1. Not failing; not giving way; not falling short of expectation; completely dependable. 2. Never giving out or coming to an end; unceasing, constant, continual, endless.
1. Not wearied, tired, or tired out; also, never becoming weary; indefatigable. 2. Of qualities, actions, conditions, etc.; Marked by absence of abatement; unremitting.
(2) Flirtations with realism, neutral monism, positivism or behaviorism have never seriously interfered with Russell's attempt to establish philosophy as a science. The emptical data being supplied by the experimental scientist, the specifically philosophical task becomes the analysis of such deliverances (with the full resources of modern logistic). Unlike certain of his followers, Russell has never been strenuously anti-metaphysical. He has never held pragmatic, still less conventional, views with regard to the nature of logic itself. And his general empirical approach has been constantly modified by rationalistic views concerning the subsistence of universals. -- M.B.
32-bit application "architecture, operating system" {IBM PC} software that runs in a 32-bit {flat address space}. The term {32-bit application} came about because {MS-DOS} and {Microsoft Windows} were originally written for the {Intel 8088} and {80286} {microprocessors}. These are {16 bit} microprocessors with a {segmented address space}. Programs with more than 64 kilobytes of code and/or data therefore had to switch between {segments} quite frequently. As this operation is quite time consuming in comparison to other machine operations, the application's performance may suffer. Furthermore, programming with segments is more involved than programming in a flat address space, giving rise to some complications in programming languages like "{memory models}" in {C} and {C++}. The shift from 16-bit software to 32-bit software on {IBM PC} {clones} became possible with the introduction of the {Intel 80386} microprocessor. This microprocessor and its successors support a segmented address space with 16-bit and 32 bit segments (more precisely: segments with 16- or 32-bit address offset) or a linear 32-bit address space. For compatibility reasons, however, much of the software is nevertheless written in 16-bit models. {Operating systems} like {Microsoft Windows} or {OS/2} provide the possibility to run 16-bit (segmented) programs as well as 32-bit programs. The former possibility exists for {backward compatibility} and the latter is usually meant to be used for new software development. See also {Win32s}. (1995-12-11)
abjuration ::: n. --> The act of abjuring or forswearing; a renunciation upon oath; as, abjuration of the realm, a sworn banishment, an oath taken to leave the country and never to return.
A solemn recantation or renunciation; as, an abjuration of heresy.
acatalepsy ::: n. --> Incomprehensibility of things; the doctrine held by the ancient Skeptic philosophers, that human knowledge never amounts to certainty, but only to probability.
accumulator "processor" In a {central processing unit}, a {register} in which intermediate results are stored. Without an accumulator, it would be necessary to write the result of each calculation (addition, multiplication, {shift}, etc.) to {main memory} and read them back. Access to main memory is slower than access to the accumulator which usually has direct paths to and from the {arithmetic and logic unit} (ALU). The {canonical} example is summing a list of numbers. The accumulator is set to zero initially, each number in turn is added to the value in the accumulator and only when all numbers have been added is the result written to main memory. Modern CPUs usually have many registers, all or many of which can be used as accumulators. For this reason, the term "accumulator" is somewhat archaic. Use of it as a synonym for "register" is a fairly reliable indication that the user has been around for quite a while and/or that the architecture under discussion is quite old. The term in full is almost never used of microprocessor registers, for example, though symbolic names for arithmetic registers beginning in "A" derive from historical use of the term "accumulator" (and not, actually, from "arithmetic"). Confusingly, though, an "A" register name prefix may also stand for "address", as for example on the {Motorola} {680x0} family. 2. "programming" A register, memory location or variable being used for arithmetic or logic (as opposed to addressing or a loop index), especially one being used to accumulate a sum or count of many items. This use is in context of a particular routine or stretch of code. "The FOOBAZ routine uses A3 as an accumulator." [{Jargon File}] (1999-04-20)
Advanced RISC Machine "processor" (ARM, Originally {Acorn} RISC Machine). A series of low-cost, power-efficient 32-bit {RISC} {microprocessors} for embedded control, computing, {digital signal processing}, {games}, consumer {multimedia} and portable applications. It was the first commercial RISC microprocessor (or was the {MIPS R2000}?) and was licensed for production by {Asahi Kasei Microsystems}, {Cirrus Logic}, {GEC Plessey Semiconductors}, {Samsung}, {Sharp}, {Texas Instruments} and {VLSI Technology}. The ARM has a small and highly {orthogonal instruction set}, as do most RISC processors. Every instruction includes a four-bit code which specifies a condition (of the {processor status register}) which must be satisfied for the instruction to be executed. Unconditional execution is specified with a condition "true". Instructions are split into load and store which access memory and arithmetic and logic instructions which work on {registers} (two source and one destination). The ARM has 27 registers of which 16 are accessible in any particular processor mode. R15 combines the {program counter} and processor status byte, the other registers are general purpose except that R14 holds the {return address} after a {subroutine} call and R13 is conventionally used as a {stack pointer}. There are four processor modes: user, {interrupt} (with a private copy of R13 and R14), fast interrupt (private copies of R8 to R14) and {supervisor} (private copies of R13 and R14). The {ALU} includes a 32-bit {barrel-shifter} allowing, e.g., a single-{cycle} shift and add. The first ARM processor, the ARM1 was a prototype which was never released. The ARM2 was originally called the Acorn RISC Machine. It was designed by {Acorn Computers Ltd.} and used in the original {Archimedes}, their successor to the {BBC Micro} and {BBC Master} series which were based on the eight-bit {6502} {microprocessor}. It was clocked at 8 MHz giving an average performance of 4 - 4.7 {MIPS}. Development of the ARM family was then continued by a new company, {Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.} The {ARM3} added a {fully-associative} on-chip {cache} and some support for {multiprocessing}. This was followed by the {ARM600} chip which was an {ARM6} processor {core} with a 4-kilobyte 64-way {set-associative} {cache}, an {MMU} based on the MEMC2 chip, a {write buffer} (8 words?) and a {coprocessor} interface. The {ARM7} processor core uses half the power of the {ARM6} and takes around half the {die} size. In a full processor design ({ARM700} chip) it should provide 50% to 100% more performance. In July 1994 {VLSI Technology, Inc.} released the {ARM710} processor chip. {Thumb} is an implementation with reduced code size requirements, intended for {embedded} applications. An {ARM800} chip is also planned. {AT&T}, {IBM}, {Panasonic}, {Apple Coputer}, {Matsushita} and {Sanyo} either rely on, or manufacture, ARM 32-bit processor chips. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.sys.arm}. (1997-08-05)
A dyadic relation R is irreflexive if xRx never holds (e.g., the relation less than among whole numbers). -- A.C.
Aeviternity: (Lat. aevum, never-ending time) Eternity conceived as a whole, apart from the flux of time; an endless temporal medium in which objects and events are relatively fixed. -- R.B.W.
Aftermath of descent: Whenever there .is a descent of the higher consciousness in the adhara: (1) Part of it is stored up in the frontal consdousness and remains there. (2) Part of it goes behind and remains as a support to the active part of the being. (3) Part flows out into the universal Nature. (4) Part is" absorbed by the inconsdent and lost to the individual cons- dousness and its action.
Agnishvatta(s) ::: (Sanskrit) ::: A compound of two words: agni, "fire"; shvatta, "tasted" or "sweetened," from svad, verb-rootmeaning "to taste" or "to sweeten." Therefore, literally one who has been delighted or sweetened by fire.A class of pitris: our solar ancestors as contrasted with the barhishads, our lunar ancestors.The kumaras, agnishvattas, and manasaputras are three groups or aspects of the same beings: thekumaras represent the aspect of original spiritual purity untouched by gross elements of matter. Theagnishvattas represent the aspect of their connection with the sun or solar spiritual fire. Having tasted orbeen "sweetened" by the spiritual fire -- the fire of intellectuality and spirituality -- they have beenpurified thereby. The manasaputras represent the aspect of intellectuality -- the functions of higherintellect.The agnishvattas and manasaputras are two names for the same class or host of beings, and set forth orsignify or represent two different aspects or activities of this one class of beings. Thus, for instance, aman may be said to be a kumara in his spiritual parts, an agnishvatta in his buddhic-manasic parts, and amanasaputra in his purely manasic aspect. Other beings could be called kumaras in their highest aspects,as for instance the beasts, but they are not imbodied agnishvattas or manasaputras.The agnishvattas are the solar spiritual-intellectual parts of us, and therefore are our inner teachers. Inpreceding manvantaras, they had completed their evolution in the realms of physical matter, and whenthe evolution of lower beings had brought these latter to the proper state, the agnishvattas came to therescue of these who had only the physical "creative fire," thus inspiring and enlightening these lowerlunar pitris with spiritual and intellectual energies or "fires."When this earth's planetary chain shall have reached the end of its seventh round, we, as then havingcompleted the evolutionary course for this planetary chain, will leave this planetary chain asdhyan-chohans, agnishvattas; but the others now trailing along behind us -- the present beasts -- will bethe lunar pitris of the next planetary chain to come.While it is correct to say that these three names appertain to the same class of beings, nevertheless eachname has its own significance in the occult teaching, which is why the three names are used with threedistinct meanings. Imagine an unconscious god-spark beginning its evolution in any one solar ormaha-manvantara. We may call it a kumara, a being of original spiritual purity, but with a destinythrough karmic evolution connected with the realms of matter.At the other end of the line, at the consummation of the evolution in this maha-manvantara, when theevolving entity has become a fully self-conscious god or divinity, its proper appellation then isagnishvatta, for it has been "sweetened" or purified by means of the working through it of the spiritualfires inherent in itself.Now then, when such an agnishvatta assumes the role of a bringer of mind or of intellectual light to alunar pitri which it overshadows and in which a ray from it incarnates, it then, although in its own realman agnishvatta, functions as a manasaputra or child of mind or mahat. A brief analysis of the compoundelements of these three names may be useful.Kumara is from ku meaning "with difficulty" and mara meaning "mortal." The significance of the wordtherefore can be paraphrased as "mortal with difficulty," and the meaning usually given to it by Sanskritscholars as "easily dying" is wholly exoteric and amusing, and doubtless arose from the fact that kumarais a word frequently used for child or boy, everybody knowing that young children "die easily." The ideatherefore is that purely spiritual beings, although ultimately destined by evolution to pass through therealms of matter, become mortal, i.e., material, only with difficulty.Agnishvatta has the meaning stated above, "delighted" or "pleased" or "sweetened," i.e., "purified" byfire -- which we may render in two ways: either as the fire of suffering and pain in material existenceproducing great fiber and strength of character, i.e., spirituality; or, perhaps still better from thestandpoint of occultism, as signifying an entity or entities who have become one in essence throughevolution with the aethery fire of spirit.Manasaputra is a compound of two words: manasa, "mental" or "intellectual," from the word manas,"mind," and putra, "son" or "child," therefore a child of the cosmic mind -- a "mind-born son" as H. P.Blavatsky phrases it. (See also Pitris, Lunar Pitris)
Al-Ghafur ::: The One who’s Mercy should never be doubted or given up on. The One who enables necessary cleansing and triggers the name Rahim to bestow blessings.
All Indian doctrines orient themselves by the Vedas, accepting or rejecting their authority. In ranging from materialism to acosmism and nihilism, from physiologism to spiritualism, realism to idealism, monism to pluralism, atheism and pantheism, Hindus believe they have exhausted all possible philosophic attitudes (cf. darsana), which they feel supplement rather than exclude each other. A unnersal feature is the fusion of religion, metaphysics, ethics and psychology, due to the universal acceptance of a psycho-physicalism, further exemplified in the typical doctrines of karma and samsara (q.v.). Rigorous logic is nevertheless applied in theology where metaphvsics passes into eschatology (cf., e.g., is) and the generally accepted belief in the cyclic nature of the cosmos oscillating between srsti ("throwing out") and pralaya (dissolution) of the absolute reality (cf. abhasa), and in psychology, where epistemology seeks practical outlets in Yoga (q.v.). With a genius for abstraction, thinkers were and are almost invariably hedonistically motivated by the desire to overcome the evils of existence in the hope of attaining liberation (cf. moksa) and everlasting bliss (cf. ananda, nirvana). -- K.F.L.
Al-Muta’ali ::: The limitless, boundless Supreme One, whose supremacy encompasses everything! The One whose reality can never be duly reflected by any engendered, conceptualized existence. The One who is beyond being limited by any mind or intellect.
alt "character" /awlt/ 1. The alt {modifier key} on many {keyboards}, including the {IBM PC}. On some keyboards and {operating systems}, (but not the IBM PC) the alt key sets bit 7 of the character generated. See {bucky bits}. 2. The "{clover}" or "Command" key on a {Macintosh}; use of this term usually reveals that the speaker hacked PCs before coming to the Mac (see also {feature key}). Some Mac hackers, confusingly, reserve "alt" for the Option key (and it is so labelled on some Mac II keyboards). 3. (Obsolete {PDP-10}; often "ALT") An alternate name for the {ASCII} ESC character (Escape, ASCII 27), after the keycap labelling on some older {terminals}; also "altmode" (/awlt'mohd/). This character was almost never pronounced "escape" on an {ITS} system, in {TECO} or under {TOPS-10}, always alt, as in "Type alt alt to end a TECO command" or "alt-U onto the system" (for "log onto the [ITS] system"). This usage probably arose because alt is easier to say. 4. "messaging" One of the {Usenet} {newsgroup} {hierarchies}. It was founded by {John Gilmore} and {Brian Reid}. The alt hierarchy is special in that anyone can create new groups here without going though the normal voting proceduers, hence the regular appearence of new groups with names such as "alt.swedish.chef.bork.bork.bork". [{Jargon File}] (1997-04-12)
Amal: “The line occurs in a passage describing a region of illusive realities. In this region everything strives towards form but never quite achieves it.
amaranth ::: n. --> An imaginary flower supposed never to fade.
A genus of ornamental annual plants (Amaranthus) of many species, with green, purplish, or crimson flowers.
A color inclining to purple.
amber room ::: --> A room formerly in the Czar&
America's Multimedia Online "company, web" (AMO) An {Internet} technologies company which invented {Never Offline} in 1995 and was officially started in 1996. {(http://amo.net/)}. E-mail: AMO "amo@amo.net". Address: Albuquerque, NM, USA. (1999-11-03)
Amitabha Buddha ::: [in Buddhist legend "the Buddha of measureless splendour"] who turned away when his spirit was on the threshold of nirvana and took the vow never to cross its while a single being remained in the sorrow and the Ignorance.
Analogy: (in Scholasticism) Predication common to several inferiors of a name, which is accepted in different senses, in such a manner, nevertheless, that some principle warrants its common applicability. Accordingly as this principle is sought in the relations of cause and effect, proportion or proportionality there are distinguished various types of analogy.
Analytical Engine "history" A design for a general-purpose digital computer proposed by {Charles Babbage} in 1837 as a successor to his earlier special-purpose {Difference Engine}. The Analytical Engine was to be built from brass gears powered by steam with input given on {punched cards}. Babbage could never secure enough funding to build it, and so it was, and never has been, constructed. {(http://fourmilab.ch/babbage/)}. (1998-10-19)
". . . an Avatar is not at all bound to be a spiritual prophet — he is never in fact merely a prophet, he is a realiser, an establisher — not of outward things only, though he does realise something in the outward also, but, as I have said, of something essential and radical needed for the terrestrial evolution which is the evolution of the embodied spirit through successive stages towards the Divine.” Letters on Yoga
“… an Avatar is not at all bound to be a spiritual prophet—he is never in fact merely a prophet, he is a realiser, an establisher—not of outward things only, though he does realise something in the outward also, but, as I have said, of something essential and radical needed for the terrestrial evolution which is the evolution of the embodied spirit through successive stages towards the Divine.” Letters on Yoga*
“… an Avatar is not at all bound to be a spiritual prophet—he is never in fact merely a prophet, he is a realiser, an establisher—not of outward things only, though he does realise something in the outward also, but, as I have said, of something essential and radical needed for the terrestrial evolution which is the evolution of the embodied spirit through successive stages towards the Divine.” Letters on Yoga
Anticipations of experience: In Kant's Crit. of pure Reason Antizipationen der Wahrnehmung) the second of two synthetic principles of the understanding (the other being "Axioms of Intuition") by which the mind is able to determine something a priori in regard to what is in itself empirical. While the mind cannot anticipate the specific qualities which are to be experienced, we can, nevertheless, Kant holds, predetermine or anticipate any sense experience that "in all appearances the real, which is an object of sensation, has intensive magnitude or degree." -- O.F.K.
AOS 1. "programming" /aws/ (East Coast), /ay-os/ (West Coast) A {PDP-10} instruction that took any memory location and added 1 to it. AOS meant "Add One and do not Skip". Why, you may ask, does the "S" stand for "do not Skip" rather than for "Skip"? Ah, here was a beloved piece of PDP-10 folklore. There were eight such instructions: AOSE added 1 and then skipped the next instruction if the result was Equal to zero; AOSG added 1 and then skipped if the result was Greater than 0; AOSN added 1 and then skipped if the result was Not 0; AOSA added 1 and then skipped Always; and so on. Just plain AOS didn't say when to skip, so it never skipped. For similar reasons, AOJ meant "Add One and do not Jump". Even more bizarre, SKIP meant "do not SKIP"! If you wanted to skip the next instruction, you had to say "SKIPA". Likewise, JUMP meant "do not JUMP"; the unconditional form was JUMPA. However, hackers never did this. By some quirk of the 10's design, the {JRST} (Jump and ReSTore flag with no flag specified) was actually faster and so was invariably used. Such were the perverse mysteries of assembler programming. 2. "operating system" /A-O-S/ or /A-os/ A {Multics}-derived {operating system} supported at one time by {Data General}. A spoof of the standard AOS system administrator's manual ("How to Load and Generate your AOS System") was created, issued a part number, and circulated as photocopy folklore; it was called "How to Goad and Levitate your CHAOS System". 3. "operating system" Algebraic Operating System, in reference to those calculators which use {infix} {operators} instead of {postfix notation}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-11-26)
appurtenance ::: n. --> That which belongs to something else; an adjunct; an appendage; an accessory; something annexed to another thing more worthy; in common parlance and legal acceptation, something belonging to another thing as principal, and which passes as incident to it, as a right of way, or other easement to land; a right of common to pasture, an outhouse, barn, garden, or orchard, to a house or messuage. In a strict legal sense, land can never pass as an appurtenance to land.
Aralu: The underworld, abode of the dead in Babylonian mythology. Conceived of as a vast, dark underground cave, entered through a hole in the earth, guarded by seven doors, to which all human beings go after death, never to return, but able to communicate with and give oracles to the living.
Ars Combinatoria: (Leibniz) An art or technique of deriving or inventing complex concepts by a combination of a relatively few simple ones taken as primitive. This technique was proposed as a valuable subject for study by Leibniz in De Arte Combinatoria (1666) but was never greatly developed by him. Leibniz's program for logic consisted of two main projects: (1) the development of a universal characteristic (characteristica universalis), and (2) the development of a universal mathematics (mathesis universalis (q.v.). The universal characteristic was to be a universal language for scientists and philosophers. With a relatively few basic symbols for the ultimately simple ideas, and a suitable technique for constructing compound ideas out of the simple ones, Leibniz thought that a language could be constructed which would be much more efficient for reasoning and for communication than the vague, complicated, and more or less parochial languages then available. This language would be completely universal in the sense that all scientific and philosophical concepts could be expressed in it, and also in that it would enable scholars m all countries to communicate over the barriers of their vernacular tongues. Leibniz's proposals in this matter, and what work he did on it, are the grand predecessors of a vast amount of research which has been done in the last hundred years on the techniques of language construction, and specifically on the invention of formal rules and procedures for introducing new terms into a language on the basis of terms already present, the general project of constructing a unified language for science and philosophy. L. Couturat, La Logique de Leibniz, Paris, 1901; C. I. Lewis, A Survey of Symbolic Logic, Berkeley, 1918. -- F.L.W.
artificial neural network "artificial intelligence" (ANN, commonly just "neural network" or "neural net") A network of many very simple processors ("units" or "neurons"), each possibly having a (small amount of) local memory. The units are connected by unidirectional communication channels ("connections"), which carry numeric (as opposed to symbolic) data. The units operate only on their local data and on the inputs they receive via the connections. A neural network is a processing device, either an {algorithm}, or actual hardware, whose design was inspired by the design and functioning of animal brains and components thereof. Most neural networks have some sort of "training" rule whereby the weights of connections are adjusted on the basis of presented patterns. In other words, neural networks "learn" from examples, just like children learn to recognise dogs from examples of dogs, and exhibit some structural capability for generalisation. Neurons are often elementary non-linear signal processors (in the limit they are simple threshold discriminators). Another feature of NNs which distinguishes them from other computing devices is a high degree of interconnection which allows a high degree of parallelism. Further, there is no idle memory containing data and programs, but rather each neuron is pre-programmed and continuously active. The term "neural net" should logically, but in common usage never does, also include biological neural networks, whose elementary structures are far more complicated than the mathematical models used for ANNs. See {Aspirin}, {Hopfield network}, {McCulloch-Pitts neuron}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.ai.neural-nets}. (1997-10-13)
ASCIIbonics "chat" (From {ASCII} and Ebonics) A style of text communication in English which is most common on {talk} systems such as {irc}. Its notable characteristics are: Typing all in lowercase (and occasionally all in uppercase). Copious use of abbreviations of the sort "u" for "you" "1" for "one" (and therefore "some1" for "someone", "ne1" for "anyone"), "2" for "to", "r" for "are", etc. A general lack of punctuation, except for strings of question marks and exclamation marks. Common use of the idiom "m or f?", meant to elicit a statement of the listener's gender. Typical extended discourse in ASCIIbonics: "hey wasup ne1 want 2 {cyber}?" "m or f?" ASCIIbonics is similar to the way {B1FF} talked, although B1FF used more punctuation (lots more), and used all uppercase, rather than all lowercase. What's more, B1FF was only interested in {warez}, and so never asked "m or f?". It has been widely observed that some of the purest examples of ASCIIbonics come from non-native speakers of English. The phenomenon of ASCIIbonics predates by several years the use of the word "ASCIIbonics", as the word could only have been coined in or after late 1996, when "Ebonics" was first used in the US media to denote the US English dialects known in the linguistic literature as "Black Vernacular English". (1997-06-21)
::: "As for prophecy, I have never met or known of a prophet, however reputed, who was infallible. Some of their predictions come true to the letter, others do not, — they half-fulfil or misfire entirely. It does not follow that the power of prophecy is unreal or the accurate predictions can be all explained by probability, chance, coincidence. The nature and number of those that cannot is too great. The variability of fulfilment may be explained either by an imperfect power in the prophet sometimes active, sometimes failing or by the fact that things are predictable in part only, they are determined in part only or else by different factors or lines of power, different series of potentials and actuals. So long as one is in touch with one line, one predicts accurately, otherwise not — or if the lines of power change, one"s prophecy also goes off the rails. All the same, one may say, there must be, if things are predictable at all, some power or plane through which or on which all is foreseeable; if there is a divine Omniscience and Omnipotence, it must be so. Even then what is foreseen has to be worked out, actually is worked out by a play of forces, — spiritual, mental, vital and physical forces — and in that plane of forces there is no absolute rigidity discoverable. Personal will or endeavour is one of those forces.” Letters on Yoga
“As for prophecy, I have never met or known of a prophet, however reputed, who was infallible. Some of their predictions come true to the letter, others do not,—they half-fulfil or misfire entirely. It does not follow that the power of prophecy is unreal or the accurate predictions can be all explained by probability, chance, coincidence. The nature and number of those that cannot is too great. The variability of fulfilment may be explained either by an imperfect power in the prophet sometimes active, sometimes failing or by the fact that things are predictable in part only, they are determined in part only or else by different factors or lines of power, different series of potentials and actuals. So long as one is in touch with one line, one predicts accurately, otherwise not—or if the lines of power change, one’s prophecy also goes off the rails. All the same, one may say, there must be, if things are predictable at all, some power or plane through which or on which all is foreseeable; if there is a divine Omniscience and Omnipotence, it must be so. Even then what is foreseen has to be worked out, actually is worked out by a play of forces,—spiritual, mental, vital and physical forces—and in that plane of forces there is no absolute rigidity discoverable. Personal will or endeavour is one of those forces.” Letters on Yoga
(A situation often arising in practice is that a word -- or symbol or notation -- which already has a vague meaning is to be given a new exact meaning, which is vaguely, or as nearly as possible, the same as the old. This is done by a nominal or semantical definition rather than a real definition; nevertheless it is usual in such a case to speak either of defining the word or of defining the associated notion.)
As regards exclusive disjunction in the propositional calculus, the caution should be noted that, although p + q is the exclusive disjunction of p and q, and although + obeys an associative law, nevertheless [p + q] + r is not the exclusive disjunction of the three propositions p, q, r -- but is rather, "Either all three or one and one only of p, q, r." -- A.C.
As Sri Aurobindo once wrote to Dilip Kumar Roy, (I paraphrase) ‘ The earth is a conscious being and the world is only the form it takes to manifest.’ This statement of the Avatar, predating the GAIA theory by many years and far surpassing it in its infinite scope, promises an earth returned to beauty to manifest, unknown to man, an inconceivable perfection. I once wrote to Mother with a question about what would happen to plants and flowers in the New Creation. Her reply filled me with joy and gratitude for She said that the flowers would be among the first to change (be transformed) because their entire life is an aspiration for light. Imagine the beauty to come with flowers brilliant with the Divine Light, colours such as never seen before, fragrances that can transofrm suffering and sorrow into a life free of pain and filled with joy.
Astral "language" A programming language based on {Pascal}, never implemented. ["ASTRAL: A Structured and Unified Approach to Database Design and Manipulation", T. Amble et al, in Proc of the Database Architecture Conf, Venice, June 1979]. (2000-01-27)
asymptote ::: n. --> A line which approaches nearer to some curve than assignable distance, but, though infinitely extended, would never meet it. Asymptotes may be straight lines or curves. A rectilinear asymptote may be conceived as a tangent to the curve at an infinite distance.
Atanasoff-Berry Computer "computer" (ABC) An early design for a binary calculator, one of the predecessors of the {digital computer}. The ABC was partially constructed between 1937 and 1942 by Dr. {John Vincent Atanasoff} and Clifford Berry at {Iowa State College}. As well as {binary} arithmetic, it incorporated {regenerative memory}, {parallel processing}, and separation of memory and computing functions. The electronic parts were mounted on a rotating drum, making it hybrid electronic/electromechanical. It was designed to handle only a single type of mathematical problem and was not automated. The results of a single calculation cycle had to be retrieved by a human operator, and fed back into the machine with all new instructions, to perform complex operations. It lacked any serious form of logical control or {conditional} statements. Atanasoff's patent application was denied because he never have a completed, working product. Ideas from the ABC were used in the design of {ENIAC} (1943-1946). {(http://cs.iastate.edu/jva/jva-archive.shtml)}. (2003-09-28)
attorney-general ::: n. --> The chief law officer of the state, empowered to act in all litigation in which the law-executing power is a party, and to advise this supreme executive whenever required.
Attribute: Commonly, what is proper to a thing (Latm, ad-tribuere, to assign, to ascribe, to bestow). Loosely assimilated to a quality, a property, a characteristic, a peculiarity, a circumstance, a state, a category, a mode or an accident, though there are differences among all these terms. For example, a quality is an inherent property (the qualities of matter), while an attribute refers to the actual properties of a thing only indirectly known (the attributes of God). Another difference between attribute and quality is that the former refers to the characteristics of an infinite being, while the latter is used for the characteristics of a finite being. In metaphysics, an attribute is what is indispensable to a spiritual or material substance; or that which expresses the nature of a thing; or that without which a thing is unthinkable. As such, it implies necessarily a relation to some substance of which it is an aspect or conception. But it cannot be a substance, as it does not exist by itself. The transcendental attributes are those which belong to a being because it is a being: there are three of them, the one, the true and the good, each adding something positive to the idea of being. The word attribute has been and still is used more readily, with various implications, by substantialist systems. In the 17th century, for example, it denoted the actual manifestations of substance. [Thus, Descartes regarded extension and thought as the two ultimate, simple and original attributes of reality, all else being modifications of them. With Spinoza, extension and thought became the only known attributes of Deity, each expressing in a definite manner, though not exclusively, the infinite essence of God as the only substance. The change in the meaning of substance after Hume and Kant is best illustrated by this quotation from Whitehead: "We diverge from Descartes by holding that what he has described as primary attributes of physical bodies, are really the forms of internal relationships between actual occasions and within actual occasions" (Process and Reality, p. 471).] The use of the notion of attribute, however, is still favoured by contemporary thinkers. Thus, John Boodin speaks of the five attributes of reality, namely: Energy (source of activity), Space (extension), Time (change), Consciousness (active awareness), and Form (organization, structure). In theodicy, the term attribute is used for the essential characteristics of God. The divine attributes are the various aspects under which God is viewed, each being treated as a separate perfection. As God is free from composition, we know him only in a mediate and synthetic way thrgugh his attributes. In logic, an attribute is that which is predicated or anything, that which Is affirmed or denied of the subject of a proposition. More specifically, an attribute may be either a category or a predicable; but it cannot be an individual materially. Attributes may be essential or accidental, necessary or contingent. In grammar, an attribute is an adjective, or an adjectival clause, or an equivalent adjunct expressing a characteristic referred to a subject through a verb. Because of this reference, an attribute may also be a substantive, as a class-name, but not a proper name as a rule. An attribute is never a verb, thus differing from a predicate which may consist of a verb often having some object or qualifying words. In natural history, what is permanent and essential in a species, an individual or in its parts. In psychology, it denotes the way (such as intensity, duration or quality) in which sensations, feelings or images can differ from one another. In art, an attribute is a material or a conventional symbol, distinction or decoration.
Axiom of Choice "logic" (AC, or "Choice") An {axiom} of {set theory}: If X is a set of sets, and S is the union of all the elements of X, then there exists a function f:X -" S such that for all non-empty x in X, f(x) is an element of x. In other words, we can always choose an element from each set in a set of sets, simultaneously. Function f is a "choice function" for X - for each x in X, it chooses an element of x. Most people's reaction to AC is: "But of course that's true! From each set, just take the element that's biggest, stupidest, closest to the North Pole, or whatever". Indeed, for any {finite} set of sets, we can simply consider each set in turn and pick an arbitrary element in some such way. We can also construct a choice function for most simple {infinite sets} of sets if they are generated in some regular way. However, there are some infinite sets for which the construction or specification of such a choice function would never end because we would have to consider an infinite number of separate cases. For example, if we express the {real number} line R as the union of many "copies" of the {rational numbers}, Q, namely Q, Q+a, Q+b, and infinitely (in fact uncountably) many more, where a, b, etc. are {irrational numbers} no two of which differ by a rational, and Q+a == {q+a : q in Q} we cannot pick an element of each of these "copies" without AC. An example of the use of AC is the theorem which states that the {countable} union of countable sets is countable. I.e. if X is countable and every element of X is countable (including the possibility that they're finite), then the sumset of X is countable. AC is required for this to be true in general. Even if one accepts the axiom, it doesn't tell you how to construct a choice function, only that one exists. Most mathematicians are quite happy to use AC if they need it, but those who are careful will, at least, draw attention to the fact that they have used it. There is something a little odd about Choice, and it has some alarming consequences, so results which actually "need" it are somehow a bit suspicious, e.g. the {Banach-Tarski paradox}. On the other side, consider {Russell's Attic}. AC is not a {theorem} of {Zermelo Fränkel set theory} (ZF). Gödel and Paul Cohen proved that AC is independent of ZF, i.e. if ZF is consistent, then so are ZFC (ZF with AC) and ZF(~C) (ZF with the negation of AC). This means that we cannot use ZF to prove or disprove AC. (2003-07-11)
babel ::: “The reference is to the mythological story of the construction of the Tower of Babel, which appears to be an attempt to explain the diversity of human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and tower ‘with its top in the heavens’. God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The tower was never completed and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works
babel ::: "The reference is to the mythological story of the construction of the Tower of Babel, which appears to be an attempt to explain the diversity of human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and tower ‘with its top in the heavens". God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The tower was never completed and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works Sri Aurobindo: "The legend of the Tower of Babel speaks of the diversity of tongues as a curse laid on the race; but whatever its disadvantages, and they tend more and more to be minimised by the growth of civilisation and increasing intercourse, it has been rather a blessing than a curse, a gift to mankind rather than a disability laid upon it. The purposeless exaggeration of anything is always an evil, and an excessive pullulation of varying tongues that serve no purpose in the expression of a real diversity of spirit and culture is certainly a stumbling-block rather than a help: but this excess, though it existed in the past, is hardly a possibility of the future. The tendency is rather in the opposite direction. In former times diversity of language helped to create a barrier to knowledge and sympathy, was often made the pretext even of an actual antipathy and tended to a too rigid division. The lack of sufficient interpenetration kept up both a passive want of understanding and a fruitful crop of active misunderstandings. But this was an inevitable evil of a particular stage of growth, an exaggeration of the necessity that then existed for the vigorous development of strongly individualised group-souls in the human race. These disadvantages have not yet been abolished, but with closer intercourse and the growing desire of men and nations for the knowledge of each other"s thought and spirit and personality, they have diminished and tend to diminish more and more and there is no reason why in the end they should not become inoperative.” The Human Cycle
background 1. "operating system" A task running in the background (a background task) is detached from the terminal where it was started (and often running at a lower priority); opposite of {foreground}. This means that the task's input and output must be from/to files (or other processes). Nowadays this term is primarily associated with {Unix}, but it appears to have been first used in this sense on {OS/360}. Compare {amp off}, {batch}, {slopsucker}. 2. "jargon" For a human to do a task "in the background" is to do it whenever {foreground} matters are not claiming your undivided attention, and "to background" something means to relegate it to a lower priority. "For now, we'll just print a list of nodes and links; I'm working on the graph-printing problem in the background." Note that this implies ongoing activity but at a reduced level or in spare time, in contrast to mainstream "back burner" (which connotes benign neglect until some future resumption of activity). Some people prefer to use the term for processing that they have queued up for their unconscious minds (often a fruitful tack to take upon encountering an obstacle in creative work). (1996-05-28)
balabhava ::: the state of being (like) a child; childhood; childlikeness; the childlikeness of the free physical mind, "a state of pure happy and free irresponsibility of action"; "the royal and eternal childhood whose toys are the worlds and all universal Nature is the miraculous garden of the play that tires never". bala b ala bh bhava
Being: In early Greek philosophy is opposed either to change, or Becoming, or to Non-Being. According to Parmenides and his disciples of the Eleatic School, everything real belongs to the category of Being, as the only possible object of thought. Essentially the same reasoning applies also to material reality in which there is nothing but Being, one and continuous, all-inclusive and eternal. Consequently, he concluded, the coming into being and passing away constituting change are illusory, for that which is-not cannot be, and that which is cannot cease to be. In rejecting Eleitic monism, the materialists (Leukippus, Democritus) asserted that the very existence of things, their corporeal nature, insofar as it is subject to change and motion, necessarily presupposes the other than Being, that is, Non-Being, or Void. Thus, instead of regarding space as a continuum, they saw in it the very source of discontinuity and the foundation of the atomic structure of substance. Plato accepted the first part of Parmenides' argument. namely, that referring to thought as distinct from matter, and maintained that, though Becoming is indeed an apparent characteristic of everything sensory, the true and ultimate reality, that of Ideas, is changeless and of the nature of Being. Aristotle achieved a compromise among all these notions and contended that, though Being, as the essence of things, is eternal in itself, nevertheless it manifests itself only in change, insofar as "ideas" or "forms" have no existence independent of, or transcendent to, the reality of things and minds. The medieval thinkers never revived the controversy as a whole, though at times they emphasized Being, as in Neo-Platonism, at times Becoming, as in Aristotelianism. With the rise of new interest in nature, beginning with F. Bacon, Hobbes and Locke, the problem grew once more in importance, especially to the rationalists, opponents of empiricism. Spinoza regarded change as a characteristic of modal existence and assumed in this connection a position distantly similar to that of Pinto. Hegel formed a new answer to the problem in declaring that nature, striving to exclude contradictions, has to "negate" them: Being and Non-Being are "moments" of the same cosmic process which, at its foundation, arises out of Being containing Non-Being within itself and leading, factually and logically, to their synthetic union in Becoming. -- R.B.W.
biff /bif/ To notify someone of incoming mail. From the {BSD} utility "biff(1)", which was in turn named after a friendly golden Labrador who used to chase frisbees in the halls at UCB while {4.2BSD} was in development (it had a well-known habit of barking whenever the mailman came). No relation to {BIFF}. [{Jargon File}]
bit-paired keyboard "hardware" (Obsolete, or "bit-shift keyboard") A non-standard keyboard layout that seems to have originated with the {Teletype} {ASR-33} and remained common for several years on early computer equipment. The ASR-33 was a mechanical device (see {EOU}), so the only way to generate the character codes from keystrokes was by some physical linkage. The design of the ASR-33 assigned each character key a basic pattern that could be modified by flipping bits if the SHIFT or the CTRL key was pressed. In order to avoid making the thing more of a Rube Goldberg {kluge} than it already was, the design had to group characters that shared the same basic {bit pattern} on one key. Looking at the {ASCII} chart, we find: high low bits bits 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 010 ! "
blight ::: v. t. --> To affect with blight; to blast; to prevent the growth and fertility of.
Hence: To destroy the happiness of; to ruin; to mar essentially; to frustrate; as, to blight one&
never ::: adv. --> Not ever; not at any time; at no time, whether past, present, or future.
In no degree; not in the least; not.
nevermore ::: adv. --> Never again; at no time hereafter.
neverthelater ::: adv. / conj. --> Nevertheless.
nevertheless ::: adv. / conj. --> Not the less; notwithstanding; in spite of that; yet.
Bobo the Webmonkey "web" What {B1FF} was to {BITNET} users, Bobo the Webmonkey is to {webmonkeys} - the mythical prototype of incompetent web designers everywhere. In fact, Bobo may be what B1FF became when he grew up. Bobo knows about {HTML} only what he has learned from viewing the source of other people's Web pages. Bobo doesn't know what a {MIME type} is, even though someone gave him a hardcopy of the {FOLDOC} entry for it. Bobo may have used an HTML code validator {(http://validator.w3.org/)} before, but isn't sure. Bobo doesn't know what the difference between {GIF} and {JPEG} is. He thinks {PNG} is a foreign country. All the pages Bobo has designed say "Welcome to [organisation] online!" at the top, and say "click here!" at least three times per page. Bobo has used {Photoshop} before; he doesn't understand why people keep asking if he's ever been tested for color-blindness. Bobo never got that "its" / "it's" distinction real clear, as you can tell from his pages. Bobo likes "BLINK". (1998-04-04)
branch to Fishkill (IBM: from the location of one of the corporation's facilities) Any unexpected jump in a program that produces catastrophic or just plain weird results. See {jump off into never-never land}, {hyperspace}. [{Jargon File}]
Brazil An {operating system} from {Acorn Computers} used on an {ARM} card which could be fitted to an {IBM PC}. There was also an {ARM} second processor for the {BBC Microcomputer} which used Brazil. Never used on the {Archimedes}(?). (1994-12-05)
brittle "jargon" Said of {software} that is functional but easily broken by changes in operating environment or configuration, or by any minor tweak to the software itself. Also, any system that responds inappropriately and disastrously to abnormal but expected external stimuli; e.g. a {file system} that is usually totally scrambled by a power failure is said to be brittle. This term is often used to describe the results of a research effort that were never intended to be robust, but it can be applied to commercially developed software, which displays the quality far more often than it ought to. Opposite of {robust}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-05-09)
Brooks's Law "programming" "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later" - a result of the fact that the expected advantage from splitting work among N programmers is O(N) (that is, proportional to N), but the complexity and communications cost associated with coordinating and then merging their work is O(N^2) (that is, proportional to the square of N). The quote is from Fred Brooks, a manager of {IBM}'s {OS/360} project and author of "{The Mythical Man-Month}". The myth in question has been most tersely expressed as "Programmer time is fungible" and Brooks established conclusively that it is not. Hackers have never forgotten his advice; too often, {management} still does. See also {creationism}, {second-system effect}, {optimism}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-09-17)
brute force and ignorance "jargon" (BFI) A popular design technique at many software houses - {brute force} coding unrelieved by any knowledge of how problems have been previously solved in elegant ways. Dogmatic adherence to design methods tends to encourage this sort of thing. Characteristic of early {larval stage} programming; unfortunately, many never outgrow it. Also encountered in the variants BFMI - brute force and massive ignorance, and BFBI - brute force and bloody ignorance. "Gak, they used a {bubble sort}! That's strictly BFI." Compare {bogosity}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-06-12)
B-tree "algorithm" A multi-way {balanced tree}. The "B" in B-tree has never been officially defined. It could stand for "balanced" or "Bayer", after one of the original designers of the algorithms and structure. A B-tree is _not_ (necessarily?) a "{binary tree}". A B+-tree (as used by {IBM}'s {VSAM}) is a B-tree where the leaves are also linked sequentially, thus allowing both fast {random access} and sequential access to data. [Knuth's Art of Computer Programming]. [Example algorithm?] (2000-01-10)
bug "programming" An unwanted and unintended property of a {program} or piece of {hardware}, especially one that causes it to malfunction. Antonym of {feature}. E.g. "There's a bug in the editor: it writes things out backward." The identification and removal of bugs in a program is called "{debugging}". Admiral {Grace Hopper} (an early computing pioneer better known for inventing {COBOL}) liked to tell a story in which a technician solved a {glitch} in the {Harvard Mark II machine} by pulling an actual insect out from between the contacts of one of its relays, and she subsequently promulgated {bug} in its hackish sense as a joke about the incident (though, as she was careful to admit, she was not there when it happened). For many years the logbook associated with the incident and the actual bug in question (a moth) sat in a display case at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). The entire story, with a picture of the logbook and the moth taped into it, is recorded in the "Annals of the History of Computing", Vol. 3, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 285--286. The text of the log entry (from September 9, 1947), reads "1545 Relay
But reason is not limited to its theoretical use. Besides objects of cognition and thought, there are also those of will and feeling. Kant's "practical philosophy", the real foundation of his system of transcendental idealism, centers in a striking doctrine of freedom. Even in its theoretical use. reason is a law-giver to Nature, in that the data of sense must conform to the forms of the sensibility and understanding if Nature is to be known at all. But in moral experience, as Kant shows in the Critique of Practical Reason (1788), the will of a rational being is directly autonomous -- a law unto itself. But the unconditional moral law, "duty" or "categorical imperative", the validity of which Kant does not question, is possible only on the supposition that the will is really free. As phenomenal beings we are subject to the laws of nature and reason, but as pure rational wills we move in the free, noumenal or intelligible realm, bound only by the self-imposed rational law "to treat humanity in every case as an end, never as a means only."
"But the gnosis is not only light, it is force; it is creative knowledge, it is the self-effective truth of the divine Idea. This idea is not creative imagination, not something that constructs in a void, but light and power of eternal substance, truth-light full of truth-force; and it brings out what is latent in being, it does not create a fiction that never was in being.” The Synthesis of Yoga
“But the gnosis is not only light, it is force; it is creative knowledge, it is the self-effective truth of the divine Idea. This idea is not creative imagination, not something that constructs in a void, but light and power of eternal substance, truth-light full of truth-force; and it brings out what is latent in being, it does not create a fiction that never was in being.” The Synthesis of Yoga
buzz 1. Of a program, to run with no indication of progress and perhaps without guarantee of ever finishing; especially said of programs thought to be executing a {tight loop} of code. A program that is buzzing appears to be {catatonic}, but never gets out of catatonia, while a buzzing loop may eventually end of its own accord. "The program buzzes for about 10 seconds trying to sort all the names into order." See {spin}; see also {grovel}. 2. [ETA Systems] To test a wire or printed circuit trace for continuity by applying an AC rather than DC signal. Some wire faults will pass DC tests but fail a buzz test. 3. To process an {array} or list in sequence, doing the same thing to each element. "This loop buzzes through the tz array looking for a terminator type." [{Jargon File}]
can't happen "programming" The traditional program comment for code executed under a condition that should never be true, for example a file size computed as negative. Often, such a condition being true indicates data corruption or a faulty {algorithm}; it is almost always handled by emitting a fatal error message and terminating or crashing, since there is little else that can be done. Some case variant of "can't happen" is also often the text emitted if the "impossible" error actually happens. Although "can't happen" events are genuinely infrequent in production code, programmers wise enough to check for them habitually are often surprised at how frequently they are triggered during development and how many headaches checking for them turns out to head off. See also {firewall code}, {professional programming}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-05-10)
Capitalism: A mode of economic production which is characterized by the fact that the instruments of production (land, factories, raw materials, etc.) are controlled to a greater or lesser extent by private individuals or groups. Since the control an individual can exercise over means of production is never absolute and as a matter of fact fluctuates widely with the ever-changing natural and social environment, "capitalism" is a very loose term which covers a host of actually different economic systems. An implication of this basic notion of individual control is that the individual will control production in his own interests. The ideological counterpart to this fact is the concept of "profit," just as the ideological counterpart to the control itself is the myth of "private property" and "free enterprise." -- M.B.M.
Cartesianism: The philosophy of the French thinker, Rene Descartes (Cartesius) 1596-1650. After completing his formal education at the Jesuit College at La Fleche, he spent the years 1612-1621 in travel and military service. The reminder of his life was devoted to study and writing. He died in Sweden, where he had gone in 1649 to tutor Queen Christina. His principal works are: Discours de la methode, (preface to his Geometric, Meteores, Dieptrique) Meditationes de prima philosophia, Principia philosophiae, Passions de l'ame, Regulae ad directionem ingenii, Le monde. Descartes is justly regarded as one of the founders of modern epistemology. Dissatisfied with the lack of agreement among philosophers, he decided that philosophy needed a new method, that of mathematics. He began by resolving to doubt everything which could not pass the test of his criterion of truth, viz. the clearness and distinctness of ideas. Anything which could pass this test was to be readmitted as self-evident. From self-evident truths, he deduced other truths which logically follow from them. Three kinds of ideas were distinguished: innate, by which he seems to mean little more than the mental power to think things or thoughts; adventitious, which come to him from without; factitious, produced within his own mind. He found most difficulty with the second type of ideas. The first reality discovered through his method is the thinking self. Though he might doubt nearly all else, Descartes could not reasonably doubt that he, who was thinking, existed as a res cogitans. This is the intuition enunciated in the famous aphorism: I think, therefore I am, Cogito ergo sum. This is not offered by Descartes as a compressed syllogism, but as an immediate intuition of his own thinking mind. Another reality, whose existence was obvious to Descartes, was God, the Supreme Being. Though he offered several proofs of the Divine Existence, he was convinced that he knew this also by an innate idea, and so, clearly and distinctly. But he did not find any clear ideas of an extra-mental, bodily world. He suspected its existence, but logical demonstration was needed to establish this truth. His adventitious ideas carry the vague suggestion that they are caused by bodies in an external world. By arguing that God would be a deceiver, in allowing him to think that bodies exist if they do not, he eventually convinced himself of the reality of bodies, his own and others. There are, then, three kinds of substance according to Descartes: Created spirits, i.e. the finite soul-substance of each man: these are immaterial agencies capable of performing spiritual operations, loosely united with bodies, but not extended since thought is their very essence. Uncreated Spirit, i.e. God, confined neither to space nor time, All-Good and All-Powerful, though his Existence can be known clearly, his Nature cannot be known adequately by men on earth, He is the God of Christianity, Creator, Providence and Final Cause of the universe. Bodies, i.e. created, physical substances existing independently of human thought and having as their chief attribute, extension. Cartesian physics regards bodies as the result of the introduction of "vortices", i.e. whorls of motion, into extension. Divisibility, figurability and mobility, are the notes of extension, which appears to be little more thin what Descartes' Scholastic teachers called geometrical space. God is the First Cause of all motion in the physical universe, which is conceived as a mechanical system operated by its Maker. Even the bodies of animals are automata. Sensation is the critical problem in Cartesian psychology; it is viewed by Descartes as a function of the soul, but he was never able to find a satisfactory explanation of the apparent fact that the soul is moved by the body when sensation occurs. The theory of animal spirits provided Descartes with a sort of bridge between mind and matter, since these spirits are supposed to be very subtle matter, halfway, as it were, between thought and extension in their nature. However, this theory of sensation is the weakest link in the Cartesian explanation of cognition. Intellectual error is accounted for by Descartes in his theory of assent, which makes judgment an act of free will. Where the will over-reaches the intellect, judgment may be false. That the will is absolutely free in man, capable even of choosing what is presented by the intellect as the less desirable of two alternatives, is probably a vestige of Scotism retained from his college course in Scholasticism. Common-sense and moderation are the keynotes of Descartes' famous rules for the regulation of his own conduct during his nine years of methodic doubt, and this ethical attitude continued throughout his life. He believed that man is responsible ultimately to God for the courses of action that he may choose. He admitted that conflicts may occur between human passions and human reason. A virtuous life is made possible by the knowledge of what is right and the consequent control of the lower tendencies of human nature. Six primary passions are described by Descartes wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy and sorrow. These are passive states of consciousness, partly caused by the body, acting through the animal spirits, and partly caused by the soul. Under rational control, they enable the soul to will what is good for the body. Descartes' terminology suggests that there are psychological faculties, but he insists that these powers are not really distinct from the soul itself, which is man's sole psychic agency. Descartes was a practical Catholic all his life and he tried to develop proofs of the existence of God, an explanation of the Eucharist, of the nature of religious faith, and of the operation of Divine Providence, using his philosophy as the basis for a new theology. This attempted theology has not found favor with Catholic theologians in general.
casting the runes "jargon" What a {guru} does when you ask him or her to run a particular program because it never works for anyone else; especially used when nobody can ever see what the guru is doing different from what J. Random Luser does. Compare {incantation}, {runes}, {examining the entrails}; also see the {AI koan} about Tom Knight. (1997-12-26)
CENT, There is no connection between the Christian concep- tion (of the Kingdom of Heaven) and the idea of the Supra- mental descent. The Christian conception supposes a state of things brought about by religious emotion' and d'mdral'purifica- tion but ' these things are no more"capable of changing the world, 'whatever value they may base for the individual, than mental idealism or any bther power yet called upon for the pur- pose] The Christian proposes to substitute the sattsic religious ego for the rajasic and tamasic cgo| but although this can be donc-as an individual achievement, it has never succeeded and win never succeed in • accomplishing itself in the mass. It has no higher spiritual or psjchological knowledge behind it and ignores the' foundation -of htimao character and the source of the difBculty — the duality 6f mind, ‘life and body. Unless there is a descent of a new Power of Consdousness, not subject to the dualities but still dynamic which will preside a new foundation and a lifting of the centre of consciousness above the mind, the
chance ::: “Chance is not in this universe; the idea of illusion is itself an illusion. There was never illusion yet in the human mind that was not the concealing [?shape] and disfigurement of a truth.” Essays Divine and Human
chancroid ::: n. --> A venereal sore, resembling a chancre in its seat and some external characters, but differing from it in being the starting point of a purely local process and never of a systemic disease; -- called also soft chancre.
channel op "messaging" /chan'l op/ (Or "{op}", "chan op", "chop") Someone who is endowed with privileges on a particular {IRC} {channel}. These privileges include the right to {kick} users, to change various status bits and to make others into CHOPs. The full form, "channel operator", is almost never used. [{Jargon File}] (1998-01-08)
Charles Babbage "person" The British inventor known to some as the "Father of Computing" for his contributions to the basic design of the computer through his {Analytical Engine}. His previous {Difference Engine} was a special purpose device intended for the production of mathematical tables. Babbage was born on December 26, 1791 in Teignmouth, Devonshire UK. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1814 and graduated from Peterhouse. In 1817 he received an MA from Cambridge and in 1823 started work on the Difference Engine through funding from the British Government. In 1827 he published a table of {logarithms} from 1 to 108000. In 1828 he was appointed to the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics at Cambridge (though he never presented a lecture). In 1831 he founded the British Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1832 he published "Economy of Manufactures and Machinery". In 1833 he began work on the Analytical Engine. In 1834 he founded the Statistical Society of London. He died in 1871 in London. Babbage also invented the cowcatcher, the dynamometer, standard railroad gauge, uniform postal rates, occulting lights for lighthouses, Greenwich time signals, and the heliograph opthalmoscope. He also had an interest in cyphers and lock-picking. [Adapted from the text by J. A. N. Lee, Copyright September 1994]. Babbage, as (necessarily) the first person to work with machines that can attack problems at arbitrary levels of {abstraction}, fell into a trap familiar to {toolsmiths} since, as described here by the English ethicist, Lord Moulton: "One of the sad memories of my life is a visit to the celebrated mathematician and inventor, Mr Babbage. He was far advanced in age, but his mind was still as vigorous as ever. He took me through his work-rooms. In the first room I saw parts of the original Calculating Machine, which had been shown in an incomplete state many years before and had even been put to some use. I asked him about its present form. 'I have not finished it because in working at it I came on the idea of my {Analytical Machine}, which would do all that it was capable of doing and much more. Indeed, the idea was so much simpler that it would have taken more work to complete the Calculating Machine than to design and construct the other in its entirety, so I turned my attention to the Analytical Machine.'" "After a few minutes' talk, we went into the next work-room, where he showed and explained to me the working of the elements of the Analytical Machine. I asked if I could see it. 'I have never completed it,' he said, 'because I hit upon an idea of doing the same thing by a different and far more effective method, and this rendered it useless to proceed on the old lines.' Then we went into the third room. There lay scattered bits of mechanism, but I saw no trace of any working machine. Very cautiously I approached the subject, and received the dreaded answer, 'It is not constructed yet, but I am working on it, and it will take less time to construct it altogether than it would have token to complete the Analytical Machine from the stage in which I left it.' I took leave of the old man with a heavy heart." "When he died a few years later, not only had he constructed no machine, but the verdict of a jury of kind and sympathetic scientific men who were deputed to pronounce upon what he had left behind him, either in papers or in mechanism, was that everything was too incomplete of be capable of being put to any useful purpose." [Lord Moulton, "The invention of algorithms, its genesis, and growth", in G. C. Knott, ed., "Napier tercentenary memorial volume" (London, 1915), p. 1-24; quoted in Charles Babbage "Passage from the Life of a Philosopher", Martin Campbell-Kelly, ed. (Rutgers U. Press and IEEE Press, 1994), p. 34]. Compare: {uninteresting}, {Ninety-Ninety Rule}. (1996-02-22)
Chhaya(Chaya, Sanskrit) ::: Literally a "shade," "simulacrum," or "copy." In the esoteric philosophy, the wordsignifies the astral image of a person, and with this idea are bound up some of the most intricate andrecondite teachings of human evolution. The Secret Doctrine of H. P. Blavatsky contains manyinvaluable hints as to the part played by the chhayas of the pitris in human development.It is a word also which is applied with similar meaning to kosmical matters, for the esoteric studentshould never forget the ancient maxim of Hermes: "What is above is the same as what is below; what isbelow is the same as what is above."Briefly, then, and so far as human evolution is concerned, the chhaya may be called the astral body orimage.
Ch'i: Breath; the vital fluid. Force; spirit. The vital force, as expressed in the operation and succession of the active principle (yang) and the passive principle (yin) and the Five Agents or Elements (wu hsing). To Chou Lien-hsi (1017-1073), this material principle is identical with yin yang and the Five Elements. To Chang Heng-ch'u (1020-1077) it is the reality of the Ultimate Vacuity, having the two aspects of yin and yang. It is to the Ultimate Vacuity (Tai Hsu) as ice is to water. Ch'eng I-ch'uan (1033-1107) and Ch'eng Ming-tao (1032-1086) considered all that has physical form to be identical with the vital force. It is the principle of differentiation and individuation. When a thing disintegrates, the vital force is at an end, not to appear again in the creative process. A new entity is constituted of new vital force. Thus it is also the principle of novelty in creation. It is produced by Reason (li). But to the Neo-Confucians, especially Chi Hsi (1130-1200), Reason has no control over it. The two can never be separated; without it, Reason would having nothing to be embodied in. In aesthetics: Rhythmic vitality; vitalizing spirit; strength of expression or brush stioke.
child process "operating system" A {process} created by another process (the {parent process}). Each process may create many child processes but will have only one parent process, except for the very first process which has no parent. The first process, called {init} in {Unix}, is started by the {kernel} at {boot time} and never terminates. A child process inherits most of its attributes, such as open files, from its parent. In fact in Unix, a child process is created (using {fork}) as a copy of the parent. The chid process can then overlay itself with a different program (using {exec}) as required. (1997-11-22)
Chun tu: The superior man, the perfect man, the moral man, the noble man. "There may have been a superior man who is not a true man (jen), but there has never been an inferior man (hsiao jen) who is a true man." The superior man "makes upward progress," "understands profit," and "despises the ordinances of Heaven, great men, and the words of the sages." (Confucius.) "The superior man's moral order is on the increase, while the inferior man's moral order is on the decrease." "The superior man abides by what is internal, whereas the inferior man abides by what is external." (Ancient Confucianism ) "The superior man makes advance in the moral law, whereas the inferior man makes advance in profit." "The superior man enjoys in the fulfillment of the moral law, whereas the inferior man enjoys in the fulfillment of his desires." (Medieval Confucianism.) The superior man "sees what is great and far" and is interested in "helping things to perfection," whereas the inferior man "sees what is small and near" and is interested in destroying things." (Neo-Confucianism.) A ruler. Husband (as in the Odes).
colewort ::: n. --> A variety of cabbage in which the leaves never form a compact head.
Any white cabbage before the head has become firm.
colleague ::: n. --> A partner or associate in some civil or ecclesiastical office or employment. It is never used of partners in trade or manufactures. ::: v.t & i. --> To unite or associate with another or with others.
COME FROM "programming, humour" A semi-mythical language construct dual to the "go to"; "COME FROM" "label" would cause the referenced label to act as a sort of {trapdoor}, so that if the program ever reached it, control would quietly and {automagically} be transferred to the statement following the "COME FROM". "COME FROM" was first proposed in R.L. Clark's "A Linguistic Contribution to GOTO-less programming", which appeared in a 1973 {Datamation} issue (and was reprinted in the April 1984 issue of "{Communications of the ACM}"). This parodied the then-raging "{structured programming}" {holy wars} (see {considered harmful}). Mythically, some variants are the "assigned COME FROM" and the "computed COME FROM" (parodying some nasty control constructs in {Fortran} and some extended {BASICs}). Of course, {multitasking} (or {nondeterminism}) could be implemented by having more than one "COME FROM" statement coming from the same label. In some ways the {Fortran} "DO" looks like a "COME FROM" statement. After the terminating statement number/"CONTINUE" is reached, control continues at the statement following the DO. Some generous Fortrans would allow arbitrary statements (other than "CONTINUE") for the statement, leading to examples like: DO 10 I=1,LIMIT C imagine many lines of code here, leaving the C original DO statement lost in the spaghetti... WRITE(6,10) I,FROB(I) 10 FORMAT(1X,I5,G10.4) in which the trapdoor is just after the statement labelled 10. (This is particularly surprising because the label doesn't appear to have anything to do with the flow of control at all!) While sufficiently astonishing to the unsuspecting reader, this form of "COME FROM" statement isn't completely general. After all, control will eventually pass to the following statement. The implementation of the general form was left to {Univac Fortran}, ca. 1975 (though a roughly similar feature existed on the {IBM 7040} ten years earlier). The statement "AT 100" would perform a "COME FROM 100". It was intended strictly as a debugging aid, with dire consequences promised to anyone so deranged as to use it in production code. More horrible things had already been perpetrated in production languages, however; doubters need only contemplate the "{ALTER}" verb in {COBOL}. {SCL} on {VME} {mainframes} has a similar language construct called "whenever", used like this: whenever x=123345 then S; Meaning whenever variable x reached the value 123345 then execute statement S. "COME FROM" was supported under its own name for the first time 15 years later, in {C-INTERCAL} (see {INTERCAL}, {retrocomputing}); knowledgeable observers are still reeling from the shock. [{Jargon File}] (1998-04-19)
Commodore Business Machines "company" (CBM) Makers of the {PET}, {Commodore 64}, {Commodore 16}, {Commodore 128}, and {Amiga} {personal computers}. Their logo is a {chicken head}. The Commodore name is controlled by Commodore Licensing BV, now a subsidiary of Asiarim. Commodore USA signed an agreement with Commodore Licensing BV. On 1994-04-29, Commodore International announced that it had been unable to renegotiate terms of outstanding loans and was closing down the business. Commodore US was expected to go into liquidation. Commodore US, France, Spain, and Belgium were liquidated for various reasons. The names Commodore and Amiga were maintained after the liquidation. After 1994, the rights to the Commodore name bounced across several European companies. On 1995-04-21, German retailer {Escom AG} bought Commodore International for $14m and production of the Amiga resumed. Netherlands-based {Tulip Computers} took over the brand. Production of the 8-bit range alledgedly never stopped during the time in liquidation because a Chinese company were producing the {C64} in large numbers for the local market there. In 2004, Tulip sold the Commodore name to another Dutch firm, Yeahronimo, that eventually changed its name to Commodore International. In April 2008 three creditors took the company to court demanding a bankruptcy ruling. On 2010-03-17, Commodore USA announced that it was to release a new PC in June 2010 which looks very similar to the old Commodore 64 but comes with a {Core 2 Duo}, {Core 2 Quad}, {Pentium D} or {Celeron D} processor and with {Ubuntu} {Linux} or {Windows 7} installed. {PC World article (http://pcworld.com/article/192415)}. (2010-09-14)
compactness preserving "theory" In {domain theory}, a {function} f is compactness preserving if f c is {compact} whenever c is. (1995-01-13)
Consciousness for true action ::: If you want the consciousness for true action very much and aspire for it, it may come in one of several ways ::: (1) You may gel the habit or faculty of watch- ing your movements in such a way that you see the impulse to action coming and can see too Its nature. (2) A consciousness may come which feels uneasy whenever a wrong thought or impulse to action or feeling is there, (3) Something within you may warn and stop you when you are going to do the wrong action.
continuation passing style "programming" (CPS) A style of programming in which every user function f takes an extra argument c known as a "continuation". Whenever f would normally return a result r to its caller, it instead returns the result of applying the continuation to r. The continuation thus represents the whole of the rest of the computation. Some examples: normal (direct style) continuation passing style square x = x * x square x k = k (x * x) g (square 23) square 23 g (square 3) + 1 square 3 ( \ s . s + 1 ) (1995-04-04)
Continuity: A class is said to be compactly (or densely) ordered by a relation R if it is ordered by R (see Order) and, whenever xRz and x≠z, there is a y, not the same as either x or z, such that xRy and yRz. (Compact order may thus be described by saying that between any two distinct members of the class there is always a third, or by saying that no member has a next following member in the order.)
cosmic mind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Nevertheless, the fact of this intervention from above, the fact that behind all our original thinking or authentic perception of things there is a veiled, a half-veiled or a swift unveiled intuitive element is enough to establish a connection between mind and what is above it; it opens a passage of communication and of entry into the superior spirit-ranges. There is also the reaching out of mind to exceed the personal ego limitation, to see things in a certain impersonality and universality. Impersonality is the first character of cosmic self; universality, non-limitation by the single or limiting point of view, is the character of cosmic perception and knowledge: this tendency is therefore a widening, however rudimentary, of these restricted mind areas towards cosmicity, towards a quality which is the very character of the higher mental planes, — towards that superconscient cosmic Mind which, we have suggested, must in the nature of things be the original mind-action of which ours is only a derivative and inferior process.” *The Life Divine
"If we accept the Vedic image of the Sun of Truth, . . . we may compare the action of the Higher Mind to a composed and steady sunshine, the energy of the Illumined Mind beyond it to an outpouring of massive lightnings of flaming sun-stuff. Still beyond can be met a yet greater power of the Truth-Force, an intimate and exact Truth-vision, Truth-thought, Truth-sense, Truth-feeling, Truth-action, to which we can give in a special sense the name of Intuition; . . . At the source of this Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies, — not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality.” The Life Divine
"There is one cosmic Mind, one cosmic Life, one cosmic Body. All the attempt of man to arrive at universal sympathy, universal love and the understanding and knowledge of the inner soul of other existences is an attempt to beat thin, breach and eventually break down by the power of the enlarging mind and heart the walls of the ego and arrive nearer to a cosmic oneness.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"[The results of the opening to the cosmic Mind:] One is aware of the cosmic Mind and the mental forces that move there and how they work on one"s mind and that of others and one is able to deal with one"s own mind with a greater knowledge and effective power. There are many other results, but this is the fundamental one.” Letters on Yoga
"The cosmic consciousness has many levels — the cosmic physical, the cosmic vital, the cosmic Mind, and above the higher planes of cosmic Mind there is the Intuition and above that the overmind and still above that the supermind where the Transcendental begins. In order to live in the Intuition plane (not merely to receive intuitions), one has to live in the cosmic consciousness because there the cosmic and individual run into each other as it were, and the mental separation between them is already broken down, so nobody can reach there who is still in the separative ego.” Letters on Yoga*
Cosmos ::: Whenever a theosophist speaks of the cosmos or the universe, he by no means refers only to the physicalsphere or world or cross section of the boundless All in which we humans live, but more particularly tothe invisible worlds and planes and spheres inhabited by their countless hosts of vitalized or animatebeings. In order to avoid redundancy of words and often confusing repetitions in the midst of anexplanation dealing with other matters, since H. P. Blavatsky's time it has been customary among carefultheosophical writers to draw a distinction of fact between cosmos and kosmos. The solar universe orsolar system is frequently referred to as cosmos or solar cosmos; and the galactic universe or our ownhome-universe it has been customary to refer to as the kosmos. This distinction, however, does notalways hold, because sometimes in dealing with abstract questions where the application of the thoughtcan be indifferently made either to the galactic or to the solar universe, the two forms of spelling may beused interchangeably. (See also Kosmos, Kosmic Life)
Credo quia absurdum est: Literally, I believe because it is absurd. Although these particular words are often wrongly attributed to Tertullian (born middle of the 2nd century) they nevertheless convey the thought of this Latin church father who maintained the rule of faith on the basis of one's trust in the commands and authority of Christ rather than upon the compulsion of reason or truth. To believe in the absurd, in other words, is to reveal a greater faith than to believe in the reasonable. -- V.F.
cripple ::: n. --> One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled. ::: a. --> Lame; halting.
critical mass In physics, the minimum amount of fissionable material required to sustain a chain reaction. Of a software product, describes a condition of the software such that fixing one bug introduces one plus {epsilon} bugs. (This malady has many causes: {creeping featurism}, ports to too many disparate environments, poor initial design, etc.) When software achieves critical mass, it can never be fixed; it can only be discarded and rewritten. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-23)
cryptogamia ::: n. --> The series or division of flowerless plants, or those never having true stamens and pistils, but propagated by spores of various kinds.
(c) The relation between psychology and epistemology is particularly intimate since the cognitive processes of perception, memory, imagination, conception and reasoning, investigated by empirical psychology are the very processes which, in quite a different context, are the special subject matter of epistemology. Nevertheless the psychological and epistemological treatments of the cognitive processes of mind are radically different: scientific psychology is concerned solely with the description and explanation of conscious processes, e.g. particular acts of perception, in the context of other conscious events; epistemology is interested in the cognitive pretentions of the perceptions, i.e. their apparent reference to external objects. In short, whereas psychology is the investigation of all states of mind including the cognitive in the context of the mental life, epistemology investigates only cognitive states and these solely with respect to their cognitive import. Psychology and epistemology are by virtue of the partial identity of their subject matter interdependent sciences. The psychology of perception, memory, imagination, conception, etc. affords indispensable data for epistemological interpretation and on the other hand epistemological analysis of the cognitive processes may sometimea prove psychologically suggestive. The epistemologist must, however, guard against a particularly insidious form of the genetic fallacy: viz. the supposition that the psychological origin of an item of knowledge prejudices either favorably or unfavorably its cognitive validity -- a fallacy which is psychologism at its worst.
Daiviprakriti(Sanskrit) ::: A compound signifying "divine" or "original evolver," or "original source," of the universe orof any self-contained or hierarchical portion of such universe, such as a solar system. Briefly, therefore,daiviprakriti may be called "divine matter," matter here being used in its original sense of "divinemother-evolver" or "divine original substance."Now, as original substance manifests itself in the kosmic spaces as primordial kosmic light -- light inoccult esoteric theosophical philosophy being a form of original matter or substance -- many mysticshave referred to daiviprakriti under the phrase "the Light of the Logos." Daiviprakriti is, in fact, the firstveil or sheath or ethereal body surrounding the Logos, as pradhana or prakriti surrounds Purusha orBrahman in the Sankhya philosophy, and as, on a scale incomparably more vast, mulaprakriti surroundsparabrahman. As daiviprakriti, therefore, is elemental matter, or matter in its sixth and seventh stagescounting from physical matter upwards or, what comes to the same thing, matter in its first and secondstages of its evolution from above, we may accurately enough speak of those filmy ethereal wisps of lightseen in the midnight skies as a physical manifestation of daiviprakriti, because when they are not actuallyresolvable nebulae, they are worlds, or rather systems of worlds, in the making.When daiviprakriti has reached a certain state or condition of evolutionary manifestation, we mayproperly speak of it under the term fohat. Fohat, in H. P. Blavatsky's words, is"The essence of cosmic electricity. An occult Tibetan term for Daivi-prakriti, primordiallight: and in the universe of manifestation the ever-present electrical energy and ceaselessdestructive and formative power. Esoterically, it is the same, Fohat being the universalpropelling Vital Force, at once the propeller and the resultant." -- Theosophical Glossary, p.121All this is extremely well put, but it must be remembered that although fohat is the energizing powerworking in and upon manifested daiviprakriti, or primordial substance, as the rider rides the steed, it isthe kosmic intelligence, or kosmic monad as Pythagoras would say, working through both daiviprakritiand its differentiated energy called fohat, which is the guiding and controlling principle, not only in thekosmos but in every one of the subordinate elements and beings of the hosts of multitudes of theminfilling the kosmos. The heart or essence of the sun is daiviprakriti working as itself, and also in itsmanifestation called fohat, but through the daiviprakriti and the fohatic aspect of it runs the all-permeantand directive intelligence of the solar divinity. The student should never make the mistake, however, ofdivorcing this guiding solar intelligence from its veils or vehicles, one of the highest of which isdaiviprakriti-fohat.
dancing frog "programming, humour" A {bug} or {glitch} that only occurs for a particular user; never when the user tries to show it to anyone else. The term is derived from a Warner Brothers cartoon in which a man discovers a frog which can sing and dance; he believes this will make his fortune but the frog never performs in front of anyone else. (2004-10-16)
dBASE "tool, product, language" An interactive {DBMS}, originally from {Ashton-Tate Corporation}, and the language used by it. dBASE evolved from {Vulcan} by Wayne Ratliffe, which came out in around 1980 and ran on CP/M. It was called dBaseII when sold to {Ashton-Tate Corporation}. The first release was dBASE II, ca 1980. There never was a "dBASE I". Later versions included: {dBASE III}, dBASE III+, and dBASE IV. Ashton-Tate was taken over in the early 1990s by what became {Borland Software Corporation} who sold dBase in March(?) 1999 to the newly formed dBase Inc. dBase Inc's first release was {Visual dBASE} 5.7, a Y2K upgrade to Visual dBASE 5.x. Current version, as of 2003-11-24: dBASE PLUS 2.0x build 1703. {dBase Home (http://dbase.com/)}. (2003-11-24)
dead code elimination "programming" (DCE) A {compiler} {optimisation} that detects {dead code} (code that will never be executed) and ignores it rather than blindly compiling it. DCE reduces the size of the resulting {executable}, saving space and load time. (2018-06-26)
dead code "programming" (Or "infeasible path") Any part of a {program} that can never be executed because no {control flow} path leads to it. This may be because it is guarded by a {control structure} that will always {transfer control} somewhere else, e.g. if (false) {
deadlock "parallel, programming" A situation where two or more {processes} are unable to proceed because each is waiting for one of the others to do something. A common example is a program waiting for output from a server while the server is waiting for more input from the controlling program before outputting anything. It is reported that this particular flavour of deadlock is sometimes called a "starvation deadlock", though the term "starvation" is more properly used for situations where a program can never run simply because it never gets high enough priority. Another common flavour is "constipation", in which each process is trying to send stuff to the other but all buffers are full because nobody is reading anything). See {deadly embrace}. Another example, common in {database} programming, is two processes that are sharing some resource (e.g. read access to a {table}) but then both decide to wait for exclusive (e.g. write) access. The term "deadly embrace" is mostly synonymous, though usually used only when exactly two processes are involved. This is the more popular term in Europe, while {deadlock} predominates in the United States. Compare: {livelock}. See also {safety property}, {liveness property}. [{Jargon File}] (2000-07-26)
Debian "operating system" /deb'ee`n/, *not* /deeb'ee`n/ The non-profit volunteer organisation responsible for Debian {GNU}/{Linux} and Debian {GNU}/{Hurd}. Debian's {Linux} distribution is dedicated to free and {open source} software; the main goal of the distribution is to ensure that one can download and install a fully-functional {operating system} that is completely adherent to the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). Debian was begun in August 1993 by Ian Murdock, and was sponsored by the {Free Software Foundation} from November 1994 to November 1995. The name Debian is a contraction of DEB(ra) and IAN Murdock. Debian's packaging system (dpkg) is similar to other popular packaging systems like {RPM}. There are over 2200 packages of precompiled software available in the main (free) section of the Debian 2.1 distribution alone -- this is what sets Debian apart from many other Linux distributions. The high quality and huge number of official packages (most Debian systems' /usr/local/ remains empty -- almost everything most Linux users want is officially packaged) are what draw many people to use Debian. Another unique aspect to the Debian project is the open development; pre-releases are made available from Day 1 and if anyone wishes to become a Debian developer, all that is needed is proof of identification and a signed {PGP} or {GPG} key. There are over 400 Debian developers all around the world -- many developers have never met face-to-face, and most development talks take place on the many {mailing lists} and the {IRC} network. {(http://debian.org/)}. {Debian Linux archives (ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian)}. (1999-02-23)
debugger "tool, programming" A {tool} used by a {programmer} to monitor and control a program he is trying to fix. The most important functions of a debugger are {tracing}, stepping, {breakpoints} and {watches}. Tracing displays a step-by-step report on what {statement} the program is currently executing, allowing the programmer to follow the {flow of control} through {if statements}, {loops (loop)}, {subroutine} calls, etc. {Breakpoints} and {watches} both pause execution of the program and return control to the debugger under certain conditions. A {breakpoint} triggers when execution reaches a particular {statement} in the program and a {watch} triggers whenever a specific variable is modified. Stepping is like a breakpoint on every statement, often with the option to step "into" or "over" a {subroutine}, i.e. continue stepping through the statements of the subroutine or just execute it without pausing and resume stepping when it returns. Whenever control returns to the debugger it lets the programmer ask to see the values of {variables}, and possibly modify them, before resuming execution. Some debuggers can be set to automatically perform some action like display a variable value and resume. A debugger can interact with the target program in different ways. Some debuggers require the program to be loaded into the debugger which may then modify or "instrument" the program for debugging. Others can "attach" to a program that is already running. Some are built into the normal program execution environment (e.g. an {interpreter}) and can be set to run under certain conditions, e.g. errors. Early debuggers such as {Unix}'s {adb} only knew about the compiled executable code so sometimes debugging had to be done at the level of {machine code} instructions and numerical memory locations. If you were lucky, the debugger could access the program's {symbol table} and display the original names of subroutines and variables. Sometimes this required the program to be "compiled for debugging". Since compiling every program for debugging would add significantly to the size of a {distribution} of a whole {operating system}, it is common for programs to be distributed without debugging support but for individual programs to be made available with it. A major advance in debuggers was source-level debugging. This gives the programmer a view of their {source code} annotated with breakpoints and a pointer to the statement currently being executed. Such a view is commonly part of an {integrated development environment} like {Visual Basic}. (2014-08-23)
decidability "mathematics" A property of sets for which one can determine whether something is a member or not in a {finite} number of computational steps. Decidability is an important concept in {computability theory}. A set (e.g. "all numbers with a 5 in them") is said to be "decidable" if I can write a program (usually for a {Turing Machine}) to determine whether a number is in the set and the program will always terminate with an answer YES or NO after a finite number of steps. Most sets you can describe easily are decidable, but there are infinitely many sets so most sets are undecidable, assuming any finite limit on the size (number of instructions or number of states) of our programs. I.e. how ever big you allow your program to be there will always be sets which need a bigger program to decide membership. One example of an undecidable set comes from the {halting problem}. It turns out that you can encode every program as a number: encode every symbol in the program as a number (001, 002, ...) and then string all the symbol codes together. Then you can create an undecidable set by defining it as the set of all numbers that represent a program that terminates in a finite number of steps. A set can also be "semi-decidable" - there is an {algorithm} that is guaranteed to return YES if the number is in the set, but if the number is not in the set, it may either return NO or run for ever. The {halting problem}'s set described above is semi-decidable. You decode the given number and run the resulting program. If it terminates the answer is YES. If it never terminates, then neither will the decision algorithm. (1995-01-13)
decyl ::: n. --> A hydrocarbon radical, C10H21, never existing alone, but regarded as the characteristic constituent of a number of compounds of the paraffin series.
de facto standard A widespread consensus on a particular product or {protocol} which has not been ratified by any official {standards} body, such as {ISO}, but which nevertheless has a large market share. The archetypal example of a de facto standard is the {IBM PC} which, despite is many glaring technical deficiencies, has gained such a large share of the {personal computer} market that it is now popular simply because it is popular and therefore enjoys fierce competition in pricing and software development. (1994-10-27)
Déjà vu: French for already seen. The feeling that one has seen somebody or something in the past, even though knowing that he could never have actually. The phenomenon is variously explained by occultists as memory from a previous incarnation, a “memory of the future,” etc. The term is extended to apply also to such feelings of familiarity with words or sounds (properly déjà entendu, “already heard”), etc.
delta 1. A quantitative change, especially a small or incremental one (this use is general in physics and engineering). "I just doubled the speed of my program!" "What was the delta on program size?" "About 30 percent." (He doubled the speed of his program, but increased its size by only 30 percent.) 2. [Unix] A {diff}, especially a {diff} stored under the set of version-control tools called SCCS (Source Code Control System) or RCS (Revision Control System). See {change management}. 3. A small quantity, but not as small as {epsilon}. The jargon usage of {delta} and {epsilon} stems from the traditional use of these letters in mathematics for very small numerical quantities, particularly in "epsilon-delta" proofs in limit theory (as in the differential calculus). The term {delta} is often used, once {epsilon} has been mentioned, to mean a quantity that is slightly bigger than {epsilon} but still very small. "The cost isn't epsilon, but it's delta" means that the cost isn't totally negligible, but it is nevertheless very small. Common constructions include "within delta of ---", "within epsilon of ---": that is, "close to" and "even closer to". [{Jargon File}] (2000-08-02)
Delusion: (Lat. de + ludere, to play) Erroneous or non-veridical cognition. The term is properly restricted to perception, memory and other non-inferential forms of knowledge but is at times extended to include inferential beliefs and theories. See Veridical. The two principal types of delusion are (a) illusion or partially delusive cognition, e.g. the ordinary distortions of sense and memory which nevertheless have a basis in fact, and (b) hallucination or totally delusive cognition such as dreams, pseudo-memories, etc. to which nothing corresponds in fact. See Illusion; Hallucination. -- L.W.
demon 1. "operating system" (Often used equivalently to {daemon}, especially in the {Unix} world, where the latter spelling and pronunciation is considered mildly archaic). A program or part of a program which is not invoked explicitly, but that lies dormant waiting for some condition(s) to occur. At {MIT} they use "demon" for part of a program and "daemon" for an {operating system} process. Demons (parts of programs) are particularly common in {AI} programs. For example, a {knowledge}-manipulation program might implement {inference rules} as demons. Whenever a new piece of knowledge was added, various demons would activate (which demons depends on the particular piece of data) and would create additional pieces of knowledge by applying their respective inference rules to the original piece. These new pieces could in turn activate more demons as the inferences filtered down through chains of logic. Meanwhile, the main program could continue with whatever its primary task was. This is similar to the {triggers} used in {relational databases}. The use of this term may derive from "Maxwell's Demons" - minute beings which can reverse the normal flow of heat from a hot body to a cold body by only allowing fast moving molecules to go from the cold body to the hot one and slow molecules from hot to cold. The solution to this apparent thermodynamic paradox is that the demons would require an external supply of energy to do their work and it is only in the absence of such a supply that heat must necessarily flow from hot to cold. Walt Bunch believes the term comes from the demons in Oliver Selfridge's paper "Pandemonium", MIT 1958, which was named after the capital of Hell in Milton's "Paradise Lost". Selfridge likened neural cells firing in response to input patterns to the chaos of millions of demons shrieking in Pandemonium. 2. "company" {Demon Internet} Ltd. 3. A {program generator} for {differential equation} problems. [N.W. Bennett, Australian AEC Research Establishment, AAEC/E142, Aug 1965]. [{Jargon File}] (1998-09-04)
depth-first search "algorithm" A graph search {algorithm} which extends the current path as far as possible before {backtracking} to the last {choice point} and trying the next alternative path. Depth-first search may fail to find a solution if it enters a cycle in the graph. This can be avoided if we never extend a path to a node which it already contains. Opposite of {breadth first search}. See also {iterative deepening}. (1995-04-19)
deuce ::: n. --> Two; a card or a die with two spots; as, the deuce of hearts.
