racial and an aboriginal consciousness. The same lies chromosomic, one can almost say, in the constitution of the individual man of today. This region of the unconscious (or the inconscient) is a veritable field of force: it lies at the root of all surface dynamisms. The surface consciousness, jgrat, is a very small portion of the whole, it is only the tip of the pyramid or an iceberg, the major portion lies submerged beyond our normal view. In reflex movements, in sudden unthinking outbursts, in dreams and day-dreams, this undercurrent is silhouetted and made visible and recognisable. Even otherwise, they exercise a profound influence upon all our conscious movements. This underground consciousness is the repository of the most dark and unenlightened elements that grew and flourished in the slime of man's original habitat. They are small, ugly, violent, anti-social, chaotic forces, their names are cruelty, lust, hunger, blind selfishness. Nowhere else than in this domain can the great Upanishadic truth find its fullest applicationHunger that is Death.    But this is the seamy side of Nature, there is also a sunny side. If there is a nadir, there must be a corresponding zenith. In the Vedic image, if man is born of the Dark Mother, he is also a child of the White Mother (ka and vet). Or again, if Earth is our mother, the Heaven is our fatherdyaur me pit mat pthiv iyam. In other words, consciousness extends not in depth alone, but in height alsoit is vertically extended, infinite both ways. As there is a sub-consciousness or unconsciousness, so also there is at the other end super-consciousness.

04.04 - The Quest, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   EnvIroned with their coloured snare her wheels.   The strong importunate feet of Time fell soft

04.05 - The Freedom and the Force of the Spirit, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The first thing that has to be learnt in life is that circumstances are not all in all: however powerful and overwhelming they may appear to be at a given moment, man can always react against them. If there is not an immediate success externally as desired, the will thus exerted does not go in vain. First of all, it declares and asserts the independence and autonomy of the inner man: something within is found and established which is not touched by the envIronment, which lives by its own au thentic truth and reality and is ever contented and happy. It is in reference to such a poise of consciousness that the great poet says:    A mind not to be changed by place or time.   --    But the true secret of the power to control and guide Nature's dispensation lies along a different line, not along the line of the normal activity of the mental and vital and physical consciousness. Body and life and mind belong after all, at least are closely affiliated, to one's envIronmental consciousness; they are indeed part of the circumstances in which one is born and lives and moves. It is when one bypasses them or passes through them beyond into one's soul, into one's true being and divine personality that one at last crosses mortality and attains immortalitymtyum trtv. . .amtam anute.3    Milton: Paradise Lost. Bk. 1. 253

04.47 - To the Heights-XLVII, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The Dream has become the Iron will,    The secret urge the body's urgent gesture:

05.01 - The Destined Meeting-Place, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The armoured leaders of an Iron line;   Earth prostrate lay beneath their feet of stone.

05.02 - Gods Labour, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    A great mystery of existence, its central rub is the presence of Evil. All spiritual, generally all human endeavour has to face and answer this Sphinx. As he answers, so will be his fate. He cannot rise up even if he wishes, earth cannot progress even when there is the occasion, because of this besetting obstacle. It has many names and many forms. It is Sin or Satan in Christianity; Buddhism calls it Mara. In India it is generally known as Maya. Grief and sorrow, weakness and want, disease and death are its external and ubiquitous forms. It is a force of gravitation, as graphically named by a modern Christian mystic, that pulls man down, fixes him upon earth with its Iron law of mortality, never allowing him to mount high and soar in the spiritual heavens. It has also been called the Wheel of Karma or the cycle of Ignorance. And the aim of all spiritual seekers has been to rise out of itsome-how, by force of tapasy, energy of concentrated will or divine Gracego through or by-pass and escape into the Beyond. This is the path of ascent I referred to at the outset. In this view it is taken for granted that this creation is transient and empty of happinessanityam asukham (Gita)it is anatta, empty of self or consciousness (Buddha) and it will be always so. The only way to deal with it, the way of the wise, is to discard it and pass over.    Sri Aurobindo's view is different. He says Evil can be and has to be conquered here itself, here upon this earth and in this body-the ancients also said, ihaiva tairjitah, they have conquered even here, prkariravimokat, before leaving the body. You have to face Evil full-square and conquer it, conquer it not in the sense that you simply rise above it so that it no longer touches you, but that you remain where you are in the very field of Evil and drive it out from there completely, erase and annihilate it where it was reigning supreme. Hence God has to come down from his heaven and dwell here upon earth and among men and in the conditions of mortality, show thus by his living and labour that this earthly earth can be transformed into a heavenly earth and this human body into a "body divine".    Matter or the physical body is not by itself the centre of gravity of the human consciousness; it is not that that pins the soul or the self to the life of pain and misery and incapacity and death. Matter is not the Evil, nor made up of Evil; it contains or harbours evil under the present circumstances, even as dross is mixed up, inextricably as it appears, with the noble metal in the natural ore; but the dross can be eradicated and the free metal brought out, pure- and noble in its own true nature. It is, as Rumi, the Persian mystic, says in his famous imagery, like a piece of Iron, dull and dismal to look at, but when put into fire slowly acquires the quality of fire, turning into a glowing and radiant beauty, yet maintaining its original form and individuality and concrete, even material reality. Now, the crust or dross that has to be eliminated in Matter is called by Sri Aurobindo "Inconscience". Matter is inconscient, therefore it is unconscious and ignorant. Make it conscious, it will be radiant and full of knowledge. That is the great transformation needed, the only way to true and total reformation. The Divine descends into Matter precisely to work out that transformation.    It is a long dredging process, tedious and arduous, requiring the utmost patience and perseverance, even to the absolute degree. For Inconscience, in essence, although a contingent reality, local and temporal, and therefore transient, is nonetheless the hardest, most obdurate and resistant reality: it lies thick and heavy upon the human vehicle. It is massed layer upon layer. Its first formation in the higher altitudes of the mind is perhaps like a thin fluid deposit; it begins as anindividualised separative consciousness stressing more and more its exclusiveness. Through the lower ranges of the mind and the vitality it crystallises and condenses gradually; in the worlds of thinking and feeling, enjoying and dynamic activity, it has still a malleable and mixed consistency, but when it reaches and possesses the physical being, it becomes the impervious solid obscurity that Matter presents.

05.09 - The Changed Scientific Outlook, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Science has not spiritualised (or idealised or mentalised) the world; it has not spiritualised itself. Agreed. But what it has done is remarkable. First, with its new outlook it has cut away the ground from where it was wont to give battle to religion and spirituality, it has abjured its cast-Iron strait-jacket mentality which considered that senses and syllogism encompass all knowledge and objects of knowledge. It has learnt humility and admits of the possibility of more things there being in heaven and earth which are not amenable to its fixed co-ordinates. Secondly, it has gone at times even beyond this attitude of benevolent neutrality. For certain of its conclusions, certain ways of formulation seem to echo other truths, other manners. That is to say, if Science by itself is unable to reach or envisage the spiritual outlook, yet the position it has reached, the vistas it envisages seem to be not perhaps exactly one with, but in line with what our vision (of the scientific world) would be like if once we possess the spiritual eye. Matter, Science says today, is energy and forms of matter, objects, are various vibrations of this one energy. What is this energy? According to science, it is electrical, radiant, ethereal (Einstein replaces "ether" by "field")biological science would venture to call it life energy. You have only to move one step farther and arrive at the greater and deeper generalisationMatter is a mode of the energy of consciousness, all forms of Matter are vibrations of consciousness.    ***

05.10 - Children and Child Mentality, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The child, we can take, comes into the world with a more or less clean slate to record the reactions of life. In the early period he is still nearer his psychic being which is not yet thrown back or covered over by the impacts and impressions of the world. The first conscious contacts with the world are not generally happy for the child. He meets things all around that go against the grain of his still sensitive psychic consciousness. The first quarrel he witnesses between his parents, the first rough behaviour or movement of an elder that shakes his attention, the first lie that he hears uttered by his teacher, act almost as shellshocks to his nerves. And as he grows, lessons like these are showered upon him from all sides and no wonder if his consciousness very soon gets warped and twisted, he too begins his own game in the line he observes and experiences. Only, not being guided or controlled by reason and experience, he overdoes the thing, and because of his age, what in an adult is a matter of course, trivial and insignificant, looms large and ominous in his case. The surroundings in which a child lives and grows form the atmosphere which he breathes in at every moment and if there is poison in it, he inhales and imbibes the poison which becomes part of his substance and nature. A pure envIronment is needed for a pure life impulse to shape an develop itself.    ***

05.26 - The Soul in Anguish, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The being immersed in Prakriti, as normally it is, in relation and communion with others, may entertain as a pleasure and luxury, the illusion of its separateness and freedom: it can do so at ease, because it feels it has the secret support of its envIronment, it is courageous because it feels itself in good company. But once it rises out of the envIronmental level and stands truly apart and outside itit is the mental being which can do so more or less successfully the first feeling is that of freedom, no doubt, but along with it there is also the uncanny sense of isolation, of heavy responsibility, also a certain impotence, a loss of bearings. The normal Cartesian Co-ordinates, as it were, are gone and the being does not know where to look for the higher multi-dimensional co-ordinates. That is the real meaning of the Anguish which suddenly invades a being at a certain stage of his ascending consciousness.    The solution, the issue out is, of course, to go ahead. Instead of making the intermediary poise, however necessary it may be, a permanent character of the being and its destiny, as these philosophers tend to do, one should take another bold step, a jump upward. For the next stage, the stage when the true equilibrium, the inherent reconciliation is realised between oneself and others, between the inner soul and its outer nature is what the Upanishad describes as Vijnana, the Vast Knowledge.

05.34 - Light, more Light, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Let us explain. Man is not as ignorant and helpless as he seems to be, as he would himself consider to be. There is in him always a spark, under the ashes, as it were, a perfect freedom behind the faade of a network of bondages, not dead or dormant but biding the time, to come out and be active on the surface. The spark is the light that directs to the right and warns against the wrong; the freedom is the choice to do the right and avoid the wrong. It is just a point of perception, just a flash of awareness, but net and clear: it is there, you have only to notice it. It does not give the why or the whither of the rightness: it is a simple declaration presented to you, for you to do what you like with it: to ignore or to profit by. Usually we do not pay attention to it: our attention is diverted towards another direction and other things. Our envIronment, our education, our domestic and social influences, even a good part of our own nature demand of us other ways of living and inhibit the spontaneous inherent light of the consciousness. Even so, if we care to look at it, if we sincerely turn round and ask for it, we will find it still there the flame behind the smoke, the queen in the harem, the deity in the sanctum. What is required is just a straight look and not the crooked wink we are accustomed to. The first attempts will necessarily mean a little fumbling, but if you mean what you do, you will find your vision getting clearer. It is our own disinclination that weaves the cobweb of ignorance around the truth. Otherwise, an unsophisticated consciousness, a consciousness which is not vitiatedmore often by nurture than by naturecan always feel the presence of the truth and is directly aware of it.    A blinded misdirected mind, if it wakes up at any time and looks about for the truth sincerelywe insist upon the conditioncan recognise it, learn to trace it by certain indications it always leaves behind in the consciousness. A touch of the truth, a step towards it will be always accompanied by a sense of relief, of peace, of a serene happiness and unconditional freedom. These things are felt not as something gross and superficial affecting your outer life and situation, but pertaining to the depth of your being, concerning your inmost fibreit is nothing else but just the sense of light, as if you are at last out of the dark. A right movement brings you that feeling; and whenever you have that feeling you know that there has been the right movement. On the contrary, with a wrong movement you are ill at ease. You may say that a hardened criminal is never ill at ease; perhaps, but only after a great deal of hardening. The criminal was not always a criminal I am speaking of a human being, not a born hostilehe must have started some-where the downward incline. The distinction of the right and the wrong must have been presented to his consciousness and the choice was freely his. Afterwards one gets bound to one's Karma and its chain.

06.01 - The Word of Fate, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Perhaps from the Iron snare there is escape:   Our mind perhaps deceives us with its words   --   An Irony in life's indulgent smile,   And trembles at the laughter of the gods.

06.11 - The Steps of the Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    What is the meaning of this self-contradiction, this division in man? To understand that we must know and remember that each person represents a certain quality or capacity, a particular achievement to be embodied. How best can it be done? What is the way by which one can acquire a quality at its purest, and highest and most perfect? It is by setting an opposition to it. That is how a power is increased and streng thenedby fighting against and overcoming all that weakens and contradicts it. The deficiencies in respect of a particular quality show you where you are to mend and reinforce and in what way to improve in order to make it perfectly perfect. It is the hammer that beats the weak and soft Iron to transform it into hard steel. The preliminary discord is useful and necessary to be utilised for a higher harmony. This is the secret of self-conflict in man. You are weakest precisely in that element which is destined to be your greatest asset.    Each man has then a mission to fulfil, a role to play in the universe; a part he has been given to learn and take up in the cosmic Purpose which he alone is capable of executing and none other. This he has to learn and acquire through life-experiences, that is to say, not in one life, but in life after life. In fact, that is the meaning of the chain of lives that the individual has to pass through, namely, to acquire experiences and to gather out of them the thread the skein of qualities and attributes, powers and capacities for the pattern of life he has to weave. Now, the inmost being, the true personality, the central consciousness of the evolving individual is his psychic being. It is, as it were, a very tiny speck of light lying far behind the experiences in normal people. In grown up souls this psychic consciousness has an increased lightincreased in intensity, volume and richness. Thus there are souls, old and new. Old and ancient are those that have reached or are about to reach the fullness of perfection; they have passed through a long past of innumerable lives and developed the most complex and yet the most integrated personality. New souls are those that are just emerged or emerging out of the mere physico-vital existence; these are like simple organisms, made of fewer constituents, referring mostly to the bodily life, with just a modicum of the mental. It is the soul, however, that grows with experiences and it is the soul that builds and enriches the personality. Whatever portion of the outer life, whatever element in the mind or vital or body succeeds in corning in contact with the psychic consciousness, that is to say, is able to come under its influence, is taken up and lodged there: it remains in the psychic 'being as its living memory and permanent possession. It is such elements that form the basis, the groundwork upon which the structure of the integral and true personality is raised.

06.19 - Mental Silence, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Now, the value of an idea cannot be determined by the idea itself. Usually one chooses because of some external reason or other: one's education, envIronment, one's personal temperament, likes and dislikes go a long way in determining one's choice. So the first thing you have to do is not to allow the thoughts to come in pell-mell, as and when they like. Thoughts must come only when you choose them and only those that you choose. There must be a conscious selection. How to proceed in this work? As your own thoughts cannot choose themselves, what you have to do at the outset is to call for a higher guidance and let yourself be absolutely impartial and passive in its hands.    A blankness is needed, a white emptiness somewhere behindeven if it does not come and occupy the front too. Give up personal choosing and wait for the Higher Direction the Divineto do with you whatever it wills. Given the requisite silence and reliance, the decision comes inevitably and you are moved to do automatically what is required to be done from moment to moment. At first you may not get the knowledge of the why and the wherefore of your action, you act merely as an automaton but with the luminous silence within and a tranquil aspiration attending. When once you have been trained in this unquestioning docility, then knowledge will be given to you gradually, at first only of a few steps ahead, later on for a fuller and completer perspective.

06.27 - To Learn and to Understand, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    There is an Iron door there nailed and fixed. It has to be broken open. It is the door that shuts you within your narrow ego-consciousness. You have to throw down that barrier and widen yourself out. You have to will for it, exert for it with a settled constancy. There is the pressure on the other side too, the pressure of Grace. Your aspiring will meeting the Grace will surely make the necessary opening in the dead wall.    ***

07.01 - The Joy of Union; the Ordeal of the Foreknowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   A happy front to Iron vastnesses   And austere peaks and titan solitudes.

07.02 - The Parable of the Search for the Soul, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The Iron doors that seemed for ever closed,   And lead man to Truth's wide and golden road

07.03 - The Entry into the Inner Countries, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   A thronged and clamorous air envIroned her.   A horde of sounds defied significance,

07.04 - The Triple Soul-Forces, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Make Iron velvet, water unbreakable stone,   Like God in his astuce of artist skill,

07.07 - The Discovery of the Cosmic Spirit and the Cosmic Consciousness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Pressing her close in her envIroning arms,   As if earth ever the same could for ever keep

07.27 - Equality of the Body, Equality of the Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Equality of the external being means good health, a solid body, controlled nerveswhen you are not shaken by the least shock, when you are calm, quiet, poised, balanced. In that condition you can receive into you a great force in yourself from above (or, from the envIroning energy around you) and yet not get upset. If one of you at any time had received some such force, he must have known by experience that without a perfectly sound physical health, one could not contain or hold it. You cannot remain still, you are restless, you move about, talk, cry, weep, jump or dance, just to throw out the energy you are unable to hold. You scatter about what it is not possible for you to gather and assimilate. In order to be able to gather and assimilate the force, the body and the nerves must be quiet and strong.    Equality of the soul is different; it is psychological, not physical. It is the power to bear the impact of things, good or bad, without being grieved or elated, discouraged or enthused, without any upsetting or disturbance. Whatever happens you remain serene and at peace. But both the equalities are necessary. There are many equalities, in fact. Apart from the equality of the vital and the equality of the body, there is also the equality of the mind proper. That is to say, all ideas from all quarters may come into your head, even the most contradictory: yet you remain quiet, untroubled, and even unconcerned. You are a witness, you see them, sort them, arrange them, put each idea in its proper place, appreciate the value of each, determine the relation of each to the other, and to the whole, but you are not swayed by any particular one.

07.32 - The Yogic Centres, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Here is a curious story about man and his destiny. What is he, the normal man? He is a slave, a bond slave. He may have the illusion that he has ideas and movements, his own, he has even free scope to put them to execution. But it will not take long to discover that it is an illusion, a great deception. His plans do not mature, his efforts beat an Iron wall. The more he observes and sees things squarely he finds that he is bound hand and foot. He is driven by forces and things over which he has no control whatsoever. He is a slave to circumstances; he is checked by the will of others. His own will has no power or scope; it is wholly ineffectual. He feels more and more a great burden pressing upon the back of the head bending it down, a heavy weight lies upon his shoulders. He somehow trudges on like a beast of burden. He has no free choice or will; his wishes and desires are not consulted. He is driven helplessly on.    But the story does not end here. Man can, if he chooses, alter the situation, turn the tables. He has in him the source of freedomwhat he vaguely feels in his outer consciousness; there is a centre from where he is capable of reacting and reasserting. It is the centre where lies his dharma, the law of his being. It is his soul. If he once comes in contact with that, makes that the base of his life, from that moment he is free. He holds his head erect. He is no longer bent down. The burden of inexorable circumstances weighs no more on him. He has transcended the circumstances, he stands over them, looks over them. He is now the master and they obey him, he has not to obey them.

07.40 - Service Human and Divine, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    I do not think that the spirit of charity has in any way improved human conditions. I do not see that men have become either more or less subject to disease and indigence than before. Charity was always there and misery has coexisted with it ever. I do not think the ratio between the two has diminished in any way. You remember the Ironical but pertinent remark of someone who said in view of science's attempts to cure and remove misery: Poor philanthropists would be in a sad plight, their occupation will go! The true reason why one wishes to do charity is elsewhere, it is to please oneself, it is for self-satisfaction. It amuses you to do the thing: it gives you the sense that you are doing something, that you are a valuable member of humanity, not like the others, that you are somebody. What else all that is except that you are vain, full of self-importance, full of yourself? That is what I meant when I said that it is ambition or egoism that makes you humanitarian. Of course, if it pleases you to do the work, if you feel happy in doing it, you are at perfect liberty to do the work and continue. But do not imagine that you are doing any real or effective service to humanity; particularly do not imagine that by that you are serving God, leading a spiritual life or doing Yoga.    Just an illustration of the quality of the spirit that animates humanitarianism. A charitable man will give generously for a thing that is known, recognised, appreciated; he will be liberal if he finds his name attached to the work, announced and pronounced, if there is fame for him in it. But ask him a dole for something genuine, comparatively modest or out of the way, something that is truly spiritual and divine, you will find his purse-strings tightened, his heart closed up. A gift that bears no value to the giver does not tempt the ordinary humanitarian. There is indeed another different category of givers, of the opposite kind, who want precisely to remain anonymous: they would be displeased if their names were announced. But the motive here too is not very different; in fact it is the same motive acting rebours, backward as it were. Here there is an additional element of self-glorification: one gives and people do not know who he is; it is something all the more to be proud of.

07.42 - The Nature and Destiny of Art, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The art of this decadent epoch is what I call mushroom art. You know how mushrooms grow? They grow anywhere and do not seem to form part, for example, of what you cultivate or where you cultivate. Just think of it! There is a spot on the wall which becomes humid and you see it soon covered with this growth. You have a tree which does not get the sunlight, you will find its roots covered with mushrooms. It is a kind of spontaneous growth which is not linked to the spot where it grows. It is not a limb of its envIronment, but something extraneous added to it. Instead of mushrooms I could have spoken of parasites: they belong to the same category. You have seen parasite plants? They grow upon trees, they fix themselves there. They have not their own life and organs, they do not draw their food directly from earth, as all normal plants do; they live upon the life of another, make use of the labour of another. There are also animal parasites that live upon another animal, growing and profiting by its labour. Parasites or mushrooms have no raison d'lre to be where they are-they are invaders, interpolators, anomalies.    In ancient times, in the great ages, in Greece, for example or even during the Italian Renaissance, particularly, however, in Greece and in Egypt, they erected buildings, constructed monuments for the sake of public utility. Their buildings were meant for the most part to be temples, sanctuaries to lodge their gods and deities. What they had in view was something total, whole and entire, beautiful and complete in itself. That was the purpose of architecture embodying the harmony of sweeping and majestic lines: sculpture was a part of architecture supplying details of expression and even painting came up to complete the expression: but the whole held together in a coordinated unity which was the monument itself. The sculpture was for the monument, the painting was for the monument; it was not that each was separate from the other and existed for itself and one did not know why it was there. In India, when a temple was being built, for example, what was aimed at was a total creation, all the parts combined to give effect to one end, to make a beautiful vesture for God, the one object of their adoration. All the great epochs of art were of this kind. But in modern times, in the latter part of the last century, Art' became a matter of business. A painting was done in order to be sold. You do your paintings, put each one in a frame and place them side by side or group them, that is, lump them together without much reason. The same with regard to sculpture. You make a statue and set it up anywhere without any connection whatsoever with the surroundings. It is always something foreign, extraneous in its setting, like a mushroom or a parasite. The thing in itself may not be quite ugly, but it is out of place, it is not part of an organic whole. We exhibit art today. Indeed, it is exhibitionism, it is the showing off of cleverness, talent, skill, virtuosity. A piece of architecture does not incarnate a living force as it used to do once upon a time. It is no longer the expression of an aspiration, of something that uplifts the spirit nor the expression of the magnificence of the Divine whose dwelling it is meant to be. You build houses here and there pell-mell or somehow juxtaposed without any coordinating idea governing them, without any relation to the envIronment where they are situated. When you enter a house, it is the same thing. A bit of painting here, a bit of sculpture there, some objects of art in one corner, a few others in another. Yes, it is an exhibition, a museum, a kaleidoscopic collection. It gives a shock to the truly sensitive artistic taste.    I do not say that a museum is not necessary or useful. It is a good means of education, that is to say, getting information about what other people or other epochs did. It is an aid to the historic knowledge of things. But it is far from being artistic. A museum is not the place where art can find its highest or its true expression. There is an art which seeks to coordinate, integrate distinct, discrete, contrary objects. It is called decorative art. And in so far as this art is successful, we are a step forward even in these days towards true art.

08.03 - Death in the Forest, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   In the Iron ring of the enormous peaks   Under the blue rifts of the forest sky,

08.21 - Human Birth, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The body is formed by a man and a woman who are the father and the mother; these when they form the body have no means to ask of the being whom they are bringing into the world whether he likes it or whether it is agreeable to his destiny. They impose upon the body, by the force of necessity, an atavism, an envIronment and subsequently an education which are almost always obstacles to future growth. A growing soul or a soul full-grown taking birth in a body has to fight against these circumstances that are forced upon him by the animal birth in order to find his true path and discover his own self in its fullness.    It is possible, however, for the parents, instead of doing the thing in the animal way, driven by mere instinct and desire, most of the time even without wanting it, to do it with a conscious will, aspiring, praying almost that the body they are about to bring forth should be a form suitable to clo the a soul coming at their call. I have known people,there are not many, of course, still there are some,who chose especial circumstances, prepared themselves, holding an attitude of concentration, meditation and aspiration, invoking some exceptional being to come into the body they were to form. For that one must have also an occult knowledge which people generally do not possess.   --    The parents have naturally a particular formation, they have a particular kind of good or bad health; at the very best, they have a lot of atavistic tendencies, habits, subconscious and even conscious complexes, deriving from their own birth, their envIronment and the life they have led. And even if they are remarkable people, in their own way, usually they carry an amount of things, that are contrary to the true psychic life, I mean, even if they are the very best, the most conscious. And when the parents have done their utmost to give their children the best education, the children come in contact with all kinds of other people who have a great influence upon them especially when they are very young; these influences enter into the subconscious and they have to be fought against later on.    So I say, because of the way in which the body is brought into being at present, you have to face innumerable difficulties, coming more or less from the subconscient, that rise to the surface with which you have to fight if you want to be free entirely and develop normally.

08.24 - On Food, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    It is not like your stomach which can digest only a limited quantity of food and this food again can give out only a portiona very small portionof its energy. For after the energy spent in swallowing, masticating, digesting, etc. how much of it still remains available? If, on the other hand, you learnyou learn instinctively, it is a kind of instinctto draw from the universal energy which is freely available in the world and in any quantity, you can take it in and absorb as much as you are capable of doing. Thus, as I have said, when there is not the support from below coming from food, the body makes an automatic movement to get the needed energy from the envIronment. It gets at times, more than enough, even an overdose and that puts you in a state of tension or stimulation. And if your body is strong and can remain without food for some time, then you can maintain your poise and utilise the energies in all waysto make inner progress, for example, to become more conscious, to change your nature. But if your body does not have much reserve, it gets easily weakened by fast, then there occurs a disharmony between the intensity of the energies you absorb and the capacity of the body to hold them and that upsets you. You lose your poise, the equilibrium of the forces is broken and anything can happen. In any case, if such a thing happens, you lose a good deal of self-control, you get excited and this unnatural excitement you consider as a higher state of consciousness. But it is an inner unbalance, nothing more. Otherwise, in that state your senses get refined and receptive. Thus when you fast and do not draw energy from below, if you smell a flower, you feel nourished, the perfume you brea the in serves as food, it gives you energy and this you would not have known but for the fasting.    In this condition certain faculties become intensified and that is taken as a spiritual effect. But in reality it has very little to do with spirituality. However, instead of thinking all the while about food, how to get it and eat it, if one were to take to fasting for the sake of freeing oneself from the bondage of food preoccupation, rising a little in the scale of consciousness, it would be a good thing. If you have the faith it will do you good, it will purify you, make you progress a little. In that way it is all right: it will not do any harm to your body except making it a little slimmer. But if you fast and then continuously turn back to it and think of the food that you might have eaten or are likely to eat after the fasting, well, such fasting is worse than feasting.

08.32 - The Surrender of an Inner Warrior, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Now if you wish to discover that part, you have to aspire, to insist, throw the lightpray, if need be. There are many other ways. Sometimes a surgical operation too is necessary, you have to thrust the red hot Iron into the wound, just as you have to do when there is a nasty abscess that does not want to burst.    ***

09.01 - Towards the Black Void, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   A sorrowful Irony curved the dreadful lips   That speak the word of doom. Eternal Night

09.02 - The Journey in Eternal Night and the Voice of the Darkness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Clamouring, a fatal Iron-hearted roar,   Death missioned to the night his lethal call.   --   From their uneasy Iron-hearted sleep   The Furies who avenge fulfilled desire.

09.11 - The Supramental Manifestation and World Change, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    It is you who say with a logic that appears quite reasonable: "If I do this, necessarily this will happen," or "If I do not do this, this other thing will surely come about," and that is how you put, as it were, an Iron curtain between yourself and the free action of the Grace.    How good would it be to imagine that the Supreme Consciousness, essentially free, that presides over the universal manifestation, is fanciful in its choice and that it makes things succeed each other, not according to a logic that is accessible to the human thought, but according to another kind of logic, the logic of the unforeseen!

100.00 - Synergy, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science   Awareness is the observer saying to self, "I see the otherness." Otherness induces awareness of self. Awareness is always otherness inductive. The total complex of otherness is the envIronment.   100.012   --   EnvIronment in turn must be   All that is, excepting me.   --   100.013 Life begins only with otherness. Life begins with awareness of envIronment. In Percival W. Bridgman's identification of Einstein's science as operational science, the comprehensive inventory of envIronmental conditions is as essential to "experimental evidence" as is the inventory of locally-focused-upon experimental items and interoperational events.   100.014 The child's awareness of otherness phenomena can be apprehended only through its nerve-circuited sense systems and through instrumentally augmented, macro- micro, sense-system extensions __ such as eyeglasses. Sight requires light, however, and light derives only from radiation of celestial entropy, where Sunlight is starlight and fossil fuels and fire-producing wood logs are celestial radiation accumulators; ergo, all the sensings are imposed by cosmic envIronment eventings.   100.015 The child apprehends only sensorially. The combined complex of different sensorial apprehendings (touch, smell, hear, see) of each special case experience are altogether coordinated in the child's brain to constitute "awareness" conceptions. The senses can apprehend only other-than-self "somethings" __ for example, the child's left hand discovering its right hand, its toe, or its mother's finger. Brains differentially correlate the succession of special case informations communicated to the brain by the plurality of senses. The brain distinguishes the new, first-time-event, special case experiences only by comparing them with the set of all its recalled prior cognitions.   --   envIronmental surrounding points by different observers at as close to the "same"   time as possible, taken at "almost the same time" as well as at distinctly different   --   about by synergy.109.02 In chrome-nickel-steel, the primary constituents are Iron, chromium, and   nickel. There are minor constituents of carbon, manganese, and others. It is a very   --   held true, then the Iron as the weakest part ought to adulterate the whole: since it   is the weakest link, the whole thing will break apart when the weakest link breaks   down. So we put down the tensile strength of the commercially available Iron __ the   highest that we can possibly accredit is about 60,000 pounds per square inch   --   eternal envIronmental interplay of chemical element simplexes and compounds   under a complex of energy, heat, and pressure conditions critical to the complex   --   spontaneous, innate trust that its envIronment will always provide what it wants   and needs exactly when it is needed having been violated, the creature panics, and   --   unpredictable. They become spontaneously suspicious of their envIronment in   general and prone to be spontaneously hostile and aggressive.184.00 When they are aggressive __ or even worse, when they panic __ both

10.03 - The Debate of Love and Death, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   A master of his huge envIronment.   Now through Mind's windows stares the demigod   --   A huge caprice self-bound by Iron laws,   And shut God into an enigmatic world:   --   Or chilling the heart with dry Ironic smile,   A cynic stamping out the god in man;   --   With the Ironic laughter of his voice   Discouraging the labour of the stars:   --   Hard laws forbid and thy Ironic fate.   My will once wrought remains unchanged through Time,   --   "O dark Ironic critic of God's work,   Thou mockst the mind and body's faltering search

10.04 - The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   They trusted in the uncertain envIronment   And waited for death to change their spirit's scene.   --   The laughter of men, the Irony of the gods?   Where leads the march, whither the pilgrimage?   --   The Iron rampart of accomplished things   With which the great Gods fence their camp in Space.