A condition of the score beginning whenever each side has won three strokes in the same game (also reckoned "40 all"), and reverted to as often as a tie is made until one of the sides secures two successive strokes following a tie or deuce, which decides the game.
The devil; a demon.
Deva(s)(Sanskrit) ::: A word meaning celestial being, of which there are various classes. This has been a greatpuzzle for most of our Occidental Orientalists. They cannot understand the distinctions that thewonderful old philosophers of the Orient make as regards the various classes of the devas. They say, insubstance: "What funny contradictions there are in these teachings, which in many respects are profoundand seem wonderful. Some of these devas or divine beings are said to be less than man; some of thesewritings even say that a good man is nobler than any god. And yet other parts of these teachings declarethat there are gods higher even than the devas, and yet are called devas. What does this mean?"The devas or celestial beings, one class of them, are the unself-conscious sparks of divinity, cyclingdown into matter in order to bring out from within themselves and to unfold or evolve self-consciousness,the svabhava of divinity within. They then begin their reascent always on the luminous arc, which neverends, in a sense; and they are gods, self-conscious gods, henceforth taking a definite and divine part inthe "great work," as the mystics have said, of being builders, evolvers, leaders of hierarchies. In otherwords, they are monads which have become their own innermost selves, which have passed thering-pass-not separating the spiritual from the divine.
dichogamy ::: n. --> The condition of certain species of plants, in which the stamens and pistil do not mature simultaneously, so that these plants can never fertilize themselves.
Difference Engine "computer, history" {Charles Babbage}'s design for the first automatic mechanical calculator. The Difference Engine was a special purpose device intended for the production of mathematical tables. Babbage started work on the Difference Engine in 1823 with funding from the British Government. Only one-seventh of the complete engine, about 2000 parts, was built in 1832 by Babbage's engineer, Joseph Clement. This was demonstrated successfully by Babbage and still works perfectly. The engine was never completed and most of the 12,000 parts manufactured were later melted for scrap. It was left to Georg and Edvard Schuetz to construct the first working devices to the same design which were successful in limited applications. The Difference Engine No. 2 was finally completed in 1991 at the Science Museum, London, UK and is on display there. The engine used gears to compute cumulative sums in a series of {registers}: r[i] := r[i] + r[i+1]. However, the addition had the {side effect} of zeroing r[i+1]. Babbage overcame this by simultaneously copying r[i+1] to a temporary register during the addition and then copying it back to r[i+1] at the end of each cycle (each turn of a handle). {Difference Engine at the Science Museum (http://nmsi.ac.uk/on-line/treasure/plan/2ndcomp.htm
differential backup "operating system" A kind of {backup} that copies all {files} that have changed since the last {full backup}. Each differential backup will include all files in previous differential backups since the full backup so to restore a version of a file, you only need to search the full backup and the relevant differential backup. Some systems support differential backup by associating an "Archive" flag with each file and setting this flag whenever the file is modified to indicate that it should be included in the next backup. A differential backup does not change this flag, whereas an {incremental backup} resets it. (2004-03-05)
Difficulties and perplexities can never be got rid of by the mind brooding over them and trying in that way to get out of them*; this habit of the mind only makes them recur without a solu- tion and keeps up by brooding the persistent tangfe. I( is from something above and outside the perplexities that the solution , must come. It is a subtle law of the action of consciousness that if you stress difficulties — you have to observe them, of course, but not stress them, they will quite sufficiently do that for themselves — the difficulties tend to slick or even increase ; on the contrary, if you put your whole stress on faith and aspira-
dink /dink/ Said of a machine that has the {bitty box} nature; a machine too small to be worth bothering with - sometimes the system you're currently forced to work on. First heard from an {MIT} hacker working on a {CP/M} system with 64K, in reference to any {6502} system, then from fans of 32 bit architectures about 16-bit machines. "GNUMACS will never work on that dink machine." Probably derived from mainstream "dinky", which isn't sufficiently pejorative. See {macdink}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-10-31)
discovert ::: a. --> Not covert; not within the bonds of matrimony; unmarried; -- applied either to a woman who has never married or to a widow. ::: n. --> An uncovered place or part.
dissipate ::: v. t. --> To scatter completely; to disperse and cause to disappear; -- used esp. of the dispersion of things that can never again be collected or restored.
To destroy by wasteful extravagance or lavish use; to squander. ::: v. i.
Divine Force, as it descends, increases the personal poirer and equates the strength that receives with the Force that enters from above to work in the nature. This is only possible if there is on our part a progressive surrender of the being into the hands of the Divine ; there must be a complete and never-failing'assent, a willingness to let the Divine Power do with us whatew is needed for the work that has to be done.
DOA "jargon" Dead on arrival. A piece of {hardware} that has never worked. (2000-12-19)
down 1. Not operating. "The up escalator is down" is considered a humorous thing to say, and "The elevator is down" always means "The elevator isn't working" and never refers to what floor the elevator is on. With respect to computers, this term has passed into the mainstream; the extension to other kinds of machine is still hackish. 2. "go down" To stop functioning; usually said of the {system}. The message from the {console} that every hacker hates to hear from the operator is "System going down in 5 minutes". 3. "take down", "bring down" To deactivate purposely, usually for repair work or {PM}. "I'm taking the system down to work on that bug in the tape drive." Occasionally one hears the word "down" by itself used as a verb in this sense. See {crash}; opposite: {up}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-07)
D-type flip-flop "hardware" A digital logic device that stores the status of its "D" input whenever its clock input makes a certain transition (low to high or high to low). The output, "Q", shows the currently stored value. Compare {J-K flip-flop}. (1995-03-28)
dumb ::: Amal: “Sri Aurobindo uses the word ‘dumb’ in the sense of mute but never of stupid or lacking in intelligence. I think the latter usage is more slang than literature.”
Dynamic Data Exchange "language" (DDE, originally Dynamic Data Linking, DDL) A {Microsoft Windows} 3 {hotlink} {protocol} that allows {application programs} to communicate using a {client-server} model. Whenever the server (or "publisher") modifies part of a document which is being shared via DDE, one or more clients ("subscribers") are informed and include the modification in the copy of the data on which they are working. (1997-06-05)
Eighth Sphere or Planet of Death ::: A term used in the more esoteric or inner part of the teachings about which little can be said, for over thispart of the doctrine there has always been drawn a thick veil of secrecy and silence.Frequently the term is confused with avichi, but this is incorrect, because the two, while closelyconnected, are nevertheless quite distinct. While avichi is a state where very evil human beings "die andare reborn without interruption," yet not without hope of final redemption -- something which canactually take place even on our physical plane in the cases of very evil or soulless men -- the EighthSphere represents a degree of psychomental degeneration still more advanced. As just hinted, even inavichi there is a possibility of reinsoulment by the ray of the spiritual monad; whereas in the EighthSphere or Planet of Death such possibility finally vanishes, and the entity which has sunk to the Planet ofDeath is what is technically called in the esoteric philosophy a "lost soul." In the Eighth Sphere the lostsouls are ground over and over in nature's laboratory, and are finally dissipated into their componentpsycho-astral elements or life-atoms. The Eighth Sphere or Planet of Death is an actual globe. It is also ofcourse a state or condition of being; whereas the avichi is almost exclusively a state or condition in whichan entity may find itself, although obviously this entity must have position or place and therefore localityin space -- on our earth or elsewhere.
Elemental(s) ::: Nature-spirits or sprites. The theosophical usage, however, means beings who are beginning a course ofevolutionary growth, and who thus are in the elemental states of their growth. It is a generalizing term forpurposes of convenient expression for all beings evolutionally below the minerals. Nevertheless, theminerals themselves are expressions of one family or host or hierarchy of elemental beings of a moreevolved type. The vegetable kingdom likewise manifests merely one family or host of elemental beingshappening to be in the vegetable phase of their evolution on this earth. Just so likewise is it as regards thebeasts. The beasts are highly evolved elemental beings, relatively speaking. Men in far distant aeons ofthe kosmic past were elemental beings also. We have evolved from that elemental stage into becomingmen, expressing with more or less ease, mostly very feebly, the innate divine powers and faculties lockedup in the core of the core of each one of us.An elemental is a being who has entered our universe on the lowest plane or in the lowest world, degree,or step on the rising stairway of life; and this stairway of life begins in any universe at its lowest stage,and ends for that universe in its highest stage -- the universal kosmic spirit. Thus the elemental passesfrom the elemental stage through all the realms of being as it rises along the stairway of life, passingthrough the human stage, becoming superhuman, quasi-divine -- a quasi-god -- then becoming a god.Thus did we humans first enter this present universe.Every race of men on earth has believed in these hosts of elemental entities -- some visible, like men, likethe beasts, like the animate plants; and others invisible. The invisible entities have been called by variousnames: fairies, sprites, hobgoblins, elves, brownies, pixies, nixies, leprechauns, trolls, kobolds, goblins,banshees, fawns, devs, jinn, satyrs, and so forth. The medieval mystics taught that these elemental beingswere of four general kinds: those arising in and frequenting the element of fire -- salamanders; thosearising in and frequenting the element air -- sylphs; those arising in and frequenting the element water -undines; those arising in and frequenting the element earth -- gnomes.
ELIZA "artificial intelligence" A famous program by {Joseph Weizenbaum}, which simulated a Rogerian psychoanalyst by rephrasing many of the patient's statements as questions and posing them to the patient. It worked by simple {pattern recognition} and substitution of key words into canned phrases. It was so convincing, however, that there are many anecdotes about people becoming very emotionally caught up in dealing with ELIZA. All this was due to people's tendency to attach to words meanings which the computer never put there. See also {ELIZA effect}. (1997-09-13)
Ends: (in Kant's ethics) (1) Humanity and every rational creature is an end in itself (never merely a means). (2) "The natural end which all men have is their own happiness." (Kant.)
enhancement "marketing" 1. A change intended to make a product better in some way, e.g. new functions, faster, or occasionally more compatible with other systems. Enhancements to {hardware} components, especially {integrated circuits} often mean they are smaller and less demanding of resources. Sadly, this is almost never true of {software} enhancements. Examples include {Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications}, {Enhanced Capabilities Port}, {Enhanced Directory Service}, {Enhanced Dynamic Random Access Memory}, {Enhanced Graphics Adapter}, {Enhanced IDE}, {Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics}, {enhanced parallel port}, {Enhanced Small Disk Interface}, {List Enhanced}, {Privacy Enhanced Mail}. 2. {Marketroid}-speak for a {bug fix}. This abuse of language is a popular and time-tested way to turn incompetence into increased revenue. A hacker being ironic would instead call the fix a {feature}, or perhaps save some effort by declaring "{That's not a bug, that's a feature!}". [{Jargon File}] (1998-04-04)
epidermis ::: v. t. --> The outer, nonsensitive layer of the skin; cuticle; scarfskin. See Dermis.
The outermost layer of the cells, which covers both surfaces of leaves, and also the surface of stems, when they are first formed. As stems grow old this layer is lost, and never replaced.
essence ::: “Essence can never be defined—it simply is.” Letters on Yoga
Ethics ::: The theosophical teachings are essentially and wholly ethical. It is impossible to understand the sublimewisdom of the gods, the archaic wisdom-religion of the ancients, without the keenest realization of thefact that ethics run like golden threads throughout the entire system or fabric of doctrine and thought ofthe esoteric philosophy. Genuine occultism, divorced from ethics, is simply unthinkable becauseimpossible. There is no genuine occultism which does not include the loftiest ethics that the moral senseof mankind can comprehend, and one cannot weigh with too strong an emphasis upon this great fact.Ethics in the theosophical philosophy are not merely the products of human thought existing as aformulation of conventional rules proper for human conduct. They are founded on the very structure andcharacter of the universe itself. The heart of the universe is wisdom-love, and these are intrinsicallyethical, for there can be no wisdom without ethics, nor can love be without ethics, nor can there be ethicsdeprived of either love or wisdom.The philosophic reason why the ancients set so much store by what was commonly known as virtusamong the Latins, from which we have our modern word "virtue," is because by means of the teachingoriginating in the great Mystery schools, they knew that virtues, ethics, were the offspring of the moralinstinct in human beings, who derived them in their turn from the heart of the universe -- from thekosmic harmony. It is high time that the Occidental world should cast forever into the limbo of explodedsuperstitions the idea that ethics is merely conventional morality, a convenience invented by man tosmooth the asperities and dangers of human intercourse.Of course every scholar knows that the words morals and ethics come from the Latin and Greekrespectively, as signifying the customs or habits which it is proper to follow in civilized communities.But this fact itself, which is unquestionable, is in a sense disgraceful, for it would almost seem that wehad not yet brought forth a word adequately describing the instinct for right and truth and troth andjustice and honor and wisdom and love which we today so feebly express by the words ethics or morals."Theosophist is who Theosophy does," wrote H. P. Blavatsky, and wiser and nobler words she neverwrote. No one can be a theosophist who does not feel ethic-ally and think ethically and live ethically inthe real sense that is hereinbefore described. (See also Morals)
exec /eg-zek'/ "operating system" 1. execute. A synonym for {chain} derived from the {Unix} "exec" {system call}. {Unix manual page}: execve(2). 2. (Obsolete) {executive}. The mainstream "exec" as an abbreviation for (human) executive is *not* used. To a hacker, an "exec" is a always a program, never a person. 3. At {IBM} and {VM}/{CMS} shops, the equivalent of a {shell} command file. 4. "operating system" The innermost {kernel} of the {Amiga} {operating system} which provides shared-library support, device interface, {memory management}, {CPU} management, basic {IPC}, and the basic structures for OS extension. The rest of the Amiga OS (windowing, file system, third-party extensions, etc.) is built using these structures. [{Jargon File}] (1997-08-01)
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code "character, standard" /eb's*-dik/, /eb'see`dik/, /eb'k*-dik/, /ee`bik'dik`/, /*-bik'dik`/ (EBCDIC) A proprietary 8-bit {character set} used on {IBM} {dinosaurs}, the {AS/400}, and {e-Server}. EBCDIC is an extension to 8 bits of BCDIC (Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code), an earlier 6-bit character set used on IBM computers. EBCDIC was [first?] used on the successful {System/360}, anounced on 1964-04-07, and survived for many years despite the almost universal adoption of {ASCII} elsewhere. Was this concern for {backward compatibility} or, as many believe, a marketing strategy to lock in IBM customers? IBM created 57 national EBCDIC character sets and an International Reference Version (IRV) based on {ISO 646} (and hence ASCII compatible). Documentation on these was not easily accessible making international exchange of data even between IBM mainframes a tricky task. US EBCDIC uses more or less the same characters as {ASCII}, but different {code points}. It has non-contiguous letter sequences, some ASCII characters do not exist in EBCDIC (e.g. {square brackets}), and EBCDIC has some ({cent sign}, {not sign}) not in ASCII. As a consequence, the translation between ASCII and EBCDIC was never officially completely defined. Users defined one translation which resulted in a so-called de-facto EBCDIC containing all the characters of ASCII, that all ASCII-related programs use. Some printers, telex machines, and even electronic cash registers can speak EBCDIC, but only so they can converse with IBM mainframes. For an in-depth discussion of character code sets, and full translation tables, see {Guidelines on 8-bit character codes (ftp://ftp.ulg.ac.be/pub/docs/iso8859/iso8859.networking)}. {A history of character codes (http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/characcodehist.html)}. (2002-03-03)
falsehood ::: “It [falsehood] is created by an Asuric (hostile) power which intervenes in this creation and is not only separated from the Truth and therefore limited in knowledge and open to error, but in revolt against the Truth or in the habit of seizing the Truth only to pervert it. This Power, the dark Asuric Shakti or Rakshasic Maya, puts forward its own perverted consciousness as true knowledge and its wilful distortions or reversals of the Truth as the verity of things. It is the powers and personalities of this perverted and perverting consciousness that we call hostile beings, hostile forces. Whenever these perversions created by them out of the stuff of the Ignorance are put forward as the Truth of things, that is the Falsehood, in the yogic sense, …” Letters on Yoga
Falsehood ::: not Ignorance (Avidya), but an extreme result of it. Falsehood is created by an Asuric power which intervenes in this creation and is not only separated from Truth and therefore limited in knowledge and open to error, but in revolt against the Truth or in the habit of seizing the Truth only to pervert it. This Power puts forth its own perverted consciousness as true knowledge and its willful distortions or reversals of the Truth as the verity of things. Whenever these perversions created out of the stuff of ignorance are put forward as the Truth of things, that is the Falsehood, in the yogic sense.
Fermat's Last Post "humour" A post to a {bug tracker}, {mailing list} or {forum} in which the author claims to have found a simple fix or workaround for a bug, but never says what it is and never shows up again to explain it (even after others have been puzzling over the bug for years). [{Dodgy Coder (http://www.dodgycoder.net/2011/11/yoda-conditions-pokemon-exception.html)}]. (2012-02-19)
Fiction: Whenever a symbol, as part of an utterance, occurs in such a context that the truth of any utterance of the same form would normally guarantee the existence of an individual denoted by that symbol, whereas in the case considered no such implication holds, the symbol may be said to occur fictitiously in that context. Thus in the utterance "The average man is six feet tall" the phrase "the average man" occurs fictitiously. For "X is less thin six feet tall" normally implies that there is an individual denoted by "X". But there is no individual denoted by "the average man".
firewall code 1. The code you put in a system (say, a telephone switch) to make sure that the users can't do any damage. Since users always want to be able to do everything but never want to suffer for any mistakes, the construction of a firewall is a question not only of defensive coding but also of interface presentation, so that users don't even get curious about those corners of a system where they can burn themselves. 2. Any sanity check inserted to catch a {can't happen} error. Wise programmers often change code to fix a bug twice: once to fix the bug, and once to insert a firewall which would have arrested the bug before it did quite as much damage. [{Jargon File}]
Fiske, John: (1842-1901) Harvard librarian and philosopher. He is best known as an historian of the colonial period. He was a voluminous writer in many fields. His Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy is his best known work as a pioneer in America of the evolutionary theories. He claimed an original contribution to these speculations in his studies of the period of infancy. His works on God and on immortality were widely read in his day although he later expressed doubts about them. Nevertheless his constant emphasis on the theistic as opposed to the positivistic implications of evolution served to influence the current theories of creative and emergent evolution. See Evolutionism. -- L.E.D.
floater "programming" A report in a {bug tracking} system that "floats" at the top of the queue but never gets assigned to a developer, maybe because there is a {workaround}. [{Dodgy Coder (http://www.dodgycoder.net/2011/11/yoda-conditions-pokemon-exception.html)}]. (2012-04-25)
flow chart "programming" An archaic form of visual control-flow specification employing arrows and "speech balloons" of various shapes. Hackers never use flow charts, consider them extremely silly, and associate them with {COBOL} programmers, {card wallopers}, and other lower forms of life. This attitude follows from the observations that flow charts (at least from a hacker's point of view) are no easier to read than code, are less precise, and tend to fall out of sync with the code (so that they either obfuscate it rather than explaining it, or require extra maintenance effort that doesn't improve the code). See also {Program Design Language}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-01)
Foonly 1. The {PDP-10} successor that was to have been built by the Super Foonly project at the {Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory} along with a new operating system. The intention was to leapfrog from the old DEC {time-sharing} system SAIL was then running to a new generation, bypassing TENEX which at that time was the {ARPANET} {standard}. {ARPA} funding for both the Super Foonly and the new operating system was cut in 1974. Most of the design team went to DEC and contributed greatly to the design of the PDP-10 model KL10. 2. The name of the company formed by Dave Poole, one of the principal Super Foonly designers, and one of hackerdom's more colourful personalities. Many people remember the parrot which sat on Poole's shoulder and was a regular companion. 3. Any of the machines built by Poole's company. The first was the F-1 (a.k.a. Super Foonly), which was the computational engine used to create the graphics in the movie "TRON". The F-1 was the fastest PDP-10 ever built, but only one was ever made. The effort drained Foonly of its financial resources, and the company turned toward building smaller, slower, and much less expensive machines. Unfortunately, these ran not the popular {TOPS-20} but a TENEX variant called Foonex; this seriously limited their market. Also, the machines shipped were actually wire-wrapped engineering prototypes requiring individual attention from more than usually competent site personnel, and thus had significant reliability problems. Poole's legendary temper and unwillingness to suffer fools gladly did not help matters. By the time of the Jupiter project cancellation in 1983, Foonly's proposal to build another F-1 was eclipsed by the {Mars}, and the company never quite recovered. See the {Mars} entry for the continuation and moral of this story. [{Jargon File}]
forest ::: n. --> An extensive wood; a large tract of land covered with trees; in the United States, a wood of native growth, or a tract of woodland which has never been cultivated.
A large extent or precinct of country, generally waste and woody, belonging to the sovereign, set apart for the keeping of game for his use, not inclosed, but distinguished by certain limits, and protected by certain laws, courts, and officers of its own.
For the sadhaka of the integral yoga it is necessary to remem- ber that no written Sastra, however great its authority or however large its spirit, can be more than a partial expression of the eternal Knowledge. He will use, but never bind himself even by the greatest Scripture.
Fortran V Preliminary work on adding character handling to {Fortran} by {IBM} ca. 1962. This name as never really used. (1994-10-26)
four-colour glossies 1. Literature created by {marketroids} that allegedly contains technical specs but which is in fact as superficial as possible without being totally {content-free}. "Forget the four-colour glossies, give me the tech ref manuals." Often applied as an indication of superficiality even when the material is printed on ordinary paper in black and white. Four-colour-glossy manuals are *never* useful for finding a problem. 2. [rare] Applied by extension to manual pages that don't contain enough information to diagnose why the program doesn't produce the expected or desired output.
four colour map theorem "mathematics, application" (Or "four colour theorem") The theorem stating that if the plane is divided into connected regions which are to be coloured so that no two adjacent regions have the same colour (as when colouring countries on a map of the world), it is never necessary to use more than four colours. The proof, due to Appel and Haken, attained notoriety by using a computer to check tens of thousands of cases and is thus not humanly checkable, even in principle. Some thought that this brought the philosophical status of the proof into doubt. There are now rumours of a simpler proof, not requiring the use of a computer. See also {chromatic number} (1995-03-25)
Free Software Foundation "body" (FSF) An organisation devoted to the creation and dissemination of {free software}, i.e. software that is free from licensing fees or restrictions on use. The Foundation's main work is supporting the {GNU} project, started by {Richard Stallman} (RMS), partly to proselytise for his position that information is community property and all software source should be shared. The GNU project has developed the GNU {Emacs} editor and a {C} compiler, {gcc}, replacements for many Unix utilities and many other tools. A complete {Unix}-like operating system ({HURD}) is in the works (April 1994). Software is distributed under the terms of the {GNU General Public License}, which also provides a good summary of the Foundation's goals and principles. The Free Software Foundation raises most of its funds from distributing its software, although it is a charity rather than a company. Although the software is freely available (e.g. by {FTP} - see below) users are encouraged to support the work of the FSF by paying for their distribution service or by making donations. One of the slogans of the FSF is "Help stamp out software hoarding!" This remains controversial because authors want to own, assign and sell the results of their labour. However, many hackers who disagree with RMS have nevertheless cooperated to produce large amounts of high-quality software for free redistribution under the Free Software Foundation's imprimatur. See {copyleft}, {General Public Virus}, {GNU archive site}. {(ftp://ftp.gnu.ai.mit.edu)}. Unofficial WWW pages: {PDX (http://cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/)}, {DeLorie (http://delorie.com/gnu/)}. E-mail: "gnu@gnu.org". Address: Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Telephone: +1 (617) 876 3296. (1995-12-10)
From day to day with never-ceasing joy,
from ::: prep. --> Out of the neighborhood of; lessening or losing proximity to; leaving behind; by reason of; out of; by aid of; -- used whenever departure, setting out, commencement of action, being, state, occurrence, etc., or procedure, emanation, absence, separation, etc., are to be expressed. It is construed with, and indicates, the point of space or time at which the action, state, etc., are regarded as setting out or beginning; also, less frequently, the source, the cause, the occasion, out of which anything proceeds; -- the aritithesis and
fry 1. To fail. Said especially of smoke-producing hardware failures. More generally, to become non-working. Usage: never said of software, only of hardware and humans. See {fried}, {magic smoke}. 2. To cause to fail; to {roach}, {toast}, or {hose} a piece of hardware. Never used of software or humans, but compare {fried}.
fudge factor A value or parameter that is varied in an ad hoc way to produce the desired result. The terms "tolerance" and {slop} are also used, though these usually indicate a one-sided leeway, such as a buffer that is made larger than necessary because one isn't sure exactly how large it needs to be, and it is better to waste a little space than to lose completely for not having enough. A fudge factor, on the other hand, can often be tweaked in more than one direction. A good example is the "fuzz" typically allowed in {floating-point} calculations: two numbers being compared for equality must be allowed to differ by a small amount; if that amount is too small, a computation may never terminate, while if it is too large, results will be needlessly inaccurate. Fudge factors are frequently adjusted incorrectly by programmers who don't fully understand their import.
George Boole "person" 1815-11-02 - 2008-05-11 22:58 best known for his contribution to symbolic logic ({Boolean Algebra}) but also active in other fields such as probability theory, {algebra}, analysis, and differential equations. He lived, taught, and is buried in Cork City, Ireland. The Boole library at University College Cork is named after him. For centuries philosophers have studied logic, which is orderly and precise reasoning. George Boole argued in 1847 that logic should be allied with mathematics rather than with philosophy. Demonstrating logical principles with mathematical symbols instead of words, he founded {symbolic logic}, a field of mathematical/philosophical study. In the new discipline he developed, known as {Boolean algebra}, all objects are divided into separate classes, each with a given property; each class may be described in terms of the presence or absence of the same property. An electrical circuit, for example, is either on or off. Boolean algebra has been applied in the design of {binary} computer circuits and telephone switching equipment. These devices make use of Boole's two-valued (presence or absence of a property) system. Born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK, George Boole was the son of a tradesman and was largely self-taught. He began teaching at the age of 16 to help support his family. In his spare time he read mathematical journals and soon began to write articles for them. By the age of 29, Boole had received a gold medal for his work from the British Royal Society. His 'Mathematical Analysis of Logic', a pamphlet published in 1847, contained his first statement of the principles of symbolic logic. Two years later he was appointed professor of mathematics at Queen's College in Ireland, even though he had never studied at a university. He died in Ballintemple, Ireland, on 1864-12-08. {Compton's Encyclopedia Online (http://comptons2.aol.com/encyclopedia/ARTICLES/00619_A.html)}. (1998-11-19)
glucinum ::: n. --> A rare metallic element, of a silver white color, and low specific gravity (2.1), resembling magnesium. It never occurs naturally in the free state, but is always combined, usually with silica or alumina, or both; as in the minerals phenacite, chrysoberyl, beryl or emerald, euclase, and danalite. It was named from its oxide glucina, which was known long before the element was isolated. Symbol Gl. Atomic weight 9.1. Called also beryllium.
gopher "networking, protocol" A {distributed} document retrieval system which started as a {Campus Wide Information System} at the {University of Minnesota}, and which was popular in the early 1990s. Gopher is defined in {RFC 1436}. The protocol is like a primitive form of {HTTP} (which came later). Gopher lacks the {MIME} features of HTTP, but expressed the equivalent of a document's {MIME type} with a one-character code for the "{Gopher object type}". At time of writing (2001), all Web browers should be able to access gopher servers, although few gopher servers exist anymore. Sir {Tim Berners-Lee}, in his book "Weaving The Web" (pp.72-73), related his opinion that it was not so much the protocol limitations of gopher that made people abandon it in favor of HTTP/{HTML}, but instead the legal missteps on the part of the university where it was developed: "It was just about this time, spring 1993, that the University of Minnesota decided that it would ask for a license fee from certain classes of users who wanted to use gopher. Since the gopher software being picked up so widely, the university was going to charge an annual fee. The browser, and the act of browsing, would be free, and the server software would remain free to nonprofit and educational institutions. But any other users, notably companies, would have to pay to use gopher server software. "This was an act of treason in the academic community and the Internet community. Even if the university never charged anyone a dime, the fact that the school had announced it was reserving the right to charge people for the use of the gopher protocols meant it had crossed the line. To use the technology was too risky. Industry dropped gopher like a hot potato." (2001-03-31)
green card [after the "IBM System/360 Reference Data" card] A summary of an assembly language, even if the colour is not green. Less frequently used now because of the decrease in the use of assembly language. "I'll go get my green card so I can check the {addressing mode} for that instruction." Some green cards are actually booklets. The original green card became a yellow card when the System/370 was introduced, and later a yellow booklet. An anecdote from IBM refers to a scene that took place in a programmers' terminal room at Yorktown in 1978. A luser overheard one of the programmers ask another "Do you have a green card?" The other grunted and passed the first a thick yellow booklet. At this point the luser turned a delicate shade of olive and rapidly left the room, never to return. [{Jargon File}]
guru meditation "operating system" The {Amiga} equivalent of {Unix}'s {panic} (sometimes just called a "guru" or "guru event"). When the system crashes, a cryptic message of the form "GURU MEDITATION
Guru ::: The relation of Guru and disciple is only one of many relations which one can have with the Divine, and in this Yoga which aims at a supramental realisation, it is not usual to give it this name; rather, the Divine is regarded as the Source, the living Sun of Light and Knowledge and Consciousness and spiritual realisation and all that one receives is felt as coming from there and the whole being remoulded by the Divine Hand. This is a greater and more intimate relation than that of the human Guru and disciple, which is more of a limited mental ideal. Nevertheless, if the mind still needs the more familiar mental conception, it can be kept so long as it is needed; only do not let the soul be bound by it and do not let it limit the inflow of other relations with the Divine and larger forms of experience.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 35, Page: 395
gzip "tool, compression" {GNU} compression utility. Gzip reduces the size of the named files using {Lempel-Ziv} {LZ77 compression}. Whenever possible, each file is replaced by one with the {filename extension} ".gz". Compressed files can be restored to their original form using gzip -d or gunzip or zcat. The Unix "{compress}" utility is patented (by two separate patents, in fact) and is thus shunned by the GNU Project since it is not {free software}. They have therefore chosen gzip, which is free of any known {software patents} and which tends to compress better anyway. All compressed files in the {GNU} {anonymous FTP} area (gnu.org/pub/gnu) are in gzip format and their names end in ".gz" (as opposed to "compress"-compressed files, which end in ".Z"). Gzip can uncompress "compress"-compressed files and "pack" files (which end in ".z"). The decompression algorithms are not patented, only compression is. The gzip program is available from any {GNU archive site} in {shar}, {tar}, or gzipped tar format (for those who already have a prior version of gzip and want faster data transmission). It works on virtually every {Unix} system, {MS-DOS}, {OS/2} and {VMS}.
hack value Often adduced as the reason or motivation for expending effort toward a seemingly useless goal, the point being that the accomplished goal is a hack. For example, MacLISP had features for reading and printing Roman numerals, which were installed purely for hack value. See {display hack} for one method of computing hack value, but this cannot really be explained, only experienced. As Louis Armstrong once said when asked to explain jazz: "Man, if you gotta ask you'll never know." (Feminists please note Fats Waller's explanation of rhythm: "Lady, if you got to ask you ain't got it.")
hang 1. To wait for an event that will never occur. "The system is hanging because it can't read from the crashed drive". See {wedged}, {hung}. 2. To wait for some event to occur; to hang around until something happens. "The program displays a menu and then hangs until you type a character." Compare {block}. 3. To attach a peripheral device, especially in the construction "hang off": "We're going to hang another tape drive off the file server." Implies a device attached with cables, rather than something that is strictly inside the machine's chassis.
Haunted house, place, etc.: A house, etc., where the same ghostly apparition can be seen, usually at the same hour, every day, or whenever someone enters. One of the principal objects of psychical research.
head-strict "theory" A head-strict function will not necessarily evaluate every {cons cell} of its (list) argument, but whenever it does evaluate a cons cell it will also evaluate the element in the head of that cell. An example of a head-strict function is beforeZero :: [Int] -" [Int] beforeZero [] = [] beforeZero (0:xs) = [] beforeZero (x:xs) = x : beforeZero xs which returns a list up to the first zero. This pattern of evaluation is important because it is common in functions which operate on a list of inputs. See also {tail-strict}, {hyperstrict}. (1995-05-11)
Hedonistic Paradox: A paradox or apparent inconsistency in hedonistic theory arising from (1) the doctrine that since pleasure is the only good, one ought always to seek pleasure, and (2) the fact that whenever pleasure itself is the object sought it cannot be found. Human nature is such that pleasure normally arises as an accompaniment of satisfaction of desire for any end except when that end is pleasure itself. The way to attain pleasure is not to seek for it, but for something else which when found will have yielded pleasure through the finding. Likewise, one should not seek to avoid pain, but only actions which produce pain. -- A.J.B.
Heterogeneity: (Lat. Heterogeneitas) The condition of having different parts; diversity of composition; distinction of kind. Hamilton's law: "that every concept contains other concepts under it; and therefore, when divided proximately, we descend always to other concepts, but never to individuals; in other words, things the most homogeneous -- similar -- must in certain respects be heterogeneous -- dissimilar." Employed by H. Spencer (1820-1903) to denote the presence of differentiation in the cosmic material. Opposite of: homogeneity (q- v.). -- J.K.F.
Hitachi 6309 "processor" (HD6309) {Hitachi}'s version of the {Motorola 6809} {microprocessor}. Compatible with the 6809, it added two new eight-bit {registers} that could be added to form a second 16-bit register, and all four eight-bit registers could form a 32-bit register. It also featured division, and some 32-bit arithmetic and was generally 30% faster in native mode. This information, surprisingly, was never published by Hitachi. {Technical reference (http://sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/People/Alan_DeKok/interests/6309.techref)}. (1997-03-21)
hog "jargon" A term used to describe programs, hardware or people that use more than their share of a system's resources, especially those which noticeably degrade interactive response. The term is usually qualified, e.g. "memory hog", "core hog", "hog the processor", "hog the disk". E.g. "A {controller} that never gives up the {I/O bus} gets killed after the bus-hog timer expires." User also hog resources, particularly disk, where it seems that 10% of the people use 90% of the disk, no matter how big the disk is or how many people use it. Once a disk hog fills up one file system, he typically finds a new one to consume, claiming to the sysadmin that they have an important new project to complete. (2014-08-16)
horn ::: n. --> A hard, projecting, and usually pointed organ, growing upon the heads of certain animals, esp. of the ruminants, as cattle, goats, and the like. The hollow horns of the Ox family consist externally of true horn, and are never shed.
The antler of a deer, which is of bone throughout, and annually shed and renewed.
Any natural projection or excrescence from an animal, resembling or thought to resemble a horn in substance or form; esp.:
howbeit ::: conj. --> Be it as it may; nevertheless; notwithstanding; although; albeit; yet; but; however.
however ::: adv. --> In whetever manner, way, or degree.
At all events; at least; in any case. ::: conj. --> Nevertheless; notwithstanding; yet; still; though; as, I shall not oppose your design; I can not, however, approve of it.
Hurd "operating system" The {GNU} project's replacement for the {Unix} {kernel}. The Hurd is a collection of {servers} that run on the {Mach} {microkernel} to implement {file systems}, {network protocols}, file access control, and other features that are implemented by the Unix kernel or similar kernels such as {Linux}. The GNU {C Library} provides the {Unix} {system call} interface, and calls the Hurd for services it can't provide itself. The Hurd aims to establish a framework for shared development and maintenance, allowing a broad range of users to share projects without knowing much about the internal workings of the system - projects that might never have been attempted without freely available source, a well-designed interface, and a multi-server-based design. Currently there are free ports of the {Mach} {kernel} to the {Intel 80386} {IBM PC}, the {DEC} {PMAX} {workstation}, the {Luna} {88k}, with more in progress, including the {Amiga} and {DEC} {Alpha}-3000 machines. According to Thomas Bushnell, BSG, the primary architect of the Hurd: 'Hurd' stands for 'Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons' and 'Hird' stands for 'Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth'. Possibly the first software to be named by a pair of {mutually recursive} acronyms. {The Hurd Home (http://gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html)}. [June 1994 GNU's Bulletin]. (2004-02-24)
Hu ::: Whether via revelation or through consciousness, HU is the inner essence of the reality of everything that is perceived... To such extent that, as the reflection of Akbariyyah, first awe then nothingness is experienced and, as such, the Reality of Hu can never be attained! Sight cannot reach HU! HU denotes absolute obscurity and incomprehension! As a matter of fact, all names, including Allah are mentioned in connection with HU in the Quran!
hydrophobia ::: n. --> An abnormal dread of water, said to be a symptom of canine madness; hence:
The disease caused by a bite form, or inoculation with the saliva of, a rabid creature, of which the chief symptoms are, a sense of dryness and construction in the throat, causing difficulty in deglutition, and a marked heightening of reflex excitability, producing convulsions whenever the patient attempts to swallow, or is disturbed in any way, as by the sight or sound of water; rabies; canine madness.
hyperspace /hi:'per-spays/ A memory location that is *far* away from where the {program counter} should be pointing, often inaccessible because it is not even mapped in. (Compare {jump off into never-never land}.) This usage is from the SF notion of a spaceship jumping "into hyperspace", that is, taking a shortcut through higher-dimensional space - in other words, bypassing this universe. The variant "east hyperspace" is recorded among {CMU} and {Bliss} hackers. [{Jargon File}] (1994-11-23)
IBM System/36 "computer" A mid-range {computer} introduced in 1983, which remained popular in the 1990s because of its low cost and high performance. Prices started in the $20k range for the small 5362 to $100+k for the expanded 5360. In 1994, IBM introduced the Advanced 36 for $9,000. The largest 5360 had 7MB of {RAM} and 1432MB of {hard disk}. The smallest 5362 had 256K of RAM and 30MB of hard disk. The Advanced 36 had 64MB of RAM and 4300MB of hard disk, but design issues limit the amount of storage that can actually be addressed by the {operating system}; underlying {microcode} allowed additional RAM to cache disk reads and writes, allowing the Advanced 36 to outperform the S/36 by 600 to 800%. There was only one operating system for the S/36: SSP ({System Support Product}). SSP consumed about 7-10MB of hard drive space. Computer programs on the S/36 reside in "libraries," and the SSP itself resides in a special system library called
Idealists regard such an equalization of physical laws and psychological, historical laws as untenable. The "tvpical case" with which physics or chemistry analyzes is a result of logical abstraction; the object of history, however, is not a unit with universal traits but something individual, in a singular space and at a particular time, never repeatable under the same circumstances. Therefore no physical laws can be formed about it. What makes it a fact worthy of historical interest, is iust the fullness of live activity in it; it is a "value", not a "thing". Granted that historical events are exposed to influences from biological, geological, racial and traditional sources, they aie always carried by a human being whose singularity of character has assimilated the forces of his environment and surmounted them There is a reciprocal action between man and society, but it is always personal initiative and free productivity of the individual which account for history. Denying, therefore, the logical primacy of physical laws in history, does not mean lawlessness, and that is the standpoint of the logic of history in more recent times. Windelband and H. Rickert established another kind of historical order of laws. On their view, to understand history one must see the facts in their relation to a universally applicable and transcendental system of values. Values "are" not, they "hold"; they are not facts but realities of our reason, they are not developed but discovered. According to Max Weber historical facts form an ideally typical, transcendental whole which, although seen, can never be fully explained. G, Simmel went further into metaphysics: "life" is declared an historical category, it is the indefinable, last reality ascending to central values which shaped cultural epochs, such as the medieval idea of God, or the Renaissance-idea of Nature, only to be tragically disappointed, whereupon other values rise up, as humanity, liberty, technique, evolution and others.
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that are the Lord’s remembrancers, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”
I. Logic of History The historical objects under observation (man, life, society, biological and geological conditions) are so diverse that even slight mistakes in evaluation of items and of the historical whole may lead to false results. This can be seen from the modern logic of history. In the 18th century, G. B. Vico contended, under the deep impression of the lawfulness prevailing in natural sciences, that historical events also follow each other according to unswerving natural laws. He assumed three stages of development, that of fantasy, of will, and of science. The encyclopedists and Saint-Simon shared his view. The individual is immersed, and driven on, by the current of social tendencies, so that Comte used to speak of an "histoire sans noms". His three stages of development were the theological, metaphysical, and scientific stage. H. Spencer and A. Fouillee regard social life as an organism unfolding itself according to immanent laws, either of racial individuality (Gobineau, Vocher de Lapauge) or of a combination of social, physical, and personal forces (Taine). The spirit of a people and of an age outweigh completely the power of an individual personality which can work only along socially conditioned tendencies. The development of a nation always follows the same laws, it may vary as to time and whereabouts but never as to the form (Burkhardt, Lamprecht). To this group of historians belong also O. Spengler and K. Marx; "Fate" rules the civilization of peoples and pushes them on to their final destination.
Immortality ::: A term signifying continuous existence or being; but this understanding of the term is profoundlyillogical and contrary to nature, for there is nothing throughout nature's endless and multifarious realmsof being and existence which remains for two consecutive instants of time exactly the same.Consequently, immortality is a mere figment of the imagination, an illusory phantom of reality. When thestudent of the esoteric wisdom once realizes that continuous progress, i.e., continuous change inadvancement, is nature's fundamental procedure, he recognizes instantly that continuous remaining in anunchanging or immutable state of consciousness or being is not only impossible, but in the last analysis isthe last thing that is either desirable or comforting. Fancy continuing immortal in a state of imperfection such as we human beingsexemplify -- which is exactly what the usual acceptance of this term immortality means. The highest godin highest heaven, although seemingly immortal to us imperfect human beings, is nevertheless anevolving, growing, progressing entity in its own sublime realms or spheres, and therefore as the ages passleaves one condition or state to assume a succeeding condition or state of a nobler and higher type;precisely as the preceding condition or state had been the successor of another state before it.Continuous or unending immutability of any condition or state of an evolving entity is obviously animpossibility in nature; and when once pondered over it becomes clear that the ordinary acceptance ofimmortality involves an impossibility. All nature is an unending series of changes, which means all thehosts or multitudes of beings composing nature, for every individual unit of these hosts is growing,evolving, i.e., continuously changing, therefore never immortal. Immortality and evolution arecontradictions in terms. An evolving entity means a changing entity, signifying a continuous progresstowards better things; and evolution therefore is a succession of state of consciousness and being afteranother state of consciousness and being, and thus throughout duration. The Occidental idea of staticimmortality or even mutable immortality is thus seen to be both repellent and impossible.This doctrine is so difficult for the average Occidental easily to understand that it may be advisable onceand for all to point out without mincing of words that just as complete death, that is to say, entireannihilation of consciousness, is an impossibility in nature, just so is continuous and unchangingconsciousness in any one stage or phase of evolution likewise an impossibility, because progress ormovement or growth is continuous throughout eternity. There are, however, periods more or less long ofcontinuance in any stage or phase of consciousness that may be attained by an evolving entity; and thehigher the being is in evolution, the more its spiritual and intellectual faculties have been evolved orevoked, the longer do these periods of continuous individual, or perhaps personal, quasi-immortalitycontinue. There is, therefore, what may be called relative immortality, although this phrase is confessedlya misnomer.Master KH in The Mahatma Letters, on pages 128-30, uses the phrase ``panaeonic immortality" tosignify this same thing that I have just called relative immortality, an immortality -- falsely so called,however -- which lasts in the cases of certain highly evolved monadic egos for the entire period of amanvantara, but which of necessity ends with the succeeding pralaya of the solar system. Such a periodof time of continuous self-consciousness of so highly evolved a monadic entity is to us humans actually arelative immortality; but strictly and logically speaking it is no more immortality than is the ephemeralexistence of a butterfly. When the solar manvantara comes to an end and the solar pralaya begins, evensuch highly evolved monadic entities, full-blown gods, are swept out of manifested self-consciousexistence like the sere and dried leaves at the end of the autumn; and the divine entities thus passing outenter into still higher realms of superdivine activity, to reappear at the end of the pralaya and at the dawnof the next or succeeding solar manvantara.The entire matter is, therefore, a highly relative one. What seems immortal to us humans would seem tobe but as a wink of the eye to the vision of super-kosmic entities; while, on the other hand, the span ofthe average human life would seem to be immortal to a self-conscious entity inhabiting one of theelectrons of an atom of the human physical body.The thing to remember in this series of observations is the wondrous fact that consciousness frometernity to eternity is uninterrupted, although by the very nature of things undergoing continuous andunceasing change of phases in realization throughout endless duration. What men call unconsciousness ismerely a form of consciousness which is too subtle for our gross brain-minds to perceive or to sense or tograsp; and, secondly, strictly speaking, what men call death, whether of a universe or of their ownphysical bodies, is but the breaking up of worn-out vehicles and the transference of consciousness to ahigher plane. It is important to seize the spirit of this marvelous teaching, and not allow the imperfectbrain-mind to quibble over words, or to pause or hesitate at difficult terms.
In discussions of religion, syn. for the belief in a personal God. God is here usually conceived of as Creator, as having brought into existence realities other than himself which, though he is not completely (although for certain purposes, partly) dependent upon them, nevertheless are dependent upon him. Theism has characteristically held to a combination of both the transcendence and immanence of God. -- V.F.
Induction: (Lat. in and ducere, to lead in) i.e., to lead into the field of attention a number of observed particular facts as ground for a general assertion. "Perfect" induction is assertion concerning all the entities of a collection on the basis of elimination of each and every one of them. The conclusion sums up but does not go beyond the facts observed. Ordinarily, however, "induction" is used to mean ampliative inference as distinguished from explicative, i.e , it is the sort of inference which attempts to reach a conclusion concerning all the members of a class from observation of only some of them. Conclusions inductive in this sense are only probable, in greater or less degree according to the precautions taken in selecting the evidence for them. Induction is conceived by J. S. Mill, and generally, as essentially an evidencing process; but Whewell conceives it as essentially discovery, viz., discovery of some conception, not extracted from the set of particular facts observed, but nevertheless capable of "colligating" them, i.e., of expressing them all at once, (or, better stated, of making it possible to deduce them). For example, Kepler's statement that the orbit of Mars is an ellipse represented the discovery by him that the conception of the ellipse "colligated" all the observed positions of Mars. Mill's view of induction directly fits the process of empirical generalization; that of Whewell, rather the theoretical, explanatory part of the task of science. Charles Peirce, viewing induction as generalization, contrasts it not only with inference from antecedent to consequent ("deduction") but also with inference from consequent to antecedent, called by him "hypothesis" (also called by him "abduction" (q.v.), but better termed "diagnosis). -- C.J.D.
Infinite ::: A term meaning that which is not finite. The expression is used sometimes with almost absurdinaccuracy, and is one which in all probability representing as it does imperfect understanding couldnever be found in any of the great religious or philosophical systems of the ancients. Occidental writersof the past and present often use the word infinite as applying to beings or entities, such as in theexpression "an infinite personal deity" -- a ludicrous joining of contradictory and disparate words. Theancients rejected the phantom idea that this term involves, and used instead expressions such as theBoundless, or the Frontierless, or the Endless, whether speaking of abstract space or abstract time -- thelatter more properly called unending duration. (See also Absolute)
Infinitesimal: In a phraseology which is logically inexact but nevertheless common, an infinitesimal is a quantity, or a variable, whose limit is 0. Thus in considering the limit of f(x) as x approaches c, if this limit is 0 the "quantity" f(x) may be said to be an infinitesimal; or in considering the limit of f(x) as x approaches 0, the "quantity" x may be said to be an infinitesimal. (See the article limit.) -- A.C.
Information Algebra Theoretical formalism for DP, never resulted in a language. Language Structure Group of CODASYL, ca. 1962. Sammet 1969, 709.
Information Processing Language (IPL) Said to be the first list-processing language, also the first language to support {recursion}. Written by Allen Newell, J.C. Shaw and H. Simon at Carnegie ca. 1956. It was very low level. Versions: IPL-I (never implemented), IPL-II (1957 for {JOHNNIAC}), IPL-III (existed briefly), IPL-IV, IPL-V (1958, for {IBM 650}, {IBM 704}, {IBM 7090}, many others. Widely used), IPL-VI. [Sammet 1969, pp. 388-400]. ["Information Processing Language-V Manual", A. Newell ed, P-H 1965]. (1994-11-04)
In Principia Mathematica descriptions (or notations serving the same purpose in context) are introduced is incomplete symbols (q. v.). Russell maintains that descriptions not only may but must be thus construed as incomplete symbols -- briefly, for the following reasons. The alternative is to construe a description as a proper name, so that, e.g., the description the author of Waverley denotes the man Scott and is therefore synonymous with the name Scott. But then the sentences "Scott is the author of Waverley" and "Scott is Scott" ought to be synonymous -- which they clearly are not (although both are true). Moreover, such a desription as the King of France cannot be a proper name, since there is no King of France whom it may denote; nevertheless, a sentence such as "The King of France is bald" should be construed to have a meaning, since it may be falsely asserted or believed by one who falsely asserts or believes that there is a King of France.
insatiate ::: never satisfied or appeased; ever craving for more. insatiably.
Integrated Services Digital Network "communications" (ISDN) A set of communications {standards} allowing a single wire or {optical fibre} to carry voice, digital network services and video. ISDN is intended to eventually replace the {plain old telephone system}. ISDN was first published as one of the 1984 {ITU-T} {Red Book} recommendations. The 1988 {Blue Book} recommendations added many new features. ISDN uses mostly existing {Public Switched Telephone Network} (PSTN) switches and wiring, upgraded so that the basic "call" is a 64 kilobits per second, all-digital end-to-end channel. {Packet} and {frame} modes are also provided in some places. There are different kinds of ISDN connection of varying bandwidth (see {DS level}): DS0 = 1 channel PCM at 64 kbps T1 or DS1 = 24 channels PCM at 1.54 Mbps T1C or DS1C = 48 channels PCM at 3.15 Mbps T2 or DS2 = 96 channels PCM at 6.31 Mbps T3 or DS3 = 672 channels PCM at 44.736 Mbps T4 or DS4 = 4032 channels PCM at 274.1 Mbps Each channel here is equivalent to one voice channel. DS0 is the lowest level of the circuit. T1C, T2 and T4 are rarely used, except maybe for T2 over microwave links. For some reason 64 kbps is never called "T0". A {Basic Rate Interface} (BRI) is two 64K "bearer" channels and a single "delta" channel ("2B+D"). A {Primary Rate Interface} (PRI) in North America and Japan consists of 24 channels, usually 23 B + 1 D channel with the same physical interface as T1. Elsewhere the PRI usually has 30 B + 1 D channel and an {E1} interface. A {Terminal Adaptor} (TA) can be used to connect ISDN channels to existing interfaces such as {EIA-232} and {V.35}. Different services may be requested by specifying different values in the "Bearer Capability" field in the call setup message. One ISDN service is "telephony" (i.e. voice), which can be provided using less than the full 64 kbps bandwidth (64 kbps would provide for 8192 eight-bit samples per second) but will require the same special processing or {bit diddling} as ordinary PSTN calls. Data calls have a Bearer Capability of "64 kbps unrestricted". ISDN is offered by local telephone companies, but most readily in Australia, France, Japan and Singapore, with the UK somewhat behind and availability in the USA rather spotty. (In March 1994) ISDN deployment in Germany is quite impressive, although (or perhaps, because) they use a specifically German signalling specification, called {1.TR.6}. The French {Numeris} also uses a non-standard protocol (called {VN4}; the 4th version), but the popularity of ISDN in France is probably lower than in Germany, given the ludicrous pricing. There is also a specifically-Belgian V1 experimental system. The whole of Europe is now phasing in {Euro-ISDN}. See also {Frame Relay}, {Network Termination}, {SAPI}. {FAQ (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/comp.dcom.isdn/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.dcom.isdn}. (1998-03-29)
Intersil 6100 "programming" (IMS 6100) A single chip design of the {DEC} {PDP-8} {minicomputer}. The old PDP-8 design was very strange, and if it hadn't been popular, an awkward {CPU} like the 6100 would never been designed. The 6100 was a 12-bit processor, which had three {registers}: the {PC}, AC (accumulator), and MQ. All 2-operand instructions read AC and MQ and wrote back to AC. It had a 12-bit {address bus}, limiting {RAM} to only 4K. Memory references were 7-bit, offset either from address 0, or from the PC page base address (PC AND 7600 oct). It had no {stack}. Subroutines stored the {PC} in the first word of the subroutine code itself, so {recursion} required fancy programming. 4K RAM was pretty much hopeless for general purpose use. The 6102 support chip (included in the 6120) added 3 address lines, expanding memory to 32K the same way that the PDP-8/E expanded the PDP-8. Two registers, IFR and DFR, held the page for instructions and data respectively (IFR was always used until a data address was detected). At the top of the 4K page, the PC wrapped back to 0, so the last instruction on a page had to load a new value into the IFR if execution was to continue. (2003-04-04)
Involution ::: The reverse process or procedure of evolution. As evolution means the unfolding, the unwrapping, therolling forth, of what already exists and is latent, so involution means the inwrapping, the infolding, theingoing of what previously exists or has been unfolded, etc. Involution and evolution never in anycircumstances can be even conceived of properly as operative the one apart from the other: every act ofevolution is an act of involution, and vice versa. To illustrate, as spirit and matter are fundamentally oneand yet eternally coactive and interactive, so involution and evolution are two names for two phases ofthe same procedure of growth, and are eternally coactive and interactive. As an example, the so-calleddescent of the monads into matter means an involution or involving or infolding of spiritual potenciesinto material vehicles which coincidently and contemporaneously, through the compelling urge of theinfolding energies, unfold their own latent capacities, unwrap them, roll them forth; and this is theevolution of matter. Thus what is the involution of spirit is contemporaneously and pari passu theevolution of matter. Contrariwise, on the ascending or luminous arc when the involved monadic essencesbegin to rise towards their primordial spiritual source they begin to unfold or unwrap themselves aspreviously on the descending arc they had infolded or inwrapped themselves. But this process ofunfolding or evolution of the monadic essences is contemporaneous with and pari passu with theinfolding and inwrapping, the involution, of the material energies and powers.Human birth and death are outstanding illustrations or examples of the same thing. The child is born, andas it grows to its full efflorescence of power it evolves or rolls forth certain inherent characteristics orenergies or faculties, all derived from the human being's svabhava or ego. Contrariwise, when the declineof human life begins, there is a slow infolding or inwrapping of these same facilities which thus seemgradually to diminish. These facilities and energies thus evolved forth in earth-life are the working of theinnate spiritual and intellectual and psychical characteristics impelling and compelling the vehicular orbody sides of the human constitution to express themselves as organs becoming more and more perfectas the child grows to maturity.After death the process is exactly the reverse. The material or vehicular side of the being grows less andless strong and powerful, more and more involved, and becoming with every step in the process moredormant. But contemporaneously and coincidently the distinctly spiritual and intellectual powers andfaculties themselves become released from the vehicles and begin to expand into ever largerefflorescence, attaining their maximum in the devachan. It is only the usual carelessness in accuratethinking that induces the idea that evolution is one distinct process acting alone, and that involution -about which by the way very little is heard -- is another process acting alone. The two, as said above, arethe two phases of activity of the evolving monads, and these phases exist contemporaneously at anymoment, each of the two phases continually acting and interacting with the other phase. They areinseparable.Just so with spirit and matter. Spirit is not something radically distinct from and utterly separate frommatter. The two are fundamentally one, and the two are eternally coactive and interactive.There are several terms in Sanskrit which correspond to what the theosophist means by evolution, butperhaps the best general term is pravritti, meaning to "revolve" or to "roll forwards," to unroll or tounwrap. Again, the reverse procedure or involution can probably best be expressed in Sanskrit by theterm nivritti, meaning "rolling backwards" or "inwrapping" or "infolding." A term which is frequentlyinterchangeable with evolution is emanation. (See also Evolution)
ISAPI filter "web" A replaceable {DLL} which the {server} calls whenever there is an {HTTP} request. When the filter is first loaded, it communicates to the server what sort of notifications will be accepted. After that, whenever a selected event occurs, the filter is called to process the event. Example applications of ISAPI filters include custom {authentication} schemes, {compression}, {encryption}, logging, traffic analysis or other request analyses. (1997-01-06)
Isolation by Varying Concomitants: In the logic of scientific method, the fourth of the five experimental methods of J. S. Mill (1806-1873), whereby cause can be determined in an actual case. Known also as the Method of Concomitant Variation. Stated by Mill as follows: "Whatever phenomenon varies in any manner whenever another phenomenon varies in some particular manner, is either a cause or an effect of that phenomenon, or is connected with it through some fact of causation". -- J.K.F.
iterative deepening "algorithm" A {graph} search {algorithm} that will find the shortest path with some given property, even when the graph contains {cycles}. When searching for a path through a graph, starting at a given initial {node}, where the path (or its end node) has some desired property, a {depth-first search} may never find a solution if it enters a cycle in the graph. Rather than avoiding cycles (i.e. never extend a path with a node it already contains), iterative deepening explores all paths up to length (or "depth") N, starting from N=0 and increasing N until a solution is found. (2004-01-26)
It is only if you keep quiet and steady within that the lines of experience can go on with some steadiness — though they are never without periods of interruption and fluctuation ; but these if properly treated, can then become periods of assimilation and exhaustion of difficulty rather than denials of sadhana.
Jaspers, Karl: (1883-) Inspired by Nietzsche's and Kierkegaard's psychology, but aiming at a strictly scientific method, the "existentialist" Jaspers analyzes the possible attitudes of man towards the world; the decisions which the individual must make in inescapable situations like death, struggle, change, guilt; and the various ways in which man meets these situations. Motivated by the boundless desire for clarity and precision, Jaspers earnestly presents as his main objective to awaken the desire for a fuller, more genuine philosophy, these three methods of philosophizing which have existed from te earliest times to the present: Philosophical world orientation consisting in an analysis of the limitations, incompleteness and relativity of the researches, methods, world pictures of all the sciences; elucidation of existence consisting of a cognitive penetration into reality on the basis of the deepest inner decisions experienced by the individual, and striving to satisfy the deepest demands of human nature; the way of metaphysics, the never-satisfied and unending search for truth in the world of knowledge, conduct of life and in the seeking for the one being, dimly seen through antithetic thoughts, deep existential conflicts and differently conceived metaphysical symbols of the past. Realizing the decisive problematic relation between philosophy and religion in the Middle Ages, Jaspers elevates psychology and history to a more important place in the future of philosophy.
jump off into never-never land [J. M. Barrie's "Peter Pan"] Same as {branch to Fishkill}, but more common in technical cultures associated with non-{IBM} computers that use the term "jump" rather than "branch". Compare {hyperspace}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-15)
Kalibhava (Kalibhava; Kali-bhava; Kali bhava) ::: the forceful temKalibhava perament of Kali, sometimes equivalent to Can.d.ibhava or Mahakali bhava; oneness with Kali as the universal prakr.ti or sakti, a state dependent on liberation from the ego (ahaṅkara-mukti-siddhi) in which "the form of the egoistic consciousness with a name attached to it is repelled whenever it throws its shadow on the central consciousness", leading to "entire possession of the world in subjective unity" by the jiva-prakr.ti.
Kama-Rupa(Sanskrit) ::: A compound word signifying "desire body." It is that part of man's inner constitution in whichdwell or inhere the various desires, affections, hates, loves -- in short, the various mental and psychicalenergies. After death it becomes the vehicle in the astral worlds of the higher principles of the man thatwas. But these higher principles are nevertheless scarcely conscious of the fact, because the rupture ofthe golden cord of life at the moment of the physical death plunges the cognizing personal entity into amerciful stupor of unconsciousness, in which stupor it remains a longer or shorter period depending uponits qualities of spirituality or materiality. The more spiritual the man was the longer the period ofmerciful unconsciousness lasts, and vice versa.After death, as has been frequently stated elsewhere, there occurs what is called the second death, whichis the separation of the immortal part of the second or intermediate duad from the lower portions of thisduad, which lower portions remain as the kama-rupa in the etheric or higher astral spheres which areintermediate between the devachanic and the earthly spheres. In time this kama-rupa gradually fades outin its turn, its life-atoms at such dissolution passing on to their various and unceasing peregrinations.It is this kama-rupa which legend and story in the various ancient world religions or philosophies speakof as the shade, and which it has been customary in the Occident to call the spook or ghost. It is, in short,all the mortal elements of the human soul that was. The kama-rupa is an exact astral duplicate, inappearance and mannerism, of the man who died; it is his eidolon or "image." (See also Second Death)
Karanopadhi(Sanskrit) ::: A compound meaning the "causal instrument" or "instrumental cause" in the long series ofreimbodiments to which human and other reimbodying entities are subject. Upadhi, the second elementof this compound, is often translated as "vehicle"; but while this definition is accurate enough for popularpurposes, it fails to set forth the essential meaning of the word which is rather "disguise," or certainnatural properties or constitutional characteristics supposed to be the disguises or clothings or masks inand through which the spiritual monad of man works, bringing about the repetitive manifestations uponearth of certain functions and powers of this monad, and, indeed, upon the other globes of the planetarychain; and, furthermore, intimately connected with the peregrinations of the monad through the variousspheres and realms of the solar kosmos. In one sense of the word, therefore, karanopadhi is almostinterchangeable with the thoughts set forth under the term maya, or the illusory disguises through whichspirit works, or rather through which spiritual monadic entities work and manifest themselves.Karanopadhi, as briefly explained under the term "causal body," is dual in meaning. The first and moreeasily understood meaning of this term shows that the cause bringing about reimbodiment is avidya,nescience rather than ignorance; because when a reimbodying entity through repeated reimbodiments inthe spheres of matter has freed itself from the entangling chains of the latter, and has risen intoself-conscious recognition of its own divine powers, it thereby shakes off the chains or disguises of mayaand becomes what is called a jivanmukta. It is only imperfect souls, or rather monadic souls, speaking ina general way, which are obliged by nature's cyclic operations and laws to undergo the repetitivereimbodiments on earth and elsewhere in order that the lessons of self-conquest and mastery over all theplanes of nature may be achieved. As the entity advances in wisdom and knowledge, and in the acquiringof self-conscious sympathy for all that is, in other words, as it grows more and more like unto itsdivine-spiritual counterpart, the less is it subject to avidya. It is, in a sense, the seeds of kama-manas leftin the fabric or being of the reincarnating entity, which act as the karana or reproducing cause, orinstrumental cause, of such entity's reincarnations on earth.The higher karanopadhi, however, although in operation similar to the lower karanopadhi, orkarana-sarira just described, nevertheless belongs to the spiritual-intellectual part of man's constitution,and is the reproductive energy inherent in the spiritual monad bringing about its re-emergence after thesolar pralaya into the new activities and new series of imbodiments which open with the dawn of thesolar manvantara following upon the solar pralaya just ended. This latter karanopadhi or karana-sarira,therefore, is directly related to the element-principle in man's constitution called buddhi -- a veil, as itwere, drawn over the face or around the being of the monadic essence, much as prakriti surroundsPurusha, or pradhana surrounds Brahman, or mulaprakriti surrounds and is the veil or disguise or sakti ofparabrahman. Hence, in the case of man, this karanopadhi or causal disguise or vehicle corresponds in ageneral way to the buddhi-manas, or spiritual soul, in which the spiritual monad works and manifestsitself.It should be said in passing that the doctrine concerning the functions and operations of buddhi in thehuman constitution is extremely recondite, because in buddhi lie the causal impulses or urges bringingabout the building of the constitution of man, and which, when the latter is completed, and when formingman as a septenary entity, express themselves as the various strata or qualities of the auric egg.Finally, the karana-sarira, the karanopadhi or causal body, is the vehicular instrumental form orinstrumental body-form, produced by the working of what is perhaps the most mysterious principle orelement, mystically speaking, in the constitution not only of man, but of the universe -- the verymysterious spiritual bija.The karanopadhi, the karana-sarira or causal body, is explained with minor differences of meaning invarious works of Hindu philosophy; but all such works must be studied with the light thrown upon themby the great wisdom-teaching of the archaic ages, esoteric theosophy. The student otherwise runs everyrisk of being led astray.I might add that the sushupti state or condition, which is that of deep dreamless sleep, involving entireinsensibility of the human consciousness to all exterior impressions, is a phase of consciousness throughwhich the adept must pass, although consciously pass in his case, before reaching the highest state ofsamadhi, which is the turiya state. According to the Vedanta philosophy, the turiya (meaning "fourth") isthe fourth state of consciousness into which the full adept can self-consciously enter and wherein hebecomes one with the kosmic Brahman. The Vedantists likewise speak of the anandamaya-kosa, whichthey describe as being the innermost disguise or frame or vehicle surrounding the atmic consciousness.Thus we see that the anandamaya-kosa and the karana-sarira, or karanopadhi, and the buddhi inconjunction with the manasic ego, are virtually identical.The author has been at some pains to set forth and briefly to develop the various phases of occult andesoteric theosophical thought given in this article, because of the many and various misunderstandingsand misconceptions concerning the nature, characteristics, and functions of the karana-sarira or causalbody.
kedge ::: n. --> To move (a vessel) by carrying out a kedge in a boat, dropping it overboard, and hauling the vessel up to it. ::: v. t. --> A small anchor used whenever a large one can be dispensed witch. See Kedge, v. t., and Anchor, n.
Keyboard Commando "messaging" A {bulletin board} user who posts authoritatively on military or combat topics, but who has never served in uniform or heard a shot fired in anger. A poseur. (1997-04-25)
KIBO /ki:'boh/ 1. [acronym] Knowledge In, Bullshit Out. A summary of what happens whenever valid data is passed through an organisation (or person) that deliberately or accidentally disregards or ignores its significance. Consider, for example, what an advertising campaign can do with a product's actual specifications. Compare {GIGO}; see also {SNAFU principle}. 2. James Parry "kibo@world.std.com", a {Usenet}ter infamous for various surrealist net.pranks and an uncanny, machine-assisted knack for joining any thread in which his nom de guerre is mentioned. {(http://kibo.com/)}. [{Jargon File}] (2003-05-20)
Ku: Cause, "that with the obtaining of which a thing becomes." "A minor cause is that the obtaining of which a thing may not necessarily be so but without the obtaining of which a thing will never be so." "A major cause is that with the obtaining of which a thing is necessarily so but without the obtaining of which a thing is necessarily not so." (Neo-Mohism.) -- W.T.C.
larval stage Describes a period of monomaniacal concentration on coding apparently passed through by all fledgling hackers. Common symptoms include the perpetration of more than one 36-hour {hacking run} in a given week; neglect of all other activities including usual basics like food, sleep, and personal hygiene; and a chronic case of advanced bleary-eye. Can last from 6 months to 2 years, the apparent median being around 18 months. A few so afflicted never resume a more "normal" life, but the ordeal seems to be necessary to produce really wizardly (as opposed to merely competent) programmers. See also {wannabee}. A less protracted and intense version of larval stage (typically lasting about a month) may recur when one is learning a new {OS} or programming language. [{Jargon File}]
Life-Atoms ::: The physical body is composed essentially of energy, of energies rather, in the forms that are spoken ofin modern physical science as electrons and protons. These are in constant movement; they areincessantly active, and are what theosophists call the imbodiments or manifestations of life-atoms. Theselife-atoms are inbuilt into man's body during the physical life which he leads on earth, although they arenot derivative from outside, but spring forth from within himself -- at least a great majority of them aresuch. This is equivalent to saying that they compose both his physical as well as his intermediate nature,which latter is obviously higher than the physical.When the man dies -- that is to say, when the physical body dies -- its elements pass, each and all, intotheir respective and appropriate spheres: some into the soil, to which those that go there are drawn bymagnetic affinity, an affinity impressed upon their life-energies by the man when alive, whoseovershadowing will and desires, whose overlordship and power, gave them that direction. Others passinto the vegetation from the same reason that the former are impelled to the mineral kingdom; others passinto the various beasts with which they have, at the man's death, magnetic affinity, psychic affinity moreaccurately, an affinity which the man has impressed upon them by his desires and various impulses; andthose which take this path go to form the interior or intermediate apparatus of the beasts into which theypass. So much for the course pursued by the life-atoms of the man's lowest principles.But there are other life-atoms belonging to him. There are life-atoms, in fact, belonging to the sphere ofeach one of the seven principles of man's constitution. This means that there are life-atoms belonging tohis intermediate nature and to his spiritual nature and to all grades intermediate between these two higherparts of him. And in all cases, as the monad "ascends" or "rises" through the spheres, as he goes step bystep higher on his wonderful postmortem journey, on each such step he discards or casts off thelife-atoms belonging to each one of these steps or stages of the journey. With each step, he leaves behindthe more material of these life-atoms until, when he has reached the culmination of his wonderfulpostmortem peregrination, he is, as Paul of the Christians said, living in "a spiritual body" -- that is tosay, he has become a spiritual energy, a monad.Nature permits no absolute standing still for anything, anywhere. All things are full of life, full of energy,full of movement; they are both energy and matter, both spirit and substance; and these two arefundamentally one -- phases of the underlying reality, of which we see but the maya or illusory forms.The life-atoms are actually the offspring or the off-throwings of the interior principles of man'sconstitution. It is obvious that the life-atoms which ensoul the physical atoms in man's body are asnumerous as the atoms which they ensoul; and there are almost countless hosts of them, decillions upondecillions of them, in practically incomputable numbers. Each one of these life-atoms is a being which isliving, moving, growing, never standing still -- evolving towards a sublime destiny which ultimatelybecomes divinity.
line 666 "jargon" (Christian eschatological myth) The notional line of source at which a program fails for obscure reasons, implying either that *somebody* is out to get it (when you are the programmer), or that it richly deserves to be got (when you are not). E.g. "It works when I trace through it, but seems to crash on line 666 when I run it." "What happens is that whenever a large batch comes through, mmdf dies on the Line of the Beast. Probably some twit {hard-coded} a buffer size." [{Jargon File}] (1999-03-01)
lines, that is by the Divine Will and the Divine Force, as an instrument, but never as an instrumentation of the forces and beings of the vital plane. To seek their aid for such powers is a great error.
Lions Book "publication" "Source Code and Commentary on Unix level 6", by John Lions. The two parts of this book contained the entire source listing of the {Unix} Version 6 {kernel}, and a commentary on the source discussing the {algorithms}. These were circulated internally at the {University of New South Wales} beginning 1976-77, and were, for years after, the *only* detailed kernel documentation available to anyone outside {Bell Labs}. Because {Western Electric} wished to maintain trade secret status on the kernel, the Lions book was never formally published and was only supposed to be distributed to affiliates of source licensees (it is still possible to get a Bell Labs reprint of the book by sending a copy of a V6 {source licence} to the right person at {Bellcore}, but *real* insiders have the UNSW edition). In spite of this, it soon spread by {samizdat} to a good many of the early Unix hackers. {(http://peer-to-peer.com/catalog/history/lions.html)}. In 1996 it was reprinted as a "classic": [John Lions, "Lions' Comentary on UNIX 6th Edition with Source Code", Computer Classics Revisited Series, Peer-to-Peer Communications, 1996, ISBN 1-57398-013-7]. [{Jargon File}] (1997-06-25)
Lipika(s)(Sanskrit) ::: This word comes from the verb-root lip, meaning "to write"; hence the word lipikas means the"scribes." Mystically, they are the celestial recorders, and are intimately connected with the working ofkarma, of which they are the agents. They are the karmic "Recorders or Annalists, who impress on the (tous) invisible tablets of the Astral Light, 'the great picture-gallery of eternity,' a faithful record of everyact, and even thought, of man [and indeed of all other entities and things], of all that was, is, or ever willbe, in the phenomenal Universe" (The Secret Doctrine 1:104).Their action although governed strictly by kosmic consciousness is nevertheless rigidly automatic, fortheir work is as automatic as is the action of karma itself. They are entities as a matter of fact, but entitieswhich work and act with the rigid automatism of the kosmic machinery, rather than like the engineer whosupervises and changes the running of his engines. In one sense they may perhaps better be called kosmicenergies -- a most difficult matter to describe.
Liskov substitution principle "programming, theory" (LSP) The principle that {object-oriented} {functions} that use {pointers} or references to a {base class} must be able to use {objects} of a {derived class} without knowing it. {Barbara Liskov} first wrote it as follows: If for each object o1 of type S there is an object o2 of type T such that for all programs P defined in terms of T, the behaviour of P is unchanged when o1 is substituted for o2 then S is a {subtype} of T. A function that violates the LSP uses a reference to a base class and must know about all the derivatives of that base class. Such a function violates the {open/closed principle} because it must be modified whenever a new derivative of the base class is created. [Liskov, B. Data Abstraction and Hierarchy, SIGPLAN Notices. 23(5), May 1988]. (2001-09-14)
locked and loaded [Military slang for an M-16 rifle with magazine inserted and prepared for firing] Said of a removable disk volume properly prepared for use - that is, locked into the drive and with the heads loaded. Ironically, because their heads are "loaded" whenever the power is up, this description is never used of {Winchester} drives (which are named after a rifle). [{Jargon File}]
logic bomb "programming, security" Code surreptitiously inserted into an application or {operating system} that causes it to perform some destructive or security-compromising activity whenever specified conditions are met. Compare {back door}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-07-02)
Lorenz attractor "mathematics" (After {Edward Lorenz}, its discoverer) A region in the {phase space} of the solution to certain systems of (non-linear) {differential equations}. Under certain conditions, the motion of a particle described by such as system will neither converge to a steady state nor diverge to infinity, but will stay in a bounded but chaotically defined region. By {chaotic}, we mean that the particle's location, while definitely in the attractor, might as well be randomly placed there. That is, the particle appears to move randomly, and yet obeys a deeper order, since is never leaves the attractor. Lorenz modelled the location of a particle moving subject to atmospheric forces and obtained a certain system of {ordinary differential equations}. When he solved the system numerically, he found that his particle moved wildly and apparently randomly. After a while, though, he found that while the momentary behaviour of the particle was chaotic, the general pattern of an attractor appeared. In his case, the pattern was the butterfly shaped attractor now known as the {Lorenz attractor}. (1996-01-13)
LZ77 compression The first {algorithm} to use the {Lempel-Ziv} {substitutional compression} schemes, proposed in 1977. LZ77 compression keeps track of the last n bytes of data seen, and when a phrase is encountered that has already been seen, it outputs a pair of values corresponding to the position of the phrase in the previously-seen buffer of data, and the length of the phrase. In effect the compressor moves a fixed-size "window" over the data (generally referred to as a "sliding window"), with the position part of the (position, length) pair referring to the position of the phrase within the window. The most commonly used {algorithms} are derived from the {LZSS} scheme described by James Storer and Thomas Szymanski in 1982. In this the compressor maintains a window of size N bytes and a "lookahead buffer", the contents of which it tries to find a match for in the window: while (lookAheadBuffer not empty) { get a pointer (position, match) to the longest match in the window for the lookahead buffer; if (length " MINIMUM_MATCH_LENGTH) { output a (position, length) pair; shift the window length characters along; } else { output the first character in the lookahead buffer; shift the window 1 character along; } } Decompression is simple and fast: whenever a (POSITION, LENGTH) pair is encountered, go to that POSITION in the window and copy LENGTH bytes to the output. Sliding-window-based schemes can be simplified by numbering the input text characters mod N, in effect creating a circular buffer. The sliding window approach automatically creates the {LRU} effect which must be done explicitly in {LZ78} schemes. Variants of this method apply additional compression to the output of the LZSS compressor, which include a simple variable-length code ({LZB}), dynamic {Huffman coding} ({LZH}), and {Shannon-Fano} coding ({ZIP} 1.x), all of which result in a certain degree of improvement over the basic scheme, especially when the data are rather random and the LZSS compressor has little effect. An algorithm was developed which combines the ideas behind LZ77 and LZ78 to produce a hybrid called {LZFG}. LZFG uses the standard sliding window, but stores the data in a modified {trie} data structure and produces as output the position of the text in the trie. Since LZFG only inserts complete *phrases* into the dictionary, it should run faster than other LZ77-based compressors. All popular archivers ({arj}, {lha}, {zip}, {zoo}) are variations on LZ77. [comp.compression {FAQ}]. (1995-04-07)
machine code "language" The representation of a {computer program} that is read and interpreted by the computer hardware (rather than by some other machine code program). A program in machine code consists of a sequence of "instructions" (possibly interspersed with data). An instruction is a {binary string}, (often written as one or more {octal}, {decimal} or {hexadecimal} numbers). Instructions may be all the same size (e.g. one 32-bit word for many modern {RISC} {microprocessors}) or of different sizes, in which case the size of the instruction is determined from the first {word} (e.g. {Motorola} {68000}) or {byte} (e.g. {Inmos} {transputer}). The collection of all possible instructions for a particular computer is known as its "{instruction set}". Each instruction typically causes the {Central Processing Unit} to perform some fairly simple operation like loading a value from memory into a {register} or adding the numbers in two registers. An instruction consists of an {op code} and zero or more {operands}. Different processors have different {instruction sets} - the collection of possible operations they can perform. Execution of machine code may either be {hard-wired} into the {central processing unit} or it may be controlled by {microcode}. The basic execution cycle consists of fetching the next instruction from {main memory}, decoding it (determining which action the {operation code} specifies and the location of any {arguments}) and executing it by opening various {gates} (e.g. to allow data to flow from main memory into a CPU {register}) and enabling {functional units} (e.g. signalling to the {ALU} to perform an addition). Humans almost never write programs directly in machine code. Instead, they use {programming languages}. The simplest kind of programming language is {assembly language} which usually has a one-to-one correspondence with the resulting machine code instructions but allows the use of {mnemonics} (ASCII strings) for the "{op codes}" (the part of the instruction which encodes the basic type of operation to perform) and names for locations in the program (branch labels) and for {variables} and {constants}. Other languages are either translated by a {compiler} into machine code or executed by an {interpreter} (2009-06-16)
Macrocosm ::: The anglicized form of a Greek compound meaning "great arrangement," or more simply the greatordered system of the celestial bodies of all kinds and their various inhabitants, including theall-important idea that this arrangement is the result of interior orderly processes, the effects ofindwelling consciousnesses. In other and more modern phrasing the macrocosm is the vast universe,without definable limits, which surrounds us, and with particular emphasis laid on the interior, invisible,and ethereal planes. In the visioning or view of the ancients the macrocosm was an animate kosmicentity, an "animal" in the Latin sense of this word, as an organism possessing a directing and guidingsoul. But this was only the outward or exoteric view. In the Mystery schools of the archaic ages, themacrocosm was considered to be not only what is hereinbefore just stated, but also to consist moredefinitely and specifically of seven, ten, and even twelve planes or degrees of consciousness-substanceranging from the superdivine through all the intermediate stages to the physical, and even to degreesbelow the physical, these comprised in one kosmic organic unit, or what moderns would call a universe.In this sense of the word macrocosm is but another name for kosmic hierarchy, and it must beremembered in this connection that these hierarchies are simply countless in number and not only fill butactually compose and are indeed the spaces of frontierless SPACE.The macrocosm was considered to be filled full not only with gods, but with innumerable multitudes orarmies of evolving entities, from the fully self-conscious to the quasi-self-conscious downwards throughthe merely conscious to the "unconscious." Note well that in strict usage the term macrocosm was neverapplied to the Boundless, to boundless, frontierless infinitude, what the Qabbalists called Eyn-soph. Inthe archaic wisdom, the macrocosm, belonging in the astral world, considered in its causal aspect, wasvirtually interchangeable with what modern theosophists call the Absolute.
Madhav: “Pronunciamento is a proclamation issued by the revolutionaries; whenever there is a revolution, they declare their objectives and these are called pronunciamentos. They then fill the sky with their noise.” The Book of the Divine Mother
Magic Switch Story Some years ago, I was snooping around in the cabinets that housed the {MIT AI Lab}'s {PDP-10}, and noticed a little switch glued to the frame of one cabinet. It was obviously a homebrew job, added by one of the lab's hardware hackers (no-one knows who). You don't touch an unknown switch on a computer without knowing what it does, because you might crash the computer. The switch was labelled in a most unhelpful way. It had two positions, and scrawled in pencil on the metal switch body were the words "magic" and "more magic". The switch was in the "more magic" position. I called another hacker over to look at it. He had never seen the switch before either. Closer examination revealed that the switch had only one wire running to it! The other end of the wire did disappear into the maze of wires inside the computer, but it's a basic fact of electricity that a switch can't do anything unless there are two wires connected to it. This switch had a wire connected on one side and no wire on its other side. It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. Imagine our utter astonishment. We wrote it off as coincidence, but nevertheless restored the switch to the "more magic" position before reviving the computer. A year later, I told this story to yet another hacker, {David Moon} as I recall. He clearly doubted my sanity, or suspected me of a supernatural belief in the power of this switch, or perhaps thought I was fooling him with a bogus saga. To prove it to him, I showed him the very switch, still glued to the cabinet frame with only one wire connected to it, still in the "more magic" position. We scrutinized the switch and its lone connection, and found that the other end of the wire, though connected to the computer wiring, was connected to a ground pin. That clearly made the switch doubly useless: not only was it electrically nonoperative, but it was connected to a place that couldn't affect anything anyway. So we flipped the switch. The computer promptly crashed. This time we ran for Richard Greenblatt, a long-time {MIT} hacker, who was close at hand. He had never noticed the switch before, either. He inspected it, concluded it was useless, got some diagonal cutters and {dike}d it out. We then revived the computer and it has run fine ever since. We still don't know how the switch crashed the machine. There is a theory that some circuit near the ground pin was marginal, and flipping the switch changed the electrical capacitance enough to upset the circuit as millionth-of-a-second pulses went through it. But we'll never know for sure; all we can really say is that the switch was {magic}. I still have that switch in my basement. Maybe I'm silly, but I usually keep it set on "more magic". {GLS} (1995-02-22)
Mahatma(Mahatman, Sanskrit) ::: "Great soul" or "great self" is the meaning of this compound word (maha, "great";atman, "self"). The mahatmas are perfected men, relatively speaking, known in theosophical literature asteachers, elder brothers, masters, sages, seers, and by other names. They are indeed the "elder brothers"of mankind. They are men, not spirits -- men who have evolved through self-devised efforts in individualevolution, always advancing forwards and upwards until they have now attained the lofty spiritual andintellectual human supremacy that now they hold. They were not so created by any extra-cosmic Deity,but they are men who have become what they are by means of inward spiritual striving, by spiritual andintellectual yearning, by aspiration to be greater and better, nobler and higher, just as every good man inhis own way so aspires. They are farther advanced along the path of evolution than the majority of menare. They possess knowledge of nature's secret processes, and of hid mysteries, which to the average manmay seem to be little short of the marvelous -- yet, after all, this mere fact is of relatively smallimportance in comparison with the far greater and more profoundly moving aspects of their nature andlifework.Especially are they called teachers because they are occupied in the noble duty of instructing mankind, ininspiring elevating thoughts, and in instilling impulses of forgetfulness of self into the hearts of men.Also are they sometimes called the guardians, because they are, in very truth, the guardians of the raceand of the records -- natural, racial, national -- of past ages, portions of which they give out from time totime as fragments of a now long-forgotten wisdom, when the world is ready to listen to them; and theydo this in order to advance the cause of truth and of genuine civilization founded on wisdom andbrotherhood.Never -- such is the teaching -- since the human race first attained self-consciousness has this order orassociation or society or brotherhood of exalted men been without its representatives on our earth.It was the mahatmas who founded the modern Theosophical Society through their envoy or messenger,H. P. Blavatsky, in New York in 1875.
mailing list "messaging" (Often shortened in context to "list") An {electronic mail address} that is an alias (or {macro}, though that word is never used in this connection) which is expanded by a {mail exploder} to yield many other e-mail addresses. Some mailing lists are simple "reflectors", redirecting mail sent to them to the list of recipients. Others are filtered by humans or programs of varying degrees of sophistication; lists filtered by humans are said to be "moderated". The term is sometimes used, by extension, for the people who receive e-mail sent to such an address. Mailing lists are one of the primary forms of hacker interaction, along with {Usenet}. They predate {Usenet}, having originated with the first {UUCP} and {ARPANET} connections. They are often used for private information-sharing on topics that would be too specialised for or inappropriate to public {Usenet} groups. Though some of these maintain almost purely technical content (such as the {Internet Engineering Task Force} mailing list), others (like the "sf-lovers" list maintained for many years by Saul Jaffe) are recreational, and many are purely social. Perhaps the most infamous of the social lists was the eccentric bandykin distribution; its latter-day progeny, {lectroids} and {tanstaafl}, still include a number of the oddest and most interesting people in hackerdom. Mailing lists are easy to create and (unlike {Usenet}) don't tie up a significant amount of machine resources (until they get very large, at which point they can become interesting torture tests for mail software). Thus, they are often created temporarily by working groups, the members of which can then collaborate on a project without ever needing to meet face-to-face. There are several programs to automate mailing list maintenance, e.g. {Listserv}, {Listproc}, {Majordomo}. Requests to subscribe to, or leave, a mailing list should ALWAYS be sent to the list's "-request" address (e.g. ietf-request@cnri.reston.va.us for the IETF mailing list). This prevents them being sent to all recipients of the list and ensures that they reach the maintainer of the list, who may not actually read the list. [{Jargon File}] (2001-04-27)
Man alive, your proposed emendations are an admirable exposition of the art of bringing a line down the steps till my poor "slow miraculous” above-mind line meant to give or begin the concrete portrayal of an act of some hidden Godhead finally becomes a mere metaphor thrown out from its more facile mint by a brilliantly imaginative poetic intelligence. First of all, you shift my "dimly” out of the way and transfer it to something to which it does not inwardly belongs make it an epithet of the gesture or an adverb qualifying its epithet instead of something that qualifies the atmosphere in which the act of the Godhead takes place. That is a preliminary havoc which destroys what is very important to the action, its atmosphere. I never intended the gesture to be dim, it is a luminous gesture, but forcing its way through the black quietude it comes dimly. Then again the bald phrase "a gesture came” without anything to psychicise it becomes simply something that "happened”, "came” being a poetic equivalent for "happened”, instead of the expression of the slow coming of the gesture. The words "slow” and "dimly” assure this sense of motion and this concreteness to the word"s sense here. Remove one or both whether entirely or elsewhere and you ruin the vision and change altogether its character. That is at least what happens wholly in your penultimate version and as for the last its "came” gets another meaning and one feels that somebody very slowly decided to let out the gesture from himself and it was quite a miracle that it came out at all! "Dimly miraculous” means what precisely or what "miraculously dim” — it was miraculous that it managed to be so dim or there was something vaguely miraculous about it after all? No doubt they try to mean something else — but these interpretations come in their way and trip them over. The only thing that can stand is the first version which is no doubt fine poetry, but the trouble is that it does not give the effect I wanted to give, the effect which is necessary for the dawn"s inner significance. Moreover, what becomes of the slow lingering rhythm of my line which is absolutely indispensable? Letters on Savitri
Man alive, your proposed emendations are an admirable exposition of the art of bringing a line down the steps till my poor”slow miraculous” above-mind line meant to give or begin the concrete portrayal of an act of some hidden Godhead finally becomes a mere metaphor thrown out from its more facile mint by a brilliantly imaginative poetic intelligence. First of all, you shift my”dimly” out of the way and transfer it to something to which it does not inwardly belongs make it an epithet of the gesture or an adverb qualifying its epithet instead of something that qualifies the atmosphere in which the act of the Godhead takes place. That is a preliminary havoc which destroys what is very important to the action, its atmosphere. I never intended the gesture to be dim, it is a luminous gesture, but forcing its way through the black quietude it comes dimly. Then again the bald phrase”a gesture came” without anything to psychicise it becomes simply something that”happened”,”came” being a poetic equivalent for”happened”, instead of the expression of the slow coming of the gesture. The words”slow” and”dimly” assure this sense of motion and this concreteness to the word’s sense here. Remove one or both whether entirely or elsewhere and you ruin the vision and change altogether its character. That is at least what happens wholly in your penultimate version and as for the last its”came” gets another meaning and one feels that somebody very slowly decided to let out the gesture from himself and it was quite a miracle that it came out at all!”Dimly miraculous” means what precisely or what”miraculously dim”—it was miraculous that it managed to be so dim or there was something vaguely miraculous about it after all? No doubt they try to mean something else—but these interpretations come in their way and trip them over. The only thing that can stand is the first version which is no doubt fine poetry, but the trouble is that it does not give the effect I wanted to give, the effect which is necessary for the dawn’s inner significance. Moreover, what becomes of the slow lingering rhythm of my line which is absolutely indispensable? Letters on Savitri
Mars A legendary tragic failure, the archetypal Hacker Dream Gone Wrong. Mars was the code name for a family of PDP-10 compatible computers built by Systems Concepts (now, The SC Group): the multi-processor SC-30M, the small uniprocessor SC-25M, and the never-built superprocessor SC-40M. These machines were marvels of engineering design; although not much slower than the unique {Foonly} F-1, they were physically smaller and consumed less power than the much slower DEC KS10 or Foonly F-2, F-3, or F-4 machines. They were also completely compatible with the DEC KL10, and ran all KL10 binaries (including the operating system) with no modifications at about 2--3 times faster than a KL10. When DEC cancelled the Jupiter project in 1983, Systems Concepts should have made a bundle selling their machine into shops with a lot of software investment in PDP-10s, and in fact their spring 1984 announcement generated a great deal of excitement in the PDP-10 world. {TOPS-10} was running on the Mars by the summer of 1984, and {TOPS-20} by early fall. Unfortunately, the hackers running Systems Concepts were much better at designing machines than at mass producing or selling them; the company allowed itself to be sidetracked by a bout of perfectionism into continually improving the design, and lost credibility as delivery dates continued to slip. They also overpriced the product ridiculously; they believed they were competing with the KL10 and VAX 8600 and failed to reckon with the likes of Sun Microsystems and other hungry startups building workstations with power comparable to the KL10 at a fraction of the price. By the time SC shipped the first SC-30M to Stanford in late 1985, most customers had already made the traumatic decision to abandon the PDP-10, usually for VMS or Unix boxes. Most of the Mars computers built ended up being purchased by {CompuServe}. This tale and the related saga of {Foonly} hold a lesson for hackers: if you want to play in the {Real World}, you need to learn Real World moves. [{Jargon File}]
"Matter, — substance itself, subtle or dense, mental or material, — is form and body of Spirit and would never have been created if it could not be made a basis for the self-expression of the Spirit.” The Life Divine
“Matter,—substance itself, subtle or dense, mental or material,—is form and body of Spirit and would never have been created if it could not be made a basis for the self-expression of the Spirit.” The Life Divine
Meinong, Alexius: (1853-1921) Was originally a disciple of Brentano, who however emphatically rejected many of Meinong's later contentions. He claimed to have discovered a new a priori science, the "theory of objects" (to be distinguished from metaphysics which is an empirical science concerning reality, but was never worked out by Meinong). Anything "intended" by thought is an "object". Objects may either "exist" (such as physical objects) or "subsist" (such as facts which Meinong unfortunately termed "objectives", or mathematical entities), they may either be possible or impossible and they may belong either to a lower or to a higher level (such as "relations" and "complexions", "founded" on their simple terms or elements). In the "theory of objects," the existence of objects is abstracted from (or as Husserl later said it may be "bracketed") and their essence alone has to be considered. Objects are apprehended either by self-evident judgments or by "assumptions", that is, by "imaginary judgments". In the field of emotions there is an analogous division since there are also "imaginary" emotions (such as those of the spectator in a tragedy). Much of Meinong's work was of a psychological rather than of a metaphysical or epistemological character. -- H.G.
memory ::: n. --> The faculty of the mind by which it retains the knowledge of previous thoughts, impressions, or events.
The reach and positiveness with which a person can remember; the strength and trustworthiness of one&
metasyntactic variable "grammar" Strictly, a {variable} used in {metasyntax}, but often used for any name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion. The word {foo} is the {canonical} example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly ever) use "foo" or other words like it as permanent names for anything. In filenames, a common convention is that any filename beginning with a metasyntactic-variable name is a {scratch} file that may be deleted at any time. To some extent, the list of one's preferred metasyntactic variables is a cultural signature. They occur both in series (used for related groups of variables or objects) and as singletons. Here are a few common signatures: {foo}, {bar}, {baz}, quux, quuux, quuuux...: MIT/Stanford usage, now found everywhere. At MIT (but not at Stanford), {baz} dropped out of use for a while in the 1970s and '80s. A common recent mutation of this sequence inserts {qux} before quux. bazola, ztesch: Stanford (from mid-'70s on). {foo}, {bar}, thud, grunt: This series was popular at CMU. Other CMU-associated variables include ack, barf, foo, and {gorp}. {foo}, {bar}, fum: This series is reported to be common at {Xerox PARC}. {fred}, {barney}: See the entry for {fred}. These tend to be Britishisms. {toto}, titi, tata, tutu: Standard series of metasyntactic variables among francophones. {corge}, {grault}, {flarp}: Popular at Rutgers University and among {GOSMACS} hackers. zxc, spqr, {wombat}: Cambridge University (England). shme: Berkeley, GeoWorks, Ingres. Pronounced /shme/ with a short /e/. {foo}, {bar}, zot: {Helsinki University of Technology}, Finland. blarg, wibble: New Zealand Of all these, only "foo" and "bar" are universal (and {baz} nearly so). The compounds {foobar} and "foobaz" also enjoy very wide currency. Some jargon terms are also used as metasyntactic names; {barf} and {mumble}, for example. See also {Commonwealth Hackish} for discussion of numerous metasyntactic variables found in Great Britain and the Commonwealth. [{Jargon File}] (1995-11-13)
minever ::: n. --> Same as Miniver.
Micro Channel Architecture "architecture" (MCA) {IBM}'s proprietary 32-bit {bus}, used in high-end {PS/2} {personal computers}. Micro Channel is designed for {multiprocessing}. It eliminates potential conflicts that arise when installing new peripheral devices. MCA is *not* compatible with either {EISA} or {XT bus architecture} so older cards cannot be used with it. As with the {ROM} {BIOS} in the first {IBM PCs}, figuring out the Micro Channel's secrets has been an arduous task of {reverse engineering} ever since the PS/2 line was announced. Consequently, the MCA has never become as wide spread as the competing {EISA} standard. (1996-08-16)
microLenat /mi:"-kroh-len"-*t/ The unit of {bogosity}, written uL; the consensus is that this is the largest unit practical for everyday use. The microLenat, originally invented by David Jefferson, was promulgated as an attack against noted computer scientist {Doug Lenat} by a {tenured graduate student} at {CMU}. Doug had failed the student on an important exam for giving only "AI is bogus" as his answer to the questions. The slur is generally considered unmerited, but it has become a running gag nevertheless. Some of Doug's friends argue that *of course* a microLenat is bogus, since it is only one millionth of a Lenat. Others have suggested that the unit should be redesignated after the grad student, as the microReid. [{Jargon File}]
microprocessor "architecture" (Or "micro") A computer whose entire {CPU} is contained on one (or a small number of) {integrated circuits}. The important characteristics of a microprocessor are the widths of its internal and external {address bus} and {data bus} (and instruction), its {clock rate} and its {instruction set}. Processors are also often classified as either {RISC} or {CISC}. The first commercial microprocessor was the {Intel 4004} which appeared in 1971. This was the CPU member of a set of four {LSI} {integrated circuits} called the MCS-4, which was originally designed for use in a calculator but was marketed as "programmable controller for logic replacement". The 4004 is referred to as a 4-bit microprocessor since it processed only 4 bits of data at a time. This very short word size is due mainly to the limitations imposed by the maximum integrated circuit density then achievable. As integrated circuit densities increased with the rapid development of integrated circuit manufacturing technology, the power and performance of the microprocessors also increased. This is reflected in the increase in the CPU word size to 4, 8, 16, and by mid-1980s, 32 bits. The smaller microprocessors have relatively simple {instruction sets}, e.g., no {floating point} instructions, but they are nevertheless suitable as controllers for a very wide range of applications such as car engines and microwave ovens. The {Intel 4004} was followed with, among others the {4040}, {8008}, {8080}, {8086}, {80186}, {80286}, {80386}, {486} and {Pentium}. Other families include the {Motorola} {6800} and {680x0} families, {National Semiconductor 16000} and {National Semiconductor 32000}, {SPARC}, {ARM}, {MIPS}, {Zilog Z8000}, {PowerPC} and the {Inmos} {Transputer} family. The larger, more recent microprocessors families have gradually acquired most of the features of large computers. As the microprocessor industry has matured, several families of microprocessors have evolved into de facto industrial standards with multiple manufacturers and numerous "support" chips including {RAM}, {ROM}, {I/O controllers} etc. A single chip microprocessor may include other components such as memory ({RAM}, {ROM}, {PROM}), {memory management}, {caches}, {floating-point unit}, input/output ports and timers. Such devices are also known as {microcontrollers}. The one-chip microcomputer is in many respects, a landmark development in computer technology because it reduces the computer to a small, inexpensive, and easily replaceable design component. Microcomputers have given rise to a new class of general-purpose machines called {personal computers}. These are small low cost computers that are designed to sit on an ordinary office desk or to be portable and fuelled the computer boom of the late 1980s. The most widespread example is the also {IBM PC}, based on microprocessors from {Intel Corporation}. {Apple Computers, Inc.} have also produced a range of personal computers, as have several other companies. See also {killer micro}, {minicomputer}, {CPU Info Center}. (2002-07-16)
Microsoft Disk Operating System "operating system" /M S doss/ (Or "MS-DOS", "PC-DOS", "{MS-DOG}", "{mess-dos}") {Microsoft Corporation}'s {clone} of the {CP/M} {disk operating system} for the {8088} {crufted} together in 6 weeks by {hacker} {Tim Paterson}, who is said to have regretted it ever since. MS-DOS is a single user {operating system} that runs one program at a time and is limited to working with one megabyte of memory, 640 kilobytes of which is usable for the {application program}. Special add-on {EMS} memory boards allow EMS-compliant software to exceed the 1 MB limit. Add-ons to DOS, such as {Microsoft Windows} and {DESQview}, take advantage of EMS and allow the user to have multiple applications loaded at once and switch between them. Numerous features, including vaguely {Unix}-like but rather broken support for subdirectories, {I/O redirection} and {pipelines}, were hacked into MS-DOS 2.0 and subsequent versions; as a result, there are two or more incompatible versions of many system calls, and MS-DOS programmers can never agree on basic things like what character to use as an option switch ("-" or "/"). The resulting mess became the highest-unit-volume {operating system} in history. It was used on many {Intel} 16 and 32 bit {microprocessors} and {IBM PC} compatibles. Many of the original DOS functions were calls to {BASIC} (in {ROM} on the original {IBM PC}), e.g. Format and Mode. People with non-IBM PCs had to buy {MS-Basic} (later called {GWBasic}). Most version of DOS came with some version of BASIC. Also know as PC-DOS or simply DOS, ignoring the fact that there were many other OSes with that name, starting in the mid-1960s with {IBM}'s first disk operating system for the {IBM 360}. [{Jargon File}] (2007-05-21)
Mill's methods: Inductive methods formulated by John Stuart Mill for the discovery of causal relations between phenomena. Method of Agreement: If two or more instances of the phenomenon under investigation have only one circumstance in common, the circumstance in which alone all the instances agree, is the cause (or effect) of the given phenomenon. Method of Difference: If an instance in which the phenomenon under investigation occurs, and an instance in which it does not occur, have every circumstance in common save one, that one occurring in the former; the circumstance in which alone the two instances differ, is the effect, or the cause, or an indispensable part of the cause, of the phenomenon. Joint Method of Agreement and Difference: If two or more instances in which the phenomenon occurs have only one circumstance in common, while two or more instances in which it does not occur have nothing in common save the absence of that circumstances the circumstance in which alone the two sets of instances differ, is the effect, or the cause, or an indispensable part of the cause, of the phenomenon. Method of Concomitant Variations: Whatever phenomenon varies in any manner whenever another phenomenon varies in some particular manner, is either a cause or an effect of that phenomenon, or is connected with it through some fact of causation. Method of Residues: Subduct from any phenomenon such part as is known by previous inductions to be the effect of certain antecedents, and the residue of the phenomenon is the effect of the remaining antecedents. See Mill's System of Logic, bk. Ill, ch. VIII. -- A.C.B.
moby "jargon" /moh'bee/ (From {MIT}, seems to have been in use among model railroad fans years ago. Derived from Melville's "Moby Dick", some say from "Moby Pickle") 1. Large, immense, complex, impressive. "A Saturn V rocket is a truly moby frob." "Some MIT undergrads pulled off a moby hack at the Harvard-Yale game." 2. (Obsolete) The maximum {address space} of a computer (see below). For a 680[234]0 or {VAX} or most modern 32-bit architectures, it is 4,294,967,296 8-bit bytes (four {gigabytes}). 3. A title of address (never of third-person reference), usually used to show admiration, respect, and/or friendliness to a competent hacker. "Greetings, moby Dave. How's that address-book thing for the Mac going?" 4. In backgammon, doubles on the dice, as in "moby sixes", "moby ones", etc. Compare this with {bignum}: double sixes are both bignums and moby sixes, but moby ones are not bignums (the use of "moby" to describe double ones is sarcastic). 5. The largest available unit of something which is available in discrete increments. Thus a "moby Coke" is not just large, it's the largest size on sale. This term entered hackerdom with the Fabritek 256K memory added to the MIT AI PDP-6 machine, which was considered unimaginably huge when it was installed in the 1960s (at a time when a more typical memory size for a {time-sharing} system was 72 kilobytes). Thus, a moby is classically 256K 36-bit words, the size of a PDP-6 or PDP-10 moby. Back when {address registers} were narrow the term was more generally useful, because when a computer had {virtual memory} mapping, it might actually have more physical memory attached to it than any one program could access directly. One could then say "This computer has six mobies" meaning that the ratio of physical memory to address space is six, without having to say specifically how much memory there actually is. That in turn implied that the computer could timeshare six "full-sized" programs without having to swap programs between memory and disk. Nowadays the low cost of processor logic means that address spaces are usually larger than the most physical memory you can cram onto a machine, so most systems have much *less* than one theoretical "native" moby of {core}. Also, more modern memory-management techniques (especially paging) make the "moby count" less significant. However, there is one series of widely-used chips for which the term could stand to be revived --- the Intel 8088 and 80286 with their incredibly {brain-damaged} segmented-memory designs. On these, a "moby" would be the 1-megabyte address span of a segment/offset pair (by coincidence, a PDP-10 moby was exactly one megabyte of nine-bit bytes). [{Jargon File}] (1997-10-01)
mouse droppings 1. "graphics, operating system, jargon" {Pixels} (usually single) that are not properly restored when the {mouse pointer} moves away from a particular location on the screen, producing the appearance that the mouse pointer has left droppings behind. The major causes for this problem are {MS-DOS} programs that write to the screen memory corresponding to the mouse pointer's current location without hiding the mouse pointer first, and mouse drivers that do not quite support the {graphics mode} in use. 2. "web, jargon" The client address recorded in a {web} server's log whenever a client connects to a site. Users may be unaware that their activity is being logged in this way but the potential for misuse of the information is limited. [March 1996 Macworld, p260, Viewpoint article by Larry Irving]. (1994-12-05)
mu 1. "networking" The {country code} for Mauritius. 2. "philosophy" /moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?". Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes" is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually "mu", a Japanese word alleged to mean "Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions". Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical inadequacies in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word "mu" is actually from Chinese, meaning "nothing"; it is used in mainstream Japanese in that sense, but native speakers do not recognise the Discordian question-denying use. It almost certainly derives from overgeneralisation of the answer in the following well-known Rinzei Zen teaching riddle: A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have the Buddha nature?" Joshu retorted, "Mu!" See also {has the X nature}, {AI Koan}. [Douglas Hofstadter, "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid"]. [{Jargon File}] (2000-11-22)
Multics "operating system" /muhl'tiks/ MULTiplexed Information and Computing Service. A {time-sharing} {operating system} co-designed by a consortium including {MIT}, {GE} and {Bell Laboratories} as a successor to MIT's {CTSS}. The system design was presented in a special session of the 1965 Fall Joint Computer Conference and was planned to be operational in two years. It was finally made available in 1969, and took several more years to achieve respectable performance and stability. Multics was very innovative for its time - among other things, it was the first major OS to run on a {symmetric multiprocessor}; provided a {hierarchical file system} with {access control} on individual files; mapped files into a paged, segmented {virtual memory}; was written in a {high-level language} ({PL/I}); and provided dynamic inter-procedure linkage and memory (file) sharing as the default mode of operation. Multics was the only general-purpose system to be awarded a B2 {security rating} by the {NSA}. Bell Labs left the development effort in 1969. {Honeywell} commercialised Multics in 1972 after buying out GE's computer group, but it was never very successful: at its peak in the 1980s, there were between 75 and 100 Multics sites, each a multi-million dollar {mainframe}. One of the former Multics developers from Bell Labs was {Ken Thompson}, a circumstance which led directly to the birth of {Unix}. For this and other reasons, aspects of the Multics design remain a topic of occasional debate among hackers. See also {brain-damaged} and {GCOS}. MIT ended its development association with Multics in 1977. Honeywell sold its computer business to {Bull} in the mid 1980s, and development on Multics was stopped in 1988 when Bull scrapped a Boston proposal to port Multics to a {platform} derived from the {DPS-6}. A few Multics sites are still in use as late as 1996. The last Multics system running, the Canadian Department of National Defence Multics site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, shut down on 2000-10-30 at 17:08 UTC. The {Jargon file} 3.0.0 claims that on some versions of Multics one was required to enter a password to log out but James J. Lippard "lippard@primenet.com", who was a Multics developer in Phoenix, believes this to be an {urban legend}. He never heard of a version of Multics which required a password to logout. Tom Van Vleck "thvv@multicians.org" agrees. He suggests that some user may have implemented a 'terminal locking' program that required a password before one could type anything, including logout. {(http://multicians.org/)}. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:alt.os.multics}. [{Jargon File}] (2002-04-12)
Multi-Version Concurrency Control "database" (MVCC) An advanced technique for improving multi-user {database} performance. The main difference between multiversion and lock models is that in MVCC locks acquired for querying (reading) data don't conflict with locks acquired for writing data and so reading never blocks writing and writing never blocks reading. This technique is used in the {free software} database {PostgreSQL}. (1999-06-18)
n.**1. Not subject to death. Immortal, immortal"s, Immortal"s, immortals, Immortals, immortals", Immortals". adj. 2. Everlasting; perpetual; constant. 3. Not subject to death or decay; having perpetual life. 4. Of or relating to immortal or divine beings or concepts. 5. Never to be forgotten; everlasting. adv. immortally.**
name capture "reduction" In {beta reduction}, when a term containing a {free} occurrence of a variable v is substituted into another term where v is bound the free v becomes spuriously bound or "captured". E.g. (\ x . \ y . x y) y --" \ y . y y (WRONG) This problem arises because two distinct variables have the same name. The most common solution is to rename the bound variable using {alpha conversion}: (\ x . \ y' . x y') y --" \ y' . y y' Another solution is to use {de Bruijn notation}. Note that the argument expression, y, contained a {free variable}. The whole expression above must therefore be notionally contained within the body of some {lambda abstraction} which binds y. If we never reduce inside the body of a lambda abstraction (as in reduction to {weak head normal form}) then name capture cannot occur. (1995-03-14)
nathless ::: conj. --> Nevertheless.
nathmore ::: adv. --> Not the more; never the more.
natica ::: n. --> Any one of numerous species of marine gastropods belonging to Natica, Lunatia, Neverita, and other allied genera (family Naticidae.) They burrow beneath the sand, or mud, and drill other shells.
National Television Standards Committee "electronics" (NTSC) The body defining the television video signal format used in the USA. The UK equivalent is {PAL}. Also, humorously, "Never Twice the Same Colour". (1997-07-17)
ne ::: adv. --> Not; never.
Nor.
Nestorians: A Christian sect dating from the 5th century. Nestorius, a patriarch of Constantinople 428-431) opposed the designation "Mother of God" (a declaration of Origen's) applied to Mary, the mother of Jesus. He said that Christ had two distinct natures and that Mary, a human being, could not have delivered anyone but a human. The emphasis is upon the genuine human nature and the exemplary value of Christ. Nestorianism was not only a Christo-logical viewpoint and the only cause for much theological dispute; it was also a part of a political and ecclesiastical feud between bishops east and west. The council of Ephesus in 431 declared the view heretical. Nevertheless the Nestorian churches spread widely and continues until our present time in Asiatic Turkey and Persia. -- V.F.
Never Offline "software" (NOL) /noh-el/ A software service provided by {America's Multimedia Online} that allows {Internet} users to be constantly connected to the Internet. {(http://neveroffline.com/)}. [But what *is* it?] (1999-11-03)
“Nevertheless, the fact of this intervention from above, the fact that behind all our original thinking or authentic perception of things there is a veiled, a half-veiled or a swift unveiled intuitive element is enough to establish a connection between mind and what is above it; it opens a passage of communication and of entry into the superior spirit-ranges. There is also the reaching out of mind to exceed the personal ego limitation, to see things in a certain impersonality and universality. Impersonality is the first character of cosmic self; universality, non-limitation by the single or limiting point of view, is the character of cosmic perception and knowledge: this tendency is therefore a widening, however rudimentary, of these restricted mind areas towards cosmicity, towards a quality which is the very character of the higher mental planes,—towards that superconscient cosmic Mind which, we have suggested, must in the nature of things be the original mind-action of which ours is only a derivative and inferior process.” The Life Divine
newline "character, jargon" /n[y]oo'li:n/ {Line feed} or other character sequence used to terminate a line of text. {Unix} uses {line feed} as its text line terminator - a {Bell-Labs}-ism rather than a {Berkeley}ism. Interestingly (and unusually for Unix jargon), it is said to have originally been an {IBM} usage. Though the term "newline" appears in {ASCII} {standards}, it never caught on in the general computing world before {Unix}. The encoding of line feed as "\n" in {C} and {Unix} strings comes from this name. The term has been used more generally for any {end of line} character, character sequence (e.g. {crlf}), or operation (like {Pascal}'s writeln procedure or {Lisp 1.5}'s {terpri}) required to terminate a text record or separate lines. [{Jargon File}] (1997-07-14)
NHOH "chat" Never heard of him/her. Often used in {initgame}. (1998-01-18)
No doubt, the Supermind has also acted in the history of the world but always through the Overmind. It is the direct descent of the Supramental Consciousness and Power that alone can utterly re-create life in terms of the Spirit. For, in the Overmind there is already the play of possibilities which marks the beginning of this lower triple world of Mind, Life and Matter in which we have our existence. And whenever there is this play and not the spontaneous and infallible working of the innate Truth of the Spirit, there is the seed of distortion and ignorance. Not that the Overmind is a field of ignorance; but it is the border-line between the Higher and the Lower, for, the play of possibilities, of separate even if not yet divided choice, is likely to lead to deviation from the Truth of things.
NOL {Never Offline}
Nominal Semidestructor "abuse" Slang for "{National Semiconductor}", found among other places in the {4.3BSD} networking sources. During the late 1970s to mid-1980s this company marketed a series of {microprocessors} including the {National Semiconductor 16000} and {National Semiconductor 32000}. At one point early in the great {microprocessor} race, the specs on these chips made them look like serious competition for the rising {Intel 80x86} and {Motorola 680x0} series. Unfortunately, the actual parts were notoriously flaky and never implemented the full {instruction set} promised in their literature, apparently because the company couldn't get any of the {mask steppings} to work as designed. They eventually sank without trace, joining the {Zilog Z8000} and a few even more obscure also-rans in the graveyard of forgotten microprocessors. (1994-12-23)
Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) An IRQ 7 on the {PDP-11} or {680x0} or the NMI line on an 80x86. In contrast with a {priority interrupt} (which might be ignored, although that is unlikely), an NMI is *never* ignored. (1994-12-13)
nonresistant ::: a. --> Making no resistance. ::: n. --> One who maintains that no resistance should be made to constituted authority, even when unjustly or oppressively exercised; one who advocates or practices absolute submission; also, one who holds that violence should never be resisted by force.
notwithstanding ::: prep. --> Without prevention, or obstruction from or by; in spite of. ::: adv. / conj. --> Nevertheless; however; although; as, I shall go, notwithstanding it rains.
“ Now, that a conscious Infinite is there in physical Nature, we are assured by every sign, though it is a consciousness not made or limited like ours. All her constructions and motions are those of an illimitable intuitive wisdom too great and spontaneous and mysteriously self-effective to be described as an intelligence, of a Power and Will working for Time in eternity with an inevitable and forecasting movement in each of its steps, even in those steps that in their outward or superficial impetus seem to us inconscient. And as there is in her this greater consciousness and greater power, so too there is an illimitable spirit of harmony and beauty in her constructions that never fails her, though its works are not limited by our aesthetic canons. An infinite hedonism too is there, an illimitable spirit of delight, of which we become aware when we enter into impersonal unity with her; and even as that in her which is terrible is a part of her beauty, that in her which is dangerous, cruel, destructive is a part of her delight, her universal Ananda. Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
nuke /n[y]ook/ 1. To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given directory or storage volume. "On Unix, "rm -r /usr" will nuke everything in the usr file system." Never used for accidental deletion. 2. Synonym for {dike}, applied to smaller things such as files, features, or code sections. Often used to express a final verdict. "What do you want me to do with that 80-meg {wallpaper} file?" "Nuke it." 3. Used of processes as well as files; nuke is a frequent verbal alias for "kill -9" on Unix. 4. On IBM PCs, a bug that results in {fandango on core} can trash the operating system, including the FAT (the in-core copy of the disk block chaining information). This can utterly scramble attached disks, which are then said to have been "nuked". This term is also used of analogous lossages on Macintoshes and other micros without memory protection. [{Jargon File}]
Obligation: This may be said to be present whenever a necessity of any kind is laid upon any one to do a certain thing. Here the term "obligation" may refer either to the necessity of his doing the act or to the act which it is necessary for him to do. Always, in any case of obligation, there is a kind of necessity for someone to do something. This is true in all cases in which one says, "I was obliged to do that", "I have an obligation to him", "You ought to do so and so", "It is our duty to do such and such". It follows that obligation involves a relational structure. One never has an obligation simply, one always has an obligation to do a certain thing. An act is never simply obligatory, it is always obligatory for someone to do.
Office By Example "language" (OBE) A sequel to {QBE}, described in publications by Moshe Zloof of {IBM} in the early 1980s but apparently never implemented. (1998-03-14)
OLD NATURE. ::: The lower forces seldom yield the ground without a protracted and often repeated struggle. What is gained can be covered over, but it is never lost.
once ::: adv. --> By limitation to the number one; for one time; not twice nor any number of times more than one.
At some one period of time; -- used indefinitely.
At any one time; -- often nearly equivalent to ever, if ever, or whenever; as, once kindled, it may not be quenched.
Once out of nature I shall never take
One may assert that the human brain, capable of forming ideas, does so not prior to or independently of the rest of the natural world, but in relation to it, moved and stimulated by its manifold content. Ideas reflect things, but the reflection, like everything else, is dialectical, not inert, but active. Ideas grow out of and lead back to things, sometimes very circuitously; things may be reflected fancifully, by abstraction or in new combinations as well as directly. While there is a perfectly objective reality to reflect, the reflection is never perfect: truth is absolute, but knowledge relative.
“One thing you must know and never forget: in the work of transformation all that is true and sincere will always be kept; only what is false and insincere will disappear.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.
Ontologically, its materialism means that matter, nature, the observable world is taken "without reservations," as real in its own right, neither deriving its reality from any supernatural or transcendental source, nor dependent for its existence on the mind of man. It is considered scientifically evident that matter is prior to mind both temporally and logically in the sense that mind never appears except as an outgrowth of matter, and must be explained accordingly. Space and time are \iewed as forms of the existence of matter.
org "networking" The {top-level domain} for organisations or individuals that don't fit any other top-level domain (national, com, edu, or gov). Though many have .org domains, it was never intended to be limited to non-profit organisations. {RFC 1591}. (2001-05-14)
overclocking "hardware" Any adjustments made to {computer} {hardware}, or less commonly {software}, to make its {CPU} run at a higher {clock rate} than intended by the original manufacturers. Typically this involves replacing the {crystal} in the {clock} generation circuitry with a higher frequency one or changing {jumper} settings or software configuration. If the {clock rate} is increased too far, eventually some component in the system will not be able to cope and the system will stop working. This failure may be intermittent (it works most of the time but fails more often than usual) continuous (the system never works at the higher frequency) or, in the worst case, irreversible (a component is damaged by overheating). Improved {cooling} may be needed to maintain the same level of reliability. (2014-07-12)
Overmind ::: Above the mind there are several levels of conscious of the Truth. But in between is what he has distinguished as the Overmind, the world of the cosmic Gods. Now it is this Overmind that has up to the present governed our world: it is the highest that man has been able to attain in illumined consciousness. It has been taken for the Supreme Divine and all those who have reached it have never for a moment doubted that they have touched the true Spirit. For, its splendours are so great to the ordinary human consciousness that it is absolutely dazzled into believing that here at last is the crowning reality. And yet the fact is that the Overmind is far below the true Divine. It is not the authentic home of the Truth. It is only the domain of the formateurs , all those creative powers and deities to whom men have bowed down since the beginning of history. And the reason why the true Divine has not manifested and transformed the earth-nature is precisely that the Overmind has been mistaken for the Supermind.being, among which the really divine world is what Sri Aurobindo has called the Supermind, the world. The cosmic Gods do not wholly live in the Truth-Consciousness: they are only in touch with it and represent, each of them, an aspect of its glories.
Parallel C 1. "language, parallel" Never implemented, but influenced the design of {C*}. [Details?] 2. {C} for the {transputer} by {3L}. 3. (PC) Extensions to {C} developed at the {University of Houston} providing a {shared memory} {SIMD} model on {message passing} computers. {(ftp://karazm.math.uh.edu/pub/Parallel/Tools/pc.1.1.1.tar.Z)}. E-mail: Ridgway Scott "scott@uh.edu". (1995-03-21)
Parallel lines – Two or more lines which are always the same distance apart. They never meet.
paranirvana. ::: the Supreme; Final Nirvana; when the perfectly enlightened individual is released from physical embodiment, never to return to birth in any world, high or low
partial evaluation "compiler, algorithm" (Or "specialisation") An {optimisation} technique where the {compiler} evaluates some subexpressions at {compile-time}. For example, pow x 0 = 1 pow x n = if even n then pxn2 * pxn2 else x * pow x (n-1) where pxn2 = pow x (n/2) f x = pow x 5 Since n is known we can specialise pow in its second argument and unfold the recursive calls: pow5 x = x * x4 where x4 = x2 * x2 x2 = x * x f x = pow5 x pow5 is known as the residual. We could now also unfold pow5 giving: f x = x * x4 where x4 = x2 * x2 x2 = x * x It is important that the partial evaluation algorithm should terminate. This is not guaranteed in the presence of recursive function definitions. For example, if partial evaluation were applied to the right hand side of the second clause for pow above, it would never terminate because the value of n is not known. Partial evaluation might change the termination properties of the program if, for example, the expression (x * 0) was reduced to 0 it would terminate even if x (and thus x * 0) did not. It may be necessary to reorder an expression to partially evaluate it, e.g. f x y = (x + y) + 1 g z = f 3 z If we rewrite f: f x y = (x + 1) + y then the expression x+1 becomes a constant for the function g and we can say g z = f 3 z = (3 + 1) + z = 4 + z Partial evaluation of {built-in functions} applied to constant arguments is known as {constant folding}. See also {full laziness}. (1999-05-25)
particle ::: n. --> A minute part or portion of matter; a morsel; a little bit; an atom; a jot; as, a particle of sand, of wood, of dust.
Any very small portion or part; the smallest portion; as, he has not a particle of patriotism or virtue.
A crumb or little piece of concecrated host.
The smaller hosts distributed in the communion of the laity.
A subordinate word that is never inflected (a
passphrase "operating system" A string of words and characters that you type in to authenticate yourself. Passphrases differ from passwords only in length. Passwords are usually short - six to ten characters. Passphrases are usually much longer - up to 100 characters or more. Modern passphrases were invented by Sigmund N. Porter in 1982. Their greater length makes passphrases more secure. Phil Zimmermann's popular encryption program {PGP}, for example, requires you to make up a passphrase that you then must enter whenever you sign or decrypt messages. {(http://world.std.com/~reinhold/diceware.page.html)}. (1996-12-21)
PDP-20 The most famous computer that never was. {PDP-10} computers running the {TOPS-10} operating system were labelled "DECsystem-10" as a way of differentiating them from the {PDP-11}. Later on, those systems running {TOPS-20} were labelled "DECSYSTEM-20" (the block capitals being the result of a lawsuit brought against DEC by Singer, which once made a computer called "system-10"), but contrary to popular lore there was never a "PDP-20"; the only difference between a 10 and a 20 was the {operating system} and the colour of the paint. Most (but not all) machines sold to run {TOPS-10} were painted "Basil Blue", whereas most TOPS-20 machines were painted "Chinese Red" (often mistakenly called orange). [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-21)
Peano, Giuseppe, 1858-1932, Italian mathematician. Professor of mathematics at the University of Turin, 1890-1932. His work in mathematical logic marks a transition stage between the old algebra of logic and the newer methods. It is inferior to Frege's by present standards of rigor, but nevertheless contains important advances, among which may be mentioned the distinction between class inclusion (⊂) and class membership (∈) -- which had previously been confused -- and the introduction of a notation for formation of a class by abstraction (q. v.). His logical notations are more convenient than Frege's, and many of them are still in common use.
PEARL 1. "language, mathematics" A language for {constructive mathematics} developed by Constable at {Cornell University} in the 1980s. 2. "language, real-time" {Process and Experiment Automation Real-Time Language}. 3. "language, education" One of five pedagogical languages based on {Markov} {algorithms}, used in "Nonpareil, a Machine Level Machine Independent Language for the Study of Semantics", B. Higman, ULICS Intl Report No ICSI 170, U London (1968). Compare {Brilliant}, {Diamond}, {Nonpareil}, {Ruby}. 4. "language" A multilevel language developed by Brian Randell ca 1970 and mentioned in "Machine Oriented Higher Level Languages", W. van der Poel, N-H 1974. 5. "language, tool, history" An obsolete term for {Larry Wall}'s {PERL} programming language, which never fell into common usage other than in typographical errors. The missing 'a' remains as an atrophied remnant in the expansion "Practical Extraction and Report Language". ["Programming Perl", Larry Wall and Randal L. Schwartz, O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. Sebastopol, CA. ISBN 0-93715-64-1]. (2000-08-16)
perennial ::: a. --> ing or continuing through the year; as, perennial fountains.
Continuing without cessation or intermission; perpetual; unceasing; never failing.
Continuing more than two years; as, a perennial steam, or root, or plant. ::: n.
perfect programmer syndrome Arrogance; the egotistical conviction that one is above normal human error. Most frequently found among programmers of some native ability but relatively little experience (especially new graduates; their perceptions may be distorted by a history of excellent performance at solving {toy problems}). "Of course my program is correct, there is no need to test it." "Yes, I can see there may be a problem here, but *I'll* never type "rm -r /" while in {root mode}." [{Jargon File}]
perpetual ::: a. --> Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time; unfailing; everlasting; continuous.
Pessimism: (Lat. pessimus, the worst) The attitude gained by reflection on life, man, and the world (psychiatrically explained as due to neurotic or other physiological conditions, economically to over-population, mechanization, rampant utilitarianism; religiously to lack of faith; etc.) which makes a person gloomy, despondent, magnifying evil and sorrow, or holding the world in contempt. Rationalizations of this attitude have been attempted before Schopenhauer (as in Hesiod, Job, among the Hindus, in Byron, Giacomo Leopardi, Heine, Musset, and others), but never with such vigor, consistency, and acumen, so that since his Welt als Wille und Vorstellung we speak of a 19th century philosophic literature of pessimism which considers this world the worst possible, holds man to be born to sorrow, and thinks it best if neither existed. Buddhism (q.v.) blames the universal existence of pain, sorrow, and death; Schopenhauer the blind, impetuous will as the very stuff life and the world are made of; E. v. Hartmann the alogical or irrational side of the ill-powerful subconscious; Oswald Spengler the Occidental tendency toward civilization and hence the impossibility of extricating ourselves from decay as the natural terminus of all organic existence. All pessimists, however, suggest compensations or remedies; thus, Buddhism looks hopefully to nirvana (q.v.), Schopenhauer to the Idea, v. Hartmann to the rational, Spengler to a rebirth through culture. See Optimism. -- K.F.L.
phase alternating line "television" (PAL) The {video} signal format used in the UK [where else?]. PAL uses {Amplitude Modulation} for the video information, and {Frequency Modulation} for the {audio} information. The phase of the {colour subcarrier} is reversed on alternate lines which (together with the use of a delay line) allows the receiver to cancel any phase errors introduced in the path between the studio and the end-user's receiver. Such phase errors are quite common and would cause the displayed colours to shift in {hue}. The US equivalent, {NTSC}, does not have this feature and thus requires a user control to correct for transmission phase errors, hence the mis-expansion "Never Twice the Same Colour". (2001-06-08)
PLANNER A language for writing {theorem provers} by {Carl Hewitt} "hewitt@ai.mit.edu" {MIT} 1967. Never fully implemented. {CONNIVER} was an outgrowth of {PLANNER} and {microPLANNER} a subset. {PLASMA} is a PLANNER-like system modelled on {Actors}. See also {POPLER}, {QLISP}, {Scheme}. ["PLANNER: A Language for Proving Theorems in Robots", Carl Hewitt, Proc IJCAI-69, Wash DC, May 1969].
Plato's theory of knowledge can hardly be discussed apart from his theory of reality. Through sense perception man comes to know the changeable world of bodies. This is the realm of opinion (doxa), such cognition may be more or less clear but it never rises to the level of true knowledge, for its objects are impermanent and do not provide a stable foundation for science. It is through intellectual, or rational, cognition that man discovers another world, that of immutable essences, intelligible realities, Forms or Ideas. This is the level of scientific knowledge (episteme); it is reached in mathematics and especially in philosophy (Repub. VI, 510). The world of intelligible Ideas contains the ultimate realities from which the world of sensible things has been patterned. Plato experienced much difficulty in regard to the sort of existence to be attributed to his Ideas. Obviously it is not the crude existence of physical things, nor can it be merely the mental existence of logical constructs. Interpretations have varied from the theory of the Christian Fathers (which was certainly not that of Plato himself) viz , that the Ideas are exemplary Causes in God's Mind, to the suggestion of Aristotle (Metaphysics, I) that they are realized, in a sense, in the world of individual things, but are apprehended only by the intellect The Ideas appear, however, particularly in the dialogues of the middle period, to be objective essences, independent of human minds, providing not only the foundation for the truth of human knowledge but afso the ontological bases for the shadowy things of the sense world. Within the world of Forms, there is a certain hierarchy. At the top, the most noble of all, is the Idea of the Good (Repub. VII), it dominates the other Ideas and they participate in it. Beauty, symmetry and truth are high-ranking Ideas; at times they are placed almost on a par with the Good (Philebus 65; also Sympos. and Phaedrus passim). There are, below, these, other Ideas, such as those of the major virtues (wisdom, temperance, courage, justice and piety) and mathematical terms and relations, such as equality, likeness, unlikeness and proportion. Each type or class of being is represented by its perfect Form in the sphere of Ideas, there is an ideal Form of man, dog, willow tree, of every kind of natural object and even of artificial things like beds (Repub. 596). The relationship of the "many" objects, belonging to a certain class of things in the sense world, to the "One", i.e. the single Idea which is their archetype, is another great source of difficulty to Plato. Three solutions, which are not mutually exclusive, are suggested in the dialogues (1) that the many participate imperfectly in the perfect nature of their Idea, (2) that the many are made in imitation of the One, and (3) that the many are composed of a mixture of the Limit (Idea) with the Unlimited (matter).
Plurality of causes: The doctrine according to which identical events can have two or more different causes. "It is not true that the same phenomenon is always produced by the same causes," declared J. S. Mill, author of the doctrine. Quite the contrary, "many causes may produce some kind of sensation, many causes may produce death." Mill's position was not taken in support of the doctrine of free will or of that of chance, but rather in opposition to an old contention of the physicists, among whom Newton stated that "to the same natural effect we must, as far as pssible, ascribe the same cause." The subsequent controversy has shown that Mill's position was based on the confusion between "the same phenomenon" and "the same kind of phenomena". It is doubtless true that the same kind of phenomena, say death, can be produced by many causes, but only because we take the phenomenon broadly, nevertheless, it may remain true that each particular phenomenon can be caused only by a very definite cause or by a very definite combination of causes. In other words, the broader we conceive the phenomenon, the more causes are likely to apply to it. -- R.B.W.
pointer 1. "programming" An {address}, from the point of view of a programming language. A pointer may be typed, with its {type} indicating the type of data to which it points. The terms "pointer" and "reference" are generally interchangeable although particular programming languages often differentiate these two in subtle ways. For example, {Perl} always calls them references, never pointers. Conversely, in C, "pointer" is used, although "a reference" is often used to denote the concept that a pointer implements. {Anthony Hoare} once said: Pointers are like jumps, leading wildly from one part of the data structure to another. Their introduction into high-level languages has been a step backward from which we may never recover. [C.A.R.Hoare "Hints on Programming Language Design", 1973, Prentice-Hall collection of essays and papers by Tony Hoare]. 2. "operating system" (Or "mouse pointer") An {icon}, usually a small arrow, that moves on the screen in response to movement of a {pointing device}, typically a {mouse}. The pointer shows the user which object on the screen will be selected etc. when a mouse button is clicked. (1999-07-07)
Practical Imperative: (in Kant's ethics) Kant's famous dictum: "So act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as means only." -- P.A.S.
Pragmatism is first and always a doctrine of meaning, and often a definition of truth as well, but as to the latter, not all pragmatists are in complete agreement. Neither Peirce nor Dewey, for example, would accept James' view that if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily for the individual, it is true. Pragmatism is also a method of interpreting ideas in terms of their consequences. James, however, apparently does not believe that this method entails his specific philosophical doctrines -- his pluralism, individualism, neutralism, indeterminism, meliorism, pragmatic theism, "crass" supernaturalism, etc. In fact, he states that pragmatism is independent of his new philosophy of "radical empiricism" and agrees with the anti-intellectualist bent of the Italian pragmatist, Papini, who sees the pragmatic method available to the atheist, the praying penitent, the investigating chemist, the metaphysician and the anti-metaphysician ("What Pragmatism Means".) On the other hand, insofar as pragmatism is practically identified with the scientific method (as is allegedly the case with Dewey) it appears that the pragmatic method might be expected to yield much the same conclusions for one philosopher as for another. In general, pragmatism as a method, does not seem to imply any final philosophical conclusions. It may imply a general direction of thought, such as empiricism. Although pragmatists (Peirce, James, Dewey) frequently attack older forms of empiricism, or crude empiricism, and necessarily reject truth as a simple or static correspondence of propositions with sense data, they nevertheless continue to describe themselves as empiricists, so that today pragmatism (especially in Dewey's case) is often regarded as synonymous with empiricism. See Empiricism.
Primitivism: A modern term for a complex of ideas running back in classical thought to Hesiod. Two species of primitivism are found, (1) chronological primitivism, a belief that the best period of history was the earliest; (2) cultural primitivism, a belief that the acquisitions of civilization are evil. Each of these species is found in two forms, hard and soft. The hard primitivist believes the best state of mankind to approach the ascetic life; man's power of endurance is eulogized. The soft primitivist, while frequently emphasizing the simplicity of what he imagines to be primitive life, nevertheless accentuates its gentleness. The Noble Savage is a fair example of a hard primitive; the Golden Race of Hesiod of a soft. -- G.B.
process table "operating system, process" A table containing all of the information that must be saved when the {CPU} switches from running one {process} to another in a {multitasking} system. The information in the process table allows the suspended process to be restarted at a later time as if it had never been stopped. Every process has an entry in the table. These entries are known as {process control blocks} and contain the following information: process state - information needed so that the process can be loaded into memory and run, such as the {program counter}, the {stack pointer}, and the values of {registers}. memory state - details of the memory allocation such as pointers to the various memory areas used by the program resource state - information regarding the status of files being used by the process such as {user ID}. Accounting and scheduling information. An example of a UNIX process table is shown below. SLOT ST PID PGRP UID PRI CPU EVENT NAME FLAGS 0 s 0 0 0 95 0 runout sched load sys 1 s 1 0 0 66 1 u init load 2 s 2 0 0 95 0 10bbdc vhand load sys SLOT is the entry number of the process. ST shows whether the process is paused or sleeping (s), ready to run (r), or running on a {CPU} (o). PID is the {process ID}. PGRP is the {process Group}. UID is the {user ID}. PRI is the priority of the process from 127 (highest) to 0 (lowest). EVENT is the {event} on which a process is paused or sleeping. NAME is the name of the process. FLAGS are the process {flags}. A process that has died but still has an entry in the process table is called a {zombie process}. (1998-04-24)
Programming Language/Systems "language" (PL/S) An {IBM} machine-oriented language derived from {PL/I}, in the late 1960s, for the {IBM 360} and {IBM 370}. PL/S permitted {inline} {assembly language} and control over {register} usage. Previous IBM 360 operating systems such as {OS/MFT} and {OS/MVT} had been written entirely in {assembly language}. The first IBM OS that had any significant portion written in PL/S was {MVS}, followed by {OS/VS1}, {OS/VS2} and {OS/SVS}. PL/S was part of IBM's {OCO (http://www.landley.net/history/mirror/ibm/oco.html)} (object code only) effort, started in 1983. PL/S was used internally and never released to the public. It is documented in various IBM internal ZZ-? publications. Versions: PLS1, PLSII. ["PL/S, Programming Language/Systems", W.R. Brittenham, Proc GUIDE Intl, GUIDE 34, May 14, 1972, pp. 540-556]. (2012-01-20)
quine "programming" /kwi:n/ (After the logician Willard V. Quine, via Douglas Hofstadter) A program that generates a copy of its own source text as its complete output. Devising the shortest possible quine in some given programming language is a common hackish amusement. In most interpreted languages, any constant, e.g. 42, is a quine because it "evaluates to itself". In certain {Lisp} dialects (e.g. {Emacs Lisp}), the symbols "nil" and "t" are "self-quoting", i.e. they are both a symbol and also the value of that symbol. In some dialects, the function-forming function symbol, "lambda" is self-quoting so that, when applied to some arguments, it returns itself applied to those arguments. Here is a quine in {Lisp} using this idea: ((lambda (x) (list x x)) (lambda (x) (list x x))) Compare this to the {lambda expression}: (\ x . x x) (\ x . x x) which reproduces itself after one step of {beta reduction}. This is simply the result of applying the {combinator} {fix} to the {identity function}. In fact any quine can be considered as a {fixed point} of the language's evaluation mechanism. We can write this in {Lisp}: ((lambda (x) (funcall x x)) (lambda (x) (funcall x x))) where "funcall" applies its first argument to the rest of its arguments, but evaluation of this expression will never terminate so it cannot be called a quine. Here is a more complex version of the above Lisp quine, which will work in Scheme and other Lisps where "lambda" is not self-quoting: ((lambda (x) (list x (list (quote quote) x))) (quote (lambda (x) (list x (list (quote quote) x))))) It's relatively easy to write quines in other languages such as {PostScript} which readily handle programs as data; much harder (and thus more challenging!) in languages like {C} which do not. Here is a classic {C} quine for {ASCII} machines: char*f="char*f=%c%s%c;main() {printf(f,34,f,34,10);}%c"; main(){printf(f,34,f,34,10);} For excruciatingly exact quinishness, remove the interior line break. Some infamous {Obfuscated C Contest} entries have been quines that reproduced in exotic ways. {Ken Thompson}'s {back door} involved an interesting variant of a quine - a compiler which reproduced part of itself when compiling (a version of) itself. [{Jargon File}] (1995-04-25)
race condition Anomalous behavior due to unexpected critical dependence on the relative timing of events. For example, if one process writes to a file while another is reading from the same location then the data read may be the old contents, the new contents or some mixture of the two depending on the relative timing of the read and write operations. A common remedy in this kind of race condition is {file locking}; a more cumbersome remedy is to reorganize the system such that a certain processes (running a {daemon} or the like) is the only process that has access to the file, and all other processes that need to access the data in that file do so only via interprocess communication with that one process. As an example of a more subtle kind of race condition, consider a {distributed} {chat} {network} like {IRC}, where a {user} is granted channel-operator {privileges} in any channel he starts. If two users on different {servers}, on different ends of the same network, try to start the same-named channel at the same time, each user's respective server will grant channel-operator privileges to each user, since neither will yet have received the other's signal that that channel has been started. In this case of a race condition, the "shared resource" is the conception of the {state} of the network (what channels exist, as well as what users started them and therefore have what privileges), which each server is free to change as long as it signals the other servers on the network about the changes so that they can update their conception of the state of the network. However, the {latency} across the network makes possible the kind of race condition described. In this case, heading off race conditions by imposing a form of control over access to the shared resource -- say, appointing one server to be in charge of who holds what privileges -- would mean turning the distributed network into a centralized one (at least for that one part of the network operation). Where this is not acceptable, the more pragmatic solution is to have the system recognize when a race condition has occurred and to repair the ill effects. Race conditions also affect electronic circuits where the value output by a {logic gate} depends on the exact timing of two or more input signals. For example, consider a two input AND gate fed with a logic signal X on input A and its negation, NOT X, on input B. In theory, the output (X AND NOT X) should never be high. However, if changes in the value of X take longer to propagate to input B than to input A then when X changes from false to true, there will be a brief period during which both inputs are true, and so the gate's output will also be true. If this output is fed to an edge-sensitive component such as a counter or flip-flop then the temporary effect ("{glitch}") will become permanent. (2002-08-03)
random-access memory "storage" (RAM) (Previously "direct-access memory"). A data storage device for which the order of access to different locations does not affect the speed of access. This is in contrast to, say, a {magnetic disk}, {magnetic tape} or a {mercury delay line} where it is very much quicker to access data sequentially because accessing a non-sequential location requires physical movement of the storage medium rather than just electronic switching. In the 1970s {magnetic core} memory was used and some old-timers still call RAM "core". The most common form of RAM in use today is {semiconductor} {integrated circuits}, which can be either {static random-access memory} (SRAM) or {dynamic random-access memory} (DRAM). The term "RAM" has gained the additional meaning of read-write. Most kinds of semiconductor {read-only memory} (ROM) are actually "random access" in the above sense but are never referred to as RAM. Furthermore, memory referred to as RAM can usually be read and written equally quickly (approximately), in contrast to the various kinds of {programmable read-only memory}. Finally, RAM is usually volatile though {non-volatile random-access memory} is also used. Interestingly, some {DRAM} devices are not truly random access because various kinds of "{page mode}" or "column mode" mean that sequential access is faster than random access. The humorous expansion "Rarely Adequate Memory" refers to the fact that programs and data always seem to expand to fill the memory available. (2007-10-12)
RC4 "cryptography" A {cipher} designed by {RSA Data Security, Inc.} which can accept {keys} of arbitrary length, and is essentially a {pseudo random number generator} with the output of the generator being {XOR}ed with the data stream to produce the encrypted data. For this reason, it is very important that the same RC4 key never be used to encrypt two different data streams. The encryption mechanism used to be a trade secret, until someone posted source code for an {algorithm} onto {Usenet News}, claiming it to be equivalent to RC4. The algorithm is very fast, its security is unknown, but breaking it does not seem trivial either. There is very strong evidence that the posted algorithm is indeed equivalent to RC4. The United States government routinely approves RC4 with 40-bit keys for export. Keys this small can be easily broken by governments, criminals, and amateurs. The exportable version of {Netscape}'s {Secure Socket Layer}, which uses RC4-40, was broken by at least two independent groups. Breaking it took about eight days; in many universities or companies the same computing power is available to any computer science student. See also {Damien Doligez's SSL cracking page (http://pauillac.inria.fr/~doligez/ssl/)}, {RC4 Source and Information (http://cs.hut.fi/crypto/rc4)}, {SSLeay (http://cs.hut.fi/crypto/software.html
Real Programmer "job, humour" (From the book "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche") A variety of hacker possessed of a flippant attitude toward complexity that is arrogant even when justified by experience. The archetypal "Real Programmer" likes to program on the {bare metal} and is very good at it, remembers the binary {op codes} for every machine he has ever programmed, thinks that {high-level languages} are sissy, and uses a {debugger} to edit his code because full-screen editors are for wimps. Real Programmers aren't satisfied with code that hasn't been {bum}med into a state of {tense}ness just short of rupture. Real Programmers never use {comments} or write {documentation}: "If it was hard to write", says the Real Programmer, "it should be hard to understand." Real Programmers can make machines do things that were never in their spec sheets; in fact, they are seldom really happy unless doing so. A Real Programmer's code can awe with its fiendish brilliance, even as its crockishness appals. Real Programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other programmers - because someday, somebody else might have to try to understand their code in order to change it. Their successors generally consider it a {Good Thing} that there aren't many Real Programmers around any more. For a famous (and somewhat more positive) portrait of a Real Programmer, see "{The Story of Mel}". The term itself was popularised by a 1983 Datamation article "{Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal}" by Ed Post, still circulating on {Usenet} and Internet in on-line form. [{Jargon File}] (1997-08-29)
Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal "humour" Back in the good old days - the "Golden Era" of computers, it was easy to separate the men from the boys (sometimes called "Real Men" and "Quiche Eaters" in the literature). During this period, the Real Men were the ones that understood computer programming, and the Quiche Eaters were the ones that didn't. A real computer programmer said things like "DO 10 I=1,10" and "ABEND" (they actually talked in capital letters, you understand), and the rest of the world said things like "computers are too complicated for me" and "I can't relate to computers - they're so impersonal". (A previous work [1] points out that Real Men don't "relate" to anything, and aren't afraid of being impersonal.) But, as usual, times change. We are faced today with a world in which little old ladies can get computers in their microwave ovens, 12-year-old kids can blow Real Men out of the water playing Asteroids and Pac-Man, and anyone can buy and even understand their very own Personal Computer. The Real Programmer is in danger of becoming extinct, of being replaced by high-school students with {TRASH-80s}. There is a clear need to point out the differences between the typical high-school junior Pac-Man player and a Real Programmer. If this difference is made clear, it will give these kids something to aspire to -- a role model, a Father Figure. It will also help explain to the employers of Real Programmers why it would be a mistake to replace the Real Programmers on their staff with 12-year-old Pac-Man players (at a considerable salary savings). LANGUAGES The easiest way to tell a Real Programmer from the crowd is by the programming language he (or she) uses. Real Programmers use {Fortran}. Quiche Eaters use {Pascal}. Nicklaus Wirth, the designer of Pascal, gave a talk once at which he was asked how to pronounce his name. He replied, "You can either call me by name, pronouncing it 'Veert', or call me by value, 'Worth'." One can tell immediately from this comment that Nicklaus Wirth is a Quiche Eater. The only parameter passing mechanism endorsed by Real Programmers is call-by-value-return, as implemented in the {IBM 370} {Fortran-G} and H compilers. Real programmers don't need all these abstract concepts to get their jobs done - they are perfectly happy with a {keypunch}, a {Fortran IV} {compiler}, and a beer. Real Programmers do List Processing in Fortran. Real Programmers do String Manipulation in Fortran. Real Programmers do Accounting (if they do it at all) in Fortran. Real Programmers do {Artificial Intelligence} programs in Fortran. If you can't do it in Fortran, do it in {assembly language}. If you can't do it in assembly language, it isn't worth doing. STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING The academics in computer science have gotten into the "structured programming" rut over the past several years. They claim that programs are more easily understood if the programmer uses some special language constructs and techniques. They don't all agree on exactly which constructs, of course, and the examples they use to show their particular point of view invariably fit on a single page of some obscure journal or another - clearly not enough of an example to convince anyone. When I got out of school, I thought I was the best programmer in the world. I could write an unbeatable tic-tac-toe program, use five different computer languages, and create 1000-line programs that WORKED. (Really!) Then I got out into the Real World. My first task in the Real World was to read and understand a 200,000-line Fortran program, then speed it up by a factor of two. Any Real Programmer will tell you that all the Structured Coding in the world won't help you solve a problem like that - it takes actual talent. Some quick observations on Real Programmers and Structured Programming: Real Programmers aren't afraid to use {GOTOs}. Real Programmers can write five-page-long DO loops without getting confused. Real Programmers like Arithmetic IF statements - they make the code more interesting. Real Programmers write self-modifying code, especially if they can save 20 {nanoseconds} in the middle of a tight loop. Real Programmers don't need comments - the code is obvious. Since Fortran doesn't have a structured IF, REPEAT ... UNTIL, or CASE statement, Real Programmers don't have to worry about not using them. Besides, they can be simulated when necessary using {assigned GOTOs}. Data Structures have also gotten a lot of press lately. Abstract Data Types, Structures, Pointers, Lists, and Strings have become popular in certain circles. Wirth (the above-mentioned Quiche Eater) actually wrote an entire book [2] contending that you could write a program based on data structures, instead of the other way around. As all Real Programmers know, the only useful data structure is the Array. Strings, lists, structures, sets - these are all special cases of arrays and can be treated that way just as easily without messing up your programing language with all sorts of complications. The worst thing about fancy data types is that you have to declare them, and Real Programming Languages, as we all know, have implicit typing based on the first letter of the (six character) variable name. OPERATING SYSTEMS What kind of operating system is used by a Real Programmer? CP/M? God forbid - CP/M, after all, is basically a toy operating system. Even little old ladies and grade school students can understand and use CP/M. Unix is a lot more complicated of course - the typical Unix hacker never can remember what the PRINT command is called this week - but when it gets right down to it, Unix is a glorified video game. People don't do Serious Work on Unix systems: they send jokes around the world on {UUCP}-net and write adventure games and research papers. No, your Real Programmer uses OS 370. A good programmer can find and understand the description of the IJK305I error he just got in his JCL manual. A great programmer can write JCL without referring to the manual at all. A truly outstanding programmer can find bugs buried in a 6 megabyte {core dump} without using a hex calculator. (I have actually seen this done.) OS is a truly remarkable operating system. It's possible to destroy days of work with a single misplaced space, so alertness in the programming staff is encouraged. The best way to approach the system is through a keypunch. Some people claim there is a Time Sharing system that runs on OS 370, but after careful study I have come to the conclusion that they were mistaken. PROGRAMMING TOOLS What kind of tools does a Real Programmer use? In theory, a Real Programmer could run his programs by keying them into the front panel of the computer. Back in the days when computers had front panels, this was actually done occasionally. Your typical Real Programmer knew the entire bootstrap loader by memory in hex, and toggled it in whenever it got destroyed by his program. (Back then, memory was memory - it didn't go away when the power went off. Today, memory either forgets things when you don't want it to, or remembers things long after they're better forgotten.) Legend has it that {Seymore Cray}, inventor of the Cray I supercomputer and most of Control Data's computers, actually toggled the first operating system for the CDC7600 in on the front panel from memory when it was first powered on. Seymore, needless to say, is a Real Programmer. One of my favorite Real Programmers was a systems programmer for Texas Instruments. One day he got a long distance call from a user whose system had crashed in the middle of saving some important work. Jim was able to repair the damage over the phone, getting the user to toggle in disk I/O instructions at the front panel, repairing system tables in hex, reading register contents back over the phone. The moral of this story: while a Real Programmer usually includes a keypunch and lineprinter in his toolkit, he can get along with just a front panel and a telephone in emergencies. In some companies, text editing no longer consists of ten engineers standing in line to use an 029 keypunch. In fact, the building I work in doesn't contain a single keypunch. The Real Programmer in this situation has to do his work with a "text editor" program. Most systems supply several text editors to select from, and the Real Programmer must be careful to pick one that reflects his personal style. Many people believe that the best text editors in the world were written at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center for use on their Alto and Dorado computers [3]. Unfortunately, no Real Programmer would ever use a computer whose operating system is called SmallTalk, and would certainly not talk to the computer with a mouse. Some of the concepts in these Xerox editors have been incorporated into editors running on more reasonably named operating systems - {Emacs} and {VI} being two. The problem with these editors is that Real Programmers consider "what you see is what you get" to be just as bad a concept in Text Editors as it is in women. No the Real Programmer wants a "you asked for it, you got it" text editor - complicated, cryptic, powerful, unforgiving, dangerous. TECO, to be precise. It has been observed that a TECO command sequence more closely resembles transmission line noise than readable text [4]. One of the more entertaining games to play with TECO is to type your name in as a command line and try to guess what it does. Just about any possible typing error while talking with TECO will probably destroy your program, or even worse - introduce subtle and mysterious bugs in a once working subroutine. For this reason, Real Programmers are reluctant to actually edit a program that is close to working. They find it much easier to just patch the binary {object code} directly, using a wonderful program called SUPERZAP (or its equivalent on non-IBM machines). This works so well that many working programs on IBM systems bear no relation to the original Fortran code. In many cases, the original source code is no longer available. When it comes time to fix a program like this, no manager would even think of sending anything less than a Real Programmer to do the job - no Quiche Eating structured programmer would even know where to start. This is called "job security". Some programming tools NOT used by Real Programmers: Fortran preprocessors like {MORTRAN} and {RATFOR}. The Cuisinarts of programming - great for making Quiche. See comments above on structured programming. Source language debuggers. Real Programmers can read core dumps. Compilers with array bounds checking. They stifle creativity, destroy most of the interesting uses for EQUIVALENCE, and make it impossible to modify the operating system code with negative subscripts. Worst of all, bounds checking is inefficient. Source code maintenance systems. A Real Programmer keeps his code locked up in a card file, because it implies that its owner cannot leave his important programs unguarded [5]. THE REAL PROGRAMMER AT WORK Where does the typical Real Programmer work? What kind of programs are worthy of the efforts of so talented an individual? You can be sure that no Real Programmer would be caught dead writing accounts-receivable programs in {COBOL}, or sorting {mailing lists} for People magazine. A Real Programmer wants tasks of earth-shaking importance (literally!). Real Programmers work for Los Alamos National Laboratory, writing atomic bomb simulations to run on Cray I supercomputers. Real Programmers work for the National Security Agency, decoding Russian transmissions. It was largely due to the efforts of thousands of Real Programmers working for NASA that our boys got to the moon and back before the Russkies. Real Programmers are at work for Boeing designing the operating systems for cruise missiles. Some of the most awesome Real Programmers of all work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Many of them know the entire operating system of the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft by heart. With a combination of large ground-based Fortran programs and small spacecraft-based assembly language programs, they are able to do incredible feats of navigation and improvisation - hitting ten-kilometer wide windows at Saturn after six years in space, repairing or bypassing damaged sensor platforms, radios, and batteries. Allegedly, one Real Programmer managed to tuck a pattern-matching program into a few hundred bytes of unused memory in a Voyager spacecraft that searched for, located, and photographed a new moon of Jupiter. The current plan for the Galileo spacecraft is to use a gravity assist trajectory past Mars on the way to Jupiter. This trajectory passes within 80 +/-3 kilometers of the surface of Mars. Nobody is going to trust a Pascal program (or a Pascal programmer) for navigation to these tolerances. As you can tell, many of the world's Real Programmers work for the U.S. Government - mainly the Defense Department. This is as it should be. Recently, however, a black cloud has formed on the Real Programmer horizon. It seems that some highly placed Quiche Eaters at the Defense Department decided that all Defense programs should be written in some grand unified language called "ADA" ((C), DoD). For a while, it seemed that ADA was destined to become a language that went against all the precepts of Real Programming - a language with structure, a language with data types, {strong typing}, and semicolons. In short, a language designed to cripple the creativity of the typical Real Programmer. Fortunately, the language adopted by DoD has enough interesting features to make it approachable -- it's incredibly complex, includes methods for messing with the operating system and rearranging memory, and Edsgar Dijkstra doesn't like it [6]. (Dijkstra, as I'm sure you know, was the author of "GoTos Considered Harmful" - a landmark work in programming methodology, applauded by Pascal programmers and Quiche Eaters alike.) Besides, the determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language. The Real Programmer might compromise his principles and work on something slightly more trivial than the destruction of life as we know it, providing there's enough money in it. There are several Real Programmers building video games at Atari, for example. (But not playing them - a Real Programmer knows how to beat the machine every time: no challenge in that.) Everyone working at LucasFilm is a Real Programmer. (It would be crazy to turn down the money of fifty million Star Trek fans.) The proportion of Real Programmers in Computer Graphics is somewhat lower than the norm, mostly because nobody has found a use for computer graphics yet. On the other hand, all computer graphics is done in Fortran, so there are a fair number of people doing graphics in order to avoid having to write COBOL programs. THE REAL PROGRAMMER AT PLAY Generally, the Real Programmer plays the same way he works - with computers. He is constantly amazed that his employer actually pays him to do what he would be doing for fun anyway (although he is careful not to express this opinion out loud). Occasionally, the Real Programmer does step out of the office for a breath of fresh air and a beer or two. Some tips on recognizing Real Programmers away from the computer room: At a party, the Real Programmers are the ones in the corner talking about operating system security and how to get around it. At a football game, the Real Programmer is the one comparing the plays against his simulations printed on 11 by 14 fanfold paper. At the beach, the Real Programmer is the one drawing flowcharts in the sand. At a funeral, the Real Programmer is the one saying "Poor George, he almost had the sort routine working before the coronary." In a grocery store, the Real Programmer is the one who insists on running the cans past the laser checkout scanner himself, because he never could trust keypunch operators to get it right the first time. THE REAL PROGRAMMER'S NATURAL HABITAT What sort of environment does the Real Programmer function best in? This is an important question for the managers of Real Programmers. Considering the amount of money it costs to keep one on the staff, it's best to put him (or her) in an environment where he can get his work done. The typical Real Programmer lives in front of a computer terminal. Surrounding this terminal are: Listings of all programs the Real Programmer has ever worked on, piled in roughly chronological order on every flat surface in the office. Some half-dozen or so partly filled cups of cold coffee. Occasionally, there will be cigarette butts floating in the coffee. In some cases, the cups will contain Orange Crush. Unless he is very good, there will be copies of the OS JCL manual and the Principles of Operation open to some particularly interesting pages. Taped to the wall is a line-printer Snoopy calendar for the year 1969. Strewn about the floor are several wrappers for peanut butter filled cheese bars - the type that are made pre-stale at the bakery so they can't get any worse while waiting in the vending machine. Hiding in the top left-hand drawer of the desk is a stash of double-stuff Oreos for special occasions. Underneath the Oreos is a flowcharting template, left there by the previous occupant of the office. (Real Programmers write programs, not documentation. Leave that to the maintenance people.) The Real Programmer is capable of working 30, 40, even 50 hours at a stretch, under intense pressure. In fact, he prefers it that way. Bad response time doesn't bother the Real Programmer - it gives him a chance to catch a little sleep between compiles. If there is not enough schedule pressure on the Real Programmer, he tends to make things more challenging by working on some small but interesting part of the problem for the first nine weeks, then finishing the rest in the last week, in two or three 50-hour marathons. This not only impresses the hell out of his manager, who was despairing of ever getting the project done on time, but creates a convenient excuse for not doing the documentation. In general: No Real Programmer works 9 to 5 (unless it's the ones at night). Real Programmers don't wear neckties. Real Programmers don't wear high-heeled shoes. Real Programmers arrive at work in time for lunch [9]. A Real Programmer might or might not know his wife's name. He does, however, know the entire {ASCII} (or EBCDIC) code table. Real Programmers don't know how to cook. Grocery stores aren't open at three in the morning. Real Programmers survive on Twinkies and coffee. THE FUTURE What of the future? It is a matter of some concern to Real Programmers that the latest generation of computer programmers are not being brought up with the same outlook on life as their elders. Many of them have never seen a computer with a front panel. Hardly anyone graduating from school these days can do hex arithmetic without a calculator. College graduates these days are soft - protected from the realities of programming by source level debuggers, text editors that count parentheses, and "user friendly" operating systems. Worst of all, some of these alleged "computer scientists" manage to get degrees without ever learning Fortran! Are we destined to become an industry of Unix hackers and Pascal programmers? From my experience, I can only report that the future is bright for Real Programmers everywhere. Neither OS 370 nor Fortran show any signs of dying out, despite all the efforts of Pascal programmers the world over. Even more subtle tricks, like adding structured coding constructs to Fortran have failed. Oh sure, some computer vendors have come out with Fortran 77 compilers, but every one of them has a way of converting itself back into a Fortran 66 compiler at the drop of an option card - to compile DO loops like God meant them to be. Even Unix might not be as bad on Real Programmers as it once was. The latest release of Unix has the potential of an operating system worthy of any Real Programmer - two different and subtly incompatible user interfaces, an arcane and complicated teletype driver, virtual memory. If you ignore the fact that it's "structured", even 'C' programming can be appreciated by the Real Programmer: after all, there's no type checking, variable names are seven (ten? eight?) characters long, and the added bonus of the Pointer data type is thrown in - like having the best parts of Fortran and assembly language in one place. (Not to mention some of the more creative uses for
Reason is a clarified, ordered and organised Ignorance. It is a half-enlightened Ignorance seeking for truth, but a truth which it insists on founding upon the data and postulates of the Ignorance. Reason is not in possession of the Truth, it is a seeker. It is [unable to] discover the Truth or embody it; it leaves Truth covered but rendered into mental representations, a verbal and ideative scheme, an abstract algebra of concepts, a theory of the Ignorance. Sense-evidence is its starting point and it never really gets away from that insecure beginning. Its concepts start from sense-data and though like a kite it can fly high into an air of abstractions, it is held to the earth of sense by a string of great strength; if that string is broken it drifts lazily [in] the clouds and always it falls back by natural gravitation to its original earth basis—only so can it receive strength to go farther. Its field is the air and sky of the finite, it cannot ascend into the stratosphere of the spiritual vision, still less can it move at ease in the Infinite.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 12, Page: 256
recursion "mathematics, programming" When a {function} (or {procedure}) calls itself. Such a function is called "recursive". If the call is via one or more other functions then this group of functions are called "mutually recursive". If a function will always call itself, however it is called, then it will never terminate. Usually however, it first performs some test on its arguments to check for a "base case" - a condition under which it can return a value without calling itself. The {canonical} example of a recursive function is {factorial}: factorial 0 = 1 factorial n = n * factorial (n-1) {Functional programming languages} rely heavily on recursion, using it where a {procedural language} would use {iteration}. See also {recursion}, {recursive definition}, {tail recursion}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-05-11)
reference counting "programming" A {garbage collection} technique where each {memory cell} contains a count of the number of other cells which point to it. If this count reaches zero the cell is freed and its {pointers} to other cells are followed to decrement their counts, and so on {recursively}. This technique cannot cope with {circular data structures}. Cells in such structures refer (indirectly) to themselves and so will never have a zero reference count. This means they would never be reclaimed, even when there are no references from outside the structure. (1995-02-22)
religion of CHI /ki:/ [Case Western Reserve University] Yet another hackish parody religion (see also {Church of the SubGenius}, {Discordianism}). In the mid-70s, the canonical "Introduction to Programming" courses at CWRU were taught in {ALGOL}, and student exercises were punched on cards and run on a Univac 1108 system using a homebrew operating system named CHI. The religion had no doctrines and but one ritual: whenever the worshipper noted that a digital clock read 11:08, he or she would recite the phrase "It is 11:08; ABS, ALPHABETIC, ARCSIN, ARCCOS, ARCTAN." The last five words were the first five functions in the appropriate chapter of the ALGOL manual; note the special pronunciations /obz/ and /ark'sin/ rather than the more common /ahbz/ and /ark'si:n/. Using an alarm clock to warn of 11:08's arrival was {considered harmful}. [{Jargon File}]
restless ::: 1. Never still or motionless. 2. Of things or conditions: Never at rest; perpetually agitated or in motion. restlessness.
restless ::: a. --> Never resting; unquiet; uneasy; continually moving; as, a restless child.
Not satisfied to be at rest or in peace; averse to repose or quiet; eager for change; discontented; as, restless schemers; restless ambition; restless subjects.
Deprived of rest or sleep.