10.05 - Mind and the Mental World, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    It is only when one has found one's individual self seated in the Divine centre secret behind, organised around the centre all lesser movements, marshalled them according to an inner law, that one becomes master of one's envIronment and creative in the true sense of the word.    Mind is a force, thought and energy but that can be truly and fully effective when it is organised, directed, that is to say, it becomes then a guided missile. In an ordinary mind the thoughts are, as I have said, dispersed, they go about in all directions, to all objectives and therefore their efficacy is at its minimum. It is like light. Light-energy becomes immensely, incredibly powerful when it is concentrated, gathered towards one point. It is in this way the light-ray nowadays is trying to replace the surgeon's knife.

10.08 - Consciousness as Freedom, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    In the lower creation it is always a play of divergent forces and the individual being is only a field, a passive field for the play of cosmic or collective forces. It is in man, with the awakening of an individual consciousness in him, that a movement of self-assertion, of willed reaction has started in nature, that is to say, one is no more content with playing the role of a slave executing helplessly what is demanded of him by an external agent but is now making his own terms and propositions. That is how man is man because he is creating his own self and his own envIronment.    Consciousness, however, is not mere consciousness, that is to say, awareness; it is also power, power for organisation and execution. It is unconsciousness that is or invariably leads to disorderliness, disorganisation and confusion. It is the light of consciousness that brings order out of chaos, gives an organised direction to forces moving at random and with no purpose. Man has started organising his life since he acquired the light of consciousness. He has been doing the yoga of the intelligent will (Gita's buddhi-yoga) since his advent upon earth. But even in man this force of light, the energy of consciousness is not fully operative because man is not fully conscious, he is only partially so. His mind is conscious and has developed into intelligence (a little strayed into intellectuality); but there are large domains in him that are wholly unconscious, that is to say, move in mechanical rounds, a passive slave of external impacts. I am referring to his vital being and his physical being. Even like the mind these too must admit into themselves the light of the consciousness in order to free themselves from the influence of other external forces and attain the sense of their own truth and self-fulfilment.   --    The body too similarly can be filled with light and light-energy; instead of being wholly at the mercy of the physical envIronment, the natural conditions around or even subject to its own innate or atavistic suggestions, it can be aware of its true reality, its inner nature, its higher potentialities.    I have spoken of the light in the mind, the consciousness that has awakened there and has organised its activities as an autonomous unit. But we must not forget that it is only partially so. The autonomy is very limited, for a- good part of the human mind is far from being conscious, there is a part half-conscious and a part almost wholly unconscious. This hemisphere so to say is under the influence of the vital and the physical being with their unconscious and ill-organised influence. The true light comes from elsewhere, the mind in so far as it receives the light becomes conscious and proportionately autonomous. The light is always the spiritual light, the consciousness of the spirit which is above and beyond mind. Not only the mind but the vital too, and the physical too in order to be consciously organised and free and autonomous must know how to take in that light beyond the mind and ba the in its liberating influence.

1.008 - The Principle of Self-Affirmation, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga   Human suffering is due to a kind of subjection exerted on it by forces about which one cannot have any knowledge, truly speaking; also, one would not be allowed to have any kind of knowledge of it. This is what we call an Iron curtain hanging in front of us so that we will not know what is ahead of us, or behind us, or even by the side of us. Let anyone find a little time to brood over this subject and weep silently if the truth comes out. They say that when a person is drowning and has lost everything that can be regarded as worthwhile in life, or when a person's life is in danger death is yawning before him and is imminent in such conditions, the mind reveals its true nature. It is said that when there is asphyxiation caused by drowning, all the memories of the past, sometimes even of past lives, will be unrolled before the mind for a flash of a moment due to the horror of impending death and the nervous pressure felt at that moment. Similar experiences are known to have happened in situations when a person has lost everything.   These are things which cannot be learned theoretically by the study of books, because very few people have lost everything; we always have something with us. But to experience that moment of reckoning, we must lose everything, even our last strip of cloth; no one should want to even look at our face, as if we are the worst perhaps in the whole of creation. Such should be the condition to come upon us nothing to eat, no food of any kind, no place to lie down, no raiment on the body, everything is horrible at that moment the true nature of a person comes out. Otherwise, whatever self-analysis we will do, it will be an analysis of the false personality. Psychological analysis or yogic investigation conducted by a false mind will produce only false results and, therefore, a very superior type of CID (Central Intelligence Division) agent, who is not involved in the case on hand, is necessary to investigate into the mind someone quite different from and outside the purview of the operation of the involved mind. Such a mind is called the higher mind, which is in us. It is this higher mind that has to do what is called the stock-taking of one's own condition.

1.00c - DIVISION C - THE ETHERIC BODY AND PRANA, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism   Second. In the study of the etheric body and prana lies the revelation of the effects of those rays of the sun which (for lack of better expression), we will call "solar pranic emanations." These solar pranic emanations are the produced effect of the central heat of the sun approaching other bodies within the solar system by one of the three main channels of contact, and producing on the bodies then contacted certain effects differing somewhat from those produced by the other emanations. These effects might be considered as definitely stimulating and constructive, and (through their essential quality) as producing conditions that further the growth of cellular matter, and concern its adjustment to envIroning conditions; they concern likewise the internal health (demonstrating as the heat of the atom and its consequent activity) and the uniform evolution of the form of which that particular atom of matter forms a constituent part. Emanative prana does little in connection with [79] form building; that is not its province, but it conserves the form through the preservation of the health of its component parts. Other rays of the sun act differently, upon the forms and upon their substance. Some perform the work of the Destroyer of forms, and others carry on the work of cohering and of attracting; the work of the Destroyer and of the Preserver is carried on under the Law of Attraction and Repulsion. Some rays definitely produce accelerated motion, others produce retardation. The ones we are dealing with herepranic solar emanationswork within the four ethers, that matter which (though physical) is not as yet objectively visible to the eye of man. They are the basis of all physical plane life considered solely in connection with the life of the physical plane atoms of matter, their inherent heat and their rotary motion. These emanations are the basis of that "fire by friction" which demonstrates in the activity of matter.   Finally, in the study of the etheric body and prana comes comprehension of the method of logoic manifestation, and therefore much of interest to the metaphysician, and all abstract thinkers. The etheric body of man holds hid the secret of his objectivity. It has its correspondence on the archetypal plane,the plane we call that of the divine manifestation, the first plane of our solar system, the plane Adi. The matter of that highest plane is called often the "sea of fire" and it is the root of the akasha, the term applied to the substance of the second plane of manifestation. Let us trace the analogy a little more in detail, for in its just apprehension will be found much of illumination and much that will serve to elucidate problems both macrocosmic and microcosmic. We will begin with man and his etheric body.   --   Human etheric radiation (felt by envIronment).   [85]   --   A further chain of ideas may be followed up in the remembrance that the fourth ether is even now being studied and developed by the average scientist, and is already somewhat harnessed to the service of man; that the fourth subplane of the astral plane is the normal functioning ground of the average man and that in this round escape from the etheric vehicle is being achieved; that the fourth subplane of the mental plane is the present goal of endeavor of one-fourth of the human family; that the fourth manvantara will see the solar ring-pass-not offering avenues of escape to those who have reached the necessary point; that the four planetary Logoi will perfect Their escape from Their planetary envIronment, and will function with greater ease on the cosmic astral plane, paralleling on cosmic levels the achievement of the human units who are the cells in Their bodies.   Our solar Logos, being a Logos of the fourth order, will begin to co-ordinate His cosmic buddhic body, and as He develops cosmic mind He will gradually achieve, by the aid of that mind, the ability to touch the cosmic buddhic plane.

1.00e - DIVISION E - MOTION ON THE PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL PLANES, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism   4. Absorption, through that expression which is seen in all whirling spheres of atomic matter at whichever surface in the sphere corresponds to the point called in a planet the North Pole. Some idea of the intention that I seek to convey may be grasped by a study of the atom as portrayed in Babbitt's "Principles of Light and Colour," and later in Mrs. Besant's "Occult Chemistry." This depression is produced by radiations which proceed counter to the rotations of the sphere and pass down from the north southwards to a midway point. From there they tend to increase the latent heat, to produce added momentum and to give specific quality according to the source from which the radiation comes. This absorption of extra-spheroidal emanation is the secret of the dependence of one sphere upon another, and has its correspondence in the cycling of a ray through any plane sphere. Every atom, though termed spheroidal, is more accurately a sphere slightly depressed at one location, [156] that location being the place through which flows the force which animates the matter of the sphere. This is true of all spheres, from the solar down to the atom of matter that we call the cell in the body physical. Through the depression in the physical atom flows the vitalising force from without. Every atom is both positive and negative; it is receptive or negative where the inflowing force is concerned, and positive or radiatory where its own emanations are concerned, and in connection with its effect upon its envIronment.   This can be predicated likewise of the entire ring-pass-not of the solar system in relation to its cosmic envIronment. Force flows into the solar system from three directions via three channels:   a. The sun Sirius,   --   3. Frictional, envIronal effect,   4. Absorption, the receptive or attractive effect,   --   2. Mobility. The inherent fires of matter produce rotary movement. Eventually this rotation results in radiation. The radiation of matter, the result of its dual heat, produces necessarily an effect upon other atoms in its envIronment (it matters not whether that envIronment is cosmic space, systemic space, or the periphery of the physical body of a man), and this interaction and interplay causes repulsion and attraction according to the polarity of the cosmic, systemic or physical atom. Eventually this produces coherence of form; bodies, or aggregates of atoms come into being or manifestation, and persist for the length of their greater or lesser cycles until the third quality is brought into definite recognition.   3. Rhythm, or the attainment of the point of perfect balance and of equilibrium. This point of perfect balance then produces certain specific effects which might be enumerated and pondered upon, even if to our finite minds they may seem paradoxical and contradictory.   --   When the point of rhythm or balance is reached in a solar system, in a plane, in a ray, in a causal body, and in the physical body, then the occupier of the form is loosed from prison; he can withdraw to his originating source, and is liberated from the sheath which has hitherto acted as a prison; and he can escape from an envIronment which he has utilised for the gaining of experience and as a battle ground between the pairs of opposites. The sheath or form of whatever kind then automatically disintegrates.   IV. ROTARY MOTION AND SYMBOLISM   --   3. The circle divided into two. This marks the active rotation and the beginning of the mobility of the atom of matter, and produces the subsequent extension of the influence of the positive point within the atom of matter till its sphere of influence extends from the centre to the periphery. At the point where it touches the periphery it contacts the influence of the atoms in its envIronment; radiation is set up and the point of depression makes its appearance, marking the inflow and outflow of force or heat.   We are here only showing the application of cosmic symbols to matter, and are not dealing with manifestation from any other angle than that of the purely material. For instance, we are applying the symbol of the point within the circle to the sphere of matter, and the point of latent heat. We are not handling at this point matter as informed by an entity who is to matter, when so informing, a point of conscious life.   --   The senses might be defined as those organs whereby man becomes aware of his surroundings. We should perhaps express them not so much as organs (for after all, an organ is a material form, existent for a purpose) but as media whereby the Thinker comes in contact with his envIronment. They are the means whereby he makes investigation on the plane of the gross physical, for instance; the means whereby he buys his experience, whereby he discovers that which he requires to know, whereby he becomes aware, and whereby he expands his consciousness. We are dealing here with the five senses as used by the human being. In the animal these five senses exist but, as the thinking correlating faculty is lacking, as the "relation between" the self and the not-self is but little developed, we will not concern ourselves with them at this juncture. The senses in the animal kingdom are group faculty and demonstrate as racial instinct. The senses in man are his individual asset, and demonstrate:   a. As the separate realisation of self-consciousness.

1.00f - DIVISION F - THE LAW OF ECONOMY, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism   c. It acts and reacts upon its envIroning atoms.   d. It adds its quota to the general heat of the atomic system, whatever that may be.

1.00 - INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism   We might here point out, however, that our first two statements concerning the internal fires, express the effect that the fire entities have upon their envIronment. Heat and radiation are other terms which might be applied in this sense. Each of these effects produces a [53] different class of phenomena. Latent fire causes the active growth of that in which it is embedded and causes that upward pushing which brings into manifestation all that is found in the kingdoms of nature. Radiatory fire causes the continued growth of that which has progressed, under the influence of latent fire, to a point receptive of the radiatory. Let us tabulate it thus:   Systemic or Macrocosmic: The solar Logos or The Grand Man of the Heavens.

1.00 - PREFACE - DESCENSUS AD INFERNOS, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology   Although I had grown up in a Christian envIronment and had a successful and happy childhood, in   at least partial consequence I was more than willing to throw aside the structure that had fostered me. No   --   envIronment is in reality a forum for action, as well as a place of things.   Unprotected exposure to unexplored territory produces fear. The individual is protected from such fear

1.00 - The Constitution of the Human Being, #Theosophy, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism    should not for the time being read anything into this fact, but merely take it as it presents itself. It makes it evident that man has three sides to his nature. This and nothing else will for the present be indicated here by the three words body, soul, and spirit. He who connects any preconceived meanings, or even hypotheses, with these three words will necessarily misunderstand the following explanations. By body is here meant that by which the things in the envIronment of a man reveal themselves to him, as in the example just cited, the flowers of the meadow. By the word soul is signified that by which he links the things to his own being, through which he experiences pleasure and displeasure, desire and aversion, joy and sorrow. By spirit is meant that which becomes manifest in him when, as Goe the expressed it, he looks at things as "a so-to-speak divine being." In this sense the human being consists of body, soul, and spirit.   Through his body man is able to place himself for the time being in connection with the things; through his soul he retains in himself the impressions which they make on him; through his spirit there reveals itself to him

1.00 - The way of what is to come, #The Red Book Liber Novus, #unset, #Zen     But the spirit of the depths said: "No one can or should halt sacrifice. Sacrifice is not destruction, sacrifice is the foundation stone of what is to come. Have you not had monasteries? Have not countless thousands gone into the desert? You should carry the monastery in yourself The desert is within you. The desert calls you and draws you back, and if you were fettered to the world of this time with Iron, the call of the desert would break all chains. Truly, I prepare you for solitude.     After this, my humanity remained silent. Something happened to my spirit, however, which I must call mercy.

1.017 - The Night Journey, #Quran, #unset, #Zen   50. Say, “Even if you become rocks or Iron.   51. Or some substance, which, in your minds, is even harder.” Then they will say, “Who will restore us?” Say, “The One who originated you the first time.” Then they will nod their heads at you, and say, “When will it be?” Say, “Perhaps it will be soon.”

1.018 - The Cave, #Quran, #unset, #Zen   96. “Bring me blocks of Iron.” So that, when he had leveled up between the two cliffs, he said, “Blow.” And having turned it into a fire, he said, “Bring me tar to pour over it.”   97. So they were unable to climb it, and they could not penetrate it.

1.01 - Adam Kadmon and the Evolution, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga   (In one of his sonnets Sri Aurobindo called them the Iron   Dictators. They are also known as the Four Horsemen of   --   comply with the positivism of their academic envIronment   and the dominant Abrahamic religions. It is only recently

1.01 - Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, #The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   cerebrospinal system, and thus control the envIronment; but,   though functioning without sense-organs, it maintains the bal-   --   the envIronment. But if we are able to see our own shadow and   can bear knowing about it, then a small part of the problem has

1.01 - BOOK THE FIRST, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry   The Iron Age   Hard steel succeeded then:

1.01 - Economy, #Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, #Henry David Thoreau, #Philosophy   I have heard of Brahmins sitting exposed to four fires and looking in the face of the sun; or hanging suspended, with their heads downward, over flames; or looking at the heavens over their shoulders until it becomes impossible for them to resume their natural position, while from the twist of the neck nothing but liquids can pass into the stomach; or dwelling, chained for life, at the foot of a tree; or measuring with their bodies, like caterpillars, the breadth of vast empires; or standing on one leg on the tops of pillars,even these forms of conscious penance are hardly more incredible and astonishing than the scenes which I daily witness. The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor. They have no friend Iolas to burn with a hot Iron the root of the hydras head, but as soon as one head is crushed, two spring up.   I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born? They have got to live a mans life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as well as they can. How many a poor immortal soul have I met well nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty, its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture, and wood-lot! The portionless, who struggle with no such unnecessary inherited encumbrances, find it labor enough to subdue and cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh.   --     Mantle-tree Iron,................ 0.15     Nails,........................... 3.90   --   My furniture, part of which I made myself, and the rest cost me nothing of which I have not rendered an account, consisted of a bed, a table, a desk, three chairs, a looking-glass three inches in diameter, a pair of tongs and andIrons, a kettle, a skillet, and a frying-pan, a dipper, a wash-bowl, two knives and forks, three plates, one cup, one spoon, a jug for oil, a jug for molasses, and a japanned lamp. None is so poor that he need sit on a pumpkin. That is shiftlessness. There is a plenty of such chairs as I like best in the village garrets to be had for taking them away. Furniture! Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse. What man but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see his furniture packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the light of heaven and the eyes of men, a beggarly account of empty boxes? That is Spauldings furniture. I could never tell from inspecting such a load whether it belonged to a so called rich man or a poor one; the owner always seemed poverty-stricken.   Indeed, the more you have of such things the poorer you are. Each load looks as if it contained the contents of a dozen shanties; and if one shanty is poor, this is a dozen times as poor. Pray, for what do we

1.01 - How is Knowledge Of The Higher Worlds Attained?, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy    and further into the background, so that they can only be conveyed to man through his every-day life in a very small degree. Whoever seeks higher knowledge must create it for himself. He must instill it into his soul. It cannot be done by study; it can only be done through life. Whoever, therefore, wishes to become a student of higher knowledge must assiduously cultivate this inner life of devotion. Everywhere in his envIronment and his experiences he must seek motives of admiration and homage. If I meet a man and blame him for his shortcomings, I rob myself of power to attain higher knowledge; but if I try to enter lovingly into his merits, I gather such power. The student must continually be intent upon following this advice. The spiritually experienced know how much they owe to the circumstance that in face of all things they ever again turn to the good, and withhold adverse judgment. But this must not remain an external rule of life; rather it must take possession of our innermost soul. Man has it in his power to perfect himself and, in time, completely to transform himself. But this transformation must take place in his innermost self, in his thought-life.    p. 11   --    with cognition. This is due to the fact that we are inclined to set cognition aside as a faculty by itself-one that stands in no relation to what otherwise occurs in the soul. In so thinking we do not bear in mind that it is the soul which exercises the faculty of cognition; and feelings are for the soul what food is for the body. If we give the body stones in place of bread, its activity will cease. It is the same with the soul. Veneration, homage, devotion are like nutriment making it healthy and strong, especially strong for the activity of cognition. Disrespect, antipathy, underestimation of what deserves recognition, all exert a paralyzing and withering effect on this faculty of cognition. For the spiritually experienced this fact is visible in the aura. A soul which harbors feelings of reverence and devotion produces a change in its aura. Certain spiritual colorings, as they may be called, yellow-red and brown-red in tone, vanish and are replaced by blue-red tints. Thereby the cognitional faculty is ripened; it receives intelligence of facts in its envIronment of which it had hitherto no idea. Reverence awakens in the soul a sympathetic    p. 14   --    touch with our own feelings and ideas if we wish to develop any intimate relationship with the outer world. The outer world with all its phenomena is filled with splendor, but we must have experienced the divine within ourselves before we can hope to discover it in our envIronment.   The student is told to set apart moments in his daily life in which to withdraw into himself, quietly and alone. He is not to occupy himself at such moments with the affairs of his own ego. This would result in the contrary of what is intended. He should rather let his experiences and the messages from the outer world re-echo within his own completely silent self. At such silent moments every flower, every animal, every action will unveil to him secrets undreamt of. And thus he will prepare himself to receive quite new impressions of the outer world through quite different eyes. The desire to enjoy impression after impression merely blunts the faculty of cognition; the latter, however, is nurtured and cultivated if the enjoyment once experienced is allowed to reveal its message. Thus the student must accustom himself not merely to let the enjoyment   --    reverberate, as it were, but rather to renounce any further enjoyment, and work upon the past experience. The peril here is very great. Instead of working inwardly, it is very easy to fall into the opposite habit of trying to exploit the enjoyment. Let no one underestimate the fact that immense sources of error here confront the student. He must pass through a host of tempters of his soul. They would all harden his ego and imprison it within itself. He should rather open it wide to all the world. It is necessary that he should seek enjoyment, for only through enjoyment can the outer world reach him. If he blunts himself to enjoyment he is like a plant which cannot any longer draw nourishment from its envIronment. Yet if he stops short at the enjoyment he shuts himself up within himself. He will only be something to himself and nothing to the world. However much he may live within himself, however intensely he may cultivate his ego-the world will reject him. To the world he is dead. The student of higher knowledge considers enjoyment only as a means of ennobling himself for the world. Enjoyment is to him like a scout informing him about the world; but once instructed    p. 17

1.01 - Introduction, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction   It is the manner-such as our senses understand it-in which a totality of particular activities reacts in relation to the all, that is manifest to our eyes in each element of the reality, whether that element be an object or a being. So too it is the relation between their modes of action and ours that permits us to differentiate ourselves from all that is other than ourselves and determines for us the character, the forms, the values, the accidents of all that envIrons us.   The attempt to explain the world by the things that we see, is therefore vain; it is these, on the contrary, that find their explanation in those that we do not see. To find the causes of thing we must turn our regard not on the visible, but on the invisible.

1.01 - MAPS OF EXPERIENCE - OBJECT AND MEANING, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology   extracts or in accidental epitomes for example, as the morality of their envIronment, their class, their   church, the spirit of their time, their climate and part of the world just because they were poorly   --   which it is, as the fact of culture is an unchanging aspect of the human envIronment.   Narratives of the known patriotic rituals, stories of ancestral heroes, myths and symbols of cultural

1.01 - Meeting the Master - Authors first meeting, December 1918, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen    I bowed down to him. That day I was able to sleep soundly in the train after more than two years. And in my mind was fixed for ever the picture of that scene: the two of us standing near the small table, my earnest question, that upward gaze, and that quiet and firm voice with power in it to shake the world, that firm fist planted on the table the symbol of self-confidence of the divine Truth. There may be rank Kaliyuga, the Iron Age, in the whole world but it is the great good fortune of India that she has sons who know the Truth and have the unshakable faith in it, and can risk their lives for its sake. In this significant fact is contained the divine destiny of India and of the world.    After meeting Sri Aurobindo I was quite relieved of the great strain that was upon me. Now that I felt Indian freedom to be a certainty, I could participate in public movements with equanimity and with a truer spiritual attitude. I got some experiences also which confirmed my faith in Sri Aurobindo's path. I got the confident faith in a divine Power that is beyond time and space and that can and does work in the world. I came to know that any man with a sincere aspiration for it can come in contact with that Power.

1.01 - Necessity for knowledge of the whole human being for a genuine education., #The Essentials of Education, #unset, #Zen   Children absorb impressions from all the people around them with the same intensity that sensory organs receive impressions from the envIronment. The way we move around children whether slowly, revealing an indolence of soul and spirit or storm- ily, revealing a soul and spirit thats overbearingis absorbed by them; they are completely sensory. We might say that an adult tastes with the mouth, or with the pallet or tongue. Children, however, experience taste in the very depths of their organism; its as though the sense of taste were spread throughout a large part of the body. This is also true of the other senses. The effects of light bind themselves intimately to a childs respiratory rhythms and circulation. What is to adults a separate visual perception, children experience in their whole body; and without any fore- thought, a childs will impulses arise immediately, like reflexes. For the moment Im bringing this up just by way of introduction to this theme. A childs whole body responds reflexively to every impression in the envIronment.   This means that the soul, spirit, and body of a small child are still undifferentiated, still interwoven as a unified whole. The soul and spirit work in the body and directly influence the circulatory and digestive processes. Its remarkable how close a childs soul and metabolism are to each other and how closely they work together! Only later, at the change of teeth, does the soul element become more differentiated from the metabolism. Every stimulation of a childs soul is transcribed in the blood circulation, breathing, and digestion. Body, soul, and spirit are still a unity. This means that every stimulus in the childs envIronment works right down into the body of the child.   And so, when a choleric teacher gets near a child and lets loose with fits of temper, anything done under this influenceif the teacher doesnt practice self-improvement in the way we have yet to discussenters the childs soul and takes root in the body. The remarkable thing is that it sinks into the foundations of the childs being, and anything implanted in the growing human body reap- pears later. Just as a seed is planted in the autumn and reappears in the spring as a plant, so whatever is planted as a seed in a child of eight or nine comes out again in the adult of forty-five or fifty. And we can see the effects of an uncontrolled choleric teachers temperament in the form of metabolic illnesses in the adult, or even in the very old.

1.01 - Newtonian and Bergsonian Time, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics   both in sensation and in will, with its material envIronment is   one which Descartes does discuss, although in a very unsatisfac-   --   an envIronment where the available power is much less lim-   ited than we have taken it to be. The electronic tube has shown

1.01 - On renunciation of the world, #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset   20. If an earthly king were to call us and request us to serve in his presence, we should not delay for other orders, we should not make excuses, but we should leave everything and eagerly go to him. Let us then be on the alert, lest when the King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods calls us to this heavenly office, we cry off out of sloth and cowardice and find ourselves without excuse at the Last Judgment. It is possible to walk, even when tied with the fetters of worldly affairs and Iron cares, but only with difficulty. For even those who have Iron chains on their feet can often walk; but they are continually stumbling and getting hurt. An unmarried man, who is only tied to the world by business affairs, is like one who has fetters on his hands; and therefore when he wishes to enter the monastic life he has nothing to hinder him. But the married man is like one who is bound hand and foot. (So when he wants to run he cannot.)2   Some people living carelessly in the world have asked me: We have wives and are beset with social cares, and how can we lead the solitary life? I replied to them: Do all the good you can; do not speak evil of anyone; do not steal from anyone; do not lie to anyone; do not be arrogant towards anyone; do not hate any one; be sure you go to church; be compassionate to the needy; do not offend anyone; do not wreck another mans domestic happiness;3 and be content with what your own wives can give you. If you behave in this way you will not be far from the Kingdom of Heaven.

1.01 - SAMADHI PADA, #Patanjali Yoga Sutras, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism   certain envIronments are necessary to call it out. We cannot   find any knowledge without teacher, if there are men teachers,

1.01 - THAT ARE THOU, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy   The wise say that this threefold way is like an Iron chain, binding the feet of him who aspires to escape from the prison-house of this world. He who frees himself from the chain achieves Deliverance.   Shankara

1.01 - The Cycle of Society, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   For the typal passes naturally into the conventional stage. The conventional stage of human society is born when the external supports, the outward expressions of the spirit or the ideal become more important than the ideal, the body or even the clothes more important than the person. Thus in the evolution of caste, the outward supports of the ethical fourfold order,birth, economic function, religious ritual and sacrament, family custom,each began to exaggerate enormously its proportions and its importance in the scheme. At first, birth does not seem to have been of the first importance in the social order, for faculty and capacity prevailed; but afterwards, as the type fixed itself, its maintenance by education and tradition became necessary and education and tradition naturally fixed themselves in a hereditary groove. Thus the son of a Brahmin came always to be looked upon conventionally as a Brahmin; birth and profession were together the double bond of the hereditary convention at the time when it was most firm and faithful to its own character. This rigidity once established, the maintenance of the ethical type passed from the first place to a secondary or even a quite tertiary importance. Once the very basis of the system, it came now to be a not indispensable crown or pendent tassel, insisted upon indeed by the thinker and the ideal code-maker but not by the actual rule of society or its practice. Once ceasing to be indispensable, it came inevitably to be dispensed with except as an ornamental fiction. Finally, even the economic basis began to disintegrate; birth, family custom and remnants, deformations, new accretions of meaningless or fanciful religious sign and ritual, the very scarecrow and caricature of the old profound symbolism, became the riveting links of the system of caste in the Iron age of the old society. In the full economic period of caste the priest and the Pundit masquerade under the name of the Brahmin, the aristocrat and feudal baron under the name of the Kshatriya, the trader and money-getter under the name of the Vaishya, the half-fed labourer and economic serf under the name of the Shudra. When the economic basis also breaks down, then the unclean and diseased decrepitude of the old system has begun; it has become a name, a shell, a sham and must either be dissolved in the crucible of an individualist period of society or else fatally affect with weakness and falsehood the system of life that clings to it. That in visible fact is the last and present state of the caste system in India.   The tendency of the conventional age of society is to fix, to arrange firmly, to formalise, to erect a system of rigid grades and hierarchies, to stereotype religion, to bind education and training to a traditional and unchangeable form, to subject thought to infallible authorities, to cast a stamp of finality on what seems to it the finished life of man. The conventional period of society has its golden age when the spirit and thought that inspired its forms are confined but yet living, not yet altogether walled in, not yet stifled to death and petrified by the growing hardness of the structure in which they are cased. That golden age is often very beautiful and attractive to the distant view of posterity by its precise order, symmetry, fine social architecture, the admirable subordination of its parts to a general and noble plan. Thus at one time the modern litterateur, artist or thinker looked back often with admiration and with something like longing to the mediaeval age of Europe; he forgot in its distant appearance of poetry, nobility, spirituality the much folly, ignorance, iniquity, cruelty and oppression of those harsh ages, the suffering and revolt that simmered below these fine surfaces, the misery and squalor that was hidden behind that splendid faade. So too the Hindu orthodox idealist looks back to a perfectly regulated society devoutly obedient to the wise yoke of the Shastra, and that is his golden age,a nobler one than the European in which the apparent gold was mostly hard burnished copper with a thin gold-leaf covering it, but still of an alloyed metal, not the true Satya Yuga. In these conventional periods of society there is much indeed that is really fine and sound and helpful to human progress, but still they are its copper age and not the true golden; they are the age when the Truth we strive to arrive at is not realised, not accomplished,4 but the exiguity of it eked out or its full appearance imitated by an artistic form, and what we have of the reality has begun to fossilise and is doomed to be lost in a hard mass of rule and order and convention.   For always the form prevails and the spirit recedes and diminishes. It attempts indeed to return, to revive the form, to modify it, anyhow to survive and even to make the form survive; but the time-tendency is too strong. This is visible in the history of religion; the efforts of the saints and religious reformers become progressively more scattered, brief and superficial in their actual effects, however strong and vital the impulse. We see this recession in the growing darkness and weakness of India in her last millennium; the constant effort of the most powerful spiritual personalities kept the soul of the people alive but failed to resuscitate the ancient free force and truth and vigour or permanently revivify a conventionalised and stagnating society; in a generation or two the Iron grip of that conventionalism has always fallen on the new movement and annexed the names of its founders. We see it in Europe in the repeated moral tragedy of ecclesiasticism and Catholic monasticism. Then there arrives a period when the gulf between the convention and the truth becomes intolerable and the men of intellectual power arise, the great swallowers of formulas, who, rejecting robustly or fiercely or with the calm light of reason symbol and type and convention, strike at the walls of the prison-house and seek by the individual reason, moral sense or emotional desire the Truth that society has lost or buried in its whited sepulchres. It is then that the individualistic age of religion and thought and society is created; the Age of Protestantism has begun, the Age of Reason, the Age of Revolt, Progress, Freedom. A partial and external freedom, still betrayed by the conventional age that preceded it into the idea that the Truth can be found in outsides, dreaming vainly that perfection can be determined by machinery, but still a necessary passage to the subjective period of humanity through which man has to circle back towards the recovery of his deeper self and a new upward line or a new revolving cycle of civilisation.     It is at least doubtful. The Brahmin class at first seem to have exercised all sorts of economic functions and not to have confined themselves to those of the priesthood.

1.01 - The Ego, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   between the somatic factor and the envIronment, and, once   established as a subject, it goes on developing from further col-

1.01 - The Four Aids, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   8:Another kind of Shastra is not Scripture, but a statement of the science and methods, the effective principles and way of working of the path of Yoga which the Sadhaka elects to follow. Each path has its Shastra, either written or traditional, passing from mouth to mouth through a long line of Teachers. In India a great authority, a high reverence even is ordinarily attached to the written or traditional teaching. All the lines of the Yoga are supposed to be fixed and the Teacher who has received the Shastra by tradition and realised it in practice guides the disciple along the immemorial tracks. One often even hears the objection urged against a new practice, a new Yogic teaching, the adoption of a new formula, "It is not according to the Shastra." But neither in fact nor in the actual practice of the Yogins is there really any such entire rigidity of an Iron door shut against new truth, fresh revelation, widened experience. The written or traditional teaching expresses the knowledge and experiences of many centuries systematised, organised, made attainable to the beginner. Its importance and utility are therefore immense. But a great freedom of variation and development is always practicable. Even so highly scientific a system as Rajayoga can be practised on other lines than the organised method of Patanjali. Each of the three paths, trimarga 51, breaks into many bypaths which meet again at the goal. The general knowledge on which the Yoga depends is fixed, but the order, the succession, the devices, the forms must be allowed to vary, for the needs and particular impulsions of the individual nature have to be satisfied even while the general truths remain firm and constant.   9:An integral and synthetic Yoga needs especially not to be bound by any written or traditional Shastra; for while it embraces the knowledge received from the past, it seeks to organise it anew for the present and the future. An absolute liberty of experience and of the restatement of knowledge in new terms and new combinations is the condition of its self-formation. Seeking to embrace all life in itself, it is in the position not of a pilgrim following the highroad to his destination, but, to that extent at least, of a path-finder hewing his way through a virgin forest. For Yoga has long diverged from life and the ancient systems which sought to embrace it, such as those of our Vedic forefa thers, are far away from us, expressed in terms which are no longer accessible, thrown into forms which are no longer applicable. Since then mankind has moved forward on the current of eternal Time and the same problem has to be approached from a new starting-point.

1.01 - The Highest Meaning of the Holy Truths, #The Blue Cliff Records, #Yuanwu Keqin, #Zen   Iron eye or a copper eye, still you will search without finding.   When you get here, can you figure it out by means of emo

1.01 - The King of the Wood, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism   who learned the art of venery from the centaur ChIron, and spent all   his days in the greenwood chasing wild beasts with the virgin

1.01 - The Mental Fortress, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   But its use is not as the mind imagines in the arrogance of its knowledge and discoveries, for the mind always mistakes the instrument for the Master. We thought that the mental tool was both end and means, and that that end was an increasing, ever more triumphant and rigorous mastery over the mental field, which it has colonized with marvelous cities and less marvelous suburbs. But that is only a secondary end, a turbulent by-product, and it turns out that the major effect of the Mind in man has not been to make him more intelligent (intelligent with respect to what? The mouse in its hole has the perfect intelligence for its own terrain), but to individualize him within his own species and endow him with the power to change while the other species were invariable and only individualized as a general type and finally to make him capable of casting a look at what exceeds his own condition. With this individualization and power of variation began the errors of man, his sins, his afflicting dualities; yet his capacity for error is also a secret capacity for progress, which is why all our moralities based on right or wrong and all our flawless heavens have failed and will forever fail if we were flawless and irreproachable, we would be a stagnant and infallible species, like the shellfish or the opossum. In other words, the Mind is an instrument of accelerated evolution, an evolver. In fifty years of scientific development, man has progressed more than during all the prescientific milleniums. But progress in what sense? To be sure, not in the sense of the fallacious mastery, nor in the quality of life or the degree of comfort, but in the sense of the mental saturation of the species. One cannot leave a circle unless one has individually and collectively exhausted the circle. One cannot step alone onto the other side; either everybody does it (or is capable of doing it) or nobody does it; the whole species goes together, because there is but one human Body. Instead of a handful of initiates scattered among a semianimal and ignorant human mass, the entire species is now undergoing its initiation or, in evolutionary terms, its supreme variation. We have not passed through the mental circle for the sake of sending rockets to the moon, but in order to be individually, innumerably and voluntarily capable of effecting the passage to the next higher circle. The breaking of the circle is the great organic Fact of our times. All the dualities and opposite poles, the sins of virtue and the virtues of sin, all this dazzling chaos were the instruments of the Work, the tensors, we could say, bending us to the breaking point against a wall of Iron which is a wall of illusion. But the illusion falls only when one decides to see it.   That is where we are. The illusion is not dead; it even rages with unprecedented violence, equipped with all the arms we have so obligingly polished up for it. But these are the last convulsions of a colossus with feet of clay which is actually a gnome, an oversized, overoutfitted gnome. The ancient sages of India knew it well. They divided human evolution into four concentric circles: that of the men of knowledge (Brahmins), who lived at the beginning of humanity, in the age of truth; that of the nobles and warriors (Kshatriya), when only three fourths of the truth was left; that of the merchants and middle class (Vaishya), who had only half of the truth; and finally ours, the age of the little men, the Shudra, the servants (of the machine, of the ego, of desire), the great proletariat of regimented liberties the Dark Age, Kali Yuga, when no truth is left at all. But because this circle is the most extreme, because all the truths have been tried and exhausted, and all possible roads explored, we are nearing the right solution, the true solution, the emergence of a new age of truth, the supramental age Sri Aurobindo spoke of, like the buttercup breaking its last envelope to free its golden fruit. If the parallel holds true between the collective body and our human body, we could say that the center governing the age of the sages was located at the level of the forehead, while that of the age of the nobles was at the level of the heart, that of the age of the merchants, at the stomach, and the one governing our age is at the level of sex and matter. The descent is complete. But that descent has a meaning a meaning for matter. Had we stayed forever at the forehead level of the divine truths of the mind, this earth and body would never have been changed, and we would have probably ended up escaping into some spiritual heaven or nirvana. Now, everything must be transformed, even the body and matter, since we are right in it. Ironically, this is the greatest service this dark, materialistic and scientific age may have rendered us: to compel such a plunge of the spirit into matter that it had either to lose itself in it or to be transformed with it. Absolute darkness is but the shadow of a greater Sun, which digs its abysses in order to raise up a more stable beauty, founded on the purified base of our earthly subconscious and seated erect in truth down to the very cells of our bodies.   O Force-compelled, Fate-driven earth-born race,   --   This impossible endeavour (for us) is not impossible for the Great Executrix who had led the evolutionary play to this crucial turning point. It is She who can. We just have to seize her secret springs, or rather, let Her seize hold of us and collaborate in our own evolution by having an intimate understanding of the Great Process. None of the spiritual virtues and athletics of the old closed system will be of any use. What is needed is a sort of radical leap, fully conscious and with eyes wide open, a very childlike surrender to the gods of the future, an Iron resolve to track the momentous Illusion down to the smallest recesses, a supreme opening to the supreme Possibility which will lift us up in Her arms and carry us upon Her sunlit road even before we are satisfied of having taken a quarter of a step toward Her. For indeed there are moments when the Spirit moves among men..., there are others when it retires and men are left to act in the strength or the weaknesses of their own egoism. The first are periods when even a little effort produces great results and changes destiny.3   We are just at that moment.

1.01 - THE STUFF OF THE UNIVERSE, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity   gressively attenuated envIronment which vanishes without a   limital surface in an infinitely decreasing gradation, or as a   --   sudden condensation (as in a saturated envIronment) of a primordial substance   or stuff", diffused throughout limitless space. Nowadays, for various convergent

1.01 - To Watanabe Sukefusa, #Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin, #unset, #Zen    commanded. They held what looked like green-colored fans in their hands, and when they moved them, the fans sent out a breeze of unbearable heat. One of the creatures produced an Iron nail-it must have been ten inches long-that was heated red-hot and had sparks flying from it. He began pounding the nail into my shoulder with a strange green hammer. The pain was indescribable. I became dizzy and so terrified I thought my breathing had stopped.   "Look," he said baring his shoulder. "It is still hot and extremely painful." There was an ugly, purple scar burn several inches square, blackened at the center. "Oh, how miserable I am! What have

1.01 - What is Magick?, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy     7. Every man and every woman has a course, depending partly on the self, and partly on the envIronment which is natural and necessary for each. Anyone who is forced from his own course, either through not understanding himself, or through external opposition, comes into conflict with the order of the Universe, and suffers accordingly.     (Illustration: A man may think it his duty to act in a certain way, through having made a fancy picture of himself, instead of investigating his actual nature. For example, a woman may make herself miserable for life by thinking that she prefers love to social consideration, or vice versa. One woman may stay with an unsympa thetic husb and when she would really be happy in an attic with a lover, while another may fool herself into a romantic elopement when her only true pleasures are those of presiding at fashionable functions. Again, a boy's instinct may tell him to go to sea, while his parents insist on his becoming a doctor. In such a case, he will be both unsuccessful and unhappy in medicine.     8. A man whose conscious will is at odds with his True Will is wasting his strength. He cannot hope to influence his envIronment efficiently.     (Illustration: When Civil War rages in a nation, it is in no condition to undertake the invasion of other countries. A man with cancer employs his nourishment alike to his own use and to that of the enemy which is part of himself. He soon fails to resist the pressure of his envIronment. In practical life, a man who is doing what his conscience tells him to be wrong will do it very clumsily. At first!)     9. A man who is doing his True Will has the inertia of the Universe to assist him.     (Illustration: The first principle of success in evolution is that the individual should be true to his own nature, and at the same time adapt himself to his envIronment.)     10. Nature is a continuous phenomenon, thought we do not know in all cases how things are connected.   --     (Illustration: One does not confuse the pain of toothache with the decay which causes it. Inanimate objects are sensitive to certain physical forces, such as electrical and thermal conductivity; but neither in us nor in them so far as we know is there any direct conscious perception of these forces. Imperceptible influences are therefore associated with all material phenomena; and there is no reason why we should not work upon matter through those subtle energies as we do through their material bases. In fact, we use magnetic force to move Iron, and solar radiation to reproduce images.)     14. Man is capable of being, and using, anything which he perceives; for everything that he perceives is in a certain sense a part of his being. He may thus subjugate the whole Universe of which he is conscious to his individual Will.   --     21. There is no limit to the extent of the relations of any man with the Universe in essence; for as soon as man makes himself one with any idea, the means of measurement cease to exist. But his power to utilize that force is limited by his mental power and capacity, and by the circumstances of his human envIronment.     (Illustration: When a man falls in love, the whole world becomes, to him, nothing but love boundless and immanent; but his mystical state is not contagious; his fellow-men are either amused or annoyed. He can only extend to others the effect which his love has had upon himself by means of his mental and physical qualities. Thus, Catullus, Dante, and Swinburne made their love a mighty mover of mankind by virtue of their power to put their thoughts on the subject in musical and eloquent language. Again, Cleopatra and other people in authority moulded the fortunes of many other people by allowing love to influence their political actions. The Magician, however well he succeeds in making contact with the secret sources of energy in nature, can only use them to the extent permitted by his intellectual and moral qualities. Mohammed's intercourse with Gabriel was only effective because of his statesmanship, soldiership, and the sublimity of his comm and of Arabic. Hertz's discovery of the rays which we now use for wireless telegraphy was sterile until reflected through the minds and wills of the people who could take his truth, and transmit it to the world of action by means of mechanical and economic instruments.)

1.01 - Who is Tara, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset   help us. Due to her altruistic intention, Tara can appear in these realms without being adversely affected by the envIronment. She doesnt shy away from   suffering but faces it fearlessly and compassionately, thereby counteracting

1.022 - The Pilgrimage, #Quran, #unset, #Zen   21. And they will have maces of Iron.   22. Whenever they try to escape the gloom, they will be driven back to it: “Taste the suffering of burning.”

1.02.3.1 - The Lord, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen   in that realm, - the Iron chain of Karma, the rule of mechanical   necessity, the despotism of an inexplicable Law.

10.23 - Prayers and Meditations of the Mother, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    Lorsque j' tais enfantvers l' ge de treize ans et pendant un an envIrontous les soirs ds que j' tais couche, il me semblait que je sortais de mon corps et que je m' levais tout droit au-dessus de la maison, puis de la ville, trs haul. Je me voyais alors vtue d'une magnifique robe dore, plus longue que moi;.et mesure que jemontais, cette robe s' allongeait en s' tendant circulairement autour de moi pour former comme un toil immense au-dessus de la ville. Alors je voyais de taus cts sortir des hommes, des femmes, des enfants, des vieillards, des malades, des malheureux; its s' assemblaient sous la robe tendue, implorant secours, racontant leurs misres, leurs souffrances, leurs peines. En rponse, la robe, souple et vivante, s' allongeait vers eux individuellement, et ds qu'ils l' avaient touche, its taient consols ou guris, et rentraient dans leurs corps plus heureux et plus forts qu' avant d' en tre sortis.16    But her being and consciousness are not limited to mankind alone. She has identified herself with even material objects, with all the small insignificant physical things which our earthly existence deals with. This is how she takes leave of the house where she had lived, and the things it had sheltered, on the eve of a long journey:

1.024 - Affiliation With Larger Wholes, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga   So, the real is a peculiar set-up of affairs, a condition or an envIronment which acts upon a particular state of mind and produces a particular type of experience. If in great fright we jump over a piece of rope thinking it is a snake, we may start perspiring and have tremors in the body. A false snake can create real perspiration. Although on a later comparative experience the snake might have been found to be unreal, when we perceived something to be a snake, at that particular moment of perception it was real enough to create a reaction in our physiological and psychological system. The mind has so many realities of this type in the world of experience, and because different realities satisfy different needs of the mind, it goes to these realities. We should not ask here whether this particular reality is ultimately real, because we are not concerned with it, and the mind is not going to accept this argument. The mind is not concerned with ultimate realities. It is concerned with realities as it sees them, conceives them and experiences them. So we can understand the reason why the mind is drawn towards objects which it considers as real.   Patanjali's point is that as long as diverse realities are cognised by the mind, it is impossible to withdraw the mind from them, because the mind has already been convinced that they are realities and, therefore, it has to relate itself to these realities in a particular manner. There is no question of control of the mind as long as there are realities which are multifarious in character. The rays of the mind, which go out in the form of cognition, can be drawn back and the energy of the mind is conserved but this can be done only when there is a flowing of the mind towards a single reality. Our difficulty is that there is no such thing as a single reality in this world. Where is that One Reality, of which Patanjlai speaks or advises? Every reality is as good as any other reality, under different conditions. The One Reality of which Patanjali speaks, and of which yoga speaks in general, is that transcendent comprehensiveness where the lower realities are subsumed so that the mind will not find a need to go to the lower levels because of the satisfaction it achieves through contact with the higher real.   --   It is, therefore, essential for the mind to affiliate itself with the characters of larger wholes, so that in these larger experiences it not only gains greater control over the envIronment and its own self, but also experiences a greater intensity of happiness, which follows automatically with the experience of larger dimensions of being.

10.24 - Savitri, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    One shall descend and break the Iron Law. .||91.4||    A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour,

1.02 - BOOK THE SECOND, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry   And gave him to the centaur ChIron's charge:   Then in his fury black'd the raven o'er,   --   Old ChIron took the babe with secret joy,   Proud of the charge of the celestial boy.

1.02 - Groups and Statistical Mechanics, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics   its envIronment, and, as Leibniz says of some of his monads, it   receives a large number of small impressions, until it falls into "a

1.02 - IN THE COMPANY OF DEVOTEES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism   "There is another benefit from holy company. It helps one cultivate discrimination between the Real and the unreal. God alone is the Real, that is to say, the Eternal Substance, and the world is unreal, that is to say, transitory. As soon as a man finds his mind wandering away to the unreal, he should apply discrimination. The moment an elephant stretches out its trunk to eat a plantain-tree in a neighbour's garden, it gets a blow from the Iron goad of the driver."   Explanation of evil

1.02 - MAPS OF MEANING - THREE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology   permanent constituent elements of human experience even of the human envIronment. Regardless of   culture, place and time, human individuals are forced to adapt to the fact of culture (the domain of the   --   integral, predictable, and constant feature of the human envIronment. We have adapted to this feature   have the intrinsic resources to cope with inconveniences. We benefit, become stronger, in doing so.   --   adapted to catastrophes, like inconveniences, as constant envIronmental features. We can resolve a   catastrophe, just as we can cope with an inconvenience although at higher cost. As a consequence of this   --   effect of agents in the envIronment, the image performs the vital function of modifying the nature of   behavior, allowing the organism to predict events and actively adjust to its envIronment.26   and second:   --   significance of the envIronment.   Along with our animal cousins, we devote ourselves to fundamentals: will this (new) thing eat me? Can   --   describing the valence of a given envIronment, in reference to a temporally and spatially bounded set of   action patterns. Getting to point b presupposes that you are at point a you cant plan movement in the   --   sometimes do not work. The experiential domains we inhabit our envIronment, so to speak are   therefore permanently characterized by the fact of the predictable and controllable, in paradoxical   --   current envIronment, re-evaluated literally: revalued. This capacity for complete revaluation, in the light   of new information, is even more particularly human than the aforementioned capability for exploration of   --   for granted and which are, therefore, invisible determine our affective responses to envIronmental   stimuli. We assume that such things are permanent attri butes of the world; but they are not. Our situations   --   envIronments, and our beliefs, to address this conflict we change ourselves, or the things around us, to   increase our hope and satisfaction, and to decrease our fear and pain.   --   downstairs to eat only retained its function in an envIronment characterized by valid means of betweenfloor transportation. The existence of these means constituted a given I had used the elevator or the stairs   so often that their very presence took on the aspect of a justifiably-ignored constant. Once I had mastered   --   envIronment has been invalidated: my ends are no longer tenable. In consequence, necessarily, the means   to those ends (my plans to go to the cafeteria) have been rendered utterly irrelevant. I no longer know what   --   can therefore be regarded as an envIronmental constant. Adaptation to the existence of this domain must   occur, therefore, in every culture, and in every historical period regardless of the particulars of any given   --   matter who we are, or when we live. We tend to view the envIronment as something objective, but one   of its most basic features familiarity, or lack thereof is something virtually defined by the subjective.   This envIronmental subjectivity is non-trivial, as well: it is certainly the case that mere interpretation of a   phenomenon can determine whether we thrive or sicken, live or die. It appears, indeed, that the   categorization or characterization of the envIronment as unknown/known (nature/culture, foreign/familiar)   might be regarded as more fundamental than any objective characterization if we make the presumption   --   suffice.91 Cognition, by contrast, allows us to construct and maintain our ordered envIronments, and keep   chaos and affect in check.   --   have still to evaluate actually comprises our envIronment, insofar as its nature can be broadly specified   and it is to that envIronment that our physiological structure has become matched. One set of the systems   that comprise our brain and mind governs activity, when we are guided by our plans when we are in the   --   consequence, in a particular situation, defined by culturally-modified external envIronmental circumstance   and equally-modified internal motivational state. It is also information about what is, from the objective   --   others, around us (that is, if they share our stories); furthermore, we can control our envIronments well   enough to ensure that our subjection to threat and punishment remains at a minimum. It is the cumulative   --   envIronment, and is allowed to familiarize himself with his surroundings. The neutral stimulus he is   faced with might be a light; the unconditioned stimulus, an electric shock. The light goes on; the floor of   --   experimental envIronment even though nothing terrible had yet happened there. After he is allowed to   explore, he calms down. It is only then that he is regarded as normal. The experimenter then jars the rat   --   territory. His fear, in unexplored territory, is just as normal as his complacency in envIronments he has   mapped, and which hold no danger. We regard the calm rat as the real rat because we project our   --   create an envIronment in which the stimuli to excessive emotional response are at a minimum. So   effective is our society in this regard that its members especially the well-to-do and educated ones   --   sense, as producing a resourceful, emotionally stable adult, without respect to the envIronment in which   these traits are to appear. To some extent this may be true. But education can be seen as being also the   means of establishing a protective social envIronment in which emotional stability is possible. Perhaps it   streng thens the individual against unreasonable fears and rages, but it certainly produces a uniformity of   --   envIronment (on the maintenance of our cultures) as on interior processes, classically related to the   strength of the ego or the personality. Social order is a necessary precondition for psychological stability: it   --   envIronment a new cage, for example will first freeze (even though it has never been punished, in the   new situation). If nothing terrible happens to it (nothing punishing, threatening, or additionally   --   cage, with increasing confidence. It is mapping the new envIronment for affective valence. It wants to   find out is there anything here that will kill me? Anything here I can eat? Anyone else here someone   --   They allow the animals to set up their own envIronments, realistic envIronments, and then expose them to   the kinds of surprising circumstances they might encounter, in real life. The appearance of a predator, in   --   and matter (or soul and body, or mind and body) because the body is, in a primary sense, the envIronment   to which the brain has adapted.   --   directly alter the shape of its material envIronment in any complex manner. Its brain, therefore, is not likely   prepared to perform any traditionally creative function (indeed as one would suspect lacks the   --   vanquished). We have been unable to modify our actions to elicit from the envIronment really, from the   unknown those consequences we wish to produce.   --   we are not only individuals; we exist in a very complex social envIronment an envIronment characterized   by the constant exchange of information, regarding the means and ends of proper adaptation. The human   --   disposal. Much of this information can be extracted from the social envIronment, and the behavioral   interactions and strategies of representation emergent properties of exploration and communication that   --   consists of, in an envIronment permanently characterized by the interplay between security and   unpredictability. We are extremely (uncontrollably) imitative, appallingly social, and interminably   --   us, constantly, from the ever-shifting demands of the envIronment. The ability to represent creative   action to duplicate observed creativity in our own actions, and to represent that creativity in detail and   --   within particular, restricted envIronments (only within bounded frames of reference). If envIronmental   contingencies shift (for whatever reason), the utility of strategies designed for the original circumstance   --   information can cycle up and down levels of consciousness with the social envIronment as necessary   intermediary transforming itself and expanding as it moves. Development of narrative means verbal   --   social envIronment; means internalization of socially-regulated behavioral expression of subjective desire.   Such internalization constitutes construction of a value (dominance) hierarchy determination of the   --   effect of language and image on behavior is generally secondary mediated through the envIronment but   is no less profound for that).   --   we play out are threatened with dissolution, as a consequence of radical envIronmental transformation.   Such transformation may occur in the natural course of things, when an earthquake or similar act of God   --   We are adapted, as biological organisms, to construe our envIronment as a domain with particular   temporal and spatial borders that is, as a place of a certain size, with a fixed duration. Within that   envIronment, conceived of as that certain size and duration, certain phenomena leap out at us, and cry   out to be named.197 Whenever those natural categories of interpretation and their associated schemas of   --   gravitates naturally towards those aspects of our envIronments, natural and social, that contain information.   The similarities of the Serb and the Croat are hidden from each other, so to speak, by a wall of habituation   --   part of the human envIronment which demands active, voluntary and courageous investigation. Finally,   he must adapt to the presence of himself must face the endlessly tragic problem of the knower, the   --   nontrivial capacity. Since the unknown constitutes an ineradicable component of the envIronment, so to   speak, we have to know what it is, what it signifies; have to understand its implication for behavior and its   --   morality, played out in an envIronment permanently characterized by the interplay of the known and the   unknown. This reality is the world as place of action, and not as place of objective things.   --   imaginative hypotheses about the nature of the ideal human behavior, in the archetypal envIronment.   This archetypal envIronment was (is) composed of three domains, which easily become three characters:   The unknown is unexplored territory, nature, the unconscious, dionysian force, the id, the Great Mother   --   one Ironical, for example, the other straightforward can have two entirely different, even opposite,   meanings. Likewise, the sentence taken out of the context of the paragraph may be interpreted in some   --   servants, in a sense, of what we would call instinctive forces, elicited by the envIronment. Such   forces can be reasonably regarded as the Sumerians regarded them as deities inhabiting a supracelestial   --   development by the envIronmental and cultural conditions obtaining at the time of their emergence. The   process of metaphorical representation provides a bridge and an increasingly communicable bridge   --   Canst thou fill his skin with barbed Irons? or his head with fish spears?   Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.   --   He esteemeth Iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.   The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.   --   cognition) products of culture, which evolved in the social envIronment characteristic of ancestral homo   sapiens, and later, disappeared. Such complexes might play a useful role, in the promotion of general   --   constructing and updating contingent and envIronment-specific goals is in this schema given necessary   precedence over identification with any particular, concretized goal. Spirit is thus elevated over dogma so   --    no matter how the envIronment shifts, and no matter when. In consequence of such identification,   respect for belief comes to take second place to respect for the process by which belief is generated.   --   case, something more like the hero than the personality that existed prior to the change in envIronmental   circumstances.   --   envIronment). The god of war (Ares, say, for the sake of argument) might emerge within one child, or   both in which case a fight will ensue. The winner assuming there is one may then be more likely to be   --   outcome in a particular situation depends, for social animals, on the nature of the social envIronment in   which it is manifested. Any given object capable of eliciting behavior is necessarily part of a social   --   Identification of the context-dependent meaning of objects in the social envIronment, which is   determination of the behavioral patterns whose manifestation is appropriate in that situation, means   --   but he did not stop. When he had finished sewing he pressed out the sky with the Iron and then,   exhausted, went down the ladders.   --   individuals who compose it increasingly vulnerable to precipitous envIronmental transformation (that   is, to an involuntary influx of chaotic changes). It is possible to engender a complete social collapse, by   --   castle.349 But you will never get in unless I give you an Iron rod and two loaves of bread. With the rod   strike three times on the Iron gate of the castle and it will spring open. Inside you will find two lions   with wide-open jaws, but if you throw a loaf to each they will be quiet. Then you must make haste to   --   habitually hold in contempt. The drying up of the envIronment or the senescence of the king is a   consequence of a too-rigid too arrogant value hierarchy. (What or who can reasonably be ignored is   --   which was lying nearby, and then hurried away. The clock struck just as he reached the Iron gate, and it   banged so quickly that it took off a bit of his heel.

1.02 - On the Knowledge of God., #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism   Let us notice, also, the daily necessities of man, his need of food, of clothing and of a dwelling; his need of rain, clouds, wind, heat and cold : and that he needs the weaver, the cotton-spinner, the clothier and the fuller to provide him with clothing; and that each one of these has need of so many instruments, and of so many trades, like those of the blacksmith, the farmer, the carpenter, the dyer, and the tanner; and besides, their need of Iron, lead, wood and the like. Notice at the same time, the adaptation of these workmen to their instruments, and of the instruments to the trades, and how each art has given rise to several others, and the mind is astonished and distracted. The adaptation of all these instruments comes from the pure grace and perfect mercy of God, and from the fountain of his benevolence. Moreover, God's creating prophets, sending them to us, and leading us to their law and to love them, is a perfume of His universal beneficence. He proclaims himself, "My mercy surpasses my anger," and the Prophet has said: "Verily, God is more full of compassion to his servants, than the affectionate mother to her nursing child."   It has been shown that man from his own existence, knows the existence of his creator, that from his analysis of the materials of which his body is composed and of its distinctive characters he understands the almighty power of God, that from the uses, the arrangement and the combination of his organs, he knows the omniscient wisdom of God, and that his clemency and compassion extend to [45] all. He knows, also, that these many mercies and bounties are bestowed upon him without his seeking or care, from God's rich and overflowing grace. Now in this way it is possible that the knowledge of the soul should become the key to the knowledge of God. For just as from a survey of your own being and attributes, you have in a contracted form learned the being and attributes of God, it is also possible to understand how the freedom and the holiness of God, bear a resemblance to the freedom of your soul.