Passed in unquietness; as, the patient has had a restless night.
restriction A {bug} or design error that limits a program's capabilities, and which is sufficiently egregious that nobody can quite work up enough nerve to describe it as a {feature}. Often used (especially by {marketroid} types) to make it sound as though some crippling bogosity had been intended by the designers all along, or was forced upon them by arcane technical constraints of a nature no mere user could possibly comprehend (these claims are almost invariably false). Old-time hacker Joseph M. Newcomer advises that whenever choosing a quantifiable but arbitrary restriction, you should make it either a power of 2 or a power of 2 minus 1. If you impose a limit of 17 items in a list, everyone will know it is a random number - on the other hand, a limit of 15 or 16 suggests some deep reason (involving 0- or 1-based indexing in binary) and you will get less {flamage} for it. Limits which are round numbers in base 10 are always especially suspect. [{Jargon File}]
retrocomputing /ret'-roh-k*m-pyoo'ting/ Refers to emulations of way-behind-the-state-of-the-art hardware or software, or implementations of never-was-state-of-the-art; especially if such implementations are elaborate practical jokes and/or parodies, written mostly for {hack value}, of more "serious" designs. Perhaps the most widely distributed retrocomputing utility was the "pnch(6)" or "bcd(6)" program on V7 and other early Unix versions, which would accept up to 80 characters of text argument and display the corresponding pattern in {punched card} code. Other well-known retrocomputing hacks have included the programming language {INTERCAL}, a {JCL}-emulating shell for Unix, the card-punch-emulating editor named 029, and various elaborate {PDP-11} hardware emulators and RT-11 OS emulators written just to keep an old, sourceless {Zork} binary running. [{Jargon File}]
Richard Hamming "person" Professor Richard Wesley Hamming (1915-02-11 - 1998-01-07). An American mathematician known for his work in {information theory} (notably {error detection and correction}), having invented the concepts of {Hamming code}, {Hamming distance}, and {Hamming window}. Richard Hamming received his B.S. from the University of Chicago in 1937, his M.A. from the University of Nebraska in 1939, and his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1942. In 1945 Hamming joined the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. In 1946, after World War II, Hamming joined the {Bell Telephone Laboratories} where he worked with both {Shannon} and {John Tukey}. He worked there until 1976 when he accepted a chair of computer science at the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California. Hamming's fundamental paper on error-detecting and error-correcting codes ("{Hamming codes}") appeared in 1950. His work on the {IBM 650} leading to the development in 1956 of the {L2} programming language. This never displaced the workhorse language {L1} devised by Michael V Wolontis. By 1958 the 650 had been elbowed aside by the 704. Although best known for error-correcting codes, Hamming was primarily a numerical analyst, working on integrating {differential equations} and the {Hamming spectral window} used for smoothing data before {Fourier analysis}. He wrote textbooks, propounded aphorisms ("the purpose of computing is insight, not numbers"), and was a founder of the {ACM} and a proponent of {open-shop} computing ("better to solve the right problem the wrong way than the wrong problem the right way."). In 1968 he was made a fellow of the {Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers} and awarded the {Turing Prize} from the {Association for Computing Machinery}. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers awarded Hamming the Emanuel R Piore Award in 1979 and a medal in 1988. {(http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Hamming.html)}. {(http://zapata.seas.smu.edu/~gorsak/hamming.html)}. {(http://webtechniques.com/archives/1998/03/homepage/)}. [Richard Hamming. Coding and Information Theory. Prentice-Hall, 1980. ISBN 0-13-139139-9]. (2003-06-07)
ritualism ::: n. --> A system founded upon a ritual or prescribed form of religious worship; adherence to, or observance of, a ritual.
Specifically :(a) The principles and practices of those in the Church of England, who in the development of the Oxford movement, so-called, have insisted upon a return to the use in church services of the symbolic ornaments (altar cloths, encharistic vestments, candles, etc.) that were sanctioned in the second year of Edward VI., and never, as they maintain, forbidden by competennt
root bridge "communications, hardware, networking" A {bridge} which continuously transmits {network} {topology} information to other bridges, using the {spanning tree protocol}, in order to notify all other bridges on the network when topology changes are required. This means that a network is able to reconfigure itself whenever a network link (e.g. another bridge) fails, so an alternative path can be found. The presence of a root bridge also prevents {loops (network loop)} from forming in the network. The root bridge is where the paths that {frames} take through the network they are assigned. It should be located centrally on the network to provide the shortest path to other links on the network. Unlike other bridges, the root bridge always forwards frames out over all of its {ports}. Every network should only have one root bridge. It should have the lowest bridge ID number. (2000-11-26)
Roskind grammars "tool" {Yacc}-based {parsers} for {C} and {C++} by Jim Roskind. It does not use the %prec and %assoc YACC features so conflicts are never hidden. The C {grammar} has only one {shift-reduce conflict}, the C++ grammar has a few more. With {byacc} it can produce graphical {parse trees} automatically. The C grammar conforms to {ANSI C} and the C++ grammar supports {cfront} 2.0 constructs. {(ftp://ftp.infoseek.com/pub/c++grammar/)}. (2003-10-09)
RTFS "jargon" 1. Read The Fucking Source. Variant form of {RTFM}, used when the problem at hand is not necessarily obvious and not answerable from the manuals - or the manuals are not yet written and maybe never will be. For even trickier situations, see {RTFB}. Unlike RTFM, the anger inherent in RTFS is not usually directed at the person asking the question, but rather at the people who failed to provide adequate documentation. 2. Read The Fucking Standard; this oath can only be used when the problem area (e.g. a language or operating system interface) has actually been codified in a ratified standards document. The existence of these standards documents (and the technically inappropriate but politically mandated compromises that they inevitably contain, and the impenetrable {legalese} in which they are invariably written, and the unbelievably tedious bureaucratic process by which they are produced) can be unnerving to hackers, who are used to a certain amount of ambiguity in the specifications of the systems they use. (Hackers feel that such ambiguities are acceptable as long as the {Right Thing} to do is obvious to any thinking observer; sadly, this casual attitude toward specifications becomes unworkable when a system becomes popular in the {Real World}.) Since a hacker is likely to feel that a standards document is both unnecessary and technically deficient, the deprecation inherent in this term may be directed as much against the standard as against the person who ought to read it. [{Jargon File}]
rudiment ::: n. --> That which is unformed or undeveloped; the principle which lies at the bottom of any development; an unfinished beginning.
Hence, an element or first principle of any art or science; a beginning of any knowledge; a first step.
An imperfect organ or part, or one which is never developed. ::: v. t.
samizdat "publication" (Russian, literally "self publishing") The process of disseminating documentation via underground channels. Originally referred to photocopy duplication and distribution of banned books in the former Soviet Union; now refers by obvious extension to any less-than-official promulgation of textual material, especially rare, obsolete, or never-formally-published computer documentation. Samizdat is obviously much easier when one has access to high-{bandwidth} {networks} and high-quality {laser printers}. Strictly, "samizdat" only applies to distribution of needed documents that are otherwise unavailable, and not to duplication of material that is available for sale under {copyright}. See {Lions Book} for a historical example. See also: {hacker ethic}. [{Jargon File}] (2000-03-23)
sausage code "humour, programming" Code which, once you know the details of how it's made, you'll never want to use again. [{Dodgy Coder (http://www.dodgycoder.net/2011/11/yoda-conditions-pokemon-exception.html)}]. (2013-11-22)
schrödinbug "jargon, programming" /shroh'din-buhg/ ({MIT}, from the Schrödinger's Cat thought-experiment in quantum physics) A design or implementation {bug} that doesn't manifest until someone reading the {source code} or using the program in an unusual way notices that it never should have worked, at which point it stops working until fixed. Though (like {bit rot}) this sounds impossible, it happens; some programs have harboured schrödinbugs for years. Compare {heisenbug}, {Bohr bug}, {mandelbug}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-28)
sea serpent ::: --> Any marine snake. See Sea snake.
A large marine animal of unknown nature, often reported to have been seen at sea, but never yet captured.
security through obscurity "security" Or "security by obscurity". A term applied by hackers to most {operating system} vendors' favourite way of coping with security holes - namely, ignoring them, documenting neither any known holes nor the underlying security {algorithms}, trusting that nobody will find out about them and that people who do find out about them won't exploit them. This never works for long and occasionally sets the world up for debacles like the {RTM} worm of 1988 (see {Great Worm}), but once the brief moments of panic created by such events subside most vendors are all too willing to turn over and go back to sleep. After all, actually fixing the bugs would siphon off the resources needed to implement the next user-interface frill on marketing's wish list - and besides, if they started fixing security bugs customers might begin to *expect* it and imagine that their warranties of merchantability gave them some sort of rights. Historical note: There are conflicting stories about the origin of this term. It has been claimed that it was first used in the {Usenet} newsgroup in {news:comp.sys.apollo} during a campaign to get {HP}/{Apollo} to fix security problems in its {Unix}-{clone} {Aegis}/{DomainOS} (they didn't change a thing). {ITS} fans, on the other hand, say it was coined years earlier in opposition to the incredibly paranoid {Multics} people down the hall, for whom security was everything. In the ITS culture it referred to (1) the fact that by the time a {tourist} figured out how to make trouble he'd generally got over the urge to make it, because he felt part of the community; and (2) (self-mockingly) the poor coverage of the documentation and obscurity of many commands. One instance of *deliberate* security through obscurity is recorded; the command to allow patching the running ITS system ({altmode} altmode control-R) echoed as $$^D. If you actually typed alt alt ^D, that set a flag that would prevent patching the system even if you later got it right. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-15)
Seeking for occulf powers is looked on with disfavour for the most part by spiritual teachers in India, because it belongs to the inferior planes and usually pushes the seeker on a path which may lead him very far from the Divine. Especially, a contact mth the forces and beings of the astral (or, as we term it, the vital) plane is attended with great dangers. The beings of this plane are often bosiQc to the true aim of spiritual life and establish contact with the seeker and offer him powers and occult experiences only in order that they may lead him away from the spiritual path or else that they may establish their own control over him or take possession of him for their owm pur- pose. Often, representing themselves as Divine powers they mis- lead, give erring suggestions and impulsions and pervert the inner life. Many are those who, attracted by these powers and beings of the vital plane, bave ended in a definitive spiritual fall or in mental and physical perversion and disorder. One comes ineritably into contact with the vital plane and enters into it in the expansion of consriousness which results from an inner opening, but one ought never to put oneself into the hands of these beings and forces or allow oneself to be led by their sug- gestions and impulsions. This is one of the chief dangers of the spiritual life and to be on one’s guard against it is a necessity for the seeTer if he wishes to arrive at his goal. It is true that many supraphysical or supernonnal powers come with the expansion of the consciousness in the yoga ; to rise out of the body consciousness, to act by subtle means on the supraphysical planes, etc. are natural activities for the yogi- But these powers are not sought after, they come naturally, and they have not the astral character. Also, Aey have to be used on purely spiritual
semester ::: n. --> A period of six months; especially, a term in a college or uneversity which divides the year into two terms.
sempiternal ::: a. --> Of neverending duration; everlasting; endless; having beginning, but no end.
Without beginning or end; eternal.
sessile ::: a. --> Attached without any sensible projecting support.
Resting directly upon the main stem or branch, without a petiole or footstalk; as, a sessile leaf or blossom.
Permanently attached; -- said of the gonophores of certain hydroids which never became detached.
SEUS R. Weyrauch et al. Language allowing functions to return multiple values. Implemented but never published. Mentioned in "Evolution of Lisp", G.L. Steele et al, SIGPLAN Notices 28(3):231-270 (March 1993).
Sex-suggestions ::: The suggestions must never be accepted ; for acceptance gives them the right to return or continue. ^ If there is no sex response in the mind or vital and the sensation
shelfware "jargon" /shelfweir/ {Software} which is never used and so ends up on the shelf. Shelfware may be purchased on a whim by an individual, or in accordance with corporate policy, but not actually required for any particular use. Alternatively, it may be software that has been developed (unlike {vaporware}), but is never released as a product -- a common occurrence at {DEC}. [{Jargon File}] (1997-07-20)
shotgun debugging The software equivalent of {Easter egging}; the making of relatively undirected changes to software in the hope that a bug will be perturbed out of existence. This almost never works, and usually introduces more bugs. [{Jargon File}]
signal-to-noise ratio 1. "communications" (SNR, "s/n ratio", "s:n ratio") "Signal" refers to useful information conveyed by some communications medium, and "noise" to anything else on that medium. The ratio of these is usually expressed logarithmically, in {decibels}. 2. "networking" The term is often applied to {Usenet} newsgroups though figures are never given. Here it is quite common to have more noise (inappropriate postings which contribute nothing) than signal (relevant, useful or interesting postings). The signal gets {lost in the noise} when it becomes too much effort to try to find interesting articles among all the crud. Posting "noise" is probably the worst breach of {netiquette} and is a waste of {bandwidth}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-01-29)
Simply ultimate: That to which all things are actually or virtually referred, -- and which itself is ordered to nothing further, as God. A relatively ultimate end (finis secundum quid ultimus): That which terminates some seiies of acts, in which it is intended ultimately and in itself, but nevertheless can be referrcd to another end, as health is the end of the art of medicine, but nevertheless it can be ordered to another end, e.g. to working. -- H.G.
sneakernet /snee'ker-net/ Term used (generally with ironic intent) for transfer of electronic information by physically carrying tape, disks, or other media from one machine to another. "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with magtape, or a 747 filled with CD-ROMs." Also called tennis-net, armpit-net, floppy-net, shoe-net, walk-net, foot-net. (2003-07-02)
Social Contract: The original covenant by which, according to certain philosophers of modern times -- Hooker, Hohbes, Althusius, Spinoza, Locke, Pufendorf, etc. -- individuals have united and formed the state. This theory was combined with the older idea of the governmental contract by which the people conferred the power of government upon a single person or a group of persons. This theory goes back to ancient philosophy and was upheld by medieval thinkers, suth as Thomas Aquinas, Marsilius of Padova. Though most of the philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth century realized that no such original compact as the idea of the Social Contract called for, had actually occurred, the idea, nevertheless, served as a criterion to determine whether any act of the government was just or not, i.e., whether the consent of the governed might be assumed (especially Rousseau, Kant). The theory of the Social Contract had a remarkable influence upon the political philosophy of the American colonies. See Political Philosophy. -- W.E.
sorehon ::: n. --> Formerly, in Ireland, a kind of servile tenure which subjected the tenant to maintain his chieftain gratuitously whenever he wished to indulge in a revel.
SOS 1. {Scheme Object System}. 2. An infamously {losing} text editor. Once, back in the 1960s, when a text editor was needed for the {PDP-6}, a hacker {crufted} together a {quick-and-dirty} "stopgap editor" to be used until a better one was written. Unfortunately, the old one was never really discarded when new ones (in particular, {TECO}) came along. SOS is a descendant ("Son of Stopgap") of that editor, and many {PDP-10} users gained the dubious pleasure of its acquaintance. Since then other programs similar in style to SOS have been written, notably the early font editor BILOS /bye'lohs/, the Brother-In-Law Of Stopgap (the alternate expansion "Bastard Issue, Loins of Stopgap" has been proposed). 3. The {PDP-10} instruction to decrease a value. Oppose {AOS}. [{Jargon File}]
Spencer, Herbert: (1820-1903) was the great English philosopher who devoted a life time to the formulation and execution of a plan to follow the idea of development as a first principle through all the avenues of human thought. A precursor of Darwin with his famous notion of all organic evolution as a change "from homogeneity to heterogenity," from the simple to the complex, he nevertheless was greatly influenced by the Darwinian hypothesis and employed its arguments in his monumental works in biology, psychology, sociology and ethics. He aimed to interpret life, mind and society in terms of matter, motion and force. In politics, he evidenced from his earliest writings a strong bias for individualism. See Evolutionism, Charles Darwin. -- L.E.D.
spirit of Delight ::: Sri Aurobindo: " Now, that a conscious Infinite is there in physical Nature, we are assured by every sign, though it is a consciousness not made or limited like ours. All her constructions and motions are those of an illimitable intuitive wisdom too great and spontaneous and mysteriously self-effective to be described as an intelligence, of a Power and Will working for Time in eternity with an inevitable and forecasting movement in each of its steps, even in those steps that in their outward or superficial impetus seem to us inconscient. And as there is in her this greater consciousness and greater power, so too there is an illimitable spirit of harmony and beauty in her constructions that never fails her, though its works are not limited by our aesthetic canons. An infinite hedonism too is there, an illimitable spirit of delight, of which we become aware when we enter into impersonal unity with her; and even as that in her which is terrible is a part of her beauty, that in her which is dangerous, cruel, destructive is a part of her delight, her universal Ananda. Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
spreadsheet "application, tool" (Or rarely "worksheet") A type of {application program} which manipulates numerical and string data in rows and columns of cells. The value in a cell can be calculated from a formula which can involve other cells. A value is recalculated automatically whenever a value on which it depends changes. Different cells may be displayed with different formats. Some spreadsheet support three-dimensional matrices and cyclic references which lead to iterative calculation. An essential feature of a spreadsheet is the copy function (often using {drag-and-drop}). A rectangular area may be copied to another which is a multiple of its size. References between cells may be either absolute or relative in either their horizontal or vertical index. All copies of an absolute reference will refer to the same row, column or cell whereas a relative reference refers to a cell with a given offset from the current cell. Many spreadsheets have a "What-if" feature. The user gives desired end conditions and assigns several input cells to be automatically varied. An area of the spreadsheet is assigned to show the result of various combinations of input values. Spreadsheets usually incorporate a {macro language}, which enables third-party writing of worksheet applications for commercial purposes. In the 1970s, a {screen editor} based calculation program called {Visi-Calc} was introduced. It was probably the first commercial spreadsheet program. Soon {Lotus Development Corporation} released the more sophisticated {Lotus 1-2-3}. Clones appeared, (for example {VP-Planner} from {Paperback Software} with {CGA} graphics, {Quattro} from {Borland}) but Lotus maintained its position with world-wide marketing and support - and lawyers! For example, Borland was forced to abandon its Lotus-like {pop-up menu}. While still developing 1-2-3, Lotus introduced {Symphony}, which had simultaneously active windows for the spreadsheet, graphs and a {word processor}. {Microsoft} produced {MultiPlan} for the {Macintosh}, which was followed by {Excel} for Macintosh, long before {Microsoft Windows} was developed. When {Microsoft Windows} arrived Lotus was still producing the {text-based} 1-2-3 and Symphony. Meanwhile, {Microsoft} launched its {Excel} spreadsheet with interactive graphics, graphic charcters, mouse support and {cut-and-paste} to and from other Windows applications. To compete with Windows spreadsheets, Lotus launched its {Allways} add-on for 1-2-3 - a post-processor that produced Windows-quality graphic characters on screen and printer. The release of Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows was late, slow and buggy. Today, Microsoft, Lotus, Borland and many other companies offer Windows-based spreadsheet programs. The main end-users of spreadsheets are business and science. Spreadsheets are an example of a non-algorithmic programming language. [Dates?] (1995-03-28)
SR flip-flop "hardware" (Or "RS flip-flop") A "set/reset" {flip-flop} in which activating the "S" input will switch it to one stable state and activating the "R" input will switch it to the other state. The outputs of a basic SR flip-flop change whenever its R or S inputs change appropriately. A clocked SR flip-flop has an extra clock input which enables or disables the other two inputs. When they are disabled the outputs remain constant. If we connect two clocked SR flip-flops so that the Q and /Q outputs of the first, "master" flip-flop drive the S and R inputs of the second, "slave" flip-flop, and we drive the slave's clock input with an inverted version of the master's clock, then we have an {edge-triggered} RS flip-flop. The external R and S inputs of this device are latched on one edge (transition) of the clock (e.g. the falling edge) and the outputs will only change on the next opposite (rising) edge. If both R and S inputs are active (when enabled), a {race condition} occurs and the outputs will be in an indeterminate state. A {JK flip-flop} avoids this possibility. {(http://play-hookey.com/digital/logic4.html)}. (1997-05-15)
Sri Aurobindo: "Chance is not *in this universe; the idea of illusion is itself an illusion. There was never illusion yet in the human mind that was not the concealing [?shape] and disfigurement of a truth.” Essays Divine and Human
Sri Aurobindo: "Essence can never be defined — it simply is.” *Letters on Yoga
*Sri Aurobindo: "It [falsehood] is created by an Asuric (hostile) power which intervenes in this creation and is not only separated from the Truth and therefore limited in knowledge and open to error, but in revolt against the Truth or in the habit of seizing the Truth only to pervert it. This Power, the dark Asuric Shakti or Rakshasic Maya, puts forward its own perverted consciousness as true knowledge and its wilful distortions or reversals of the Truth as the verity of things. It is the powers and personalities of this perverted and perverting consciousness that we call hostile beings, hostile forces. Whenever these perversions created by them out of the stuff of the Ignorance are put forward as the Truth of things, that is the Falsehood, in the yogic sense, . . . .” Letters on Yoga
*Sri Aurobindo: "There are some who often or almost invariably have the contact whenever they worship, the Deity may become living to them in the picture or other image they worship, may move and act through it; others may feel him always present, outwardly, subtle-physically, abiding with them where they live or in the very room, but sometimes this is only for a period. Or they may feel the Presence with them, see it frequently in a body (but not materially except sometimes), feel its touch or embrace, converse with it constantly — that is also a kind of milana. The greatest milana is one in which one is constantly aware of the Deity abiding in oneself, in everything in the world, holding all the world in him, identical with existence and yet supremely beyond the world — but in the world too one sees, hears, feels nothing but him, so that the very senses bear witness to him alone — . . . .” Letters on Yoga
stale pointer bug "programming" (Or "aliasing bug") A class of subtle programming errors that can arise in code that does {dynamic allocation}, especially via {malloc} or equivalent. If several {pointers} address (are "aliases for") a given hunk of storage, it may happen that the storage is freed or reallocated (and thus moved) through one alias and then referenced through another, which may lead to subtle (and possibly intermittent) lossage depending on the state and the allocation history of the malloc {arena}. This bug can be avoided by never creating aliases for allocated memory, or by use of a {higher-level language}, such as {Lisp}, which employs a {garbage collector}. The term "aliasing bug" is nowadays associated with {C} programming, it was already in use in a very similar sense in the {ALGOL 60} and {Fortran} communities in the 1960s. See also {smash the stack}, {fandango on core}, {memory leak}, {memory smash}, {spam}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-05-09)
Statement: See Meaning, Kinds of, 1. Statistics: The systematic study of quantitative facts, numerical data, comparative materials, obtained through description and interpretation of group phenomena. The method of using and interpreting processes of classification, enumeration, measurement and evaluation of group phenomena. In a restricted sense, the materials, facts or data referring to group phenomena and forming the subject of systematic computation and interpretation. The Ground of Statistics. Statistics have developed from a specialized application of the inductive principle which concludes from the characteristics of a large number of parts to those of the whole. When we make generalizations from empirical data, we are never certain of having expressed adequately the laws connecting all the relevant and efficient factors in the case under investigation. Not only have we to take into account the personal equation involved and the imperfection of our instru ments of observation and measurement, but also the complex character of physical, biological, psychological and social phenomena which cannot be subjected to an exhaustive analysis. Statistics reveals precisely definite trends and frequencies subject to approximate laws, in these various fields in which phenomena result from many independently varying factors and involve a multitude of numerical units of variable character. Statistics differs fiom probability insofar as it makes a more consistent use of empirical data objectively considered, and of methods directly inspired by the treatment of these data.
subconscient ::: Sri Aurobindo: "In our yoga we mean by the subconscient that quite submerged part of our being in which there is no wakingly conscious and coherent thought, will or feeling or organised reaction, but which yet receives obscurely the impressions of all things and stores them up in itself and from it too all sorts of stimuli, of persistent habitual movements, crudely repeated or disguised in strange forms can surge up into dream or into the waking nature. No, subliminal is a general term used for all parts of the being which are not on the waking surface. Subconscient is very often used in the same sense by European psychologists because they do not know the difference. But when I use the word, I mean always what is below the ordinary physical consciousness, not what is behind it. The inner mental, vital, physical, the psychic are not subconscious in this sense, but they can be spoken of as subliminal.” *The Synthesis of Yoga.
"The subconscient is a concealed and unexpressed inarticulate consciousness which works below all our conscious physical activities. Just as what we call the superconscient is really a higher consciousness above from which things descend into the being, so the subconscient is below the body-consciousness and things come up into the physical, the vital and the mind-nature from there.
Just as the higher consciousness is superconscient to us and supports all our spiritual possibilities and nature, so the subconscient is the basis of our material being and supports all that comes up in the physical nature.” Letters on Yoga
"That part of us which we can strictly call subconscient because it is below the level of mind and conscious life, inferior and obscure, covers the purely physical and vital elements of our constitution of bodily being, unmentalised, unobserved by the mind, uncontrolled by it in their action. It can be held to include the dumb occult consciousness, dynamic but not sensed by us, which operates in the cells and nerves and all the corporeal stuff and adjusts their life process and automatic responses. It covers also those lowest functionings of submerged sense-mind which are more operative in the animal and in plant life.” *The Life Divine
"The subconscient is a thing of habits and memories and repeats persistently or whenever it can old suppressed reactions, reflexes, mental, vital or physical responses. It must be trained by a still more persistent insistence of the higher parts of the being to give up its old responses and take on the new and true ones.” Letters on Yoga
"About the subconscient — it is the sub-mental base of the being and is made up of impressions, instincts, habitual movements that are stored there. Whatever movement is impressed in it, it keeps. If one impresses the right movement in it, it will keep and send up that. That is why it has to be cleared of old movements before there can be a permanent and total change in the nature. When the higher consciousness is once established in the waking parts, it goes down into the subconscient and changes that also, makes a bedrock of itself there also.” Letters on Yoga
"The sub-conscious is the evolutionary basis in us, it is not the whole of our hidden nature, nor is it the whole origin of what we are. But things can rise from the subconscient and take shape in the conscious parts and much of our smaller vital and physical instincts, movements, habits, character-forms has this source.” Letters on Yoga
"The subconscient is the support of habitual action — it can support good habits as well as bad.” Letters on Yoga
"For the subconscient is the Inconscient in the process of becoming conscious; it is a support and even a root of our inferior parts of being and their movements.” The Life Divine *subconscient"s.
Suppositio: In medieval logic, the kind of meaning in use which belongs to nouns or substantives; opposed to copulatio, belonging to adjectives and verbs A given noun having a fixed signification might nevertheless have different suppositiones (stand for different things). Various kinds of suppositio, i.e., various ways in which a noun may stand for something, were distinguished. -- A.C.
Surrender and vital *. The ordinary vital is never willing to surrender. The true inmost vital is different — surrender to the
System Control Language "language" (SCL) The {command language} for the {VME/B} {operating system} on the {ICL2900}. SCL was {block structured} and supported strings, lists of strings ("superstrings"), {integer}, {Boolean}, and {array} types. You could trigger a {block} whenever a condition on a variable value occured. It supported {macros} and default arguments. Commands were treated like procedure calls. ["VME/B SCL Syntax", Intl Computers Ltd. 1980]. (2003-01-08)
tantalus ::: n. --> A Phrygian king who was punished in the lower world by being placed in the midst of a lake whose waters reached to his chin but receded whenever he attempted to allay his thirst, while over his head hung branches laden with choice fruit which likewise receded whenever he stretched out his hand to grasp them.
A genus of wading birds comprising the wood ibises.
Tehmi: “This is a reference to the story of Hercules who married Deianeira, the daughter of King Oeneus. One day he and his wife had to cross a stream swollen by rains. As his wife could not swim Hercules asked the centaur boatman to ferry her across. Midway across the centaur began to molest Deianeira. Hercules then shot him with a poison arrow that had been dipped in the Hydra’s blood. As the centaur was dying he told the naïve Deianeira to dip a shirt in his blood and whenever she felt Hercules was betraying her to send him the shirt and he would remain faithful to her. Long afterward Hercules went on a journey and Deianeira suspected him of being unfaithful and sent him the blood-glued shirt. Hercules put on the shirt which burned his flesh to the bone, killing him.”**
termination analysis A program analysis which attempts to determine whether evaluation of a given expression will definitely terminate. Evaluation of a constant is bound to terminate, as is evaluation of a non-{recursive} function applied to arguments which are either not evaluated or which can themselves be proved to terminate. A recursive function can be shown to terminate if it can be shown that the arguments of the recursive calls are bound to reach some value at which the recursion will cease. Termination analysis can never guarantee to give the correct answer because this would be equivalent to solving the {halting problem} so the answer it gives is either "definitely terminates" or "don't know". (1994-10-20)
thallogen ::: n. --> One of a large class or division of the vegetable kingdom, which includes those flowerless plants, such as fungi, algae, and lichens, that consist of a thallus only, composed of cellular tissue, or of a congeries of cells, or even of separate cells, and never show a distinction into root, stem, and leaf.
That paradoxes of this kind could be relevant to mathematics first became clear in connection with the paradox of the greatest ordinal number, published by Burali-Forti in 1897, and the paradox of the greatest cardinal number, published by Russell in 1903. The first of these had been discovered by Cantor in 1895, and communicated to Hilbert in 1896, and both are mentioned in Cantor's correspondence with Dedekind of 1899, but were never published by Cantor.
The ideal sadhaka in this kind is one who if required to live poorly can so live and no sense of want will affect him or inter- fere with the full inner play of the divine consciousaess, and If he is required to live richly, can so live and never for a moment fall into desire or attachment to his wealth or to the tbmss that he uses or servitude to self-indulgence or a weak bondage to the habits that the possession of ricBes creates.
The limit of an infinite sequence of real numbers a1, a2, a3, . . . is said to be (the real number) b if for every positive real number ε there is a positive integer N such that the difference between b and an is less than ε whenever n is greater than N. (By the difference between b and an is here meant the non-negative difference, i.e., b−an if b is greater than an, an−b if b is less than an, and 0 if b is equal to an.)
The Mother: "To be humble means for the mind, the vital and the body never to forget that without the Divine they know nothing, are noting and can do nothing; with the Divine they are nothing but ignorance, chaos and impotence. The Divine alone is Truth, Life, Power, Love, Felicity.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 14.
The prohibition against impredicative definition was incorporated by Russell into his ramified theory of types (1908) and is now usually identified with the restriction to the ramified theorv of types without the axiom of reducibility. (Poincare, however, never made his principle exact and may have intended, vaguely, a less severe restriction than this -- as indeed some passages in later writings would indicate.) -- A. C.
There are some who often or almost invariably have the contact whenever they worship, the Deity may become living to them in the picture or other image they worship, may move and act through it ; others may feel him always present, outwardly, subtle- physically, abiding with them where they live or in the very room, but sometimes this is only for a period. Or they may feel the Presence with them, see it frequently in a body (but not materially except sometimes), feel its touch or embrace, converse with it constantly — that is also a kind of miian. The
“There are some who often or almost invariably have the contact whenever they worship, the Deity may become living to them in the picture or other image they worship, may move and act through it; others may feel him always present, outwardly, subtle-physically, abiding with them where they live or in the very room, but sometimes this is only for a period. Or they may feel the Presence with them, see it frequently in a body (but not materially except sometimes), feel its touch or embrace, converse with it constantly—that is also a kind of milana. The greatest milana is one in which one is constantly aware of the Deity abiding in oneself, in everything in the world, holding all the world in him, identical with existence and yet supremely beyond the world—but in the world too one sees, hears, feels nothing but him, so that the very senses bear witness to him alone—….” Letters on Yoga
"There is no such thing as death, for it is the body that dies and the body is not the man. That which really is, cannot go out of existence, though it may change the forms through which it appears, just as that which is non-existent cannot come into being. The soul is and cannot cease to be. This opposition of is and is not, this balance of being and becoming which is the mind"s view of existence, finds its end in the realisation of the soul as the one imperishable self by whom all this universe has been extended. Finite bodies have an end, but that which possesses and uses the body, is infinite, illimitable, eternal, indestructible. It casts away old and takes up new bodies as a man changes worn-out raiment for new; and what is there in this to grieve at and recoil and shrink? This is not born, nor does it die, nor is it a thing that comes into being once and passing away will never come into being again. It is unborn, ancient, sempiternal; it is not slain with the slaying of the body. Who can slay the immortal spirit? Weapons cannot cleave it, nor the fire burn, nor do the waters drench it, nor the wind dry. Eternally stable, immobile, all-pervading, it is for ever and for ever. Not manifested like the body, but greater than all manifestation, not to be analysed by the thought, but greater than all mind, not capable of change and modification like the life and its organs and their objects, but beyond the changes of mind and life and body, it is yet the Reality which all these strive to figure.” Essays on the Gita
“There is no such thing as death, for it is the body that dies and the body is not the man. That which really is, cannot go out of existence, though it may change the forms through which it appears, just as that which is non-existent cannot come into being. The soul is and cannot cease to be. This opposition of is and is not, this balance of being and becoming which is the mind’s view of existence, finds its end in the realisation of the soul as the one imperishable self by whom all this universe has been extended. Finite bodies have an end, but that which possesses and uses the body, is infinite, illimitable, eternal, indestructible. It casts away old and takes up new bodies as a man changes worn-out raiment for new; and what is there in this to grieve at and recoil and shrink? This is not born, nor does it die, nor is it a thing that comes into being once and passing away will never come into being again. It is unborn, ancient, sempiternal; it is not slain with the slaying of the body. Who can slay the immortal spirit? Weapons cannot cleave it, nor the fire burn, nor do the waters drench it, nor the wind dry. Eternally stable, immobile, all-pervading, it is for ever and for ever. Not manifested like the body, but greater than all manifestation, not to be analysed by the thought, but greater than all mind, not capable of change and modification like the life and its organs and their objects, but beyond the changes of mind and life and body, it is yet the Reality which all these strive to figure.” Essays on the Gita
The seeds of the old relations, their impressions, their memories remain suppressed in the subconscient and rise up whenever they can. It is only when these seeds arc pulled out and disappear
Theseus "language" A language based on {Euclid}, never implemented. ["Theseus - A Programming Language for Relational Databases", J.E. Shopiro, ACM Trans Database Sys 4(4):493-517, Mar 1979]. (1994-12-14)
::: "The silent mind is a result of yoga; the ordinary mind is never silent. . . . The thinkers and philosophers do not have the silent mind. It is the active mind they have; only, of course, they concentrate, so the common incoherent mentalising stops and the thoughts that rise or enter and shape themselves are coherently restricted to the subject or activity in hand. But that is quite a different matter from the whole mind falling silent.” Letters on Yoga
“The silent mind is a result of yoga; the ordinary mind is never silent. . . . The thinkers and philosophers do not have the silent mind. It is the active mind they have; only, of course, they concentrate, so the common incoherent mentalising stops and the thoughts that rise or enter and shape themselves are coherently restricted to the subject or activity in hand. But that is quite a different matter from the whole mind falling silent.” Letters on Yoga
"The spiritual destiny always stands — it may be delayed or seem to be lost for a time, but it is never abolished.” Letters on Yoga
“The spiritual destiny always stands—it may be delayed or seem to be lost for a time, but it is never abolished.” Letters on Yoga
The story of Mel, a Real Programmer "programming, person" A 1983 article by Ed Nather about {hacker} {Mel Kaye}. The full text follows. A recent article devoted to the macho side of programming made the bald and unvarnished statement, "Real Programmers write in FORTRAN". Maybe they do now, in this decadent era of Lite beer, hand calculators and "user-friendly" software but back in the Good Old Days, when the term "software" sounded funny and Real Computers were made out of {drums} and {vacuum tubes}, Real Programmers wrote in {machine code} - not {Fortran}, not {RATFOR}, not even {assembly language} - {Machine Code}, raw, unadorned, inscrutable {hexadecimal} numbers, directly. Lest a whole new generation of programmers grow up in ignorance of this glorious past, I feel duty-bound to describe, as best I can through the generation gap, how a Real Programmer wrote code. I'll call him Mel, because that was his name. I first met Mel when I went to work for {Royal McBee Computer Corporation}, a now-defunct subsidiary of the typewriter company. The firm manufactured the {LGP-30}, a small, cheap (by the standards of the day) {drum}-memory computer, and had just started to manufacture the RPC-4000, a much-improved, bigger, better, faster -- drum-memory computer. Cores cost too much, and weren't here to stay, anyway. (That's why you haven't heard of the company, or the computer.) I had been hired to write a {Fortran} compiler for this new marvel and Mel was my guide to its wonders. Mel didn't approve of compilers. "If a program can't rewrite its own code," he asked, "what good is it?" Mel had written, in {hexadecimal}, the most popular computer program the company owned. It ran on the {LGP-30} and played blackjack with potential customers at computer shows. Its effect was always dramatic. The LGP-30 booth was packed at every show, and the IBM salesmen stood around talking to each other. Whether or not this actually sold computers was a question we never discussed. Mel's job was to re-write the blackjack program for the {RPC-4000}. ({Port}? What does that mean?) The new computer had a one-plus-one addressing scheme, in which each machine instruction, in addition to the {operation code} and the address of the needed {operand}, had a second address that indicated where, on the revolving drum, the next instruction was located. In modern parlance, every single instruction was followed by a {GO TO}! Put *that* in {Pascal}'s pipe and smoke it. Mel loved the RPC-4000 because he could optimize his code: that is, locate instructions on the drum so that just as one finished its job, the next would be just arriving at the "read head" and available for immediate execution. There was a program to do that job, an "optimizing assembler", but Mel refused to use it. "You never know where its going to put things", he explained, "so you'd have to use separate constants". It was a long time before I understood that remark. Since Mel knew the numerical value of every operation code, and assigned his own drum addresses, every instruction he wrote could also be considered a numerical constant. He could pick up an earlier "add" instruction, say, and multiply by it, if it had the right numeric value. His code was not easy for someone else to modify. I compared Mel's hand-optimised programs with the same code massaged by the optimizing assembler program, and Mel's always ran faster. That was because the "{top-down}" method of program design hadn't been invented yet, and Mel wouldn't have used it anyway. He wrote the innermost parts of his program loops first, so they would get first choice of the optimum address locations on the drum. The optimizing assembler wasn't smart enough to do it that way. Mel never wrote time-delay loops, either, even when the balky {Flexowriter} required a delay between output characters to work right. He just located instructions on the drum so each successive one was just *past* the read head when it was needed; the drum had to execute another complete revolution to find the next instruction. He coined an unforgettable term for this procedure. Although "optimum" is an absolute term, like "unique", it became common verbal practice to make it relative: "not quite optimum" or "less optimum" or "not very optimum". Mel called the maximum time-delay locations the "most pessimum". After he finished the blackjack program and got it to run, ("Even the initialiser is optimised", he said proudly) he got a Change Request from the sales department. The program used an elegant (optimised) {random number generator} to shuffle the "cards" and deal from the "deck", and some of the salesmen felt it was too fair, since sometimes the customers lost. They wanted Mel to modify the program so, at the setting of a sense switch on the console, they could change the odds and let the customer win. Mel balked. He felt this was patently dishonest, which it was, and that it impinged on his personal integrity as a programmer, which it did, so he refused to do it. The Head Salesman talked to Mel, as did the Big Boss and, at the boss's urging, a few Fellow Programmers. Mel finally gave in and wrote the code, but he got the test backward, and, when the sense switch was turned on, the program would cheat, winning every time. Mel was delighted with this, claiming his subconscious was uncontrollably ethical, and adamantly refused to fix it. After Mel had left the company for greener pa$ture$, the Big Boss asked me to look at the code and see if I could find the test and reverse it. Somewhat reluctantly, I agreed to look. Tracking Mel's code was a real adventure. I have often felt that programming is an art form, whose real value can only be appreciated by another versed in the same arcane art; there are lovely gems and brilliant coups hidden from human view and admiration, sometimes forever, by the very nature of the process. You can learn a lot about an individual just by reading through his code, even in hexadecimal. Mel was, I think, an unsung genius. Perhaps my greatest shock came when I found an innocent loop that had no test in it. No test. *None*. Common sense said it had to be a closed loop, where the program would circle, forever, endlessly. Program control passed right through it, however, and safely out the other side. It took me two weeks to figure it out. The RPC-4000 computer had a really modern facility called an {index register}. It allowed the programmer to write a program loop that used an indexed instruction inside; each time through, the number in the index register was added to the address of that instruction, so it would refer to the next datum in a series. He had only to increment the index register each time through. Mel never used it. Instead, he would pull the instruction into a machine register, add one to its address, and store it back. He would then execute the modified instruction right from the register. The loop was written so this additional execution time was taken into account -- just as this instruction finished, the next one was right under the drum's read head, ready to go. But the loop had no test in it. The vital clue came when I noticed the index register bit, the bit that lay between the address and the operation code in the instruction word, was turned on-- yet Mel never used the index register, leaving it zero all the time. When the light went on it nearly blinded me. He had located the data he was working on near the top of memory -- the largest locations the instructions could address -- so, after the last datum was handled, incrementing the instruction address would make it overflow. The carry would add one to the operation code, changing it to the next one in the instruction set: a jump instruction. Sure enough, the next program instruction was in address location zero, and the program went happily on its way. I haven't kept in touch with Mel, so I don't know if he ever gave in to the flood of change that has washed over programming techniques since those long-gone days. I like to think he didn't. In any event, I was impressed enough that I quit looking for the offending test, telling the Big Boss I couldn't find it. He didn't seem surprised. When I left the company, the blackjack program would still cheat if you turned on the right sense switch, and I think that's how it should be. I didn't feel comfortable hacking up the code of a Real Programmer." [Posted to {Usenet} by its author, Ed Nather "utastro!nather", on 1983-05-21]. {Jargon File (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/story-of-mel.html)}. [{On the trail of a Real Programmer (http://www.jamtronix.com/blog/2011/03/25/on-the-trail-of-a-real-programmer/)}, 2011-03-25 blog post by "jonno" at Jamtronix] [When did it happen? Did Mel use hexadecimal or octal?] (2003-09-12)
The subconscient is a thing of habits and memories and repeals persistently or whenever it can old repressed reactions, reflexes, mental, vital or physical responses. It must be trained by a still more persistent insistence of the higher parts of the being to give up its old responses and take on the new. and true ones.
“The subconscient is a thing of habits and memories and repeats persistently or whenever it can old suppressed reactions, reflexes, mental, vital or physical responses. It must be trained by a still more persistent insistence of the higher parts of the being to give up its old responses and take on the new and true ones.” Letters on Yoga
they ::: obj. --> The plural of he, she, or it. They is never used adjectively, but always as a pronoun proper, and sometimes refers to persons without an antecedent expressed.
thin client "networking" A simple {client} program or hardware device which relies on most of the function of the system being in the {server}. {Gopher} clients, for example, are very thin; they are {stateless} and are not required to know how to interpret and display objects much more complex than menus and plain text. Gopher servers, on the other hand, can search {databases} and provide {gateways} to other services. By the mid-1990s, the model of decentralised computing where each user has his own full-featured and independent {microcomputer}, seemed to have displaced a centralised model in which multiple users use thin clients (e.g. {dumb terminals}) to work on a shared {minicomputer} or {mainframe} server. Networked {personal computers} typically operate as "fat clients", often providing everything except some file storage and printing locally. By 1996, reintroduction of thin clients is being proposed, especially for {LAN}-type environments (see the {cycle of reincarnation}). The main expected benefit of this is ease of maintenance: with fat clients, especially those suffering from the poor networking support of {Microsoft} {operating systems}, installing a new application for everyone is likely to mean having to physically go to every user's workstation to install the application, or having to modify client-side configuration options; whereas with thin clients the maintenance tasks are centralised on the server and so need only be done once. Also, by virtue of their simplicity, thin clients generally have fewer hardware demands, and are less open to being screwed up by ambitious {lusers}. Never one to miss a bandwagon, Microsoft bought up {Insignia Solutions, Inc.}'s "{NTRIGUE}" Windows remote-access product and combined it with {Windows NT} version 4 to allow thin clients (either hardware or software) to communicate with applications running under on a server machine under {Windows Terminal Server} in the same way as {X} had done for {Unix} decades before. (1999-02-01)
.. this being we are is or can be whatever it has the faith and will to be – for faith is only will aiming at a higher truth – and cease to set limits to our possibility… - Sri Aurobindo ::: .Falsehood ::: Falsehood, on the other hand, is not this Avidya, but an extreme result of it. It is created by an Asuric power which intervenes in this creation and is not only separated from the Truth and th
refore limited in knowledge and open to error, but in revolt against the Truth or in the habit of seizing the Truth only to pervert it. This Power, the dark Asuric Shakti or Rakshasic Maya, puts forward its own perverted consciousness as true knowledge and its wilful distortions or reversals of the Truth as the verity of things. It is the powers and personalities of this perverted and perverting consciousness that we call hostile beings, hostile forces. Whenever these perversions created by them out of the stuff of the Ignorance are put forward as the truth of things, that is the Falsehood, in the Yogic sense, mithya, moha.
Ref: CWSA Vol. 35, Page: 103
This process is facilitated by the choice of prerogative, or, if possible, of solitary instances in which the investigated data are comparatively isolated and unadulterated. But under the most favorable conditions inquiry must be a cautious, laborious, plodding, step by step affair, and results can never be more than provisional because of the possibility of undiscovered negative instances.
This time, for sure! "exclamation" Ritual affirmation frequently uttered during protracted {debugging} sessions involving numerous small obstacles (e.g. attempts to bring up a {UUCP} connection). For the proper effect, this must be uttered in a fruity imitation of Bullwinkle J. Moose. Also heard: "Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!" The {canonical} response is, of course, "But that trick *never* works!" See {hacker humour}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-09-27)
though ::: conj. --> Granting, admitting, or supposing that; notwithstanding that; if. ::: adv. --> However; nevertheless; notwithstanding; -- used in familiar language, and in the middle or at the end of a sentence.
Though fragments of the absolute experience, our minds somehow remain separate selves and persons. Though infinite and all-comprehensive in extent, and reviewing ad infinitum its own infinity in knowing that it knows that it knows, the Absolute is nevertheless a finished and closed whole. Though shot through and through with error and evil and sin and suffering, the Absolute is nevertheless perfect, and perfect because of them, since struggle with them and triumph over them is of the essence of its perfection. Though a temporal process, it is nevertheless overarches that process in a single act of comprehension in which past, present, and future are grasped, even as the successive notes of a musical phrase are grasped, as an eternally present completed fact.
Three senses of "Ockhamism" may be distinguished: Logical, indicating usage of the terminology and technique of logical analysis developed by Ockham in his Summa totius logicae; in particular, use of the concept of supposition (suppositio) in the significative analysis of terms. Epistemological, indicating the thesis that universality is attributable only to terms and propositions, and not to things as existing apart from discourse. Theological, indicating the thesis that no tneological doctrines, such as those of God's existence or of the immortality of the soul, are evident or demonstrable philosophically, so that religious doctrine rests solely on faith, without metaphysical or scientific support. It is in this sense that Luther is often called an Ockhamist. Bibliography: B. Geyer, Ueberwegs Grundriss d. Gesch. d. Phil., Bd. II (11th ed., Berlin 1928), pp. 571-612 and 781-786; N. Abbagnano, Guglielmo di Ockham (Lanciano, Italy, 1931); E. A. Moody, The Logic of William of Ockham (N. Y. & London, 1935); F. Ehrle, Peter von Candia (Muenster, 1925); G. Ritter, Studien zur Spaetscholastik, I-II (Heidelberg, 1921-1922). --E.A.M. Om, aum: (Skr.) Mystic, holy syllable as a symbol for the indefinable Absolute. See Aksara, Vac, Sabda. --K.F.L. Omniscience: In philosophy and theology it means the complete and perfect knowledge of God, of Himself and of all other beings, past, present, and future, or merely possible, as well as all their activities, real or possible, including the future free actions of human beings. --J.J.R. One: Philosophically, not a number but equivalent to unit, unity, individuality, in contradistinction from multiplicity and the mani-foldness of sensory experience. In metaphysics, the Supreme Idea (Plato), the absolute first principle (Neo-platonism), the universe (Parmenides), Being as such and divine in nature (Plotinus), God (Nicolaus Cusanus), the soul (Lotze). Religious philosophy and mysticism, beginning with Indian philosophy (s.v.), has favored the designation of the One for the metaphysical world-ground, the ultimate icility, the world-soul, the principle of the world conceived as reason, nous, or more personally. The One may be conceived as an independent whole or as a sum, as analytic or synthetic, as principle or ontologically. Except by mysticism, it is rarely declared a fact of sensory experience, while its transcendent or transcendental, abstract nature is stressed, e.g., in epistemology where the "I" or self is considered the unitary background of personal experience, the identity of self-consciousness, or the unity of consciousness in the synthesis of the manifoldness of ideas (Kant). --K.F.L. One-one: A relation R is one-many if for every y in the converse domain there is a unique x such that xRy. A relation R is many-one if for every x in the domain there is a unique y such that xRy. (See the article relation.) A relation is one-one, or one-to-one, if it is at the same time one-many and many-one. A one-one relation is said to be, or to determine, a one-to-one correspondence between its domain and its converse domain. --A.C. On-handedness: (Ger. Vorhandenheit) Things exist in the mode of thereness, lying- passively in a neutral space. A "deficient" form of a more basic relationship, termed at-handedness (Zuhandenheit). (Heidegger.) --H.H. Ontological argument: Name by which later authors, especially Kant, designate the alleged proof for God's existence devised by Anselm of Canterbury. Under the name of God, so the argument runs, everyone understands that greater than which nothing can be thought. Since anything being the greatest and lacking existence is less then the greatest having also existence, the former is not really the greater. The greatest, therefore, has to exist. Anselm has been reproached, already by his contemporary Gaunilo, for unduly passing from the field of logical to the field of ontological or existential reasoning. This criticism has been repeated by many authors, among them Aquinas. The argument has, however, been used, if in a somewhat modified form, by Duns Scotus, Descartes, and Leibniz. --R.A. Ontological Object: (Gr. onta, existing things + logos, science) The real or existing object of an act of knowledge as distinguished from the epistemological object. See Epistemological Object. --L.W. Ontologism: (Gr. on, being) In contrast to psychologism, is called any speculative system which starts philosophizing by positing absolute being, or deriving the existence of entities independently of experience merely on the basis of their being thought, or assuming that we have immediate and certain knowledge of the ground of being or God. Generally speaking any rationalistic, a priori metaphysical doctrine, specifically the philosophies of Rosmini-Serbati and Vincenzo Gioberti. As a philosophic method censored by skeptics and criticists alike, as a scholastic doctrine formerly strongly supported, revived in Italy and Belgium in the 19th century, but no longer countenanced. --K.F.L. Ontology: (Gr. on, being + logos, logic) The theory of being qua being. For Aristotle, the First Philosophy, the science of the essence of things. Introduced as a term into philosophy by Wolff. The science of fundamental principles, the doctrine of the categories. Ultimate philosophy; rational cosmology. Syn. with metaphysics. See Cosmology, First Principles, Metaphysics, Theology. --J.K.F. Operation: "(Lit. operari, to work) Any act, mental or physical, constituting a phase of the reflective process, and performed with a view to acquiring1 knowledge or information about a certain subject-nntter. --A.C.B. In logic, see Operationism. In philosophy of science, see Pragmatism, Scientific Empiricism. Operationism: The doctrine that the meaning of a concept is given by a set of operations. 1. The operational meaning of a term (word or symbol) is given by a semantical rule relating the term to some concrete process, object or event, or to a class of such processes, objectj or events. 2. Sentences formed by combining operationally defined terms into propositions are operationally meaningful when the assertions are testable by means of performable operations. Thus, under operational rules, terms have semantical significance, propositions have empirical significance. Operationism makes explicit the distinction between formal (q.v.) and empirical sentences. Formal propositions are signs arranged according to syntactical rules but lacking operational reference. Such propositions, common in mathematics, logic and syntax, derive their sanction from convention, whereas an empirical proposition is acceptable (1) when its structure obeys syntactical rules and (2) when there exists a concrete procedure (a set of operations) for determining its truth or falsity (cf. Verification). Propositions purporting to be empirical are sometimes amenable to no operational test because they contain terms obeying no definite semantical rules. These sentences are sometimes called pseudo-propositions and are said to be operationally meaningless. They may, however, be 'meaningful" in other ways, e.g. emotionally or aesthetically (cf. Meaning). Unlike a formal statement, the "truth" of an empirical sentence is never absolute and its operational confirmation serves only to increase the degree of its validity. Similarly, the semantical rule comprising the operational definition of a term has never absolute precision. Ordinarily a term denotes a class of operations and the precision of its definition depends upon how definite are the rules governing inclusion in the class. The difference between Operationism and Logical Positivism (q.v.) is one of emphasis. Operationism's stress of empirical matters derives from the fact that it was first employed to purge physics of such concepts as absolute space and absolute time, when the theory of relativity had forced upon physicists the view that space and time are most profitably defined in terms of the operations by which they are measured. Although different methods of measuring length at first give rise to different concepts of length, wherever the equivalence of certain of these measures can be established by other operations, the concepts may legitimately be combined. In psychology the operational criterion of meaningfulness is commonly associated with a behavioristic point of view. See Behaviorism. Since only those propositions which are testable by public and repeatable operations are admissible in science, the definition of such concepti as mind and sensation must rest upon observable aspects of the organism or its behavior. Operational psychology deals with experience only as it is indicated by the operation of differential behavior, including verbal report. Discriminations, or the concrete differential reactions of organisms to internal or external environmental states, are by some authors regarded as the most basic of all operations. For a discussion of the role of operational definition in phvsics. see P. W. Bridgman, The Logic of Modern Physics, (New York, 1928) and The Nature of Physical Theory (Princeton, 1936). "The extension of operationism to psychology is discussed by C. C. Pratt in The Logic of Modem Psychology (New York. 1939.) For a discussion and annotated bibliography relating to Operationism and Logical Positivism, see S. S. Stevens, Psychology and the Science of Science, Psychol. Bull., 36, 1939, 221-263. --S.S.S. Ophelimity: Noun derived from the Greek, ophelimos useful, employed by Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) in economics as the equivalent of utility, or the capacity to provide satisfaction. --J.J.R. Opinion: (Lat. opinio, from opinor, to think) An hypothesis or proposition entertained on rational grounds but concerning which doubt can reasonably exist. A belief. See Hypothesis, Certainty, Knowledge. --J.K.F- Opposition: (Lat. oppositus, pp. of oppono, to oppose) Positive actual contradiction. One of Aristotle's Post-predicaments. In logic any contrariety or contradiction, illustrated by the "Square of Opposition". Syn. with: conflict. See Logic, formal, § 4. --J.K.F. Optimism: (Lat. optimus, the best) The view inspired by wishful thinking, success, faith, or philosophic reflection, that the world as it exists is not so bad or even the best possible, life is good, and man's destiny is bright. Philosophically most persuasively propounded by Leibniz in his Theodicee, according to which God in his wisdom would have created a better world had he known or willed such a one to exist. Not even he could remove moral wrong and evil unless he destroyed the power of self-determination and hence the basis of morality. All systems of ethics that recognize a supreme good (Plato and many idealists), subscribe to the doctrines of progressivism (Turgot, Herder, Comte, and others), regard evil as a fragmentary view (Josiah Royce et al.) or illusory, or believe in indemnification (Henry David Thoreau) or melioration (Emerson), are inclined optimistically. Practically all theologies advocating a plan of creation and salvation, are optimistic though they make the good or the better dependent on moral effort, right thinking, or belief, promising it in a future existence. Metaphysical speculation is optimistic if it provides for perfection, evolution to something higher, more valuable, or makes room for harmonies or a teleology. See Pessimism. --K.F.L. Order: A class is said to be partially ordered by a dyadic relation R if it coincides with the field of R, and R is transitive and reflexive, and xRy and yRx never both hold when x and y are different. If in addition R is connected, the class is said to be ordered (or simply ordered) by R, and R is called an ordering relation. Whitehcid and Russell apply the term serial relation to relations which are transitive, irreflexive, and connected (and, in consequence, also asymmetric). However, the use of serial relations in this sense, instead ordering relations as just defined, is awkward in connection with the notion of order for unit classes. Examples: The relation not greater than among leal numbers is an ordering relation. The relation less than among real numbers is a serial relation. The real numbers are simply ordered by the former relation. In the algebra of classes (logic formal, § 7), the classes are partially ordered by the relation of class inclusion. For explanation of the terminology used in making the above definitions, see the articles connexity, reflexivity, relation, symmetry, transitivity. --A.C. Order type: See relation-number. Ordinal number: A class b is well-ordered by a dyadic relation R if it is ordered by R (see order) and, for every class a such that a ⊂ b, there is a member x of a, such that xRy holds for every member y of a; and R is then called a well-ordering relation. The ordinal number of a class b well-ordered by a relation R, or of a well-ordering relation R, is defined to be the relation-number (q. v.) of R. The ordinal numbers of finite classes (well-ordered by appropriate relations) are called finite ordinal numbers. These are 0, 1, 2, ... (to be distinguished, of course, from the finite cardinal numbers 0, 1, 2, . . .). The first non-finite (transfinite or infinite) ordinal number is the ordinal number of the class of finite ordinal numbers, well-ordered in their natural order, 0, 1, 2, . . .; it is usually denoted by the small Greek letter omega. --A.C. G. Cantor, Contributions to the Founding of the Theory of Transfinite Numbers, translated and with an introduction by P. E. B. Jourdain, Chicago and London, 1915. (new ed. 1941); Whitehead and Russell, Princtpia Mathematica. vol. 3. Orexis: (Gr. orexis) Striving; desire; the conative aspect of mind, as distinguished from the cognitive and emotional (Aristotle). --G.R.M.. Organicism: A theory of biology that life consists in the organization or dynamic system of the organism. Opposed to mechanism and vitalism. --J.K.F. Organism: An individual animal or plant, biologically interpreted. A. N. Whitehead uses the term to include also physical bodies and to signify anything material spreading through space and enduring in time. --R.B.W. Organismic Psychology: (Lat. organum, from Gr. organon, an instrument) A system of theoretical psychology which construes the structure of the mind in organic rather than atomistic terms. See Gestalt Psychology; Psychological Atomism. --L.W. Organization: (Lat. organum, from Gr. organon, work) A structured whole. The systematic unity of parts in a purposive whole. A dynamic system. Order in something actual. --J.K.F. Organon: (Gr. organon) The title traditionally given to the body of Aristotle's logical treatises. The designation appears to have originated among the Peripatetics after Aristotle's time, and expresses their view that logic is not a part of philosophy (as the Stoics maintained) but rather the instrument (organon) of philosophical inquiry. See Aristotelianism. --G.R.M. In Kant. A system of principles by which pure knowledge may be acquired and established. Cf. Fr. Bacon's Novum Organum. --O.F.K. Oriental Philosophy: A general designation used loosely to cover philosophic tradition exclusive of that grown on Greek soil and including the beginnings of philosophical speculation in Egypt, Arabia, Iran, India, and China, the elaborate systems of India, Greater India, China, and Japan, and sometimes also the religion-bound thought of all these countries with that of the complex cultures of Asia Minor, extending far into antiquity. Oriental philosophy, though by no means presenting a homogeneous picture, nevertheless shares one characteristic, i.e., the practical outlook on life (ethics linked with metaphysics) and the absence of clear-cut distinctions between pure speculation and religious motivation, and on lower levels between folklore, folk-etymology, practical wisdom, pre-scientiiic speculation, even magic, and flashes of philosophic insight. Bonds with Western, particularly Greek philosophy have no doubt existed even in ancient times. Mutual influences have often been conjectured on the basis of striking similarities, but their scientific establishment is often difficult or even impossible. Comparative philosophy (see especially the work of Masson-Oursel) provides a useful method. Yet a thorough treatment of Oriental Philosophy is possible only when the many languages in which it is deposited have been more thoroughly studied, the psychological and historical elements involved in the various cultures better investigated, and translations of the relevant documents prepared not merely from a philological point of view or out of missionary zeal, but by competent philosophers who also have some linguistic training. Much has been accomplished in this direction in Indian and Chinese Philosophy (q.v.). A great deal remains to be done however before a definitive history of Oriental Philosophy may be written. See also Arabian, and Persian Philosophy. --K.F.L. Origen: (185-254) The principal founder of Christian theology who tried to enrich the ecclesiastic thought of his day by reconciling it with the treasures of Greek philosophy. Cf. Migne PL. --R.B.W. Ormazd: (New Persian) Same as Ahura Mazdah (q.v.), the good principle in Zoroastrianism, and opposed to Ahriman (q.v.). --K.F.L. Orphic Literature: The mystic writings, extant only in fragments, of a Greek religious-philosophical movement of the 6th century B.C., allegedly started by the mythical Orpheus. In their mysteries, in which mythology and rational thinking mingled, the Orphics concerned themselves with cosmogony, theogony, man's original creation and his destiny after death which they sought to influence to the better by pure living and austerity. They taught a symbolism in which, e.g., the relationship of the One to the many was clearly enunciated, and believed in the soul as involved in reincarnation. Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Plato were influenced by them. --K.F.L. Ortega y Gasset, Jose: Born in Madrid, May 9, 1883. At present in Buenos Aires, Argentine. Son of Ortega y Munillo, the famous Spanish journalist. Studied at the College of Jesuits in Miraflores and at the Central University of Madrid. In the latter he presented his Doctor's dissertation, El Milenario, in 1904, thereby obtaining his Ph.D. degree. After studies in Leipzig, Berlin, Marburg, under the special influence of Hermann Cohen, the great exponent of Kant, who taught him the love for the scientific method and awoke in him the interest in educational philosophy, Ortega came to Spain where, after the death of Nicolas Salmeron, he occupied the professorship of metaphysics at the Central University of Madrid. The following may be considered the most important works of Ortega y Gasset: Meditaciones del Quijote, 1914; El Espectador, I-VIII, 1916-1935; El Tema de Nuestro Tiempo, 1921; España Invertebrada, 1922; Kant, 1924; La Deshumanizacion del Arte, 1925; Espiritu de la Letra, 1927; La Rebelion de las Masas, 1929; Goethe desde Adentio, 1934; Estudios sobre el Amor, 1939; Ensimismamiento y Alteracion, 1939; El Libro de las Misiones, 1940; Ideas y Creencias, 1940; and others. Although brought up in the Marburg school of thought, Ortega is not exactly a neo-Kantian. At the basis of his Weltanschauung one finds a denial of the fundamental presuppositions which characterized European Rationalism. It is life and not thought which is primary. Things have a sense and a value which must be affirmed independently. Things, however, are to be conceived as the totality of situations which constitute the circumstances of a man's life. Hence, Ortega's first philosophical principle: "I am myself plus my circumstances". Life as a problem, however, is but one of the poles of his formula. Reason is the other. The two together function, not by dialectical opposition, but by necessary coexistence. Life, according to Ortega, does not consist in being, but rather, in coming to be, and as such it is of the nature of direction, program building, purpose to be achieved, value to be realized. In this sense the future as a time dimension acquires new dignity, and even the present and the past become articulate and meaning-full only in relation to the future. Even History demands a new point of departure and becomes militant with new visions. --J.A.F. Orthodoxy: Beliefs which are declared by a group to be true and normative. Heresy is a departure from and relative to a given orthodoxy. --V.S. Orthos Logos: See Right Reason. Ostensible Object: (Lat. ostendere, to show) The object envisaged by cognitive act irrespective of its actual existence. See Epistemological Object. --L.W. Ostensive: (Lat. ostendere, to show) Property of a concept or predicate by virtue of which it refers to and is clarified by reference to its instances. --A.C.B. Ostwald, Wilhelm: (1853-1932) German chemist. Winner of the Nobel prize for chemistry in 1909. In Die Uberwindung des wissenschaftlichen Materialistmus and in Naturphilosophie, his two best known works in the field of philosophy, he advocates a dynamic theory in opposition to materialism and mechanism. All properties of matter, and the psychic as well, are special forms of energy. --L.E.D. Oupnekhat: Anquetil Duperron's Latin translation of the Persian translation of 50 Upanishads (q.v.), a work praised by Schopenhauer as giving him complete consolation. --K.F.L. Outness: A term employed by Berkeley to express the experience of externality, that is the ideas of space and things placed at a distance. Hume used it in the sense of distance Hamilton understood it as the state of being outside of consciousness in a really existing world of material things. --J.J.R. Overindividual: Term used by H. Münsterberg to translate the German überindividuell. The term is applied to any cognitive or value object which transcends the individual subject. --L.W. P
tick-list features ({Acorn Computers}) Features in software or hardware that customers insist on but never use (calculators in desktop TSRs and that sort of thing). The American equivalent would be "checklist features", but this jargon sense of the phrase has not been reported. (1995-01-06)
Tim Berners-Lee "person" (Sir -) The man who invented the {web} while working at the {Center for European Particle Research} (CERN). He is Director of the {World Wide Web Consortium}. Tim Berners-Lee graduated from the Queen's College at Oxford University, England, 1976. Whilst there he built his first computer with a soldering iron, {TTL} gates, an {M6800} processor and an old television. He then went on to work for {Plessey Telecommunications}, and D.G. Nash Ltd (where he wrote software for intelligent printers and a {multi-tasking} {operating system}), before joining CERN, where he designed a program called 'Enquire', which was never published, but formed the conceptual basis for today's {web}. In 1984, he took up a fellowship at CERN, and in 1989, he wrote the first {web server}, "{httpd}", and the first client, "WorldWideWeb" a {hypertext} browser/editor which ran under {NEXTSTEP}. The program "WorldWideWeb" was first made available within CERN in December, and on the {Internet} as a whole in the summer of 1991. In 1994, Tim joined the {Laboratory for Computer Science} (LCS) at the {Massachusetts Institute of Technology} (MIT). In 1999, he became the first holder of the {3Com} Founders chair. He is also the author of "Weaving the Web", on the past present and future of the Web. In 2001, Tim was made a fellow of The Royal Society. Tim is married to Nancy Carlson. They have two children, born 1991 and 1994. {(http://w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Longer.html)}. (2001-06-17)
token 1. "grammar" A basic, grammatically indivisible unit of a language such as a {keyword}, operator or identifier. Compare: {lexeme}. 2. "convention" (Or "{pumpkin}") An abstract concept passed between cooperating agents to ensure synchronised access to a shared resource. Such a token is never duplicated or destroyed (unless the resource is) and whoever has the token has exclusive access to the resource it controls. See for example {token ring}. If several programmers are working on a program, one programmer will "have the token" at any time, meaning that only he can change the program whereas others can only read it. If someone else wants to modify it he must first obtain the token. (1999-02-23)
to reverse the doing of; cause to be as if never done. undoing.
to the psychic. The psychic never feels a sadness from disap- pointed desire, because that is not in its nature ; the sorrow it sometimes feels is when it sees the Divine rejected or the mental, vital, physical in man or in nature turning away from the Truth to follow perversion, darkness or ignorance.
Traditionalism: In French philosophy of the early nineteenth century, the doctrine that the truth -- particularly religious truth -- is never discovered by an individual but is only to be found in "tradition". It was revealed in potentia at a single moment by God and has been developing steadily through history. Since truth is an attribute of ideas, the traditionalist holds that ideas are super-individual. They are the property of society and are found embedded in language which was revealed to primitive man bv God at the creation. The main traditionalists were Joseph de Maistre, the Vicomte de Bonald, and Bonetty. -- G.B.
transformation ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Transformation means that the higher consciousness or nature is brought down into the mind, vital and body and takes the place of the lower. There is a higher consciousness of the true self, which is spiritual, but it is above; if one rises above into it, then one is free as long as one remains there, but if one comes down into or uses mind, vital or body — and if one keeps any connection with life, one has to do so, either to come down and act from the ordinary consciousness or else to be in the self but use mind, life and body, then the imperfections of these instruments have to be faced and mended — they can only be mended by transformation.” *Letters on Yoga
"‘Transformation" is a word that I have brought in myself (like ‘supermind") to express certain spiritual concepts and spiritual facts of the integral yoga. People are now taking them up and using them in senses which have nothing to do with the significance which I put into them. Purification of the nature by the ‘influence" of the Spirit is not what I mean by transformation; purification is only part of a psychic change or a psycho-spiritual change — the word besides has many senses and is very often given a moral or ethical meaning which is foreign to my purpose.” *Letters on Yoga
"It is indeed as a result of our evolution that we arrive at the possibility of this transformation. As Nature has evolved beyond Matter and manifested Life, beyond Life and manifested Mind, so she must evolve beyond Mind and manifest a consciousness and power of our existence free from the imperfection and limitation of our mental existence, a supramental or truth-consciousness and able to develop the power and perfection of the spirit. Here a slow and tardy change need no longer be the law or manner of our evolution; it will be only so to a greater or less extent so long as a mental ignorance clings and hampers our ascent; but once we have grown into the truth-consciousness its power of spiritual truth of being will determine all. Into that truth we shall be freed and it will transform mind and life and body. Light and bliss and beauty and a perfection of the spontaneous right action of all the being are there as native powers of the supramental truth-consciousness and these will in their very nature transform mind and life and body even here upon earth into a manifestation of the truth-conscious spirit. The obscurations of earth will not prevail against the supramental truth-consciousness, for even into the earth it can bring enough of the omniscient light and omnipotent force of the spirit conquer. All may not open to the fullness of its light and power, but whatever does open must that extent undergo the change. That will be the principle of transformation.” The Supramental Manifestation
The Mother: "Transformation. The change by which all the elements and all the movements of the being become ready to manifest the supramental Truth.”
"One thing you must know and never forget: in the work of transformation all that is true and sincere will always be kept; only what is false and insincere will disappear.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15.
Transitivity: A dyadic relation R is transitive if, whenever xRy and yRz both hold, xRz also holds. Important examples of transitive relations are the relation of identity or equality; the relation less than among whole numbers, or among rational numbers, or among real numbers, the relation precedes among instants of time (as usually taken); the relation of class inclusion, ⊂ (see logic, formal, §7); the relations of material implication and material equivalence among propositions, the relations of formal implication and formal equivalence among monadic propositional functions. In the propositional calculus, the laws of transitivity of material implication and material equivalence (the conditional and biconditional) are: [p ⊃ q][q ⊃ r] ⊃ [p ⊃ r] [p ≡ q][q ≡ r] ⊃ [p ≡ r] Similar laws of transitivity may be formulated for equality (e.g., in the functional calculus of first order with equality), class inclusion (e.g., in the Zermelo set theory), formal implication (e.g., in the pure functional calculus of first order), etc. -- A.C.
Transpathy: (Lat. trans, across + pathos, feeling) As distinct from sympathy is feeling engendered by 'contigion'. In sympathy the function of 'after-experiencing' is so interwoven with true sympathy that in experienced separation of the two never occurs. In the case of transpathy, the two functions are distinctly separated from eich other in experience. Transpathy takes place between emotional states, presupposes no knowledge of the other's joy or sorrow. One detects afterwards that an emotion which one finds in oneself derives from 'contagion', which took place in an earlier gathering. See Sympathy. -- H.H.
troff "text, tool" /T'rof/ or /trof/ The grey eminence of {Unix} text processing; a formatting and phototypesetting program, written originally in {PDP-11} {assembly code} and then in barely-structured early {C} by the late Joseph Ossanna, modelled after the earlier {ROFF} which was in turn modelled after {Multics}' {RUNOFF} by Jerome Saltzer (*that* name came from the expression "to run off a copy"). A companion program, {nroff}, formats output for terminals and line printers. In 1979, Brian Kernighan modified troff so that it could drive phototypesetters other than the Graphic Systems CAT. His paper describing that work ("A Typesetter-independent troff", AT&T CSTR
troglodyte "jargon" (Commodore) 1. A hacker who never leaves his cubicle. The term "Gnoll" (from Dungeons & Dragons) is also reported. 2. A curmudgeon attached to an obsolescent computing environment. The combination "ITS troglodyte" was flung around some during the {Usenet} and {e-mail} wringle-wrangle attending the 2.x.x revision of the {Jargon File}; at least one of the people it was intended to describe adopted it with pride. [{Jargon File}] (1995-01-11)
True love seeks for union and self-giving and that is the love one must bring to the Divine. Vital (so-called) love brings only suffering and disappointment ; it does not bring happiness ; it never gets satisfied and, even if it is granted something that it asks for, it is never satisfied with it.
tube 1. "hardware" A {CRT} terminal. Never used in the mainstream sense of TV; real hackers don't watch TV, except for Loony Toons, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Trek Classic, the Simpsons, and the occasional cheesy old swashbuckler movie. 2. "electronics" {electron tube}. 3. "jargon" (IBM) To send a copy of something to someone else's terminal. "Tube me that note." [{Jargon File}] (1996-02-05)
tuple "programming" In {functional languages}, a data object containing two or more components. Also known as a product type or pair, triple, quad, etc. Tuples of different sizes have different types, in contrast to lists where the type is independent of the length. The components of a tuple may be of different types whereas all elements of a list have the same type. Examples of tuples (in {Haskell} notation) are: (1,2), ("Tuple",True), (w,(x,y),z). The degenerate tuple type with zero components, written (), is known as the unit type since it has only one possible value which is also written (). The implementation of tuples in a language may be either "{lifted}" or not. If tuples are lifted then (bottom, bottom) /= bottom (where {bottom} represents non-termination) and the evaluation of a tuple may fail to terminate. E.g. in Haskell: f (x, y) = 1 --" f bottom = bottom f (bottom, bottom) = 1 With lifted tuples, a tuple pattern is refutable. Thus in Haskell, {pattern matching} on tuples is the same as pattern matching on types with multiple constructors ({algebraic data types}) - the expression being matched is evaluated as far as the top level constructor, even though, in the case of tuples, there is only one possible constructor for a given type. If tuples are unlifted then (bottom, bottom) = bottom and evaluation of a tuple will never fail to terminate though any of the components may. E.g. in {Miranda}: f (x, y) = 1 --" f bottom = 1 f (bottom, bottom) = 1 Thus in Miranda, any object whose type is compatible with a tuple pattern is assumed to match at the top level without evaluation - it is an {irrefutable} pattern. This also applies to user defined data types with only one constructor. In Haskell, patterns can be made irrefutable by adding a "~" as in f ~(x, y) = 1. If tuple constructor functions were {strict} in all their arguments then (bottom, x) = (x, bottom) = bottom for any x so matching a refutable pattern would fail to terminate if any component was bottom. (2012-03-25)
TWAIN "graphics, standard" An {image capture} {API} for {Microsoft Windows} and {Apple Macintosh} {operating systems} that enables the user to control a {scanner} or {digital camera} from {image processing} software. TWAIN was first released on 1992-02-29 and is currently ratified at version 2.0 as of 2005-11-28. It is maintained by the TWAIN Working Group. Kevin Bier, chairman-emeritus of the TWAIN Working Group and the one of the original co-author/editors of TWAIN 1.0, chose the name TWAIN after reading letters by Mark Twain. It was unofficially considered to mean "toolkit without an important name." The word "twain" is an archaic form meaning "two". It appears in Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West" - "...and never the twain shall meet...", reflecting the difficulty, at the time, of connecting scanners and personal computers. It was up-cased to TWAIN to make it more distinctive. This led people to believe it was an acronym, and then to a contest to come up with an expansion. None were selected, but the entry "Technology Without An Interesting Name" continues to haunt the standard. {The TWAIN Working Group (http://twain.org/)}. (2000-02-25)
TWENEX "operating system" /twe'neks/ The TOPS-20 {operating system} by {DEC} - the second proprietary OS for the {PDP-10} - preferred by most PDP-10 hackers over TOPS-10 (that is, by those who were not {ITS} or {WAITS} partisans). TOPS-20 began in 1969 as {Bolt, Beranek & Newman}'s {TENEX} operating system using special paging hardware. By the early 1970s, almost all of the systems on the {ARPANET} ran TENEX. DEC purchased the rights to TENEX from BBN and began work to make it their own. The first in-house code name for the operating system was VIROS (VIRtual memory Operating System); when customers started asking questions, the name was changed to SNARK so DEC could truthfully deny that there was any project called VIROS. When the name SNARK became known, the name was briefly reversed to become KRANS; this was quickly abandoned when someone objected that "krans" meant "funeral wreath" in Swedish (though some Swedish speakers have since said it means simply "wreath"; this part of the story may be apocryphal). Ultimately DEC picked TOPS-20 as the name of the operating system, and it was as TOPS-20 that it was marketed. The hacker community, mindful of its origins, quickly dubbed it TWENEX (a contraction of "twenty TENEX"), even though by this point very little of the original TENEX code remained (analogously to the differences between AT&T V6 Unix and BSD). DEC people cringed when they heard "TWENEX", but the term caught on nevertheless (the written abbreviation "20x" was also used). TWENEX was successful and very popular; in fact, there was a period in the early 1980s when it commanded as fervent a culture of partisans as Unix or ITS - but DEC's decision to scrap all the internal rivals to the VAX architecture and its relatively stodgy VMS OS killed the DEC-20 and put a sad end to TWENEX's brief day in the sun. DEC attempted to convince TOPS-20 users to convert to {VMS}, but instead, by the late 1980s, most of the TOPS-20 hackers had migrated to Unix. [{Jargon File}] (1995-04-01)
TYMNET "networking, history" A United States-wide commercial computer network, created by {Tymshare, Inc.} some time before 1970, and used for {remote login} and file transfer. The network public went live in November 1971. In its original implementation, it consisted of fairly simple circuit-oriented {nodes}, whose circuits were created by central network supervisors writing into the appropriate nodes' "permuter tables". The supervisors also performed login validations as well as circuit management. Circuits were character oriented and the network was oriented toward interactive character-by-character {full-duplex} communications circuits. The network had more than one supervisor running, but only one was active, the others being put to sleep with "sleeping pill" messages. If the active supervisor went down, all the others would wake up and battle for control of the network. After the battle, the supervisor with the highest pre-set priority would dominate, and the network would then again be controlled by only one supervisor. (During the takeover battle, the net consisted of subsets of itself across which new circuits could not be built). Existing circuits were not affected by supervisor switches. There was a clever scheme to switch the echoing function between the local node and the host based on whether or not a special character had been typed by the user. Data transfers were also possible via "auxiliary circuits". The Tymshare hosts (which ran customer code) were {SDS 940}, {DEC} {PDP-10}, and eventually {IBM 370} computers. {Xerox} {XDS 940} might have been used if Xerox, who bought the design for the SDS 940 from Scientific Data Systems, had ever built any. The switches were originally {Varian Data Machines} 620i. The {Interdata 8/32} was never used because the performance was disappointing. The TYMNET Engine, based loosely on the Interdata 7/32, was developed instead to replace the Varian 620i. In the early 1990s, newer "Turbo" nodes based on the {Motorola 68000} began to replace the 7/32s. These were later replaced with {SPARCs}. PDP-10s supported (and still do in 1999) cross-platform development and billing. {Tymshare, Inc.} originally wrote and implemented TYMNET to provide nationwide access for their {time-sharing} customers. La Roy Tymes booted up the public TYMNET in November of 1971 and, as of March 2002, it had been running ever since without a single system crash. TYMNET was the largest commercial network in the United States in its heyday, with nodes in every major US city and a few overseas as well. Tymshare acquired a French subsidiary, {SLIGOS}, and had TYMNET nodes in Paris, France. Tymshare sold the TYMNET network software to {TRW}, who created their own private network (which was not called TYMNET). In about 1979, TYMNET Inc. was spun off from Tymshare, Inc. to continue administration and development of the network. TYMNET outlived its parent company Tymshare and was acquired by {MCI}. As of May 1994 they still ran three {DEC KL-10s} under {TYMCOM-X}, although they planned to decommission them soon. The original creators of TYMNET included: Ann Hardy, Norm Hardy, Bill Frantz. La Roy Tymes (who always insisted that his name was NOT the source of the name) wrote the first supervisor which ran on the 940. Joe Rinde made many significant technical and marketing contributions. La Roy wrote most of the code of the network proper. Several others wrote code in support of development and administration. Just recently (1999) La Roy, on contract, wrote a version of the supervisor to run on {SPARC} hardware. The name TYMNET was suggested by Vigril Swearingen in a weekly meeting between Tymshare technical and marketing staff in about 1970. {(http://cap-lore.com/ETH.html)}. [E-mail from La Roy Tymes] (2002-11-26)
unbacked ::: a. --> Never mounted by a rider; unbroken.
Not supported or encouraged; not countenanced; unaided.
unbegotten ::: a. --> Not begot; not yet generated; also, having never been generated; self-existent; eternal.
unceasing ::: never ceasing, incessant, continuous.
UNCOL UNiversal Computer Oriented Language. A universal intermediate language, discussed but never implemented. ["A First Version of UNCOL", T.B. Steel, Proc JCC 19:371-378 (Winter 1961)]. [Sammet 1969, p.708].
unfrequented ::: a. --> Rarely visited; seldom or never resorted to by human beings; as, an unfrequented place or forest.
uniate ::: n. --> A member of the Greek Church, who nevertheless acknowledges the supremacy of the Pope of Rome; one of the United Greeks. Also used adjectively.
Unique ID Listing "messaging" (UIDL) A system used by {POP3} {electronic mail} {servers} to uniquely identify a mail message. Normally, a message is identified by its position in the list of messages but this will change when an earlier message is deleted. The UIDL is a fixed string of characters which is unique to the message. The UIDL of a message never changes and will never be reused, even when the message has been deleted from the user's {mailbox}. {RFC 1725 (http://ds0.internic.net/rfc/rfc1725.txt)}. (1997-04-16)
Unixism "operating system, jargon" A piece of code or a coding technique that depends on the protected {multitasking} environment with relatively low process-spawn overhead that exists on {virtual-memory} {Unix} systems. Common {Unixisms} include: gratuitous use of "{fork}"; the assumption that certain undocumented but well-known features of Unix libraries such as "{stdio}" are supported elsewhere; reliance on obscure side-effects of {system calls} (use of "sleep" with a 0 argument to tell the scheduler that you're willing to give up your time-slice, for example); the assumption that freshly allocated memory is zeroed; and the assumption that {fragmentation} problems won't arise from never freeing memory. Compare {vaxocentrism}. See also {New Jersey}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-02-27)
untraveled ::: a. --> Not traveled; not trodden by passengers; as, an untraveled forest.
Having never visited foreign countries; not having gained knowledge or experience by travel; as, an untraveled Englishman.