1.02 - Self-Consecration, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   6:And since Yoga is in its essence a turning away from the ordinary material and animal life led by most men or from the more mental but still limited way of living followed by the few to a greater spiritual life, to the way divine, every part of our energies that is given to the lower existence in the spirit of that existence is a contradiction of our aim and our self-dedication. On the other hand, every energy or activity that we can convert from its allegiance to the lower and dedicate to the service of the higher is so much gained on our road, so much taken from the powers that oppose our progress. It is the difficulty of this wholesale conversion that is the source of all the stumblings in the path of Yoga. For our entire nature and its envIronment, all our personal and all our universal self, are full of habits and of influences that are opposed to our spiritual rebirth and work against the whole-heartedness of our endeavour. In a certain sense we are nothing but a complex mass of mental, nervous and physical habits held together by a few ruling ideas, desires and associations, -- all amalgam of many small self-repeating forces with a few major vibrations. What we propose in our Yoga is nothing less than to break up the whole formation of our past and present which makes up the ordinary material and mental man and to create a new centre of vision and a new universe of activities in ourselves which shall constitute a divine humanity or a superhuman nature.   7:The first necessity is to dissolve that central faith and vision in the mind which concentrate it on its development and satisfaction and interests in the old externalised order of things. It is imperative to exchange this surface orientation for the deeper faith and vision which see only the Divine and seek only after the Divine. The next need is to compel all our lower being to pay homage to this new faith and greater vision. All our nature must make an integral surrender; it must offer itself in every part and every movement to that which seems to the unregenerated sensemind so much less real than the material world and its objects. Our whole being-soul, mind, sense, heart, will, life, body must consecrate all its energies so entirely and in such a way that it shall become a fit vehicle for the Divine. This is no easy task; for everything in the world follows the fixed habit which is to it a law and resists a radical change. And no change can be more radical than the revolution attempted in the integral Yoga. Everything in us has constantly to be called back to the central faith and will and vision. Every thought and impulse has to be reminded in the language of the Upanishad that "That is the divine Brahman and not this which men here adore." Every vital fibre has to be persuaded to accept an entire renunciation of all that hitherto represented to it its own existence. Mind has to cease to be mind and become brilliant with something beyond it. Life has to change into a thing vast and calm and intense and powerful that can no longer recognise its old blind eager narrow self or petty impulse and desire. Even the body has to submit to a mutation and be no longer the clamorous animal or the impeding clod it now is, but become instead a conscious servant and radiant instrument and living form of the spirit.   --   11:The most disconcerting discovery is to find that every part of us -- intellect, will, sense-mind, nervous or desire self, the heart, the body-has each, as it were, its own complex individuality and natural formation independent of the rest; it neither agrees with itself nor with the others nor with the representative ego which is the shadow cast by some central and centralising self on our superficial ignorance. We find that we are composed not of one but many personalities and each has its own demands and differing nature. Our being is a roughly constituted chaos into which we have to introduce the principle of a divine order. Moreover, we find that inwardly too, no less than outwardly, we are not alone in the world; the sharp separateness of our ego was no more than a strong imposition and delusion; we do not exist in ourselves, we do not really live apart in an inner privacy or solitude. Our mind is a receiving, developing and modifying machine into which there is being constantly passed from moment to moment a ceaseless foreign flux, a streaming mass of disparate materials from above, from below, from outside. Much more than half our thoughts and feelings are not our own in the sense that they take form out of ourselves; of hardly anything can it be said that it is truly original to our nature. A large part comes to us from others or from the envIronment, whether as raw material or as manufactured imports; but still more largely they come from universal Nature here or from other worlds and planes and their beings and powers and influences; for we are overtopped and envIroned by other planes of consciousness, mind planes, life planes, subtle matter planes, from which our life and action here are fed, or fed on, pressed, dominated, made use offer the manifestation of their forms and forces. The difficulty of our separate salvation is immensely increased by this complexity and manifold openness and subjection to tile in-streaming energies of the universe. Of all this we have to take account, to deal with it, to know what is the secret stuff of our nature and its constituent and resultant motions and to create in it all a divine centre and a true harmony and luminous order.   12:In the ordinary paths of Yoga the method used for dealing with these conflicting materials is direct and simple. One or another of the principal psychological forces in us is selected as our single means for attaining to the Divine; the rest is quieted into inertia or left to starve in its smallness. The Bhakta, seizing on the emotional forces of the being, the intense activities of the heart, abides concentrated in the love of God, gathered up as into a single one-pointed tongue of fire; he is indifferent to the activities of thought, throws behind him the importunities of the reason, cares nothing for the mind's thirst for knowledge. All the knowledge he needs is his faith and the inspirations that well up from a heart in communion with the Divine. He has no use for any will to works that is not turned to the direct worship of the Beloved or the service of the temple. The man of Knowledge, self-confined by a deliberate choice to the force and activities of discriminative thought, finds release in the mind's inward-drawn endeavour. He concentrates on the idea of the self, succeeds by a subtle inner discernment in distinguishing its silent presence amid the veiling activities of Nature, and through the perceptive idea arrives at the concrete spiritual experience. He is indifferent to the play of the emotions, deaf to the hunger-call of passion, closed to the activities of Life, -- the more blessed he, the sooner they fall away from him and leave him free, still and mute, the eternal non-doer. The body is his stumbling-block, the vital functions are his enemies; if their demands can be reduced to a minimum, that is his great good fortune. The endless difficulties that arise from the envIroning world are dismissed by erecting firmly against them a defence of outer physical and inner spiritual solitude; safe behind a wall of inner silence, he remains impassive and untouched by the world and by others. To be alone with oneself or alone with the Divine, to walk apart with God and his devotees, to entrench oneself in the single self-ward endeavour of the mind or Godward passion of the heart is the trend of these Yogas. The problem is solved by the excision of all but the one central difficulty which pursues the only chosen motive-force; into the midst of the dividing calls of our nature the principle of an exclusive concentration comes sovereignly to our rescue.   13:But for the Sadhaka of the integral Yoga this inner or this outer solitude can only be incidents or periods in his spiritual progress. Accepting life, he has to bear not only his own burden, but a great part of the world's burden too along with it, as a continuation of his own sufficiently heavy load. Therefore his Yoga has much more of the nature of a battle than others'; but this is not only an individual battle, it is a collective war waged over a considerable country. He has not only to conquer in himself the forces of egoistic falsehood and disorder, but to conquer them as representatives of the same adverse and inexhaustible forces in the world. Their representative character gives them a much more obstinate capacity of resistance, an almost endless right to recurrence. Often he finds that even after he has won persistently his own personal battle, he has still to win it over and over again in a seemingly interminable war, because his inner existence has already been so much enlarged that not only it contains his own being with its well-defined needs and experiences, but is in solidarity with the being of others, because in himself he contains the universe.

1.02 - Skillful Means, #The Lotus Sutra, #Anonymous, #Various   Tin, Iron, wood, mud, glue, lacquer, and cloth,   Have certainly attained the path of the buddhas.

1.02 - Substance Is Eternal, #Of The Nature Of Things, #Lucretius, #Poetry   The hooked ploughshare, though of Iron, wastes   Amid the fields insidiously. We view

1.02 - The 7 Habits An Overview, #The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, #Stephen Covey, #unset   In our quest for short-term returns, or results, we often ruin a prized physical asset -- a car, a computer, a washer or dryer, even our body or our envIronment. Keeping P and PC in balance makes a tremendous difference in the effective use of physical assets.   It also powerfully impacts the effective use of financial assets. How often do people confuse principal with interest? Have you ever invaded principal to increase your standard of living, to get more golden eggs? The decreasing principal has decreasing power to produce interest or income. And the dwindling capital becomes smaller and smaller until it no longer supplies even our basic needs.   --   Ironically, you'll find that as you care less about what others think of you; you will care more about what others think of themselves and their worlds, including their relationship with you. You'll no longer build your emotional life on other people's weaknesses. In addition, you'll find it easier and more desirable to change because there is something -- some core deep within -- that is essentially changeless.   As you open yourself to the next three habits -- the habits of Public Victory -- you will discover and unleash both the desire and the resources to heal and rebuild important relationships that have deteriorated, or even broken. Good relationships will improve -- become deeper, more solid, more creative, and more adventuresome.

1.02 - The Child as growing being and the childs experience of encountering the teacher., #The Essentials of Education, #unset, #Zen   This is only another way of expressing what I said in yester- days lecture, namely, that during the first period of life the child is in the highest degree and by its whole nature a being of sense. The child is like a sense organ. The surrounding impressions ripple, echo and sound through the whole organism because the child isnt so inwardly bound up with the body as is the case in later life, but lives in the envIronment with its freer spiritual and soul nature. Hence the child is receptive to all the impressions coming from the envIronment.   Now, whats the relation between the human constitution as a whole and what we receive from the father and mother strictly through heredity? If we study human development with vision that truly creates ideas instead of mere proofs as describeda vision that looks at the spiritual and the evolutionary aspects of human naturewe find that everything in the organism depends on hereditary forces in exactly the same way as the first, so-called baby teeth do. We only need to perceive, with real acuity, the dif- ference in the ways the second teeth and the first are formed. In this way, we have a tangible expression of the processes occurring in human development between birth and the change of teeth.   During this stage the forces of heredity hold sway in the physi- cal body, and the whole human constitution becomes a kind of model with which the spirit and soul element work, imitating the surrounding impressions. If we place ourselves in the soul of a child relative to the envIronment and realize how every spiritual impulse is absorbed into the whole beinghow with every move- ment of the hand, every expression, every look into anothers eyes, the child senses the spirit inherent in the adult and allows it to flow in then well also perceive how, during the first seven years, another being is building itself on the foundation of the model provided by heredity. As human beings, the earthly world actually gives us, through hereditary forces, a model on which to build our second self, that is actually born with the change of teeth. The first teeth in the body are eliminated by what wants to replace them; this new element, which belongs to our human individu- ality, advances and casts off heredity. This is true of the whole human organism. During the first seven years of life, the organ- ism was a product of earthly forces and a kind of model. As such its cast off, just as we get rid of the bodys outgrowths by cutting our nails, hair, and so on. Were molded anew with the change of teeth, just as these outgrowths are continuously eliminated. In this case, however, the first being, or product of physical heredity, is completely replaced by a second, who develops under the influ- ence of the forces that we bring from pre-earthly life. Thus, dur- ing the period between birth and the change of teeth, the human22 hereditary forces related to the physical evolutionary stream fight against the forces of a pre-earthly existence, which accompany the individuality of each human being from the previous earthly life.   The Religious Nature of Childhood   Its essential not to understand these things merely theoretically, which is the habitual way of thinking today. This is the kind of fact that we need to understand from the perspective of the child by bringing all of our resources to bear, and only then from the standpoint of the educator. If we understand whats happening from the perspective of a child, we find that the soul-being of the childwith everything brought from pre-earthly life, from the realm of soul and spiritis entirely devoted to the physical activities of those who are in the immediate envIronment. This relationship can be described only as a religious one. Its a religious relationship that descends into the sphere of nature and moves into the outer world. Its important, however, to understand whats meant by such term.   Ordinarily, one speaks of religious relationships today in the sense of a consciously developed adult religion. Relevant to this is the fact that, in religious life, the spirit and soul elements of the adult rise into the spiritual element in the universe and surrender to it. The religious relationship is a self-surrendering to the uni- verse, a prayer for divine grace in the surrender of the self. In the adult, its completely immersed in a spiritual element. The soul and spirit are yielded to the surroundings.   To speak of the childs body being absorbed by the envIron- ment in terms of a religious experience thus seems like we are turning things around the wrong way. Nevertheless, its a truly religious experiencetransposed into the realm of nature. The child surrenders to the envIronment and lives in the external world in reverent, prayerful devotion, just as the eye detaches itself from the rest of the organism and surrenders to the envIronment. Its a religious relationship transferred to the natural realm.   If we want a picture, or symbol, of the spirit and soul processes in the adults religious experience, we should form a real idea in our souls of the childs body up to the change of teeth. The life of the child is religious, but religious in a way that refers to the things of nature. Its not the soul of the child that is surrendered to the envIronment, but the circulation of the blood, breathing activities, and the nutritional process through the food taken in. All of these things are surrendered to the envIronment the cir- culation of the blood, breathing, and digestive processes pray to the envIronment.   The Priestly Nature of Teaching   --   Many people are completely unaware that their judgments dont spring from the primal source of human nature but from elements implanted in our outer culture since the fourteenth cen- tury as a result of the materialistic paradigm. The duty of teach- ers, of educatorsreally the duty of all human beings that have anything to do with childrenis to look more deeply into what it means to be human. In other words, we need to become more aware of how anything acting as a stimulus in the envIronment continues to resonate within the child. We have to be very clear that, in this sense, were dealing with imponderables.   Children are aware, whenever we do something in their envIronment, of the thoughts behind a hand-gesture or facial expression. Children intuit them: they dont, obviously, interpret facial features, since what operates instead is a much more powerful inner connection between the child and adult than will exist later between adults. Consequently, we must never allow ourselves to feel or think anything around children that shouldnt be allowed to reverberate within the child. The rule of thumb for all relationships in early education has to be this: Whether in perception, feeling, or thought, whatever we do around children needs to be done in such a way that it can be allowed to continue resonate within their souls.   The psychologist, the observer of souls, the person of broad practical experience, and the doctor thus all become a unity, inso- far as the child is concerned. This is important, since anything28 that makes an impression on the child, anything that causes the souls response, continues in the circulation of the blood and in digestion, becoming a part of the foundation of health in later years. Due to the imitative nature of the child, whenever we edu- cate childrens spirit and soul, we also educate their body and their physical constitution. This is the wonderful metamorphosis that whatever approaches children, touching their spirit and soul, becomes their physical, organic organization and their predisposi- tion to health or illness in later life.   Consequently, we can say that if Waldorf schools educate out of spirit and soul, its not because we choose to work in an unbal- anced way with only the soul and spirit. Its because we know that this is how we physically educate the inner being in the highest sense of the word: the physical being exists within the envelope of the skin. Perhaps you recall yesterdays examples. Beginning with the model supplied by the human forces of heredity, the developing child builds a second human self, experienced in the second phase of life between the change of teeth and puberty. During the initial phase of life, we struggle to fashion a second, uninherited self out of whats present within our individuality as a result of experiences in earlier earthly lives during a purely spiritual existence between death and rebirth. During the second stage of life, between the change of teeth and puberty, the influences of the outer world likewise struggle against what our individuality wants to incorpo- rate into itself. During this second stage, external influences grow more pow- erful. The childs inner nature is streng thened, however, since at this point it no longer allows every influence in the envIronment to continue vibrating within the bodily organization as though it were mainly a sense organ. Sensory perception begins to be more concentrated at the surface, or periphery, of the childs constitu- tion. The senses now become more individual and autonomous, and for the first time there appears within us a way of relating to the world that isnt intellectual but rather is comparable only to an artistic view of life.   The Teacher as Artist   Our initial approach to life had a religious quality in that we related to nature as naturally religious beings, surrendered to the world. In this second stage, however, were no longer obligated merely to accept passively everything coming from our envIron- ment, allowing it to vibrate in us physically; rather, we transform it creatively into images. Between the change of teeth and puberty, children are artists, though in a childish way, just as in the first phase of life, children were homo religiosus naturally religious human beings.   Now that the child demands everything in a creative, artistic way, the teachers and educators who encounter the child must pres- ent everything from the perspective of an artist. Our contemporary culture demands this of teachers, and this is what needs to flow into the art of education; at this point, interactions between the developing children and educators need to take an artistic form. In this respect, we face great obstacles as teachers. Our civilization and the culture all around us have reached the point where theyre geared only to the intellect, not to our artistic sensibilities.

1.02 - The Doctrine of the Mystics, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The Vedic deities are names, powers, personalities of the universal Godhead and they represent each some essential puissance of the Divine Being. They manifest the cosmos and are manifest in it. Children of Light, Sons of the Infinite, they recognise in the soul of man their brother and ally and desire to help and increase him by themselves increasing in him so as to possess his world with their light, strength and beauty. The Gods call man to a divine companionship and alliance; they attract and uplift him to their luminous fraternity, invite his aid and offer theirs against the Sons of Darkness and Division. Man in return calls the Gods to his sacrifice, offers to them his swiftnesses and his strengths, his clarities and his sweetnesses, - milk and butter of the shining Cow, distilled juices of the Plant of Joy, the Horse of the Sacrifice, the cake and the wine, the grain for the GodMind's radiant coursers. He receives them into his being and their gifts into his life, increases them by the hymns and the wine and forms perfectly - as a smith forges Iron, says the Veda - their great and luminous godheads.   All this Vedic imagery is easy to understand when once we have the key, but it must not be mistaken for mere imagery. The Gods are not simply poetical personifications of abstract ideas or of psychological and physical functions of Nature. To the Vedic seers they are living realities; the vicissitudes of the human soul represent a cosmic struggle not merely of principles and tendencies but of the cosmic Powers which support and embody them. These are the Gods and the Demons. On the world-stage and in the individual soul the same real drama with the same personages is enacted.   --   We create for ourselves by the sacrifice and by the word shining seers, heroes to fight for us, children of our works. The Rishis and the Gods find for us our luminous herds; the Ribhus fashion by the mind the chariots of the gods and their horses and their shining weapons. Our life is a horse that neighing and galloping bears us onward and upward; its forces are swift-hoofed steeds, the liberated powers of the mind are wide-winging birds; this mental being or this soul is the upsoaring Swan or the Falcon that breaks out from a hundred Iron walls and wrests from the jealous guardians of felicity the wine of the Soma. Every shining godward Thought that arises from the secret abysses of the heart is a priest and a creator and chants a divine hymn of luminous realisation and puissant fulfilment. We seek for the shining gold of the Truth; we lust after a heavenly treasure.   The soul of man is a world full of beings, a kingdom in which armies clash to help or hinder a supreme conquest, a house where the gods are our guests and which the demons strive to possess; the fullness of its energies and wideness of its being make a seat of sacrifice spread, arranged and purified for a celestial session.

1.02 - The Great Process, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   But the damage does not stop there. Nothing is stickier than falsehood. It sticks to the soles of our shoes even though we have turned away from the wrong path. Others had indeed seen the earthly relevance of the Great Process the Zen Buddhists, the Tantric initiates, the Sufis and others and, more and more, disconcerted minds are turning to it and to themselves: never have so many more or less esoteric schools flourished. But the old error is holding fast (to tell the truth, we don't know whether error is ever an appropriate term, for the so-called error always turns out to be a roundabout route of the same Truth leading to a wider view of itself). It took so much effort out of the Sages of those days, and out of the lesser sages of these days, so many indispensable conditions of peace, austerity, silence and purity for them to achieve their more or less illumined goal, that our subconscious mind was as if branded by a red-hot Iron with the idea that, without special conditions and special masters and somewhat special or mystical or innate gifts, it was not really possible to set out on that path, or at best the results would be meager and proportionate to the effort expended. And it was still, of course, an individual undertaking, a lofty extension of book learning. But this new dichotomy threatens to be more serious than the other one, more potentially harmful, between an unredeemed mass and an enlightened elite juggling lights about which anything can be said since there is no microscope to check it. Drugs, too, are a cheap ticket to dizzying glimpses of dazzling lights.   But we still do not have the key, the simple key. Yet the Great Process is there, the simple process.

1.02 - THE NATURE OF THE GROUND, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy   We can understand something of what lies beyond our experience by considering analogous cases lying within our experience. Thus, the relations subsisting between the world and God, and between God and the Godhead seem to be analogous, in some measure at least, to those that hold between the body (with its envIronment) and the psyche, and between the psyche and the spirit. In the light of what we know about the second and what we know is not, unfortunately, very muchwe may be able to form some not too hopelessly inadequate notions about the first.   Mind affects its body in four wayssubconsciously, through that unbelievably subtle physiological intelligence, which Driesch hypostatized under the name of the entelechy; consciously, by deliberate acts of will; subconsciously again, by the reaction upon the physical organism of emotional states having nothing to do with the organs or processes reacted upon; and, either consciously or subconsciously, in certain supernormal manifestations. Outside the body matter can be influenced by the mind in two waysfirst, by means of the body and, second, by a supernormal process, recently stuthed under laboratory conditions and described as the PK effect. Similarly, the mind can establish relations with other minds either indirectly, by willing its body to undertake symbolic activities, such as speech or writing; or supernormally, by the direct approach of mind-reading, telepathy, extra-sensory perception.   --   As an example of the third way in which our minds affect matter, we may cite the all-too-familiar phenomenon of nervous indigestion. In certain persons symptoms of dyspepsia make their appearance when the conscious mind is troubled by such negative emotions as fear, envy, anger or hatred. These emotions are directed towards events or persons in the outer envIronment; but in some way or other they adversely affect the physiological intelligence and this derangement results, among other things, in nervous indigestion. From tuberculosis and gastric ulcer to heart disease and even dental caries, numerous physical ailments have been found to be closely correlated with certain undesirable states of the conscious mind. Conversely, every physician knows that a calm and cheerful patient is much more likely to recover than one who is agitated and depressed.   Finally we come to such occurrences as faith healing and levitationoccurrences supernormally strange, but nevertheless attested by masses of evidence which it is hard to discount completely. Precisely how faith cures diseases (whether at Lourdes or in the hypnotists consulting room), or how St. Joseph of Cupertino was able to ignore the laws of gravitation, we do not know. (But let us remember that we are no less ignorant of the way in which minds and bodies are related in the most ordinary of everyday activities.) In the same way we are unable to form any idea of the modus operandi of what Professor Rhine has called the PK effect. Nevertheless the fact that the fall of dice can be influenced by the mental states of certain individuals seems now to have been established beyond the possibility of doubt. And if the PK effect can be demonstrated in the laboratory and measured by statistical methods, then, obviously, the intrinsic credibility of the scattered anecdotal evidence for the direct influence of mind upon matter, not merely within the body, but outside in the external world, is thereby notably increased. The same is true of extra-sensory perception. Apparent examples of it are constantly turning up in ordinary life. But science is almost impotent to cope with the particular case, the isolated instance. Promoting their methodological ineptitude to the rank of a criterion of truth, dogmatic scientists have often branded everything beyond the pale of their limited competence as unreal and even impossible. But when tests for ESP can be repeated under standardized conditions, the subject comes under the jurisdiction of the law of probabilities and achieves (in the teeth of what passionate opposition!) a measure of scientific respectability.

1.02 - The Necessity of Magick for All, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy   Why should you study and practice Magick? Because you can't help doing it, and you had better do it well than badly. You are on the links, whether you like it or not; why go on topping your drive, and slicing your brassie, and fluffing your niblick, and pulling your Iron, and socketing your mashie and not being up with your putt that's 6, and you are not allowed to pick up. It's a far cry to the Nineteenth, and the sky threatens storm before the imminent night.   Love is the law, love under will.

1.02 - THE PROBLEM OF SOCRATES, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy   Is the Socratic Irony an expression of revolt, of mob resentment?   Does Socrates, as a creature suffering under oppression, enjoy his   --   Master of Irony let fall one or two words more, which provide the key   to his nature. "This is true," he said, "but I overcame them all." How

1.02 - The Refusal of the Call, #The Hero with a Thousand Faces, #Joseph Campbell, #Mythology   This is indeed a dull and unrewarding finish. Apollo, the sun, the lord of time and ripeness, no longer pressed his frightening suit, but instead, simply named the laurel his favorite tree and Ironically recommended its leaves to the fashioners of victory wreaths. The girl had retreated to the image of her parent and there found protectionlike the unsuccessful husb and whose dream of mother love preserved him from the state of cleaving to a wife.   The literature of psychoanalysis abounds in examples of such desperate fixations. What they represent is an impotence to put off the infantile ego, with its sphere of emotional relationships and ideals. One is bound in by the walls of childhood; the father and mother stand as threshold guardians, and the timorous soul, fearful of some punishment, fails to make the passage through the door and come to birth in the world without.

1.02 - The Shadow, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   to isolate the subject from his envIronment, since instead of a   real relation to it there is now only an illusory one. Projections   --   by projection as the malevolence of the envIronment, and by   means of this vicious circle the isolation is intensified. The more   --   projections are thrust in between the subject and the envIron-   ment, the harder it is for the ego to see through its illusions. A

1.02 - The Three European Worlds, #The Ever-Present Origin, #Jean Gebser, #Integral   The conception of man as subject is based an a conception of the world and the envIronment as an object. It is in the paintings of Giotto that we See first expressed, however tentatively, the objectified, external world. Early Sienese art, particularly miniature painting, reveals a yet spaceless, self-contained, and depthless world significant for its symbolic content and not for what we would today call its realism. These "pictures" of an unperspectival era are, as it were, painted at night when objects are without shadow and depth. Here darkness has swallowed space to the extent that only the immaterial, psychic component could be expressed. But in the work of Giotto, the latent space hitherto dormant in the night of collective man's unconscious is visualized; the first renderings of space begin to appear in painting signalling an incipient perspectivity. A new psychic awareness of space, objectified or externalized from the psyche out into the world, begins a consciousness of space whose element of depth becomes visible in perspective.   This psychic inner-space breaks forth at the very moment that the Troubadours are writing the first lyric "I"-Poems, the first personal poetry that suddenly opens an abyss between man, as poet, and the world or nature (1250 A.D.). Concurrently at the University of Paris, Thomas Aquinas, following the thought of his teacher Albertus Magnus, asserts the validity of Aristotle, thereby initiating the rational displacement of the predominantly psychic-bound Platonic world.

1.02 - The Vision of the Past, #Let Me Explain, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity   its envIronment or in itself. Socrates could have been born   in the place of Descartes, and vice versa. Temporally (no

1.02 - What is Psycho therapy?, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   envIronment and way of life. The clinical standpoint by itself is not and   cannot be fair to the nature of a neurosis, because a neurosis is more a

1.034 - Sheba, #Quran, #unset, #Zen   10. We bestowed upon David favor from Us: “O mountains, and birds: echo with him.” And We softened Iron for him.   11. “Make coats of armor, and measure the links well; and work righteousness. I am Observant of everything you do.”

10.36 - Cling to Truth, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga    The Life Divine is the life of Truth. It is based on Truth, it is Truth, body and substanceTruth absolute, pure and simple. But it may be asked as we are actually in the ignorant and half-ignorant consciousness, in a world of almost total falsehood, is it not necessary, is it not inescapable for us to accept the falsehood for the moment, in order to be able to work in the world and succeed? We have to live in an envIronment and move in it; if we try to go against it openly, how can we do it practically? As individuals we are infinitesimal particles and the mass of the whole will bear us down each one of us and crush us out of existence. Truth is all right, but the approach to it needs to be cautious and careful. If falsehood is clever we too have to be clever. In a game where success is the aim, diplomacy and strategy are not outlawed. You have to accept certain terms of your enemy in order that certain terms of yours might be accepted. You can move to success in this mixed world only through a process of give and take. An absolute saintly attitude is not a thing of practical politics. That is why, to keep their truth unsullied, the ancients abandoned this field of practical politics, retired to the forest or into the cosy laps of the hills.    Beware, this is the voice of the adversary trying to tempt you by confusing your mind. The path is straight and narrow, it is not wide and comfortable and strewn with roses. To find the Truth, to live the Truth we must begin by finding it in its purity and living it. As is the start, so is the end. Our steadfastness, our faithfulness must be unalloyed, our sincerity of utmost purity. It is Truth alone that leads to Truth, a compromise or semblance leads only to the untruth. Your diplomacy or duplicity may bring you the coveted result or it may not; but surely it will put a layer of soot upon your soul, push you back one step more into your inconscience. And if you continue you may become the biggest success in the eyes of the world, but your soul will be nowhere, leaving behind perhaps only a hopeless sob in a wilderness. Has not the Mother said, "Even if there is a particle of falsehood in your expression In your word or in your acthow can you hope to express the Supreme Truth?" Remember also the words of Sri Aurobindo: "Do not imagine that truth and falsehood, light and darkness, surrender and selfishness can be allowed to dwell together in a house consecrated to the Divine. The transformation must be integral, and integral therefore the rejection of all that withstands it."1

1.03 - APPRENTICESHIP AND ENCULTURATION - ADOPTION OF A SHARED MAP, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology   natural envIronment is therefore viewed in light of its capacity to arbitrarily inflict suffering and death.   The protective and sheltering capacity of society is therefore understood in light of its potent tendency to   --   stable social envIronment with predictable social interactions, which meet individual motivational   demands; with the provision of behavioral patterns and schemas of value capable of transforming the   --   the renovelization of the envIronment: sufficient challenge posed to the integrity of a previous   personality disrupts its structure, freeing phenomena previously adapted to from the grasp of familiar   --   all, a new envIronment. That new envIronment is the society of men, where women are sexual partners and   equals instead of source of dependent comfort; where the provision of food and shelter is a responsibility,   --   given (social) envIronment, to predict the outcomes of such action, and to determine the meaning of general   events (meaning inextricably associated with behavioral outcome). Such internalization culminates in the   --   circumstances when the envIronment shifts rapidly, for reasons independent of or dependent upon human   activity the historical personality must be altered, or even qualitatively reconfigured, to allow equally   --   presence of other competing activities and ever-changing envIronmental demand). Lawyer and   physician, for example, are two embodied ideologies, nested within more complex overarching narrative   --   highest ideal or the nature of the highest good because the envIronment which poses the query, so to   speak, constantly shifts, as time progresses (that shift constitutes, in fact, times progression). The constant   --   constant adaptation to constantly shifting envIronmental circumstances; and (3) it must acquire the   allegiance of the individuals who compose it.   --   enough innovation so that essentially unpredictable alteration in envIronmental circumstance can be met   with appropriate change in behavioral activity. Cultures that attempt to maintain themself through   --   renders society increasingly vulnerable to devastation through envIronmental transformation (through the   influx of chaotic change). Thus the state suffers, for lack of the water of life, until it is suddenly

1.03 - Japa Yoga, #Amrita Gita, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism   1. In this Iron Age, Japa Yoga is an easy way for attaining God-realisation.   2. Japa is the repetition of any Mantra or Name of the Lord with Bhava and feeling.

1.03 - Man - Slave or Free?, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The psychology of the human race has not yet been discovered by Science. All creation is essentially the same and proceeds by similar though not identical laws. If therefore we see in the outside material world that all phenomena proceed from and can be reduced to a single causal substance from which they were born, in which they move and to which they return, the same truth is likely to hold good in the psychical world. The unity of the material universe has now been acknowledged by the scientific intellect of Europe and the high priests of atheism and materialism in Germany have declared the ekam evdvityam in matter with no uncertain voice. In so doing they have merely reaffirmed the discovery made by Indian masters of the Yogic science thousands of years ago. But the European scientists have not discovered any sure and certain methods, such as they have in dealing with gross matter, for investigating psychical phenomena. They can only observe the most external manifestations of mind in action. But in these manifestations the mind is so much enveloped in the action of the outer objects and seems so dependent on them that it is very difficult for the observer to find out the springs of its action or any regularity in its workings. The European scientists have therefore come to the conclusion that it is the stimulations of outside objects which are the cause of psychical phenomena, and that even when the mind seems to act of itself and on its own material it is only associating, grouping together and manipulating the recorded experiences from outside objects. The very nature of mind is, according to them, a creation of past material experience transmitted by heredity with such persistence that we have grown steadily from the savage with his rudimentary mind to the civilised man of the twentieth century. As a natural result of these materialistic theories, science has found it difficult to discover any true psychical centre for the multifarious phenomena of mind and has therefore fixed upon the brain, the material organ of thought, as the only real centre. From this materialistic philosophy have resulted certain theories very dangerous to the moral future of mankind. First, man is a creation and slave of matter. He can only master matter by obeying it Secondly, the mind itself is a form of gross matter and not independent of and master of the senses. Thirdly, there is no real free will, because all our action is determined by two great forces, heredity and envIronment. We are the slaves of our nature, and where we seem to be free from its mastery, it is because we are yet worse slaves of our envIronment, worked on by the forces that surround and manipulate us.   It is from these false and dangerous doctrines of materialism which tend to subvert mans future and hamper his evolution, that Yoga gives us a means of escape. It asserts on the contrary mans freedom from matter and gives him a means of asserting that freedom. The first great fundamental discovery of the Yogins was a means of analysing the experiences of the mind and the heart. By Yoga one can isolate mind, watch its workings as under a microscope, separate every minute function of the various parts of the antakaraa, the inner organ, every mental and moral faculty, test its isolated workings as well as its relations to other functions and faculties and trace backwards the operations of mind to subtler and ever subtler sources until just as material analysis arrives at a primal entity from which all proceeds, so Yoga analysis arrives at a primal spiritual entity from which all proceeds. It is also able to locate and distinguish the psychical centre to which all psychical phenomena gather and so to fix the roots of personality. In this analysis its first discovery is that mind can entirely isolate itself from external objects and work in itself and of itself. This does not, it is true, carry us very far because it may be that it is merely using the material already stored up by its past experiences. But the next discovery is that the farther it removes itself from objects, the more powerfully, surely, rapidly can the mind work with a swifter clarity, with a victorious and sovereign detachment. This is an experience which tends to contradict the scientific theory, that mind can withdraw the senses into itself and bring them to bear on a mass of phenomena of which it is quite unaware when it is occupied with external phenomena. Science will naturally challenge these as hallucinations. The answer is that these phenomena are related to each other by regular, simple and intelligible laws and form a world of their own independent of thought acting on the material world. Here too Science has this possible answer that this supposed world is merely an imaginative reflex in the brain of the material world and to any arguments drawn from the definiteness and unexpectedness of these subtle phenomena and their independence of our own will and imagination it can always oppose its theory of unconscious cerebration and, we suppose, unconscious imagination. The fourth discovery is that mind is not only independent of external matter, but its master; it can not only reject and control external stimuli, but can defy such apparently universal material laws as that of gravitation and ignore, put aside and make nought of what are called laws of nature and are really only the laws of material nature, inferior and subject to the psychical laws because matter is a product of mind and not mind a product of matter. This is the decisive discovery of Yoga, its final contradiction of materialism. It is followed by the crowning realisation that there is within us a source of immeasurable force, immeasurable intelligence, immeasurable joy far above the possibility of weakness, above the possibility of ignorance, above the possibility of grief which we can bring into touch with ourselves and, under arduous but not impossible conditions, habitually utilise or enjoy. This is what the Upanishads call the Brahman and the primal entity from which all things were born, in which they live and to which they return. This is God and communion with Him is the highest aim of Yogaa communion which works for knowledge, for work, for delight.

1.03 - On Knowledge of the World., #The Alchemy of Happiness, #Al-Ghazali, #Sufism   After you have learned, O student of the divine mysteries, what this world in its meaning really is, it is important that you should look at the world in detail. Every thing in the world of matter which grows, has been included under three classes, animal, vegetable and mineral, which are called the three generations or kingdoms. Animals were created some for riding, some for food, and some for tilling. Vegetables were created to afford food and conveniences to man, and sustenance to various animals. Minerals, like gold, silver, copper and Iron, were created to serve as instruments to provide means of sustaining life in man. It was designed that by means of these three kingdoms, the spirit of man, while dwelling for a few days in the body, should be employed in making preparation for the future world. Man, however, forgetful of the end for which he had come hither, heedless of the fact that he was soon to depart, and that he would then repent to find that he was going unprepared, became engaged in strife with his fellows about the things of the world, fell in love with its ways, and attempted to gain its wealth. In consequence various qualities began to appear in the heart, such as avarice, envy, ambition and hatred, which are sources of its ruin. Finally the heart, forgetful of the duties for the performance of which it had come in to the world, exhausted all its energies in building up the world.   As man's primary necessities in the world are three, viz : clothing, food and shelter, so the arts of the world are three, viz: weaving, planting and building. The rest of the arts serve either for the purpose of perfecting the others, or for repairing injuries. Thus the spinner aids the work [69] of weaving, the tailor carries out that work to perfection, while the cloth-dresser adds beauty to the work. In the arts, there is need of Iron, skins and wood, and for these many instruments are necessary. No person is able to work at all kinds of trades, but by the will of God, upon one is devolved one art and upon another two, and the whole community is made dependent, one member upon the other. When avarice, ambition and covetousness hold sway in the hearts of men, because some are not pleased to see others obtain honors, and because they do not endeavor to quell their wants, envy and hatred arise among them. Each one, dissatisfied with his own rights, plots against the property and honor of his fellows. On this account there was a necessity for three farther distinctions, viz: sovereignty, judicial authority, and jurisprudence, which contains the digest of the law. But alas ! poor and wretched man coming under the influence of all these causes, motives and instruments, spends his life in collecting wealth and lays up for himself sources of regret. And just as the pilgrim, who on his way to the Kaaba of Mecca, was engaged day and night in taking care of his camel, got separated from the caravan, and perished in the desert, so those who know not the real nature of the world and its worthlessness, and do not understand that it is the place where seed is sown for eternity, but spend all their thoughts upon it, are certainly fascinated and deceived; as the apostle of God declares. "The world is more enchanting than Harout and Marout: let men beware of it."1   After you have learned that the world is delusive, enchanting and treacherous, you need to know in what way its delusions and enchantment operate. I will, therefore, mention some things which are illustrative of the world. The world, beloved, is like an enchanter, who exhibits himself [70] to you as though he would dwell with you and would forever be at your side; while in truth this world is always upon the point of being snatched away from you, notwithstanding you are tranquilly unconscious of it. The world is like a shadow, which, while you look at it, seems fixed, although in reality, it is in motion. Life is like a running water, which is always advancing, yet yon think that it is still and permanent, and you wish to fix your abode by it. The world again is like an enchanter who performs for you acts of friendship and manifests love for yon, for the sake of winning your affections to him : but as soon as he has secured your love, he turns away his face from you and plots to destroy you....

1.03 - PERSONALITY, SANCTITY, DIVINE INCARNATION, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy   We see then that, when the crisis came, each of these young men forgot the particular personality, which he had built up out of the elements provided by his heredity and the envIronment in which he had grown up; that one resisted the normally irresistible temptation to identify himself with his mood of the moment, another the temptation to identify himself with his private day-dreams, and so on with the rest; and that all of them behaved in the same strikingly similar and wholly admirable way. It was as though the crisis and the preliminary training for crisis had lifted them out of their divergent personalities and raised them to the same higher level.   Sometimes crisis alone, without any preparatory training, is sufficient to make a man forget to be his customary self and become, for the time being, something quite different. Thus the most unlikely people will, under the influence of disaster, temporarily turn into heroes, martyrs, selfless labourers for the good of their fellows. Very often, too, the proximity of death produces similar results. For example, Samuel Johnson behaved in one way during almost the whole of his life and in quite another way during his last illness. The fascinatingly complex personality, in which six generations of Boswellians have taken so much delight the learned boor and glutton, the kindhearted bully, the superstitious intellectual, the convinced Christian who was a fetishist, the courageous man who was terrified of deathbecame, while he was actually dying, simple, single, serene and God-centred.   --   The biographies of the saints testify unequivocally to the fact that spiritual training leads to a transcendence of personality, not merely in the special circumstances of battle, but in all circumstances and in relation to all creatures, so that the saint loves his enemies or, if he is a Buddhist, does not even recognize the existence of enemies, but treats all sentient beings, sub-human as well as human, with the same compassion and disinterested good will. Those who win through to the unitive knowledge of God set out upon their course from the most diverse starting points. One is a man, another a woman; one a born active, another a born contemplative. No two of them inherit the same temperament and physical constitution, and their lives are passed in material, moral and intellectual envIronments that are profoundly dissimilar. Nevertheless, insofar as they are saints, insofar as they possess the unitive knowledge that makes them perfect as their Father which is in heaven is perfect, they are all astonishingly alike. Their actions are uniformly selfless and they are constantly recollected, so that at every moment they know who they are and what is their true relation to the universe and its spiritual Ground. Of even plain average people it may be said that their name is Legionmuch more so of exceptionally complex personalities, who identify themselves with a wide diversity of moods, cravings and opinions. Saints, on the contrary, are neither double-minded nor half-hearted, but single and, however great their intellectual gifts, profoundly simple. The multiplicity of Legion has given place to one-pointedness not to any of those evil one-pointednesses of ambition or covetousness, or lust for power and fame, not even to any of the nobler, but still all too human one-pointednesses of art, scholarship and science, regarded as ends in themselves, but to the supreme, more than human one-pointedness that is the very being of those souls who consciously and consistently pursue mans final end, the knowledge of eternal Reality. In one of the Pali scriptures there is a significant anecdote about the Brahman Drona who, seeing the Blessed One sitting at the foot of a tree, asked him, Are you a deva? And the Exalted One answered, I am not. Are you a gandharva? I am not, Are you a yaksha? I am not. Are you a man? I am not a man. On the Brahman asking what he might be, the Blessed One replied, Those evil influences, those cravings, whose non-destruction would have individualized me as a deva, a gandharva, a yaksha (three types of supernatural being), or a man, I have completely annihilated. Know therefore that I am Buddha.   Here we may remark in passing that it is only the one-pointed, who are truly capable of worshipping one God. Monotheism as a theory can be entertained even by a person whose name is Legion. But when it comes to passing from theory to practice, from discursive knowledge about to immediate acquaintance with the one God, there cannot be monotheism except where there is singleness of heart. Knowledge is in the knower according to the mode of the knower. Where the knower is poly-psychic the universe he knows by immediate experience is polytheistic. The Buddha declined to make any statement in regard to the ultimate divine Reality. All he would talk about was Nirvana, which is the name of the experience that comes to the totally selfless and one-pointed. To this same experience others have given the name of union with Brahman, with Al Haqq, with the immanent and transcendent Godhead. Maintaining, in this matter, the attitude of a strict operationalist, the Buddha would speak only of the spiritual experience, not of the metaphysical entity presumed by the theologians of other religions, as also of later Buddhism, to be the object and (since in contemplation the knower, the known and the knowledge are all one) at the same time the subject and substance of that experience.   --   Souls which have come to the unitive knowledge of God, are, in Benet of Canfields phrase, almost nothing in themselves and all in God. This vanishing residue of selfness persists because, in some slight measure, they still identify their being with some innate psycho-physical idiosyncrasy, some acquired habit of thought or feeling, some convention or unanalyzed prejudice current in the social envIronment. Jesus was almost wholly absorbed in the esential will of God; but in spite of this, he may have retained some elements of selfness. To what extent there was any I associated with the more-than-personal, divine Not-I, it is very difficult, on the basis of the existing evidence, to judge. For example, did Jesus interpret his experience of divine Reality and his own spontaneous inferences from that experience in terms of those fascinating apocalyptic notions current in contemporary Jewish circles? Some eminent scholars have argued that the doctrine of the worlds imminent dissolution was the central core of his teaching. Others, equally learned, have held that it was attributed to him by the authors of the Synoptic Gospels, and that Jesus himself did not identify his experience and his theological thinking with locally popular opinions. Which party is right? Goodness knows. On this subject, as on so many others, the existing evidence does not permit of a certain and unambiguous answer.   The moral of all this is plain. The quantity and quality of the surviving biographical documents are such that we have no means of knowing what the residual personality of Jesus was really like. But if the Gospels tell us very little about the I which was Jesus, they make up for this deficiency by telling us inferentially, in the parables and discourses, a good deal about the spiritual not-I, whose manifest presence in the mortal man was the reason why his disciples called him the Christ and identified him with the eternal Logos.   --   Can the many fantastic and mutually incompatible theories of expiation and atonement, which have been grafted onto the Christian doctrine of divine incarnation, be regarded as indispensable elements in a sane theology? I find it difficult to imagine how anyone who has looked into a history of these notions, as expounded, for example, by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, by Athanasius and Augustine, by Anselm and Luther, by Calvin and Grotius, can plausibly answer this question in the affirmative. In the present context, it will be enough to call attention to one of the bitterest of all the bitter Ironies of history. For the Christ of the Gospels, lawyers seemed further from the Kingdom of Heaven, more hopelessly impervious to Reality, than almost any other class of human beings except the rich. But Christian theology, especially that of the Western churches, was the product of minds imbued with Jewish and Roman legalism. In all too many instances the immediate insights of the Avatar and the theocentric saint were rationalized into a system, not by philosophers, but by speculative barristers and metaphysical jurists. Why should what Abbot John Chapman calls the problem of reconciling (not merely uniting) Mysticism and Christianity be so extremely difficult? Simply because so much Roman and Protestant thinking was done by those very lawyers whom Christ regarded as being peculiarly incapable of understanding the true Nature of Things. The Abbot (Chapman is apparently referring to Abbot Marmion) says St John of the Cross is like a sponge full of Christianity. You can squeeze it all out, and the full mystical theory (in other words, the pure Perennial Philosophy) remains. Consequently for fifteen years or so I hated St John of the Cross and called him a Buddhist. I loved St Teresa and read her over and over again. She is first a Christian, only secondarily a mystic. Then I found I had wasted fifteen years, so far as prayer was concerned.   Now see the meaning of these two sayings of Christs. The one, No man cometh unto the Father but by me, that is through my life. The other saying, No man cometh unto me except the Father draw him; that is, he does not take my life upon him and follow after me, except he is moved and drawn of my Father, that is, of the Simple and Perfect Good, of which St. Paul saith, When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

1.03 - Self-Surrender in Works - The Way of The Gita, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The aim set before our Yoga is nothing less than to hasten this supreme object of our existence here. Its process leaves behind the ordinary tardy method of slow and confused growth through the evolution of Nature. For the natural evolution is at its best an uncertain growth under cover, partly by the pressure of the envIronment, partly by a groping education and an ill-lighted purposeful effort, an only partially illumined and half-automatic use of opportunities with many blunders and lapses and relapses; a great portion of it is made up of apparent accidents and circumstances and vicissitudes, - though veiling a secret divine intervention and guidance. In Yoga we replace this confused crooked crab-motion by a rapid, conscious and self-directed evolution which is planned to carry us, as far as can be, in a straight line towards the goal set before us. In a certain sense it may be an error to speak of a goal anywhere in a progression which may well be infinite. Still we can conceive of an immediate goal, an ulterior objective beyond our present achievement towards which the soul in man can aspire. There lies before him the possibility of a new birth; there can be an ascent into a higher and wider plane of being and its descent to transform his members. An enlarged and illumined consciousness is possible that shall make of him a liberated spirit and a perfected force - and, if spread beyond the individual, it might even constitute a divine humanity or else a new, a supramental and therefore a superhuman race. It is this new birth that we make our aim: a growth into a divine consciousness is the whole meaning of our Yoga, an integral conversion to divinity not only of the soul but of all the parts of our nature.   * *   --   Enslaved to appearances, bound to the dualities, tossed between good and evil, sin and virtue, grief and joy, pain and pleasure, good fortune and ill fortune, success and failure, we follow helplessly the Iron or gilt and Iron round of the wheel of Maya. At best we have only the poor relative freedom which by us is ignorantly called free-will. But that is at bottom illusory, since it is the modes of Nature that express themselves through our personal will; it is force of Nature, grasping us, ungrasped by us that determines what we shall will and how we shall will it. Nature, not an independent ego, chooses what object we shall seek, whether by reasoned will or unreflecting impulse, at any moment of our existence. If, on the contrary, we live in the unifying reality of the Brahman, then we go beyond the ego and overstep Nature.   For then we get back to our true self and become the spirit; in the spirit we are above the impulsion of Nature, superior to her modes and forces. Attaining to a perfect equality in the soul, mind and heart, we realise our true self of oneness, one with all beings, one too with That which expresses itself in them and in all that we see and experience. This equality and this oneness are the indispensable twin foundation we must lay down for a divine being, a divine consciousness, a divine action. Not one with all, we are not spiritual, not divine. Not equal-souled to all things, happenings and creatures, we cannot see spiritually, cannot know divinely, cannot feel divinely towards others. The Supreme Power, the one Eternal and Infinite is equal to all things and to all beings; and because it is equal, it can act with an absolute wisdom according to the truth of its works and its force and according to the truth of each thing and of every creature.   --   The mind rides on a swirl of natural forces, balances on a poise between several possibilities, inclines to one side or another, settles and has the sense of choosing: but it does not see, it is not even dimly aware of the Force behind that has determined its choice. It cannot see it, because that Force is something total and to our eyes indeterminate. At most mind can only distinguish with an approach to clarity and precision some out of the complex variety of particular determinations by which this Force works out her incalculable purposes. Partial itself, the mind rides on a part of the machine, unaware of nine-tenths of its motor agencies in Time and envIronment, unaware of its past preparation and future drift; but because it rides, it thinks that it is directing the machine. In a sense it counts: for that clear inclination of the mind which we call our will, that firm settling of the inclination which presents itself to us as a deliberate choice, is one of Nature's most powerful determinants; but it is never independent and sole. Behind this petty instrumental action of the human will there is something vast and powerful and eternal that oversees the trend of the inclination and presses on the turn of the will. There is a total Truth in Nature greater than our individual choice. And in this total Truth, or even beyond and behind it, there is something that determines all results; its presence and secret knowledge keep up steadily in the process of Nature a dynamic, almost automatic perception of the right relations, the varying or persistent necessities, the inevitable steps of the movement. There is a secret divine Will, eternal and infinite, omniscient and omnipotent, that expresses itself in the universality and in each particular of all these apparently temporal and finite inconscient or half-conscient things. This is the Power or Presence meant by the Gita when it speaks of the Lord within the heart of all existences who turns all creatures as if mounted on a machine by the illusion of Nature.   This divine Will is not an alien Power or Presence; it is intimate to us and we ourselves are part of it: for it is our own highest Self that possesses and supports it. Only, it is not our conscious mental will; it rejects often enough what our conscious will accepts and accepts what our conscious will rejects.

1.03 - Some Practical Aspects, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy   Along with gentleness, another quality will presently be developed in the soul of the student: that of quietly paying attention to all the subtleties in the soul-life of his envIronment, while reducing to absolute silence any activity within his own soul. The soul-life of his envIronment will impress itself on him in such a way that his own soul will grow, and as it grows, become regular in its structure, as a plant expanding in the sunlight. Gentleness and patient reserve open the soul to the soul-world and the spirit to the spirit-world. Persevere in silent inner seclusion; close the senses to all that they brought you before your training; reduce to absolute immobility all the thoughts which, according to your previous habits, surged within you; become quite still and silent within, wait in patience, and then the higher worlds will begin to fashion and perfect the organs    p. 109   --   Something may here be said concerning the envIronment in which this training should be undertaken, for this is not without some importance. And yet the case differs for almost every person.    p. 111   [paragraph continues] Anyone practicing in an envIronment filled only with self-seeking interests, as for example, the modern struggle for existence, must be conscious of the fact that these interests are not without their effect on the development of his spiritual organs. It is true that the inner laws of these organs are so powerful that this influence cannot be fatally injurious. Just as a lily can never grow into a thistle, however inappropriate its envIronment, so, too, the eye of the soul can never grow to anything but its destined shape even though it be subjected to the self-seeking interests of modern cities. But under all circumstances it is well if the student seeks, now and again, his envIronment in the restful peace, the inner dignity and sweetness of nature. Especially fortunate is the student who can carry out his esoteric training surrounded by the green world of plants, or among the sunny hills, where nature weaves her web of sweet simplicity. This envIronment develops the inner organs in a harmony which can never ensue in a modern city. More favorably situated than the townsman is the person who, during his childhood at least, had been able to brea the the fragrance of pines, to gaze on snowy peaks, and observe    p. 112

1.03 - Spiritual Realisation, The aim of Bhakti-Yoga, #Bhakti-Yoga, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism   Bhakti-Yoga, as we have said, is divided into the Gauni or the preparatory, and the Par or the supreme forms. We shall find, as we go on, how in the preparatory stage we unavoidably stand in need of many concrete helps to enable us to get on; and indeed the mythological and symbological parts of all religions are natural growths which early envIron the aspiring soul and help it Godward. It is also a significant fact that spiritual giants have been produced only in those systems of religion where there is an exuberant growth of rich mythology and ritualism. The dry fanatical forms of religion which attempt to eradicate all that is poetical, all that is beautiful and sublime, all that gives a firm grasp to the infant mind tottering in its Godward way the forms which attempt to break down the very ridge-poles of the spiritual roof, and in their ignorant and superstitious conceptions of truth try to drive away all that is life-giving, all that furnishes the formative material to the spiritual plant growing in the human soul such forms of religion too soon find that all that is left to them is but an empty shell, a contentless frame of words and sophistry with perhaps a little flavour of a kind of social scavengering or the socalled spirit of reform.   The vast mass of those whose religion is like this, are conscious or unconscious materialists the end and aim of their lives here and hereafter being enjoyment, which indeed is to them the alpha and the omega of human life, and which is their Ishtpurta; work like street-cleaning and scavengering, intended for the material comfort of man is, according to them, the be-all and end-all of human existence; and the sooner the followers of this curious mixture of ignorance and fanaticism come out in their true colours and join, as they well deserve to do, the ranks of atheists and materialists, the better will it be for the world. One ounce of the practice of righteousness and of spiritual Self-realisation outweighs tons and tons of frothy talk and nonsensical sentiments. Show us one, but one gigantic spiritual genius growing out of all this dry dust of ignorance and fanaticism; and if you cannot, close your mouths, open the windows of your hearts to the clear light of truth, and sit like children at the feet of those who know what they are talking about the sages of India. Let us then listen attentively to what they say.

1.03 - Sympathetic Magic, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism   a good thick cudgel or an Iron bar, even though it hurt very much.   For they thought that if a man were beaten with anything hollow, his   --   over your head, saying "Mouse, give me your Iron tooth; I will give   you my bone tooth." After that your other teeth will remain good.   --   you put an instrument of Iron or wood resembling the weapon into the   wound, whereby it bleedeth, the anointing of that instrument will   --   Iron. What they did is the pattern of right, the unwritten law to   which he yields a blind unquestioning obedience. The least possible   --   grave in the Iron mould of hereditary custom.   So far, therefore, as the public profession of magic has been one of

1.03 - Tara, Liberator from the Eight Dangers, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset   Just as a lion struts in mountain forests, our pride dwells in the envIronment of wrong views about the nature of the I or self. Whereas the I   is dependent, we grasp at it as existing independent of all other factors. This

1.03 - The Coming of the Subjective Age, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   It is this principle and necessity that justify an age of individualism and rationalism and make it, however short it may be, an inevitable period in the cycle. A temporary reign of the critical reason largely destructive in its action is an imperative need for human progress. In India, since the great Buddhistic upheaval of the national thought and life, there has been a series of re current attempts to rediscover the truth of the soul and life and get behind the veil of stifling conventions; but these have been conducted by a wide and tolerant spiritual reason, a plastic soul-intuition and deep subjective seeking, insufficiently militant and destructive. Although productive of great internal and considerable external changes, they have never succeeded in getting rid of the predominant conventional order. The work of a dissolvent and destructive intellectual criticism, though not entirely absent from some of these movements, has never gone far enough; the constructive force, insufficiently aided by the destructive, has not been able to make a wide and free space for its new formation. It is only with the period of European influence and impact that circumstances and tendencies powerful enough to enforce the beginnings of a new age of radical and effective revaluation of ideas and things have come into existence. The characteristic power of these influences has been throughoutor at any rate till quite recentlyrationalistic, utilitarian and individualistic. It has compelled the national mind to view everything from a new, searching and critical standpoint, and even those who seek to preserve the present or restore the past are obliged un consciously or half-consciously to justify their endeavour from the novel point of view and by its appropriate standards of reasoning. Throughout the East, the subjective Asiatic mind is being driven to adapt itself to the need for changed values of life and thought. It has been forced to turn upon itself both by the pressure of Western knowledge and by the compulsion of a quite changed life-need and life-envIronment. What it did not do from within, has come on it as a necessity from without and this externality has carried with it an immense advantage as well as great dangers.   The individualistic age is, then, a radical attempt of mankind to discover the truth and law both of the individual being and of the world to which the individual belongs. It may begin, as it began in Europe, with the endeavour to get back, more especially in the sphere of religion, to the original truth which convention has overlaid, defaced or distorted; but from that first step it must proceed to others and in the end to a general questioning of the foundations of thought and practice in all the spheres of human life and action. A revolutionary reconstruction of religion, philosophy, science, art and society is the last inevitable outcome. It proceeds at first by the light of the individual mind and reason, by its demand on life and its experience of life; but it must go from the individual to the universal. For the effort of the individual soon shows him that he cannot securely discover the truth and law of his own being without discovering some universal law and truth to which he can relate it. Of the universe he is a part; in all but his deepest spirit he is its subject, a small cell in that tremendous organic mass: his substance is drawn from its substance and by the law of its life the law of his life is determined and governed. From a new view and knowledge of the world must proceed his new view and knowledge of him self, of his power and capacity and limitations, of his claim on existence and the high road and the distant or immediate goal of his individual and social destiny.   In Europe and in modern times this has taken the form of a clear and potent physical Science: it has proceeded by the discovery of the laws of the physical universe and the economic and sociological conditions of human life as determined by the physical being of man, his envIronment, his evolutionary history, his physical and vital, his individual and collective need. But after a time it must become apparent that the knowledge of the physical world is not the whole of knowledge; it must appear that man is a mental as well as a physical and vital being and even much more essentially mental than physical or vital. Even though his psychology is strongly affected and limited by his physical being and envIronment, it is not at its roots determined by them, but constantly reacts, subtly determines their action, effects even their new-shaping by the force of his psychological demand on life. His economic state and social institutions are themselves governed by his psychological demand on the possibilities, circumstances, tendencies created by the relation between the mind and soul of humanity and its life and body. Therefore to find the truth of things and the law of his being in relation to that truth he must go deeper and fathom the subjective secret of himself and things as well as their objective forms and surroundings.   This he may attempt to do for a time by the power of the critical and analytic reason which has already carried him so far; but not for very long. For in his study of himself and the world he cannot but come face to face with the soul in himself and the soul in the world and find it to be an entity so profound, so complex, so full of hidden secrets and powers that his intellectual reason betrays itself as an insufficient light and a fumbling seeker: it is successfully analytical only of superficialities and of what lies just behind the superficies. The need of a deeper knowledge must then turn him to the discovery of new powers and means within himself. He finds that he can only know himself entirely by becoming actively self-conscious and not merely self-critical, by more and more living in his soul and acting out of it rather than floundering on surfaces, by putting himself into conscious harmony with that which lies behind his superficial mentality and psychology and by enlightening his reason and making dynamic his action through this deeper light and power to which he thus opens. In this process the rationalistic ideal begins to subject itself to the ideal of intuitional knowledge and a deeper self awareness; the utilitarian standard gives way to the aspiration towards self-consciousness and self-realisation; the rule of living according to the manifest laws of physical Nature is replaced by the effort towards living according to the veiled Law and Will and Power active in the life of the world and in the inner and outer life of humanity.

1.03 - The End of the Intellect, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   as it were, or rather as an explorer who does not care about precautions and maps, and hence avoids many unnecessary detours simply because he has the courage to forge straight ahead. Thus, it was not in seclusion or in the lotus position or under the guidance of an enlightened Master that Sri Aurobindo undertook the journey, but just as we might do it ourselves, without any special knowledge, right in the midst of everyday life a life as busy and hectic as ours can be and all alone. Sri Aurobindo's first secret is probably a persistent refusal to cut life in two action vs. meditation, inner vs. outer, and the whole range of our false divisions; from the day he thought of yoga, he put everything into it, high and low, inside and outside, and he set out without ever looking back. Sri Aurobindo does not come to demonstrate exceptional qualities in an exceptional envIronment; he comes to show us what is possible for man, and to prove that the exceptional is only a normal possibility not yet mastered, just as the supernatural, as he said, is that the nature of which we have not attained or do not yet know, or the means of which we have not yet conquered.20 Ultimately, everything in this world is a matter of proper concentration; there is nothing that will not finally yield to a wellapplied concentration.   When he went ashore on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, he was overtaken by a spontaneous spiritual experience, a vast calm; but he had more immediate concerns of food and survival. Sri Aurobindo was twenty. He found a position with the Maharaja of Baroda, as 20

1.03 - THE GRAND OPTION, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity   character of the envIronment in which human activities are con-   ducted. The greater our efforts to know and possess and organize   --   virtue of the emergence of Thought a special and novel envIron-   ment has been evolved among human individuals within which   --   ness. In such an envIronment the differentiation born of union   may act upon that which is most unique and incommunicable in   --   atmosphere, or better, a new envIronment of action.   5. The True EnvIronment of Human Action   the historians OF philosophy, in their study of the develop-   --   my conclusion, will penetrate for the first time into the envIron-   ment which is biologically requisite for the wholeness of its task.

1.03 - THE ORPHAN, THE WIDOW, AND THE MOON, #Mysterium Coniunctionis, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   [27] The motif of wounding in alchemy goes back to Zosimos (3rd cent.) and his visions of a sacrificial drama.180 The motif does not occur in such complete form again. One next meets it in the Turba: The dew is joined to him who is wounded and given over to death.181 The dew comes from the moon, and he who is wounded is the sun.182 In the treatise of Philaletha, Introitus apertus ad occlusum Regis palatium,183 the wounding is caused by the bite of the rabid Corascene dog,184 in consequence of which the hermaphrodite child suffered from hydrophobia.185 Dorn, in his De tenebris contra naturam, associates the motif of wounding and the poisonous snake-bite with Genesis 3: For the sickness introduced into nature by the serpent, and the deadly wound she inflicted, a remedy is to be sought.186 Accordingly it is the task of alchemy to root out the original sin, and this is accomplished with the aid of the balsamum vitae (balsam of life), which is a true mixture of the natural heat with its radical moisture. The life of the world is the light of nature and the celestial sulphur,187 whose substance is the aetheric moisture and heat of the firmament, like to the sun and moon.188 The conjunction of the moist (= moon) and the hot (= sun) thus produces the balsam, which is the original and incorrupt life of the world. Genesis 3 : 15, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (RSV), was generally taken as a prefiguration of the Redeemer. But since Christ was free from the stain of sin the wiles of the serpent could not touch him, though of course mankind was poisoned. Whereas the Christian belief is that man is freed from sin by the redemptory act of Christ, the alchemist was evidently of the opinion that the restitution to the likeness of original and incorrupt nature had still to be accomplished by the art, and this can only mean that Christs work of redemption was regarded as incomplete. In view of the wickednesses which the Prince of this world,189 undeterred, goes on perpetrating as liberally as before, one cannot withhold all sympathy from such an opinion. For an alchemist who professed allegiance to the Ecclesia spiritualis it was naturally of supreme importance to make himself an unspotted vessel of the Paraclete and thus to realize the idea Christ on a plane far transcending a mere imitation of him. It is tragic to see how this tremendous thought got bogged down again and again in the welter of human folly. A shattering example of this is afforded not only by the history of the Church, but above all by alchemy itself, which richly merited its own condemnationin Ironical fulfilment of the dictum In sterquiliniis invenitur (it is found in cesspools). Agrippa von Nettesheim was not far wrong when he opined that Chymists are of all men the most perverse.190   [28] In his Mysterium Lunae, an extremely valuable study for the history of alchemical symbolism, Rahner191 mentions that the waxing and waning of the bride (Luna, Ecclesia) is based on the kenosis192 of the bridegroom, in accordance with the words of St. Ambrose:193

1.03 - The Sephiros, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism   Scourge, and Burin, all suggesting warfare and blood- letting. Its metal is Iron, and its sacred tree the Oak, both these attri butions being quite obvious as implying strength.   In fact, the quality of Geburah is summed up in the general idea of strength and power and force.

1.03 - The Sunlit Path, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   Then the question sinks a little deeper. In fact, it is not that it sinks or intensifies; it is as if a first breath of air enabled us to appreciate better the daily suffocation we live in and revealed deeper layers to our eyes, other, subtler coverings. We are indeed Bill Smith, a legal and national artifice, a little mechanized cog that would like to get out of the machine. But what is behind Bill Smith? There is a man walking a boulevard, going up and down the great mental roller coaster, humming with a thousand thoughts, of which none truly matters, none remedies his sorrow or desire; there is what the latest book thinks, what that billboard or those headlines scream, what the professor or schoolmaster or friend or colleague or neighbor said a thousand passersby milling in the inner street but where is the one who does not pass, the lodger of the dwelling? There is yesterday's experience, which ties in with the accident of the day before, which ties in with... a gigantic telephone network, with switches, relays and instant communications, but which really communicates nothing, except the same rehashed and self-contained story, which keeps swelling up and swelling up and curling back onto itself and unrolling a sum of past that never makes a true present, or a future that is but the sum of a million acts adding up to zero where is the act, where? Where is the self of that addition, the minute of being that is not the result of the past, the pure touch of sunlight that escapes that machinery, even more merciless than the other one? There is what our fathers and mothers have put into us, and books, priests, partisans, grandfa ther's cancer, great-uncle's lust, the good of this one, the less good of that one; there are the Tables of the Law of Iron, the thou-cannots, thou-should-nots, Newton and the churches, Mendel and the law of gestation of germ cells but what germinates in all that? Where is the Germ, the pure unexpected seed suddenly bursting open, the Thou-Can like a stroke of grace in this implacable round conditioned by the fathers of our fathers inside the mental fortress? There is this little man walking along a boulevard, going up and down the same avenue a thousand times; inside, outside, it's all the same, like nothing walking in nothing, anybody inside anything, John or Peter with only different neckties: between this lamppost and that one nothing has happened. There was nothing, not a single second of being!   But, suddenly, on this boulevard, there is a sort of second-degree suffocation. We stop and stare. What do we stare at? We don't know, but we stare. All of a sudden we are no longer in the machine; we are no longer in it, we never were! We are no longer Bill Smith or American or New Yorker, the son of our father or the father of our son, our thought, or heart or feelings, or yesterday or tomorrow, or male or female or anything of the kind we are something else altogether. We don't know what, but it stares. We are like a window opening.