UN*X "operating system, convention, legal" A way of writing the {operating system} name "{Unix}" that avoided the (TM) postfix that was believed to be a legal requirement in the days when Unix was a trademark of {AT&T}. It has been suggested that there may be a psychological connection to practice in certain religions (especially Judaism) in which the name of the deity is never written out in full, e.g. "YHWH" or "G--d" is used. See also {glob}. (1998-04-17)
urban legend "publication" A story, which may have started with a grain of truth, that has been embroidered and retold until it has passed into the realm of myth. It is an interesting phenomenon that these stories get spread so far, so fast and so often. Urban legends never die, they just end up on the {Internet}! Some legends that periodically make their rounds include "The Infamous Modem Tax", "Craig Shergold/Brain Tumor/Get Well Cards", and "The $250 Cookie Recipe". (1996-05-08)
variable "programming" (Sometimes "var" /veir/ or /var/) A named memory location in which a program can store intermediate results and from which it can read it them. Each {programming language} has different rules about how variables can be named, typed, and used. Typically, a value is "assigned" to a variable in an {assignment} statement. The value is obtained by evaluating an expression and then stored in the variable. For example, the assignment x = y + 1 means "add one to y and store the result in x". This may look like a mathematical equation but the mathematical equality is only true in the program until the value of x or y changes. Furthermore, statements like x = x + 1 are common. This means "add one to x", which only makes sense as a state changing operation, not as a mathematical equality. The simplest form of variable corresponds to a single-{word} of {memory} or a {CPU} {register} and an assignment to a {load} or {store} {machine code} operation. A variable is usually defined to have a {type}, which never changes, and which defines the set of values the variable can hold. A type may specify a single ("atomic") value or a collection ("aggregate") of values of the same or different types. A common aggregate type is the {array} - a set of values, one of which can be selected by supplying a numerical {index}. Languages may be {untyped}, {weakly typed}, {strongly typed}, or some combination. {Object-oriented programming} languages extend this to {object} types or {classes}. A variable's {scope} is the region of the program source within which it represents a certain thing. Scoping rules are also highly language dependent but most serious languages support both {local variables} and {global variables}. {Subroutine} and {function} {formal arguments} are special variables which are set automatically by the language runtime on entry to the subroutine. In a {functional programming} language, a variable's value never changes and change of state is handled as recursion over lists of values. (2004-11-16)
vaxocentrism /vak"soh-sen"trizm/ [analogy with "ethnocentrism"] A notional disease said to afflict C programmers who persist in coding according to certain assumptions that are valid (especially under Unix) on {VAXen} but false elsewhere. Among these are: 1. The assumption that dereferencing a null pointer is safe because it is all bits 0, and location 0 is readable and 0. Problem: this may instead cause an illegal-address trap on non-VAXen, and even on VAXen under OSes other than BSD Unix. Usually this is an implicit assumption of sloppy code (forgetting to check the pointer before using it), rather than deliberate exploitation of a misfeature. 2. The assumption that characters are signed. 3. The assumption that a pointer to any one type can freely be cast into a pointer to any other type. A stronger form of this is the assumption that all pointers are the same size and format, which means you don't have to worry about getting the casts or types correct in calls. Problem: this fails on word-oriented machines or others with multiple pointer formats. 4. The assumption that the parameters of a routine are stored in memory, on a stack, contiguously, and in strictly ascending or descending order. Problem: this fails on many RISC architectures. 5. The assumption that pointer and integer types are the same size, and that pointers can be stuffed into integer variables (and vice-versa) and drawn back out without being truncated or mangled. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures or word-oriented machines with funny pointer formats. 6. The assumption that a data type of any size may begin at any byte address in memory (for example, that you can freely construct and dereference a pointer to a word- or greater-sized object at an odd char address). Problem: this fails on many (especially RISC) architectures better optimised for {HLL} execution speed, and can cause an illegal address fault or bus error. 7. The (related) assumption that there is no padding at the end of types and that in an array you can thus step right from the last byte of a previous component to the first byte of the next one. This is not only machine- but compiler-dependent. 8. The assumption that memory address space is globally flat and that the array reference "foo[-1]" is necessarily valid. Problem: this fails at 0, or other places on segment-addressed machines like Intel chips (yes, segmentation is universally considered a {brain-damaged} way to design machines (see {moby}), but that is a separate issue). 9. The assumption that objects can be arbitrarily large with no special considerations. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures and under non-virtual-addressing environments. 10. The assumption that the stack can be as large as memory. Problem: this fails on segmented architectures or almost anything else without virtual addressing and a paged stack. 11. The assumption that bits and addressable units within an object are ordered in the same way and that this order is a constant of nature. Problem: this fails on {big-endian} machines. 12. The assumption that it is meaningful to compare pointers to different objects not located within the same array, or to objects of different types. Problem: the former fails on segmented architectures, the latter on word-oriented machines or others with multiple pointer formats. 13. The assumption that an "int" is 32 bits, or (nearly equivalently) the assumption that "sizeof(int) == sizeof(long)". Problem: this fails on {PDP-11s}, {Intel 80286}-based systems and even on {Intel 80386} and {Motorola 68000} systems under some compilers. 14. The assumption that "argv[]" is writable. Problem: this fails in many embedded-systems C environments and even under a few flavours of Unix. Note that a programmer can validly be accused of vaxocentrism even if he or she has never seen a VAX. Some of these assumptions (especially 2--5) were valid on the {PDP-11}, the original {C} machine, and became endemic years before the VAX. The terms "vaxocentricity" and "all-the-world"s-a-VAX syndrome' have been used synonymously. [{Jargon File}]
Verite de fait (Verite de raison): There are two kinds of truth, according to Leibniz, truths of fact and truths of reason (or reasoning).These two classes of truths are exhaustive, and also, with the single exception of the existence of God, which has a logically anomalous position of being a necessary truth about existence, completely exclusive. Truths of reason are completely certain and necessary, for their denial involves a contradiction and is hence impossible. Truths of fact, on the other hand, are not completely certain and necessary. Their denial involves no contradiction, they rest upon experience and they have, hence, only a limited inductive certainty. The truth of inductive inferences which go beyond the evidence of immediate experience depends upon the Law of Sufficient Reason, which is the expression in logic of the choice of the best on the part of God. Since God conceivably could have chosen another world for realization, rathcr than this best of all possible worlds, these truths can never equal in certainty the truths of reason, which depend not on God's will, but on the Principle of Contradiction, which not even God himself can make to be false. -- F.L.W.
V.FC "communications, protocol" A serial line {protocol} supported by some {modems}. Uses {symbol rates} of 2400, 2800, 3000, "3200 and 3429 and up to 28800 {baud}. {V.34} modems will also support V.FC if the manufacturer currently supports V.FC. The first V.FC modems were shipped in November 1993 and there have been many thousands sold. There will probably be in excess of a million V.FC modems installed by the end of 1994. V.FC was intended to take some of the techniques being proposed for V.34 and put them into a real modem that people could use. This also gave a lot of people the opportunity to try out 28.8 kilobit per second operation for the first time. There was never any intention from {Hayes} or {Rockwell} (who worked together for two years on V.FC) that V.FC would be compatible with V.34 - even if they had wanted it, others would have made sure it didn't happen! In fact, they made the start-up deliberately different from V.34 so that it would be easy to distinguish between the two and easier to make dual-mode V.FC/V.34 modems. V.FC is quite different from V.34. Most of the signal-processing {algorithms}, whilst based on the same theory, are implemented in different ways. V.34 has some extra things like a {secondary channel} and a special mode for 28.8 kilobit per second fax. The Rockwell V.FC implementation uses a single-chip mask-programmed {DSP} for all the signal processing functions. You can also buy a modem controller chip from Rockwell to go with it which implements AT commands, error-control and {compression}. Hayes made their own controller using the {Motorola} {68302} processor. When it comes to an upgrade from V.FC to V.34 you have to have a new, masked DSP chip and new controller {firmware} to implement all the V.34-specific features. This means that Rockwell-DSP based modems must be returned to the manufacturer for upgrade. Upgraded modems will talk to either V.FC or V.34 modems.
Visual Interface "tool, text" (vi) /V-I/, /vi:/, *never* /siks/ A {screen editor} {crufted} together by {Bill Joy} for an early {BSD} release. vi became the de facto standard {Unix} editor and a nearly undisputed hacker favourite outside of {MIT} until the rise of {Emacs} after about 1984. It tends to frustrate new users no end, as it will neither take commands while expecting input text nor vice versa, and the default setup provides no indication of which mode the editor is in (one correspondent accordingly reports that he has often heard the editor's name pronounced /vi:l/). Nevertheless it is still widely used (about half the respondents in a 1991 {Usenet} poll preferred it), and even some Emacs fans resort to it as a mail editor and for small editing jobs (mainly because it starts up faster than the bulkier versions of Emacs). See {holy wars}. (1995-10-03)
Vital plane ::: On the vital plane ( 1 ) never allow any fear to etilcc into you. Face all you meet and see in this world with detachment and courage. (2) Ask for protection before you sleep or meditate. Use our names when you are attacked or templed. (3) Do not indulge in this world in any kind of sym- pathy. (4) Do not allow any foreign personality to enter into you .
Voltaire, Francois Marie Arouet de: (1694-1778) French dramatist and historian. He was one of the leading Encyclopaedists. He preached a natural religion of the deist variety. Though characterized as an atheist because of his fervent antagonism to the bigotry he found in the organized religions, he nevertheless believed in a righteous God. He was opposed to all intolerance and fought passionately to right the evils he discerned in religion and in society in general. In ethics, he based his views on the universal character of morals in which he firmly believed. His famous Candide is illustrative of his keen satire in its blasting of the Leibnizean best of all possible worlds. -- L.E.D.
voodoo programming "jargon" (From George Bush's "voodoo economics") The use by guess or cookbook of an obscure or {hairy} system, feature, or algorithm that one does not truly understand. The implication is that the technique may not work, and if it doesn't, one will never know why. Almost synonymous with {black magic}, except that black magic typically isn't documented and *nobody* understands it. Compare {magic}, {deep magic}, {heavy wizardry}, {rain dance}, {cargo cult programming}, {wave a dead chicken}. [{Jargon File}] (1995-03-10)
WAITS /wayts/ The mutant cousin of {TOPS-10} used on a handful of systems at {SAIL} up to 1990. There was never an "official" expansion of WAITS (the name itself having been arrived at by a rather sideways process), but it was frequently glossed as "West-coast Alternative to ITS". Though WAITS was less visible than ITS, there was frequent exchange of people and ideas between the two communities, and innovations pioneered at WAITS exerted enormous indirect influence. The early screen modes of {Emacs}, for example, were directly inspired by WAITS's "E" editor - one of a family of editors that were the first to do "real-time editing", in which the editing commands were invisible and where one typed text at the point of insertion/overwriting. The modern style of multi-region windowing is said to have originated there, and WAITS alumni at XEROX PARC and elsewhere played major roles in the developments that led to the XEROX Star, the Macintosh, and the Sun workstations. {Bucky bits} were also invented there thus, the ALT key on every IBM PC is a WAITS legacy. One notable WAITS feature seldom duplicated elsewhere was a news-wire interface that allowed WAITS hackers to read, store, and filter AP and UPI dispatches from their terminals; the system also featured a still-unusual level of support for what is now called "multimedia" computing, allowing analog audio and video signals to be switched to programming terminals. Ken Shoemake adds: Some administrative body told us we needed a name for the operating system, and that "SAIL" wouldn't do. (Up to that point I don't think it had an official name.) So the anarchic denizens of the lab proposed names and voted on them. Although I worked on the OS used by CCRMA folks (a parasitic subgroup), I was not writing WAITS code. Those who were, proposed "SAINTS", for (I think) Stanford AI New Time-sharing System. Thinking of ITS, and AI, and the result of many people using one machine, I proposed the name WAITS. Since I invented it, I can tell you without fear of contradiction that it had no official meaning. Nevertheless, the lab voted that as their favorite; upon which the disgruntled system programmers declared it the "Worst Acronym Invented for a Time-sharing System"! But it was in keeping with the creative approach to acronyms extant at the time, including self-referential ones. For me it was fun, if a little unsettling, to have an "acronym" that wasn't. I have no idea what the voters thought. :) [{Jargon File}] (2003-11-17)
wannabee /won'*-bee/ (Or, more plausibly, spelled "wannabe") [Madonna fans who dress, talk, and act like their idol; probably originally from biker slang] A would-be {hacker}. The connotations of this term differ sharply depending on the age and exposure of the subject. Used of a person who is in or might be entering {larval stage}, it is semi-approving; such wannabees can be annoying but most hackers remember that they, too, were once such creatures. When used of any professional programmer, CS academic, writer, or {suit}, it is derogatory, implying that said person is trying to cuddle up to the hacker mystique but doesn't, fundamentally, have a prayer of understanding what it is all about. Overuse of hacker terms is often an indication of the {wannabee} nature. Compare {newbie}. Historical note: The wannabee phenomenon has a slightly different flavour now (1993) than it did ten or fifteen years ago. When the people who are now hackerdom's tribal elders were in {larval stage}, the process of becoming a hacker was largely unconscious and unaffected by models known in popular culture - communities formed spontaneously around people who, *as individuals*, felt irresistibly drawn to do hackerly things, and what wannabees experienced was a fairly pure, skill-focussed desire to become similarly wizardly. Those days of innocence are gone forever; society's adaptation to the advent of the microcomputer after 1980 included the elevation of the hacker as a new kind of folk hero, and the result is that some people semi-consciously set out to *be hackers* and borrow hackish prestige by fitting the popular image of hackers. Fortunately, to do this really well, one has to actually become a wizard. Nevertheless, old-time hackers tend to share a poorly articulated disquiet about the change; among other things, it gives them mixed feelings about the effects of public compendia of lore like this one. [{Jargon File}]
WarGames "recreation" (Not "War Games") A 1983 film about a schoolboy {cracker} using a {wardialer} to try to break into a games company's computer and accidentally connecting to a {backdoor} into "Whopper", a ficticious {C3} computer at Norad (USAF). He then procedes to unwittingly initiate global thermonuclear warfare. Playing naughts and crosses finally teaches Whopper that the only way to win the game is never to play. {IMDb (http://us.imdb.com/Title?WarGames+%281983%29)}. (1999-03-08)
warrantable ::: a. --> Authorized by commission, precept, or right; justifiable; defensible; as, the seizure of a thief is always warrantable by law and justice; falsehood is never warrantable.
wave a dead chicken "jargon" To perform a ritual in the direction of crashed software or hardware that one believes to be futile but is nevertheless necessary so that others are satisfied that an appropriate degree of effort has been expended. "I'll wave a dead chicken over the source code, but I really think we've run into an OS bug". Compare {voodoo programming}, {rain dance}. [{Jargon File}] (1996-09-08)
weeds 1. Refers to development projects or {algorithms} that have no possible relevance or practical application. Comes from "off in the weeds". Used in phrases like "lexical analysis for {microcode} is serious weeds." 2. At {CDC}/{ETA} before its demise, the phrase "go off in the weeds" was equivalent to {IBM}'s {branch to Fishkill} and mainstream hackerdom's {jump off into never-never land}. [{Jargon File}]
welwitschia ::: n. --> An African plant (Welwitschia mirabilis) belonging to the order Gnetaceae. It consists of a short, woody, topshaped stem, and never more than two leaves, which are the cotyledons enormously developed, and at length split into diverging segments.
What You Get Is What You Never Thought You Had "jargon" (WYGIWYNTYH) A jibe at {WYSIWYG} systems that fail in their stated aim by rendering documents differently on screen and on paper. (1999-06-15)
whenever ::: adv. & conj. --> At whatever time.
whensoever ::: adv. & conj. --> At what time soever; at whatever time; whenever.
Work and consciousness ; The rememberance and conscious- ness in work have to come by degrees, you must not expect to have it all at once ; nobody can get it all at once. It comes in two ways ::: first, if one practises remembering the Mother and oUcring the work to her each time one docs something (not all the time one is doing, but at the beginning or whenever one can remember), then that slowly becomes easy and habitual to the nature. Secondly, by the meditation an inner consciousness begins to develop which, after a time, not at once or suddenly, becomes more and more auloraatically permanent. One feels this as a separate consciousness from that outer which works. At first this separate consciousness is not felt when one is not work- ing, but as soon as the work stops one feels it was there all the time watching from behind ; afterwards it begins to be felt during the work itself, as if there tverc'two parts of oneself ■— one watching and supporting from behind and remembering the
Wrong Thing "jargon" A design, action, or decision that is clearly incorrect or inappropriate. Often capitalised; always emphasised in speech as if capitalised. The opposite of the {Right Thing}; more generally, anything that is not the Right Thing. In cases where "the good is the enemy of the best", the merely good - although good - is nevertheless the Wrong Thing. "In C, the default is for module-level declarations to be visible everywhere, rather than just within the module. This is clearly the Wrong Thing." [{Jargon File}]
WYGIWYNTYH {What You Get Is What You Never Thought You Had}
YABA /ya'b*/ [Cambridge] Yet Another Bloody Acronym. Whenever some program is being named, someone invariably suggests that it be given a name that is acronymic. The response from those with a trace of originality is to remark ironically that the proposed name would then be "YABA-compatible". Also used in response to questions like "What is {WYSIWYG}?" See also {YA-}, {TLA}. [{Jargon File}]
Year 2000 "programming" (Y2K, or "millennium bug") A common name for all the difficulties the turn of the century, or dates in general, bring to computer users. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the turn of the century looked so remote and memory/disk was so expensive that most programs stored only the last two digits of the year. These produce surprising results when dealing with dates after 1999. They may believe that 1 January 2000 is before 31 December 1999 (00"99), they may miscalculate the day of week, etc. Some programs used the year 99 as a special marker; there are rumours that some car insurance policies were cancelled because a year of 99 was used to mark deleted records. Complete testing of date-dependent code is virtually impossible, especially where the system under test relies on other systems such as customers' or suppliers' computers. Despite this, the predicted "millennium meltdown" never occurred. Various fixes and work-arounds were successfully applied, e.g. {time shifting}. And yes, the year 2000 was a leap year (multiples of 100 aren't leap years unless they're also multiples of 400). {PPR Corp Y2K FAQ (http://pprcorp.com/y2k/y2kfaq_j97.html)}. (2003-08-15)
Yogacara: A Mahayana (q.v.) Buddhist school which puts emphasis on Yoga (q.v.) as well is acara, ethical conduct. Believing in subjective idealism, it is also designated as Vijnana-vada (q.v.). Since we know the world never apart from the form it has in consciousness, the latter is an essential to it. All things exist in consciousness, they cannot be proven to exist otherwise. -- K.F.L.
YOGIC POWERS. ::: The idea that yogins do not or ought not to use these powers I regard as an ascetic superstition. I believe that all yogins who have these powers do use them whenever they find that that they are called from within to do so. They may refrain if they think the use in a particular case is contrary to the Divine Will or see that prevcofing one evil may-be open- ing the door to worse or for any other veiled reason, but not
You aren't gonna need it "programming" (YAGNI) A motto of {extreme programming} expressing the principle that functionality should not be implemented until it is needed. The traditional {waterfall model} makes it difficult to add features after the specification has been signed off, tempting the specifier to add features that may never be used but which take time to program, debug, test and document. (2014-03-27)
You must always try to keep the quietude, never allow dep- ressing or dbturbing thoughts or feelings to enter you or take hold of your mind or your speech. And if the mind keeps its quietude and receptivity to higher forces only, it can then easily pass on that quietude and receptivity to the body consciousness and even to the material cells of the body.
zeroth "jargon" First. Since zero is the lowest value of an {unsigned} {integer}, which is one of the most fundamental types in programming and {hardware} design, it is often natural to count from zero rather than one, especially when the integer is actually an {index} or {offset}, as used when addressing {hardware} and {arrays}. Hackers, computer scientists and pure mathematicians often like to call the first chapter of a publication "Chapter 0", especially if it is of an introductory nature (one of the classic instances was in the First Edition of {K&R}). Zero-based numbering tends to reduce {fencepost errors}, though it cannot eliminate them entirely. Logically, the next item after the zeroth should be the "oneth" but this is never used. [Dijkstra, "Why Numbering Should Start at Zero" {(http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EWD831.html)}]. [{Jargon File}] (2010-02-28)
KEYS (10k)
62 The Mother
54 Sri Aurobindo
27 Sri Ramana Maharshi
26 Sri Ramakrishna
13 Swami Vivekananda
10 Saint Augustine of Hippo
9 Chamtrul Rinpoche
8 Albert Einstein
8 Aleister Crowley
7 Manly P Hall
7 Jalaluddin Rumi
6 Robert Adams
6 Ralph Waldo Emerson
6 Ken Wilber
6 C S Lewis
6 Saint Thomas Aquinas
6 Saint Teresa of Avila
5 Oscar Wilde
5 Hermann Hesse
4 Swami Ramakrishnananda
4 Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
4 Ramakrishna
4 Carl Jung
4 Plotinus
4 Jorge Luis Borges
4 Confucius
3 Voltaire
3 The Mother
3 Swami Saradananda
3 Swami Adbhutananda
3 Sri Sarada Devi
3 Soren Kierkegaard
3 Saint John of the Cross
3 Robert Heinlein
3 Huang Po
3 Hermes
3 Henry David Thoreau
3 Guru Rinpoche
3 Friedrich Nietzsche
3 Franz Kafka
3 Cicero
3 Bruce Lee
3 Bertrand Russell
3 Anonymous
3 Angelus Silesius
3 Kabir
3 Heraclitus
3 Epictetus
2 Zig Ziglar
2 Wu Hsin
2 William Blake
2 Vivekananda
2 The Bab
2 Taigu Ryokan
2 Sylvia Plath
2 Swami Vivekananda
2 Swami Turiyananda
2 SWAMI SUBODHANANDA
2 SWAMI PARAMANANDA
2 Swami Akhandananda
2 Steve Jobs
2 Sigmund Freud
2 Satprem
2 Saint John Chrysostom
2 Saint Jerome
2 Rupert Spira
2 Revelation 18:21
2 Ramesh Balsekar
2 Rainer Maria Rilke
2 Patrul Rinpoche
2 Pablo Neruda
2 Og Mandino
2 Mother Mirra
2 Miyamoto Musashi
2 Mark Twain
2 Marilyn Monroe
2 Marcus Aurelius
2 Mahatma Gandhi
2 Mahabharata
2 Leon Brown
2 John Green
2 Italo Calvino
2 Israel Regardie
2 Helen Keller
2 Guru Nanak
2 G K Chesterton
2 Georg C Lichtenberg
2 Eliphas Levi
2 Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
2 Charles Darwin
2 Buson
2 Buddha
2 Benjamin Franklin
2 Benjamin Disraeli
2 Baha-ullah
2 Attar of Nishapur
2 Arthur Schopenhauer
2 Antoine the Healer
2 Anthony de Mello
2 Alan Watts
2 Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
2 Meister Eckhart
2 Leonardo da Vinci
2 Jalaluddin Rumi
2 Homer
2 2nd century sermon
1 Zen Proverb
1 Zendavesta
1 Yoshida Kenko
1 Yogani
1 Yamamoto Tsunetomo
1 Yahya Suhaward
1 Wikipedia
1 Waking Life
1 "Vivekachudamani" an introductory treatise within the Advaita Vedanta
1 Virginia Woolf
1 Virgil
1 Viktor Frankl
1 Victor Hugo
1 Unknown
1 Under a veil you must never lift
1 Udanavaryu
1 Tony Robbins
1 Tolstoy
1 Tolstoi
1 Thomas Merton
1 Thomas Keating
1 Thomas Jefferson
1 Thomas A Kempis
1 Thich Thien-An
1 they are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels. Without them I would never have disappeared into language
1 The Lord to St. Margaret of Cortona (1247-1297)
1 The Linux Command Line
1 The Buddha
1 Terry Pratchett
1 Tao Te Ching
1 SWAMI VIRAJANANDA
1 Swami Vijnanananda
1 SWAMI TRIGUNATITANANDA
1 SWAMI RAMA
1 Swami Brahmananda
1 SWAMI BRAHMANANDA
1 Sunday Adelaja
1 Steve Hagen
1 Stephen LaBerge
1 Stephen King
1 Stephen Hawking
1 Stanley Kubrick
1 Sri Ramana Maharshi
1 Sri Ramakrishna?
1 Sri Ramakrishna
1 Sri Anandamayi Ma
1 SRI ANANDAMAYI MA
1 Sogyal Rinpoche
1 Shunryu Suzuki
1 Shogaku
1 Shaykh Muhammad Al - Yaqoubi
1 Shaykh Ahmad al Zarruq]
1 Seymour Papert
1 Seneca
1 Schopenhauer
1 Saving of the School of Zen
1 Sathya Sai Baba
1 Sakya Pandita
1 Saint Théodore Guérin
1 Saint Teresa of the Andes
1 Saint Seraphim of Sarov in Georgia
1 Saint Philip Neri
1 Saint Maximus of Turin
1 Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys
1 Saint John Vianney
1 Saint John Henry Newman
1 Saint Ignatius of Antioch
1 Saint Gianna Molla
1 Saint Francis de Sales
1 Saint Catherine of Siena
1 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
1 Saint Augustine
1 Saint Arnold Janssen
1 Saint Ambrose
1 Saigyo
1 Saadi
1 Rupert Spria "Being Aware of Being Aware"
1 Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)
1 Robert M. Pirsig
1 Robert Holden
1 Rihaku
1 Rich Weaver
1 Richard P Feynman
1 Rene Guenon
1 R Buckminster Fuller
1 Ramayana
1 Rachel Carson
1 Rabindranath Tagore
1 Philokalia
1 Philip K Dick
1 Philip Arnold
1 Petrarch
1 Peter J Carroll
1 Paulo Coelho
1 Pascal
1 Paramahansa Yogananda
1 Padmasambhava
1 Owen Barfield 'The Harp & the Camera'
1 Owen Barfield
1 Our Lady of Akita
1 Osho
1 Omar Khayyam
1 Novalis
1 Nolini Kanta Gupta
1 Nikos Kazantzakis
1 Nico Lang
1 Nagarjuna
1 M Scott Peck
1 Mr. Wednesday in American Gods by Neil Gaiman
1 Mohyddin-ibu-arabi
1 Minokhired
1 Michio Kaku
1 Michael Ende
1 Meng-Tse II 5.17
1 Meher Baba
1 Max Weber
1 Max Planck
1 MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI
1 Marcus Tomlinson
1 Mansur al-Hallaj
1 Mansur al Hallaj
1 M Alan Kazlev
1 Mahavaga
1 Magghima Nikaya
1 Lucan
1 Lori Deschene
1 Lewis Carroll
1 Leonard Cohen
1 Laws of Manu
1 Larry Wall
1 Lakshmana Sarma
1 Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
1 Kodo Sawaki
1 Khalil Gibran
1 Ken Wilber?
1 Katerina Stoykova-Klemer
1 Kate Atkinson
1 Jurgen Habermas
1 J. Tauler: Institutions
1 J.R.R. Tolkien
1 Joyce Carol Oates
1 Joseph Campbell
1 Jordan B. Peterson
1 Jonathan Swift
1 John F. Crosby
1 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1 J Michael Straczynski
1 Jiddu Krishnamurti
1 Jean Gebser
1 James S A Corey
1 Jalalu'l-Din Rumi
1 Jack Gardner
1 it is not as though I had invented it with my mind
1 Isaac Newton
1 Imitation of Christ
1 Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib
1 id
1 I. Corinthians. 1. 8. 13-XIV. 8
1 Ian Tucker
1 H P Lovecraft
1 Howard Gardner
1 Hindu Saying
1 Henry James
1 Henri Poincare
1 Henri Ellenberger
1 Hans Urs von Balthasar
1 Han-Shan
1 Hakuin Ekaku
1 Hafiz
1 Hafez
1 Hadith
1 Gustave Le Bon
1 Gurdjieff
1 Gregory Bateson
1 Grace Hanson [Grace Hanson is one of the protagonists on "Grace and Frankie." She is portrayed by Jane Fonda. For more of her quotes see:
1 Goethe
1 G_Morgan in reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/a481l/so_to_get_back_to_the_point_go_vs_algol68_tbh_i/c0fs2nk]
1 Gilbert K. Chesterton
1 Germany Kent
1 Georges Van Vrekhem
1 George R.R. Martin
1 George Foreman
1 George Eliot
1 George Carlin
1 George Bernard Shaw
1 Gary Gygax
1 Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1 Fyodor Dostoevsky
1 F. Scott Fitzgerald
1 Fred Rogers
1 Franz Bardon
1 Frances Wright
1 Fo-sho-hing-san king
1 Ferdinand Ulrich
1 Essential Integral
1 Ernest Holmes
1 Ernest Hemingway
1 Eric S Raymond
1 Epistle of St. Barnabas
1 Epictetus
1 encompass'd d quiet never echoes to a sound.
As I walk
1 Emilia Fox
1 Emerson
1 Emerald Tablet
1 Ella Wheeler Wilcox
1 Elizabeth Gilbert
1 Eleanor Roosevelt
1 Elayne Boosler
1 Edwin Louis Cole
1 Edmund Burke
1 Douglas Adams
1 Donald Knuth
1 Dhammapada
1 David Foster Wallace
1 Dante
1 Dalai Lama XIV
1 Dalai Lama
1 Cyril of Alexandria
1 Cyprian
1 C.S. Lewis
1 C. S. Lewis
1 Confucius
1 Columbanus
1 Coleridge
1 Charlie Chaplin
1 Charles Haddon Spurgeon
1 Charles Baudelaire
1 Catherine of Siena
1 Carlos Castaneda
1 Bulleh Shah
1 bukhari
1 Buddhist Texts
1 Buckminister Fuller
1 Book of Golden Precepts
1 Blaise Pascal
1 Billy Collins
1 Bill Hicks
1 Bhartrihari
1 Bhagavad Gita 6.30
1 Bhagavad Gita. 2.47
1 Bear Bryant
1 Bacon
1 Ayn Rand
1 awful beyond all
1 Ashtavakra-Gita
1 Asanga
1 Arundhati Roy
1 Arthur C Clarke
1 Anon.
1 Annamalai Swami
1 Anna Gavalda
1 Angelus Silesins
1 Angelius Silesius
1 Andrew Carnegie
1 Anais Nin
1 Allen Ginsberg
1 Alice Bailey
1 Alfred Tennyson
1 Alfred North Whitehead
1 Alfred Korzybski
1 Alexander von Humboldt to Schelling
1 Alexander Maksik
1 Al-Dhahabī
1 Rudolf Steiner
1 Plato
1 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
1 Ogawa
1 Nichiren
1 Matsuo Basho
1 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1 Angelus Silesius
1 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
1 actually
1 Abraham Maslow
1 Abraham Joshua Heschel
1 Aaron Koblin
1 2 Peter 2:22
1 ?
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
24 Anonymous
16 George Herbert
8 Stephen King
8 Paulo Coelho
8 Ernest Hemingway
7 Rumi
7 Rick Riordan
7 C S Lewis
7 Cassandra Clare
6 W C Fields
6 Mahatma Gandhi
6 J K Rowling
6 Emily Dickinson
6 Bob Dylan
5 Will Rogers
5 Robert A Heinlein
5 Mark Twain
5 Joan Rivers
5 Edgar Allan Poe
5 Donald Trump
1:Never Explain Anything ~ H P Lovecraft, #KEYS
2:This will never come again." ~ Steve Hagen, #KEYS
3:A garden is never finished. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #KEYS
4:Never stray from the Way. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
5:which never ends. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
6:The devil never repents.
~ Eliphas Levi, [T5],#KEYS
7:The hero can never be a relativist. ~ Rich Weaver, #KEYS
8:Lost Time is never found again. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #KEYS
9:What was never lost, can never be found.
~ Zen Proverb,#KEYS
10:for you never know how soon it will be too late. ~ Emerson, #KEYS
11:The world can never own a man who wants nothing. ~ Wu Hsin, #KEYS
12:You can never be overdressed or overeducated. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
13:A contented man is never disappointed. ~ Tao Te Ching, ch.44, #KEYS
14:Doing your best means never stop trying." ~ Benjamin Franklin, #KEYS
15:Never depart from the way of martial arts. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #KEYS
16:It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be. ~ Virgil, #KEYS
17:Love all. Serve all. Help ever. Hurt never." ~ Sathya Sai Baba, #KEYS
18:One never really knows who one's enemy is.
~ Jurgen Habermas,#KEYS
19:Never memorize what you can look up in books. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
20:The work never finishes; there is no end to this work. ~ Buddha, #KEYS
21:I never change, I simply become more myself. ~ Joyce Carol Oates, #KEYS
22:Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair. ~ Edmund Burke, #KEYS
23:Never memorize something that you can look up. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
24:A prosperous man is never sure that he is loved for himself. ~ Lucan, #KEYS
25:Never love anyone who treats you like you're ordinary. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
26:You are never too old to be what you might have been. ~ George Eliot, #KEYS
27:I never think of the future - it comes soon enough." ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
28:Never limit your view of life by any past experience." ~ Ernest Holmes, #KEYS
29:Never take your eyes off your opponent, even when you bow. ~ Bruce Lee, #KEYS
30:Only those who do not fight are never wounded. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
31:Never stop sculpting your own statue. ~ Plotinus, #KEYS
32:True friendship ought never to conceal what it thinks.
~ Saint Jerome,#KEYS
33:His creation never had a beginning and will never have an end. ~ The Bab, #KEYS
34:Until you know nothing you will never know Self. ~ Ashtavakra-Gita, 16.11, #KEYS
35:I never deny. I never contradict. I sometimes forget.
~ Benjamin Disraeli,#KEYS
36:If you expect nothing from anybody, you're never disappointed. ~ Sylvia Plath, #KEYS
37:I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
~ Buddha,#KEYS
38:We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love. ~ Sigmund Freud, #KEYS
39:You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
40:You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." ~ C.S. Lewis, #KEYS
41:How can you hide from what never goes away? ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
42:I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met. ~ John Green, #KEYS
43:Until life finds Him pain can never end. ~ Sri Aurobindo, #KEYS
44:A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. ~ Italo Calvino, #KEYS
45:Learning never exhausts the mind. ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #KEYS
46:Never underestimate your potential. Buddha nature is always there. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
47:Insist on yourself; never imitate... Every great man is unique.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,#KEYS
48:Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
49:Silence is never-ending speech. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
50:The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #KEYS
51:Love has no boundary, and will never cease to grow as we add light to light. ~ Philokalia, #KEYS
52:Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
~ Mark Twain,#KEYS
53:Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
54:A man walking is never in balance, but always correcting for imbalance." ~ Gregory Bateson, #KEYS
55:And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, #KEYS
56:God never ends anything on a negative; God always ends on a positive.
~ Edwin Louis Cole,#KEYS
57:and never in this life of delusion. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
58:God is the source of love, the clear fountain of love that never runs dry. ~ Sunday Adelaja, #KEYS
59:Never forget the lonely taste of the white dew.
~ Matsuo Basho,#KEYS
60:Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction." ~ Germany Kent, #KEYS
61:Art is never finished, only abandoned.
~ Leonardo da Vinci,#KEYS
62:Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough." ~ Og Mandino, #KEYS
63:If you fear everything you never see danger." ~ Jack Gardner, "Words are not things,", (2005), #KEYS
64:Raise your heart to a happier state, towards that great good that never cheats us. ~ Petrarch, #KEYS
65:He never went out without a book under his arm, and he often came back with two. ~ Victor Hugo, #KEYS
66:If you do not let go of what binds you to samsara, you will never be free. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
67:Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #KEYS
68:Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.
~ Franz Kafka,#KEYS
69:Where I have never been before. ~ Hafiz, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
70:A lily or a rose never pretends, and its beauty is that it is what it is." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #KEYS
71:I never found the companion that was (is) so companionable as solitude.
~ Henry David Thoreau,#KEYS
72:Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.
~ Helen Keller,#KEYS
73:Never put off til tomorrow what can be done the day after tomorrow just as well.
~ Mark Twain,#KEYS
74:People who never have any time on their hands are those who do the least. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, #KEYS
75:I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
76:The eye could never see the sun,
If it had not a sun-like nature ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,#KEYS
77:You can never awaken using the same system that put you to sleep in the first place. ~ Gurdjieff, #KEYS
78:You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life." ~ Zig Ziglar, #KEYS
79:Great dreamers' dreams are never fulfilled, they are always transcended. ~ Alfred North Whitehead #KEYS
80:Daybreak is a never-ending glory; getting out of bed is a never ending nuisance." ~ G K Chesterton, #KEYS
81:We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
82:Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world. ~ Voltaire, #KEYS
83:Never lie; for to lie is infamous. ~ Zendavesta, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
84:No matter how many years you sit doing zazen, you will never become anything special. ~ Kodo Sawaki, #KEYS
85:The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules. ~ Gary Gygax, #KEYS
86:He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.
~ Epictetus,#KEYS
87:A man needs a little madness, or else... he never dares cut the rope and be free. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis, #KEYS
88:Don't engage in idle conversations; it never profits anyone to talk too much. ~ Saint John Chrysostom, #KEYS
89:Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
90:Until you are happy with who you are, you will never be happy because of what you have." ~ Zig Ziglar, #KEYS
91:Great things in business are never done by one person. They're done by a team of people." ~ Steve Jobs, #KEYS
92:I was you, and never knew it. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
93:Never did eye see the sun unless it had first become sunlike ~ Plotinus, Enneads, #KEYS
94:Never look for your work in one place and your progress in another. ~ Epictetus, #KEYS
95:The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
96:Good, better, best. Never let it rest. 'Til your good is better and your better is best." ~ Saint Jerome, #KEYS
97:Long for what is real. You will then have no time for worrying over what may never happen." ~ Meher Baba, #KEYS
98:Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,#KEYS
99:Throughout this life, you can never be certain of living long enough to take another breath." ~ Huang Po, #KEYS
100:We use Jesus and not people, because only he will never be without us." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
101:You never receive blessings just from asking. Blessings come when you have got devotion. ~ Guru Rinpoche, #KEYS
102:Sing such a song with all of your heart that you'll never have to sing again. ~ Kabir, #KEYS
103:We should never use the truth to wound. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
104:With each and every breath, I dwell upon You; I shall never forget You.
~ Guru Nanak, Guru Granth Sahib,#KEYS
105:I never give answers. I lead on from one question to another. That is my leadership. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, #KEYS
106:The Divine never forsakes one who has surrendered. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
107:The philosophy of laughter will never have anything in common with the religion of tears.
~ Eliphas Levi,#KEYS
108:There is only one thing in life that never changes, and it is change." ~ Confucius, #KEYS
109:Let us never forget that if we wish to die like the saints we must live like them." ~ Saint Théodore Guérin, #KEYS
110:You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your own false thoughts." ~ Philip Arnold, #KEYS
111:Never make a mistake.
Never lose your temper.
Always understand.
~ The Mother,#KEYS
112:Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think." ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #KEYS
113:The supreme state of Self-awareness is never absent. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
114:I know from experience that you should never give up on yourself or others, no matter what." ~ George Foreman, #KEYS
115:Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." ~ Blaise Pascal, #KEYS
116:Never will we understand the value of time better than when our last hour is at hand." ~ Saint Arnold Janssen, #KEYS
117:The Lord was completely one with the Father and never acted independently of him. ~ Saint Ignatius of Antioch, #KEYS
118:A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. ~ Italo Calvino, The Uses of Literature, #KEYS
119:With such force will Babylon the great city be thrown down, and will never be found again." ~ Revelation 18:21, #KEYS
120:Earnest efforts never fail. Success is bound to result. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
121:I have never agreed with my other self wholly. The truth of the matter seems to lie between us. ~ Khalil Gibran, #KEYS
122:Never invoke the gods unless you really want them to appear. It annoys them very much." ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton, #KEYS
123:Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world. ~ Helen Keller, #KEYS
124:We spend our lives waiting for our book and it never comes. ~ Jorge Luis Borges, #KEYS
125:Beauty can never really understand itself. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #KEYS
126:Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
~ Confucius,#KEYS
127:The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky, #KEYS
128:For anyone, man or woman, who has faith in me, I have never departed. I sleep on their threshold. ~ Guru Rinpoche, #KEYS
129:I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
130:Never affirm anything unless you are sure it is true. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
131:You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
132:I climb the road that never ends. Who can break from the snares of the world and join me in the clouds? ~ Han-Shan, #KEYS
133:Let Mother's will be done. Never mind sunshine or rain, we must not forget Mother at any time. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
134:Never get done by others what thou canst thyself do. ~ Tolstoy, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
135:Never say, 'What great things the saints do,' but, 'What great things God does in His saints.'" ~ Saint Philip Neri, #KEYS
136:Flying from work is never the way to find peace. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. IV. 130), #KEYS
137:Never forget the goal. Never stop aspiring. Never halt in your progress, and you are sure to succeed. ~ Mother Mirra, #KEYS
138:the cloud
that never moved
is gone
~ Buson, @BashoSociety#KEYS
139:The highest wisdom is never to worry about the future but to resign ourselves entirely to his will. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #KEYS
140:Ive never been married, but I tell people Im divorced so they wont think somethings wrong with me.
~ Elayne Boosler,#KEYS
141:Never give up hope. Things can change overnight, problems can dissolve in the light of a new day's sun." ~ Leon Brown, #KEYS
142:But never till this time has felt such pain." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
143:Never say, I cannot. Look more closely, you will find that it means in reality, I want not. ~ Nolini Kanta Gupta, [T5], #KEYS
144:The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you'll never have. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
145:Wisdom is a thing of which one can never have enough. ~ Minokhired, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
146:The lover never despairs. For a committed heart everything is possible. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
147:The only things we should look after is never to forget loving Him, the Master of the Universe. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
148:You are the children of the Master; why should you be drowned? No, never. The Master will protect you. ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
149:For one who sees me everywhere and sees everything in me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to me. ~ Bhagavad Gita 6.30, #KEYS
150:Life is given that we may learn to die well, and we never think of it! To die well we must live well. ~ Saint John Vianney, #KEYS
151:One never reaches home. But whenever friendly paths intersect, the whole world looks like home for a time. ~ Hermann Hesse, #KEYS
152:A true initiate will never force anyone who has not reached a certain level of maturity to accept his truth. ~ Franz Bardon, #KEYS
153:Never tell a lie: absolute condition for safety on the path
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
154:The Blessed Virgin Mary never committed a venial sin ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (CT 2.224)., #KEYS
155:Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and they will come forth, later, in uglier ways."~ Sigmund Freud, #KEYS
156:Whosoever thinketh with love, never offendeth any. ~ Antoine the Healer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
157:Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning. ~ Saint John Henry Newman, #KEYS
158:His creation never had a beginning and will never have an end. ~ The Bab, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
159:Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
160:Never undertake anything unless you have the heart to ask Heaven's blessing on your undertaking. ~ Georg C Lichtenberg, [T5], #KEYS
161:There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
162:good advice never satiates the wise." ~ Sakya Pandita, (1182-1251), Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar, Wikipedia., #KEYS
163:If you find me not within you, you will never find me. For, I have been with you, from the beginning of me. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
164:Go on struggling ceaselessly. Fight like a hero. Never look back, but ever go forward. Onward to the Goal! ~ SWAMI VIRAJANANDA, #KEYS
165:Never let life's hardships disturb you. No one can avoid problems, not even saints or sages. ~ Nichiren, #KEYS
166:I have never been awake before. ~ Stephen LaBerge, Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to Awakening in Your Dreams and in Your Life, #KEYS
167:Let us always be terrified of mortal sin and never stop walking on the road of holy eternity." ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
168:Never do anything which you could not do in the sight of all. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, [T5], #KEYS
169:Personal success ought never to he considered the aim of existence. ~ Bacon, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
170:I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.
~ Voltaire,#KEYS
171:Wealth is never diminished by giving sadaqah." ~ bukhari #KEYS
172:Boundary lines, of any type, are never found in the real world itself, but only in the imagination of the mapmakers. ~ Ken Wilber, #KEYS
173:To every declarative sentence you hear, read, think or utter, add "or not' to it and you'll never encounter a falsehood." ~ Anon., #KEYS
174:For primitive egoism, however, the standing rule is that it is never 'I' who must change, but always the other fellow. ~ Carl Jung, #KEYS
175:God or Guru never forsakes the devotee who has surrendered him [her] self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
176:How shall thy patience be crowned, if it is never tried? ~ Imitation of Christ, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
177:The Master replied, If you never condemned you would never need to forgive." ~ Anthony de Mello, from "One Minute Wisdom,", (1985), #KEYS
178:Thou hast a right only to work, but never to its fruits. ~ Bhagavad Gita. 2.47, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
179:Know for certain that He will not leave you. He will never fail you when you cry His name with a longing heart. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
180:A Sadhu or a God should never be visited empty-handed, however trifling the present. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
181:Let your tongue never cease to be moist with the remembrance of God. ~ Hadith, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
182:I found a book on how to be invisible ~ On the edge of the labyrinth ~ Under a veil you must never lift ~ Pages you must never turn ~, #KEYS
183:If you never tasted a bad apple, you would not appreciate a good apple. You have to experience life to understand life." ~ Leon Brown, #KEYS
184:May the Divine's love dwell as the sovereign Master of our hearts and the Divine's knowledge never leave our thoughts. ~ Mother Mirra, #KEYS
185:Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
~ Franz Kafka,#KEYS
186:Honor Mary as much as possible. She is your good and loving mother. She will never fail to watch over you. ~ Saint Teresa of the Andes, #KEYS
187:If Paradise is not within thee, thou shalt never enter into it. ~ Angelus Silesins, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
188:Never out of evil one plucked good: ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Descent into Night, #KEYS
189:Self-awareness never decays. It is unrelated to anything. It is Self-luminous. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
190:Whether one has surrendered or not, one has never been separate from the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
191:Behind every creature is the 'Mother', pure, lovely, never changing. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VII. 6), #KEYS
192:Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
~ Anonymous, The Bible, Psalms, 55:22,#KEYS
193:There is never a moment when the Self is not; It is ever-present, here and now. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
194:The river's water
enters the ocean
never to return
~ Rihaku, @BashoSociety#KEYS
195:God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
196:He must content himself with little and never ask for more than he has. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
197:If you possess even one of the eight psychic powers, you will never know My real nature. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
198:It is only the coward who appeals always to destiny and never to courage. ~ Ramayana, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
199:You are always the Self. Earnest efforts never fail. Success is bound to result. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
200:Never apologize for trusting your intuition. Your brain can play trick, your heart can be blind, but your gut is usually right." ~ Unknown, #KEYS
201:Since the sage has no creed of his own, he never engages in [useless] discussions. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
202:There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there's never more than one. ~ C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength #KEYS
203:What do people mean when they say, 'I am not afraid of God because I know He is good'? Have they never even been to a dentist? ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
204:When he confesses his sins, God saith to the angels, 'Bring him back, for he never lost hope of Me.' ~ Jalalu'l-Din Rumi, Mathnawi, V, 1815 #KEYS
205:God allows some evils, lest many good things should never happen ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.23.3ad3)., #KEYS
206:The boat of compassion is almost never rowed over pure water.
~ Shogaku, @BashoSociety#KEYS
207:through the short night
the guard never slept
an old dog
~ Buson, @BashoSociety#KEYS
208:You are afraid of surrender because you don't want to lose control. But you never had control; all you had was anxiety. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #KEYS
209:In the bosom of Time God without beginning becomes what He has never been in all eternity. ~ Angelus Silesius, #KEYS
210:It is he who is never discouraged who greatens and tastes the eternal joy. ~ Mahabharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
211:never doubt
your ability
to be loved
~ Ogawa, @BashoSociety#KEYS
212:Never regret thy fall, O Icarus of the fearless flight For the greatest tragedy of them all Is never to feel the burning light. ~ Oscar Wilde, #KEYS
213:The sage is never alone...he bears in himself the Lord of all things. ~ Angelius Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
214:f one ponders well, one finds that all that passes has never truly existed. ~ Schopenhauer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
215:Never once in my life did I ask God for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder, and he gave it to me. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel, #KEYS
216:Our intellect never understands so much that it cannot understand more ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 1.86.2)., #KEYS
217:The Divine alone is the support that never fails.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You [14],#KEYS
218:You must never cease from calling on the Lord, and know this for certain that the Lord's name cuts through all obstacles. ~ SWAMI SUBODHANANDA, #KEYS
219:Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the person with all the facts." ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
220:The mind of the Enlightened Sage (jnani) never exists apart from Brahman, the Absolute. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
221:Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending. ~ Yamamoto Tsunetomo, #KEYS
222:A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.
~ Andrew Carnegie,#KEYS
223:Once kindled, never can its flamings cease. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Heavens of the Ideal, #KEYS
224:The final demand of the Bhakta is simply that his bhakti may never cease or diminish. ~ Sri Aurobindo, cwsa, 24, 569, #KEYS
225:All philosophies are mental fabrications. There has never been a single doctrine by which one could enter the true essence of things. ~ Nagarjuna, #KEYS
226:Keep your heart clear and transparent, and you will never be bound. A single disturbed thought creates ten thousand distractions." ~ Taigu Ryokan, #KEYS
227:You must make the most strenuous efforts. Throughout this life, you can never be certain of living long enough to take another breath. ~ Huang Po, #KEYS
228:...before Thee we bow down and implore that we may never forget all we owe to Thee.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#KEYS
229:Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, "You owe me". Look what happens with a love like that; it lights the whole sky. ~ Hafez, #KEYS
230:If a man has his eyes bound, you can encourage him as much as you like to stare through the bandage, but he'll never see anything.
~ Franz Kafka,#KEYS
231:No matter how much evil be multiplied, it can never wholly destroy the good ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ScG 3.12)., #KEYS
232:To have a great man for an intimate friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it.
~ Homer,#KEYS
233:You are always in the Heart. You are never away from it in order that you should reach it. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
234:If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done. Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal."
~ Bruce Lee,#KEYS
235:That which is perfect is called Perfection. Never forget the Truth underlying all phenomena. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
236:Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
237:Never get excited, nervous or agitated. Remain perfectly calm in the face of all circumstances.
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
238:The worldly-minded never come to their senses, even though they suffer and have terrible experiences. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
239:To me a book is a message from the gods to mankind; or, if not, should never be published at all.
~ Aleister Crowley,#KEYS
240:The world is a great book, of which they that never stir from home read only a page. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
241:The disciple should never complain about his own guru. One must obey implicitly whatever his guru says. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
242:We imagine that we will realize that Self some time, whereas we are never anything but the Self. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
243:Energy distributes itself, but never really dissipates itself. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, Heraclitus - V, #KEYS
244:It is never in vain that an ardent and sincere prayer is addressed to the Divine's Grace.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
245:Nobility is for each man within him; only he never thinks of seeking for it within. ~ Meng-Tse II 5.17, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
246:The ideal never yet was real made. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Gospel of Death and Vanity of the Ideal, #KEYS
247:I never knew a sorrow that an hour of reading could not assuage, a great man had once said. Let's put it to the test. ~ Anna Gavalda, Hunting and Gathering, #KEYS
248:Many who have learned from Hesiod the countless names of gods and monsters never understand that night and day are one ~ Heraclitus, #KEYS
249:The real individuality is that which never changes and will never change; and that is the God within us. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
250:A witch ought never be frightened in the darkest forest, because she should be sure that the most terrifying thing in the forest was her.
~ Terry Pratchett,#KEYS
251:By policy, LISP has never really catered to mere mortals. And, of course, mere mortals have never really forgiven LISP for not catering to them. ~ Larry Wall, #KEYS
252:I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all. ~ Alfred Tennyson,#KEYS
253:The worldy-minded person can never be fired with enthusiasm, though God be preached to him innumerable times. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
254:We can never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before whom the angels tremble. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
255:The eternal Truth shall never be attained by him who is not entirely truthful in his speech. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
256:Brahman, the Absolute, has never been defiled, for no one, as yet, has been able to express it by human speech. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
257:How to harmonize the world and God: Be in the world, but always remember Him and never go astray from His path. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
258:Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. ~ The Buddha, #KEYS
259:When setting out on a journey, do not seek advice from those who have never left home. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
260:The only saint is that soul that never weakens, faces everything, and determines to die game. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. I. 479), #KEYS
261:If we are always demanding something out of life, then we will never be content. But if we accept life as it is, then we will know contentment." ~ Thich Thien-An, #KEYS
262:In the bosom of Time God without beginning becomes what He has never been in all eternity. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
263:Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there.
~ Robert Heinlein, JOB: A Comedy of Justice, (1984).,#KEYS
264:The sage is never alone... he bears in himself the Lord of all things. My Blessings.
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 21 September,#KEYS
265:A teacher never falls short of the wisdom of life, Divine Wisdom, which is superior to the wisdom taught in books. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
266:If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." ~ Bear Bryant, #KEYS
267:Consciousness can never be understood in relative terms. Therefore, there is nothing to be 'done' about it. All is Consciousness and we are That. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
268:The ant loses its life in the syrup but never leaves it. So the Bhakta cleaves unto God forever and leaves all else ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
269:When he says: 'Rejoice, O barren woman who never bore a child,' he is speaking of us, for our Church was barren until children were given her. ~ 2nd century sermon, #KEYS
270:In samadhi, the self is merged in the Universal Soul, never to come back -- this is the case with ordinary devotees. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
271:Two there are who are never satisfied -- the lover of the world and the lover of knowledge. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
272:Whether you can meditate properly or not, never give up the practice. Japa leads one to a state of meditation and meditation results in samadhi. ~ Swami Vijnanananda, #KEYS
273:But there is never any end when one has loved. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Meditations of Mandavya, #KEYS
274:Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.
~ Homer, The Illiad,#KEYS
275:I am the mother of the wicked, as I am the mother of the virtuous. Never fear. Whenever you are in distress, just say to yourself 'I have a mother.' ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
276:Never relax, for you will not attain to the possession of true spiritual delights if first you do not learn to deny your every desire. ~ Saint John of the Cross, [T5], #KEYS
277:There never was a struggle or a battle that required greater valor than that in which a man forgets or denies himself. ~ Meister Eckhart, #KEYS
278:There never was a time when the Self was not. Do not make it complicated for yourself. Simply return to what you were by letting go of everything else. ~ Robert Adams, #KEYS
279:Science and Philosophy are never entirely dispassionate and disinterested. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Reason as Governor of Life, #KEYS
280:When going through spiritual exercises do not associate with those who never concern themselves with matters spiritual. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
281:How can the intellect, which can never reach the Self, be competent to ascertain the final state of Realization? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
282:The thing is you have to fight the whole time. You can't stop. Otherwise you just end up somewhere, bobbing in the middle of a life you never wanted. ~ Alexander Maksik, #KEYS
283:God can never be believed to have left the kingdoms of men, their dominations and servitudes, outside of the laws of His providence. ~ Saint Augustine, City of God 5.11), #KEYS
284:I have a sweet little Mother
Who lives in my heart;
We are so happy together,
We shall never part.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
285:We must never forget that our goal is to manifest the Supramental Reality. With my blessings
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 25 May, [T5],#KEYS
286:God never does withdraw; His works come to no halt;
If you don't feel His force, yourself must be at fault. ~ Angelus Silesius, Selections from The Cherubinic Wanderer,#KEYS
287:After one has reached perfection, one becomes incapable of doing anything wrong. A perfect dancer never makes a wrong step. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
288:When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty........ but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
~ R Buckminster Fuller,#KEYS
289:Without Socialism democracy would remain a tendency that never reached its fulfilment. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Caste and Democracy, #KEYS
290:Mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom.
~ Plato,#KEYS
291:Never to be heedless of one's own perfect pure Self is the acme of yoga, wisdom and all forms of spiritual practice. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
292:If he who sets out on this way will not engage himself wholly and completely, he will never be free from the sadness and melancholy which weigh him down. ~ Attar of Nishapur, #KEYS
293:A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
~ Bertrand Russell,#KEYS
294:Do not permit the events of your daily lives to bind you, but never withdraw yourselves from them. Only by acting thus can you earn the title of 'A Liberated One' " ~ Huang Po, #KEYS
295:Have great confidence in God's goodness and mercy, and He will never abandon you; but don't neglect to embrace His holy cross because of this. ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
296:Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul, which sometimes helps me and sometimes opposes me. ~ Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, #KEYS
297:Our personality is never the same; it is a constant mutation and various combination. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Modes of the Self, #KEYS
298:Taoism is a way of liberation, which never comes by means of revolution, since it is notorious that most revolutions establish worse tyrannies than they destroy." ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
299:The Grace will never fail us - such is the faith we must keep constantly in our heart. With my blessings
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, 10 May,#KEYS
300:The worldly will never realize their situation fully unless you can wean them from the objects of their attachments and desire. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
301:At the site of Narendra, I am drunken with joy. Never have I asked him, "Who is your father?" or "How many houses have you got?" ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
302:The soul is its own witness, the soul is its own refuge. Never despise thy soul, that supreme witness in men. ~ Laws of Manu, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
303:Don't be discouraged if you have to work hard to reap little. If you thought about how much a single soul cost Jesus, you would never complain!" ~ Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, #KEYS
304:God dwells in a Light, to which a road is wanting. He who does not become That himself, will never see It. ~ Angelus Silesius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
305:Perform all your worldly duties with your hands, never forgetting to repeat and glorify the name of the Lord with all your heart. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
306:For never in this world can hate be appeased by hate: hatred is vanquished only by love,-that is the eternal law. ~ Dhammapada, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
307:A real prayer will never contain any suggestions, instructions or demands. In real prayer you bow down, surrender and declare your helplessness to the Lord. ~ MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI, #KEYS
308:Accept that you will never be perfect, life will always have challenges, and other people will sometimes disappoint you. Acceptance is the first step toward peace." ~ Lori Deschene, #KEYS
309:Almost everything that I've ever worried about has never happened." ~ Ian Tucker, English author, wrote "Your Simple Path: Find happiness in every step,", (2014), etc. More quotes:, #KEYS
310:Let us never lose sight of this, my brothers, that when we depart from sincerity, we depart from the Truth. ~ Antoine the Healer, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
311:Man should never cease to believe that the incomprehensible can be comprehended; otherwise he would give up his search. ~ Goethe, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
312:The true devotee, firm in his faith, though he may be surrounded by all the impurities of the world, never loses his faith and love. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
313:For it is an ancient and a true saying, Never shall hate be vanquished by hate, only by love is hatred extinguished. ~ Udanavaryu, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
314:I am never far from those with faith, or even from those without it, though they do not see me. My children will always, always, be protected by my compassion. ~ Guru Rinpoche, [T5], #KEYS
315:Knowledge can never be created, it can only be discovered; and every man who makes a great discovery is inspired. ~ Swami Vivekananda, (C.W. VII. 39), #KEYS
316:Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset. ~ Saint Francis de Sales, #KEYS
317:If you understand that this 'ego' never at any time had any existence outside your imagination, you will not be concerned about ways and means of getting rid of it. ~ Annamalai Swami, #KEYS
318:It is God who constantly inspires thought and sentiment in the heart of devotees, that is why they never lack in what is new and wise. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
319:I wish I had never been born," she said. "What are we born for?" "For infinite happiness," said the Spirit. "you can step out into it at any moment..." ~ C S Lewis, The Great Divorce, #KEYS
320:Never stop working on your statue until the divine glory of virtue shines out on you, until you see self-mastery enthroned upon its holy seat. ~ Plotinus, [T5], #KEYS
321:The hired preachers of all sects, creeds, and religions, never do, and never can, teach any thing but what is in conformity with the opinions of those who pay them." ~ Frances Wright, #KEYS
322:Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #KEYS
323:Looking at you from within the Self, I never leave you.
How can this fact be known to your externalised vision? ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Padamalai, 37,#KEYS
324:To say God is devoid of love and joy is an absurdity, which proves one has never realized the Supreme Being, the fountain of eternal love. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
325:Look upon all women as your own mother. Never look at the face of a woman, but look towards her feet. All evil thoughts will then fly away. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
326:Of luxury, the Sattvic devotee has none, either in food or dress, no show in his house of furniture and never seeking to rise in this world ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
327:Attachment for the Divine wraps itself around the Divine and finds all its support in Him so as to be sure never to leave Him. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, #KEYS
328:You must never rest content with the pleasure of laya experienced when thought is quelled but must press on until all duality ceases. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
329:You will never succeed by argument, convincing another of their error. When the grace of God descends, each one understands his own mistakes. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
330:Christ is never conquered. … He hath conquered in thy behalf, and he hath conquered for thee, and he hath conquered in thee. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
331:He has so many creations, and yet He never forgets me, but I only have One Creator, and I've forgotten him countless of times." ~ Saadi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
332:Like the waves of a river that flow slowly on and return never back, the days of human life pass and come not back again. ~ Buddhist Texts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
333:Never ignore a person who loves you, cares for you, and misses you. Because one day, you might wake up from your sleep and realize that you lost the moon while counting the stars. ~ Nico Lang, #KEYS
334:Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. ~ Bertrand Russell, Fact and Fiction, #KEYS
335:If you are never parted from the aspiring resolve to attain awak- ening, wherever you are born-whether above, below, or on the same level-you will not forget the thought of awakening. ~ Asanga, #KEYS
336:Our Lady's love is like a stream that has its source in the Eternal Fountains, quenches the thirst of all, can never be drained, and ever flows back to its Source. ~ Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, #KEYS
337:Out, out with the mind and its candle flares,
Light, light the suns that never die. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Musa Spiritus,#KEYS
338:The mind is a clear and polished mirror and our continual duty is to keep it pure and never allow dust to accumulate upon it. ~ Hindu Saying, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
339:Men never commit bad actions with more coolness and assurance in their rectitude than when they do them by virtue of a false belief. ~ Pascal, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
340:Whoever has once felt the glory of God within him can never again believe that the intellect is supreme. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, The Glory of God in Man, #KEYS
341:One cannot be guileless without a great deal of spiritual discipline in previous births. A hypocritical and calculating mind can never attain God. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
342:What appears bad to you, may bear a lot of good within it which you do not see. You never know until the end. ~ Shaykh Muhammad Al - Yaqoubi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
343:Just as a screen is never agitated by the drama in a movie, so being aware or awareness itself is never disturbed by the content of experience." ~ Rupert Spria "Being Aware of Being Aware", (2017), #KEYS
344:Stand firm like a rock in your own faith. Be always watchful, cheerful and faithful to your Ideal. Be brave and true and unselfish. Never fear and never look back, but move on. ~ SWAMI PARAMANANDA, #KEYS
345:There is a need within the soul of man
The splendours of the surface never sate. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, The Greater Plan,#KEYS
346:God has set apart India as the eternal fountain-head of holy spirituality, and He will never suffer that fountain to run dry. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Swaraj, #KEYS
347:Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.
~ Henry David Thoreau,#KEYS
348:Be very meditative. Do not lose your time and energy. Live well; prove your life well. Behave yourself most spiritually. Life is short. Now or never. Don't lose opportunity. ~ SWAMI TRIGUNATITANANDA, #KEYS
349:That which distinguishes from others the upright man, is that he never pollutes the genius within him which dwells in his heart. ~ Marcus Aurelius, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
350:I carry the fire that never can be quenched.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 07.04 - The Triple Soul-Forces,#KEYS
351:Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you. ~ George R.R. Martin, #KEYS
352:Never lose hope, my heart, miracles dwell in the invisible. If the whole world turns against you keep your eyes on the Friend." ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
353:All the sacred Scriptures of the world have become corrupted, but the Ineffable or Absolute has never been corrupted, because no one has ever been able to express It in human speech. ~ Sri Ramakrishna?, #KEYS
354:There are people that can't go to Fantastica. There are those who can but never return. And there are just a few who go to Fantastica and come back. And they make both worlds well again. ~ Michael Ende, #KEYS
355:What then is the duty of the citizen? Never to consider his particular interest, never to calculate as if he were an isolated individual. ~ Epictetus, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
356:If you want your relationship to last, never, never, never, ever threaten the relationship itself." ~ Tony Robbins, (born 1960) an American author, entrepreneur, philanthropist and life coach, Wikipedia., #KEYS
357:It is no use excusing yourself; you must have the will never to fall back into the faults you have committed.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Difficulties, Mistakes, [T5],#KEYS
358:The best kind of comedy to me is when you make people laugh at things they've never laughed at, and also take a light into the darkened corners of people's minds, exposing them to the light. ~ Bill Hicks, #KEYS
359:This is where suffering ensues. You take the world to be real and you react to this world but you're reacting to a dream. And as long as you keep reacting to this world you'll never awaken. ~ Robert Adams, #KEYS
360:Those who are not happy internally can never be happy externally; those who are not happy within themselves can never make others happy. Those who do not love themselves can never love others. ~ SWAMI RAMA, #KEYS
361:Between the poles of the conscious and the unconscious, there has the mind made a swing:
Thereon hang all beings and all worlds, and that swing never ceases its sway. (pg. 16) ~ Kabir,#KEYS
362:Lord, I beg you in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and my God, give me a love that cannot stumble so that my lamp can be lit but can never go out: let it burn in me and give light to others. ~ Columbanus, #KEYS
363:Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid it will never begin…." ~ Grace Hanson [Grace Hanson is one of the protagonists on "Grace and Frankie." She is portrayed by Jane Fonda. For more of her quotes see:, #KEYS
364:The mind is a clear and polished mirror and our continual duty is to keep it pure and never allow dust to gather upon its face. ~ Saving of the School of Zen, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
365:For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over again. ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald, #KEYS
366:God is not to be reached by the weak. Never be weak. You have infinite strength within you. How else will you conquer anything? How else will you come to God? ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
367:
Sweet Mother, how does one do Yoga?
Be wholly sincere, never try to deceive others. And try never to deceive yourself. Blessings.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
368:Liberty is a goddess who is exacting in her demands on her votaries, but, if they are faithful, she never disappoints them of their reward. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, The Elections, #KEYS
369:Life-Self
Such is the life earth's travail has conceived,
A constant stream that never is the same. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Debate of Love and Death,#KEYS
370:The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle. ~ Stephen King, Night Shift, #KEYS
371:When desire or anger arise, the weakest practitioners immediately blame the outside world, and never practice. While the strongest practitioners immediately look inside, and always practice. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
372:He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely." ~ Saint Catherine of Siena, #KEYS
373:Not Stopping To Mark The Trail :::
Not stopping to mark the trail,
let me push even deeper
into the mountain!
Perhaps there's a place
where bad news can never reach me! ~ Saigyo,#KEYS
374:Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has obtained a level of civilization and never before achieved. ~ Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, #KEYS
375:He who always thinks himself as weak will never become strong, but he who knows himself to be a lion, rushes out from the worlds meshes, as a lion from its cage. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
376:You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge." ~ Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance), #KEYS
377:He who meditates well attains power to work more efficiently. He is never tired, because his energy is not mis-spent in any way; he is never annoyed nor worried, he is not attached to anything. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
378:se man is never less alone than when he is alone." ~ Jonathan Swift, (1667-1745), an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric, became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, Wikipedia., #KEYS
379:As a matter of fact, our age is no more insecure than any other. Poverty, disease, war, change and death are nothing new. In the best of times "security" has never been more than temporary and apparent. ~ Alan Watts, #KEYS
380:Someone who knew nothing but creatures never need to attend to any sermons for every creature is full of God and is a book. ~ Meister Eckhart, Sermon 67 (Pf 84, Q 9, QT 10; Walshe, 345), #KEYS
381:We in this generation, must come to terms with nature, and I think we're challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves. ~ Rachel Carson, #KEYS
382:I cannot lament the loss of a love or a friendship without meditating that one loses only what one really never had.~ Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths, Selected Stories and Other Writings, #KEYS
383:Sin is said to take away some part of that good of nature, which is aptitude for grace, but sin never destroys completely the good of nature ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (QDdA a. 14ad17)., #KEYS
384:Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, 'That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again." ~ Revelation 18:21, #KEYS
385:No matter what you experience on the path, never give up. Because all of the buddhas became enlightened for you. They know your potential, and they will not stop helping until you are enlightened too. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
386:I have never heard of a Yogin who got the peace of God and turned away from it as something poor, neutral and pallid, rushing back to cakes and ale.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Poetry And Art,#KEYS
387:Never assume that anyone in this world can really understand your own circumstances other than from the perspective of his own circumstances. ~ Shaykh Ahmad al Zarruq], @Sufi_Path #KEYS
388:If we do not believe within ourselves this deeply rooted feeling that there is something higher than ourselves, we shall never find the strength to evolve into something higher. ~ Rudolf Steiner, #KEYS
389:When he says: 'Break into shouts of joy, you who never knew a mother's pangs', he means that we should not grow weary like women in labour, but tirelessly and in all simplicity offer our prayers to God. ~ 2nd century sermon, #KEYS
390:The State is a convenience, and a rather clumsy convenience, for our common development; it ought never to be made an end in itself. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Human Cycle, The Inadequacy of the State Idea, #KEYS
391:Wisdom attracts him with her luminous masks,
But never has he seen the face behind:
A giant Ignorance surrounds his lore. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Vision and the Boon,#KEYS
392:Never give up prayer, and should you find dryness and difficulty, persevere in it for this very reason. God often desires to see what love your soul has, and love is not tried by ease and satisfaction." ~ Saint John of the Cross, #KEYS
393:You are a very special person. There is only one like you in the whole world. There's never been anyone exactly like you before, and there will never be again. Only you. And people can like you exactly as you are." ~ Fred Rogers, #KEYS
394:Zen is all inclusive. It never denies, it never says no to anything. It accepts everything and transforms it into a higher reality." ~ Osho, (1931 - 1990), Indian godman, Wikipedia. Quote from "Zen the Path of Paradox,", (2001)., #KEYS
395:You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone. ~ Marcus Aurelius, #KEYS
396:Be quiet and offer yourself calmly and confidently. All that happens is always the effect of the Supreme's Will. Human action can be the occasion but never the cause.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
397:As I told you, if men do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the deluge, such as one will never have seen before." ~ Our Lady of Akita, #KEYS
398:Let us impose upon our desires the yoke of submission to reason, let them be ever calm and never bring trouble into our souls; thence result wisdom, constancy, moderation. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
399:Those who wish to attain God and progress in religious devotion, should particularly guard themselves against the snares of lust and wealth. Otherwise they can never attain perfection. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
400:Attachment to pleasure-seeking never give one peace or happiness. As much as the mind is withdrawn from sense enjoyment , that much joy will it derive. Apart from this, there is no other means of attaining peace. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
401:If India becomes an intellectual province of Europe, she will never attain to her natural greatness or fulfil the possibilities within her. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - II, Indian Resurgence and Europe, #KEYS
402:Experience never ceases to change but 'I', the knowing element in all experience, never itself changes. The knowing with which all experience is known is always the 'same' knowing." ~ Rupert Spira, "The Nature of Consciousness, (2017), #KEYS
403:On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human,#KEYS
404:God is very merciful to those whom He sees struggling heart and soul for spiritual realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His grace will never come. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
405:He, who wishes to meditate on the Lord after all his problems are solved, is like the fool, who wishes to bathe in the sea after the waves have subsided". That moment will never come. The sea will always have waves. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
406:How should you practice these instructions? Be like a hungry yak, browsing on one tuft of grass with its eyes already fixed on the next. Practice with joy and enthusiasm, and never fall into laziness or apathy. ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, #KEYS
407:In times of difficulty to stop still for a long time is a cardinal error, the best way is to move slowly forward, warily watching each step but never faltering. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin, Facts and Opinions, #KEYS
408:We must never forget that we are here to serve the Supramental Truth and Light and to prepare its manifestation in ourselves and upon the earth. With my Blessings.
~ The Mother, Mantras Of The Mother, Aug 13th,#KEYS
409:I have never counted as real possessions either treasures or palaces or the places which give us credit and put authority in our hands or the pleasures of which men are slaves. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
410:There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself. ~ Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf, #KEYS
411:When you are away from your spiritual friends, and you feel lonely on the path, and you feel a lack of encouragement to go on, just remember that all of the enlightened beings are always with you. You are never alone. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
412:If you make much of mind you make much of doubt. People are skeptics. Why? Because they make much of this little mind. But the mind never directs man properly. Go beyond the mind and you will go beyond all doubts. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
413:Never underestimate the importance of keeping your vows. Just how a castle will protect the king from being attacked by the enemy, the vows will protect your mind from being attacked by your mental afflictions. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
414:All the sacred Scriptures of the world have become corrupted, but the Ineffable or Absolute has never been corrupted, because no one has ever been able to express It in human speech. ~ id, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
415:And we too, just once. and never again. But to have been this once, completely, even if only once: to have been at one with the earth, seems beyond undoing." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke, (1875 - 1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet & novelist. Wikipedia, #KEYS
416:Even God himself obeys the Laws he made:
The Law abides and never can it change,
The Person is a bubble on Time's sea. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
417:Hold on to God even in gloom. Never miss meditation or forget to repeat the name of the Lord. Meditation is the anchorage of the soul. Meditation will purify your mind. Continue japa and meditation without losing heart. ~ Swami Saradananda, #KEYS
418:If we love God for what we can get from Him in the world, we really love the world, not God, and we can never be true devotees. The true devotee loves God just for the joy of loving Him, because God is the Beloved. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
419:The true lovers are never free from striving; they revolve restlessly and ceaselessly around the light of God. And God consumes them, making them nothing, destroying the veil of their reason. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, #KEYS
420:But when I call for a hero, out comes my lazy old self; so I never know who I am, nor how many I am or will be. I'd love to be able to touch a bell and summon the real me, because if I really need myself, I mustn't disappear. ~ Pablo Neruda, #KEYS
421:Let men blame him or praise, let fortune enter his house or go forth from it, let death come to him today or late, the man of firm mind never deviates from the straight path. ~ Bhartrihari, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
422:Grace is within you. Grace is your self. Grace is not something to be acquired from others. If it is external, it is useless. All that is necessary is to know its existence is in you. You are never out of its operation. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
423:Be very sure that a 'Great Tribulation' will occur in the world, from which the demon Lucifer will be incited against the Church; never since he was bound in hell has such anger been released." ~ The Lord to St. Margaret of Cortona (1247-1297), #KEYS
424:I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #KEYS
425:All is mute in the being, but in the bosom of the silence burns the lamp that can never be extinguished, the fire of an ardent aspiration to know and to love integrally the Divine.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
426:What is a vocation? It is a gift from God, so it comes from God. If it is a gift from God, our concern must be to know God's will. We must enter that path: if God wants, when God wants, how God wants. Never force the door." ~ Saint Gianna Molla, #KEYS
427:Peace is never easy to get in the life of the world and never constant, unless one lives deep within and bears the external activities as only a surface front of our being. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Peace, #KEYS
428:Philosophy can never prove a hindrance to the advance of empirical science. On the contrary, she traces every new discovery back to fundamental principles, and that lays the foundation for fresh discoveries. ~ Alexander von Humboldt to Schelling, #KEYS
429:such as I am, belong not to myself. ..A man should think thus, "All earth is mine," or thus, "All this belongs to others just as well as to myself;" such a man is never afflicted. ~ Mahabharata, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
430:I've never fooled anyone. I've let people fool themselves. They didn't bother to find out who and what I was. Instead they would invent a character for me. I wouldn't argue with them. They were obviously loving somebody I wasn't. ~ Marilyn Monroe, #KEYS
431:Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. ~ John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, #KEYS
432:I never feel lonely if Ive got a book - theyre like old friends. Even if youre not reading them over and over again, you know they are there. And theyre part of your history. They sort of tell a story about your journey through life
~ Emilia Fox,#KEYS
433:I've never heard anyone say 'I wish I hadn't forgiven." ~ Katerina Stoykova-Klemer, (b.1971 in Bulgaria), she immigrated to the U.S in 1995, worked as an engineer at IBM. She holds an MFA in poetry from Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky., #KEYS
434:Beware of destination addiction—a preoccupation with the idea that happiness is in the next place, the next job, and with the next partner. Until you give up the idea that happiness is somewhere else, it will never be where you are." ~ Robert Holden, #KEYS
435:Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #KEYS
436:Try your utmost never to succumb to anyone's influence. In order to become firm, calm, deeply serious, full of courage, with one's personality wholly intact, pure and holy out of one's own strength, one has to be centered in God. ~ SRI ANANDAMAYI MA, #KEYS
437:Awareness is colored by experience but is never tarnished or sullied by anything that takes place within it. Pure knowing, being aware of awareness itself is always in the same pristine condition." ~ Rupert Spira,"Being Aware of Being Aware,", (2017), #KEYS
438:I keep men's own ideals intact. But this also I say to them 'Never feel that your path alone is right and that the paths of others a wrong and full of errors. A man can realize God by following his own path if his prayer is sincere. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
439:We can never secure divine omnipotence by means of speculatively introducing the dimension of the possibilia into God! The moment one says "God can do 'everything'," [God] is no longer able to do anything! ~ Ferdinand Ulrich, Homo Abyssus B.1.7 (258), #KEYS
440:Divine happiness, even the tiniest particle of a grain of it, never leaves one again; and when one attains to the essence of things and finds one's Self-this is supreme happiness. When it is found, nothing else remains to be found. ~ Sri Anandamayi Ma, #KEYS
441:Lisp is worth learning for ... the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it. That experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use Lisp itself a lot. ~ Eric S Raymond, #KEYS
442:I've never understood how God could expect His creatures to pick the one true religion by faith - it strikes me as a sloppy way to run a universe.
~ Robert Heinlein, Jubal Harshaw in Stranger in a Strange Land, (1961).Quotes About Religion & Theology,#KEYS
443:The objective level is not words, and cannot be reached by words alone. We must point our finger and be silent, or we will never reach this level. ~ Alfred Korzybski, Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics, #KEYS
444:Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again." ~ Og Mandino, #KEYS
445:The pilgim should never be discouraged; though he should struggle for a hundred thousand years without success to behold the beauty of the Beloved, still he should not give way to despair. ~ Baha-ullah, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
446:You must never cease from calling on the Lord, and know this for certain that the Lord's name cuts through all obstacles. However it may be - be it perfectly or imperfectly - keep on repeating His name, which has a power of its own. ~ SWAMI SUBODHANANDA, #KEYS
447:There is only one sin and it is: weakness. When I was a boy, I read Milton's Paradise Lost. The only good man I had any respect for was Satan. The only saint is that person who never weakens, faces everything, and determines die game. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
448:When you're totally cooked, everything becomes like a movie. You realize that your body that appears to be a body is also a part of the movie. But you are aware that you have no body. You never had a body. Only you're able to see that now. ~ Robert Adams, #KEYS
449:Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs.
~ Albert Einstein,#KEYS
450:Serve your parents. Never let them suffer the pangs of starvation or the lack of clothing. God becomes angry with the person who fails to provide one's parents with food and clothing or causes them anguish by speaking harshly to them. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
451:You never go away from us, yet we have difficulty in returning to You. Come, Lord, stir us up and call us back. Kindle and seize us. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love. Let us run." ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
452:We're in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it's all gone." ~ Robert M. Pirsig, #KEYS
453:Harim b. Ḥayyān said, "Never does the servant turn wholeheartedly to Allāh except that Allāh turns the hearts of the believers to him, providing him with their love." ~ Al-Dhahabī, Siyar A'lām Al-Nubalā, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
454:They enter the valley of the wandering Gleam
Whence, captives or victims of the specious Ray,
Souls trapped in that region never can escape. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Entry into the Inner Countries,#KEYS
455:We are neither different nor separate from Consciousness and for that very reason, we cannot 'apprehend' it. Nor can we 'integrate' with it, because we have never been other than it. Consciousness can never be understood in relative terms. ~ Ramesh Balsekar, #KEYS
456:Never give a sword to a man who can't dance." ~ Confucius, (551-479), Chinese philosopher and politician. Emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness, and sincerity, Wikipedia., #KEYS
457:Noble be in peace, invincible, brave in the battle,
Stern and calm to thy foe, to the suppliant merciful. Mortal
Favour and wrath as thou walkst heed never ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ilion,#KEYS
458:Whosoever nourishes feelings of hatred against those who hate, will never purify himself, but one who in reply to hatred awakens love, appeases and softens those who are filled with hatred. ~ Magghima Nikaya, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
459:A warrior considers himself already dead, so there is nothing to lose. The worst has already happened to him, therefore he's clear and calm; judging him by his acts or by his words, one would never suspect that he has witnessed everything.
~ Carlos Castaneda,#KEYS
460:One must be bold enough to face everything in order to serve the Ideal. Truth can never be realized by weak-minded people. Our task in life must be done boldly. Fear none. Divinity and purity are your birthright. Have faith and struggle on. ~ SWAMI PARAMANANDA, #KEYS
461:Now get thou this, and then you shall be happy....The fact is, desire is a bottomless pit which can never fill up, or like the all-consuming fire which burns the fiercer, the more we feed it..." ~ Lakshmana Sarma, (1879-1965) Indian sage. https://bit.ly/33R3bTr, #KEYS
462:One who has not the courage to face patiently and firmly life and its difficulties will never be able to go through the still greater inner difficulties of the sadhana. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga - II, Patience and Perseverance, #KEYS
463:To think that this world is the aim and end of life is brutal and degenerating. Any man who starts in life with that idea degenerates himself He will never rise higher, he will always be a slave to the senses. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
464:If you want to be great, give up hatred. Then God's grace will descend on you. No one can become great unless God makes one great. A hateful man can never make progress. If you want to rise high up, renounce hatred. Perform good works alone. ~ Swami Adbhutananda, #KEYS
465:I see well that our intellect is never sated unless that True enlightens it outside of which no truth has space. In that it reposes, like a beast in its lair, as soon as it gains it; and gain it it can, else every desire were in vain. ~ Dante, Paradiso 4.129-131, #KEYS
466:The Divine is the sure friend who never fails, the Power, the Support, the Guide. The Divine is the Light which scatters darkness, the conqueror who assures the victory.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You, [T3],#KEYS
467:Never allow yourself to believe that something's wrong in your life. Catch it before it starts. And say to yourself: "I am effortless, choiceless, Pure Awareness." Know the truth about yourself. God has no problems. Neither do you. For you are That. ~ Robert Adams, #KEYS
468:Disease disappears not with the mere name of medicine, but by actually swallowing it. Talking of the Self, without proper realization, can never bring about liberation." ~ "Vivekachudamani" an introductory treatise within the Advaita Vedanta, 8th century, Wikipedia., #KEYS
469:Experience is never limited and it is never complete; it is an immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness and catching every airborne particle in its tissue. ~ Henry James, The Art of Fiction, #KEYS
470:He, who meditates well, attains power to work more efficiently. He is never tired, because his energy is not mis-spent in any way: he is never annoyed nor worried, he is not attached to anything. Always be calm, go on working without any fatigue. ~ Swami Akhandananda, #KEYS
471:Non-Being's night could never have been saved
If Being had not plunged into the dark
Carrying with it its triple mystic cross. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, 02.04#KEYS
472:Q: Are our prayers granted?