1.03 - The Syzygy - Anima and Animus, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   of his envIronment are so strong that they drown the quiet voice   of nature. Opinions, beliefs, theories, and collective tendencies

1.03 - To Layman Ishii, #Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin, #unset, #Zen   "First you have the students who, after engaging in genuine Zen practice for a long time until principles and wisdom are gradually exhausted, emotions and views eliminated, techniques and verbal resources used up, wither into a perfect and unflappable serenity, their bodies and minds completely dispassionate. Suddenly, satori comes. They are liberated. Like the phoenix that soars up from its golden cage. Like the crane that breaks free of its pen. Releasing their hands from the cliffside, they die the great death and are reborn into life anew. These are students who have thoroughly penetrated, who have bored through all forms and penetrated all sounds and can see their self-nature as clearly as if it was in the palm of their hand. After painstakingly working their way through the final barrier koans set up by the patriarchal teachers, their minds, in one single vigorous effort, abruptly transform. Such students are possessed of deep discernment and innate ability that enables them to enter liberation at a single blow from the Iron hammer. They are foremost among all the outstanding seeds and buds of our school. The only thing they lack is the personal confirmation of a genuine teacher.   "Next there are students who move forward in their koan practice until they gain strength that is almost mature. Thanks to a word or phrase of the Buddha-patriarchs or perhaps some advice from a good friend, they suddenly achieve kensh, breakthrough into satori. Let us call them "initial penetrators." Their penetration is complete in some areas, but not in others. They have a sure grasp of

1.04 - Body, Soul and Spirit, #Theosophy, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism   Just as within the physical world each human body is built up as a separate being, so is the spirit-body within the spirit world. In the spirit world there is for man an inner and an outer, just as there is in the physical world. As man takes in the materials of the physical world around him and assimilates them within his physical body, so does he take the spiritual from the spiritual envIronment and make it into his own. The spiritual is the eternal nourishment of man. And as man is born of the physical world, he is also born of the spirit through the eternal laws of the True and the Good. He is separated from the spirit world outside of him, as he is separated from the whole physical world, as   p. 50

1.04 - GOD IN THE WORLD, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy   To its heights we can always come. For those of us who are still splashing about in the lower ooze, the phrase has a rather Ironical ring. Nevertheless, in the light of even the most distant acquaintance with the heights and the fulness, it is possible to understand what its author means. To discover the Kingdom of God exclusively within oneself is easier than to discover it, not only there, but also in the outer world of minds and things and living creatures. It is easier because the heights within reveal themselves to those who are ready to exclude from their purview all that lies without. And though this exclusion may be a painful and mortificatory process, the fact remains that it is less arduous than the process of inclusion, by which we come to know the fulness as well as the heights of spiritual life. Where there is exclusive concentration on the heights within, temptations and distractions are avoided and there is a general denial and suppression. But when the hope is to know God inclusivelyto realize the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental. Mortification becomes more searching and more subtle; there is need of unsleeping awareness and, on the levels of thought, feeling and conduct, the constant exercise of something like an artists tact and taste.   It is in the literature of Mahayana and especially of Zen Buddhism that we find the best account of the psychology of the man for whom Samsara and Nirvana, time and eternity, are one and the same. More systematically perhaps than any other religion, the Buddhism of the Far East teaches the way to spiritual Knowledge in its fulness as well as in its heights, in and through the world as well as in and through the soul. In this context we may point to a highly significant fact, which is that the incomparable landscape painting of China and Japan was essentially a religious art, inspired by Taoism and Zen Buddhism; in Europe, on the contrary, landscape painting and the poetry of nature worship were secular arts which arose when Christianity was in decline, and derived little or no inspiration from Christian ideals.   --   An Iron bar without a hole!   He has done all he could for you; he is exhaustedonly able to turn round and present you with this Iron bar without a hole. It is a most significant expression. Look and see with your own eyes! If you hesitate, you miss the mark for ever.   Yengo (the author of this commentary) now raised his staff and said, Do you see? He then struck his chair and said, Do you hear? Coming down from the chair, he said, Was anything talked about?   What precisely is the significance of that Iron bar without a hole? I do not pretend to know. Zen has always specialized in nonsense as a means of stimulating the mind to go forward to that which is beyond sense; so perhaps the point of the bar resides precisely in its pointlessness and in our disturbed, bewildered reaction to that pointlessness.   In the root divine Wisdom is all-Brahman; in the stem she is all-Illusion; in the flower she is all-World; and in the fruit, all-Liberation.   --   Looking backwards across the carnage and the devastation, we can see that Vigny was perfectly right. None of those gay travellers, of whom Victor Hugo was the most vociferously eloquent, had the faintest notion where that first, funny little Puffing Billy was taking them. Or rather they had a very clear notion, but it happened to be entirely false. For they were convinced that Puffing Billy was hauling them at full speed towards universal peace and the brotherhood of man; while the newspapers which they were so proud of being able to read, as the train rumbled along towards its Utopian destination not more than fifty years or so away, were the guarantee that liberty and reason would soon be everywhere triumphant. Puffing Billy has now turned into a four-motored bomber loaded with white phosphorus and high explosives, and the free press is everywhere the servant of its advertisers, of a pressure group, or of the government. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, the travellers (now far from gay) still hold fast to the religion of Inevitable Progresswhich is, in the last analysis, the hope and faith (in the teeth of all human experience) that one can get something for nothing. How much saner and more realistic is the Greek view that every victory has to be paid for, and that, for some victories, the price exacted is so high Uiat it outweighs any advantage that may be obtained! Modern man no longer regards Nature as being in any sense divine and feels perfectly free to behave towards her as an overweening conqueror and tyrant. The spoils of recent technological imperialism have been enormous; but meanwhile nemesis has seen to it that we get our kicks as well as halfpence. For example, has the ability to travel in twelve hours from New York to Los Angeles given more pleasure to the human race than the dropping of bombs and fire has given pain? There is no known method of computing the amount of felicity or goodness in the world at large. What is obvious, however, is that the advantages accruing from recent technological advancesor, in Greek phraseology, from recent acts of hubris directed against Natureare generally accompanied by corresponding disadvantages, that gains in one direction entail losses in other directions, and that we never get something except for something. Whether the net result of these elaborate credit and debit operations is a genuine Progress in virtue, happiness, charity and intelligence is something we can never definitely determine. It is because the reality of Progress can never be determined that the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have had to treat it as an article of religious faith. To the exponents of the Perennial Philosophy, the question whether Progress is inevitable or even real is not a matter of primary importance. For them, the important thing is that individual men and women should come to the unitive knowledge of the divine Ground, and what interests them in regard to the social envIronment is not its progressiveness or non-progressiveness (whatever those terms may mean), but the degree to which it helps or hinders individuals in their advance towards mans final end.   next chapter: 1.05 - CHARITY

1.04 - KAI VALYA PADA, #Patanjali Yoga Sutras, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism   can only manifest themselves in proper envIronments. Only   those desires will come out for which the envIronment is   fitted; the rest will remain stored up. In this life we have many   --   for them the envIronments are suitable. And if I take an   animal body, only the animal desires will come up, and the   --   of envIronment we can check these desires. Only that Karma   which is suited to and fitted for the envIronments will come   out. These proves that the power of envIronment is the great   check to control even Karma itself.

1.04 - On blessed and ever-memorable obedience, #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset   But let us not fail, if you agree, to describe clearly in our treatise the weapons of these brave warriors: how they hold the shield of faith in God and their trainer,2 and with it they ward off, so to speak, every thought of unbelief and vacillation; how they constantly raise the drawn sword of the Spirit and slay every wish of their own that approaches them; how, clad in the Iron armour of meekness and patience, they avert every insult and injury and missile. And for a helmet of salvation they have their superiors protection through prayer. And they do not stand with their feet together, for one is stretched out in service and the other is immovable in prayer.   Obedience is absolute renunciation of our own life, clearly expressed in our bodily actions. Or, conversely, obedience is the mortification of the limbs while the mind remains alive. Obedience is unquestioning movement, voluntary death, simple life, carefree danger, spontaneous defence by God, fearlessness of death, a safe voyage, a sleepers progress. Obedience is the tomb of the will and the resurrection of humility. A corpse does not argue or reason as to what is good or what seems to be bad. For he who has devoutly put the soul of the novice to death will answer for everything. Obedience is an abandonment of discernment in a wealth of discernment.   --   A certain man called Isidore, of magistrates rank, from the city of Alexandria, had recently renounced the world in the above-mentioned monastery, and I found him still there. That most holy shepherd, after accepting him, found that he was full of mischief, very cruel, sly, fierce and arrogant. But with human ingenuity that most wise man contrived to outwit the cunning of the devils, and said to Isidore: If you have decided to take upon yourself the yoke of Christ, then I want you first of all to learn obedience. Isidore replied: As Iron to the smith, so I surrender myself in submission to you, holy father. The great father, making use of this comparison, at once gave exercise to the Iron Isidore, and said: I want you, brother by nature, to stand at the gate of the monastery, and to make a prostration to   everyone coming in or going out, and to say: Pray for me, father; I am an epileptic. And he obeyed as an angel obeys the Lord.

1.04 - Sounds, #Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, #Henry David Thoreau, #Philosophy   When I meet the engine with its train of cars moving off with planetary motion,or, rather, like a comet, for the beholder knows not if with that velocity and with that direction it will ever revisit this system, since its orbit does not look like a returning curve,with its steam cloud like a banner streaming behind in golden and silver wreaths, like many a downy cloud which I have seen, high in the heavens, unfolding its masses to the light,as if this travelling demigod, this cloud-compeller, would ere long take the sunset sky for the livery of his train; when I hear the Iron horse make the hills echo with his snort like thunder, shaking the earth with his feet, and breathing fire and smoke from his nostrils, (what kind of winged horse or fiery dragon they will put into the new Mythology I dont know), it seems as if the earth had got a race now worthy to inhabit it. If all were as it seems, and men made the elements their servants for noble ends! If the cloud that hangs over the engine were the perspiration of heroic deeds, or as beneficent as that which floats over the farmers fields, then the elements and Nature herself would cheerfully accompany men on their errands and be their escort.   I watch the passage of the morning cars with the same feeling that I do the rising of the sun, which is hardly more regular. Their train of clouds stretching far behind and rising higher and higher, going to heaven while the cars are going to Boston, conceals the sun for a minute and casts my distant field into the shade, a celestial train beside which the petty train of cars which hugs the earth is but the barb of the spear. The stabler of the Iron horse was up early this winter morning by the light of the stars amid the mountains, to fodder and harness his steed. Fire, too, was awakened thus early to put the vital heat in him and get him off. If the enterprise were as innocent as it is early! If the snow lies deep, they strap on his snow-shoes, and with the giant plow, plow a furrow from the mountains to the seaboard, in which the cars, like a following drill-barrow, sprinkle all the restless men and floating merchandise in the country for seed.   All day the fire-steed flies over the country, stopping only that his master may rest, and I am awakened by his tramp and defiant snort at midnight, when in some remote glen in the woods he fronts the elements incased in ice and snow; and he will reach his stall only with the morning star, to start once more on his travels without rest or slumber. Or perchance, at evening, I hear him in his stable blowing off the superfluous energy of the day, that he may calm his nerves and cool his liver and brain for a few hours of Iron slumber. If the enterprise were as heroic and commanding as it is protracted and unwearied!   Far through unfrequented woods on the confines of towns, where once only the hunter penetrated by day, in the darkest night dart these bright saloons without the knowledge of their inhabitants; this moment stopping at some brilliant station-house in town or city, where a social crowd is gathered, the next in the Dismal Swamp, scaring the owl and fox. The startings and arrivals of the cars are now the epochs in the village day. They go and come with such regularity and precision, and their whistle can be heard so far, that the farmers set their clocks by them, and thus one well conducted institution regulates a whole country. Have not men improved somewhat in punctuality since the railroad was invented? Do they not talk and think faster in the depot than they did in the stage-office? There is something electrifying in the atmosphere of the former place. I have been astonished at the miracles it has wrought; that some of my neighbors, who, I should have prophesied, once for all, would never get to Boston by so prompt a conveyance, are on hand when the bell rings. To do things railroad fashion is now the by-word; and it is worth the while to be warned so often and so sincerely by any power to get off its track. There is no stopping to read the riot act, no firing over the heads of the mob, in this case. We have constructed a fate, an _Atropos_, that never turns aside. (Let that be the name of your engine.) Men are advertised that at a certain hour and minute these bolts will be shot toward particular points of the compass; yet it interferes with no mans business, and the children go to school on the other track. We live the steadier for it. We are all educated thus to be sons of Tell. The air is full of invisible bolts. Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.   What recommends commerce to me is its enterprise and bravery. It does not clasp its hands and pray to Jupiter. I see these men every day go about their business with more or less courage and content, doing more even than they suspect, and perchance better employed than they could have consciously devised. I am less affected by their heroism who stood up for half an hour in the front line at Buena Vista, than by the steady and cheerful valor of the men who inhabit the snow-plough for their winter quarters; who have not merely the three-o-clock in the morning courage, which Bonaparte thought was the rarest, but whose courage does not go to rest so early, who go to sleep only when the storm sleeps or the sinews of their Iron steed are frozen. On this morning of the Great Snow, perchance, which is still raging and chilling mens blood, I hear the muffled tone of their engine bell from out the fog bank of their chilled breath, which announces that the cars   _are coming_, without long delay, notwithstanding the veto of a New   --   Commerce is unexpectedly confident and serene, alert, adventurous, and unwearied. It is very natural in its methods withal, far more so than many fantastic enterprises and sentimental experiments, and hence its singular success. I am refreshed and expanded when the freight train rattles past me, and I smell the stores which go dispensing their odors all the way from Long Wharf to Lake Champlain, reminding me of foreign parts, of coral reefs, and Indian oceans, and tropical climes, and the extent of the globe. I feel more like a citizen of the world at the sight of the palm-leaf which will cover so many flaxen New England heads the next summer, the Manilla hemp and cocoa-nut husks, the old junk, gunny bags, scrap Iron, and rusty nails. This car-load of torn sails is more legible and interesting now than if they should be wrought into paper and printed books. Who can write so graphically the history of the storms they have weathered as these rents have done?   They are proof-sheets which need no correction. Here goes lumber from the Maine woods, which did not go out to sea in the last freshet, risen four dollars on the thousand because of what did go out or was split up; pine, spruce, cedar,first, second, third, and fourth qualities, so lately all of one quality, to wave over the bear, and moose, and caribou. Next rolls Thomaston lime, a prime lot, which will get far among the hills before it gets slacked. These rags in bales, of all hues and qualities, the lowest condition to which cotton and linen descend, the final result of dress,of patterns which are now no longer cried up, unless it be in Milwaukie, as those splendid articles,

1.04 - Te Shan Carrying His Bundle, #The Blue Cliff Records, #Yuanwu Keqin, #Zen   like an Iron spike. In the assembly this is called an added   comment: although it goes for both sides, it does not remain on

1.04 - The Aims of Psycho therapy, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   began to build a bridge out into space. Indeed, the Ironist might even allege   and has often done so that in following this procedure both doctor and

1.04 - THE APPEARANCE OF ANOMALY - CHALLENGE TO THE SHARED MAP, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology   action, modifies the behavior of others, operating in the same envIronment. The consequence of this mutual   modification, operating over time, is the emergence of a stable pattern of behavior, designed to match   --   mythologically inseparable manners: through rapid natural envIronmental shift, independent of   human activity; through contact with a heretofore isolated foreign culture; through application of novel   --   Transformation of envIronmental circumstances, as the consequence of purely natural causes, constitutes   the single most immediately evident cause for the deterioration of cultural stability. Prolonged drought,   --   previously noted affectively relevant envIronmental relationships alter, faster than adaptive movement   keeps pace. This means that the insufficiency of cultural adaptation cannot easily be distinguished from   --   Mythic representations of the rapid mutation of envIronmental contingency (portrayed as the   reappearance of the Great Mother or, more fundamentally, of the Dragon of Chaos) are in consequence   --   renders all inevitable envIronmental transformation deadly. When is a disaster not a disaster? When the   community is prepared to respond appropriately. Conversely, any minor change in the natural world might   --   kingdom metaphorically indistinguishable from that posed by envIronmental transformation. The stable   meaning of experiential events, constrained by the hierarchical structure of group identity, is easily   --   exploration the attempt to adapt to the new envIronment (to behave appropriately to fulfill motivational   demands under new conditions and to map new conditions). This consequence requires the paralysis of   --   envIronment in which a given culture-specific adaptive pattern retains its conditional validity. This prerational mythic envIronment is analogous in structure to the physical or natural envIronment itself as the   structure adapted to the envIronment rapidly becomes a constituent element of the envIronment itself, with   the same essential characteristics. (Or, to say it somewhat differently everything contained outside the   wall defining presently considered space is envIronment even though much of it is actually the   consequence of historical or even individual activity). Disruption of the pre-rational mythic   envIronment is just as catastrophic as disruption of the physical or natural envIronment (the two   disruptions may not really be distinguishable, in the final analysis). This means essentially that to give   --   grown up thanks to them. They dug out the Iron, taught us how to cut the timber, tamed the cattle and   the horses, showed us how to sow crops and live together; they brought order to our lives. They taught   --   reminder were rapid natural envIronmental shift, independent of human activity, and contact with a   heretofore isolated foreign culture). Literate individuals, members of cultures contained in express   --   direction, when such change or development becomes necessary. Under stable envIronmental and social   215   --   in times of transition, of rapid envIronmental transformation, of multi-cultural contact, of technological or   ideological advance, stability is not necessarily sufficient. The Russian neuropsychologist Sokolov stated   --   dangers posed by inevitable envIronmental shift (that is, by inevitable re-emergence of the dragon of the   unknown). Biologically-determined capacity for such dissolution and for its satisfactory resolution   --   envIronmental disaster, the death of the king, the dangerous stranger, or the heretical idea).   Anxiety   --   The animal, in its natural and constant envIronment, remains beyond (or before) good and evil, gripped   by its biologically-determined destiny, which is the will of God, from the mythic perspective. The human   --   existence is foreign to the natural order (that human activity is detrimental to the envIronment, that the   planet would somehow be better off with no people on it), that our species is somehow innately disturbed

1.04 - The Conditions of Esoteric Training, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy   4. These words already express the fourth condition: to acquire the conviction that the real being of man does not lie in his exterior but in his interior. Anyone regarding himself as a product of the outer world, as a result of the physical world, cannot succeed in this esoteric training, for the feeling that we are beings of soul and spirit forms its very basis. The acquisition of this feeling renders the student fit to distinguish between inner duty and outward success. He learns that the one cannot be directly measured by the other. He must find the proper mean between what is indicated by external conditions and what he recognizes as the right conduct for himself. He should not force upon his envIronment anything for which it can have no understanding, but also he must be quite free from the desire to do only what can be appreciated by those around him. The voice of his own soul struggling honestly toward knowledge must bring him the one and only recognition of the truths for which he stands. But he must learn as much as he possibly can from his envIronment so    p. 123

1.04 - The Discovery of the Nation-Soul, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The objective view of society has reigned throughout the historical period of humanity in the West; it has been sufficiently strong though not absolutely engrossing in the East. Rulers, people and thinkers alike have understood by their national existence a political status, the extent of their borders, their economic well-being and expansion, their laws, institutions and the working of these things. For this reason political and economic motives have everywhere predominated on the surface and history has been a record of their operations and influence. The one subjective and psychological force consciously admitted and with difficulty deniable has been that of the individual. This predominance is so great that most modern historians and some political thinkers have concluded that objective necessities are by law of Nature the only really determining forces, all else is result or superficial accidents of these forces. Scientific history has been conceived as if it must be a record and appreciation of the envIronmental motives of political action, of the play of economic forces and developments and the course of institutional evolution. The few who still valued the psychological element have kept their eye fixed on individuals and are not far from conceiving of history as a mass of biographies. The truer and more comprehensive science of the future will see that these conditions only apply to the imperfectly self-conscious period of national development. Even then there was always a greater subjective force working behind individuals, policies, economic movements and the change of institutions; but it worked for the most part subconsciously, more as a subliminal self than as a conscious mind. It is when this subconscious power of the group-soul comes to the surface that nations begin to enter into possession of their subjective selves; they set about getting, however vaguely or imperfectly, at their souls.   Certainly, there is always a vague sense of this subjective existence at work even on the surface of the communal mentality. But so far as this vague sense becomes at all definite, it concerns itself mostly with details and unessentials, national idiosyncrasies, habits, prejudices, marked mental tendencies. It is, so to speak, an objective sense of subjectivity. As man has been accustomed to look on himself as a body and a life, the physical animal with a certain moral or immoral temperament, and the things of the mind have been regarded as a fine flower and attainment of the physical life rather than themselves anything essential or the sign of something essential, so and much more has the community regarded that small part of its subjective self of which it becomes aware. It clings indeed always to its idiosyncrasies, habits, prejudices, but in a blind objective fashion, insisting on their most external aspect and not at all going behind them to that for which they stand, that which they try blindly to express.

1.04 - The Divine Mother - This Is She, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga   To say a few words about the success of a case by the Divine Force or its failure Sri Aurobindo has never maintained that the Force is infallible. Only the Supramental Force is a "dead cert". But it is extremely difficult to bring it down. Short of that, everything is a play of possibility where many factors count: the doctor, the patient, the envIronment. The Force is not a magician, as we understand the word. It takes into account all these factors, particularly the faith and openness of the patient as in this case. If the patient's soul wants to leave the body, the Force cannot compel it to remain. In short, it is a complex tangle of forces that has to be dealt with, each case different from another and there is no universal rule that can be applied to all. Nevertheless, if two cases have failed, we have seen other serious ones where the cause of success was beyond all doubt.   There were two small occasions when I attended on the Mother. Usually, she was not in the habit of consulting doctors. Her doctor was Sri Aurobindo. But once when her hand had swollen for no apparent reason, Sri Aurobindo asked me to have a look at it. I examined it in his presence with a certain amount of shy hesitation. Here lay the difference between myself and Dr. Manilal. He would have done the job in quite a business-like manner. The case was simple, however, and got cured with hot fomentation. The next occasion was when she was having much pain in the ear, perhaps from an insect bite. Sri Aurobindo asked if I could do something. I examined the ear and found a tiny spot of haemorrhage inside. The Mother inquired if the insect was still there. I said no, but when I suggested some ear-drops for the pain, she replied, "No, no medicine for me!" Medicines were an anathema to both the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Throughout their long yogic life they cured all their own ailments by applying the Force. Medicines were accepted only during the later stage of Sri Aurobindo's last illness and in the recent illness of the Mother. There were special reasons for this. I have given some of them in Sri Aurobindo's case in the chapter 'God Departs'.   --   I shall now finish this chapter with an account of my utter discomfiture in trying to argue with the Mother over a subject about which I had very little knowledge. The Mother was describing to Sri Aurobindo the physical features of the brothers of a particular family. At some point, I don't remember exactly when, I was foolish enough to contradict her. She replied, "Better keep quiet! You know nothing." The episode was over and I had forgotten all about it. But the surprise of surprises, later on the Mother called me out of Sri Aurobindo's room and putting her hand on my shoulder explained almost in an apologetic tone how I was wrong. I expressed my sincere regret for my interruption and said that I certainly did not mind her rebuke. I was indeed very much moved by her divine considerateness. If she would be rude or severe on occasions she once said that Sri Aurobindo was a gentleman, she was not we have seen her Mahakali aspect, freezing silence, Ironical smile, cold look, her Mahalakshmi graciousness too was showered upon us often. For example, she used to give me, on my birthdays, a pair of fine dhotis from the stock meant for Sri Aurobindo. However hard she might appear outside, and it was unfortunately for us very necessary she is our true Mother and her only concern is to lead us to the Light.   [7] La Jeunesse Sportive de l'Ashram de Sri Aurobindo.

1.04 - The Paths, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism   Its metal is Iron, its animals the Bear and Wolf, its jewels the Ruby and any other red stone ; its plants Rue, Pepper, and Absin the ; its perfumes Pepper and all pungent odours, and its colour Red.   The Tarot card appropriate is XVI. - The Tower, the upper part of which is shaped like a crown. It is alternately

1.04 - The Sacrifice the Triune Path and the Lord of the Sacrifice, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The law of sacrifice is the common divine action that was thrown out into the world in its beginning as a symbol of the solidarity of the universe. It is by the attraction of this law that a divinising principle, a saving power descends to limit and correct and gradually to eliminate the errors of an egoistic and self-divided creation. This descent, this sacrifice of the Purusha, the Divine Soul submitting itself to Force and Matter so that it may inform and illuminate them, is the seed of redemption of this world of Inconscience and Ignorance. For with sacrifice as their companion, says the Gita, the All-Father created these peoples. The acceptance of the law of sacrifice is a practical recognition by the ego that it is neither alone in the world nor chief in the world. It is its admission that, even in this much fragmented existence, there is beyond itself and behind that which is not its own egoistic person, something greater and completer, a diviner All which demands from it subordination and service. Indeed, sacrifice is imposed and, where need be, compelled by the universal World-Force; it takes it even from those who do not consciously recognise the law,inevitably, because this is the intrinsic nature of things. Our ignorance or our false egoistic view of life can make no difference to this eternal bedrock truth of Nature. For this is the truth in Nature, that this ego which thinks itself a separate independent being and claims to live for itself, is not and cannot be independent nor separate, nor can it live to itself even if it would, but rather all are linked together by a secret Oneness. Each existence is continually giving out perforce from its stock; out of its mental receipts from Nature or its vital and physical assets and acquisitions and belongings a stream goes to all that is around it. And always again it receives something from its envIronment gratis or in return for its voluntary or involuntary tri bute. For it is only by this giving and receiving that it can effect its own growth while at the same time it helps the sum of things. At length, though at first slowly and partially, we learn to make the conscious sacrifice; even, in the end, we take joy to give ourselves and what we envisage as belonging to us in a spirit of love and devotion to That which appears for the moment other than ourselves and is certainly other than our limited personalities. The sacrifice and the divine return for our sacrifice then become a gladly accepted means towards our last perfection; for it is recognised now as the road to the fulfilment in us of the eternal purpose.   But, most often, the sacrifice is done unconsciously, egoistically and without knowledge or acceptance of the true meaning of the great world-rite. It is so that the vast majority of earth-creatures do it; and, when it is so done, the individual derives only a mechanical minimum of natural inevitable profit, achieves by it only a slow painful progress limited and tortured by the smallness and suffering of the ego. Only when the heart, the will and the mind of knowledge associate themselves with the law and gladly follow it, can there come the deep joy and the happy fruitfulness of divine sacrifice. The minds knowledge of the law and the hearts gladness in it culminate in the perception that it is to our own Self and Spirit and the one Self and Spirit of all that we give. And this is true even when our self-offering is still to our fellow-creatures or to lesser Powers and Principles and not yet to the Supreme. Not for the sake of the wife, says Yajnavalkya in the Upanishad, but for the sake of the Self is the wife dear to us. This in the lower sense of the individual self is the hard fact behind the coloured and passionate professions of egoistic love; but in a higher sense it is the inner significance of that love too which is not egoistic but divine. All true love and all sacrifice are in their essence Natures contradiction of the primary egoism and its separative error; it is her attempt to turn from a necessary first fragmentation towards a recovered oneness. All unity between creatures is in its essence a self-finding, a fusion with that from which we have separated, a discovery of ones self in others.   --   And the fruit also of the sacrifice of works varies according to the work, according to the intention in the work and according to the spirit that is behind the intention. But all other sacrifices are partial, egoistic, mixed, temporal, incomplete,even those offered to the highest Powers and Principles keep this character: the result too is partial, limited, temporal, mixed in its reactions, effective only for a minor or intermediate purpose. The one entirely acceptable sacrifice is a last and highest and uttermost self-giving,it is that surrender made face to face, with devotion and knowledge, freely and without any reserve to One who is at once our immanent Self, the envIroning constituent All, the Supreme Reality beyond this or any manifestation and, secretly, all these together, concealed everywhere, the immanent Transcendence. For to the soul that wholly gives itself to him, God also gives himself altogether. Only the one who offers his whole nature, finds the Self. Only the one who can give everything, enjoys the Divine All everywhere. Only a supreme self-abandonment attains to the Supreme. Only the sublimation by sacrifice of all that we are, can enable us to embody the Highest and live here in the immanent consciousness of the transcendent Spirit.   ***   --   All this difficult result can become possible only if there is an immense conversion, a total reversal of our consciousness, a supernormal entire transfiguration of the nature. There must be an ascension of the whole being, an ascension of spirit chained here and trammelled by its instruments and its envIronment to sheer Spirit free above, an ascension of soul towards some blissful Super-soul, an ascension of mind towards some luminous Supermind, an ascension of life towards some vast Super-life, an ascension of our very physicality to join its origin in some pure and plastic spirit-substance. And this cannot be a single swift upsoaring but, like the ascent of the sacrifice described in the Veda, a climbing from peak to peak in which from each summit one looks up to the much more that has still to be done. At the same time there must be a descent too to affirm below what we have gained above: on each height we conquer we have to turn to bring down its power and its illumination into the lower mortal movement; the discovery of the Light for ever radiant on high must correspond with the release of the same Light secret below in every part down to the deepest caves of subconscient Nature. And this pilgrimage of ascension and this descent for the labour of transformation must be inevitably a battle, a long war with ourselves and with opposing forces around us which, while it lasts, may well seem interminable. For all our old obscure and ignorant nature will contend repeatedly and obstinately with the transforming Influence, supported in its lagging unwillingness or its stark resistance by most of the established forces of envIroning universal Nature; the powers and principalities and the ruling beings of the Ignorance will not easily give up their empire.   At first there may have to be a prolonged, often tedious and painful period of preparation and purification of all our being till it is ready and fit for an opening to a greater Truth and Light or to the Divine Influence and Presence. Even when centrally fitted, prepared, open already, it will still be long before all our movements of mind, life and body, all the multiple and conflicting members and elements of our personality consent or, consenting, are able to bear the difficult and exacting process of the transformation. And hardest of all, even if all in us is willing, is the struggle we shall have to carry through against the universal forces attached to the present unstable creation when we seek to make the final supramental conversion and reversal of consciousness by which the Divine Truth must be established in us in its plenitude and not merely what they would more readily permit, an illumined Ignorance.

1.04 - The Self, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   actions of our immediate envIronment. Inflation magnifies the   blind spot in the eye, and the more we are assimilated by the   --   clination to take note of the reactions of the envIronment and   pay heed to them.