M:Yes, they are granted.
No thought will go in vain.
Every thought will produce its effect some time or other.
Thought-force will never go in vain. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 28-6-46,#KEYS
473:You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied... When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light. ~ Catherine of Siena, #KEYS
474:Grace is ever present, Grace is the Self, you are never but of its operation. All you have to do is to merge in the heart and surrender. All that is necessary is to know its existence. Earnest effort never fails. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
475:Have no private selfish end, but have sincere love for truth and piety, and Mother shall speak from within you. Never let go your ideal, but hold on to it with a firm grip, and you will be led rightly to the goal, which is the one and same for all. ~ Swami Turiyananda, #KEYS
476:I never dreamed that islands, about fifty or sixty miles apart, and most of them in sight of each other, formed of precisely the same rocks, placed under a quite similar climate, rising to a nearly equal height, would have been differently tenanted.
~ Charles Darwin,#KEYS
477:It would even have been better for him never to have learnt the way of holiness, than to know it and afterwards desert the holy rule that was entrusted to him. What he has done is exactly as the proverb rightly says: 'The dog goes back to his own vomit.' ~ 2 Peter 2:22, #KEYS
478:You are the traveler; you are the path; you are the destination. Be careful never to lose the way to yourself." ~ Yahya Suhaward, (1154-1191) Persian philosopher and founder of the Iranian school of Illuminationism, an important school in Islamic philosophy, Wikipedia., #KEYS
479:I have never met a man so religious and devout that he has not experienced at some time a withdrawal of grace and felt a lessening of fervor. No saint was so sublimely rapt and enlightened as not to be tempted before and after. ~ Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, #KEYS
480:The light of Christ is eternally glowing with luminous radiance and can never be extinguished by the darkness of sin. This is why John the evangelist says: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never been able to overpower it." ~ Saint Maximus of Turin, #KEYS
481:One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And, the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #KEYS
482:In mosque and church and synagogue one has the terror of hell and the seeking for Paradise, but the seed of that disquiet has never sprouted in the heart which has entered into the secrets of the Almighty. ~ Omar Khayyam, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
483:There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them." ~ Anthony de Mello, (1931 - 1987), Indian Jesuit priest. psychotherapist, spiritual teacher, Wikipedia., #KEYS
484:The thought of God is the movement of the universe: never at any time can there perish a being, that is to say, a portion of God, for God contains all beings; nothing is outside him and he is outside of nothing. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
485:You can never change things by fighting that existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes that existing model obsolete." ~ Buckminister Fuller, (1895-1983), an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist, Wikipedia., #KEYS
486:Déjà vu is more than just that fleeting moment of surprise, instantly forgotten because we never bother with things that make no sense. It show that time doesn't pass. It's a leap into something we have already experienced and that is being repeated.
~ Paulo Coelho, Aleph,#KEYS
487:The Apostles were many and to only one of them did he say Feed my sheep. May it never happen that we truly lack good shepherds! May it never happen to us! May God's loving kindness never fail to provide them! ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
488:The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning, But I did not take it. My ailment came from within myself, But I did not observe it. Until this moment. Now I see that I will never find the light Unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel.
~ Bruce Lee,#KEYS
489:As one age falls, another rises, different to mortal sight, but to immortals only the same; for we see the same characters repeated again & again, in animals, vegetables, minerals, and in men; nothing new occurs. Substance can never suffer change nor decay.
~ William Blake,#KEYS
490:Inside the body there is desire and greed; inside the mind there is doubt; inside the world there is change, there is death. Go beyond these and you will find peace and bliss. Until you go beyond them, you can never realize what peace and bliss mean. ~ Swami Ramakrishnananda, #KEYS
491:When you go through a hard period, when everything seems to oppose you, ...when you feel you cannot even bear one more minute. Never Give up! Because it is the time and place that the cause will divert. ~ Jalaluddin Rumi, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
492:A system, the 1st principle of which it is to render the mind intuitive of the spiritual… which lies on the other side of our natural consciousness… [has] a great obscurity for those who have never disciplined and strengthened this ulterior consciousness. ~ Coleridge, BL X.243, #KEYS
493:Every maker of video games knows something that the makers of curriculum don't seem to understand. You'll never see a video game being advertised as being easy. Kids who do not like school will tell you it's not because it's too hard. It's because it's--boring ~ Seymour Papert, #KEYS
494:The new attitude will be consolidated only when the individual can gradually begin to disregard his ego. As long as our thinking is exclusively self-centered the world will remain fragmented. At best the "Thou" will become visible to the "I"; but never the whole. ~ Jean Gebser, #KEYS
495:We're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for. How else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we've never even met?" ~ David Foster Wallace, (1962 - 2008) American author, wrote "Infinite Jest,", (1996) et al., Wikipedia., #KEYS
496:You may try a hundred things, but love alone will release you from yourself. So never flee from love - not even from love in an earthly guise - for it is a preparation for the supreme Truth. ~ Jami ~ Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, @Sufi_Path #KEYS
497:However hard it may try, the creature can never profane its mystery as completely as it might intend by its sin. The mystery... is never given into the creature's possession in such a way that it ceases to remain, at the same time, in God's safekeeping. ~ Hans Urs von Balthasar, #KEYS
498:Persons are never mere parts in any social whole; we never exist ... in the way in which organs and cells exist in a body. A human society is not a whole composed of parts, but rather, in the felicitous expression of Jaques Maritain, a whole composed of wholes. ~ John F. Crosby, #KEYS
499:I bow to You, Sweet Mother. Be present in me always and for ever.
Yes, I am always with you, but you must never forget to call me, for it is by calling me that the presence becomes effective. 15 December 1934 ~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother,#KEYS
500:Imagination is living, perspective is only 'lifelike'. It used to be said that the camera cannot lie. But in fact it always does lie. Just because it looks only in that immediate way, the camera looks always at and never into what it sees. ~ Owen Barfield 'The Harp & the Camera', #KEYS
501:Sometimes I would like to cry. I close my eyes. Why weren't we designed so that we can close our ears as well? (Perhaps because we would never open them.) Is there some way that I could accelerate my evolution and develop earlids?" ~ Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum, #KEYS
502:The moment that this mystery has been unveiled to thy eyes that thou art no other than Allah, thou shalt know that thou a it thine own end and aim and that thou hast never ceased and canst never cease to be. ~ Mohyddin-ibu-arabi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
503:The supreme task of culture is to take possession of one's transcendental self, to be truly the self of the self...Without a complete intelligence of oneself one will never learn to understand others aright. ~ Novalis, Fragments, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
504:What is the goal of spiritual practices? It is to realize God, to attain Divine grace. The practices are meant to clear the heart of all the impurities brought there by lust & greed. Unless this is done, you can never reach your goal, however much you may try. ~ SWAMI BRAHMANANDA, #KEYS
505:Beloved, we shd never forget that we have renounced the world. We are living here now as aliens and only for a time. When the day of our homecoming puts an end to our exile, frees us from the world's bonds, and restores us to paradise and to a kingdom, we shd welcome it. ~ Cyprian, #KEYS
506:It was their vocation to call sinners to repentance, to heal those who were sick whether in body or spirit, to seek in all their dealings never to do their own will but the will of him who sent them, and as far as possible to save the world by their teaching. ~ Cyril of Alexandria, #KEYS
507:Sadhana never enlightens you. It makes you one-pointed in your quest for realization. It makes you compassionate. It develops humility, power. It transcends all fear. And when you get to that point, the inner guru grabs a hold of your mind & yanks it into the heart. ~ Robert Adams, #KEYS
508:Whenever your thoughts dwell on the past, do not become angry with yourself. Leave them alone. Do not observe them. Do not watch them. Do not be the witness to them. Just leave them alone. They will disappear of their own volition, because they never existed. ~ Robert Adams, T 191, #KEYS
509:Speak w/ prudence to avoid falling into sin as by excess of talking. When you sit in your house, speak to yourself as if you were a judge. When you walk along the way, speak so as never to be idle. You speak along the way if you speak in Christ, for Christ is the way. ~ Saint Ambrose, #KEYS
510:The ego says 'I will,' the self says 'thou shalt.' In that sense everybody should be aware of the warrior in his own self, accept his superior insight as a 'thou shalt' & never as 'I will.' If the latter is true you are in danger of an inflation ~ Carl Jung, Zarathustra Seminars, 568, #KEYS
511:To be an artist ~ actually, to be a human being in these times ~ it's all difficult. … What matters is to know what you want and pursue it. Life is like a roller coaster. It's never going to be perfect ~ it is going to have perfect moments, and then rough spots, but it's all worth it., #KEYS
512:The everyday practice is simply to develop a complete acceptance and openness to all situations and emotions, and to all people, experiencing everything totally without mental reservations and blockages, so that one never withdraws or centralizes into oneself. ~ Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, #KEYS
513:New scientific ideas never spring from a communal body, however organized, but rather from the head of an individually inspired researcher who struggles with his problems in lonely thought and unites all his thought on one single point which is his whole world for the moment. ~ Max Planck, #KEYS
514:However industrious you may be, there is no end to worldly activities; but if you practice the Dharma You will swiftly conclude everything.
However nice they may seem, Samsaric affairs always end in disaster; but the fruits of practicing the Dharma Will never deteriorate. ~ Padmasambhava,#KEYS
515:Yes, yes; you've read thousands of books but you've never tried to read your own self; you rush into your temples, into your mosques, but you have never tried to enter your own heart; futile are all your battles with the devil for you have never tried to fight your own desires. ~ Bulleh Shah, #KEYS
516:It doesn't occur to me at this moment to say more; another time, perhaps tomorrow, I may have more to say, but always the same thing and about the same, for only gypsies, robber gangs and swindlers follow the adage that where a person has once been he is never to go again. ~ Soren Kierkegaard, #KEYS
517:No matter how insignificant you feel, no matter what problems you have, and no matter how many afflictive emotions fill your mind, never underestimate your potential for a single moment. Like a diamond covered by dirt, your buddha nature is there, waiting to be discovered. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
518:If Mind is all, renounce the hope of bliss;
If Mind is all, renounce the hope of Truth.
For Mind can never touch the body of Truth
And Mind can never see the soul of God; ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real,#KEYS
519:Money is such a thing that one develops an attachment for it, if one is associated with it for long! You may think that you have no attachment for it. Oh, no! Never harbour such an idea in your mind. Money will find its way somehow to grip you unawares by the neck, as it were ~ Sri Sarada Devi, #KEYS
520:We shall merge into the One from whom we came. The True One is pervading each and every heart. He Himself unites us in Union with Himself; the True Mansion of His Presence is close at hand. With each and every breath, I dwell upon You; I shall never forget You.
~ Guru Nanak, Guru Granth Sahib,#KEYS
521:We should always try to see the duty of others through their own eyes, and never judge the customs of other peoples by our own standard. I am not the standard of the universe. I have to accommodate myself to the world, and not the world to me. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
522:Gravity may put the planets into motion, but without the divine Power, it could never put them into such a circulating motion as they have about the Sun; and therefore, for this as well as other reasons, I am compelled to ascribe the frame of this System to an intelligent Agent.
~ Isaac Newton,#KEYS
523:And I, a materialist who does not believe in the starry heaven promised to a human being, for this dog and for every dog I believe in heaven, yes, I believe in a heaven that I will never enter, but he waits for me wagging his big fan of a tail so I, soon to arrive, will feel welcomed. ~ Pablo Neruda, #KEYS
524:That which differentiates one thing from another is time, space, and causation.
The differentiation is in the form, not in the substance.
You may destroy the form and it disappears for ever; but the substance remains the same. You can never destroy the substance. ~ Swami Vivekananda,#KEYS
525:In the happy days of La Ronde, a dashing but penniless young Austrian officer tried to obtain the favours of a fashionable courtesan. To shake off this unwanted suitor, she explained to him that her heart was, alas, no longer free. He replied politely: Mademoiselle, I never aimed as high as that. ~ ?, #KEYS
526:Jul 16 There is infinite strength in you. Never lose faith in yourself, my boy; God is in you. And His grace too. He is gracious to all. … Have faith, therefore; have firm faith in Him. Work hard with unshakable determination, and He will give you all knowledge. Strive unceasingly.~ Swami Brahmananda, #KEYS
527:The soiled mirror reflects never the sunbeams, and the unclean and impure heart which is subjected to Maya, can never perceive the glory of the Eternal. But the pure in heart sees the Eternal, even as the clear mirror reflects the sun. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
528:The stuff of the universe, woven in a single piece according to one and the same system, but never repeating itself from one point to another, represents a single figure. Structurally it forms a Whole. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man (1959), #KEYS
529:19. Ever dost thou crush the demon-sorcerer, O Fire, never have the Rakshasas conquered thee in the battles; burn one by one from their roots the eaters of raw flesh, may they find no release from thy divine missile. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Hymns To The Mystic Fire, 2 - Other Hymns, #KEYS
530:Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Maya. Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how many times you fail. Never mind. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
531:Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come." ~ Anonymous, The Bible, Revelation, 4:8, https://biblehub.com/revelation/4-8.htm #KEYS
532:The work of eternity is the world, which has not been produced once for all but is always produced by eternity. Thus it will never perish, for eternity is imperishable, and nothing is lost in the world because the world is enveloped in eternity. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
533:A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the 'why' for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any 'how'.
~ Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning,#KEYS
534:As St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) taught, whatever we say about God is more unlike God than saying nothing. If we do say something, it can only be a pointer toward the Mystery that can never be articulated in words. All that words can do is point in the direction of the Mystery. ~ Thomas Keating, On Prayer, #KEYS
535:Studying the dharma is a vital part of our path. But if we never practice what we have studied, it is as if we have built a great ship, and then left it on dry land. The ship must set sail. That is the only way that we can cross the ocean of samsara to the enlightened state of a buddha. ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche, #KEYS
536:One among many thousands never touched,
Engrossed in the external world's design,
Is chosen by a secret witness Eye
And driven by a pointing hand of Light ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Yoga of the King, The Yoga of the Spirit's Freedom and Greatness,#KEYS
537:The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! ~ Charlie Chaplin, #KEYS
538:The Self is not attached to anything. Pleasure, pain, sinfulness, righteousness, etc., can never affect the Self in any way; but they can affect those who identify themselves with the body, as smoke can blacken only the wall but not the space enclosed within it. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
539:It is effort and work that lead to effortlessness and freedom of the spirit when the mind has become purified enough to let Grace take over. We are never out of its operation, but earnest effort is necessary to know its existence. Such effort never fails. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #KEYS
540:Never to cause pain by thought, word or act to any living being is what is meant by innocence. Than this there is no higher virtue. There is no greater happiness than that of the man who has reached this attitude of good will towards all creation. ~ Vivekananda, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
541:You are asking, "Who am I?" and you are not going to get an answer, because the one who will get the answer is false. You may have an idea, a concept, and you will think you have found yourself, but it is only a concept; you can never see your Self. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
542:fifthly, of those who are united to Him in potentiality, which will never be reduced to act; such are those men existing in the world, who are not predestined, who, however, on their departure from this world, wholly cease to be members of Christ ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (ST 3.8.3)., #KEYS
543:Look not so deeply into words and letters; for this Mystery hath been hidden by the Alchemists. Compose the sevenfold into a fourfold regimen; and when thou hast understood thou mayest make symbols; but by playing child's games with symbols thou shalt never understand. ~ Aleister Crowley, #KEYS
544:We have to realize that science is a double-edged sword. One edge of the sword can cut against poverty, illness, disease and give us more democracies, and democracies never war with other democracies, but the other side of the sword could give us nuclear proliferation, biogerms and even forces of darkness. ~ Michio Kaku, #KEYS
545:If God is Love, He is, by definition, something more than mere kindness. And it appears, from all the records, that though He has often rebuked us and condemned us, He has never regarded us with contempt. He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
546:You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
547:Aug 6 The Divine Mother is the power of all causation. She energizes every cause unmistakably to produce the effect. Her will is the only law, and as She cannot make a mistake, nature's laws--Her will--can never be changed. She is the life of the law of karma, or causation.~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
548:However much you may try, without God's grace nothing can be attained; He cannot be realized without grace. But Divine grace descends not so easily. You shall have to banish your ego completely from the heart. If you have the egoistic feeling: I am the doer, you can never see Go ~ Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
549:Spirituality can never be attained unless all material ideas are given up.. What is in the senses? The senses are all delusion. People wish to retain them [in heaven] even after they are dead — a pair of eyes, a nose. Some imagine they will have more organs than they have now.~ Swami Vivekananda, #KEYS
550:If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!
~ Soren Kierkegaard,#KEYS
551:If we walk in the path of true wisdom avoiding the two errors (asceticism and mortifications and the sensual life) we shall attain to the highest perfection. If religion consisted solely in mortifications and asceticism, it could never lead n.; to Peace. ~ Fo-sho-hing-san king, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
552:It has often and confidently been asserted, that man's origin can never be known: but ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. ~ Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, #KEYS
553:It's not all bad. Heightened self-consciousness, apartness, an inability to join in, physical shame and self-loathing~they are not all bad. Those devils have been my angels. Without them I would never have disappeared into language, literature, the mind, laughter and all the mad intensities that made and unmade me. ~ Stephen Fry, #KEYS
554:We can consider the process of healthy growth to be a never ending series of free choice situations, confronting each individual at every point throughout his life, in which he must choose between the delights of safety and growth, dependence and independence, regression and progression, immaturity and maturity. ~ Abraham Maslow, #KEYS
555:I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in life. And I am horribly limited. ~ Sylvia Plath, #KEYS
556:In The Morning :::
In the morning, bowing to all;
In the evening, bowing to all.
Respecting others is my only duty--
Hail to the Never-despising Bodhisattva.
In heaven and earth he stands alone.
A real monk
Needs
Only one thing--
a heart like
Never-despising Buddha. ~ Taigu Ryokan,#KEYS
557:Some people read books in order to find God. Yet there is great book, the very appearance of created things. Look above you; look below you! Note it; read it! God, whom you wish to find, never wrote that book with ink. He set before your eyes the things He had made. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
558:No little part of the torment of existence lies in this, that time is continually pressing upon us, never letting us take breath, but always coming after us, like a taskmaster with a whip. If at any moment time stays his hand, it is only when we are delivered over to the misery of boredom. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, Studies in Pessimism, #KEYS
559:Whosoever desireth salvation hath no expectation from man, but from him alone who dwelleth in him inwardly and from within the voice speaketh to him; then is he astonished that such words he hath never heard from any mouth, nor hath ever desired to hear them. ~ Epistle of St. Barnabas, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
560:Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. ~ Steve Jobs, #KEYS
561:Young women... you are, in my opinion, disgracefully ignorant. You have never made a discovery of any sort of importance. You have never shaken an empire or led an army into battle. The plays by Shakespeare are not by you, and you have never introduced a barbarous race to the blessings of civilization. What is your excuse? ~ Virginia Woolf, #KEYS
562:In fact, one of the most cherished goals of the command line is laziness- doing the most work with the fewest keystrokes. Another goal is never having to lift your fingers from the keyboard-never reaching for the mouse. In this chapter, we will look at bash features that make keyboard use faster and more efficient.
~ The Linux Command Line,#KEYS
563:The great teachers say that forgetfulness is the root of all evil, and is death for those who seek release;10 so one should rest the mind in one's Self and should never forget the Self: this is the aim. If the mind is controlled, all else can be controlled. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Self-Enquiry, 34, [T5], #KEYS
564:There's never been a true war that wasn't fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous. ~ Mr. Wednesday in American Gods by Neil Gaiman, #KEYS
565:One need only open the eyes to see that the conquests of industry which have enriched so many practical men would never have seen the light, if these practical men alone had existed and if they had not been preceded by unselfish devotees who died poor, who never thought of utility, and yet had a guide far other than caprice. (417) ~ Henri Poincare, #KEYS
566:The thought came over me that never would one full and absolute moment, containing all the others, justify my life, that all of my instants would be provisional phases, annihilators of the past turned to face the future, and that beyond the episodic, the present, the circumstantial, we were nobody.
~ Jorge Luis Borges,#KEYS
567:Man is in truth a compound of eternity and time. The more he is attached to temporal things and rests in them, the farther he grows from things eternal; they seem to him petty, just as great objects appear small when we see them from a distance, and he can never attain to real peace. ~ J. Tauler: Institutions, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
568:They were bewildered, unhappy children-he thought-all of them, even his mother, and he was foolish to resent their ineptitude; it came from their helplessness, not from malice. It was he who had to make himself learn to understand them, since he had so much to give, since they could never share his sense of joyous, boundless power.
~ Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged,#KEYS
569:To be humble means for the mind, the vital and the body never to forget that without the Divine they know nothing, are nothing and can do nothing; without the Divine they are nothing but ignorance, chaos and impotence. The Divine alone is Truth, Life, Power, Love, Felicity.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, Purity and Humility, 152,#KEYS
570:God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is afoot. Magic is alive. Alive is afoot. Magic never died. God never sickened. Many poor men lied. Many sick men lied. Magic never weakened. Magic never hid. Magic always ruled. God is afoot. God was ruler though his funeral lengthened. Though his mourners thickened Magic never fled... ~ Leonard Cohen, #KEYS
571:We shall labour to our last sigh, we shall never cease from contri buting to the common good, serving every individual, helping even our enemies, exercising our talents and our industry. We know not an age destined to repose and, like the heroes of whom Virgil tells, our hair grows white under the helmet. ~ Seneca, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
572:The presence of a thought is like the presence of our beloved. We imagine we shall never forget this thought, and that this loved one could never be indifferent to us. But out of sight out of mind! The finest thought runs the risk of being irrevocably forgotten if it is not written down, and the dear one of being forsaken if we do not marry her. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer, #KEYS
573:They say an elephant never forgets. Well, you are not an elephant. Take notes, constantly. Save interesting thoughts, quotations, films, technologies...the medium doesn't matter, so long as it inspires you. When you're stumped, go to your notes like a wizard to his spellbook. Mash those thoughts together. Extend them in every direction until they meet. ~ Aaron Koblin, #KEYS
574:But the actual touch of her lingered, inside his heart. That remained. In all the years of his life ahead, the long years without her, with never seeing her or hearing from her or knowing anything about her, if she was alive or happy or dead or what, that touch stayed locked within him, sealed in himself, and never went away. That one touch of her hand. ~ Philip K Dick, #KEYS
575:One of two things must be done. Either surrender because you admit your inability and require a higher power to help you, or investigate the cause of misery by going to the source and merging into the Self. Either way you will be free from misery. God never forsakes one who has surrendered. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Surpassing Love and Grace, #KEYS
576:The piling on of more concepts, this acquisition of additional knowledge, is not the solution. Adding to the known can never take one beyond the known.
At every moment of your life you know what you need to know. Take it to be sufficient.
True knowledge comes via direct apperception and this cannot be forced.
It arrives in its own time Now, be still. ~ Wu Hsin,#KEYS
577:Perhaps some of you have had relations with that Mahakali. She does not avenge herself, she never does harm to those who love her, she does not strike with epidemics the countries which do not show her sufficient respect and consideration. But she likes violence, she likes war and her justice is crushing. ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1950-1951, #KEYS
578:And this tie between you and me is never cut. There are people who have long ago left the Ashram, in a state of revolt, and yet I keep myself informed of them, I attend to them. You are never abandoned. In truth, I hold myself responsible for everyone, even for those whom I have met only for one second in my life.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I,#KEYS
579:Who in the Sun-capped Vast cradles his birth:
Hiranyagarbha, author of thoughts and dreams,
Who sees the invisible and hears the sounds
That never visited a mortal ear,
Discoverer of unthought realities
Truer to Truth than all ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Eternal Day, The Soul's Choice and the Supreme Consummation,#KEYS
580:Give me yourself, O my God, give yourself back to me. Lo, I love you, but if my love is too mean, let me love more passionately. I cannot gauge my love, nor know how far it fails, how much more love I need for my life to set its course straight into your arms, never swerving until hidden in the covert of your face. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
581:If thou remain in isolation, thou shalt never be able to travel the path of the spirit; a guide is needed. Go not alone by thyself, enter not as a blind man into that ocean...Since thou art utterly ignorant what thou shouldst do to issue out of the pit of this world, how shalt thou dispense with a sure guide? ~ Attar of Nishapur, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
582:A certain amount of purification is necessary before there can be any realisation of the Divine and that is what has been going on in you. It is after all not a very long time since the real purification began and it is never an easy work. So the impatience may be natural, but it is not exactly reasonable. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II, Purity, #KEYS
583:Give yourself entirely to the Divine and you will see the end of all your troubles.
Never say, "I have nothing to give to the Divine." There is always something to give, for always you can give yourself in a better and more complete way.
There is always something to give, for always you can give yourself in a better and more complete way. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
584:Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived. ~ Dalai Lama XIV, #KEYS
585:Never forget that you are not alone. The Divine is with you helping and guiding you. He is the companion who never fails, the friend whose love comforts and strengthens. The more you feel lonely, the more you are ready to perceive His luminous Presence. Have faith and He will do everything for you.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II, The Divine Is with You, [T5],#KEYS
586:Quoting Dudjom Rinpoche on the buddha-nature: No words can describe it No example can point to it Samsara does not make it worse Nirvana does not make it better It has never been born It has never ceased It has never been liberated It has never been deluded It has never existed It has never been nonexistent It has no limits at all It does not fall into any kind of category ~ Sogyal Rinpoche, #KEYS
587:And before thee she shall open wide the portals of her secret chambers and under thy eyes she shall lay bare the treasures hidden in the deeps of her bosom. But she shows not her treasures save to the eye of the spirit, the eve which is never closed, the eye which is met by no veil in any of the kingdoms of her empire. ~ Book of Golden Precepts, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
588:Surely, my child, I have no intention of leaving you and you need not worry; one thing you must know and never forget: all that is true and sincere will always be kept. Only what is false and insincere will disappear.
In the measure in which your need for me is sincere and genuine, it will be fulfilled. 5 October 1955
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, I am With You,#KEYS
589:To me a book is a message from the gods to mankind; or, if not, should never be published at all. A message from the gods should be delivered at once. It is damnably blasphemous to talk about the autumn season and so on. How dare the author or publisher demand a price for doing his duty, the highest and most honorable to which a man can be called? ~ Aleister Crowley, #KEYS
590:It is a great error to be superior to others....It is such pride as this that makes a man appear a fool, makes him abused by others, and invites disaster. A man who is truly versed in any art will of his own accord be clearly aware of his own deficiency; and therefore, his ambition being never satisfied, he ends by never being proud.
~ Yoshida Kenko, Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenko,#KEYS
591:The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will. ~ Gustave Le Bon, #KEYS
592:A sage was asked, "What is the most important work? who is the man the most important in life ?" The sage replied, The most important work is to love all men, because that is the life-work of each man. The most important man is the one with whom you have to do at this moment, because you can never know whether you will have to do with another. ~ Tolstoi, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
593:When a thought is expressed in speech, the vibration of the sound has a considerable power to bring the most material substance into contact with the thought, thus giving it a concrete and effective reality. That is why one must never speak ill of people or things or say things which go against the progress of the divine realisation in the world. This is an absolute general rule. August 1953. ~ The Mother #KEYS
594:Man differs from other animals in one very important respect, and that is that he has some desires which are, so to speak, infinite, which can never be fully gratified, and which would keep him restless even in paradise. The boa constrictor, when he has had an adequate meal, goes to sleep, and does not wake until he needs another meal. Human beings, for the most part, are not like this. ~ Bertrand Russell, #KEYS
595:541 - Canst thou see God in thy torturer and slayer even in thy moment of death or thy hours of torture? Canst thou see Him in that which thou art slaying, see and love even while thou slayest? Thou hast thy hand on the supreme knowledge. How shall he attain to Krishna who has never worshipped Kali?
All is the Divine and the Divine alone exists.
~ The Mother, On Thoughts And Aphorisms,#KEYS
596:The best relief for the brain, he writes in one of them, is when the thinking takes place outside the body and above the head (or in space or at other levels but still outside the body). At any rate it was so in my case; for as soon as that happened there was an immense relief; I have felt body strain since then but never any kind of brain fatigue.
~ Satprem, Sri Aurobindo Or The Adventure of Consciousness, 325,#KEYS
597:This is one of the reasons Lisp doesn't get anywhere. The trend to promote features so clever that you stop thinking about your problem and start thinking about the clever features. CL's loop is so powerful that people invented functional programming so that they'd never have to use it. ~ G_Morgan in reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/a481l/so_to_get_back_to_the_point_go_vs_algol68_tbh_i/c0fs2nk] #KEYS
598:There is a primary law, eternal, invariable, engraved in the heads of all; it is Right Reason. Never does it speak in vain to the virtuous man, whether it ordains or prohibits. The wicked alone are untouched by its voice. It is easy to be understood and is not different in one country and in another; it is today what it will be tomorrow and for all time. ~ Cicero, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
599:Any physical theory is always provisional, in the sense that it is only a hypothesis; you can never prove it. No matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory, you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory. On the other hand, you can disprove a theory by finding even a single observation that disagrees with the predictions of the theory. ~ Stephen Hawking, #KEYS
600:Hang on to the one who is searching. That is all you need do, and indeed, there is nothing else you could really do. If you do this i.e. never leaving the one-in-search to escape, you- will ultimately find that the seeker is none other than consciousness seeking its source and that the seeker himself is both the seeking and the sought, and that is you. ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, #KEYS
601:If we are demoralized, sad and only complain, we'll not solve our problems. If we only pray for a solution, we'll not solve our problems. We need to face them, to deal with them without violence, but with confidence - and never give up. If you adopt a non-violent approach, but are also hesitant within, you'll not succeed. You have to have confidence and keep up your efforts - in other words, never give up. ~ Dalai Lama, #KEYS
602:To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget. ~ Arundhati Roy, #KEYS
603:Having become a citizen of two worlds, the individual must act accordingly. There can be no backsliding, because the individual must reach a state of certainty before this enlightenment is given that makes it utterly and completely impossible to backslide. He cannot 'get it' and then fail and turn from it. If he turns from it, it means he never had it. If he fails, he fails himself. He cannot fail the infinite. ~ Manly P Hall, #KEYS
604:Death can not be fought off by any warrior, ordered away by the powerful, or paid off by the rich. Death leaves nowhere to run to, no place to hide, no refuge, no defender or guide.
So, reflect sincerely and meditate on how important it is from this very moment onwards never to slip into laziness and procrastination, but to practice the true Dharma, the only thing you can be sure will help at the moment of death. ~ Patrul Rinpoche,#KEYS
605:Only those years that are passed uselessly make you grow old.
A year spent uselessly is a year during which no progress has been accomplished, no growth in consciousness has been achieved, no further step has been taken towards perfection.
Consecrate your life to the realisation of something higher and broader than yourself and you will never feel the weight of the passing years. ~ The Mother, Words of the Mother III#KEYS
606:Never allow this idea I am not able, I am not doing enough to come and vex you; it is a tamasic suggestion and brings depression and depression opens the way to the attacks of the wrong forces. Your position should be, Let me do what I can; the Mothers force is there, the Divine is there to see that in due time all will be done.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother, Letters On The Mother,#KEYS
607:The confusion, the intolerance, the inconsistencies, have really nothing to do with religion at all; they are related to the inevitable and eternal bickering of human nature; they reveal not the failure of Deity, but the natural tendency of man. And until we realize that in some way religion has an existence apart from the human mind, we are never going to solve our problem. ~ Manly P Hall, Babel and the Confusion of Tongues 1971, p.6, #KEYS
608:Before prayer, endeavour to realise Whose Presence you are approaching and to Whom you are about to speak, keeping in mind Whom you are addressing. If our lives were a thousand times as long as they are we should never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before Whom the very Angels tremble, Who can do all He wills, and with Whom to wish is to accomplish. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, [T7], #KEYS
609:Our mind is spinning around,
About carrying out a lot of useless projects.
It's a waste! Give it up!
Thinking about the hundred plans you want to accomplish,
With never enough time to finish them,
Just weighs down your mind.
You are completely distracted,
By all of these projects, which never come to an end,
But keep spreading out more, like ripples in water.
Don't be a fool. For once, just sit tight. ~ Patrul Rinpoche,#KEYS
610:When we are young, we spend much time and pains in filling our note-books with all definitions of Religion, Love, Poetry, Politics, Art, in the hope that, in the course of a few years, we shall have condensed into our encyclopaedia the net value of all the theories at which the world has yet arrived. But year after year our tables get no completeness, and at last we discover that our curve is a parabola, whose arcs will never meet. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
611:In his book: 'Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us', Daniel Pink narrows motivation down to 3 key elements: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Without a genuine interest in what we do, we will never be proud of it, we will never master it, and we will never feel purposed for it. In short, if you are not interested, you are not motivated, and without motivation, you will not succeed.
~ Marcus Tomlinson, How to become an Expert Software Engineer,#KEYS
612:Creatures perish
in the darkened
blind of quest,
knowing intimations.
Guessing and dreaming
they pursue the real,
faces turned toward the sky
whispering secrets to the heavens.
While the lord remains among them
in every turn of time
abiding in their every condition
every instant.
Never without him, they,
not for the blink of an eye --
if only they knew!
nor he for a moment without them." ~ Mansur al-Hallaj,#KEYS
613:If Confucius can serve as the Patron Saint of Chinese education, let me propose Socrates as his equivalent in a Western educational context - a Socrates who is never content with the initial superficial response, but is always probing for finer distinctions, clearer examples, a more profound form of knowing. Our concept of knowledge has changed since classical times, but Socrates has provided us with a timeless educational goal - ever deeper understanding. ~ Howard Gardner, #KEYS
614:Creatures perish
in the darkened
blind of quest,
knowing intimations.
Guessing and dreaming
they pursue the real,
faces turned toward the sky
whispering secrets to the heavens.
While the lord remains among them
in every turn of time
abiding in their every condition
every instant.
Never without him, they,
not for the blink of an eye --
if only they knew!
nor he for a moment without them. ~ Mansur al Hallaj,#KEYS
615:Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible. ~ C S Lewis, #KEYS
616: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 #KEYS
617:Raise thyself above every height, descend below every depth, assemble in thyself all the sensations of created things, of water, of fire, of the dry, of the moist; suppose that thou art at once everywhere, on earth, in the sea, in the heavens, that thou wast never born, that thou art still in the womb, that thou art young, old, dead, beyond death; comprehend all at once, times, spaces, things, qualities, and thou shalt comprehend God. ~ Hermes, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
618:It is important to preserve the body's strength and health, for it is our best instrument. Take care that it is strong and healthy, you possess no better instrument. Imagine that it is as strong as steel and that thanks to it you travel over this ocean of life. The weak will never attain to liberation, put off all weakness, tell your body that it is robust, your intelligence that it is strong, have in yourself a boundless faith and hope ~ Vivekananda, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
619:It should never be forgotten for a single moment that the central and essential work of the Magician is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Once he has achieved this he must of course be left entirely in the hands of that Angel, who can be invariably and inevitably relied upon to lead him to the further great step-crossing of the Abyss and the attainment of the grade of Master of the Temple. ~ Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears, #KEYS
620:Above all, avoid lies, all lies, especially the lie to yourself. Keep watch on your own lie and examine it every hour, every minute. And avoid contempt, both of others and of yourself: what seems bad to you in yourself is purified by the very fact that you have noticed it in yourself. And avoid fear, though fear is simply the consequence of every lie. Never be frightened at your own faintheartedness in attaining love, and meanwhile do not even be very frightened by your own bad acts. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky, #KEYS
621:But the true black magician does not work through the ethers which are the home of the etheric elementals. He works through the entities who dwell in the astral light or the animal magnetism of the lower astral plane. The true black magician can become (and usually is) clairvoyant, but he can never go any higher than the astral world. To this plane he is tied to his passions, hates, incantations, and the animal nature which is the basis of black magic. ~ Manly P Hall, Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics, #KEYS
622:One says, When my son Harish shall have grown up, I will marry him off, give up the burden of the family, renounce the world and begin to practise Yoga. To him the Lord replies: You will never find the opportune moment to practise Yoga; for you will then say, 'Harish and Girish are very fond of me and cannot do without me', you will no doubt desire that Harish should have a son and the son marry. There will never be an end to your desires. ~ Ramakrishna, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
623:To me any activity is more important than its cost to me, even if the cost is unreasonable. Money should never be the criterion for such decisions. If we say we can't have something because of its cost, we limit our receptivity to the Grace and hamper its workings. Money is only a medium of exchange, it is all relative and the Divine resources are inexhaustible. Is this attitude a correct one?
You are quite right and I approve of your attitude.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
624:I admit that my visions can never mean to other men as much as they do to me. I do not regret this. All I ask is that my results should convince seekers after truth that there is beyond doubt something worth while seeking, attainable by methods more or less like mine. I do not want to father a flock, to be the fetish of fools and fanatics, or the founder of a faith whose followers are content to echo my opinions. I want each man to cut his own way through the jungle. ~ Aleister Crowley, #KEYS
625:So the call of the Nondual traditions is: Abide as Emptiness, embrace all Form. The liberation is in the Emptiness, never in the Form, but Emptiness embraces all forms as a mirror all its objects. So the Forms continue to arise, and, as the sound of one hand clapping, you are all those Forms. You are the display. You and the universe are One Taste. Your Original Face is the purest Emptiness, and therefore every time you look in the mirror, you see only the entire Kosmos. ~ Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, p. 240, #KEYS
626:Thus, I came to the conclusion that the designer of a new system must not only be the implementor and the first large-scale user; the designer should also write the first user manual. The separation of any of these four components would have hurt TeX significantly. If I had not participated fully in all these activities, literally hundreds of improvements would never have been made, because I would never have thought of them or perceived why they were important. ~ Donald Knuth, The Errors Of TeX, #KEYS
627:The true occultist wants nothing but wisdom. When Solomon raised his hands to his God, Jehovah spoke from the heavens asking him what he would have, and he answered, "God give me the gift of wisdom." Jehovah asked him if there were not other things he desired, but Solomon answered, "No, only wisdom." And God told Solomon that because he had asked only for wisdom that all the other things should be added unto him and that from this day to the end of the world there would never be another king so rich, so great, or so blest. ~ Manly P Hall, #KEYS
628:the process of unifying the being :::
(1) becoming aware of one's psychic being
(2) putting before the psychic being, as one becomes aware of them, all one's movements, impulses, thoughts and acts of will, so that the psychic being may accept or reject each of these movements, impulses, thoughts or acts of will. Those that are accepted will be kept and carried out; those that are rejected will be driven out of the consciousness so that they may never come back again. ~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother,#KEYS
629:Don't appeal to mercy to God the Father up in the sky, little man, because he's not at home and never was at home, and couldn't care less. What you do with yourself, whether you are happy or unhappy-- live or die-- is strictly your business and the universe doesn't care. In fact you may be the universe and the only cause of all your troubles. But, at best, the most you can hope for is comradeship with comrades no more divine (or just as divine) as you are. So quit sniveling and face up to it-- 'Thou art God!'
~ Robert Heinlein, Oct. 21, 1960.,#KEYS
630:Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains, proves that he has no brains of his own. You need to read.
. . .
We are quite persuaded that the very best way for you to be spending your leisure time, is to be either reading or praying. You may get much instruction from books which afterwards you may use as a true weapon in your Lord and Master's service. Paul cries, "Bring the books" - join in the cry.
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,#KEYS
631:Tell me, enigmatical man, whom do you love best, your father,
Your mother, your sister, or your brother?
I have neither father, nor mother, nor sister, nor brother.
Your friends?
Now you use a word whose meaning I have never known.
Your country?
I do not know in what latitude it lies.
Beauty?
I could indeed love her, Goddess and Immortal.
Gold?
I hate it as you hate God.
Then, what do you love, extraordinary stranger?
I love the clouds the clouds that pass up there
Up there the wonderful clouds!
~ Charles Baudelaire,#KEYS
632:Enthusiasm and Straightforwardness
Joyous enthusiasm: the best way of facing life.
*
True enthusiasm is full of a peaceful endurance.
*
Our courage and endurance must be as great as our hope and
our hope has no limits. 2 August 1954
*
A steady hope helps much on the way. 15 August 1954
*
Our hopes are never too great for manifestation.
We cannot conceive of any thing that cannot be. 22 August 1954
** *
Straightforwardness shows itself as it is, without compromising. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
633:Few of us can escape being neurotic or character disordered to at least some degree (which is why essentially everyone can benefit from psychotherapy if he or she is seriously willing to participate in the process). The reason for this is that the problem of distinguishing what we are and what we are not responsible for in this life is one of the greatest problems of human existence. It is never completely solved; for the entirety of our lives we must continually assess and reassess where our responsibilities lie in the ever-changing course of events. ~ M Scott Peck, #KEYS
634:Difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realisation more perfect. Each time we try to realise something and meet with a resistance or an obstacle or even a failure - what seems to be a failure - we should know, we should never forget that it is exclusively, absolutely, so that the realisation may be more perfect. So this habit of cringing, of getting discouraged or even of feeling uncomfortable, or of abusing yourself and telling yourself: There! Again I have made a mistake - all that is absolute foolishness.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
635:If mankind only caught a glimpse of what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, they would leave all and never rest till they had gained these treasures. But the way is narrow, the doors are hard to force, and fear, distrust and scepticism are there, sentinels of Nature, to forbid the turning away of our feet from her ordinary pastures.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human, Jnana, [6], [T5],#KEYS
636:Everybody has certain ideals which determine the direction of his endeavors and his judgments. In this sense I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves - such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Without the sense of fellowship with men of like mind, of preoccupation with the objective, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific research, life would have seemed to me empty. ~ Albert Einstein, #KEYS
637:There are not many, those who have no secret garden of the mind. For this garden alone can give refreshment when life is barren of peace or sustenance or satisfactory answer. Such sanctuaries may be reached by a certain philosophy or faith, by the guidance of a beloved author or an understanding friend, by way of the temples of music and art, or by groping after truth through the vast kingdoms of knowledge. They encompass almost always truth and beauty, and are radiant with the light that never was on sea or land. - Clare Cameron, Green Fields of England ~ Israel Regardie, A Garden Of Pomegranates, #KEYS
638:The Good, the True, and the Beautiful, then, are simply the faces of Spirit as it shines in this world. Spirit seen subjectively is Beauty, and I of Spirit. Spirit seen intersubjectively is the Good, the We of Spirit. And Spirit seen objectively is the True, the It of Spirit....And whenever we pause, and enter the quiet, and rest in the utter stillness, we can hear that whispering voice calling to us still: never forgot the Good, and never forgot the True, and never forget the Beautiful, for these are the faces of your own deepest Self, freely shown to you. ~ Ken Wilber, Marriage of Sense and Soul, p. 201, #KEYS
639:Flatland accepts no interior domain whatsoever, and reintroducing Spirit is the least of our worries. 'Thus our task is not specifically to reintroduce spirituality and somehow attempt to show that modern science is becoming compatible with God. That approach, which is taken by most of the integrative attempts, does not go nearly deep enough in diagnosing the disease, and thus, in my opinion, never really addresses the crucial issues. 'Rather, it is the rehabilitation of the interior in general that opens the possibility of reconciling science and religion.' ~ Ken Wilber, Marriage of Sense and Soul, p. 142., #KEYS
640:Never underestimate the long-term consequences of your actions. For as long as the mind has the obscurration of grasping at an inherently existing "me", then there will be karma. No matter how far on the path one is, no matter how realised one is, no matter how many miraculous powers one has attained, for as long as there is even a subtle trace of this obscurration, karma is there.
That is why Padmasambhava, an enlightened being not even affected by it, had skilfully told ordinary beings, "My realization is higher than the sky, but my observance of karma is finer than grains of flour." ~ Chamtrul Rinpoche,#KEYS
641:In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal. ~ Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, #KEYS
642:Evil will never cease to exist until selfishness and greed are overcome as factors in dictating the attitudes of men. It is the common thing for the concrete mind to sacrifice the eternal to the temporal. Man, concentrating upon the limited area of the known, loses sight of the effect of his actions upon the limitless area of the unknown. Shortsightedness, consequently, is the cause of endless misery. Moral shortsightedness results in vice, philosophical shortsightedness in materialism, religious shortsightedness in bigotry, rational short-sightedness in fanaticism. ~ Manly P Hall, Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics, #KEYS
643:It is the way of the superior man to prefer the concealment of his virtue, while it daily becomes more illustrious, and it is the way of the mean man to seek notoriety, while he daily goes more and more to ruin. It is characteristic of the superior man, appearing insipid, yet never to produce satiety; while showing a simple negligence, yet to have his accomplishments recognized; while seemingly plain, yet to be discriminating. He knows how what is distant lies in what is near. He knows where the wind proceeds from. He knows how what is minute becomes manifested. Such a one, we may be sure, will enter into virtue. ~ Confucius, #KEYS
644:Shake off thy bondage, O children,
and walk in the Light of the glorious day.
Never turn thy thoughts to the darkness
and surely ye shall be One with The Light.
Man is only what he believeth,
a brother of darkness or a Child of The Light.
Come though into the Light my Children.
Walk in the pathway that leads to the Sun.
Hark ye now, and list to the Wisdom.
Use thou the word I have given unto thee.
Use it and surely though shalt find
power and wisdom and Light to walk in the way.
Seek thee and find the key I have given
and Ever shalt Thou be a Child of The Light. ~ Emerald Tablet,#KEYS
645:823. Should you think of God only at the time of meditation and remain forgetful of Him at all other times? Have you not noticed how during Durga Puja a lamp is kept constantly burning near the image? It should never be allowed to go out. If ever it is extinguished, the house-holder meets with some mishap. Similarly, after installing the Deity on the lotus of your heart, you must keep the lamp of remembering Him ever burning. While engaged in the affairs of the world, you should constantly turn your gaze inwards and see whether the lamp is burning or not. ~ Sri Ramakrishna, Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, #KEYS
646:In Plato's Symposium, the priestess Diotima teaches Socrates that love is not a deity, but rather a 'great daemon' (202d). She goes on to explain that 'everything daemonic is between divine and mortal' (202d-e), and she describes daemons as 'interpreting and transporting human things to the gods and divine things to men; entreaties and sacrifices from below, and ordinances and requitals from above...' (202e). In Plato's Apology of Socrates, Socrates claimed to have a daimonion (literally, a 'divine something')[16] that frequently warned him-in the form of a 'voice'-against mistakes but never told him what to do.
~ Wikipedia, Daemon,#KEYS
647:There are two kinds of black magicians: (1) those who use the demons of the astral plane for their villainy, which they invoke through necromancy and invocation; and (2) those who create their own demons and launch them against the world. The first group does the greatest harm to the world, but the second injure themselves more. The first group is composed mostly of conscious black magicians, while there are many in the second group who are totally ignorant of what they are doing. Some never learn their mistake until the demons they have created come back to the persons who sent them forth. ~ Manly P Hall, Magic: A Treatise on Esoteric Ethics, #KEYS
648:What art Thou then, my God? what, but the Lord God? For who is Lord but the Lord? or who is God save our God? Most highest, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful, yet most just; most hidden, yet most present; most beautiful, yet most strong; stable, yet incomprehensible; unchangeable, yet all-changing; never new, never old; all-renewing, and bringing age upon the proud, and they know it not; ever working, ever at rest; still gathering, yet nothing lacking; supporting, filling, and overspreading; creating, nourishing, and maturing; seeking, yet having all things. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo, #KEYS
649:Magic never in its wildest dreams thought that it would be trumped by mythic. And the mythic gods and goddesses never imagined that reason could and would destroy them. And here we sit, in our rational worldview, all smug and confident that nothing higher will sweep out of the heavens and completely explode our solid perceptions, undoing our very foundations. And yet surely, the transrational lies in wait. It is just around the corner, this new dawn. Every stage transcends and includes, and thus inescapably, unavoidably it seems, the sun will rise on a world tomorrow that in many ways transcends reason. ~ Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, #KEYS
650:Bride of the Fire :::
Bride of the Fire, clasp me now close, -
Bride of the Fire!
I have shed the bloom of the earthly rose,
I have slain desire.
Beauty of the Light, surround my life, -
Beauty of the Light!
I have sacrificed longing and parted from grief,
I can bear thy delight.
Image of Ecstasy, thrill and enlace, -
Image of Bliss!
I would see only thy marvellous face,
Feel only thy kiss.
Voice of Infinity, sound in my heart, -
Call of the One!
Stamp there thy radiance, never to part,
O living sun. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems,#KEYS
651:There exist two extremes, O my brothers, to which he who aspires to liberation should never abandon himself. One of these extremes is the continual seeking after the satisfaction of the passions and the sensuality; that is vile, coarse, debasing and fatal, that is the road of the children of this world. The other extreme is a life consecrated to mortifications and asceticism; that is full of sorrow, suffering and inutility. Alone the middle path which the Perfect has discovered, avoids these two blind-alleys, accords clearsightedness, opens the intelligence and conducts to liberation, wisdom and perfection. ~ Mahavaga, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
652:Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer, until a lovely face has grown upon his work. So do you also: cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labour to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiselling your statue, until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendour of virtue, until you shall see the perfect goodness surely established in the stainless shrine. ~ Plotinus, The Enneads, #KEYS
653:Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that's what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.
The inner world is the world of your requirements and your energies and your structure and your possibilities that meets the outer world. And the outer world is the field of your incarnation. That's where you are. You've got to keep both going. As Novalis said, 'The seat of the soul is there where the inner and outer worlds meet. ~ Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth,#KEYS
654:Don't confuse having no violence in your heart with having no violence in the real world, if required. Your duty may or may not include violence, but let us not forget that there are indeed occasions where violence ends violence or, I should say, reflecting the messiness and microscopically incremental nature of Eros: there are occasions where violence replaces a grosser violence with a subtler violence, a lesser devil on the way to a vaguely greater good. The Zen-inspired code of the Samurai warrior is still as good a guide as any: the best fight is not to fight; the real sword is no sword-but if you think that means a Samurai warrior never used his sword, you are tad naive, I fear. ~ Ken Wilber?, #KEYS
655:Remember that which is written: "Moderate strength rings the bell: great strength returns the penny." It is always the little bit extra that brings home the bacon. It is the last attack that breaks through the enemy position. Water will never boil, however long you keep it at 99° C. You may find that a Pranayama cycle of 10-20-30 brings no result in months; put it up to 10-20-40, and Dhyana comes instantly. When in doubt, push just a little bit harder. You have no means of finding out what are exactly the right conditions for success in any practice; but all practices are alike in one respect; the desired result is in the nature of orgasm. ~ Aleister Crowley, Magick Without Tears, #KEYS
656:[Rex and Regina] It is a therapeutic necessity, indeed, the first requisite of any thorough psychological method, for consciousness to confront its shadow. In the end this must lead to some kind of union, even though the union consists at first in an open conflict, and often remains so for a long time. It is a struggle that cannot be abolished by rational means. When it is wilfully repressed it continues in the unconscious and merely expresses itself indirectly and all the more dangerously, so no advantage is gained. The struggle goes on until the opponents run out of breath. What the outcome will be can never be seen in advance. The only certain thing is that both parties will be changed. ~ Carl Jung, CW 14, par. 514., #KEYS
657:I knew all along what He meant for me, for I heard it again and again, always I listened to the voice within; I am guiding, therefore fear not. Turn to your own work for which I have brought you to jail and when you come out, remember never to fear, never to hesitate. Remember that it is I who am doing this, not you nor any other. Therefore whatever clouds may come, whatever dangers and sufferings, whatever difficulties, whatever impossibilities, there is nothing impossible, nothing difficult. I am in the nation and its uprising and I am Vasudeva, I am Narayana, and what I will, shall be, not what others will. What I choose to bring about, no human power can stay.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Karmayogin,#KEYS
658:The true intuition on the contrary carries in itself its own guarantee of truth; it is sure and infallible within its limits. And so long as it is pure intuition and does not admit into itself any mixture of sense-error or intellectual ideation, it is never contradicted by experience: the intuition may be verified by the reason or the sense-perception afterwards, but its truth does not depend on that verification, it is assured by an automatic self-evidence. ... For the true intuition proceeds from the self-existent truth of things and is secured by that self-existent truth and not by any indirect, derivatory or dependent method of arriving at knowledge.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga,#KEYS
659:I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothloriene no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horselords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fanghorn Forest was an unforeseen adventure. I had never heard of the House of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystefied as Frodo at Gandalf's failure to appear on September 22. ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, in a letter to W.H. Auden, June 7, 1955" #KEYS
660:If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for . . . To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what makes all the difference. ~ Thomas Merton,#KEYS
661:It's like chopping down a huge tree of immense girth. You won't accomplish it with one swing of your axe. If you keep chopping away at it, though, and do not let up, eventually, whether it wants to or not, it will suddenly topple down. When that time comes, you could round up everyone you could find and pay them to hold the tree up, but they wouldn't be able to do it. It would still come crashing to the ground. . . . But if the woodcutter stopped after one or two strokes of his axe to ask the third son of Mr. Chang, Why doesn't this tree fall? And after three or four more strokes stopped again to ask the fourth son of Mr. Li, Why doesn't this tree fall? he would never succeed in felling the tree. It is no different for someone who is practicing the Way.
~ Hakuin Ekaku,#KEYS
662:In Malkus, the lowest of the Sephiros, the sphere of the physical world of matter, wherein incarnate the exiled Neschamos from the Divine Palace, there abides the Shechinah, the spiritual Presence of Ain Soph as a heritage to mankind and an ever-present reminder of spiritual verities. That is why there is written " Keser is in Malkus, and Malkus is in Keser, though after another manner The Zohar would imply that the real Shechinah, the real Divine Presence, is allocated to Binah whence it never descends, but that the Shechinah in Malkus is an eidolon or Daughter of the Great Supernal Mother. Isaac Myer suggests that : " It is considered by Qabalists as the executive energy or power of Binah, the Holy Spirit or the Upper Mother." ~ Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegrantes, #KEYS
663:The ambition of every boy is to be an engine-driver. Some attain it, and remain there all their lives.
But in the majority of cases the Understanding grows faster than the Will, and long before the boy is in a position to attain his wish he has already forgotten it.
In other cases the Understanding never grows beyond a certain point, and the Will persists without intelligence.
The business man (for example) has wished for ease and comfort, and to this end goes daily to his office and slaves under a more cruel taskmaster than the meanest of the workmen in his pay; he decides to retire, and finds that life in empty. The end has been swallowed up in the means.
Only those are happy who have desired the unattainable. ~ Aleister Crowley, Book 4,#KEYS
664:Because children have abounding vitality,
because they are in spirit fierce and free,
therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.
They always say, "Do it again";
and the grown-up person does it again
until he is nearly dead.
For grown-up people are not strong enough
to exult in monotony.
But perhaps God is strong enough
to exult in monotony.
It is possible that God says every morning,
"Do it again"
to the sun; and every evening,
"Do it again" to the moon.
It may not be automatic necessity
that makes all daisies alike;
it may be that God makes every daisy separately,
but has never got tired of making them.
It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy;
for we have sinned and grown old,
and our Father is younger than we."
~ G K Chesterton, Orthodoxy,#KEYS
665:It is only when after long and persistent concentration or by other means the veil of the mind is rent or swept aside, only when a flood of light breaks over the awakened mentality, jyotirmaya brahman, and conception gives place to a knowledge-vision in which the Self is as present, real, concrete as a physical object to the physical eye, that we possess in knowledge; for we have seen. After that revelation, whatever fadings of the light, whatever periods of darkness may afflict the soul, it can never irretrievably lose what it has once held. The experience is inevitably renewed and must become more frequent till it is constant; when and how soon depends on the devotion and persistence with which we insist on the path and besiege by our will or our love the hidden Deity.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, [305],#KEYS
666:Therefore there is only one solution: to unite ourselves by aspiration, concentration, interiorisation and identification with the supreme Will. And that is both omnipotence and perfect freedom at the same time. And that is the only omnipotence and the only freedom; everything else is an approximation. You may be on the way, but it is not the entire thing. So if you experience this, you realise that with this supreme freedom and supreme power there is also a total peace and a serenity that never fails.
Therefore, if you feel something which is not that, a revolt, a disgust, something which you cannot accept, it means that in you there is a part which has not been touched by the transformation, something which has kept the old consciousness, something which is still on the path - that is all.
~ The Mother, On Thoughts And Aphorisms,#KEYS
667:Drink water from the spring where the horse drinks. A horse will never drink bad water.
Make your bed where the cat sleeps.
Eat the fruit that was touched by the worm.
Freely pick the mushrooms on which the insects sit.
Plant your tree where the mole digs.
Build your house where the snake suns itself.
Dig your well where the birds build their nests in hot weather.
Go to sleep and wake up with the chickens and you will reap the golden grain of the day.
Eat more green vegetables, and you will have strong legs and an enduring heart.
Swim more often and you will feel on land like a fish in the water.
Look at the skies more often and not at your feet, and your thoughts will be clear and light.
Keep silent more often, speak less, and silence will reign in your soul, and your spirit will be calm and peaceful.
~ Saint Seraphim of Sarov in Georgia,#KEYS
668:Medieval alchemy prepared the way for the greatest intervention in the divine world that man has ever attempted: alchemy was the dawn of the scientific age, when the daemon of the scientific spirit compelled the forces of nature to serve man to an extent that had never been known before. It was from the spirit of alchemy that Goethe wrought the figure of the "superman" Faust, and this superman led Nietzsche's Zarathustra to declare that God was dead and to proclaim the will to give birth to the superman, to "create a god for yourself out of your seven devils." Here we find the true roots, the preparatory processes deep in the psyche, which unleashed the forces at work in the world today. Science and technology have indeed conquered the world, but whether the psyche has gained anything is another matter. ~ Carl Jung, "Paracelsus as a Spiritual Phenomenon" (1942), CW 13, § 163., #KEYS
669:Often he went to the workshop, to encourage the assistant Erich, who continued working at the altar and eagerly awaited his master's return. Sometimes the Abbot unlocked Goldmund's room, where the Mary figure stood, lifted the cloth from the figure carefully and stayed with her awhile. He knew nothing of the figure's origin; Goldmund had never told him Lydia's story. But he felt everything; he saw that the girl's form had long lived in Goldmund's heart. Perhaps he had seduced her, perhaps betrayed and left her. But, truer than the most faithful husband, he had taken her along in his soul, preserving her image until finally, perhaps after many years in which he had never seen her again, he had fashioned this beautiful, touching statue of a girl and captured in her face, her bearing, her hands all the tenderness, admiration, and longing of their love.
~ Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund,#KEYS
670:When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there. You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next and you stop and try to live through until the next day when you hit it again. You have started at six in the morning, say, and may go on until noon or be through before that. When you stop you are as empty, and at the same time never empty but filling, as when you have made love to someone you love. Nothing can hurt you, nothing can happen, nothing means anything until the next day when you do it again. It is the wait until the next day that is hard to get through. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #KEYS
671:Bhagavan: There are only two ways to conquer destiny or to be independent of it. One is to inquire whose this destiny is and discover that only the ego is bound by it and not the Self and that the ego is non-existent. The other way is to kill the ego by completely surrendering to the Lord, realizing one's helplessness and saying all the time: "Not I, but Thou, oh Lord," giving up all sense of "I" and "mine" and leaving it to the Lord to do what He likes with you. Surrender can never be regarded as complete so long as the devotee wants this or that from the Lord. True surrender is the love of God for the sake of love and nothing else, not even for the sake of salvation. In other words, complete effacement of the ego is necessary to conquer destiny, whether you achieve this effacement through Self-inquiry or through bhakti-marga. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day by Day, 28-6-46, #KEYS
672:The heaven-hints that invade our earthly lives,
The dire imaginations dreamed by Hell,
Which if enacted and experienced here
Our dulled capacity soon would cease to feel
Or our mortal frailty could not long endure,
Were set in their sublime proportions there.
There lived out in their self-born atmosphere,
They resumed their topless pitch and native power;
Their fortifying stress upon the soul
Bit deep into the ground of consciousness
The passion and purity of their extremes,
The absoluteness of their single cry
And the sovereign sweetness or violent poetry
Of their beautiful or terrible delight.
All thought can know or widest sight perceive
And all that thought and sight can never know,
All things occult and rare, remote and strange
Were near to heart's contact, felt by spirit-sense.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The World-Stair,#KEYS
673:Prudence and Balance
Vigilance: indispensable for all true progress.
*
In each human being there is a beast crouching ready to manifest at the slightest unwatchfulness. The only remedy is a constant vigilance. 18 August 1954
*
Prudence: very useful for weakness because weakness needs prudence; strength does not need it.
*
Common sense: it is very practical and avoids any mistakes, but it lacks light.
*
Sobriety has never done harm to anyone.
** *
Equanimity: immutable peace and calm.
*
In the deep peace of equanimity the love will grow to its full
blossoming in a sense of pure and constant unity. 5 October 1934
*
All mischief comes from a lack of balance.
So, let us keep our balance carefully, always, in all circumstances. 10 August 1954
*
Perfect balance: one of the most important conditions of a growing peace. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
674:10.: I do not know whether I have put this clearly; self-knowledge is of such consequence that I would not have you careless of it, though you may be lifted to heaven in prayer, because while on earth nothing is more needful than humility. Therefore, I repeat, not only a good way, but the best of all ways, is to endeavour to enter first by the room where humility is practised, which is far better than at once rushing on to the others. This is the right road;-if we know how easy and safe it is to walk by it, why ask for wings with which to fly? Let us rather try to learn how to advance quickly. I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle, 1.02, #KEYS
675:The way the dog trots out the front door
every morning
without a hat or an umbrella,
without any money
or the keys to her doghouse
never fails to fill the saucer of my heart
with milky admiration.
Who provides a finer example
of a life without encumbrance-
Thoreau in his curtainless hut
with a single plate, a single spoon?
Gandhi with his staff and his holy diapers?
Off she goes into the material world
with nothing but her brown coat
and her modest blue collar,
following only her wet nose,
the twin portals of her steady breathing,
followed only by the plume of her tail.
If only she did not shove the cat aside
every morning
and eat all his food
what a model of self-containment she
would be,
what a paragon of earthly detachment.
If only she were not so eager
for a rub behind the ears,
so acrobatic in her welcomes,
if only I were not her god. ~ Billy Collins, Dharma,#KEYS
676:Solitude, the safeguard of mediocrity, is to genius the stern friend, the cold, obscure shelter where moult the wings which will bear it farther than suns and stars. He who should inspire and lead his race must be defended from travelling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions. "In the morning, - solitude;" said Pythagoras; that Nature may speak to the imagination, as she does never in company, and that her favorite may make acquaintance with those divine strengths which disclose themselves to serious and abstracted thought. 'Tis very certain that Plato, Plotinus, Archimedes, Hermes, Newton, Milton, Wordsworth, did not live in a crowd, but descended into it from time to time as benefactors: and the wise instructor will press this point of securing to the young soul in the disposition of time and the arrangements of living, periods and habits of solitude. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
677:He told me that in 1886 he had invented an original system of numbering and that in a very few days he had gone beyond the twenty-four-thousand mark. He had not written it down, since anything he thought of once would never be lost to him. His first stimulus was, I think, his discomfort at the fact that the famous thirty-three gauchos of Uruguayan history should require two signs and two words, in place of a single word and a single sign. He then applied this absurd principle to the other numbers. In place of seven thousand thirteen he would say (for example) Maximo Pérez; in place of seven thousand fourteen, The Railroad; other numbers were Luis Melian Lafinur, Olimar, sulphur, the reins, the whale, the gas, the caldron, Napoleon, Agustin de Vedia. In place of five hundred, he would say nine. Each word had a particular sign, a kind of mark; the last in the series were very complicated...~ Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths, Selected Stories and Other Writings, #KEYS
678:Though I speak with the tongues of men and of an- gels and have not charity, I am as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not ; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up doth not behave itself unseemly seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinlceth no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth...And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity. Follow after charity. ~ I. Corinthians. 1. 8. 13-XIV. 8, the Eternal Wisdom #KEYS
679:There is but one remedy: that signpost must always be there, a mirror well placed in one's feelings, impulses, all one's sensations. One sees them in this mirror. There are some which are not very beautiful or pleasant to look at; there are others which are beautiful, pleasant, and must be kept. This one does a hundred times a day if necessary. And it is very interesting. One draws a kind of big circle around the psychic mirror and arranges all the elements around it. If there is something that is not all right, it casts a sort of grey shadow upon the mirror: this element must be shifted, organised. It must be spoken to, made to understand, one must come out of that darkness. If you do that, you never get bored. When people are not kind, when one has a cold in the head, when one doesn't know one's lessons, and so on, one begins to look into this mirror. It is very interesting, one sees the canker. "I thought I was sincere!" - not at all. ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953, 10, #KEYS
680:Elric: We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocation of equations. These are the tools we employ, and we know many things.
John Sheridan: Such as?
Elric: The true secrets, the important things. Fourteen words to make someone fall in love with you forever. Seven words to make them go without pain. How to say good-bye to a friend who is dying. How to be poor. How to be rich. How to rediscover dreams when the world has stolen them. That is why we are going away-to preserve that knowledge.
Sheridan: From what?
Elric: There is a storm coming, a black and terrible storm. We would not have our knowledge lost or used to ill purpose. From this place we will launch ourselves into the stars. With luck, you will never see our kind again in your lifetime. I know you have your orders, Captain. Detain us if you wish. But I cannot tell you where we are going. I can only ask you to trust us. ~ J Michael Straczynski,#KEYS
681:The Garden ::: There's an ancient, ancient garden that I see sometimes in dreams,
Where the very Maytime sunlight plays and glows with spectral gleams;
Where the gaudy-tinted blossoms seem to wither into grey,
And the crumbling walls and pillars waken thoughts of yesterday.
There are vines in nooks and crannies, and there's moss about the pool,
And the tangled weedy thicket chokes the arbour dark and cool:
In the silent sunken pathways springs a herbage sparse and spare,
Where the musty scent of dead things dulls the fragrance of the air.
There is not a living creature in the lonely space arouna,
And the hedge~encompass'd d quiet never echoes to a sound.
As I walk, and wait, and listen, I will often seek to find
When it was I knew that garden in an age long left behind;
I will oft conjure a vision of a day that is no more,
As I gaze upon the grey, grey scenes I feel I knew before.
Then a sadness settles o'er me, and a tremor seems to start -
For I know the flow'rs are shrivell'd hopes - the garden is my heart. ~ H P Lovecraft,#KEYS
682:Over and over again I sail towards joy, which is never in the room with me, but always near me, across the way, like those rooms full of gayety one sees from the street, or the gayety in the street one sees from a window. Will I ever reach joy? It hides behind the turning merry-go-round of the traveling circus. As soon as I approach it, it is no longer joy. Joy is a foam, an illumination. I am poorer and hungrier for the want of it. When I am in the dance, joy is outside in the elusive garden. When I am in the garden, I hear it exploding from the house. When I am traveling, joy settles like an aurora borealis over the land I leave. When I stand on the shore I see it bloom on the flag of a departing ship. What joy? Have I not possessed it? I want the joy of simple colors, street organs, ribbons, flags, not a joy that takes my breath away and throws me into space alone where no one else can breathe with me, not the joy that comes from a lonely drunkenness. There are so many joys, but I have only known the ones that come like a miracle, touching everything with light. ~ Anais Nin, #KEYS
683:This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soulmate. You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about. ~ Marilyn Monroe, #KEYS
684:You are living today in countries where the Dharma has only just begun to take root, like a fragile new shoot in the ground. Only your sustained diligence will bring it to fruition. Depending on the effort you put into study, reflection and meditation, and to integrating what you have understood into your spiritual practice, accomplishment may be days, months, or years away. It is essential to remember that all your endeavors on the path are for the sake of others. Remain humble, and aware that your efforts are like child's play compared to the ocean-like activity of the great bodhisattvas. Be like a parent providing for much-loved children, never thinking that you have done too much for others - or even that you have done enough. If you finally managed, through your own efforts alone, to establish all beings in buddhahood, you would simply think that all your wishes had been fulfilled. Never have even a trace of hope for something in return. ~ Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, The Heart of Compassion, Instructions on Ngulchu Thogme's Thirty-Sevenfold Practice of a Bodhisattva – p 147, Padmakara Translation Group - Shechen Publications #KEYS
685:Supermind is the dynamic form of satcitananda (being-consciousness-bliss), and the necessary conduit, mediator or linkage between satcitananda and the manifest creation. (Life Divine Book I, ch.14-16) ... Supermind is spiritual consciousness acting as a self-luminous knowledge, will, sense, aesthesis, energy, self-creative and unveiling power of its own delight and being. Mind is the action of the same powers, but limited and only very indirectly and partially illumined. Supermind lives in unity though it plays with diversity; mind lives in a separative action of diversity, though it may open to unity. Mind is not only capable of ignorance, but, because it acts always partially and by limitation, it works characteristically as a power of ignorance : it may even and it does forget itself in a complete inconscience, or nescience, awaken from it to the ignorance of a partial knowledge and move from the ignorance towards a complete knowledge, -- that is its natural action in the human being, -- but it can never have by itself a complete knowledge.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Psychology of Self-Perfection, 625,#KEYS
686:A word that rose to honor at the time of the Renaissance, and that summarized in advance the whole program of modern civilization is 'humanism'. Men were indeed concerned to reduce everything to purely human proportions, to eliminate every principle of a higher order, and, one might say, symbolically to turn away from the heavens under pretext of conquering the earth; the Greeks, whose example they claimed to follow, had never gone as far in this direction, even at the time of their greatest intellectual decadence, and with them utilitarian considerations had at least never claimed the first place, as they were very soon to do with the moderns. Humanism was form of what has subsequently become contemporary secularism; and, owing to its desire to reduce everything to the measure of man as an end in himself, modern civilization has sunk stage by stage until it has reached the level of the lowest elements in man and aims at little more than satisfying the needs inherent in the material side of his nature, an aim that is in any case quite illusory since it constantly creates more artificial needs than it can satisfy. ~ Rene Guenon, The Crisis of the Modern World #KEYS
687:It can be expected that the orthodox Christian will at first reject the theories about the Christ which occultism presents; at the same time, this same orthodox Christian will find it increasingly difficult to induce the intelligent masses of people to accept the impossible Deity and the feeble Christ, which historical Christianity has endorsed. A Christ Who is present and living, Who is known to those who follow Him, Who is a strong and able executive, and not a sweet and sentimental sufferer, Who has never left us but Who has worked for two thousand years through the medium of His disciples, the inspired men and women of all faiths, all religions, and all religious persuasions; Who has no use for fanaticism or hysterical devotion, but Who loves all men persistently, intelligently and optimistically, Who sees divinity in them all, and Who comprehends the techniques of the evolutionary development of the human consciousness (mental, emotional and physical, producing civilizations and cultures appropriate to a particular point in evolution) - these ideas the intelligent public can and will accept. p. 589/90 ~ Alice Bailey, in The Externalization of the Hierarchy (1957) #KEYS
688:witness and non-dual states ::: The Witness and Non-Dual states are everpresent capacities which hold the special relationship to the other states. The Witness state, or Witnessing, is the capacity to observe, see or witness phenomenon arising in the other states. Meaning for example, its the capacity to hold unbroken attention in the gross states, and the capacity to witness the entire relative world of form arise as object viewed by the pure witness, the pure subject that is never itself a seen object but always the pure seer or pure Self, that is actually no-self. Next we have Non-Dual which refers to both the suchness and is-ness of reality right now. It is the not-two-ness or everpresent unity of subject and object, form and emptiness, heaven and earth, relative and absolute. When the Witness dissolves and pure seer and all that is seen become not seperate or not two, the Non-Duality of absolute emptiness and relative form or the luminous identity of unqualifiable spirit and all of its manifestations appear as play of radiant natural and spontaneous and present love. Absolute and relative are already always not-two but nor are they one, nor both nor neither. ~ Essential Integral, L5-18, #KEYS
689:I've never been lonely. I've been in a room ~ I've felt suicidal. I've been depressed. I've felt awful ~ awful beyond all ~ but I never felt that one other person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me...or that any number of people could enter that room. In other words, loneliness is something I've never been bothered with because I've always had this terrible itch for solitude. It's being at a party, or at a stadium full of people cheering for something, that I might feel loneliness. I'll quote Ibsen, The strongest men are the most alone. I've never thought, Well, some beautiful blonde will come in here and give me a fuck-job, rub my balls, and I'll feel good. No, that won't help. You know the typical crowd, Wow, it's Friday night, what are you going to do? Just sit there? Well, yeah. Because there's nothing out there. It's stupidity. Stupid people mingling with stupid people. Let them stupidify themselves. I've never been bothered with the need to rush out into the night. I hid in bars, because I didn't want to hide in factories. That's all. Sorry for all the millions, but I've never been lonely. I like myself. I'm the best form of entertainment I have. Let's drink more wine! ~ Charles Bukowski, #KEYS
690:To See a World...
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
A Robin Redbreast in a Cage
Puts all Heaven in a Rage.
A dove house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders Hell thro' all its regions.
A Dog starv'd at his Master's Gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A Horse misus'd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted Hare
A fiber from the Brain does tear.
He who shall train the Horse to War
Shall never pass the Polar Bar.
The Beggar's Dog and Widow's Cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.
The Gnat that sings his Summer song
Poison gets from Slander's tongue.
The poison of the Snake and Newt
Is the sweat of Envy's Foot.
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the Lies you can invent.
It is right it should be so;
Man was made for Joy and Woe;
And when this we rightly know
Thro' the World we safely go.
Every Night and every Morn
Some to Misery are Born.
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight.
Some are Born to sweet delight,
Some are Born to Endless Night. ~ William Blake, Auguries of Innocence,#KEYS
691:My sweet mother, The more I look into myself, the more discouraged I am, and I don't know whether there is any chance of my making any progress. It seems that all the obscurities and falsehoods are rising up on every side, inside and outside, and want to swallow me up. There are times when I cannot distinguish truth from falsehood and I am then on the verge of losing my mind.
Still, there is something in me which says very weakly that all will be well; but this voice is so feeble that I cannot rely on it.1
My faults are so numerous and so great that I think I shall fail. On the other hand, I have neither the inclination nor the capacity for the ordinary life. And I know that I shall never be able to leave this life. This is my situation right now. The struggle is getting more and more acute, and worst of all I cannot lie to you. What should I do?
Do not torment yourself, my child, and remain as quiet as you can; do not yield to the temptation to give up the struggle and let yourself fall into darkness. Persist, and one day you will realise that I am close to you to console you and help you, and then the hardest part will be over. With all my love and blessings. 25 September 1947
~ The Mother, Some Answers From The Mother,#KEYS
692:How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself and in no instance bypass the discriminations of reason? You have been given the principles that you ought to endorse, and you have endorsed them. What kind of teacher, then, are you still waiting for in order to refer your self-improvement to him? You are no longer a boy, but a full-grown man. If you are careless and lazy now and keep putting things off and always deferring the day after which you will attend to yourself, you will not notice that you are making no progress, but you will live and die as someone quite ordinary.
From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event. That is how Socrates fulfilled himself by attending to nothing except reason in everything he encountered. And you, although you are not yet a Socrates, should live as someone who at least wants to be a Socrates.
~ Epictetus, (From Manual 51),#KEYS
693:
Sweet Mother, is the physical mind the same as the mechanical mind?
Almost. You see, there is just a little difference, but not much. The mechanical mind is still more stupid than the physical mind. The physical mind is what we spoke about one day, that which is never sure of anything.
I told you the story of the closed door, you remember. Well, that is the nature of the physical mind. The mechanical mind is at a lower level still, because it doesn't even listen to the possibility of a convincing reason, and this happens to everyone.
Usually we don't let it function, but it comes along repeating the same things, absolutely mechanically, without rhyme or reason, just like that. When some craze or other takes hold of it, it goes... For example, you see, if it fancies counting: "One, two, three, four", then it will go on: "One, two, three, four; one, two, three, four." And you may think of all kinds of things, but it goes on: "One, two, three, four", like that... (Mother laughs.) Or it catches hold of three words, four words and repeats them and goes on repeating them; and unless one turns away with a certain violence and punches it soundly, telling it, "Keep quiet!", it continues in this way, indefinitely. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
694:About the only law that I think relates to the genre is that you should not try to explain, to find neat explanations for what happens, and that the object of the thing is to produce a sense of the uncanny. Freud in his essay on the uncanny wrote that the sense of the uncanny is the only emotion which is more powerfully expressed in art than in life, which I found very illuminating; it didn't help writing the screen-play, but I think it's an interesting insight into the genre. And I read an essay by the great master H.P. Lovecraft where he said that you should never attempt to explain what happens, as long as what happens stimulates people's imagination, their sense of the uncanny, their sense of anxiety and fear. And as long as it doesn't, within itself, have any obvious inner contradictions, it is just a matter of, as it were, building on the imagination (imaginary ideas, surprises, etc.), working in this area of feeling. I think also that the ingeniousness of a story like this is something which the audience ultimately enjoys; they obviously wonder as the story goes on what's going to happen, and there's a great satisfaction when it's all over not having been able to have anticipated the major development of the story, and yet at the end not to feel that you have been fooled or swindled. ~ Stanley Kubrick, #KEYS
695:Truly speaking, I have no opinion. According to a vision of truth, everything is still terribly mixed, a more or less favourable combination of light and darkness, truth and falsehood, knowledge and ignorance, and so long as decisions are made and action is undertaken according to opinions, it will always be like that.
We want to give the example of an action that is undertaken in accordance with a vision of truth, but unfortunately we are still very far from realising this ideal, and even if the vision of truth expresses itself, it is immediately distorted in its implementation.
So, in the present state of affairs, it is impossible to say, "This is true and that is false, this leads us away from the goal and that brings us nearer the goal."
Everything can be used for the progress to be made; everything can be useful if we know how to use it.
The important thing is never to lose sight of the ideal we want to realise and to make use of all circumstances in view of this goal.
And finally, it is always better not to make an arbitrary decision for or against things, and to watch the unfolding of events with the impartiality of a witness, relying on the Divine Wisdom which will decide for the best and do what is necessary. 29 July 1961 ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother I, [T8],#KEYS
696:A poet once said, 'The whole universe is in a glass of wine.' We will probably never know in what sense he meant it, for poets do not write to be understood. But it is true that if we look at a glass of wine closely enough we see the entire universe. There are the things of physics: the twisting liquid which evaporates depending on the wind and weather, the reflection in the glass; and our imagination adds atoms. The glass is a distillation of the earth's rocks, and in its composition we see the secrets of the universe's age, and the evolution of stars. What strange array of chemicals are in the wine? How did they come to be? There are the ferments, the enzymes, the substrates, and the products. There in wine is found the great generalization; all life is fermentation. Nobody can discover the chemistry of wine without discovering, as did Louis Pasteur, the cause of much disease. How vivid is the claret, pressing its existence into the consciousness that watches it! If our small minds, for some convenience, divide this glass of wine, this universe, into parts -- physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on -- remember that nature does not know it! So let us put it all back together, not forgetting ultimately what it is for. Let it give us one more final pleasure; drink it and forget it all! ~ Richard P Feynman, #KEYS
697:It is also the story of a book, a book called The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - not an Earth book, never published on Earth, and until the terrible catastrophe occurred, never seen or heard of by any Earthman.
Nevertheless, a wholly remarkable book.
in fact it was probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing houses of Ursa Minor - of which no Earthman had ever heard either.
Not only is it a wholly remarkable book, it is also a highly successful one - more popular than the Celestial Home Care Omnibus, better selling than Fifty More Things to do in Zero Gravity, and more controversial than Oolon Colluphid's trilogy of philosophical blockbusters Where God Went Wrong, Some More of God's Greatest Mistakes and Who is this God Person Anyway?
In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.
First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words Don't Panic inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.
~ Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,#KEYS
698:And the mighty wildness of the primitive earth
And the brooding multitude of patient trees
And the musing sapphire leisure of the sky
And the solemn weight of the slowly-passing months
Had left in her deep room for thought and God.
There was her drama's radiant prologue lived.
A spot for the eternal's tread on earth
Set in the cloistral yearning of the woods
And watched by the aspiration of the peaks
Appeared through an aureate opening in Time,
Where stillness listening felt the unspoken word
And the hours forgot to pass towards grief and change.
Here with the suddenness divine advents have,
Repeating the marvel of the first descent,
Changing to rapture the dull earthly round,
Love came to her hiding the shadow, Death.
Well might he find in her his perfect shrine.
Since first the earth-being's heavenward growth began,
Through all the long ordeal of the race,
Never a rarer creature bore his shaft,
That burning test of the godhead in our parts,
A lightning from the heights on our abyss.
All in her pointed to a nobler kind.
Near to earth's wideness, intimate with heaven,
Exalted and swift her young large-visioned spirit
Voyaging through worlds of splendour and of calm
Overflew the ways of Thought to unborn things.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Issue,#KEYS
699:Sometimes when an adverse force attacks us and we come out successful, why are we attacked once again by the same force?
Because something was left inside. We have said that the force can attack only when there is something which responds in the nature - however slight it may be. There is a kind of affinity, something corresponding, there is a disorder or an imperfection which attracts the adverse force by responding to it. So, if the attack comes, you must keep perfectly quiet and send it back, but it does not necessarily follow that you have got rid of that small part in you which allows the attack to come.
You have something in you which attracts this force; take, for example (it is one of the most frequent things), the force of depression, that kind of attack of a wave of depression that falls upon you: you lose confidence, you lose hope, you have the feeling you will never be able to do anything, you are cast down.
It means there is in your vital being something which is naturally egoistic, surely a little vain, which needs encouragement to remain in a good state. So it is like a little signal for those forces which intimates to them: "You can come, the door is open." But there is another part in the being that was watching when these forces arrived; instead of allowing them to enter, the part which... ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953,#KEYS
700:A certain inertia, tendency to sleep, indolence, unwillingness or inability to be strong for work or spiritual effort for long at a time, is in the nature of the human physical consciousness. When one goes down into the physical for its change (that has been the general condition here for a long time), this tends to increase. Even sometimes when the pressure of the sadhana on the physical increases or when one has to go much inside, this temporarily increases - the body either needing more rest or turning the inward movement into a tendency to sleep or be at rest. You need not, however, be anxious about that. After a time this rights itself; the physical consciousness gets the true peace and calm in the cells and feels at rest even in full work or in the most concentrated condition and this tendency of inertia goes out of the nature. Even for those who have never been in trance, it is good to repeat a mantra, a word, a prayer before going into sleep. But there must be a life in the words; I do not mean an intellectual significance, nothing of that kind, but a vibration. And its effect on the body is extraordinary: it begins to vibrate, vibrate, vibrate... and quietly you let yourself go, as though you wanted to go to sleep. The body vibrates more and more, more and more, more and more, and away you go. That is the cure for tamas.
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III,#KEYS
701:uniting life and Yoga :::
No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a liberated and perfected human life or, in its method, not only permit but favour the harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in the divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a higher Existence descended into the material world in which it is possible for the lower to transfigure itself and put on the nature of the higher and the higher to reveal itself in the forms of the lower. To avoid the life which is given him for the realisation of that possibility, can never be either the indispensable condition or the whole and ultimate object of his supreme endeavour or of his most powerful means of self-fulfilment. It can only be a temporary necessity under certain conditions or a specialised extreme effort imposed on the individual so as to prepare a greater general possibility for the race. The true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplished when the conscious Yoga in man becomes. like the subconscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous withlife itself and we can once more, looking out both on the path and the achievement, say in a more perfect and luminous sense: All life is Yoga.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, Introduction - The Conditions of the Synthesis, Life and Yoga,#KEYS
702:At first, needing the companionship of the human voice, he had listened to classical plays especially the works of Shaw, Ibsen, and Shakespeare - or poetry readings from Discovery's enormous library of recorded sounds. The problems they dealt with, however, seemed so remote, or so easily resolved with a little common sense, that after a while he lost patience with them.
So he switched to opera - usually in Italian or German, so that he was not distracted even by the minimal intellectual content that most operas contained. This phase lasted for two weeks before he realized that the sound of all these superbly trained voices was only exacerbating his loneliness. But what finally ended this cycle was Verdi's Requiem Mass, which he had never heard performed on Earth. The "Dies Irae," roaring with ominous appropriateness through the empty ship, left him completely shattered; and when the trumpets of Doomsday echoed from the heavens, he could endure no more.
Thereafter, he played only instrumental music. He started with the romantic composers, but shed them one by one as their emotional outpourings became too oppressive. Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, lasted a few weeks, Beethoven rather longer. He finally found peace, as so many others had done, in the abstract architecture of Bach, occasionally ornamented with Mozart. And so Discovery drove on toward Saturn, as often as not pulsating with the cool music of the harpsichord, the frozen thoughts of a brain that had been dust for twice a hundred years. ~ Arthur C Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey,#KEYS
703:A creative illness succeeds a period of intense preoccupation with an idea and search for a certain truth. It is a polymorphous condition that can take the shape of depression, neurosis, psychosomatic ailments, or even psychosis. Whatever the symptoms, they are felt as painful, if not agonizing, by the subject, with alternating periods of alleviation and worsening. Throughout the illness the subject never loses the thread of his dominating preoccupation. It is often compatible with normal, professional activity and family life. But even if he keeps to his social activities, he is almost entirely absorbed with himself. He suffers from feelings of utter isolation, even when he has a mentor who guides him through the ordeal (like the shaman apprentice with his master). The termination is often rapid and marked by a phase of exhilaration. The subject emerges from his ordeal with a permanent transformation in his personality and the conviction that he has discovered a great truth or a new spiritual world.
Many of the nineteenth and twentieth century figures recognized unquestionably as "great" - Nietzsche, Darwin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Freud, Jung, Piaget - were all additionally characterized by lengthy periods of profound psychological unrest and uncertainty. Their "psychopathology" - a term ridiculous in this context - was generated as a consequence of the revolutionary nature of their personal experience (their action, fantasy and thought). It is no great leap of comparative psychology to see their role in our society as analogous to that of the archaic religious leader and healer. ~ Henri Ellenberger,#KEYS
704:Some young men who had come with an introduction from the Ramakrishna Mission at Madras asked Bhagavan, "Which is the proper path for us to follow?"
Bhagavan: When you speak of a path, where are you now? and where do you want to go? If these are known, then we can talk of the path. Know first where you are and what you are. There is nothing to be reached. You are always as you really are. But you don't realise it. That is all.
A little while after, one of the visitors asked Bhagavan, "I am now following the path of japa. Is that all right?"
Bhagavan: Yes. It is quite good. You can continue in that. The gentleman who asked about creation said, "I never thought I was going to have the good fortune of visiting Bhagavan. But circumstances have brought me here and I find in his presence, without any effort on my part, I am having santi. Apparently, getting peace does not depend on our effort.
It seems to come only as the result of grace!" Bhagavan was silent. Meanwhile, another visitor remarked, "No. Our effort is also necessary, though no one can do without grace." After some time, Bhagavan remarked, "Mantra japa, after a time, leads to a stage when you become Mantra maya i.e., you become that whose name you have been repeating or chanting.
First you repeat the mantra by mouth; later you do it mentally.
First, you do this dhyana with breaks. Later, you do it without any break. At that stage you realise you do dhyana without any effort on your part, that dhyana is your real nature. Till then, effort is necessary." ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Day By Day,#KEYS
705:37 - Some say Krishna never lived, he is a myth. They mean on earth; for if Brindavan existed nowhere, the Bhagavat (6) could not have been written. - Sri Aurobindo
Does Brindavan exist anywhere else than on earth?
The whole earth and everything it contains is a kind of concentration, a condensation of something which exists in other worlds invisible to the material eye. Each thing manifested here has its principle, idea or essence somewhere in the subtler regions. This is an indispensable condition for the manifestation. And the importance of the manifestation will always depend on the origin of the thing manifested.
In the world of the gods there is an ideal and harmonious Brindavan of which the earthly Brindavan is but a deformation and a caricature.
Those who are developed inwardly, either in their senses or in their minds, perceive these realities which are invisible (to the ordinary man) and receive their inspiration from them.
So the writer or writers of the Bhagavat were certainly in contact with a whole inner world that is well and truly real and existent, where they saw and experienced everything they have described or revealed.
Whether Krishna existed or not in a human form, living on earth, is only of very secondary importance (except perhaps from an exclusively historical point of view), for Krishna is a real, living and active being; and his influence has been one of the great factors in the progress and transformation of the earth.
8 June 1960
(6 The story of Krishna, as related in the Bhagavat Purana.) ~ The Mother, On Thoughts And Aphorisms, volume-10, page no.60-61),#KEYS
706:Instruction about Sadhana to a disciple:
Disciple: What is the nature of realisation in this yoga?
Sri Aurobindo: In this yoga we want to bring down the Truth-consciousness into the whole being - no part being left out. This can be done by the Higher Power itself. What you have to do is to open yourself to it.
Disciple: As the Higher Power is there why does it not work in all men - consciously?
Sri Aurobindo: Because man, at present, is shut up in his mental being, his vital nature and physical consciousness and their limitations. You have to open yourself. By an opening I mean an aspiration in the heart for the coming down of the Power that is above, and a will in the Mind, or above the Mind, open to it.
The first thing this working of the Higher Power does is to establish Shanti - peace - in all the parts of the being and an opening above. This peace is not mere mental Shanti, it is full of power and, whatever action takes place in it, Samata, equality, is its basis and the Shanti and Samata are never disturbed. What comes from Above is peace, power and joy. It also brings about changes in various parts of our nature so that they can bear the pressure of the Higher Power.
Knowledge also progressively develops showing all in our being that is to be thrown out and what is to be retained. In fact, knowledge and guidance both come and you have constantly to consent to the guidance. The progress may be more in one direction than in another. But it is the Higher Power that works. The rest is a matter of experience and the movement of the Shakti. ~ Sri Aurobindo, EVENING TALKS WITH SRI AUROBINDO, RECORDED BY A B PURANI (28-09-1923),#KEYS
707:There is in her an overwhelming intensity, a mighty passion of force to achieve, a divine violence rushing to shatter every limit and obstacle. All her divinity leaps out in a splendour of tempestuous action; she is there for swiftness, for the immediately effective process, the rapid and direct stroke, the frontal assault that carries everything before it. Terrible is her face to the Asura, dangerous and ruthless her mood against the haters of the Divine; for she is the Warrior of the Worlds who never shrinks from the battle. Intolerant of imperfection, she deals roughly with all in man that is unwilling and she is severe to all that is obstinately ignorant and obscure; her wrath is immediate and dire against treachery and falsehood and malignity, ill-will is smitten at once by her scourge. Indifference, negligence and sloth in the divine work she cannot bear and she smites awake at once with sharp pain, if need be, the untimely slumberer and the loiterer. The impulses that are swift and straight and frank, the movements that are unreserved and absolute, the aspiration that mounts in flame are the motion of Mahakali. Her spirit is tameless, her vision and will are high and far-reaching like the flight of an eagle, her feet are rapid on the upward way and her hands are outstretched to strike and to succour. For she too is the Mother and her love is as intense as her wrath and she has a deep and passionate kindness. When she is allowed to intervene in her strength, then in one moment are broken like things without consistence the obstacles that immobilise or the enemies that assail the seeker
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Mother With Letters On The Mother, [19],#KEYS
708:Musa Spiritus :::
O Word concealed in the upper fire,
Thou who hast lingered through centuries,
Descend from thy rapt white desire,
Plunging through gold eternities.
Into the gulfs of our nature leap,
Voice of the spaces, call of the Light!
Break the seals of Matter's sleep,
Break the trance of the unseen height.
In the uncertain glow of human mind,
Its waste of unharmonied thronging thoughts,
Carve thy epic mountain-lined
Crowded with deep prophetic grots.
Let thy hue-winged lyrics hover like birds
Over the swirl of the heart's sea.
Touch into sight with thy fire-words
The blind indwelling deity.
O Muse of the Silence, the wideness make
In the unplumbed stillness that hears thy voice,
In the vast mute heavens of the spirit awake
Where thy eagles of Power flame and rejoice.
Out, out with the mind and its candles flares,
Light, light the suns that never die.
For my ear the cry of the seraph stars
And the forms of the Gods for my naked eye!
Let the little troubled life-god within
Cast his veils from the still soul,
His tiger-stripes of virtue and sin,
His clamour and glamour and thole and dole;
All make tranquil, all make free.
Let my heart-beats measure the footsteps of God
As He comes from His timeless infinity
To build in their rapture His burning abode.
Weave from my life His poem of days,
His calm pure dawns and His noons of force.
My acts for the grooves of His chariot-race,
My thoughts for the tramp of His great steeds' course! ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems,#KEYS
709:She"
How shall I welcome not this light
Or, wakened by it, greet with doubt
This beam as palpable to sight
As visible to touch? How not,
Old as I am and (some say) wise,
Revive beneath her summer eyes?
How not have all my nights and days,
My spirit ranging far and wide,
By recollections of her grace
Enlightened and preoccupied?
Preoccupied: the Morning Star
How near the Sun and yet how far!
Enlightened: true, but more than true,
Or why must I discover there
The meaning in this taintless dew,
The dancing wave, this blessed air
Enchanting in its morning dress
And calm as everlastingness?
The flame that in the heart resides
Is parcel of that central Fire
Whose energy is winds and tides-
Is rooted deep in the Desire
That smilingly unseals its power
Each summer in each springing flower.
Oh Lady Nature-Proserpine,
Mistress of Gender, star-crowned Queen!
Ah Rose of Sharon-Mistress mine,
My teacher ere I turned fourteen,
When first I hallowed from afar
Your Beautyship in avatar!
I sense the hidden thing you say,
Your subtle whisper how the Word
From Alpha on to Omega
Made all things-you confide my Lord
Himself-all, all this potent Frame,
All save the riddle of your name.
Wisdom! I heard a voice that said:
"What riddle? What is that to you?
How! By my follower betrayed!
Look up-for shame! Now tell me true:
Where meet you light, with love and grace?
Still unacquainted with my face?"
Dear God, the erring heart must live-
Through strength and weakness, calm and glow-
That answer Wisdom scorns to give.
Much have I learned. One problem, though,
I never shall unlock: Who then,
Who made Sophia feminine?
~ Owen Barfield, 1978,#KEYS
710:39 - Sometimes one is led to think that only those things really matter which have never happened; for beside them most historic achievements seem almost pale and ineffective. - Sri Aurobindo
I would like to have an explanation of this aphorism.
Sri Aurobindo, who had made a thorough study of history, knew how uncertain are the data which have been used to write it. Most often the accuracy of the documents is doubtful, and the information they supply is poor, incomplete, trivial and frequently distorted. As a whole, the official version of human history is nothing but a long, almost unbroken record of violent aggressions: wars, revolutions, murders or colonisations. True, some of these aggressions and massacres have been adorned with flattering terms and epithets; they have been called religious wars, holy wars, civilising campaigns; but they nonetheless remain acts of greed or vengeance.
Rarely in history do we find the description of a cultural, artistic or philosophical outflowering.
That is why, as Sri Aurobindo says, all this makes a rather dismal picture without any deep significance. On the other hand, in the legendary accounts of things which may never have existed on earth, of events which have not been declared authentic by "official" knowledge, of wonderful individuals whose existence is doubted by the scholars in their dried-up wisdom, we find the crystallisation of all the hopes and aspirations of man, his love of the marvellous, the heroic and the sublime, the description of everything he would like to be and strives to become.
That, more or less, is what Sri Aurobindo means in his aphorism.
22 June 1960 ~ The Mother, On Thoughts And Aphorisms, volume-10, page no.62),#KEYS
711:THE PSYCHOLOGY OF YOGA
Initial Definitions and Descriptions
Yoga has four powers and objects, purity, liberty, beatitude and perfection. Whosoever has consummated these four mightinesses in the being of the transcendental, universal, lilamaya and individual God is the complete and absolute Yogin.
All manifestations of God are manifestations of the absolute Parabrahman.
The Absolute Parabrahman is unknowable to us, not because It is the nothingness of all that we are, for rather whatever we are in truth or in seeming is nothing but Parabrahman, but because It is pre-existent & supra-existent to even the highest & purest methods and the most potent & illimitable instruments of which soul in the body is capable.
In Parabrahman knowledge ceases to be knowledge and becomes an inexpressible identity. Become Parabrahman, if thou wilt and if That will suffer thee, but strive not to know It; for thou shalt not succeed with these instruments and in this body.
In reality thou art Parabrahman already and ever wast and ever will be. To become Parabrahman in any other sense, thou must depart utterly out of world manifestation and out even of world transcendence.
Why shouldst thou hunger after departure from manifestation as if the world were an evil? Has not That manifested itself in thee & in the world and art thou wiser & purer & better than the Absolute, O mind-deceived soul in the mortal? When That withdraws thee, then thy going hence is inevitable; until Its force is laid on thee, thy going is impossible, cry thy mind never so fiercely & wailingly for departure. Therefore neither desire nor shun the world, but seek the bliss & purity & freedom & greatness of God in whatsoever state or experience or environment.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Essays Divine And Human,#KEYS
712:Has any one at the end of the nineteenth century any distinct notion of what poets of a stronger age understood by the word inspiration? If not, I will describe it. If one had the smallest vestige of superstition left in one, it would hardly be possible completely to set aside the idea that one is the mere incarnation, mouthpiece, or medium of an almighty power. The idea of revelation, in the sense that something which profoundly convulses and upsets one becomes suddenly visible and audible with indescribable certainty and accuracy―describes the simple fact. One hears―one does not seek; one takes―one does not ask who gives. A thought suddenly flashes up like lightening; it comes with necessity, without faltering. I have never had any choice in the matter. There is an ecstasy so great that the immense strain of it is sometimes relaxed by a flood of tears, during which one's steps now involuntarily rush and anon involuntarily lag. There is the feeling that one is utterly out of hand, with the very distinct consciousness of an endless number of fine thrills and titillations descending to one's very toes. There is a depth of happiness in which the most painful and gloomy parts do not act as antitheses to the rest, but are produced and required as necessary shades of color in such an overflow of light. There is an instinct of rhythmic relations which embraces a whole world of forms (length, the need of a wide-embracing rhythm, is almost the measure of the force of an inspiration, a sort of counterpart to its pressure and tension). Everything happens quite involuntary, as if in a tempestuous outburst of freedom, of absoluteness, of power and divinity. The involuntary nature of the figures and similes is the most remarkable thing; everything seems to present itself as the readiest, the truest, and simplest means of expression. It actually seems, to use one of Zarathustra's own phrases, as if all things came to one, and offered themselves as similes. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra [trans. Thomas_Common] (1999), #KEYS
713:The capacity for visions, when it is sincere and spontaneous, can put you in touch with events which you are not capable of knowing in your outer consciousness.... There is a very interesting fact, it is that somewhere in the terrestrial mind, somewhere in the terrestrial vital, somewhere in the subtle physical, one can find an exact, perfect, automatic recording of everything that happens. It is the most formidable memory one could imagine, which misses nothing, forgets nothing, records all. And if you are able to enter into it, you can go backward, you can go forward, and in all directions, and you will have the "memory" of all things - not only of things of the past, but of things to come. For everything is recorded there.
In the mental world, for instance, there is a domain of the physical mind which is related to physical things and keeps the memory of physical happenings upon earth. It is as though you were entering into innumerable vaults, one following another indefinitely, and these vaults are filled with small pigeon-holes, one above another, one above another, with tiny doors. Then if you want to know something and if you are conscious, you look, and you see something like a small point - a shining point; you find that this is what you wish to know and you have only to concentrate there and it opens; and when it opens, there is a sort of an unrolling of something like extremely subtle manuscripts, but if your concentration is sufficiently strong you begin to read as though from a book. And you have the whole story in all its details. There are thousands of these little holes, you know; when you go for a walk there, it is as though you were walking in infinity. And in this way you can find the exact facts about whatever you want to know. But I must tell you that what you find is never what has been reported in history - histories are always planned out; I have never come across a single "historical" fact which is like history.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1950-1951, 109 [T7],#KEYS
714:How often there is a kind of emptiness in the course of life, an unoccupied moment, a few minutes, sometimes more. And what do you do? Immediately you try to distract yourself, and you invent some foolishness or other to pass your time. That is a common fact. All men, from the youngest to the oldest, spend most of their time in trying not to be bored. Their pet aversion is boredom and the way to escape from boredom is to act foolishly.
Well, there is a better way than that - to remember.
When you have a little time, whether it is one hour or a few minutes, tell yourself, "At last, I have some time to concentrate, to collect myself, to relive the purpose of my life, to offer myself to the True and the Eternal." If you took care to do this each time you are not harassed by outer circumstances, you would find out that you were advancing very quickly on the path. Instead of wasting your time in chattering, in doing useless things, reading things that lower the consciousness - to choose only the best cases, I am not speaking of other imbecilities which are much more serious - instead of trying to make yourself giddy, to make time, that is already so short, still shorter only to realise at the end of your life that you have lost three-quarters of your chance - then you want to put in double time, but that does not work - it is better to be moderate, balanced, patient, quiet, but never to lose an opportunity that is given to you, that is to say, to utilise for the true purpose the unoccupied moment before you.
When you have nothing to do, you become restless, you run about, you meet friends, you take a walk, to speak only of the best; I am not referring to things that are obviously not to be done. Instead of that, sit down quietly before the sky, before the sea or under trees, whatever is possible (here you have all of them) and try to realise one of these things - to understand why you live, to learn how you must live, to ponder over what you want to do and what should be done, what is the best way of escaping from the ignorance and falsehood and pain in which you live. 16 May 1958
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931,#KEYS
715:But usually the representative influence occupies a much larger place in the life of the sadhaka. If the Yoga is guided by a received written Shastra, - some Word from the past which embodies the experience of former Yogins, - it may be practised either by personal effort alone or with the aid of a Guru. The spiritual knowledge is then gained through meditation on the truths that are taught and it is made living and conscious by their realisation in the personal experience; the Yoga proceeds by the results of prescribed methods taught in a Scripture or a tradition and reinforced and illumined by the instructions of the Master. This is a narrower practice, but safe and effective within its limits, because it follows a well-beaten track to a long familiar goal.
For the sadhaka of the integral Yoga it is necessary to remember that no written Shastra, however great its authority or however large its spirit, can be more than a partial expression of the eternal Knowledge. He will use, but never bind himself even by the greatest Scripture. Where the Scripture is profound, wide, catholic, it may exercise upon him an influence for the highest good and of incalculable importance. It may be associated in his experience with his awakening to crowning verities and his realisation of the highest experiences. His Yoga may be governed for a long time by one Scripture or by several successively, - if it is in the line of the great Hindu tradition, by the Gita, for example, the Upanishads, the Veda. Or it may be a good part of his development to include in its material a richly varied experience of the truths of many Scriptures and make the future opulent with all that is best in the past. But in the end he must take his station, or better still, if he can, always and from the beginning he must live in his own soul beyond the limitations of the word that he uses. The Gita itself thus declares that the Yogin in his progress must pass beyond the written Truth, - sabdabrahmativartate - beyond all that he has heard and all that he has yet to hear, - srotavyasya srutasya ca. For he is not the sadhaka of a book or of many books; he is a sadhaka of the Infinite. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Four Aids,#KEYS
716:I know perfectly well that pain and suffering and struggle and excesses of despair are natural - though not inevitable - on the way, - not because they are helps, but because they are imposed on us by the darkness of this human nature out of which we have to struggle into the Light. . . .
The dark path is there and there are many who make like the Christians a gospel of spiritual suffering; many hold it to be the unavoidable price of victory. It may be so under certain circumstances, as it has been in so many lives at least at the beginning, or one may choose to make it so. But then the price has to be paid with resignation, fortitude or a tenacious resilience. I admit that if borne in that way the attacks of the Dark Forces or the ordeals they impose have a meaning. After each victory gained over them, there is then a sensible advance; often they seem to show us the difficulties in ourselves which we have to overcome and to say, "Here you must conquer us and here."
But all the same it is a too dark and difficult way which nobody should follow on whom the necessity does not lie.
In any case one thing can never help and that is to despond always and say, "I am unfit; I am not meant for the Yoga." And worse still are these perilous mental formations such as you are always accepting that you must fare like X (one whose difficulty of exaggerated ambition was quite different from yours) and that you have only six years etc. These are clear formations of the Dark Forces seeking not only to sterilise your aspiration but to lead you away and so prevent your sharing in the fruit of the victory hereafter. I do not know what Krishnaprem has said but his injunction, if you have rightly understood it, is one that cannot stand as valid, since so many have done Yoga relying on tapasya or anything else but not confident of any Divine Grace. It is not that, but the soul's demand for a higher Truth or a higher life that is indispensable. Where that is, the Divine Grace whether believed in or not, will intervene. If you believe, that hastens and facilitates things; if you cannot yet believe, still the soul's aspiration will justify itself with whatever difficulty and struggle. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
717:But now thou askest me how thou mayest destroy this naked knowing and feeling of thine own being. For peradventure thou thinkest that if it were destroyed, all other hindrances were destroyed ; and if thou thinkest thus, thou thinkest right truly. But to this I answer thee and I say, that without a full special grace full freely given by God, and also a full according ableness on thy part to receive this grace, this naked knowing and feeling of thy being may in nowise be destroyed. And this ableness is nought else but a strong and a deep ghostly sorrow. ... All men have matter of sorrow; but most specially he feeleth matter of sorrow that knoweth and feeleth that he is. All other sorrows in comparison to this be but as it were game to earnest. For he may make sorrow earnestly that knoweth and feeleth not only what he is, but that he is. And whoso felt never this sorrow, let him make sorrow; for he hath never yet felt perfect sorrow. This sorrow, when it is had, cleanseth the soul, not only of sin, but also of pain that it hath deserved for sin ; and also it maketh a soul able to receive that joy, the which reave th from a man all knowing and feeling of his being. This sorrow, if it be truly conceived, is full of holy desire; and else a man might never in this life abide it or bear it. For were it not that a soul were somewhat fed with a manner of comfort by his right working, he should not be able to bear that pain that he hath by the knowing and feeling of his being. For as oft as he would have a true knowing and a feeling of his God in purity of spirit (as it may be here), and then feeleth that he may not for he findeth evermore his knowing and his feeling as it were occupied and filled with a foul stinking lump of himself, the which must always be hated and despised and forsaken, if he shall be God's perfect disciple, taught by Himself in the mount of perfection so oft he goeth nigh mad for sorrow. . . . This sorrow and this desire must every soul have and feel in itself (either in this manner or in another), as God vouchsafed! to teach his ghostly disciples according to his good will and their according ableness in body and in soul, in degree and disposition, ere the time be that they may perfectly be oned unto God in perfect charity such as may be had here, if God vouchsafed!.
~ Anonymous, The Cloud Of Unknowing,#KEYS
718:I have seen the truth; I have seen and I know that people can be beautiful and happy without losing the power of living on earth. I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition of mankind. And it is just this faith of mine that they laugh at. But how can I help believing it? I have seen the truth ~ it is not as though I had invented it with my mind, I have seen it, seen it, and the living image of it has filled my soul for ever. I have seen it in such full perfection that I cannot believe that it is impossible for people to have it. And so how can I go wrong? I shall make some slips no doubt, and shall perhaps talk in second-hand language, but not for long: the living image of what I saw will always be with me and will always correct and guide me. Oh, I am full of courage and freshness, and I will go on and on if it were for a thousand years! Do you know, at first I meant to conceal the fact that I corrupted them, but that was a mistake ~ that was my first mistake! But truth whispered to me that I was lying, and preserved me and corrected me. But how establish paradise ~ I don't know, because I do not know how to put it into words. After my dream I lost command of words. All the chief words, anyway, the most necessary ones. But never mind, I shall go and I shall keep talking, I won't leave off, for anyway I have seen it with my own eyes, though I cannot describe what I saw. But the scoffers do not understand that. It was a dream, they say, delirium, hallucination. Oh! As though that meant so much! And they are so proud! A dream! What is a dream? And is not our life a dream? I will say more. Suppose that this paradise will never come to pass (that I understand), yet I shall go on preaching it. And yet how simple it is: in one day, in one hour everything could be arranged at once! The chief thing is to love others like yourself, that's the chief thing, and that's everything; nothing else is wanted ~ you will find out at once how to arrange it all. And yet it's an old truth which has been told and retold a billion times ~ but it has not formed part of our lives! The consciousness of life is higher than life, the knowledge of the laws of happiness is higher than happiness ~ that is what one must contend against. And I shall. If only everyone wants it, it can be arranged at once. ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky in The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, #KEYS
719:34
D: What are the eight limbs of knowledge (jnana ashtanga)?
M: The eight limbs are those which have been already mentioned, viz., yama, niyama etc., but differently defined:
(1) Yama: This is controlling the aggregate of sense-organs, realizing the defects that are present in the world consisting of the body, etc.
(2) Niyama: This is maintaining a stream of mental modes that relate to the Self and rejecting the contrary modes. In other words, it means love that arises uninterruptedly for the Supreme Self.
(3) Asana: That with the help of which constant meditation on Brahman is made possible with ease is asana.
(4) Pranayama: Rechaka (exhalation) is removing the two unreal aspects of name and form from the objects constituting the world, the body etc., puraka (inhalation) is grasping the three real aspects, existence, consciousness and bliss, which are constant in those objects, and kumbhaka is retaining those aspects thus grasped.
(5) Pratyahara: This is preventing name and form which have been removed from re-entering the mind.
(6) Dharana: This is making the mind stay in the Heart, without straying outward, and realizing that one is the Self itself which is Existence-Consciousness-Bliss.
(7) Dhyana: This is meditation of the form 'I am only pure consciousness'. That is, after leaving aside the body which consists of five sheaths, one enquires 'Who am I?', and as a result of that, one stays as 'I' which shines as the Self.
(8) Samadhi: When the 'I-manifestation' also ceases, there is (subtle) direct experience. This is samadhi.
For pranayama, etc., detailed here, the disciplines such as asana, etc., mentioned in connection with yoga are not necessary.
The limbs of knowledge may be practised at all places and at all times. Of yoga and knowledge, one may follow whichever is pleasing to one, or both, according to circumstances. The great teachers say that forgetfulness is the root of all evil, and is death for those who seek release,10 so one should rest the mind in one's Self and should never forget the Self: this is the aim. If the mind is controlled, all else can be controlled. The distinction between yoga with eight limbs and knowledge with eight limbs has been set forth elaborately in the sacred texts; so only the substance of this teaching has been given here. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Self-Enquiry, 34,#KEYS
720:Fundamentally, whatever be the path one follows - whe- ther the path of surrender, consecration, knowledge-if one wants it to be perfect, it is always equally difficult, and there is but one way, one only, I know of only one: that is perfect sincerity, but perfect sincerity!
Do you know what perfect sincerity is?...
Never to try to deceive oneself, never let any part of the being try to find out a way of convincing the others, never to explain favourably what one does in order to have an excuse for what one wants to do, never to close one's eyes when something is unpleasant, never to let anything pass, telling oneself, "That is not important, next time it will be better."
Oh! It is very difficult. Just try for one hour and you will see how very difficult it is. Only one hour, to be totally, absolutely sincere. To let nothing pass. That is, all one does, all one feels, all one thinks, all one wants, is exclusively the Divine.
"I want nothing but the Divine, I think of nothing but the Divine, I do nothing but what will lead me to the Divine, I love nothing but the Divine."
Try - try, just to see, try for half an hour, you will see how difficult it is! And during that time take great care that there isn't a part of the vital or a part of the mind or a part of the physical being nicely hidden there, at the back, so that you don't see it (Mother hides her hands behind her back) and don't notice that it is not collaborating - sitting quietly there so that you don't unearth it... it says nothing, but it does not change, it hides itself. How many such parts! How many parts hide themselves! You put them in your pocket because you don't want to see them or else they get behind your back and sit there well-hidden, right in the middle of your back, so as not to be seen. When you go there with your torch - your torch of sincerity - you ferret out all the corners, everywhere, all the small corners which do not consent, the things which say "No" or those which do not move: "I am not going to budge. I am glued to this place of mine and nothing will make me move."... You have a torch there with you, and you flash it upon the thing, upon everything. You will see there are many of them there, behind your back, well stuck.
Try, just for an hour, try!
No more questions?
Nobody has anything to say? Then, au revoir, my children! ~ The Mother, Question and Answers, Volume-6, page no.132-133),#KEYS
721:Satya Sattva - "Sri Yukteswar's intuition was penetrating; heedless of remarks, he often replied to one's unexpressed thoughts. The words a person uses, and the actual thoughts behind them, may be poles apart. 'By calmness,' my guru said, 'try to feel the thoughts behind the confusion of men's verbiage.' [...]
Many teachers talked of miracles but could manifest nothing. Sri Yukteswar seldom mentioned the subtle laws but secretly operated them at will. 'A man of realization doesn't perform any miracle until he receives an inward sanction', master explained. 'God does not wish the secrets of His creation revealed promiscuously. Also, every individual in the world has an inalienable right to his free will. A saint will not encroach on that independence.'
The silence habitual to Sri Yukteswar was caused by his deep perceptions of the Infinite. [...] Because of my guru's unspectacular guise, only a few of his contemporaries recognized him as a superman. The adage: 'He is a fool that cannot conceal his wisdom,' could never be applied to my profound and quiet master. Though born a mortal like all others, Sri Yukteswar achieved identity with the Ruler of time and space. Master found no insuperable obstacles to the mergence of human and Divine. No such barrier exists, I came to understand. [...]
Though my guru's undissembling speech prevented a large following during his years on Earth, nevertheless, through an ever-growing number of sincere students of his teachings, his spirit lives on in the world today. [...]
The disclosures of the Divine insight are often painful to worldly ears. Master was not popular with superficial students. The wise, always few in number, deeply revered him. I daresay Sri Yukteswar would have been the most sought-after guru in India had his speech not been so candid and so censorious. [...]
He added, 'You will go to foreign lands, where blunt assaults on the ego are not appreciated. A teacher could not spread India's message in the West without an ample fund of accommodative patience and forbearance.' [...]
I am immeasurably grateful for the humbling blows he dealt my vanity. I sometimes felt that, metaphorically, he was discovering and uprooting every diseased tooth in my jaw. The hard core of egotism is difficult to dislodge except rudely. With its departure, the Divine finds at last un unobstructed channel. In vain It seeks to percolate through flinty hearts of selfishness. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi,#KEYS
722:Who could have thought that this tanned young man with gentle, dreamy eyes, long wavy hair parted in the middle and falling to the neck, clad in a common coarse Ahmedabad dhoti, a close-fitting Indian jacket, and old-fashioned slippers with upturned toes, and whose face was slightly marked with smallpox, was no other than Mister Aurobindo Ghose, living treasure of French, Latin and Greek?" Actually, Sri Aurobindo was not yet through with books; the Western momentum was still there; he devoured books ordered from Bombay and Calcutta by the case. "Aurobindo would sit at his desk," his Bengali teacher continues, "and read by the light of an oil lamp till one in the morning, oblivious of the intolerable mosquito bites. I would see him seated there in the same posture for hours on end, his eyes fixed on his book, like a yogi lost in the contemplation of the Divine, unaware of all that went on around him. Even if the house had caught fire, it would not have broken this concentration." He read English, Russian, German, and French novels, but also, in ever larger numbers, the sacred books of India, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Ramayana, although he had never been in a temple except as an observer. "Once, having returned from the College," one of his friends recalls, "Sri Aurobindo sat down, picked up a book at random and started to read, while Z and some friends began a noisy game of chess. After half an hour, he put the book down and took a cup of tea. We had already seen him do this many times and were waiting eagerly for a chance to verify whether he read the books from cover to cover or only scanned a few pages here and there. Soon the test began. Z opened the book, read a line aloud and asked Sri Aurobindo to recite what followed. Sri Aurobindo concentrated for a moment, and then repeated the entire page without a single mistake. If he could read a hundred pages in half an hour, no wonder he could go through a case of books in such an incredibly short time." But Sri Aurobindo did not stop at the translations of the sacred texts; he began to study Sanskrit, which, typically, he learned by himself. When a subject was known to be difficult or impossible, he would refuse to take anyone's word for it, whether he were a grammarian, pandit, or clergyman, and would insist upon trying it himself. The method seemed to have some merit, for not only did he learn Sanskrit, but a few years later he discovered the lost meaning of the Veda. ~ Satprem, Sri Aurobindo Or The Adventure of Consciousness, #KEYS
723:Thus the eternal paradox and eternal truth of a divine life in an animal body, an immortal aspiration or reality inhabiting a mortal tenement, a single and universal consciousness representing itself in limited minds and divided egos, a transcendent, indefinable, timeless and spaceless Being who alone renders time and space and cosmos possible, and in all these the higher truth realisable by the lower term, justify themselves to the deliberate reason as well as to the persistent instinct or intuition of mankind. Attempts are sometimes made to have done finally with questionings which have so often been declared insoluble by logical thought and to persuade men to limit their mental activities to the practical and immediate problems of their material existence in the universe; but such evasions are never permanent in their effect. Mankind returns from them with a more vehement impulse of inquiry or a more violent hunger for an immediate solution. By that hunger mysticism profits and new religions arise to replace the old that have been destroyed or stripped of significance by a scepticism which itself could not satisfy because, although its business was inquiry, it was unwilling sufficiently to inquire. The attempt to deny or stifle a truth because it is yet obscure in its outward workings and too often represented by obscurantist superstition or a crude faith, is itself a kind of obscurantism. The will to escape from a cosmic necessity because it is arduous, difficult to justify by immediate tangible results, slow in regulating its operations, must turn out eventually to have been no acceptance of the truth of Nature but a revolt against the secret, mightier will of the great Mother. It is better and more rational to accept what she will not allow us as a race to reject and lift it from the sphere of blind instinct, obscure intuition and random aspiration into the light of reason and an instructed and consciously self-guiding will. And if there is any higher light of illumined intuition or self-revealing truth which is now in man either obstructed and inoperative or works with intermittent glancings as if from behind a veil or with occasional displays as of the northern lights in our material skies, then there also we need not fear to aspire. For it is likely that such is the next higher state of consciousness of which Mind is only a form and veil, and through the splendours of that light may lie the path of our progressive self-enlargement into whatever highest state is humanity's ultimate resting-place. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, The Human Aspiration, #KEYS
724:Why do we forget things?
Ah! I suppose there are several reasons. First, because one makes use of the memory to remember. Memory is a mental instrument and depends on the formation of the brain. Your brain is constantly growing, unless it begins to degenerate, but still its growth can continue for a very, very long time, much longer than that of the body. And in this growth, necessarily some things will take the place of others. And as the mental instrument develops, things which have served their term or the transitory moment in the development may be wiped out to give place to the result. So the result of all that you knew is there, living in itself, but the road traversed to reach it may be completely blurred. That is, a good functioning of the memory means remembering only the results so as to be able to have the elements for moving forward and a new construction. That is more important than just retaining things rigidly in the mind.
Now, there is another aspect also. Apart from the mental memory, which is something defective, there are states of consciousness. Each state of consciousness in which one happens to be registers the phenomena of a particular moment, whatever they may be. If your consciousness remains limpid, wide and strong, you can at any moment whatsoever, by concentrating, call into the active consciousness what you did, thought, saw, observed at any time before; all this you can remember by bringing up in yourself the same state of consciousness. And that, that is never forgotten. You could live a thousand years and you would still remember it. Consequently, if you don't want to forget, it must be your consciousness which remembers and not your mental memory. Your mental memory will be wiped out inevitably, get blurred, and new things will take the place of the old ones. But things of which you are conscious you do not forget. You have only to bring up the same state of consciousness again. And thus one can remember circumstances one has lived thousands of years ago, if one knows how to bring up the same state of consciousness. It is in this way that one can remember one's past lives. This never gets blotted out, while you don't have any more the memory of what you have done physically when you were very young. You would be told many things you no longer remember. That gets wiped off immediately. For the brain is constantly changing and certain weaker cells are replaced by others which are much stronger, and by other combinations, other cerebral organisations. And so, what was there before is effaced or deformed.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1954,#KEYS
725:The Examiners
The integral yoga consists of an uninterrupted series of examinations that one has to undergo without any previous warning, thus obliging you to be constantly on the alert and attentive.
Three groups of examiners set us these tests. They appear to have nothing to do with one another, and their methods are so different, sometimes even so apparently contradictory, that it seems as if they could not possibly be leading towards the same goal. Nevertheless, they complement one another, work towards the same end, and are all indispensable to the completeness of the result.
The three types of examination are: those set by the forces of Nature, those set by spiritual and divine forces, and those set by hostile forces. These last are the most deceptive in their appearance and to avoid being caught unawares and unprepared requires a state of constant watchfulness, sincerity and humility.
The most commonplace circumstances, the events of everyday life, the most apparently insignificant people and things all belong to one or other of these three kinds of examiners. In this vast and complex organisation of tests, those events that are generally considered the most important in life are the easiest examinations to undergo, because they find you ready and on your guard. It is easier to stumble over the little stones in your path, because they attract no attention.
Endurance and plasticity, cheerfulness and fearlessness are the qualities specially needed for the examinations of physical nature.
Aspiration, trust, idealism, enthusiasm and generous self-giving, for spiritual examinations.
Vigilance, sincerity and humility for the examinations from hostile forces.
And do not imagine that there are on the one hand people who undergo the examinations and on the other people who set them. Depending on the circumstances and the moment we are all both examiners and examinees, and it may even happen that one is at the same time both examiner and examinee. And the benefit one derives from this depends, both in quality and in quantity, on the intensity of one's aspiration and the awakening of one's consciousness.
To conclude, a final piece of advice: never set yourself up as an examiner. For while it is good to remember constantly that one may be undergoing a very important examination, it is extremely dangerous to imagine that one is responsible for setting examinations for others. That is the open door to the most ridiculous and harmful kinds of vanity. It is the Supreme Wisdom which decides these things, and not the ignorant human will. ~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother II,#KEYS
726:... one of the major personality traits was neuroticism, the tendency to feel negative emotion. He [Jung] never formalized that idea in his thinking. Its a great oversight in some sense because the capacity to experience negative emotion, when thats exaggerated that seems to be the core feature of everything we that we regard as psychopathology. Psychiatric and psychological illness. Not the only thing but its the primary factor. So.
Q: What is the best way to avoid falling back into nihilistic behaviours and thinking?
JBP:Well, a large part of that I would say is habit. The development and maintainance of good practices. Habits. If you find yourself desolute, neurotic, if your thought tends in the nihilistic direction and you tend to fall apart, organizing your life across multiple dimensions is a good antidote its not exactly thinking.
Do you have an intimate relationship? If not then well probably you could use one.
Do you have contact with close family members, siblings, children, parents, or even people who are more distantly related. If not, you probably need that.
Do you see your friends a couple of times a week? And do something social with them?
Do you have a way of productively using your time outside of employment?
Are you employed?
Do you have a good job? Or at least a job that is practically sufficient and enables you to work with people who you like working with? Even if the job itself is mundane or repetitive or difficult sometimes the relationships you establish in an employment situation like that can make the job worthwhile.
Have you regulated your response to temptations? Pornography, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, is that under control?
I would say differentiate the problem. Theres multiple dimensions of attainment, ambition, pleasure, responsibility all of that that make up a life, and to the degree that is it possible you want to optimize your functioning on as many of those dimensions as possible.
You might also organize your schedule to the degree that you have that capacity for discipline.
Do you get enough sleep?
Do you go to bed at a regular time?
Do you get up at a regular time?
Do you eat regularly and appropriately and enought and not too much?
Are your days and your weeks and your months characterized by some tolerable, repeatable structure? That helps you meet your responsibilities but also shields you from uncertainly and chaos and provides you with multiple sources of reward?
Those are all the questions decompose the problem into, the best way of avoiding falling into nihilistic behaviours and thinking. ~ Jordan B. Peterson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-geMoCsNAw,#KEYS
727:Has creation a definite aim? Is there something like a final end to which it is moving?
The Mother: No, the universe is a movement that is eternally unrolling itself. There is nothing which you can fix upon as the end and one aim. But for the sake of action we have to section the movement, which is itself unending, and to say that this or that is the goal, for in action we need something upon which we can fix our aim. In a picture you need a definite scheme of composition and colour; you have to set a limit, to put the whole thing within a fixed framework; but the limit is illusory, the frame is a mere convention. There is a constant continuation of the picture that stretches beyond any particular frame, and each continuation can be drawn in the same conditions in an unending series of frames. Our aim is this or that, we say, but we know that it is only the beginning of another aim beyond it, and that in its turn leads to yet another; the series develop always and never stop.
What is the proper function of the intellect? Is it a help or a hindrance to Sadhana?
Whether the intellect is a help or a hindrance depends upon the person and upon the way in which it is used. There is a true movement of the intellect and there is a wrong movement; one helps, the other hinders. The intellect that believes too much in its own importance and wants satisfaction for its own sake, is an obstacle to the higher realisation.
But this is true not in any special sense or for the intellect alone, but generally and of other faculties as well. For example, people do not regard an all-engrossing satisfaction of the vital desires or the animal appetites as a virtue; the moral sense is accepted as a mentor to tell one the bounds that one may not transgress. It is only in his intellectual activities that man thinks he can do without any such mentor or censor!
Any part of the being that keeps to its proper place and plays its appointed role is helpful; but directly it steps beyond its sphere, it becomes twisted and perverted and therefore false. A power has the right movement when it is set into activity for the divine's purpose; it has the wrong movement when it is set into activity for its own satisfaction.
The intellect, in its true nature, is an instrument of expression and action. It is something like an intermediary between the true knowledge, whose seat is in the higher regions above the mind, and realisation here below. The intellect or, generally speaking, the mind gives the form; the vital puts in the dynamism and life-power; the material comes in last and embodies. ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1929-1931, 28th April 1931 and 5th May 1929,#KEYS
728:Workshops, churches, and palaces were full of these fatal works of art; he had even helped with a few himself. They were deeply disappointing be cause they aroused the desire for the highest and did not fulfill it. They lacked the most essential thing-mystery. That was what dreams and truly great works of art had in common : mystery. Goldmund continued his thought: It is mystery I love and pursue. Several times I have seen it beginning to take shape; as an artist, I would like to capture and express it. Some day, perhaps, I'll be able to. The figure of the universal mother, the great birthgiver, for example. Unlike other fi gures, her mystery does not consist of this or that detail, of a particular voluptuousness or sparseness, coarseness or delicacy, power or gracefulness. It consists of a fusion of the greatest contrasts of the world, those that cannot otherwise be combined, that have made peace only in this figure. They live in it together: birth and death, tenderness and cruelty, life and destruction. If I only imagined this fi gure, and were she merely the play of my thoughts, it would not matter about her, I could dismiss her as a mistake and forget about her. But the universal mother is not an idea of mine; I did not think her up, I saw her! She lives inside me. I've met her again and again. She appeared to me one winter night in a village when I was asked to hold a light over the bed of a peasant woman giving birth: that's when the image came to life within me. I often lose it; for long periods it re mains remote; but suddenly it Hashes clear again, as it did today. The image of my own mother, whom I loved most of all, has transformed itself into this new image, and lies encased within the new one like the pit in the cherry.
As his present situation became clear to him, Goldmund was afraid to make a decision. It was as difficult as when he had said farewell to Narcissus and to the cloister. Once more he was on an impor tant road : the road to his mother. Would this mother-image one day take shape, a work of his hands, and become visible to all? Perhaps that was his goal, the hidden meaning of his life. Perhaps; he didn't know. But one thing he did know : it was good to travel toward his mother, to be drawn and called by her. He felt alive. Perhaps he'd never be able to shape her image, perhaps she'd always remain a dream, an intuition, a golden shimmer, a sacred mystery. At any rate, he had to follow her and submit his fate to her. She was his star.
And now the decision was at his fingertips; everything had become clear. Art was a beautiful thing, but it was no goddess, no goal-not for him. He was not to follow art, but only the call of his mother.
~ Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund,#KEYS
729:10000 :::
The Only Way Out:
... Once you have no more desires, no more attachments, once you have given up all necessity of receiving a reward from human beings, whoever they are - knowing that the only reward that is worth getting is the one that comes from the Supreme and that never fails - once you give up attachment to all exterior beings and things, you at once feel in your heart this Presence, this Force, this Grace that is always with you. And there is no other remedy. It's the only remedy, for everybody without exception. To all those who suffer, for the same thing that has to be said: all suffering is the sign that the surrender is not total. Then, when you feel in you a 'bang' like that, instead of saying, 'Oh, this is bad' or 'This circumstance is difficult,' you say, 'My surrender is not perfect.' Then it's all right. And then you feel the Grace that helps you and leads you, and you go on. And one day you emerge into that peace that nothing can trouble.
You answer to all the contrary forces, the contrary movements, the attacks, the misunderstandings, the bad wills, with the same smile that comes from full confidence in the Divine Grace. And that is the only way out, there is no other.
But where to get such a strength?
Within you. The Divine Presence is in you. It is in you. You look for it outside; look inside. It is in you. The Presence is there. You want the appreciation of others to get strength - you will never get it. The strength is in you. If you want, you can aspire for what seems to you the supreme goal, supreme light, supreme knowledge, supreme love. But it is in you - otherwise you would never be able to contact it. If you go deep enough inside you, you will find it there, like a flame that is always burning straight up. And don't believe that it is difficult to do. It is because the look is always turned outside that you don't feel the Presence. But if, instead of looking outside for support, you concentrate and you pray - inside, to the supreme knowledge - to know at each moment what is to be done, the way to do it, and if you give all you are, all you do in order to acquire perfection, you will feel that the support is always there, always guiding, showing the way. And if there is a difficulty, then instead of wanting to fight, you hand it over, hand it over to the supreme wisdom to deal with it - to deal with all the bad wills, all the misunderstandings, all the bad reactions. If you surrender completely, it is no more your concern: it's the concern of the Supreme who takes it up and knows better than anybody else what is to be done. That is the only way out, only way out. There, my child
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, [T1],#KEYS
730:Worthy The Name Of Sir Knight
Sir Knight of the world's oldest order,
Sir Knight of the Army of God,
You have crossed the strange mystical border,
The ground floor of truth you have trod;
You have entered the sanctum sanctorum,
Which leads to the temple above,
Where you come as a stone, and a Christ-chosen one,
In the kingdom of Friendship and Love.
II
As you stand in this new realm of beauty,
Where each man you meet is your friend,
Think not that your promise of duty
In hall, or asylum, shall end;
Outside, in the great world of pleasure,
Beyond, in the clamor of trade,
In the battle of life and its coarse daily strife
Remember the vows you have made.
III
Your service, majestic and solemn,
Your symbols, suggestive and sweet,
Your uniformed phalanx in column
On gala days marching the street;
Your sword and your plume and your helmet,
Your 'secrets' hid from the world's sight;
These things are the small, lesser parts of the all
Which are needed to form the true Knight.
IV
The martyrs who perished rejoicing
In Templary's glorious laws,
Who died 'midst the fagots while voicing
The glory and worth of their cause-
935
They honored the title of 'Templar'
No more than the Knight of to-day
Who mars not the name with one blemish of shame,
But carries it clean through life's fray.
To live for a cause, to endeavor
To make your deeds grace it, to try
And uphold its precepts forever,
Is harder by far than to die.
For the battle of life is unending,
The enemy, Self, never tires,
And the true Knight must slay that sly foe every day
Ere he reaches the heights he desires.
VI
Sir Knight, have you pondered the meaning
Of all you have heard and been told?
Have you strengthened your heart for its weaning
From vices and faults loved of old?
Will you honor, in hours of temptation,
Your promises noble and grand?
Will your spirit be strong to do battle with wrong,
'And having done all, to stand?'
VII
Will you ever be true to a brother
In actions as well as in creed?
Will you stand by his side as no other
Could stand in the hour of his need?
Will you boldly defend him from peril,
And lift him from poverty's curseWill the promise of aid which you willingly made,
Reach down from your lips to your purse?
VIII
The world's battle field is before you!
Let Wisdom walk close by your side,
936
Let Faith spread her snowy wings o'er you,
Let Truth be your comrade and guide;
Let Fortitude, Justice and Mercy
Direct all your conduct aright,
And let each word and act tell to men the proud fact,
You are worthy the name of 'Sir Knight'.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,#KEYS
731:O Death, thou lookst on an unfinished world
Assailed by thee and of its road unsure,
Peopled by imperfect minds and ignorant lives,
And sayest God is not and all is vain.
How shall the child already be the man?
Because he is infant, shall he never grow?
Because he is ignorant, shall he never learn?
In a small fragile seed a great tree lurks,
In a tiny gene a thinking being is shut;
A little element in a little sperm,
It grows and is a conqueror and a sage.
Then wilt thou spew out, Death, God's mystic truth,
Deny the occult spiritual miracle?
Still wilt thou say there is no spirit, no God?
A mute material Nature wakes and sees;
She has invented speech, unveiled a will.
Something there waits beyond towards which she strives,
Something surrounds her into which she grows:
To uncover the spirit, to change back into God,
To exceed herself is her transcendent task.
In God concealed the world began to be,
Tardily it travels towards manifest God:
Our imperfection towards perfection toils,
The body is the chrysalis of a soul:
The infinite holds the finite in its arms,
Time travels towards revealed eternity.
A miracle structure of the eternal Mage,
Matter its mystery hides from its own eyes,
A scripture written out in cryptic signs,
An occult document of the All-Wonderful's art.
All here bears witness to his secret might,
In all we feel his presence and his power.
A blaze of his sovereign glory is the sun,
A glory is the gold and glimmering moon,
A glory is his dream of purple sky.
A march of his greatness are the wheeling stars.
His laughter of beauty breaks out in green trees,
His moments of beauty triumph in a flower;
The blue sea's chant, the rivulet's wandering voice
Are murmurs falling from the Eternal's harp.
This world is God fulfilled in outwardness.
His ways challenge our reason and our sense;
By blind brute movements of an ignorant Force,
By means we slight as small, obscure or base,
A greatness founded upon little things,
He has built a world in the unknowing Void.
His forms he has massed from infinitesimal dust;
His marvels are built from insignificant things.
If mind is crippled, life untaught and crude,
If brutal masks are there and evil acts,
They are incidents of his vast and varied plot,
His great and dangerous drama's needed steps;
He makes with these and all his passion-play,
A play and yet no play but the deep scheme
Of a transcendent Wisdom finding ways
To meet her Lord in the shadow and the Night:
Above her is the vigil of the stars;
Watched by a solitary Infinitude
She embodies in dumb Matter the Divine,
In symbol minds and lives the Absolute.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Debate of Love and Death,#KEYS
732:The modern distinction is that the poet appeals to the imagination and not to the intellect. But there are many kinds of imagination; the objective imagination which visualises strongly the outward aspects of life and things; the subjective imagination which visualises strongly the mental and emotional impressions they have the power to start in the mind; the imagination which deals in the play of mental fictions and to which we give the name of poetic fancy; the aesthetic imagination which delights in the beauty of words and images for their own sake and sees no farther. All these have their place in poetry, but they only give the poet his materials, they are only the first instruments in the creation of poetic style. The essential poetic imagination does not stop short with even the most subtle reproductions of things external or internal, with the richest or delicatest play of fancy or with the most beautiful colouring of word or image. It is creative, not of either the actual or the fictitious, but of the more and the most real; it sees the spiritual truth of things, - of this truth too there are many gradations, - which may take either the actual or the ideal for its starting-point. The aim of poetry, as of all true art, is neither a photographic or otherwise realistic imitation of Nature, nor a romantic furbishing and painting or idealistic improvement of her image, but an interpretation by the images she herself affords us, not on one but on many planes of her creation, of that which she conceals from us, but is ready, when rightly approached, to reveal.
This is the true, because the highest and essential aim of poetry; but the human mind arrives at it only by a succession of steps, the first of which seems far enough from its object. It begins by stringing its most obvious and external ideas, feelings and sensations of things on a thread of verse in a sufficient language of no very high quality. But even when it gets to a greater adequacy and effectiveness, it is often no more than a vital, an emotional or an intellectual adequacy and effectiveness. There is a strong vital poetry which powerfully appeals to our sensations and our sense of life, like much of Byron or the less inspired mass of the Elizabethan drama; a strong emotional poetry which stirs our feelings and gives us the sense and active image of the passions; a strong intellectual poetry which satisfies our curiosity about life and its mechanism, or deals with its psychological and other "problems", or shapes for us our thoughts in an effective, striking and often quite resistlessly quotable fashion. All this has its pleasures for the mind and the surface soul in us, and it is certainly quite legitimate to enjoy them and to enjoy them strongly and vividly on our way upward; but if we rest content with these only, we shall never get very high up the hill of the Muses.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry,#KEYS
733:The madman.-
Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place. and cried incessantly: "I seek God! I seek God!" -As many of those who did not believe in God were standing around just then, he provoked much laughter. Has he got lost? asked one. Did he lose his way like a child? asked another. Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone on a voyage? emigrated? -Thus they yelled and laughed.
The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. "Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him-you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward. forward. in all directions? be there still any up or down? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too. decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.
"How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us-for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto."
Here the madman fell silent and looked again at his listeners; and they, too, were silent and stared at him in astonishment. At last he threw his lantern on the ground, and it broke into pieces and went out. "I have come too early," he said then: "my time is not yet. This tremendous event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the most distant stars-and yet they have done it themselves... It has been related further that on the same day the madman forced his way into several churches and there struck up his reqttiem aeternam deo. Led out and called to account, he is said always to have replied nothing but: "What after all are these churches now if they are not the tombs and sepulchers of God? ~ Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, trans. Kaufmann,#KEYS
734:The Mother once described the characteristics of the unity-body, of the future supramental body, to a young Ashramite: 'You know, if there is something on that window-sill and if I [in a supramental body] want to take it, I stretch out my hand and it becomes - wow! - long, and I have the thing in my hand without even having to get up from my chair ... Physically, I shall be able to be here and there at the same time. I shall be able to communicate with many people at the same time. To have something in my hand, I'll just have to wish for it. I think about something and I want it and it is already in my hand. With this transformed body I shall be free of the fetters of ignorance, pain, of mortality and unconsciousness. I shall be able to do many things at the same time. The transparent, luminous, strong, light, elastic body won't need any material things to subsist on ... The body can even be lengthened if one wants it to become tall, or shrunk when one wants it to be small, in any circumstances ... There will be all kinds of changes and there will be powers without limit. And it won't be something funny. Of course, I am giving you somewhat childish examples to tease you and to show the difference. 'It will be a true being, perfect in proportion, very, very beautiful and strong, light, luminous or else transparent. It will have a supple and malleable body endowed with extraordinary capacities and able to do everything; a body without age, a creation of the New Consciousness or else a transformed body such as none has ever imagined ... All that is above man will be within its reach. It will be guided by the Truth alone and nothing less. That is what it is and more even than has ever been conceived.'895 This the Mother told in French to Mona Sarkar, who noted it down as faithfully as possible and read it out to her for verification. The supramental body will not only be omnipotent and omniscient, but also omnipresent. And immortal. Not condemned to a never ending monotonous immortality - which, again, is one of our human interpretations of immortality - but for ever existing in an ecstasy of inexhaustible delight in 'the Joy that surpasses all understanding.' Moment after moment, eternity after eternity. For in that state each moment is an eternity and eternity an ever present moment. If gross matter is not capable of being used as a permanent coating of the soul in the present phase of its evolution, then it certainly is not capable of being the covering of the supramental consciousness, to form the body that has, to some extent, been described above. This means that the crux of the process of supramental transformation lies in matter; the supramental world has to become possible in matter, which at present still is gross matter. - Sri Aurobindo and the Mother were supramentalized in their mental and vital, but their enormous problem was the supramentalization of the physical body, consisting of the gross matter of the Earth. As the Mother said: 'It is matter itself that must change so that the Supramental may manifest. A new kind of matter no longer corresponding with Mendeleyev's periodic table of the elements? Is that possible?
~ Georges Van Vrekhem,#KEYS
735:On that spring day in the park I saw a young woman who attracted me. She was tall and slender, elegantly dressed, and had an intelligent and boyish face. I liked her at once. She was my type and began to fill my imagination. She probably was not much older than I but seemed far more mature, well-defined, a full-grown woman, but with a touch of exuberance and boyishness in her face, and this was what I liked above all .
I had never managed to approach a girl with whom I had fallen in love, nor did I manage in this case. But the impression she made on me was deeper than any previous one had been and the infatuation had a profound influence on my life.
Suddenly a new image had risen up before me, a lofty and cherished image. And no need, no urge was as deep or as fervent within me as the craving to worship and admire. I gave her the name Beatrice, for, even though I had not read Dante, I knew about Beatrice from an English painting of which I owned a reproduction. It showed a young pre-Raphaelite woman, long-limbed and slender, with long head and etherealized hands and features. My beautiful young woman did not quite resemble her, even though she, too, revealed that slender and boyish figure which I loved, and something of the ethereal, soulful quality of her face.
Although I never addressed a single word to Beatrice, she exerted a profound influence on me at that time. She raised her image before me, she gave me access to a holy shrine, she transformed me into a worshiper in a temple.
From one day to the next I stayed clear of all bars and nocturnal exploits. I could be alone with myself again and enjoyed reading and going for long walks.
My sudden conversion drew a good deal of mockery in its wake. But now I had something I loved and venerated, I had an ideal again, life was rich with intimations of mystery and a feeling of dawn that made me immune to all taunts. I had come home again to myself, even if only as the slave and servant of a cherished image.
I find it difficult to think back to that time without a certain fondness. Once more I was trying most strenuously to construct an intimate "world of light" for myself out of the shambles of a period of devastation; once more I sacrificed everything within me to the aim of banishing darkness and evil from myself. And, furthermore, this present "world of light" was to some extent my own creation; it was no longer an escape, no crawling back to -nether and the safety of irresponsibility; it was a new duty, one I had invented and desired on my own, with responsibility and self-control. My sexuality, a torment from which I was in constant flight, was to be transfigured nto spirituality and devotion by this holy fire. Everything :brk and hateful was to be banished, there were to be no more tortured nights, no excitement before lascivious picures, no eavesdropping at forbidden doors, no lust. In place of all this I raised my altar to the image of Beatrice, :.. and by consecrating myself to her I consecrated myself to the spirit and to the gods, sacrificing that part of life which I withdrew from the forces of darkness to those of light. My goal was not joy but purity, not happiness but beauty, and spirituality.
This cult of Beatrice completely changed my life.
~ Hermann Hesse, Demian,#KEYS
736:At it's narrowest (although this is a common and perhaps the official position; need to find ref in What is Enlightenment) "integral", "turquois" (Spiral Dynamics), and "second tier" (ditto) are all synonms, and in turn are equivalent to Wilber IV / AQAL/Wilber V "Post-metaphysical" AQAL. This is the position that "Integral = Ken Wilber". It constitutes a new philosophical school or meme-set, in the tradition of charismatic spiritual teachers of all ages, in which an articulate, brilliant, and popular figure would arise, and gather a following around him- or her-self. After the teacher passes on, their teaching remains through books and organisations dedicated to perpetuating that teaching; although without the brilliant light of the Founder, things generally become pretty stultifying, and there is often little or no original development. Even so, the books themselves continue to inspire, and many people benefit greatly from these tecahings, and can contact the original Light of the founders to be inspired by them on the subtle planes. Some late 19th, 20th, and early 21st century examples of such teachers, known and less well-known, are Blavatsky, Theon, Steiner, Aurobindo, Gurdjieff, Crowley, Alice Bailey, Carl Jung, Ann Ree Colton, and now Ken Wilber. Also, many popular gurus belong in this category. It could plausibly be suggested that the founders of the great world religions started out no different, but their teaching really caught on n a big way.
...
At its broadest then, the Integral Community includes not only Wilber but those he cites as his influences and hold universal and evolutionary views or teachings, as well as those who, while influenced by him also differ somewhat, and even those like Arthur M Young that Wilber has apparently never heard of. Nevertheless, all share a common, evolutionary, "theory of everything" position, and, whilst they may differ on many details and even on many major points, taken together they could be considered a wave front for a new paradigm, a memetic revolution. I use the term Daimon of the Integral Movement to refer to the spiritual being or personality of light that is behind and working through this broader movement.
Now, this doesn't mean that this daimon is necessarily a negative entity. I see a lot of promise, a lot of potential, in the Integral Approach. From what I feel at the moment, the Integral Deva is a force and power of good.
But, as with any new spiritual or evolutionary development, there is duality, in that there are forces that hinder and oppose and distort, as well as forces that help and aid in the evolution and ultimate divinisation of the Earth and the cosmos. Thus even where a guru does give in the dark side (as very often happens with many gurus today) there still remains an element of Mixed Light that remains (one finds this ambiguity with Sai Baba, with Da Free John, and with Rajneesh); and we find this same ambiguity with the Integral Community regarding what seems to me a certain offputting devotional attitude towards Wilber himself. The light will find its way, regardless. However, an Intregral Movement that is caught up in worship of and obedience to an authority figure, will not be able to achieve what a movement unfettered by such shackles could. ~ M Alan Kazlev, Kheper, Wilber, Integral,#KEYS
737:But there's a reason. There's a reason. There's a reason for this, there's a reason education sucks, and it's the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It's never gonna get any better. Don't look for it. Be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners now, the real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the senate, the congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. They got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying, lobbying, to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else, but I'll tell you what they don't want: They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that. That doesn't help them. Thats against their interests. Thats right. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around a kitchen table to figure out how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. They don't want that. You know what they want? They want obedient workers. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now they're coming for your Social Security money. They want your retirement money. They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all from you, sooner or later, 'cause they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club. And by the way, it's the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long when they tell you what to believe. All day long beating you over the head in their media telling you what to believe, what to think and what to buy. The table is tilted folks. The game is rigged, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. Good honest hard-working people -- white collar, blue collar, it doesn't matter what color shirt you have on -- good honest hard-working people continue -- these are people of modest means -- continue to elect these rich cocksuckers who don't give a fuck about them. They don't give a fuck about you. They don't give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all. And nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on; the fact that Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue dick that's being jammed up their assholes everyday. Because the owners of this country know the truth: it's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it. ~ George Carlin, #KEYS
738:
Sweet Mother, how can one feel the divine Presence constantly?
Why not?
But how can one do it?
But I am asking why one should not feel it. Instead of asking the question how to feel it, I ask the question: "What do you do that you don't feel it?" There is no reason not to feel the divine Presence. Once you have felt it, even once, you should be capable of feeling it always, for it is there. It is a fact. It is only our ignorance which makes us unaware of it. But if we become conscious, why should we not always be conscious? Why forget something one has learnt? When one has had the experience, why forget it? It is simply a bad habit, that's all.
You see, there is something which is a fact, that's to say, it is. But we are unaware of it and do not know it. But after we become conscious and know it, why should we still forget it? Does it make sense? It's quite simply because we are not convinced that once one has met the Divine one can't forget Him any more. We are, on the contrary, full of stupid ideas which say, "Oh! Yes, it's very well once like that, but the rest of the time it will be as usual." So there is no reason why it may not begin again.
But if we know that... we did not know something, we were ignorant, then the moment we have the knowledge... I am sincerely asking how one can manage to forget. One might not know something, that is a fact; there are countless things one doesn't know. But the moment one knows them, the minute one has the experience, how can one manage to forget? Within yourself you have the divine Presence, you know nothing about it - for all kinds of reasons, but still the chief reason is that you are in a state of ignorance. Yet suddenly, by a clicking of circumstances, you become conscious of this divine Presence, that is, you are before a fact - it is not imagination, it is a fact, it's something which exists. Then how do you manage to forget it once you have known it?
...
It is because something in us, through cowardice or defeatism, accepts this. If one did not accept it, it wouldn't happen.
Even when everything seems to be suddenly darkened, the flame and the Light are always there. And if one doesn't forget them, one has only to put in front of them the part which is dark; there will perhaps be a battle, there will perhaps be a little difficulty, but it will be something quite transitory; never will you lose your footing. That is why it is said - and it is something true - that to sin through ignorance may have fatal consequences, because when one makes mistakes, well, these mistakes have results, that's obvious, and usually external and material results; but that's no great harm, I have already told you this several times. But when one knows what is true, when one has seen and had the experience of the Truth, to accept the sin again, that is, fall back again into ignorance and obscurity - this is indeed an infinitely more serious mistake. It begins to belong to the domain of ill-will. In any case, it is a sign of slackness and weakness. It means that the will is weak.
So your question is put the other way round. Instead of asking yourself how to keep it, you must ask yourself: how does one not keep it? Not having it, is a state which everybody is in before the moment of knowing; not knowing - one is in that state before knowing. But once one knows one cannot forget. And if one forgets, it means that there is something which consents to the forgetting, it means there is an assent somewhere; otherwise one would not forget.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1955, 403,405,406,#KEYS
739:
"The beings who were always appearing and speaking to Jeanne d'Arc would, if seen by an Indian, have quite a different appearance; for when one sees, one projects the forms of one's mind.... You have the vision of one in India whom you call the Divine Mother; the Catholics say it is the Virgin Mary, and the Japanese call it Kwannon, the Goddess of Mercy; and others would give other names. It is the same force, the same power, but the images made of it are different in different faiths." Questions and Answers 1929 - 1931 (21 April 1929)
And then? You are not very talkative today! Is that all?
You say that "each person has his own world of dreamimagery peculiar to himself." Ibid.
Each individual has his own way of expressing, thinking, speaking, feeling, understanding. It is the combination of all these ways of being that makes the individual. That is why everyone can understand only according to his own nature. As long as you are shut up in your own nature, you can know only what is in your consciousness. All depends upon the height of the nature of your consciousness. Your world is limited to what you have in your consciousness. If you have a very small consciousness, you will understand only a few things. When your consciousness is very vast, universal, only then will you understand the world. If the consciousness is limited to your little ego, all the rest will escape you.... There are people whose brain and consciousness are smaller than a walnut. You know that a walnut resembles the brain; well these people look at things and don't understand them. They can understand nothing else except what is in direct contact with their senses. For them only what they taste, what they see, hear, touch has a reality, and all the rest simply does not exist, and they accuse us of speaking fancifully! "What I cannot touch does not exist", they say. But the only answer to give them is: "It does not exist for you, but there's no reason why it shouldn't exist for others." You must not insist with these people, and you must not forget that the smaller they are the greater is the audacity in their assertions.
One's cocksureness is in proportion to one's unconsciousness; the more unconscious one is, the more is one sure of oneself. The most foolish are always the most vain. Your stupidity is in proportion to your vanity. The more one knows... In fact, there is a time when one is quite convinced that one knows nothing at all. There's not a moment in the world which does not bring something new, for the world is perpetually growing. If one is conscious of that, one has always something new to learn. But one can become conscious of it only gradually. One's conviction that one knows is in direct proportion to one's ignorance and stupidity.
Mother, have the scientists, then, a very small consciousness?
Why? All scientists are not like that. If you meet a true scientist who has worked hard, he will tell you: "We know nothing. What we know today is nothing beside what we shall know tomorrow. This year's discoveries will be left behind next year." A real scientist knows very well that there are many more things he doesn't know than those he knows. And this is true of all branches of human activity. I have never met a scientist worthy of the name who was proud. I have never met a man of some worth who has told me: "I know everything." Those I have seen have always confessed: "In short, I know nothing." After having spoken of all that he has done, all that he has achieved, he tells you very quietly: "After all, I know nothing." ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953, [T8],#KEYS
740:
Sometimes while reading a text one has ideas, then Sweet Mother, how can one distinguish between the other person's idea and one's own?
Oh! This, this doesn't exist, the other person's idea and one's own idea.
Nobody has ideas of his own: it is an immensity from which one draws according to his personal affinity; ideas are a collective possession, a collective wealth.
Only, there are different stages. So there is the most common level, the one where all our brains bathe; this indeed swarms here, it is the level of "Mr. Everybody". And then there is a level that's slightly higher for people who are called thinkers. And then there are higher levels still - many - some of them are beyond words but they are still domains of ideas. And then there are those capable of shooting right up, catching something which is like a light and making it come down with all its stock of ideas, all its stock of thoughts. An idea from a higher domain if pulled down organises itself and is crystallised in a large number of thoughts which can express that idea differently; and then if you are a writer or a poet or an artist, when you make it come lower down still, you can have all kinds of expressions, extremely varied and choice around a single little idea but one coming from very high above. And when you know how to do this, it teaches you to distinguish between the pure idea and the way of expressing it.
Some people cannot do it in their own head because they have no imagination or faculty for writing, but they can do it through study by reading what others have written. There are, you know, lots of poets, for instance, who have expressed the same idea - the same idea but with such different forms that when one reads many of them it becomes quite interesting to see (for people who love to read and read much). Ah, this idea, that one has said it like this, that other has expressed it like that, another has formulated it in this way, and so on. And so you have a whole stock of expressions which are expressions by different poets of the same single idea up there, above, high above. And you notice that there is an almost essential difference between the pure idea, the typal idea and its formulation in the mental world, even the speculative or artistic mental world. This is a very good thing to do when one loves gymnastics. It is mental gymnastics.
Well, if you want to be truly intelligent, you must know how to do mental gymnastics; as, you see, if you want really to have a fairly strong body you must know how to do physical gymnastics. It is the same thing. People who have never done mental gymnastics have a poor little brain, quite over-simple, and all their life they think like children. One must know how to do this - not take it seriously, in the sense that one shouldn't have convictions, saying, "This idea is true and that is false; this formulation is correct and that one is not and this religion is the true one and that religion is false", and so on and so forth... this, if you enter into it, you become absolutely stupid.
But if you can see all that and, for example, take all the religions, one after another and see how they have expressed the same aspiration of the human being for some Absolute, it becomes very interesting; and then you begin... yes, you begin to be able to juggle with all that. And then when you have mastered it all, you can rise above it and look at all the eternal human discussions with a smile. So there you are master of the thought and can no longer fly into a rage because someone else does not think as you, something that's unfortunately a very common malady here.
Now, there we are. Nobody has any questions, no?
That's enough? Finished! ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1955,#KEYS
741:The true Mantra must come from within OR it must be given by a Guru
Nobody can give you the true mantra. It's not something that is given; it's something that wells up from within. It must spring from within all of a sudden, spontaneously, like a profound, intense need of your being - then it has power, because it's not something that comes from outside, it's your very own cry.
I saw, in my case, that my mantra has the power of immortality; whatever happens, if it is uttered, it's the Supreme that has the upper hand, it's no longer the lower law. And the words are irrelevant, they may not have any meaning - to someone else, my mantra is meaningless, but to me it's full, packed with meaning. And effective, because it's my cry, the intense aspiration of my whole being.
A mantra given by a guru is only the power to realize the experience of the discoverer of the mantra. The power is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didn't even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced "yoga" for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light.... I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, "Well!" Then I didn't give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual aspiration - there is in it the entire aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there.
It's the same with my mantra. When I wanted to translate the end of my mantra, "Glory to You, O Lord," into Sanskrit, I asked for Nolini's help. He brought his Sanskrit translation, and when he read it to me, I immediately saw that the power was there - not because Nolini put his power into it (!), God knows he had no intention of "giving" me a mantra! But the power was there because my experience was there. We made a few adjustments and modifications, and that's the japa I do now - I do it all the time, while sleeping, while walking, while eating, while working, all the time.[[Mother later clarified: "'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't MY mantra, it's something I ADDED to it - my mantra is something else altogether, that's not it. When I say that my mantra has the power of immortality, I mean the other, the one I don't speak of! I have never given the words.... You see, at the end of my walk, a kind of enthusiasm rises, and with that enthusiasm, the 'Glory to You' came to me, but it's part of the prayer I had written in Prayers and Meditations: 'Glory to You, O Lord, all-triumphant Supreme' etc. (it's a long prayer). It came back suddenly, and as it came back spontaneously, I kept it. Moreover, when Sri Aurobindo read this prayer in Prayers and Meditations, he told me it was very strong. So I added this phrase as a kind of tail to my japa. But 'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't my spontaneous mantra - it came spontaneously, but it was something written very long ago. The two things are different."
And that's how a mantra has life: when it wells up all the time, spontaneously, like the cry of your being - there is no need of effort or concentration: it's your natural cry. Then it has full power, it is alive. It must well up from within.... No guru can give you that. ~ The Mother, Agenda, May 11 1963,#KEYS
742:Of course we do." Dresden's voice was cutting. "But you're thinking too small. Building humanity's greatest empire is like building the world's largest anthill. Insignificant. There is a civilization out there that built the protomolecule and hurled it at us over two billion years ago. They were already gods at that point. What have they become since then? With another two billion years to advance?"
With a growing dread, Holden listened to Dresden speak. This speech had the air of something spoken before. Perhaps many times. And it had worked. It had convinced powerful people. It was why Protogen had stealth ships from the Earth shipyards and seemingly limitless behind-the-scenes support.
"We have a terrifying amount of catching up to do, gentlemen," Dresden was saying. "But fortunately we have the tool of our enemy to use in doing it."
"Catching up?" a soldier to Holden's left said. Dresden nodded at the man and smiled.
"The protomolecule can alter the host organism at the molecular level; it can create genetic change on the fly. Not just DNA, but any stable replicatoR But it is only a machine. It doesn't think. It follows instructions. If we learn how to alter that programming, then we become the architects of that change."
Holden interrupted. "If it was supposed to wipe out life on Earth and replace it with whatever the protomolecule's creators wanted, why turn it loose?"
"Excellent question," Dresden said, holding up one finger like a college professor about to deliver a lecture. "The protomolecule doesn't come with a user's manual. In fact, we've never before been able to actually watch it carry out its program. The molecule requires significant mass before it develops enough processing power to fulfill its directives. Whatever they are."
Dresden pointed at the screens covered with data around them.
"We are going to watch it at work. See what it intends to do. How it goes about doing it. And, hopefully, learn how to change that program in the process."
"You could do that with a vat of bacteria," Holden said.
"I'm not interested in remaking bacteria," Dresden said.
"You're fucking insane," Amos said, and took another step toward Dresden. Holden put a hand on the big mechanic's shoulder.
"So," Holden said. "You figure out how the bug works, and then what?"
"Then everything. Belters who can work outside a ship without wearing a suit. Humans capable of sleeping for hundreds of years at a time flying colony ships to the stars. No longer being bound to the millions of years of evolution inside one atmosphere of pressure at one g, slaves to oxygen and water. We decide what we want to be, and we reprogram ourselves to be that. That's what the protomolecule gives us."
Dresden had stood back up as he'd delivered this speech, his face shining with the zeal of a prophet.
"What we are doing is the best and only hope of humanity's survival. When we go out there, we will be facing gods."
"And if we don't go out?" Fred asked. He sounded thoughtful.
"They've already fired a doomsday weapon at us once," Dresden said.
The room was silent for a moment. Holden felt his certainty slip. He hated everything about Dresden's argument, but he couldn't quite see his way past it. He knew in his bones that something about it was dead wrong, but he couldn't find the words. Naomi's voice startled him.
"Did it convince them?" she asked.
"Excuse me?" Dresden said.
"The scientists. The technicians. Everyone you needed to make it happen. They actually had to do this. They had to watch the video of people dying all over Eros. They had to design those radioactive murder chambers. So unless you managed to round up every serial killer in the solar system and send them through a postgraduate program, how did you do this?"
"We modified our science team to remove ethical restraints."
Half a dozen clues clicked into place in Holden's head. ~ James S A Corey, Leviathan Wakes,#KEYS
743:PRATYAHARA
PRATYAHARA is the first process in the mental part of our task. The previous practices, Asana, Pranayama, Yama, and Niyama, are all acts of the body, while mantra is connected with speech: Pratyahara is purely mental.
And what is Pratyahara? This word is used by different authors in different senses. The same word is employed to designate both the practice and the result. It means for our present purpose a process rather strategical than practical; it is introspection, a sort of general examination of the contents of the mind which we wish to control: Asana having been mastered, all immediate exciting causes have been removed, and we are free to think what we are thinking about.
A very similar experience to that of Asana is in store for us. At first we shall very likely flatter ourselves that our minds are pretty calm; this is a defect of observation. Just as the European standing for the first time on the edge of the desert will see nothing there, while his Arab can tell him the family history of each of the fifty persons in view, because he has learnt how to look, so with practice the thoughts will become more numerous and more insistent.
As soon as the body was accurately observed it was found to be terribly restless and painful; now that we observe the mind it is seen to be more restless and painful still. (See diagram opposite.)
A similar curve might be plotted for the real and apparent painfulness of Asana. Conscious of this fact, we begin to try to control it: "Not quite so many thoughts, please!" "Don't think quite so fast, please!" "No more of that kind of thought, please!" It is only then that we discover that what we thought was a school of playful porpoises is really the convolutions of the sea-serpent. The attempt to repress has the effect of exciting.
When the unsuspecting pupil first approaches his holy but wily Guru, and demands magical powers, that Wise One replies that he will confer them, points out with much caution and secrecy some particular spot on the pupil's body which has never previously attracted his attention, and says: "In order to obtain this magical power which you seek, all that is necessary is to wash seven times in the Ganges during seven days, being particularly careful to avoid thinking of that one spot." Of course the unhappy youth spends a disgusted week in thinking of little else.
It is positively amazing with what persistence a thought, even a whole train of thoughts, returns again and again to the charge. It becomes a positive nightmare. It is intensely annoying, too, to find that one does not become conscious that one has got on to the forbidden subject until one has gone right through with it. However, one continues day after day investigating thoughts and trying to check them; and sooner or later one proceeds to the next stage, Dharana, the attempt to restrain the mind to a single object.
Before we go on to this, however, we must consider what is meant by success in Pratyahara. This is a very extensive subject, and different authors take widely divergent views. One writer means an analysis so acute that every thought is resolved into a number of elements (see "The Psychology of Hashish," Section V, in Equinox II).