1.04 - The Silent Mind, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   firstly, because he lives in constant tumult, and secondly because the process through which vibrations are appropriated is almost instantaneous and automatic. Through his education and envIronment,   a person becomes accustomed to selecting from the Universal Mind a given, narrow range of vibrations with which he has a particular affinity. For the rest of his life he will pick up the same wavelength,   repeating the same vibratory mode in more or less high-sounding words and with more or less innovative turns of phrase; he will spin around in a cage, the illusion of progress being given only by a greater or lesser extent and sparkling range of vocabulary used. True, we do change our ideas, but changing ideas is not progressing. It is not rising to a higher or faster vibratory mode; it is merely a new set of acrobatics within the same envIronment. This is why Sri Aurobindo spoke of a change of consciousness.   Once the seeker has seen that his thoughts come from outside, and after he has repeated this experience hundreds of times, he will hold the key to the true mastery of the mind. For while it is difficult to get rid of a thought we believe to be ours, once it has become entrenched in us, it is easy to reject the same thought when we see it coming from the outside. Once we master silence, we necessarily master the mental world, because instead of perpetually picking up the same wavelength,   --   The Yogi goes still further, he is not only a master there but even while in mind in a way, he gets out of it as it were, and stands above or quite back from it and free. For him the image of the factory of thoughts is no longer quite valid; for he sees that thoughts come from outside, from the universal Mind, or universal Nature, sometimes formed and distinct, sometimes unformed and then they are given shape somewhere in us. The principal business of our mind is either a response of acceptance or a refusal to these thought waves (as also vital waves, subtle physical energy waves) or this giving a personalmental form to thought-stuff (or vital movements) from the envIroning Nature-Force. It was my great debt to Lele that he showed me this.   "Sit in meditation," he said, "but do not think, look only at your mind;

1.04 - Wherefore of World?, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction   The reason pays in this loss and bewilderment the penalty of its lack of respect for the numerous forms which its effort has assumed at different times and in varying envIronments. However imperfect these forms may be, we should prize in them the fruit of the labour accomplished by the thought of man and have no right to despise what was and still is for so many minds the means of expressing the mystery of things and entering into contact with the inexpressible reality.   Is there a single conception or a single belief, even though puerile, which does not contain a portion, a soul of truth? And if we love and seek the truth, how shall we refuse to receive, listen to and understand these different tongues into which it is translated or to gather instruction from them all?

1.05 - 2010 and 1956 - Doomsday?, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga   The Iron Age is ended. Only now   The last fierce spasm of the dying past   --   the Iron Age, the dawn of the Age of Aquarius, the mo-   mentous change predicted by Edgar Cayce, and, accord-   --   age done to the terrestrial envIronment by a careless hu-   manity, increasing beyond all proportions. He formulated   --   to the envIronment that lessen the survival of its progeny   is doomed to extinction. By massively taking land to feed   --   long-term envIronmental ethic. The choice is clear: the jug-   gernaut will very soon either chew up what remains of the   --   The Iron Age is ended. Only now    The last fierce spasm of the dying past

1.056 - Lack of Knowledge is the Cause of Suffering, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga   The root cause of unhappiness, therefore, is an irreconcilability between the individual and its envIronment. This envIronment is a very peculiar word which has deep connotations. It means anything and everything. The circumstances in which we find ourselves are of the envIronment the geographical conditions, the social conditions, the psychological conditions, the astronomical conditions. All these have to be taken into consideration when we speak of the envIronment of an individual. These are vast things, insurmountable by ordinary human thinking. It is not usually practicable for the mind to tune itself to all these things that are outside. If it succeeds in one line, it will fail in another, so that there is always some kind of difficulty, one coming after the other. And so, there is a perpetual restlessness within.   This restlessness which is the immediate outcome of ignorance produces unnatural, abnormal attitudes in respect of things, because a drowning person may try to catch even a straw that is floating on the surface of water, whether or not it is going to be of any help. The mind that is defeated from every side and cannot express itself at all for various reasons, tries to hold on to any support of satisfaction that is visible before it. At the same time, it is not allowed to hold on to it for a long time due to the force of the flood in which it is caught. It will be showing its head above for a few minutes, and then sinking down again. This condition goes on for a long time, and one cannot say who will win. The feelings of the individual during this time are obvious. They are unthinkable, unanalysable, not subject to scrutiny in a logical manner. They remain in a very confused state.

1.057 - Iron, #Quran, #unset, #Zen   object:1.057 - Iron   class:chapter   --   25. We sent Our messengers with the clear proofs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance, that humanity may uphold justice. And We sent down Iron, in which is violent force, and benefits for humanity. That God may know who supports Him and His messengers invisibly. God is Strong and Powerful.   26. We sent Noah and Abraham, and established in their line Prophethood and the Scripture. Some of them are guided, but many of them are sinners.

1.05 - Adam Kadmon, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism   Memory is the very stuff of consciousness itself. It is, to use a figure of speech, the mortar of the architecture of the mind, that integrating faculty binding together all the various sensations and impressions. The Will is a colour- less principle moved by, and comparable to, desire. It is the power of the spiritual Self in action. In ordinary life it is not, as it should be, the servant of the man, but rules him with a rod of Iron binding him to those very things from which he essays to escape.   Imagination is a faculty much misunderstood, most people thinking of it as sheer fantasy used in day-dreaming.

1.05 - BOOK THE FIFTH, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry   And strikes his Iron sceptre thro' the main;   The depths profound thro' yielding waves he cleaves,

1.05 - Character Of The Atoms, #Of The Nature Of Things, #Lucretius, #Poetry   Through hedging walls of houses, and the Iron   White-dazzles in the fire, and rocks will burn   --   Great crags of basalt and the during Iron;   For their whole nature will profoundly lack

1.05 - Computing Machines and the Nervous System, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics   envIronment, we find them associated with a third fundamen-   tal property of living matter: the ability to receive and organize

1.05 - Consciousness, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   than by others; and this set of habits has, apparently, crystallized into a personality we call our "self." Yet, if we look more closely, we can hardly say that it is "we" who have acquired all these habits. Our envIronment, our education, our atavism, our traditions have made the choice for us. At every instant they choose what we want or desire,   what we like or dislike. It is as if life took place without us. When does a real "I" burst forth in all this? Universal Nature, Sri Aurobindo wrote, deposits certain habits of movement, personality, character,   --   The appearance of stability is given by constant repetition and recurrence of the same vibrations and formations,4 because it is always the same wavelengths that we pick up or, rather, that picks us up, consistent with the laws of our envIronment or education; it is always the same mental, vital or other vibrations that return through our centers, and that we appropriate automatically, unconsciously, and endlessly. In reality, everything is in a state of constant flux, and everything comes to us from a mind vaster than ours (a universal mind), a vital vaster than ours (a universal vital), from lower subconscious regions, or from higher superconscious ones. Thus this small frontal being48 is surrounded, overhung, supported, pervaded by and set in motion by a whole hierarchy of "worlds," as ancient wisdom well knew: "Without effort one world moves in the other," says the Rig Veda (II.24-5), or, as Sri Aurobindo says, by a gradation of planes of consciousness, which range without break from pure Spirit to Matter, and are directly connected to each of our centers. Yet we are conscious only of some bubbling on the surface.49   What remains of ourselves in all this? Not much, to tell the truth,

1.05 - Knowledge by Aquaintance and Knowledge by Description, #The Problems of Philosophy, #Bertrand Russell, #Philosophy   'ambiguous' description; a phrase of the form 'the so-and-so' (in the singular) I shall call a 'definite' description. Thus 'a man' is an ambiguous description, and 'the man with the Iron mask' is a definite description. There are various problems connected with ambiguous descriptions, but I pass them by, since they do not directly concern the matter we are discussing, which is the nature of our knowledge concerning objects in cases where we know that there is an object answering to a definite description, though we are not acquainted with any such object. This is a matter which is concerned exclusively with definite descriptions. I shall therefore, in the sequel, speak simply of   'descriptions' when I mean 'definite descriptions'. Thus a description will mean any phrase of the form 'the so-and-so' in the singular.   We shall say that an object is 'known by description' when we know that it is 'the so-and-so', i.e. when we know that there is one object, and no more, having a certain property; and it will generally be implied that we do not have knowledge of the same object by acquaintance. We know that the man with the Iron mask existed, and many propositions are known about him; but we do not know who he was. We know that the candidate who gets the most votes will be elected, and in this case we are very likely also acquainted (in the only sense in which one can be acquainted with some one else) with the man who is, in fact, the candidate who will get most votes; but we do not know which of the candidates he is, i.e. we do not know any proposition of the form 'A is the candidate who will get most votes' where A is one of the candidates by name. We shall say that we have 'merely descriptive knowledge' of the so-and-so when, although we know that the so-and-so exists, and although we may possibly be acquainted with the object which is, in fact, the so-and-so, yet we do not know any proposition '_a_ is the so-and-so', where _a_ is something with which we are acquainted.   When we say 'the so-and-so exists', we mean that there is just one object which is the so-and-so. The proposition '_a_ is the so-and-so' means that _a_ has the property so-and-so, and nothing else has. 'Mr.   --   Bismarck to those who only know of him through history; the man with the Iron mask; the longest-lived of men. These are progressively further removed from acquaintance with particulars; the first comes as near to acquaintance as is possible in regard to another person; in the second, we shall still be said to know 'who Bismarck was'; in the third, we do not know who was the man with the Iron mask, though we can know many propositions about him which are not logically deducible from the fact that he wore an Iron mask; in the fourth, finally, we know nothing beyond what is logically deducible from the definition of the man. There is a similar hierarchy in the region of universals. Many universals, like many particulars, are only known to us by description. But here, as in the case of particulars, knowledge concerning what is known by description is ultimately reducible to knowledge concerning what is known by acquaintance.   The fundamental principle in the analysis of propositions containing descriptions is this: _Every proposition which we can understand must be composed wholly of constituents with which we are acquainted_.

1.05 - On painstaking and true repentance which constitute the life of the holy convicts; and about the prison., #The Ladder of Divine Ascent, #Saint John of Climacus, #unset   Often they applied to the great judge, I mean the shepherd, that angel among men, with requests and begged him to put Irons and chains on their hands and neck, and to manacle their legs in the stocks, and not to set them free until the tomb received them, or not even the tomb.   For I shall certainly not hide this most moving lowliness in these blessed men, and their contrite love for God and repentance. When one of these good inhabitants of the land of repentance was about to go to God and stand before the impartial tribunal, then as soon as he saw that his end was at hand, he would beg the great abbot through the superior set over them with adjurations not to give him human burial, but to fling him, like an irrational animal, into a river bed or to give him up to wild beasts in the fields. And this was often done by that lamp of discernment who would order the dead to be carried out without any psalmody or honour.

1.05 - Solitude, #Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, #Henry David Thoreau, #Philosophy   They cause that in all the universe men purify and sanctify their hearts, and clo the themselves in their holiday garments to offer sacrifices and oblations to their ancestors. It is an ocean of subtile intelligences. They are every where, above us, on our left, on our right; they envIron us on all sides.   We are the subjects of an experiment which is not a little interesting to me. Can we not do without the society of our gossips a little while under these circumstances,have our own thoughts to cheer us? Confucius says truly, Virtue does not remain as an abandoned orphan; it must of necessity have neighbors.

1.05 - Some Results of Initiation, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy   The further the student advances in his inner development, the more regular will be the differentiation within his astral body. The latter is confused and undifferentiated in the case of a person of undeveloped inner life; yet the clairvoyant can perceive even the unorganized astral body as a figure standing out distinctly from its envIronment. It extends from the center of the head to the middle of the physical body, and appears like an independent body possessing certain organs. The organs now to be considered are perceptible to the clairvoyant near the following parts of the    p. 134   --    way that they harmonize with the actions of his fellow-men and with the events in his envIronment. He refrains from actions which are disturbing to others and in conflict with his surroundings. He seeks to adjust his actions so that they combine harmoniously with his surroundings and with his position in life. When an external motive causes him to act he considers how he can best respond. When the impulse proceeds from himself he weighs with minute care the effects of his activity.   The fifth function includes the management of the whole of life. The student endeavors to live in conformity with both nature and spirit. Never overhasty, he is also never indolent. Excessive activity and laziness are equally alien to him. He looks upon life as a means for work and disposes it accordingly. He regulates his habits and the care of his health in such a way that a harmonious whole is the outcome.   --    in a loveless way from what is perhaps an illogical envIronment in order to further his own development. Neither should he feel himself impelled to correct all the illogical thoughts expressed around him. He should rather silently co-ordinate the thoughts as they pour in upon him, and make them conform to logic and sense, and at the same time endeavor in every case to retain this same method in his own thinking.   An equal consistency in his actions forms the second requirement (control of actions). All inconstancy, all disharmony of action, is baneful for the lotus here in question. When the student performs some action he must see to it that his succeeding action follows in logical sequence, for if he acts from day to day with variable intent he will never develop the faculty here considered.   --    be attained, the qualities in question may take an evil instead of a good direction. A person may become intolerant, timid, or contentious toward his envIronment; may, for instance, acquire some feeling for the sentiments of others, and for this reason shun them or hate them. This may even reach the point where, by reason of the inner coldness that overwhelms him when he hears repugnant opinions, he is unable to listen, or he may behave in an objectionable manner.   The development of this organ may be accelerated if, in addition to all that has been stated, certain other injunctions are observed which can only be imparted to the student by word of mouth. Yet the instructions given above do actually lead to genuine esoteric training, and more-over, the regulation of life in the way described can be advantageous to all who cannot or will not undergo esoteric training. For it does not fail to produce an effect upon the organism of the soul, even though slowly. As regards the esoteric student, the observance of these principles is indispensable. Should he attempt esoteric training without conforming to them, this could only result in his entering the higher worlds with inadequate   --    as it were spiritually audible in their innermost self, and speak to him of their essential being. The currents described above place him in touch with the inner being of the world to which he belongs. He begins to mingle his life with the life of his envIronment and can let it reverberate in the movements of his lotus flowers.   At this point the spiritual world is entered. If the student has advanced so far, he acquires a new understanding for all that the great teachers of humanity have uttered. The sayings of the Buddha and the Gospels, for instance, produce a new effect on him. They pervade him with a rapture of which he had not dreamed before. For the tone of their words follows the movements and rhythms which he has himself formed within himself. He can now have positive knowledge that a Buddha or the Evangelists did not utter their own revelations but those which flowed into them from the inmost being of all things. A fact must here be pointed out which can only be understood in the light of what has been said above. The many repetitions in the sayings of the Buddha are not comprehensible to people of our present evolutionary stage. For the esoteric student,

1.05 - The Ascent of the Sacrifice - The Psychic Being, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga      A Yoga turned towards an all-embracing realisation of the Supreme will not despise the works or even the dreams, if dreams they are, of the Cosmic Spirit or shrink from the splendid toil and many-sided victory which he has assigned to himself In the human creature. But its first condition for this liberality is that our works in the world too must be part of the sacrifice offered to the Highest and to none else, to the Divine shakti and to no other Power, in the right spirit and with the right knowledge, by the free soul and not by the hypnotised bondslave of material Nature. If a division of works has to be made, it is between those that are nearest to the heart of the sacred flame and those that are least touched or illumined by it because they are more at a distance, or between the fuel that burns strongly or brightly and the logs that if too thickly heaped on the altar may impede the ardour of the fire by their damp, heavy and diffused abundance. But otherwise, apart from this division, all activities of knowledge that seek after or express Truth are in themselves rightful materials for a complete offering; none ought necessarily to be excluded from the wide framework of the divine life. The mental and physical sciences which examine into the laws and forms and processes of things, those which concern the life of men and animals, the social, political, linguistic and historical and those which seek to know and control the labours and activities by which man subdues and utilises his world and envIronment, and the noble and beautiful Arts which are at once work and knowledge, -- for every well-made and significant poem, picture, statue or building is an act of creative knowledge, a living discovery of the consciousness, a figure of Truth, a dynamic form of mental and vital self-expression or world-expressions-all that seeks, all that finds, all that voices or figures is a realisation of something of the play of the Infinite and to that extent can be made a means of God-realisation or of divine formation. But the Yogin has to see that it is no longer done as part of an ignorant mental life; it can be accepted by him only if by the feeling, the remembrance, the dedication within it, it is turned into a movement of the spiritual consciousness and becomes a part of its vast grasp of comprehensive illuminating knowledge.      For all must be done as a sacrifice, all activities must have the One Divine for their object and the heart of their meaning. The Yogin's aim in the sciences that make for knowledge should be to discover and understand the workings of the Divine Consciousness-Puissance in man and creatures and things and forces, her creative significances, her execution of the mysteries, the symbols in which she arranges the manifestation. The Yogin's aim in the practical sciences, whether mental and physical or occult and psychic, should be to enter into the ways of the Divine and his processes, to know the materials and means for the work given to us so that we may use that knowledge for a conscious and faultless expression of the spirit's mastery, joy and self-fulfilment. The Yogin's aim in the Arts should not be a mere aesthetic, mental or vital gratification, but, seeing the Divine everywhere, worshipping it with a revelation of the meaning of its works, to express that One Divine in gods and men and creatures and objects. The theory that sees an intimate connection between religious aspiration and the truest and greatest Art is in essence right; but we must substitute for the mixed and doubtful religious motive a spiritual aspiration, vision, interpreting experience. For the wider and more comprehensive the seeing, the more it contains in itself the sense of the hidden Divine in humanity and in all things and rises beyond a superficial religiosity into the spiritual life, the more luminous, flexible, deep and powerful will the Art be that springs from the high motive. The Yogin's distinction from other men is this that he lives in a higher and vaster spiritual consciousness; all his work of knowledge or creation must then spring from there: it must not be made in the mind, -- for it is a greater truth and vision than mental man's that he has to express or rather that presses to express itself through him and mould his works, not for his personal satisfaction, but for a divine purpose.

1.05 - THE HOSTILE BROTHERS - ARCHETYPES OF RESPONSE TO THE UNKNOWN, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology   endlessly creative, and equally destructive; the inextricably associated social envIronment is   simultaneously tyrannical and protective. So far in our discussion, however, the hero has stood alone. This   --   have personal frailties that remain constrained by our social envIronments. Our neurotic tendencies are   checked by the people around us, who care for us, who complain and protest when we lose our self-control   --   As maturation takes place, the envIronment transforms. As the developing individual masters his   powers, his behavioral capacity expands. He can do more things and, in consequence, experience more   --   group has been rendered insufficient as a consequence of envIronmental, cultural or intellectual change    and refuses to be the fool who risks belief. The proper response to the illness of the father, is, of   --   beast, in darkness, in the night, in the kingdom of the dead. Hatred comes easily, in such an envIronment.   The decadent says, there is no such thing as to know and never attempts to accomplish anything.   --   The very name has an uncanny aspect: horrifying, Ironical, allegorical. Camp that is summer sun and   holiday, satirical comedy and masquerade, military rule, obedience and efficiency: death camp the very   --   every reminder of previous identity, his predictable envIronment, his conditional hope left bereft even of   his clothes and hair. He is treated with utmost contempt and derision, regardless of in spite of his   --   leads to development of rigid, weak personality (or social envIronment) or intrapsychic dissociation and   social chaos:   --   imagination, in accordance with certain presuppositions which are the rules (the envIronment) of the   game and then by acting in that imaginary world. This game construction, playing and modifying is a   --   First is the sojourn in Egypt, the furnace of Iron, a world visited by plagues, where the Egyptian desire   to exterminate the Hebrews goes into reverse with the slaughter of the Egyptian firstborn sons. This   --   derives rules from behavior. Application of the rules alters the envIronment, including procedural and   episodic representations thereof. Thus the cycle continues.   --   Suddenly, in the complete darkness, the Iron gate of the cell opens and there stands the Grand   Inquisitor himself, holding a light in his hand. The old man enters the cell alone and, when he is inside,   --   provides for the creation of specific envIronmentally-appropriate social contexts, procedural and episodic,   which promote development of the innate capacities of the individual, protect from danger, offer hope, and   --   envIronmental alteration makes such flexibility necessary:   Beware that no one lead you astray, saying, Lo here! or Lo there! For the Son of Man is within you.   --   and natural envIronment; means fulfillment of personal and interpersonal needs in accordance with meta-   308   --   France. This Ironical response was, of course, made in reference to the Catholic Index of books a listing   of readings forbidden to devout followers of that creed.   --   comfortable there). If a small object say, an Iron block is dropped in front of it, it will first freeze, and   then cautiously begin to investigate. The rat will use its capacity for motoric action to interact with the   --   perspectives. The Iron block was once, of its own accord, something qualitatively different from what it   is now, and will be something different, once again, in the future. In the earliest stages of its existence,   --   What is an Iron block for man? Shaped, a spear, and therefore food and death and security; suspended, a   pendulum, key to measurement of the earths rotation; dropped, significant of gravity, and the large-scale   --   accurately presented what is an Iron block not, for man? The pre-experimental mind of the alchemist,   pondering the nature of the prima materia the fundamental constituent element of experience easily   --   envIronment, natural or social, or, more prosaically, because of the emergence of incongruent experience   (paradigm-threatening information) the phenomena previously constrained in their motivational   --   quicksilver, for others it was ore, Iron, gold, lead, salt, sulphur, vinegar, water, air, fire, earth, blood, water   of life, lapis, poison, spirit, cloud, dew, sky, shadow, sea, mother, moon, serpent.... Jung states:   --   tell, because her envIronment was so appalling it may have caused her ignorance. She was illiterate, as   well. She lived with her mother whose character I knew nothing about and with an elderly, desperately   --   end, from the viewpoint of biological and envIronmental determinism fated as surely as anyone I had   even met. And maybe she beat her dog sometimes, and was rude to her sick aunt. Maybe. I never saw her   --   My friends in graduate school thought it Ironic that I had contact with a patient of this type. My peculiar   interest in Jung, and Jungs ideas regarding the collective unconscious, were well known to them, and it   --   how? We seem stymied, as always, by Pontius Pilates Ironic query: What is truth? (John 18:38.)   Well, even if we dont know precisely what the truth is, we can certainly tell, each of us, what it isnt. It   --   James, W. (1880). Great men and their envIronment. Atlantic Monthly, October.   Jerison, H.J. (1979) The evolution of diversity in brain size. In M.E. Hahn, C. Jensen, & B.C. Dudek (Eds.),   --   Physiological or envIronmental events that open these doors, so to speak, allow us insight into the original nature   of things; such insight, when involuntary (as it appears to be in the case of schizophrenia, for example) is of sufficient   --   emotion (think of Archimedes Eureka!)]. What can reasonably be parsed out of the envIronmental flux as an   object is therefore determined in large part by the goal we have in mind while interacting with that flux. This   --   of powerful conflicting forces. This imaginative cosmos is neither the objective envIronment studied by natural   science nor a subjective inner space to be studied by psychology. It is an intermediate world in which the images of   --   envIrons, for similar reasons, many centuries later (see Matthew 2:1-16).   539   --   Piaget also points out (a) that consciousness arises in personality when the envIronmental situation in which some   person finds himself or herself blocks some ongoing (goal-directed) activity. Children act in accordance with their

1.05 - The Magical Control of the Weather, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism   sensitive to such slight changes of envIronment as would leave   ordinary mortals wholly unaffected. But the line between these two   --   with Iron whips. It was all in vain. Even the great St. Francis of   Paolo himself, who annually performs the miracle of rain and is   --   was reviled, he was put in Irons, he was threatened with drowning or   hanging. "Rain or the rope!" roared the angry people at him, as they   --   Peruvian Andes stand two ruined towers on opposite hills. Iron hooks   are clamped into their walls for the purpose of stretching a net

1.05 - THE NEW SPIRIT, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity   other point without undergoing any change in its envIronment or   in itself. Socrates could have been born in the place of Descartes,   --   closely at the nature and properties of the new envIronment into   which we are being born.   --   sustained by the new envIronment, it more than ever develops its   main lines, acquiring an added coherence and clarity.

1.05 - True and False Subjectivism, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   For this is the sense of the characteristic turn which modern civilisation is taking. Everywhere we are beginning, though still sparsely and in a groping tentative fashion, to approach things from the subjective standpoint. In education our object is to know the psychology of the child as he grows into man and to found our systems of teaching and training upon that basis. The new aim is to help the child to develop his intellectual, aesthetic, emotional, moral, spiritual being and his communal life and impulses out of his own temperament and capacities,a very different object from that of the old education which was simply to pack so much stereotyped knowledge into his resisting brain and impose a stereotyped rule of conduct on his struggling and dominated impulses.1 In dealing with the criminal the most advanced societies are no longer altogether satisfied with regarding him as a law-breaker to be punished, imprisoned, terrified, hanged or else tortured physically and morally, whether as a revenge for his revolt or as an example to others; there is a growing attempt to understand him, to make allowance for his heredity, envIronment and inner deficiencies and to change him from within rather than crush him from without. In the general view of society itself, we begin to regard the community, the nation or any other fixed grouping of men as a living organism with a subjective being of its own and a corresponding growth and natural development which it is its business to bring to perfection and fruition. So far, good; the greater knowledge, the truer depth, the wiser humanity of this new view of things are obvious. But so also are the limitations of our knowledge and experience on this new path and the possibility of serious errors and stumblings.   If we look at the new attempt of nations, whether subject or imperial, to fulfil themselves consciously and especially at the momentous experiment of the subjective German nationality, we shall see the starting-point of these possible errors. The first danger arises from the historical fact of the evolution of the subjective age out of the individualistic; and the first enormous stumble has accordingly been to transform the error of individualistic egoism into the more momentous error of a great communal egoism. The individual seeking for the law of his being can only find it safely if he regards clearly two great psychological truths and lives in that clear vision. First, the ego is not the self; there is one self of all and the soul is a portion of that universal Divinity. The fulfilment of the individual is not the utmost development of his egoistic intellect, vital force, physical well-being and the utmost satisfaction of his mental, emotional, physical cravings, but the flowering of the divine in him to its utmost capacity of wisdom, power, love and universality and through this flowering his utmost realisation of all the possible beauty and delight of existence.

1.05 - War And Politics, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga   When half the world was dazzled by the glamour of Hitler's victory and considered him greater than Alexander and Napoleon, when others were groaning under the Iron wheels of his war-machine, and still others hoped to change his heart by non-violence, Sri Aurobindo's vision of Hitler never wavered for a moment he, a dwarf Napoleon with a rudimentary psychic being whose heart was beyond any possibility of change, became the vessel of an Asuric Power which ultimately led him to his nemesis.   Along with the European war, India's political problem naturally played a prominent part in our discussion, Mahatma Gandhi's attitude, the Congress policy, the Hindu-Muslim problem, Jinnah's intransigence and the Viceroy's role as the peace-maker, all this complicated politics and our Himalayan blunders leading to the rejection of the famous Cripps' Proposals, were within our constant purview.... The upshot of the whole discussion till the arrival of the Cripps' Mission can be put in a few words; the Congress made a big mistake by resigning from the Ministry. The Government was ready to offer us Dominion Status which we should have accepted, for it was virtually a step towards independence. We should have joined the war-effort. That would have created an opportunity to enter into all military departments and operations in air, on sea and land; hold positions, become efficient and thus enforce our natural right for freedom.   --   Our Ashram came in for a good deal of suffering and inconvenience in the wake of the War: the wrath and abuse of our countrymen, the resentment of a number of our own inmates for our support of the War and the loss of some other valiant sons in the great holocaust. It had to open its doors to the children of all disciples who were in the danger zone, so we were all of a sudden changed into a large community without sufficient means to maintain ourselves. And due to the general embargoes and restrictions imposed by the Government the most necessary food supply was either cut off or reduced to a minimum. Last of all, and the greatest Irony of fate, the Ashram in spite of all our help was suspected of being a nest of spies or enemy agents. Police search was apprehended and even the question of disbanding the Ashram was in the air. Perhaps the British Government had never entirely believed that Sri Aurobindo, once the most dangerous enemy of the British Empire, could really become their ally. Was he not still engaged in secret revolutionary activities, his war-contribution serving just as a smoke-screen? Unfortunately, in the Ashram itself there were some who wished for Hitler's victory, not for love of Hitler but because of their hatred of British domination. Sri Aurobindo conveyed through us a stern message to them: "If these people want that the Ashram should be dissolved, they can come and tell me and I will dissolve it instead of the police doing it.... Hitlerism is the greatest menace that the world has ever met."   Another inconvenience, but of short duration, that we had to pass through was the threat of bombing by the Japanese Air Force. As soon as the alert for a blackout was given, all lights in the Ashram had to go off. Sri Aurobindo sat up in bed, the Mother on a chair in Sri Aurobindo's room; the two of us who were on duty at the time also sat there, Champaklal very near the Mother.... After a short while when the all-clear signal was given, we would revert to our duty. One day, putting a dark shade over Sri Aurobindo's table lamp, the Mother said with a smile, "Your lamp lights up three streets, Lord." "So I should be darkened?" he asked smiling. In truth, I do not think that any Japanese aeroplane flew over Pondicherry. I was very much amused at the sight of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo taking this human precaution against any possible threat. But that is their way. Because they are Divine and possess a great occult power, one would suppose that all the human measures were otiose or a mere show as I thought in my callow days. But I saw in this case and in many others that the Mother was in grim earnest. Even if Sri Aurobindo and she were sure of an eventual success, they would keep applying the pressure of their Force till the issue was decided beyond any question.

1.05 - Yoga and Hypnotism, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   Yo yacchraddha sa eva sa. According as is a mans fixed and complete belief, that he is,not immediately always but sooner or later, by the law that makes the psychical tend inevitably to express itself in the material. The will is the agent by which all these changes are made and old saskras replaced by new, and the will cannot act without faith. The question then arises whether mind is the ultimate force or there is another which communicates with the outside world through the mind. Is the mind the agent or simply the instrument? If the mind be all, then it is only animals that can have the power to evolve; but this does not accord with the laws of the world as we know them. The tree evolves, the clod evolves, everything evolves Even in animals it is evident that mind is not all in the sense of being the ultimate expression of existence or the ultimate force in Nature. It seems to be all only because that which is all expresses itself in the mind and passes everything through it for the sake of manifestation. That which we call mind is a medium which pervades the world. Otherwise we could not have that instantaneous and electrical action of mind upon mind of which human experience is full and of which the new phenomena of hypnotism, telepathy etc. are only fresh proofs. There must be contact, there must be interpenetration if we are to account for these phenomena on any reasonable theory. Mind therefore is held by the Hindus to be a species of subtle matter in which ideas are waves or ripples, and it is not limited by the physical body which it uses as an instrument. There is an ulterior force which works through this subtle medium called mind. An animal species develops, according to the modern theory, under the subtle influence of the envIronment. The envIronment supplies a need and those who satisfy the need develop a new species which survives because it is more fit. This is not the result of any intellectual perception of the need nor of a resolve to develop the necessary changes, but of a desire, often though not always a mute, inarticulate and unthought desire. That desire attracts a force which satisfies it What is that force? The tendency of the psychical desire to manifest in the material change is one term in the equation; the force which develops the change in response to the desire is another. We have a will beyond mind which dictates the change, we have a force beyond mind which effects it. According to Hindu philosophy the will is the Jiva, the Purusha, the self in the nandakoa acting through vijna, universal or transcendental mind; this is what we call spirit. The force is Prakriti or Shakti, the female principle in Nature which is at the root of all action. Behind both is the single Self of the universe which contains both Jiva and Prakriti, spirit and material energy. Yoga puts these ultimate existences within us in touch with each other and by stilling the activity of the saskras or associations in mind and body enables them to act swiftly, victoriously, and as the world calls it, miraculously. In reality there is no such thing as a miracle; there are only laws and processes which are not yet understood.   Yoga is therefore no dream, no illusion of mystics. It is known that we can alter the associations of mind and body temporarily and that the mind can alter the conditions of the body partially. Yoga asserts that these things can be done permanently and completely. For the body conquest of disease, pain and material obstructions, for the mind liberation from bondage to past experience and the heavier limitations of space and time, for the heart victory over sin and grief and fear, for the spirit unclouded bliss, strength and illumination, this is the gospel of Yoga, is the goal to which Hinduism points humanity.

1.060 - Tracing the Ultimate Cause of Any Experience, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga   Then, what are we supposed to do? There are two things to be done. Number one, an investigation has to be made immediately as to why this has happened. A careful probe into the psychic atmosphere will reveal what sort of factors are present in our proximity which have brought this impulse out just as a magnet, by its mere presence, can draw Iron filings to itself, and when we find a restlessness of the Iron filings, we can infer the presence of a magnet nearby. If we hear the chattering of monkeys in a tree, we can imagine there is either a snake nearby, or a very violent dog that they have seen, or that something which is frightening them is present; otherwise, they will not make this chattering noise. Likewise, a very dispassionate, inward analysis has to be conducted. But, this is almost an impossibility for most people because nobody would like to conduct an investigation into pleasurable circumstances. They try to conduct investigations into painful ones, because an investigation into pleasurable circumstances is an attempt at stopping the very possibility of this satisfaction. Otherwise, why do we conduct the investigation? Who would like to counteract the chances of a pleasurable experience?   In practice, this method will fail unless the intelligence is far superior to the demands of the instinct; which is, of course, very rare to find in people. The senses generally get stirred up in the presence of their respective objects. Sense does not necessarily mean the ear or the eye even the ego is one of the senses. In an atmosphere where the ego is to be pampered, or can be pampered, where it can be elevated, where it can find its food in such an atmosphere it gets stirred up. It is activated, and its mood changes. Immediately, it flies up through a pair of new wings. When such a stirring activity within takes place, either of the senses or of the ego, one can infer the presence of a conducive atmosphere. A wise person will flee from that atmosphere; that is what an intelligent sadhaka would do. He would not stay in that place because he has found that his senses are becoming very turbulent due to the presence of certain external things. What can one do, except place oneself in a different condition where such an urge would not manifest itself? The cause of the event, the cause of the effect, is the presence of the personality in a given condition, just as favourable conditions enable a seed to sprout into a small plant while unfavourable conditions compel it to remain under the earth, as if it has no life at all. Likewise, the impulses remain inactive under unfavourable circumstances, and they manifest themselves under favourable ones.

1.06 - Being Human and the Copernican Principle, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga   with the envIronment comes to the surface. 16 To be able to   accept such a conclusion, however, one must have an open,

1.06 - Man in the Universe, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   15:It is probable indeed that they are the result or rather the inseparable accompaniments, not of an illusion, but of a wrong relation, wrong because it is founded on a false view of what the individual is in the universe and therefore a false attitude both towards God and Nature, towards self and envIronment. Because that which he has become is out of harmony both with what the world of his habitation is and what he himself should be and is to be, therefore man is subject to these contradictions of the secret Truth of things. In that case they are not the punishment of a fall, but the conditions of a progress. They are the first elements of the work he has to fulfil, the price he has to pay for the crown which he hopes to win, the narrow way by which Nature escapes out of Matter into consciousness; they are at once her ransom and her stock.   16:For out of these false relations and by their aid the true have to be found. By the Ignorance we have to cross over death. So too the Veda speaks cryptically of energies that are like women evil in impulse, wandering from the path, doing hurt to their Lord, which yet, though themselves false and unhappy, build up in the end "this vast Truth", the Truth that is the Bliss. It would be, then, not when he has excised the evil in Nature out of himself by an act of moral surgery or parted with life by an abhorrent recoil, but when he has turned Death into a more perfect life, lifted the small things of the human limitation into the great things of the divine vastness, transformed suffering into beatitude, converted evil into its proper good, translated error and falsehood into their secret truth that the sacrifice will be accomplished, the journey done and Heaven and Earth equalised join hands in the bliss of the Supreme.

1.06 - On Thought, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga   Because it is the opinion prevalent in your envIronment, because it is considered good form to have it and therefore saves you from as many clashes, frictions, criticisms as possible.   Or because this was the opinion of your father or mother, the opinion which moulded your childhood.

1.06 - PIG AND PEPPER, #Alice in Wonderland, #Lewis Carroll, #Fiction   Just then the cook took the caldron of soup off the fire, and at once set to work throwing everything within her reach at the Duchess and the baby--the fire-Irons came first; then followed a shower of saucepans, plates and dishes. The Duchess took no notice of them, even when they hit her, and the baby was howling so much already that it was quite impossible to say whether the blows hurt it or not.   "Oh, _please_ mind what you're doing!" cried Alice, jumping up and down in an agony of terror.

1.06 - Quieting the Vital, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   except in a habit of perpetually picking up the same vibrations? But the seeker who has cultivated silence will no longer let himself become caught in this false identification57 ; he will have become aware of what Sri Aurobindo calls the circumconscient, the envIronmental consciousness,58 that field of snow around him, which can be extremely luminous, strong and solid, or become dark,   corrupted, and sometimes even completely disintegrated, depending upon his own inner state. It is an individual atmosphere, as it were, a protective envelope (sensitive enough to enable us to feel somebody approaching, or avoid an accident just before it happens) where we can feel and stop the psychological vibrations before they enter us.

1.06 - The Ascent of the Sacrifice 2 The Works of Love - The Works of Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga    aware of in himself and finds all around him and has to struggle and combat incessantly to be rid of their grip and dislodge the long-entrenched mastery they have exercised over his own being as over the envIroning human existence. The difficulty is great; for their hold is so strong, so apparently invincible that it justifies the disdainful dictum which compares human nature to a dog's tail, - for, straighten it never so much by force of ethics, religion, reason or any other redemptive effort, it returns in the end always to the crooked curl of Nature. And so great is the vim, the clutch of that more agitated Life-Will, so immense the peril of its passions and errors, so subtly insistent or persistently invasive, so obstinate up to the very gates of Heaven the fury of its attack or the tedious obstruction of its obstacles that even the saint and the Yogin cannot be sure of their liberated purity or their trained self-mastery against its intrigue or its violence. All labour to straighten out this native crookedness strikes the struggling will as a futility; a flight, a withdrawal to happy Heaven or peaceful dissolution easily finds credit as the only wisdom and to find a way not to be born again gets established as the only remedy for the dull bondage or the poor shoddy delirium or the blinded and precarious happiness and achievement of earthly existence.   A remedy yet there should be and is, a way of redress and a chance of transformation for this troubled vital nature; but for that the cause of deviation must be found and remedied at the heart of Life itself and in its very principle, since Life too is a power of the Divine and not a creation of some malignant

1.06 - The Breaking of the Limits, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga   So we looked intently right and left: where is me, who is me?... There is no me! Not a trace, not a single ripple of it. What is the use? There is this little shadow in front, which appropriated and piled up feelings, thoughts, powers, plans, like a beggar afraid of being robbed, afraid of destitution; it hoarded desperately on its island, yet kept dying of thirst, a perpetual thirst in the middle of the lovely sheet of water; it kept building lines of defense and fortresses against that overwhelming vastness. But we left the leaden island; we let the stronghold fall, which was not so strong as all that. We entered another current that seemed inexhaustible, a treasure giving itself unsparingly: why should we hold back anything from the present minute when at the next one there were yet other riches? Why should we think or plan anything when life organized itself according to another plan, which foiled all the old plans and, sometimes, for a second, in a sort of ripple of laughter, let us catch a glimpse of an unexpected marvel, a sudden freedom, a complete disengagement from the old program, a light and unfettered little law that opened all doors, toppled the ineluctable consequences and all the old Iron laws with the flick of a finger, and left us stunned for a minute, on the threshold of an inconceivable expanse of sunlight, as though we had stepped into another solar system which is perhaps not a system at all as if breaking the mechanical limits inside had caused the same breaking of the mechanical limits outside. Maybe because the Machinery we are facing is one and the same: The world of man is what he thinks it; its laws are the result of his own constraint.   Yet this other way of being is not without logic, and that logic is what we should try to capture, if possible, if we want to pass consciously into the other state, not only in our inner life but in our outer one as well. We must know the rules of the passage.

1.06 - THE FOUR GREAT ERRORS, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy   certain circumstances and in a particular envIronment. The fatality of   his being cannot be divorced from the fatality of all that which has

1.06 - The Four Powers of the Mother, #The Mother With Letters On The Mother, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   12:MAHASARASWATI is the Mother s Power of Work and her spirit of perfection and order. The youngest of the Four, she is the most skilful in executive faculty and the nearest to physical Nature. Maheshwari lays down the large lines of the worldforces, Mahakali drives their energy and impetus, Mahalakshmi discovers their rhythms and measures, but Mahasaraswati presides over their detail of organisation and execution, relation of parts and effective combination of forces and unfailing exactitude of result and fulfilment. The science and craft and technique of things are Mahasaraswati's province. Always she holds in her nature and can give to those whom she has chosen the intimate and precise knowledge, the subtlety and patience, the accuracy of intuitive mind and conscious hand and discerning eye of the perfect worker. This Power is the strong, the tireless, the careful and efficient builder, organiser, administrator, technician, artisan and classifier of the worlds. When she takes up the transformation and new-building of the nature, her action is laborious and minute and often seems to our impatience slow and interminable, but it is persistent, integral and flawless. For the will in her works is scrupulous, unsleeping, indefatigable; leaning over us she notes and touches every little detail, finds out every minute defect, gap, twist or incompleteness, considers and weighs accurately all that has been done and all that remains still to be done hereafter. Nothing is too small or apparently trivial for her attention; nothing however impalpable or disguised or latent can escape her. Moulding and remoulding she labours each part till it has attained its true form, is put in its exact place in the whole and fulfils its precise purpose. In her constant and diligent arrangement and rearrangement of things her eye is on all needs at once and the way to meet them and her intuition knows what is to be chosen and what rejected and successfully determines the right instrument, the right time, the right conditions and the right process. Carelessness and negligence and indolence she abhors; all scamped and hasty and shuffling work, all clumsiness and a peu pres and misfire, all false adaptation and misuse of instruments and faculties and leaving of things undone or half done is offensive and foreign to her temper. When her work is finished, nothing has been forgotten, no part has been misplaced or omitted or left in a faulty condition; all is solid, accurate, complete, admirable. Nothing short of a perfect perfection satisfies her and she is ready to face an eternity of toil if that is needed for the fullness of her creation. Therefore of all the Mother s powers she is the most long-suffering with man and his thousand imperfections. Kind, smiling, close and helpful, not easily turned away or discouraged, insistent even after repeated failure, her hand sustains our every step on condition that we are single in our will and straightforward and sincere; for a double mind she will not tolerate and her revealing Irony is merciless to drama and histrionics and self-deceit and pretence. A mother to our wants, a friend in our difficulties, a persistent and tranquil counsellor and mentor, chasing away with her radiant smile the clouds of gloom and fretfulness and depression, reminding always of the ever-present help, pointing to the eternal sunshine, she is firm, quiet and persevering in the deep and continuous urge that drives us towards the integrality of the higher nature. All the work of the other Powers leans on her for its completeness; for she assures the material foundation, elaborates the stuff of detail and erects and rivets the armour of the structure.   13:There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realisation, - most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda that holds the key of a wonderful divinest Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe. But human nature bounded, egoistic and obscure is inapt to receive these great Presences or to support their mighty action. Only when the Four have founded their harmony and freedom of movement in the transformed mind and life and body, can those other rarer Powers manifest in the earth movement and the supramental action become possible. For when her Personalities are all gathered in her and manifested and their separate working has been turned into a harmonious unity and they rise in her to their supramental godheads, then is the Mother revealed as the supramental Mahashakti and brings pouring down her luminous transcendences from their ineffable ether. Then can human nature change into dynamic divine nature because all the elemental lines of the supramental Truth-consciousness and Truth-force are strung together and the harp of life is fitted for the rhythms of the Eternal.

1.06 - THE MASTER WITH THE BRAHMO DEVOTEES, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism   They arrived at the circus. Tickets for the cheapest seats were purchased. The devotees took the Master to a high gallery, and they all sat on a bench. He said joyfully: "Ha! This is a good place. I can see the show well from here." There were exhibitions of various feats. A horse raced around a circular track over which large Iron rings were hung at intervals. The circus rider, an Englishwoman, stood on one foot on the horse's back, and as the horse passed under the rings, she jumped through them, always alighting on one foot on the horse's back. The horse raced around the entire circle, and the woman never missed the horse or lost her balance.   When the circus was over, the Master and the devotees stood outside in the field, near the carriage. Since it was a cold night he covered his body with his green shawl.   --   MASTER (to the Marwari devotees): "You see, the feeling of 'I' and 'mine' is the result of ignorance. But to say, 'O God, Thou art the Doer; all these belong to Thee' is the sign of Knowledge. How can you say such a thing as 'mine'? The superintendent of the garden says, 'This is my garden.' But if he is dismissed because of some misconduct, then he does not have the courage to take away even such a worthless thing as his mango-wood box. Anger and lust cannot be destroyed. Turn them toward God. If you must feel desire and temptation, then desire to realize God, feel tempted by Him. Discriminate and turn the passions away from worldly objects. When the elephant is about to devour a plaintain-tree in someone's garden, the mahut strikes it with his Iron-tipped goad.   "You are merchants. You know how to improve your business gradually. Some of you start with a castor-oil factory. After making some money at that, you open a cloth shop. In the same way, one makes progress toward God. It may be that you go into solitude, now and then, and devote more time to prayer.

1.06 - The Objective and Subjective Views of Life, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   The growth of modern Science has meanwhile created new ideas and tendencies, on one side an exaggerated individualism or rather vitalistic egoism, on the other the quite opposite ideal of collectivism. Science investigating life discovered that the root nature of all living is a struggle to take the best advantage of the envIronment for self-preservation, self-fulfilment, self-aggrandisement. Human thought seizing in its usual arbitrary and trenchant fashion upon this aspect of modern knowledge has founded on it theories of a novel kind which erect into a gospel the right for each to live his own life not merely by utilising others, but even at the expense of others. The first object of life in this view is for the individual to survive as long as he may, to become strong, efficient, powerful, to dominate his envIronment and his fellows and to raise himself on this strenuous and egoistic line to his full stature of capacity and reap his full measure of enjoyment. Philosophies like Nietzsches, certain forms of Anarchism,not the idealistic Anarchism of the thinker which is rather the old individualism of the ideal reason carried to its logical conclusion,certain forms too of Imperialism have been largely influenced and streng thened by this type of ideas, though not actually created by them.   On the other hand, Science investigating life has equally discovered that not only is the individual life best secured and made efficient by association with others and subjection to a law of communal self-development rather than by aggressive self-affirmation, but that actually what Nature seeks to preserve is not the individual but the type and that in her scale of values the pack, herd, hive or swarm takes precedence over the individual animal or insect and the human group over the individual human being. Therefore in the true law and nature of things the individual should live for all and constantly subordinate and sacrifice himself to the growth, efficiency and progress of the race rather than live for his own self-fulfilment and subordinate the race-life to his own needs. Modern collectivism derives its victorious strength from the impression made upon human thought by this opposite aspect of modern knowledge. We have seen how the German mind took up both these ideas and combined them on the basis of the present facts of human life: it affirmed the entire subordination of the individual to the community, nation or State; it affirmed, on the other hand, with equal force the egoistic self-assertion of the individual nation as against others or against any group or all the groups of nations which constitute the totality of the human race.

1.06 - The Transformation of Dream Life, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy    method of expression, but they will cease merely to reflect reality connected with the physical body and physical envIronment. As the dreams due to the latter causes become more connected, they are mingled with similar pictures expressing things and events of another world. These are the first experiences lying beyond the range of waking consciousness.   Yet no true mystic will ever make his experiences in dreams the basis of any authoritative account of the higher world. Such dreams must be merely considered as providing the first hint of a higher development. Very soon and as a further result, the student's dreams will no longer remain beyond the reach of intellectual guidance as heretofore, but on the contrary, will be mentally controlled and supervised like the impressions and conceptions of waking consciousness. The difference between dream and waking consciousness grows ever smaller. The dreamer remains awake in the fullest sense of the word during his dream life; that is, he is aware of his mastery and control over his own vivid mental activity.

1.06 - Yun Men's Every Day is a Good Day, #The Blue Cliff Records, #Yuanwu Keqin, #Zen   an Iron spike.   Later Yun Men produced the Four Sages: Tung Shan Shou

1.070 - The Seven Stages of Perfection, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga   Thus, these limbs of yoga the eight limbs especially mentioned in Patanjali are the eight degrees of mastery which consciousness gains over its envIronment by the development of harmony with its atmosphere. We cannot have mastery over anything unless we are harmonious with that thing. The moment we are disharmonious, we become puppets in the hand of that thing with which we are disharmonious. Harmony and power are identical. The more we are harmonious with a thing, a person, an atmosphere or a condition, whatever it is, the more say we have in the matter of that thing which means control over that thing, power over that thing.   We are coming to the conclusion that the highest power is identity of oneself with that thing over which we want to have power. That is intuition. What is known as intuition is the insight which one gains into the substance of that thing which is now regarded as the object of perception, and which is then to become the very self of the thing. So, as we approach nearer and nearer to the subjecthood of the object, we gain greater mastery over it, and then it is that we have greater feeling for it, greater sympathy for it. This is what is known as the harmony that one has to establish with the object.

1.075 - Self-Control, Study and Devotion to God, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga   Even Garuda, who is the fastest of birds, cannot move if he is shackled with Iron chains. What is the use of saying that he is a very fast bird? He cannot move, because he has been tied to a peg with strong ropes or chains. Likewise, whatever be our ardour, whatever be our longing or fervour, that would be set at naught by the calls of the earth the demands of the senses, the feelings of the mind, and the loves of the emotions. These are terrific things, and the teacher of yoga has been cautious in laying the basic foundations in the very beginning itself so that these impediments may be obviated to a large extent. No one can be completely free from them, not even the best of sages. One day or the other they will come in some form, but at least they will be in a milder form not in a violent, wind-like form.   The advice intended by these sutras propounding the yamas and the niyamas is that no one, not even the best of students of yoga, can be free from the possibility of a reversion. There is no such thing as the best of students everyone is in some stage which is other than the best. And so, there is always a chance of it being possible for one to listen to the calls of the realms which one has attempted to transcend, inasmuch as the senses, or the means of perception belonging to the earlier stages, are still present.

1.07 - A Song of Longing for Tara, the Infallible, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset   suffering. Anything onto which we project inherent existencewhe ther ourselves or other people, the envIronment or things around usis in the nature   of suffering. Because we interpolate a false way of existence on them and   --   Lets stop wasting our time dreaming of a perfect external envIronment   in which well practice. The situation we are in and the people we are with   --   easily. Everything in the envIronment reminds us of the Dharma, so we will   be able to stay focused and are less likely to be distracted from our spiritual   --   for some people, being born in a pure land, where the envIronment is more   conducive, is safer.   --   To a person with a pure mind, the surrounding envIronment appears pure.   Its important not to confuse pure lands with the Christian idea of

1.07 - BOOK THE SEVENTH, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry   EnvIron'd with so many swords- From whence   This barb'rous usage? what is my offence?   --   With skilful ChIron's cave, and neighb'ring ground,   For old Cerambus' strange escape renown'd,

1.07 - Hui Ch'ao Asks about Buddha, #The Blue Cliff Records, #Yuanwu Keqin, #Zen   He comes out with this according to his pattern. Iron scrap stuff   ing. He goes right up to him and takes him.   --   ositions involve conceding or taking away person and/or envIron   ment, taking away the person but not the envIronment, taking   away the envIronment but not the person, taking away both, and   leaving both. See the appendix, "Traditional Teaching Devices."

1.07 - Medicine and Psycho therapy, #The Practice of Psycho therapy, #Carl Jung, #Psychology   regards the pathogenesis. The patients whole envIronment may be drawn   into this system of explanation in a positive or negative sense, as though it

1.07 - On Dreams, #Words Of Long Ago, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga   As a general rule, each individual has a period of the night that is more favourable for dreams, during which his activity is more fertile, more intellectual, and the mental circumstances of the envIronment in which he moves are more interesting.   The great majority of dreams have no other value than that of a purely mechanical and uncontrolled activity of the physical brain, in which certain cells continue to function during sleep as generators of sensory images and impressions conforming to the pictures received from outside.

1.07 - Standards of Conduct and Spiritual Freedom, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga   1:THE KNOWLEDGE on which the doer of works in Yoga has to found all his action and development has for the keystone of its structure a more and more concrete perception of unity, the living sense of an all-pervading oneness; he moves in the increasing consciousness of all existence as an indivisible whole: all work too is part of this divine indivisible whole. His personal action and its results can no longer be or seem a separate movement mainly or entirely determined by the egoistic "free" will of an individual, himself separate in the mass. Our works are part of an indivisible cosmic action; they are put or, more accurately, put themselves into their place in the whole out of which they arise and their outcome is determined by forces that overpass us. That world action in its vast totality and in every petty detail is the indivisible movement of the One who manifests himself progressively in the cosmos. Man too becomes progressively conscious of the truth of himself and the truth of things in proportion as he awakens to this One within him and outside him and to the occult, miraculous and significant process of its forces in the motion of Nature. This action, this movement, is not confined even in ourselves and those around us to the little fragmentary portion of the cosmic activities of which we in our superficial consciousness are aware; it is supported by an immense underlying envIroning existence subliminal to our minds or subconscious, and it is attracted by an immense transcending existence which is superconscious to our nature. Our action arises, as we ourselves have emerged, out of a universality of which we are not aware; we give it a shape by our personal temperament, personal mind and will of thought or force of impulse or desire; but the true truth of things, the true law of action exceeds these personal and human formations. Every standpoint, every man-made rule of action which ignores the indivisible totality of the cosmic movement, whatever its utility in external practice, is to the eye of spiritual Truth an imperfect view and a law of the Ignorance.   2:Even when we have arrived at some glimpse of this idea or succeeded in fixing it in our consciousness as a knowledge of the mind and a consequent attitude of the soul, it is difficult for us in our outward parts and active nature to square accounts between this universal standpoint and the claims of our personal opinion, our personal will, our personal emotion and desire. We are forced still to go on dealing with this indivisible movement as if it were a mass of impersonal material out of which we, the ego, the person, have to carve something according to our own will and mental fantasy by a personal struggle and effort. This is man's normal attitude towards his envIronment, actually false because our ego and its will are creations and puppets of the cosmic forces and it is only when we withdraw from ego into the consciousness of the divine Knowledge-Will of the Eternal who acts in them that we can be by a sort of deputation from above their master. And yet is this personal position the right attitude for man so long as he cherishes his individuality and has not yet fully developed it; for without this view-point and motiveforce he cannot grow in his ego, cannot sufficiently develop and differentiate himself out of the subconscious or half-conscious universal mass-existence.   3:But the hold of this ego-consciousness upon our whole habit of existence is difficult to shake off when we have no longer need of the separative, the individualistic and aggressive stage of development, when we would proceed forward from this necessity of littleness in the child-soul to unity and universality, to the cosmic consciousness and beyond, to our transcendent spiritstature. It is indispensable to recognise clearly, not only in our mode of thought but in our way of feeling, sensing, doing, that this movement, this universal action is not a helpless impersonal wave of being which lends itself to the will of any ego according to that ego's strength and insistence. It is the movement of a cosmic Being who is the Knower of his field, the steps of a Divinity who is the Master of his own progressive force of action. As the movement is one and indivisible, so he who is present in the movement is one, sole and indivisible. Not only all result is determined by him, but all initiation, action and process are dependent on the motion of his cosmic force and only belong secondarily and in their form to the creature.   --   25:The later religions endeavour to fix the type of a supreme truth of conduct, erect a system and declare God's law through the mouth of Avatar or prophet. These systems, more powerful and dynamic than the dry ethical idea, are yet for the most part no more than idealistic glorifications of the moral principle sanctified by religious emotion and the label of a superhuman origin. Some, like the extreme Christian ethic, are rejected by Nature because they insist unworkably on an impracticable absolute rule. Others prove in the end to be evolutionary compromises and become obsolete in the march of Time. The true divine law, unlike these mental counterfeits, cannot be a system of rigid ethical determinations that press into their cast-Iron moulds all our life-movements. The Law divine is truth of life and truth of the spirit and must take up with a free living plasticity and inspire with the direct touch of its eternal light each step of our action and all the complexity of our life issues. It must act not as a rule and formula but as an enveloping and penetrating conscious presence that determines all our thoughts, activities, feelings, impulsions of will by its infallible power and knowledge.   26:The older religions erected their rule of the wise, their dicta of Manu or Confucius, a complex Shastra in which they attempted to combine the social rule and moral law with the declaration of certain eternal principles of our highest nature in some kind of uniting amalgam. All three were treated on the same ground as equally the expression of everlasting verities, sanatana dharma. But two of these elements are evolutionary and valid for a time, mental constructions, human readings of the will of the Eternal; the third, attached and subdued to certain social and moral formulas, had to share the fortunes of its forms. Either the Shastra grows obsolete and has to be progressively changed or finally cast away or else it stands as a rigid barrier to the self-development of the individual and the race. The Shastra erects a collective and external standard; it ignores the inner nature of the individual, the indeterminable elements of a secret spiritual force within him. But the nature of the individual will not be ignored; its demand is inexorable. The unrestrained indulgence of his outer impulses leads to anarchy and dissolution, but the suppression and coercion of his soul's freedom by a fixed and mechanical rule spells stagnation or an inner death. Not this coercion or determination from outside, but the free discovery of his highest spirit and the truth of an eternal movement is the supreme thing that he has to discover.

1.07 - The Continuity of Consciousness, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy    in these things around him but cannot understand with the ordinary intellect, these are the things concerning which the experiences during sleep give him information. During every-day life man reflects on his envIronment; his mind tries to conceive and understand the connection existing between things; he seeks to grasp in thought and idea what his senses perceive. It is to these ideas and concepts that the experiences during sleep refer. Obscure, shadowy concepts become sonorous and living in a way comparable only to the tones and the words of the physical world. It seems to the student ever more and more as though the solution of the riddles over which he ponders is whispered to him in tones and words out of a higher world. And he is able to connect with ordinary life whatever comes to him from a higher world. What was formerly only accessible to his thought now becomes actual experience, just as living and substantial as an experience in this physical world can be. The things and beings of this physical world are by no means only what they appear to be for physical perception. They are the expression and effluence of a spiritual world.    p. 210   [paragraph continues] This spiritual world, hitherto concealed from the student, now resounds for him out of his whole envIronment.   It is easy to see that this higher perceptive faculty can prove a blessing only if the opened soul-senses are in perfect order, just as the ordinary senses can only be used for a true observation of the world if their equipment is regular and normal. Now man himself forms these higher senses through the exercises indicated by spiritual science. The latter include concentration, in which the attention is directed to certain definite ideas and concepts connected with the secrets of the universe; and meditation, which is a life in such ideas, a complete submersion in them, in the right way. By concentration and meditation the student works upon his soul and develops within it the soul-organs of perception. While thus applying himself to the task of concentration and meditation his soul grows within his body, just as the embryo child grows in the body of the mother. When the isolated experiences during sleep begin, as described, the moment of birth is approaching for the liberated soul; for she has literally become a new being, developed by the individual within   --    into waking consciousness as well. The acquisition of this faculty will enable him to perceive the spiritual world in its own character, among and within the experiences of the day; that is, the hidden secrets of his envIronment will be conveyed to his soul as tones and words.   Now, the student must realize at this stage of development that he is dealing with separate and more or less isolated spiritual experiences. He should therefore beware of constructing out of them a complete whole or even a connected system of knowledge. In this case, all manner of fantastic ideas and conceptions would be mixed into the soul-world, and a world might thus easily be constructed which had nothing to do with the real spiritual world. The student must continually practice self-control. The right thing to do is to strive for an ever clearer conception of the isolated real experiences, and to await the spontaneous arrival of new experiences which will connect themselves, as though of their own accord, with those already recorded. By virtue of the power of the spiritual world into which he has now found his way, and through continued application to his prescribed exercises, the student experiences an   --    connect the higher experiences of sleep with his physical envIronment. At first, however, the world entered during sleep is a completely new revelation. This important stage of development, at which consciousness is retained in the life during sleep, is known in spiritual science as the continuity of consciousness. The condition here indicated is regarded, at a certain stage of development, as a kind of ideal, attainable at the end of a long path. What the student first learns is the extension of consciousness into two soul-states, in the first of which only disordered dreams were previously possible, and in the second only unconscious dreamless sleep. Anyone having reached this stage of development does not cease experiencing and learning during those intervals when the physical body rests, and when the soul receives no impressions through the instrumentality of senses.

1.07 - The Farther Reaches of Human Nature, #Sex Ecology Spirituality, #Ken Wilber, #Philosophy   2:This is extremely important, I think, because the higher stages of development, the transrational and transpersonal and mystical stages, all involve a new going within, a new interiorness. And the charge has been circulating, for quite some time now, that endeavors such as meditation are somehow narcissistic and withdrawn. EnvIronmentalists, in particular, often claim that meditation is somehow "escapist" or "egocentric," and that this "going within" simply ignores the "real" problems in the "real" world "out there."   3:Precisely the opposite. Far from being some sort of narcissistic withdrawal or inward isolation, meditation (or transpersonal development in general) is a simple and natural continuation of the evolutionary process, where every going within is also a going beyond to a wider embrace.   --   6:Begin with interiorization. "Evolution, to Hartmann [founder of psychoanalytic developmental psychology], is a process of progressive internalization, for, in the development of the species, the organism achieves increased independence from its envIronment, the result of which is that 'reactions which originally occurred in relation to the external world are increasingly displaced into the interior of the organism.' The more independent the organism becomes, the greater its independence from the stimulation of the immediate envIronment."1 This applies to the infant, for example, when it no longer dissolves in tears if food is not immediately forthcoming. By interiorizing its awareness, it is no longer merely buffeted by the immediate fluctuations in the envIronment: its relative autonomy-its capacity to remain stable in the midst of shifting circumstances-increases. This progressive internalization is a cornerstone of psychoanalytic developmental psychology (from Hartmann to Blanck and Blanck to Kernberg to Kohut). It is implicit in Jung's notion of individuation. Likewise, Piaget described thought as "internalized action," the capacity to internally plan an action and anticipate its course without being merely a reactive automaton-and so forth.   7:In other words, for developmental psychology, increasing development = increasing interiorization = increasing relative autonomy. This, of course, is simply tenet 12d as it shows up in humans.   --   All of this ignored Kuhn's repeated insistence that "later scientific theories are better than earlier ones for solving puzzles in the quite often different envIronments to which they are applied. This is not a relativist's position, and it displays the sense in which I am a convinced believer in scientific progress."20   But by collapsing "paradigm" into a mere theory (itself unanchored), the scientific enterprise could be collapsed into various forms of literary chitchat (and the new masters of the universe were therefore . . . the literary critics).