Others take the view that success in the practice is something like the experience which Sir Humphrey Davy had as a result of taking nitrous oxide, in which he exclaimed: "The universe is composed exclusively of ideas."
Others say that it gives Hamlet's feeling: "There's nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so," interpreted as literally as was done by Mrs. Eddy.
However, the main point is to acquire some sort of inhibitory power over the thoughts. Fortunately there is an unfailing method of acquiring this power. It is given in Liber III. If Sections 1 and 2 are practised (if necessary with the assistance of another person to aid your vigilance) you will soon be able to master the final section. ~ Aleister Crowley, Liber ABA,#KEYS
744:STAGE TWO: THE CHONYID
The Chonyid is the period of the appearance of the peaceful and wrathful deities-that is to say, the subtle realm, the Sambhogakaya. When the Clear Light of the causal realm is resisted and contracted against, then that Reality is transformed into the primordial seed forms of the peaceful deities (ishtadevas of the subtle sphere), and these in turn, if resisted and denied, are transformed into the wrathful deities.
The peaceful deities appear first: through seven successive substages, there appear various forms of the tathagatas, dakinis, and vidyadharas, all accompanied by the most dazzlingly brilliant colors and aweinspiring suprahuman sounds. One after another, the divine visions, lights, and subtle luminous sounds cascade through awareness. They are presented, given, to the individual openly, freely, fully, and completely: visions of God in almost painful intensity and brilliance.
How the individual handles these divine visions and sounds (nada) is of the utmost significance, because each divine scenario is accompanied by a much less intense vision, by a region of relative dullness and blunted illuminations. These concomitant dull and blunted visions represent the first glimmerings of the world of samsara, of the six realms of egoic grasping, of the dim world of duality and fragmentation and primitive forms of low-level unity.
According to the Thotrol. most individuals simply recoil in the face of these divine illuminations- they contract into less intense and more manageable forms of experience. Fleeing divine illumination, they glide towards the fragmented-and thus less intense-realm of duality and multiplicity. But it's not just that they recoil against divinity-it is that they are attracted to the lower realms, drawn to them, and find satisfaction in them. The Thotrol says they are actually "attracted to the impure lights." As we have put it, these lower realms are substitute gratifications. The individual thinks that they are just what he wants, these lower realms of denseness. But just because these realms are indeed dimmer and less intense, they eventually prove to be worlds without bliss, without illumination, shot through with pain and suffering. How ironic: as a substitute for God, individuals create and latch onto Hell, known as samsara, maya, dismay. In Christian theology it is said that the flames of Hell are God's love (Agape) denied.
Thus the message is repeated over and over again in the Chonyid stage: abide in the lights of the Five Wisdoms and subtle tathagatas, look not at the duller lights of samsara. of the six realms, of safe illusions and egoic dullness. As but one example:
Thereupon, because of the power of bad karma, the glorious blue light of the Wisdom of the Dharmadhatu will produce in thee fear and terror, and thou wilt wish to flee from it. Thou wilt begat a fondness for the dull white light of the devas [one of the lower realms].
At this stage, thou must not be awed by the divine blue light which will appear shining, dazzling, and glorious; and be not startled by it. That is the light of the Tathagata called the Light of the Wisdom of the Dharmadhatu.
Be not fond of the dull white light of the devas. Be not attached to it; be not weak. If thou be attached to it, thou wilt wander into the abodes of the devas and be drawn into the whirl of the Six Lokas.
The point is this: ''If thou are frightened by the pure radiances of Wisdom and attracted by the impure lights of the Six Lokas [lower realms], then thou wilt assume a body in any of the Six Lokas and suffer samsaric miseries; and thou wilt never be emancipated from the Ocean of Samsara, wherein thou wilt be whirled round and round and made to taste the sufferings thereof."
But here is what is happening: in effect, we are seeing the primal and original form of the Atman project in its negative and contracting aspects. In this second stage (the Chonyid), there is already some sort of boundary in awareness, there is already some sort of subject-object duality superimposed upon the original Wholeness and Oneness of the Chikhai Dharmakaya. So now there is boundary-and wherever there is boundary, there is the Atman project. ~ Ken Wilber, The Atman Project, 129,#KEYS
745:I have never been able to share your constantly recurring doubts about your capacity or the despair that arises in you so violently when there are these attacks, nor is their persistent recurrence a valid ground for believing that they can never be overcome. Such a persistent recurrence has been a feature in the sadhana of many who have finally emerged and reached the goal; even the sadhana of very great Yogis has not been exempt from such violent and constant recurrences; they have sometimes been special objects of such persistent assaults, as I have indeed indicated in Savitri in more places than one - and that was indeed founded on my own experience. In the nature of these recurrences there is usually a constant return of the same adverse experiences, the same adverse resistance, thoughts destructive of all belief and faith and confidence in the future of the sadhana, frustrating doubts of what one has known as the truth, voices of despondency and despair, urgings to abandonment of the Yoga or to suicide or else other disastrous counsels of déchéance. The course taken by the attacks is not indeed the same for all, but still they have strong family resemblance. One can eventually overcome if one begins to realise the nature and source of these assaults and acquires the faculty of observing them, bearing, without being involved or absorbed into their gulf, finally becoming the witness of their phenomena and understanding them and refusing the mind's sanction even when the vital is still tossed in the whirl or the most outward physical mind still reflects the adverse suggestions. In the end these attacks lose their power and fall away from the nature; the recurrence becomes feeble or has no power to last: even, if the detachment is strong enough, they can be cut out very soon or at once. The strongest attitude to take is to regard these things as what they really are, incursions of dark forces from outside taking advantage of certain openings in the physical mind or the vital part, but not a real part of oneself or spontaneous creation in one's own nature. To create a confusion and darkness in the physical mind and throw into it or awake in it mistaken ideas, dark thoughts, false impressions is a favourite method of these assailants, and if they can get the support of this mind from over-confidence in its own correctness or the natural rightness of its impressions and inferences, then they can have a field day until the true mind reasserts itself and blows the clouds away. Another device of theirs is to awake some hurt or rankling sense of grievance in the lower vital parts and keep them hurt or rankling as long as possible. In that case one has to discover these openings in one's nature and learn to close them permanently to such attacks or else to throw out intruders at once or as soon as possible. The recurrence is no proof of a fundamental incapacity; if one takes the right inner attitude, it can and will be overcome. The idea of suicide ought never to be accepted; there is no real ground for it and in any case it cannot be a remedy or a real escape: at most it can only be postponement of difficulties and the necessity for their solution under no better circumstances in another life. One must have faith in the Master of our life and works, even if for a long time he conceals himself, and then in his own right time he will reveal his Presence.
I have tried to dispel all the misconceptions, explain things as they are and meet all the points at issue. It is not that you really cannot make progress or have not made any progress; on the contrary, you yourself have admitted that you have made a good advance in many directions and there is no reason why, if you persevere, the rest should not come. You have always believed in the Guruvada: I would ask you then to put your faith in the Guru and the guidance and rely on the Ishwara for the fulfilment, to have faith in my abiding love and affection, in the affection and divine goodwill and loving kindness of the Mother, stand firm against all attacks and go forward perseveringly towards the spiritual goal and the all-fulfilling and all-satisfying touch of the All-Blissful, the Ishwara.
~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - IV,#KEYS
746:Although a devout student of the Bible, Paracelsus instinctively adopted the broad patterns of essential learning, as these had been clarified by Pythagoras of Samos and Plato of Athens. Being by nature a mystic as well as a scientist, he also revealed a deep regard for the Neoplatonic philosophy as expounded by Plotinus, Iamblichus, and Proclus. Neoplatonism is therefore an invaluable aid to the interpretation of the Paracelsian doctrine.
Paracelsus held that true knowledge is attained in two ways, or rather that the pursuit of knowledge is advanced by a two-fold method, the elements of which are completely interdependent. In our present terminology, we can say that these two parts of method are intuition and experience. To Paracelsus, these could never be divided from each other.
The purpose of intuition is to reveal certain basic ideas which must then be tested and proven by experience. Experience, in turn, not only justifies intuition, but contributes certain additional knowledge by which the impulse to further growth is strengthened and developed. Paracelsus regarded the separation of intuition and experience to be a disaster, leading inevitably to greater error and further disaster. Intuition without experience allows the mind to fall into an abyss of speculation without adequate censorship by practical means. Experience without intuition could never be fruitful because fruitfulness comes not merely from the doing of things, but from the overtones which stimulate creative thought. Further, experience is meaningless unless there is within man the power capable of evaluating happenings and occurrences. The absence of this evaluating factor allows the individual to pass through many kinds of experiences, either misinterpreting them or not inter preting them at all. So Paracelsus attempted to explain intuition and how man is able to apprehend that which is not obvious or apparent. Is it possible to prove beyond doubt that the human being is capable of an inward realization of truths or facts without the assistance of the so-called rational faculty?
According to Paracelsus, intuition was possible because of the existence in nature of a mysterious substance or essence-a universal life force. He gave this many names, but for our purposes, the simplest term will be appropriate. He compared it to light, further reasoning that there are two kinds of light: a visible radiance, which he called brightness, and an invisible radiance, which he called darkness. There is no essential difference between light and darkness. There is a dark light, which appears luminous to the soul but cannot be sensed by the body. There is a visible radiance which seems bright to the senses, but may appear dark to the soul. We must recognize that Paracelsus considered light as pertaining to the nature of being, the total existence from which all separate existences arise. Light not only contains the energy needed to support visible creatures, and the whole broad expanse of creation, but the invisible part of light supports the secret powers and functions of man, particularly intuition. Intuition, therefore, relates to the capacity of the individual to become attuned to the hidden side of life. By light, then, Paracelsus implies much more than the radiance that comes from the sun, a lantern, or a candle. To him, light is the perfect symbol, emblem, or figure of total well-being. Light is the cause of health. Invisible light, no less real if unseen, is the cause of wisdom. As the light of the body gives strength and energy, sustaining growth and development, so the light of the soul bestows understanding, the light of the mind makes wisdom possible, and the light of the spirit confers truth. Therefore, truth, wisdom, understanding, and health are all manifesta tions or revelations ot one virtue or power. What health is to the body, morality is to the emotions, virtue to the soul, wisdom to the mind, and reality to the spirit. This total content of living values is contained in every ray of visible light. This ray is only a manifestation upon one level or plane of the total mystery of life. Therefore, when we look at a thing, we either see its objective, physical form, or we apprehend its inner light Everything that lives, lives in light; everything that has an existence, radiates light. All things derive their life from light, and this light, in its root, is life itself. This, indeed, is the light that lighteth every man who cometh into the world. ~ Manly P Hall, Paracelsus,#KEYS
747:
What is the exact way of feeling that we belong to the Divine and that the Divine is acting in us?
You must not feel with your head (because you may think so, but that's something vague); you must feel with your sense-feeling. Naturally one begins by wanting it with the mind, because that is the first thing that understands. And then one has an aspiration here (pointing to the heart), with a flame which pushes you to realise it. But if you want it to be truly the thing, well, you must feel it.
You are doing something, suppose, for example, you are doing exercises, weight-lifting. Now suddenly without your knowing how it happened, suddenly you have the feeling that there is a force infinitely greater than you, greater, more powerful, a force that does the lifting for you. Your body becomes something almost non-existent and there is this Something that lifts. And then you will see; when that happens to you, you will no longer ask how it should be done, you will know. That does happen.
It depends upon people, depends upon what dominates in their being. Those who think have suddenly the feeling that it is no longer they who think, that there is something which knows much better, sees much more clearly, which is infinitely more luminous, more conscious in them, which organises the thoughts and words; and then they write. But if the experience is complete, it is even no longer they who write, it is that same Thing that takes hold of their hand and makes it write. Well, one knows at that moment that the little physical person is just a tiny insignificant tool trying to remain as quiet as possible in order not to disturb the experience.
Yes, at no cost must the experience be disturbed. If suddenly you say: "Oh, look, how strange it is!"...
How can we reach that state?
Aspire for it, want it. Try to be less and less selfish, but not in the sense of becoming nice to other people or forgetting yourself, not that: have less and less the feeling that you are a person, a separate entity, something existing in itself, isolated from the rest.
And then, above all, above all, it is that inner flame, that aspiration, that need for the light. It is a kind of - how to put it? - luminous enthusiasm that seizes you. It is an irresistible need to melt away, to give oneself, to exist only in the Divine.
At that moment you have the experience of your aspiration.
But that moment should be absolutely sincere and as integral as possible; and all this must occur not only in the head, not only here, but must take place everywhere, in all the cells of the body. The consciousness integrally must have this irresistible need.... The thing lasts for some time, then diminishes, gets extinguished. You cannot keep these things for very long. But then it so happens that a moment later or the next day or some time later, suddenly you have the opposite experience. Instead of feeling this ascent, and all that, this is no longer there and you have the feeling of the Descent, the Answer. And nothing but the Answer exists. Nothing but the divine thought, the divine will, the divine energy, the divine action exists any longer. And you too, you are no longer there.
That is to say, it is the answer to our aspiration. It may happen immediately afterwards - that is very rare but may happen. If you have both simultaneously, then the state is perfect; usually they alternate; they alternate more and more closely until the moment there is a total fusion. Then there is no more distinction. I heard a Sufi mystic, who was besides a great musician, an Indian, saying that for the Sufis there was a state higher than that of adoration and surrender to the Divine, than that of devotion, that this was not the last stage; the last stage of the progress is when there is no longer any distinction; you have no longer this kind of adoration or surrender or consecration; it is a very simple state in which one makes no distinction between the Divine and oneself. They know this. It is even written in their books. It is a commonly known condition in which everything becomes quite simple. There is no longer any difference. There is no longer that kind of ecstatic surrender to "Something" which is beyond you in every way, which you do not understand, which is merely the result of your aspiration, your devotion. There is no difference any longer. When the union is perfect, there is no longer any difference.
Is this the end of self-progress?
There is never any end to progress - never any end, you can never put a full stop there. ~ The Mother,#KEYS
748:AUGOEIDES:
The magicians most important invocation is that of his Genius, Daemon, True Will, or Augoeides. This operation is traditionally known as attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. It is sometimes known as the Magnum Opus or Great Work.
The Augoeides may be defined as the most perfect vehicle of Kia on the plane of duality. As the avatar of Kia on earth, the Augoeides represents the true will, the raison detre of the magician, his purpose in existing. The discovery of ones true will or real nature may be difficult and fraught with danger, since a false identification leads to obsession and madness. The operation of obtaining the knowledge and conversation is usually a lengthy one. The magician is attempting a progressive metamorphosis, a complete overhaul of his entire existence. Yet he has to seek the blueprint for his reborn self as he goes along. Life is less the meaningless accident it seems. Kia has incarnated in these particular conditions of duality for some purpose. The inertia of previous existences propels Kia into new forms of manifestation. Each incarnation represents a task, or a puzzle to be solved, on the way to some greater form of completion.
The key to this puzzle is in the phenomena of the plane of duality in which we find ourselves. We are, as it were, trapped in a labyrinth or maze. The only thing to do is move about and keep a close watch on the way the walls turn. In a completely chaotic universe such as this one, there are no accidents. Everything is signifcant. Move a single grain of sand on a distant shore and the entire future history of the world will eventually be changed. A person doing his true will is assisted by the momentum of the universe and seems possessed of amazing good luck. In beginning the great work of obtaining the knowledge and conversation, the magician vows to interpret every manifestation of existence as a direct message from the infinite Chaos to himself personally.
To do this is to enter the magical world view in its totality. He takes complete responsibility for his present incarnation and must consider every experience, thing, or piece of information which assails him from any source, as a reflection of the way he is conducting his existence. The idea that things happen to one that may or may not be related to the way one acts is an illusion created by our shallow awareness.
Keeping a close eye on the walls of the labyrinth, the conditions of his existence, the magician may then begin his invocation. The genius is not something added to oneself. Rather it is a stripping away of excess to reveal the god within.
Directly on awakening, preferably at dawn, the initiate goes to the place of invocation. Figuring to himself as he goes that being born anew each day brings with it the chance of greater rebirth, first he banishes the temple of his mind by ritual or by some magical trance. Then he unveils some token or symbol or sigil which represents to him the Holy Guardian Angel. This symbol he will likely have to change during the great work as the inspiration begins to move him. Next he invokes an image of the Angel into his minds eye. It may be considered as a luminous duplicate of ones own form standing in front of or behind one, or simply as a ball of brilliant light above ones head. Then he formulates his aspirations in what manner he will, humbling himself in prayer or exalting himself in loud proclamation as his need be. The best form of this invocation is spoken spontaneously from the heart, and if halting at first, will prove itself in time. He is aiming to establish a set of ideas and images which correspond to the nature of his genius, and at the same time receive inspiration from that source. As the magician begins to manifest more of his true will, the Augoeides will reveal images, names, and spiritual principles by which it can be drawn into greater manifestation. Having communicated with the invoked form, the magician should draw it into himself and go forth to live in the way he hath willed.
The ritual may be concluded with an aspiration to the wisdom of silence by a brief concentration on the sigil of the Augoeides, but never by banishing. Periodically more elaborate forms of ritual, using more powerful forms of gnosis, may be employed. At the end of the day, there should be an accounting and fresh resolution made. Though every day be a catalog of failure, there should be no sense of sin or guilt. Magic is the raising of the whole individual in perfect balance to the power of Infinity, and such feelings are symptomatic of imbalance. If any unnecessary or imbalanced scraps of ego become identified with the genius by mistake, then disaster awaits. The life force flows directly into these complexes and bloats them into grotesque monsters variously known as the demon Choronzon. Some magicians attempting to go too fast with this invocation have failed to banish this demon, and have gone spectacularly insane as a result.
~ Peter J Carroll, Liber Null,#KEYS
749:
In the lower planes can't one say what will happen at a particular moment?
That depends. On certain planes there are consciousnesses that form, that make formations and try to send them down to earth and manifest them. These are planes where the great forces are at play, forces struggling with each other to organise things in one way or another. On these planes all the possibilities are there, all the possibilities that present themselves but have not yet come to a decision as to which will come down.... Suppose a plane full of the imaginations of people who want certain things to be realised upon earth - they invent a novel, narrate stories, produce all kinds of phenomena; it amuses them very much. It is a plane of form-makers and they are there imagining all kinds of circumstances and events; they play with the forces; they are like the authors of a drama and they prepare everything there and see what is going to happen. All these formations are facing each other; and it is those which are the strongest, the most successful or the most persistent or those that have the advantage of a favourable set of circumstances which dominate. They meet and out of the conflict yet another thing results: you lose one thing and take up another, you make a new combination; and then all of a sudden, you find, pluff! it is coming down. Now, if it comes down with a sufficient force, it sets moving the earth atmosphere and things combine; as for instance, when with your fist you thump the saw-dust, you know surely what happens, don't you? You lift your hand, give a formidable blow: all the dust gets organised around your fist. Well, it is like that. These formations come down into matter with that force, and everything organises itself automatically, mechanically as around the striking fist. And there's your wished object about to be realised, sometimes with small deformations because of the resistance, but it will be realised finally, even as the person narrating the story up above wanted it more or less to be realised. If then you are for some reason or other in the secret of the person who has constructed the story and if you follow the way in which he creates his path to reach down to the earth and if you see how a blow with the fist acts on earthly matter, then you are able to tell what is going to happen, because you have seen it in the world above, and as it takes some time to make the whole journey, you see in advance. And the higher you rise, the more you foresee in advance what is going to happen. And if you pass far beyond, go still farther, then everything is possible.
It is an unfolding that follows a wide road which is for you unknowable; for all will be unfolded in the universe, but in what order and in what way? There are decisions that are taken up there which escape our ordinary consciousness, and so it is very difficult to foresee. But there also, if you enter consciously and if you can be present up there... How shall I explain that to you? All is there, absolute, static, eternal: but all that will be unfolded in the material world, naturally more or less one thing after another; for in the static existence all can be there, but in the becoming all becomes in time, that is, one thing after another. Well, what path will the unfolding follow? Up there is the domain of absolute freedom.... Who says that a sufficiently sincere aspiration, a sufficiently intense prayer is not capable of changing the path of the unfolding?
This means that all is possible.
Now, one must have a sufficient aspiration and a prayer that's sufficiently intense. But that has been given to human nature. It is one of the marvellous gifts of grace given to human nature; only, one does not know how to make use of it. This comes to saying that in spite of the most absolute determinisms in the horizontal line, if one knows how to cross all these horizontal lines and reach the highest Point of consciousness, one is able to make things change, things apparently absolutely determined. So you may call it by any name you like, but it is a kind of combination of an absolute determinism with an absolute freedom. You may pull yourself out of it in any way you like, but it is like that.
I forgot to say in that book (perhaps I did not forget but just felt that it was useless to say it) that all these theories are only theories, that is, mental conceptions which are merely more or less imaged representations of the reality; but it is not the reality at all. When you say "determinism" and when you say "freedom", you say only words and all that is only a very incomplete, very approximate and very weak description of what is in reality within you, around you and everywhere; and to be able to begin to understand what the universe is, you must come out of your mental formulas, otherwise you will never understand anything.
To tell the truth, if you live only a moment, just a tiny moment, of this absolutely sincere aspiration or this sufficiently intense prayer, you will know more things than by meditating for hours.
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953,#KEYS
750: Sri Aurobindo writes here: "...Few and brief in their visits are the Bright Ones who are willing or permitted to succour." Why?
(1 "The Way", Cent. Vol. 17, p. 40.)
One must go and ask them! But there is a conclusion, the last sentences give a very clear explanation. It is said: "Nay, then, is immortality a plaything to be given lightly to a child, or the divine life a prize without effort or the crown for a weakling?" This comes back to the question why the adverse forces have the right to interfere, to harass you. But this is precisely the test necessary for your sincerity. If the way were very easy, everybody would start on the way, and if one could reach the goal without any obstacle and without any effort, everybody would reach the goal, and when one has come to the end, the situation would be the same as when one started, there would be no change. That is, the new world would be exactly what the old has been. It is truly not worth the trouble! Evidently a process of elimination is necessary so that only what is capable of manifesting the new life remains. This is the reason and there is no other, this is the best of reasons. And, you see, it is a tempering, it is the ordeal of fire, only that which can stand it remains absolutely pure; when everything has burnt down, there remains only the little ingot of pure gold. And it is like that. What puts things out very much in all this is the religious idea of fault, sin, redemption. But there is no arbitrary decision! On the contrary, for each one it is the best and most favourable conditions which are given. We were saying the other day that it is only his friends whom God treats with severity; you thought it was a joke, but it is true. It is only to those who are full of hope, who will pass through this purifying flame, that the conditions for attaining the maximum result are given. And the human mind is made in such a way that you may test this; when something extremely unpleasant happens to you, you may tell yourself, "Well, this proves I am worth the trouble of being given this difficulty, this proves there is something in me which can resist the difficulty", and you will notice that instead of tormenting yourself, you rejoice - you will be so happy and so strong that even the most unpleasant things will seem to you quite charming! This is a very easy experiment to make. Whatever the circumstance, if your mind is accustomed to look at it as something favourable, it will no longer be unpleasant for you. This is quite well known; as long as the mind refuses to accept a thing, struggles against it, tries to obstruct it, there are torments, difficulties, storms, inner struggles and all suffering. But the minute the mind says, "Good, this is what has to come, it is thus that it must happen", whatever happens, you are content. There are people who have acquired such control of their mind over their body that they feel nothing; I told you this the other day about certain mystics: if they think the suffering inflicted upon them is going to help them cross the stages in a moment and give them a sort of stepping stone to attain the Realisation, the goal they have put before them, union with the Divine, they no longer feel the suffering at all. Their body is as it were galvanised by the mental conception. This has happened very often, it is a very common experience among those who truly have enthusiasm. And after all, if one must for some reason or other leave one's body and take a new one, is it not better to make of one's death something magnificent, joyful, enthusiastic, than to make it a disgusting defeat? Those who cling on, who try by every possible means to delay the end even by a minute or two, who give you an example of frightful anguish, show that they are not conscious of their soul.... After all, it is perhaps a means, isn't it? One can change this accident into a means; if one is conscious one can make a beautiful thing of it, a very beautiful thing, as of everything. And note, those who do not fear it, who are not anxious, who can die without any sordidness are those who never think about it, who are not haunted all the time by this "horror" facing them which they must escape and which they try to push as far away from them as they can. These, when the occasion comes, can lift their head, smile and say, "Here I am."
It is they who have the will to make the best possible use of their life, it is they who say, "I shall remain here as long as it is necessary, to the last second, and I shall not lose one moment to realise my goal"; these, when the necessity comes, put up the best show. Why? - It is very simple, because they live in their ideal, the truth of their ideal; because that is the real thing for them, the very reason of their being, and in all things they can see this ideal, this reason of existence, and never do they come down into the sordidness of material life.
So, the conclusion:
One must never wish for death.
One must never will to die.
One must never be afraid to die.
And in all circumstances one must will to exceed oneself. ~ The Mother, Question and Answers, Volume-4, page no.353-355,#KEYS
751:Death & Fame
When I die
I don't care what happens to my body throw ashes in the air, scatter 'em in East River bury an urn in Elizabeth New Jersey, B'nai Israel Cemetery
But I want a big funeral St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Mark's Church, the largest synagogue in Manhattan
First, there's family, brother, nephews, spry aged Edith stepmother 96, Aunt Honey from old Newark,
Doctor Joel, cousin Mindy, brother Gene one eyed one ear'd, sister-in-law blonde Connie, five nephews, stepbrothers & sisters their grandchildren, companion Peter Orlovsky, caretakers Rosenthal & Hale, Bill Morgan--
Next, teacher Trungpa Vajracharya's ghost mind, Gelek Rinpoche, there Sakyong Mipham, Dalai Lama alert, chance visiting America, Satchitananda Swami Shivananda, Dehorahava Baba, Karmapa XVI, Dudjom Rinpoche, Katagiri & Suzuki Roshi's phantoms Baker, Whalen, Daido Loorie, Qwong, Frail White-haired Kapleau Roshis, Lama Tarchen --
Then, most important, lovers over half-century Dozens, a hundred, more, older fellows bald & rich young boys met naked recently in bed, crowds surprised to see each other, innumerable, intimate, exchanging memories
"He taught me to meditate, now I'm an old veteran of the thousandday retreat --"
"I played music on subway platforms, I'm straight but loved him he loved me"
"I felt more love from him at 19 than ever from anyone"
"We'd lie under covers gossip, read my poetry, hug & kiss belly to belly arms round each other"
"I'd always get into his bed with underwear on & by morning my skivvies would be on the floor"
"Japanese, always wanted take it up my bum with a master"
"We'd talk all night about Kerouac & Cassady sit Buddhalike then sleep in his captain's bed."
"He seemed to need so much affection, a shame not to make him happy"
"I was lonely never in bed nude with anyone before, he was so gentle my stomach shuddered when he traced his finger along my abdomen nipple to hips-- "
"All I did was lay back eyes closed, he'd bring me to come with mouth & fingers along my waist"
"He gave great head"
So there be gossip from loves of 1948, ghost of Neal Cassady commin-gling with flesh and youthful blood of 1997 and surprise -- "You too? But I thought you were straight!"
"I am but Ginsberg an exception, for some reason he pleased me."
"I forgot whether I was straight gay queer or funny, was myself, tender and affectionate to be kissed on the top of my head, my forehead throat heart & solar plexus, mid-belly. on my prick, tickled with his tongue my behind"
"I loved the way he'd recite 'But at my back allways hear/ time's winged chariot hurrying near,' heads together, eye to eye, on a pillow --"
Among lovers one handsome youth straggling the rear
"I studied his poetry class, 17 year-old kid, ran some errands to his walk-up flat, seduced me didn't want to, made me come, went home, never saw him again never wanted to... "
"He couldn't get it up but loved me," "A clean old man." "He made sure I came first"
This the crowd most surprised proud at ceremonial place of honor--
Then poets & musicians -- college boys' grunge bands -- age-old rock star Beatles, faithful guitar accompanists, gay classical con-ductors, unknown high Jazz music composers, funky trum-peters, bowed bass & french horn black geniuses, folksinger fiddlers with dobro tamborine harmonica mandolin auto-harp pennywhistles & kazoos
Next, artist Italian romantic realists schooled in mystic 60's India, Late fauve Tuscan painter-poets, Classic draftsman Massa-chusets surreal jackanapes with continental wives, poverty sketchbook gesso oil watercolor masters from American provinces
Then highschool teachers, lonely Irish librarians, delicate biblio-philes, sex liberation troops nay armies, ladies of either sex
"I met him dozens of times he never remembered my name I loved him anyway, true artist"
"Nervous breakdown after menopause, his poetry humor saved me from suicide hospitals"
"Charmant, genius with modest manners, washed sink, dishes my studio guest a week in Budapest"
Thousands of readers, "Howl changed my life in Libertyville Illinois"
"I saw him read Montclair State Teachers College decided be a poet-- "
"He turned me on, I started with garage rock sang my songs in Kansas City"
"Kaddish made me weep for myself & father alive in Nevada City"
"Father Death comforted me when my sister died Boston l982"
"I read what he said in a newsmagazine, blew my mind, realized others like me out there"
Deaf & Dumb bards with hand signing quick brilliant gestures
Then Journalists, editors's secretaries, agents, portraitists & photo-graphy aficionados, rock critics, cultured laborors, cultural historians come to witness the historic funeral Super-fans, poetasters, aging Beatnicks & Deadheads, autograph-hunters, distinguished paparazzi, intelligent gawkers
Everyone knew they were part of 'History" except the deceased who never knew exactly what was happening even when I was alive
February 22, 1997
~ Allen Ginsberg,#KEYS
752:What are these operations? They are not mere psychological self-analysis and self-observation. Such analysis, such observation are, like the process of right thought, of immense value and practically indispensable. They may even, if rightly pursued, lead to a right thought of considerable power and effectivity. Like intellectual discrimination by the process of meditative thought they will have an effect of purification; they will lead to self-knowledge of a certain kind and to the setting right of the disorders of the soul and the heart and even of the disorders of the understanding. Self-knowledge of all kinds is on the straight path to the knowledge of the real Self. The Upanishad tells us that the Self-existent has so set the doors of the soul that they turn outwards and most men look outward into the appearances of things; only the rare soul that is ripe for a calm thought and steady wisdom turns its eye inward, sees the Self and attains to immortality. To this turning of the eye inward psychological self-observation and analysis is a great and effective introduction.We can look into the inward of ourselves more easily than we can look into the inward of things external to us because there, in things outside us, we are in the first place embarrassed by the form and secondly we have no natural previous experience of that in them which is other than their physical substance. A purified or tranquillised mind may reflect or a powerful concentration may discover God in the world, the Self in Nature even before it is realised in ourselves, but this is rare and difficult. (2) And it is only in ourselves that we can observe and know the process of the Self in its becoming and follow the process by which it draws back into self-being. Therefore the ancient counsel, know thyself, will always stand as the first word that directs us towards the knowledge. Still, psychological self-knowledge is only the experience of the modes of the Self, it is not the realisation of the Self in its pure being.
The status of knowledge, then, which Yoga envisages is not merely an intellectual conception or clear discrimination of the truth, nor is it an enlightened psychological experience of the modes of our being. It is a "realisation", in the full sense of the word; it is the making real to ourselves and in ourselves of the Self, the transcendent and universal Divine, and it is the subsequent impossibility of viewing the modes of being except in the light of that Self and in their true aspect as its flux of becoming under the psychical and physical conditions of our world-existence. This realisation consists of three successive movements, internal vision, complete internal experience and identity.
This internal vision, dr.s.t.i, the power so highly valued by the ancient sages, the power which made a man a Rishi or Kavi and no longer a mere thinker, is a sort of light in the soul by which things unseen become as evident and real to it-to the soul and not merely to the intellect-as do things seen to the physical eye. In the physical world there are always two forms of knowledge, the direct and the indirect, pratyaks.a, of that which is present to the eyes, and paroks.a, of that which is remote from and beyond our vision. When the object is beyond our vision, we are necessarily obliged to arrive at an idea of it by inference, imagination, analogy, by hearing the descriptions of others who have seen it or by studying pictorial or other representations of it if these are available. By putting together all these aids we can indeed arrive at a more or less adequate idea or suggestive image of the object, but we do not realise the thing itself; it is not yet to us the grasped reality, but only our conceptual representation of a reality. But once we have seen it with the eyes,-for no other sense is adequate,-we possess, we realise; it is there secure in our satisfied being, part of ourselves in knowledge. Precisely the same rule holds good of psychical things and of he Self. We may hear clear and luminous teachings about the Self from philosophers or teachers or from ancient writings; we may by thought, inference, imagination, analogy or by any other available means attempt to form a mental figure or conception of it; we may hold firmly that conception in our mind and fix it by an entire and exclusive concentration;3 but we have not yet realised it, we have not seen God. It is only when after long and persistent concentration or by other means the veil of the mind is rent or swept aside, only when a flood of light breaks over the awakened mentality, jyotirmaya brahman, and conception gives place to a knowledge-vision in which the Self is as present, real, concrete as a physical object to the physical eye, that we possess in knowledge; for we have seen. After that revelation, whatever fadings of the light, whatever periods of darkness may afflict the soul, it can never irretrievably lose what it has once held. The experience is inevitably renewed and must become more frequent till it is constant; when and how soon depends on the devotion and persistence with which we insist on the path and besiege by our will or our love the hidden Deity.
(2) And it is only in ourselves that we can observe and know the 2 In one respect, however, it is easier, because in external things we are not so much hampered by the sense of the limited ego as in ourselves; one obstacle to the realisation of God is therefore removed.
~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Status of Knowledge,#KEYS
753:Education
THE EDUCATION of a human being should begin at birth and continue throughout his life.
Indeed, if we want this education to have its maximum result, it should begin even before birth; in this case it is the mother herself who proceeds with this education by means of a twofold action: first, upon herself for her own improvement, and secondly, upon the child whom she is forming physically. For it is certain that the nature of the child to be born depends very much upon the mother who forms it, upon her aspiration and will as well as upon the material surroundings in which she lives. To see that her thoughts are always beautiful and pure, her feelings always noble and fine, her material surroundings as harmonious as possible and full of a great simplicity - this is the part of education which should apply to the mother herself. And if she has in addition a conscious and definite will to form the child according to the highest ideal she can conceive, then the very best conditions will be realised so that the child can come into the world with his utmost potentialities. How many difficult efforts and useless complications would be avoided in this way!
Education to be complete must have five principal aspects corresponding to the five principal activities of the human being: the physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic and the spiritual. Usually, these phases of education follow chronologically the growth of the individual; this, however, does not mean that one of them should replace another, but that all must continue, completing one another until the end of his life.
We propose to study these five aspects of education one by one and also their interrelationships. But before we enter into the details of the subject, I wish to make a recommendation to parents. Most parents, for various reasons, give very little thought to the true education which should be imparted to children. When they have brought a child into the world, provided him with food, satisfied his various material needs and looked after his health more or less carefully, they think they have fully discharged their duty. Later on, they will send him to school and hand over to the teachers the responsibility for his education.
There are other parents who know that their children must be educated and who try to do what they can. But very few, even among those who are most serious and sincere, know that the first thing to do, in order to be able to educate a child, is to educate oneself, to become conscious and master of oneself so that one never sets a bad example to one's child. For it is above all through example that education becomes effective. To speak good words and to give wise advice to a child has very little effect if one does not oneself give him an example of what one teaches. Sincerity, honesty, straightforwardness, courage, disinterestedness, unselfishness, patience, endurance, perseverance, peace, calm, self-control are all things that are taught infinitely better by example than by beautiful speeches. Parents, have a high ideal and always act in accordance with it and you will see that little by little your child will reflect this ideal in himself and spontaneously manifest the qualities you would like to see expressed in his nature. Quite naturally a child has respect and admiration for his parents; unless they are quite unworthy, they will always appear to their child as demigods whom he will try to imitate as best he can.
With very few exceptions, parents are not aware of the disastrous influence that their own defects, impulses, weaknesses and lack of self-control have on their children. If you wish to be respected by a child, have respect for yourself and be worthy of respect at every moment. Never be authoritarian, despotic, impatient or ill-tempered. When your child asks you a question, do not give him a stupid or silly answer under the pretext that he cannot understand you. You can always make yourself understood if you take enough trouble; and in spite of the popular saying that it is not always good to tell the truth, I affirm that it is always good to tell the truth, but that the art consists in telling it in such a way as to make it accessible to the mind of the hearer. In early life, until he is twelve or fourteen, the child's mind is hardly open to abstract notions and general ideas. And yet you can train it to understand these things by using concrete images, symbols or parables. Up to quite an advanced age and for some who mentally always remain children, a narrative, a story, a tale well told teach much more than any number of theoretical explanations.
Another pitfall to avoid: do not scold your child without good reason and only when it is quite indispensable. A child who is too often scolded gets hardened to rebuke and no longer attaches much importance to words or severity of tone. And above all, take good care never to scold him for a fault which you yourself commit. Children are very keen and clear-sighted observers; they soon find out your weaknesses and note them without pity.
When a child has done something wrong, see that he confesses it to you spontaneously and frankly; and when he has confessed, with kindness and affection make him understand what was wrong in his movement so that he will not repeat it, but never scold him; a fault confessed must always be forgiven. You should not allow any fear to come between you and your child; fear is a pernicious means of education: it invariably gives birth to deceit and lying. Only a discerning affection that is firm yet gentle and an adequate practical knowledge will create the bonds of trust that are indispensable for you to be able to educate your child effectively. And do not forget that you have to control yourself constantly in order to be equal to your task and truly fulfil the duty which you owe your child by the mere fact of having brought him into the world.
Bulletin, February 1951
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
754:Depression, unless one has a strong will, suggests, "This is not worth while, one may have to wait a lifetime." As for enthusiasm, it expects to see the vital transformed overnight: "I am not going to have any difficulty henceforth, I am going to advance rapidly on the path of yoga, I am going to gain the divine consciousness without any difficulty." There are some other difficulties.... One needs a little time, much perseverance. So the vital, after a few hours - perhaps a few days, perhaps a few months - says to itself: "We haven't gone very far with our enthusiasm, has anything been really done? Doesn't this movement leave us just where we were, perhaps worse than we were, a little troubled, a little disturbed? Things are no longer what they were, they are not yet what they ought to be. It is very tiresome, what I am doing." And then, if one pushes a little more, here's this gentleman saying, "Ah, no! I have had enough of it, leave me alone. I don't want to move, I shall stay in my corner, I won't trouble you, but don't bother me!" And so one has not gone very much farther than before.
This is one of the big obstacles which must be carefully avoided. As soon as there is the least sign of discontentment, of annoyance, the vital must be spoken to in this way, "My friend, you are going to keep calm, you are going to do what you are asked to do, otherwise you will have to deal with me." And to the other, the enthusiast who says, "Everything must be done now, immediately", your reply is, "Calm yourself a little, your energy is excellent, but it must not be spent in five minutes. We shall need it for a long time, keep it carefully and, as it is wanted, I shall call upon your goodwill. You will show that you are full of goodwill, you will obey, you won't grumble, you will not protest, you will not revolt, you will say 'yes, yes', you will make a little sacrifice when asked, you will say 'yes' wholeheartedly."
So we get started on the path. But the road is very long. Many things happen on the way. Suddenly one thinks one has overcome an obstacle; I say "thinks", because though one has overcome it, it is not totally overcome. I am going to take a very obvious instance, of a very simple observation. Someone has found that his vital is uncontrollable and uncontrolled, that it gets furious for nothing and about nothing. He starts working to teach it not to get carried away, not to flare up, to remain calm and bear the shocks of life without reacting violently. If one does this cheerfully, it goes quite quickly. (Note this well, it is very important: when you have to deal with your vital take care to remain cheerful, otherwise you will get into trouble.) One remains cheerful, that is, when one sees the fury rise, one begins to laugh. Instead of being depressed and saying, "Ah! In spite of all my effort it is beginning all over again", one begins to laugh and says, "Well, well! One hasn't yet seen the end of it. Look now, aren't you ridiculous, you know quite well that you are being ridiculous! Is it worthwhile getting angry?" One gives it this lesson cheerfully. And really, after a while it doesn't get angry again, it is quiet - and one relaxes one's attention. One thinks the difficulty has been overcome, one thinks a result has at last been reached: "My vital does not trouble me any longer, it does not get angry now, everything is going fine." And the next day, one loses one's temper. It is then one must be careful, it is then one must not say, "Here we are, it's no use, I shall never achieve anything, all my efforts are futile; all this is an illusion, it is impossible." On the contrary, one must say, "I wasn't vigilant enough." One must wait long, very long, before one can say, "Ah! It is done and finished." Sometimes one must wait for years, many years....
I am not saying this to discourage you, but to give you patience and perseverance - for there is a moment when you do arrive. And note that the vital is a small part of your being - a very important part, we have said that it is the dynamism, the realising energy, it is very important; but it is only a small part. And the mind!... which goes wandering, which must be pulled back by all the strings to be kept quiet! You think this can be done overnight? And your body?... You have a weakness, a difficulty, sometimes a small chronic illness, nothing much, but still it is a nuisance, isn't it? You want to get rid of it. You make efforts, you concentrate; you work upon it, establish harmony, and you think it is finished, and then.... Take, for instance, people who have the habit of coughing; they can't control themselves or almost can't. It is not serious but it is bothersome, and there seems to be no reason why it should ever stop. Well, one tells oneself, "I am going to control this." One makes an effort - a yogic effort, not a material one - one brings down consciousness, force, and stops the cough. And one thinks, "The body has forgotten how to cough." And it is a great thing when the body has forgotten, truly one can say, "I am cured." But unfortunately it is not always true, for this goes down into the subconscient and, one day, when the balance of forces is not so well established, when the strength is not the same, it begins again. And one laments, "I believed that it was over! I had succeeded and told myself, 'It is true that spiritual power has an action upon the body, it is true that something can be done', and there! it is not true. And yet it was a small thing, and I who want to conquer immortality! How will I succeed?... For years I have been free from this small thing and here it is beginning anew!" It is then that you must be careful. You must arm yourself with an endless patience and endurance. You do a thing once, ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times if necessary, but you do it till it gets done. And not done only here and there, but everywhere and everywhere at the same time. This is the great problem one sets oneself. That is why, to those who come to tell me very light-heartedly, "I want to do yoga", I reply, "Think it over, one may do the yoga for a number of years without noticing the least result. But if you want to do it, you must persist and persist with such a will that you should be ready to do it for ten lifetimes, a hundred lifetimes if necessary, in order to succeed." I do not say it will be like that, but the attitude must be like that. Nothing must discourage you; for there are all the difficulties of ignorance of the different states of being, to which are added the endless malice and the unbounded cunning of the hostile forces in the world.... They are there, do you know why? They have been.... ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1950-1951,#KEYS
755:
Why do we forget our dreams?
Because you do not dream always at the same place. It is not always the same part of your being that dreams and it is not at the same place that you dream. If you were in conscious, direct, continuous communication with all the parts of your being, you would remember all your dreams. But very few parts of the being are in communication.
For example, you have a dream in the subtle physical, that is to say, quite close to the physical. Generally, these dreams occur in the early hours of the morning, that is between four and five o'clock, at the end of the sleep. If you do not make a sudden movement when you wake up, if you remain very quiet, very still and a little attentive - quietly attentive - and concentrated, you will remember them, for the communication between the subtle physical and the physical is established - very rarely is there no communication.
Now, dreams are mostly forgotten because you have a dream while in a certain state and then pass into another. For instance, when you sleep, your body is asleep, your vital is asleep, but your mind is still active. So your mind begins to have dreams, that is, its activity is more or less coordinated, the imagination is very active and you see all kinds of things, take part in extraordinary happenings.... After some time, all that calms down and the mind also begins to doze. The vital that was resting wakes up; it comes out of the body, walks about, goes here and there, does all kinds of things, reacts, sometimes fights, and finally eats. It does all kinds of things. The vital is very adventurous. It watches. When it is heroic it rushes to save people who are in prison or to destroy enemies or it makes wonderful discoveries. But this pushes back the whole mental dream very far behind. It is rubbed off, forgotten: naturally you cannot remember it because the vital dream takes its place. But if you wake up suddenly at that moment, you remember it. There are people who have made the experiment, who have got up at certain fixed hours of the night and when they wake up suddenly, they do remember. You must not move brusquely, but awake in the natural course, then you remember.
After a time, the vital having taken a good stroll, needs to rest also, and so it goes into repose and quietness, quite tired at the end of all kinds of adventures. Then something else wakes up. Let us suppose that it is the subtle physical that goes for a walk. It starts moving and begins wandering, seeing the rooms and... why, this thing that was there, but it has come here and that other thing which was in that room is now in this one, and so on. If you wake up without stirring, you remembeR But this has pushed away far to the back of the consciousness all the stories of the vital. They are forgotten and so you cannot recollect your dreams. But if at the time of waking up you are not in a hurry, you are not obliged to leave your bed, on the contrary you can remain there as long as you wish, you need not even open your eyes; you keep your head exactly where it was and you make yourself like a tranquil mirror within and concentrate there. You catch just a tiny end of the tail of your dream. You catch it and start pulling gently, without stirring in the least. You begin pulling quite gently, and then first one part comes, a little later another. You go backward; the last comes up first. Everything goes backward, slowly, and suddenly the whole dream reappears: "Ah, there! it was like that." Above all, do not jump up, do not stir; you repeat the dream to yourself several times - once, twice - until it becomes clear in all its details. Once that dream is settled, you continue not to stir, you try to go further in, and suddenly you catch the tail of something else. It is more distant, more vague, but you can still seize it. And here also you hang on, get hold of it and pull, and you see that everything changes and you enter another world; all of a sudden you have an extraordinary adventure - it is another dream. You follow the same process. You repeat the dream to yourself once, twice, until you are sure of it. You remain very quiet all the time. Then you begin to penetrate still more deeply into yourself, as though you were going in very far, very far; and again suddenly you see a vague form, you have a feeling, a sensation... like a current of air, a slight breeze, a little breath; and you say, "Well, well...." It takes a form, it becomes clear - and the third category comes. You must have a lot of time, a lot of patience, you must be very quiet in your mind and body, very quiet, and you can tell the story of your whole night from the end right up to the beginning.
Even without doing this exercise which is very long and difficult, in order to recollect a dream, whether it be the last one or the one in the middle that has made a violent impression on your being, you must do what I have said when you wake up: take particular care not even to move your head on the pillow, remain absolutely still and let the dream return.
Some people do not have a passage between one state and another, there is a little gap and so they leap from one to the other; there is no highway passing through all the states of being with no break of the consciousness. A small dark hole, and you do not remember. It is like a precipice across which one has to extend the consciousness. To build a bridge takes a very long time; it takes much longer than building a physical bridge.... Very few people want to and know how to do it. They may have had magnificent activities, they do not remember them or sometimes only the last, the nearest, the most physical activity, with an uncoordinated movement - dreams having no sense.
But there are as many different kinds of nights and sleep as there are different days and activities. There are not many days that are alike, each day is different. The days are not the same, the nights are not the same. You and your friends are doing apparently the same thing, but for each one it is very different. And each one must have his own procedure.
Why are two dreams never alike?
Because all things are different. No two minutes are alike in the universe and it will be so till the end of the universe, no two minutes will ever be alike. And men obstinately want to make rules! One must do this and not that.... Well! we must let people please themselves.
You could have put to me a very interesting question: "Why am I fourteen years old today?" Intelligent people will say: "It is because it is the fourteenth year since you were born." That is the answer of someone who believes himself to be very intelligent. But there is another reason. I shall tell this to you alone.... I have drowned you all sufficiently well! Now you must begin to learn swimming!
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953, 36?,#KEYS
756:
Mother, when one imagines something, does it not exist?
When you imagine something, it means that you make a mental formation which may be close to the truth or far from the truth - it also depends upon the quality of your formation. You make a mental formation and there are people who have such a power of formation that they succeed in making what they imagine real. There are not many of these but there are some. They imagine something and their formation is so well made and so powerful that it succeeds in being realised. These are creators; there are not many of them but there are some.
If one thinks of someone who doesn't exist or who is dead?
Ah! What do you mean? What have you just said? Someone who doesn't exist or someone who is dead? These are two absolutely different things.
I mean someone who is dead.
Someone who is dead!
If this person has remained in the mental domain, you can find him immediately. Naturally if he is no longer in the mental domain, if he is in the psychic domain, to think of him is not enough. You must know how to go into the psychic domain to find him. But if he has remained in the mental domain and you think of him, you can find him immediately, and not only that, but you can have a mental contact with him and a kind of mental vision of his existence.
The mind has a capacity of vision of its own and it is not the same vision as with these eyes, but it is a vision, it is a perception in forms. But this is not imagination. It has nothing to do with imagination.
Imagination, for instance, is when you begin to picture to yourself an ideal being to whom you apply all your conceptions, and when you tell yourself, "Why, it should be like this, like that, its form should be like this, its thought like that, its character like that," when you see all the details and build up the being. Now, writers do this all the time because when they write a novel, they imagine. There are those who take things from life but there are those who are imaginative, creators; they create a character, a personage and then put him in their book later. This is to imagine. To imagine, for example, a whole concurrence of circumstances, a set of events, this is what I call telling a story to oneself. But it can be put down on paper, and then one becomes a novelist. There are very different kinds of writers. Some imagine everything, some gather all sorts of observations from life and construct their book with them. There are a hundred ways of writing a book. But indeed some writers imagine everything from beginning to end. It all comes out of their head and they construct even their whole story without any support in things physically observed. This truly is imagination. But as I say, if they are very powerful and have a considerable capacity for creation, it is possible that one day or other there will be a physical human being who realises their creation. This too is true.
What do you suppose imagination is, eh? Have you never imagined anything, you?
And what happens?
All that one imagines.
You mean that you imagine something and it happens like that, eh? Or it is in a dream...
What is the function, the use of the imagination?
If one knows how to use it, as I said, one can create for oneself his own inner and outer life; one can build his own existence with his imagination, if one knows how to use it and has a power. In fact it is an elementary way of creating, of forming things in the world. I have always felt that if one didn't have the capacity of imagination he would not make any progress. Your imagination always goes ahead of your life. When you think of yourself, usually you imagine what you want to be, don't you, and this goes ahead, then you follow, then it continues to go ahead and you follow. Imagination opens for you the path of realisation. People who are not imaginative - it is very difficult to make them move; they see just what is there before their nose, they feel just what they are moment by moment and they cannot go forward because they are clamped by the immediate thing. It depends a good deal on what one calls imagination. However...
Men of science must be having imagination!
A lot. Otherwise they would never discover anything. In fact, what is called imagination is a capacity to project oneself outside realised things and towards things realisable, and then to draw them by the projection. One can obviously have progressive and regressive imaginations. There are people who always imagine all the catastrophes possible, and unfortunately they also have the power of making them come. It's like the antennae going into a world that's not yet realised, catching something there and drawing it here. Then naturally it is an addition to the earth atmosphere and these things tend towards manifestation. It is an instrument which can be disciplined, can be used at will; one can discipline it, direct it, orientate it. It is one of the faculties one can develop in himself and render serviceable, that is, use it for definite purposes.
Sweet Mother, can one imagine the Divine and have the contact?
Certainly if you succeed in imagining the Divine you have the contact, and you can have the contact with what you imagine, in any case. In fact it is absolutely impossible to imagine something which doesn't exist somewhere. You cannot imagine anything at all which doesn't exist somewhere. It is possible that it doesn't exist on the earth, it is possible that it's elsewhere, but it is impossible for you to imagine something which is not already contained in principle in the universe; otherwise it could not occur.
Then, Sweet Mother, this means that in the created universe nothing new is added?
In the created universe? Yes. The universe is progressive; we said that constantly things manifest, more and more. But for your imagination to be able to go and seek beyond the manifestation something which will be manifested, well, it may happen, in fact it does - I was going to tell you that it is in this way that some beings can cause considerable progress to be made in the world, because they have the capacity of imagining something that's not yet manifested. But there are not many. One must first be capable of going beyond the manifested universe to be able to imagine something which is not there. There are already many things which can be imagined.
What is our terrestrial world in the universe? A very small thing. Simply to have the capacity of imagining something which does not exist in the terrestrial manifestation is already very difficult, very difficult. For how many billions of years hasn't it existed, this little earth? And there have been no two identical things. That's much. It is very difficult to go out from the earth atmosphere with one's mind; one can, but it is very difficult. And then if one wants to go out, not only from the earth atmosphere but from the universal life!
To be able simply to enter into contact with the life of the earth in its totality from the formation of the earth until now, what can this mean? And then to go beyond this and enter into contact with universal life from its beginnings up to now... and then again to be able to bring something new into the universe, one must go still farther beyond.
Not easy!
That's all?
(To the child) Convinced?
~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1955, [T1],#KEYS
757: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,#KEYS
758:Chapter 18 - Trapped in a Dream
(A guy is playing a pinball machine, seemingly the same guy who rode with him in the back of the boat car. This part is played by Richard Linklater, aka, the director.)
Hey, man.
Hey.
Weren't you in a boat car? You know, the guy, the guy with the hat? He gave me a ride in his car, or boat thing, and you were in the back seat with me?
I mean, I'm not saying that you don't know what you're talking about, but I don't know what you're talking about.
No, you see, you guys let me off at this really specific spot that you gave him directions to let me off at, I get out, and end up getting hit by a car, but then, I just woke up because I was dreaming, and later than that, I found out that I was still dreaming, dreaming that I'd woken up.
Oh yeah, those are called false awakenings. I used to have those all the time.
Yeah, but I'm still in it now. I, I can't get out of it. It's been going on forever, I keep waking up, but, but I'm just waking up into another dream. I'm starting to get creeped out, too. Like I'm talking to dead people. This woman on TV's telling me about how death is this dreamtime that exists outside of life. I mean, (desperate sigh) I'm starting to think that I'm dead.
I'm gonna tell you about a dream I once had. I know that's, when someone says that, then usually you're in for a very boring next few minutes, and you might be, but it sounds like, you know, what else are you going to do, right? Anyway, I read this essay by Philip K. Dick.
What, you read it in your dream?
No, no. I read it before the dream. It was the preamble to the dream. It was about that book, um Flow My Tears the Policeman Said. You know that one?
Uh, yeah yeah, he won an award for that one.
Right, right. That's the one he wrote really fast. It just like flowed right out of him. He felt he was sort of channeling it, or something. But anyway, about four years after it was published, he was at this party, and he met this woman who had the same name as the woman character in the book. And she had a boyfriend with the same name as the boyfriend character in the book, and she was having an affair with this guy, the chief of police, and he had the same name as the chief of police in his book. So she's telling him all of this stuff from her life, and everything she's saying is right out of his book. So that's totally freaking him out, but, what can he do?
And then shortly after that, he was going to mail a letter, and he saw this kind of, um, you know, dangerous, shady looking guy standing by his car, but instead of avoiding him, which he says he would have usually done, he just walked right up to him and said, "Can I help you?" And the guy said, "Yeah. I, I ran out of gas." So he pulls out his wallet, and he hands him some money, which he says he never would have done, and then he gets home and thinks, wait a second, this guy, you know, he can't get to a gas station, he's out of gas. So he gets back in his car, he goes and finds the guy, takes him to the gas station, and as he's pulling up at the gas station, he realizes, "Hey, this is in my book too. This exact station, this exact guy. Everything."
So this whole episode is kind of creepy, right? And he's telling his priest about it, you know, describing how he wrote this book, and then four years later all these things happened to him. And as he's telling it to him, the priest says, "That's the Book of Acts. You're describing the Book of Acts." And he's like, "I've never read the Book of Acts." So he, you know, goes home and reads the Book of Acts, and it's like uncanny. Even the characters' names are the same as in the Bible. And the Book of Acts takes place in 50 A.D., when it was written, supposedly. So Philip K. Dick had this theory that time was an illusion and that we were all actually in 50 A.D., and the reason he had written this book was that he had somehow momentarily punctured through this illusion, this veil of time, and what he had seen there was what was going on in the Book of Acts.
And he was really into Gnosticism, and this idea that this demiurge, or demon, had created this illusion of time to make us forget that Christ was about to return, and the kingdom of God was about to arrive. And that we're all in 50 A.D., and there's someone trying to make us forget that God is imminent. And that's what time is. That's what all of history is. It's just this kind of continuous, you know, daydream, or distraction.
And so I read that, and I was like, well that's weird. And than that night I had a dream and there was this guy in the dream who was supposed to be a psychic. But I was skeptical. I was like, you know, he's not really a psychic, you know I'm thinking to myself. And then suddenly I start floating, like levitating, up to the ceiling. And as I almost go through the roof, I'm like, "Okay, Mr. Psychic. I believe you. You're a psychic. Put me down please." And I float down, and as my feet touch the ground, the psychic turns into this woman in a green dress. And this woman is Lady Gregory.
Now Lady Gregory was Yeats' patron, this, you know, Irish person. And though I'd never seen her image, I was just sure that this was the face of Lady Gregory. So we're walking along, and Lady Gregory turns to me and says, "Let me explain to you the nature of the universe. Now Philip K. Dick is right about time, but he's wrong that it's 50 A.D. Actually, there's only one instant, and it's right now, and it's eternity. And it's an instant in which God is posing a question, and that question is basically, 'Do you want to, you know, be one with eternity? Do you want to be in heaven?' And we're all saying, 'No thank you. Not just yet.' And so time is actually just this constant saying 'No' to God's invitation. I mean that's what time is. I mean, and it's no more 50 A.D. than it's two thousand and one. And there's just this one instant, and that's what we're always in."
And then she tells me that actually this is the narrative of everyone's life. That, you know, behind the phenomenal difference, there is but one story, and that's the story of moving from the "no" to the "yes." All of life is like, "No thank you. No thank you. No thank you." then ultimately it's, "Yes, I give in. Yes, I accept. Yes, I embrace." I mean, that's the journey. I mean, everyone gets to the "yes" in the end, right?
Right.
So we continue walking, and my dog runs over to me. And so I'm petting him, really happy to see him, you know, he's been dead for years. So I'm petting him and I realize there's this kind of gross oozing stuff coming out of his stomach. And I look over at Lady Gregory, and she sort of coughs. She's like [cough] [cough] "Oh, excuse me." And there's vomit, like dribbling down her chin, and it smells really bad. And I think, "Well, wait a second, that's not just the smell of vomit," which is, doesn't smell very good, "that's the smell of like dead person vomit." You know, so it's like doubly foul. And then I realize I'm actually in the land of the dead, and everyone around me is dead. My dog had been dead for over ten years, Lady Gregory had been dead a lot longer than that. When I finally woke up, I was like, whoa, that wasn't a dream, that was a visitation to this real place, the land of the dead.
So what happened? I mean how did you finally get out of it?
Oh man. It was just like one of those like life altering experiences. I mean I could never really look at the world the same way again, after that.
Yeah, but I mean like how did you, how did you finally get out of the dream? See, that's my problem. I'm like trapped. I keep, I keep thinking that I'm waking up, but I'm still in a dream. It seems like it's going on forever. I can't get out of it, and I want to wake up for real. How do you really wake up?
I don't know, I don't know. I'm not very good at that anymore. But, um, if that's what you're thinking, I mean you, you probably should. I mean, you know if you can wake up, you should, because you know someday, you know, you won't be able to. So just, um ... But it's easy. You know. Just, just wake up. ~ Waking Life,#KEYS
759:
The whole question.
The whole question? And now, do you understand?... Not quite? I told you that you did not understand because it was muddled up; in one question three different ideas were included. So naturally it created a confusion. But taken separately they are what I explained to you just now, most probably; that is to say, one has this altogether ignorant and obliterated consciousness and is convinced that he is the cause and effect, the origin and result of himself, separate from all others, separate with a limited power to act upon others and a little greater capacity to be set in movement by others or to react to others' influence. That is how people think usually, something like that, isn't that so? How do you feel, you? What effect do you have upon yourself? And you? And you?... You have never thought about it? You have never looked into yourself to see what effect you exercise upon yourself? Never thought over it? No? How do you feel? Nobody will tell me? Come, you tell me that. Never tried to understand how you feel? Yes? No? How strange! Never sought to understand how, for example, decisions take place in you? From where do they come? What makes you decide one thing rather than another? And what is the relation between a decision of yours and your action? And to what extent do you have the freedom of choice between one thing and another? And how far do you feel you are able to, you are free to do this or that or that other or nothing at all?... You have pondered over that? Yes? Is there any one among the students who has thought over it? No? Nobody put the question to himself? You? You?...
Even if one thinks over it, perhaps one is not able to answer!
One cannot explain?
No.
It is difficult to explain? Even this simple little thing, to see where in your consciousness the wills that come from outside meet your will (which you call yours, which comes from within), at what place the two join together and to what extent the one from outside acts upon that from within and the one from within acts upon that from outside? You have never tried to find this out? It has never seemed to you unbearable that a will from outside should have an action upon your will? No?
I do not know.
Oh! I am putting very difficult problems! But, my children, I was preoccupied with that when I was a child of five!... So I thought you must have been preoccupied with it since a long time. In oneself, there are contradictory wills. Yes, many. That is one of the very first discoveries. There is one part which wants things this way; and then at another moment, another way, and a third time, one wants still another thing! Besides, there is even this: something that wants and another which says no. So? But it is exactly that which has to be found if you wish in the least to organise yourself. Why not project yourself upon a screen, as in the cinema, and then look at yourself moving on it? How interesting it is!
This is the first step.
You project yourself on the screen and then observe and see all that is moving there and how it moves and what happens. You make a little diagram, it becomes so interesting then. And then, after a while, when you are quite accustomed to seeing, you can go one step further and take a decision. Or even a still greater step: you organise - arrange, take up all that, put each thing in its place, organise in such a way that you begin to have a straight movement with an inner meaning. And then you become conscious of your direction and are able to say: "Very well, it will be thus; my life will develop in that way, because that is the logic of my being. Now, I have arranged all that within me, each thing has been put in its place, and so naturally a central orientation is forming. I am following this orientation. One step more and I know what will happen to me for I myself am deciding it...." I do not know, I am telling you this; to me it seemed terribly interesting, the most interesting thing in the world. There was nothing, no other thing that interested me more than that.
This happened to me.... I was five or six or seven years old (at seven the thing became quite serious) and I had a father who loved the circus, and he came and told me: "Come with me, I am going to the circus on Sunday." I said: "No, I am doing something much more interesting than going to the circus!" Or again, young friends invited me to attend a meeting where we were to play together, enjoy together: "No, I enjoy here much more...." And it was quite sincere. It was not a pose: for me, it was like this, it was true. There was nothing in the world more enjoyable than that.
And I am so convinced that anybody who does it in that way, with the same freshness and sincerity, will obtain most interesting results.... To put all that on a screen in front of yourself and look at what is happening. And the first step is to know all that is happening and then you must not try to shut your eyes when something does not appear pleasant to you! You must keep them wide open and put each thing in that way before the screen. Then you make quite an interesting discovery. And then the next step is to start telling yourself: "Since all that is happening within me, why should I not put this thing in this way and then that thing in that way and then this other in this way and thus wouldn't I be doing something logical that has a meaning? Why should I not remove that thing which stands obstructing the way, these conflicting wills? Why? And what does that represent in the being? Why is it there? If it were put there, would it not help instead of harming me?" And so on.
And little by little, little by little, you see clearer and then you see why you are made like that, what is the thing you have got to do - that for which you are born. And then, quite naturally, since all is organised for this thing to happen, the path becomes straight and you can say beforehand: "It is in this way that it will happen." And when things come from outside to try and upset all that, you are able to say: "No, I accept this, for it helps; I reject that, for that harms." And then, after a few years, you curb yourself as you curb a horse: you do whatever you like, in the way you like and you go wherever you like.
It seems to me this is worth the trouble. I believe it is the most interesting thing.
...
You must have a great deal of sincerity, a little courage and perseverance and then a sort of mental curiosity, you understand, curious, seeking to know, interested, wanting to learn. To love to learn: that, one must have in one's nature. To find it impossible to stand before something grey, all hazy, in which nothing is seen clearly and which gives you quite an unpleasant feeling, for you do not know where you begin and where you end, what is yours and what is not yours and what is settled and what is not settled - what is this pulp-like thing you call yourself in which things get intermingled and act upon one another without even your being aware of it? You ask yourself: "But why have I done this?" You know nothing about it. "And why have I felt that?" You don't know that, either. And then, you are thrown into a world outside that is only fog and you are thrown into a world inside that is also for you another kind of fog, still more impenetrable, in which you live, like a cork thrown upon the waters and the waves carry it away or cast it into the air, and it drops and rolls on. That is quite an unpleasant state. I do not know, but to me it appears unpleasant.
To see clearly, to see one's way, where one is going, why one is going there, how one is to go there and what one is going to do and what is the kind of relation with others... But that is a problem so wonderfully interesting - it is interesting - and you can always discover things every minute! One's work is never finished.
There is a time, there is a certain state of consciousness when you have the feeling that you are in that condition with all the weight of the world lying heavy upon you and besides you are going in blinkers and do not know where you are going, but there is something which is pushing you. And that is truly a very unpleasant condition. And there is another moment when one draws oneself up and is able to see what is there above, and one becomes it; then one looks at the world as though from the top of a very very high mountain and one sees all that is happening below; then one can choose one's way and follow it. That is a more pleasant condition. This then is truly the truth, you are upon earth for that, surely. All individual beings and all the little concentrations of consciousness were created to do this work. It is the very reason for existence: to be able to become fully conscious of a certain sum of vibrations representing an individual being and put order there and find one's way and follow it.
And so, as men do not know it and do not do it, life comes and gives them a blow here: "Oh! that hurts", then a blow there: "Ah! that's hurting me." And the thing goes on like that and all the time it is like that. And all the time they are getting pain somewhere. They suffer, they cry, they groan. But it is simply due to that reason, there is no other: it is that they have not done that little work. If, when they were quite young, there had been someone to teach them to do the work and they had done it without losing time, they could have gone through life gloriously and instead of suffering they would have been all-powerful masters of their destiny.
This is not to say that necessarily all things would become pleasant. It is not at all that. But your reaction towards things becomes the true reaction and instead of suffering, you learn; instead of being miserable, you go forward and progress. After all, I believe it is for this that you are here - so that there is someone who can tell you: "There, well, try that. It is worth trying." ~ The Mother, Questions And Answers 1953, 199,#KEYS
760:[The Gods and Their Worlds]
[...] According to traditions and occult schools, all these zones of realities, these planes of realities have got different names; they have been classified in a different way, but there is an essential analogy, and if you go back far enough into the traditions, you see only the words changing according to the country and the language. Even now, the experiences of Western occultists and those of Eastern occultists offer great similarities. All who set out on the discovery of these invisible worlds and make a report of what they saw, give a very similar description, whether they be from here or there; they use different words, but the experience is very similar and the handling of forces is the same.
This knowledge of the occult worlds is based on the existence of subtle bodies and of subtle worlds corresponding to those bodies. They are what the psychological method calls "states of consciousness", but these states of consciousness really correspond to worlds. The occult procedure consists then in being aware of these various inner states of being or subtle bodies and in becoming sufficiently a master of them so as to be able to go out of them successively, one after another. There is indeed a whole scale of subtleties, increasing or decreasing according to the direction in which you go, and the occult procedure consists in going out of a denser body into a subtler body and so on again, up to the most ethereal regions. You go, by successive exteriorisations, into bodies or worlds more and more subtle. It is somewhat as if every time you passed into another dimension. The fourth dimension of the physicists is nothing but the scientific transcription of an occult knowledge. To give another image, one can say that the physical body is at the centre - it is the most material, the densest and also the smallest - and the inner bodies, more subtle, overflow more and more the central physical body; they pass through it, extending themselves farther and farther, like water evaporating from a porous vase and forming a kind of steam all around. And the greater the subtlety, the more the extension tends to unite with that of the universe: one ends by universalising oneself. And it is altogether a concrete process which gives an objective experience of invisible worlds and even enables one to act in these worlds.
There are, then, only a very small number of people in the West who know that these gods are not merely subjective and imaginary - more or less wildly imaginary - but that they correspond to a universal truth.
All these regions, all these domains are filled with beings who exist, each in its own domain, and if you are awake and conscious on a particular plane - for instance, if on going out of a more material body you awake on some higher plane, you have the same relation with the things and people of that plane as you had with the things and people of the material world. That is to say, there exists an entirely objective relation that has nothing to do with the idea you may have of these things. Naturally, the resemblance is greater and greater as you approach the physical world, the material world, and there even comes a time when the one region has a direct action upon the other. In any case, in what Sri Aurobindo calls the overmental worlds, you will find a concrete reality absolutely independent of your personal experience; you go back there and again find the same things, with the differences that have occurred during your absence. And you have relations with those beings that are identical with the relations you have with physical beings, with this difference that the relation is more plastic, supple and direct - for example, there is the capacity to change the external form, the visible form, according to the inner state you are in. But you can make an appointment with someone and be at the appointed place and find the same being again, with certain differences that have come about during your absence; it is entirely concrete with results entirely concrete.
One must have at least a little of this experience in order to understand these things. Otherwise, those who are convinced that all this is mere human imagination and mental formation, who believe that these gods have such and such a form because men have thought them to be like that, and that they have certain defects and certain qualities because men have thought them to be like that - all those who say that God is made in the image of man and that he exists only in human thought, all these will not understand; to them this will appear absolutely ridiculous, madness. One must have lived a little, touched the subject a little, to know how very concrete the thing is.
Naturally, children know a good deal if they have not been spoilt. There are so many children who return every night to the same place and continue to live the life they have begun there. When these faculties are not spoilt with age, you can keep them with you. At a time when I was especially interested in dreams, I could return exactly to a place and continue a work that I had begun: supervise something, for example, set something in order, a work of organisation or of discovery, of exploration. You go until you reach a certain spot, as you would go in life, then you take a rest, then you return and begin again - you begin the work at the place where you left off and you continue it. And you perceive that there are things which are quite independent of you, in the sense that changes of which you are not at all the author, have taken place automatically during your absence.
But for this, you must live these experiences yourself, you must see them yourself, live them with sufficient sincerity and spontaneity in order to see that they are independent of any mental formation. For you can do the opposite also, and deepen the study of the action of mental formation upon events. This is very interesting, but it is another domain. And this study makes you very careful, very prudent, because you become aware of how far you can delude yourself. So you must study both, the dream and the occult reality, in order to see what is the essential difference between the two. The one depends upon us; the other exists in itself; entirely independent of the thought that we have of it.
When you have worked in that domain, you recognise in fact that once a subject has been studied and something has been learnt mentally, it gives a special colour to the experience; the experience may be quite spontaneous and sincere, but the simple fact that the subject was known and studied lends a particular quality. Whereas if you had learnt nothing about the question, if you knew nothing at all, the transcription would be completely spontaneous and sincere when the experience came; it would be more or less adequate, but it would not be the outcome of a previous mental formation.
Naturally, this occult knowledge or this experience is not very frequent in the world, because in those who do not have a developed inner life, there are veritable gaps between the external consciousness and the inmost consciousness; the linking states of being are missing and they have to be constructed. So when people enter there for the first time, they are bewildered, they have the impression they have fallen into the night, into nothingness, into non-being!
I had a Danish friend, a painter, who was like that. He wanted me to teach him how to go out of the body; he used to have interesting dreams and thought that it would be worth the trouble to go there consciously. So I made him "go out" - but it was a frightful thing! When he was dreaming, a part of his mind still remained conscious, active, and a kind of link existed between this active part and his external being; then he remembered some of his dreams, but it was a very partial phenomenon. And to go out of one's body means to pass gradually through all the states of being, if one does the thing systematically. Well, already in the subtle physical, one is almost de-individualised, and when one goes farther, there remains nothing, for nothing is formed or individualised.
Thus, when people are asked to meditate or told to go within, to enter into themselves, they are in agony - naturally! They have the impression that they are vanishing. And with reason: there is nothing, no consciousness!
These things that appear to us quite natural and evident, are, for people who know nothing, wild imagination. If, for example, you transplant these experiences or this knowledge to the West, well, unless you have been frequenting the circles of occultists, they stare at you with open eyes. And when you have turned your back, they hasten to say, "These people are cranks!" Now to come back to the gods and conclude. It must be said that all those beings who have never had an earthly existence - gods or demons, invisible beings and powers - do not possess what the Divine has put into man: the psychic being. And this psychic being gives to man true love, charity, compassion, a deep kindness, which compensate for all his external defects.
In the gods there is no fault because they live according to their own nature, spontaneously and without constraint: as gods, it is their manner of being. But if you take a higher point of view, if you have a higher vision, a vision of the whole, you see that they lack certain qualities that are exclusively human. By his capacity of love and self-giving, man can have as much power as the gods and even more, when he is not egoistic, when he has surmounted his egoism.
If he fulfils the required condition, man is nearer to the Supreme than the gods are. He can be nearer. He is not so automatically, but he has the power to be so, the potentiality.
If human love manifested itself without mixture, it would be all-powerful. Unfortunately, in human love there is as much love of oneself as of the one loved; it is not a love that makes you forget yourself. - 4 November 1958
~ The Mother, Words Of The Mother III, 355
,#KEYS
761:The Science of Living
To know oneself and to control oneself
AN AIMLESS life is always a miserable life.
Every one of you should have an aim. But do not forget that on the quality of your aim will depend the quality of your life.
Your aim should be high and wide, generous and disinterested; this will make your life precious to yourself and to others.
But whatever your ideal, it cannot be perfectly realised unless you have realised perfection in yourself.
To work for your perfection, the first step is to become conscious of yourself, of the different parts of your being and their respective activities. You must learn to distinguish these different parts one from another, so that you may become clearly aware of the origin of the movements that occur in you, the many impulses, reactions and conflicting wills that drive you to action. It is an assiduous study which demands much perseverance and sincerity. For man's nature, especially his mental nature, has a spontaneous tendency to give a favourable explanation for everything he thinks, feels, says and does. It is only by observing these movements with great care, by bringing them, as it were, before the tribunal of our highest ideal, with a sincere will to submit to its judgment, that we can hope to form in ourselves a discernment that never errs. For if we truly want to progress and acquire the capacity of knowing the truth of our being, that is to say, what we are truly created for, what we can call our mission upon earth, then we must, in a very regular and constant manner, reject from us or eliminate in us whatever contradicts the truth of our existence, whatever is opposed to it. In this way, little by little, all the parts, all the elements of our being can be organised into a homogeneous whole around our psychic centre. This work of unification requires much time to be brought to some degree of perfection. Therefore, in order to accomplish it, we must arm ourselves with patience and endurance, with a determination to prolong our life as long as necessary for the success of our endeavour.
As you pursue this labour of purification and unification, you must at the same time take great care to perfect the external and instrumental part of your being. When the higher truth manifests, it must find in you a mind that is supple and rich enough to be able to give the idea that seeks to express itself a form of thought which preserves its force and clarity. This thought, again, when it seeks to clothe itself in words, must find in you a sufficient power of expression so that the words reveal the thought and do not deform it. And the formula in which you embody the truth should be manifested in all your feelings, all your acts of will, all your actions, in all the movements of your being. Finally, these movements themselves should, by constant effort, attain their highest perfection.
All this can be realised by means of a fourfold discipline, the general outline of which is given here. The four aspects of the discipline do not exclude each other, and can be followed at the same time; indeed, this is preferable. The starting-point is what can be called the psychic discipline. We give the name "psychic" to the psychological centre of our being, the seat within us of the highest truth of our existence, that which can know this truth and set it in movement. It is therefore of capital importance to become conscious of its presence in us, to concentrate on this presence until it becomes a living fact for us and we can identify ourselves with it.
In various times and places many methods have been prescribed for attaining this perception and ultimately achieving this identification. Some methods are psychological, some religious, some even mechanical. In reality, everyone has to find the one which suits him best, and if one has an ardent and steadfast aspiration, a persistent and dynamic will, one is sure to meet, in one way or another - outwardly through reading and study, inwardly through concentration, meditation, revelation and experience - the help one needs to reach the goal. Only one thing is absolutely indispensable: the will to discover and to realise. This discovery and realisation should be the primary preoccupation of our being, the pearl of great price which we must acquire at any cost. Whatever you do, whatever your occupations and activities, the will to find the truth of your being and to unite with it must be always living and present behind all that you do, all that you feel, all that you think.
To complement this movement of inner discovery, it would be good not to neglect the development of the mind. For the mental instrument can equally be a great help or a great hindrance. In its natural state the human mind is always limited in its vision, narrow in its understanding, rigid in its conceptions, and a constant effort is therefore needed to widen it, to make it more supple and profound. So it is very necessary to consider everything from as many points of view as possible. Towards this end, there is an exercise which gives great suppleness and elevation to the thought. It is as follows: a clearly formulated thesis is set; against it is opposed its antithesis, formulated with the same precision. Then by careful reflection the problem must be widened or transcended until a synthesis is found which unites the two contraries in a larger, higher and more comprehensive idea.
Many other exercises of the same kind can be undertaken; some have a beneficial effect on the character and so possess a double advantage: that of educating the mind and that of establishing control over the feelings and their consequences. For example, you must never allow your mind to judge things and people, for the mind is not an instrument of knowledge; it is incapable of finding knowledge, but it must be moved by knowledge. Knowledge belongs to a much higher domain than that of the human mind, far above the region of pure ideas. The mind has to be silent and attentive to receive knowledge from above and manifest it. For it is an instrument of formation, of organisation and action, and it is in these functions that it attains its full value and real usefulness.
There is another practice which can be very helpful to the progress of the consciousness. Whenever there is a disagreement on any matter, such as a decision to be taken, or an action to be carried out, one must never remain closed up in one's own conception or point of view. On the contrary, one must make an effort to understand the other's point of view, to put oneself in his place and, instead of quarrelling or even fighting, find the solution which can reasonably satisfy both parties; there always is one for men of goodwill.
Here we must mention the discipline of the vital. The vital being in us is the seat of impulses and desires, of enthusiasm and violence, of dynamic energy and desperate depressions, of passions and revolts. It can set everything in motion, build and realise; but it can also destroy and mar everything. Thus it may be the most difficult part to discipline in the human being. It is a long and exacting labour requiring great patience and perfect sincerity, for without sincerity you will deceive yourself from the very outset, and all endeavour for progress will be in vain. With the collaboration of the vital no realisation seems impossible, no transformation impracticable. But the difficulty lies in securing this constant collaboration. The vital is a good worker, but most often it seeks its own satisfaction. If that is refused, totally or even partially, the vital gets vexed, sulks and goes on strike. Its energy disappears more or less completely and in its place leaves disgust for people and things, discouragement or revolt, depression and dissatisfaction. At such moments it is good to remain quiet and refuse to act; for these are the times when one does stupid things and in a few moments one can destroy or spoil the progress that has been made during months of regular effort. These crises are shorter and less dangerous for those who have established a contact with their psychic being which is sufficient to keep alive in them the flame of aspiration and the consciousness of the ideal to be realised. They can, with the help of this consciousness, deal with their vital as one deals with a rebellious child, with patience and perseverance, showing it the truth and light, endeavouring to convince it and awaken in it the goodwill which has been veiled for a time. By means of such patient intervention each crisis can be turned into a new progress, into one more step towards the goal. Progress may be slow, relapses may be frequent, but if a courageous will is maintained, one is sure to triumph one day and see all difficulties melt and vanish before the radiance of the truth-consciousness.
Lastly, by means of a rational and discerning physical education, we must make our body strong and supple enough to become a fit instrument in the material world for the truth-force which wants to manifest through us.
In fact, the body must not rule, it must obey. By its very nature it is a docile and faithful servant. Unfortunately, it rarely has the capacity of discernment it ought to have with regard to its masters, the mind and the vital. It obeys them blindly, at the cost of its own well-being. The mind with its dogmas, its rigid and arbitrary principles, the vital with its passions, its excesses and dissipations soon destroy the natural balance of the body and create in it fatigue, exhaustion and disease. It must be freed from this tyranny and this can be done only through a constant union with the psychic centre of the being. The body has a wonderful capacity of adaptation and endurance. It is able to do so many more things than one usually imagines. If, instead of the ignorant and despotic masters that now govern it, it is ruled by the central truth of the being, you will be amazed at what it is capable of doing. Calm and quiet, strong and poised, at every minute it will be able to put forth the effort that is demanded of it, for it will have learnt to find rest in action and to recuperate, through contact with the universal forces, the energies it expends consciously and usefully. In this sound and balanced life a new harmony will manifest in the body, reflecting the harmony of the higher regions, which will give it perfect proportions and ideal beauty of form. And this harmony will be progressive, for the truth of the being is never static; it is a perpetual unfolding of a growing perfection that is more and more total and comprehensive. As soon as the body has learnt to follow this movement of progressive harmony, it will be possible for it to escape, through a continuous process of transformation, from the necessity of disintegration and destruction. Thus the irrevocable law of death will no longer have any reason to exist.
When we reach this degree of perfection which is our goal, we shall perceive that the truth we seek is made up of four major aspects: Love, Knowledge, Power and Beauty. These four attributes of the Truth will express themselves spontaneously in our being. The psychic will be the vehicle of true and pure love, the mind will be the vehicle of infallible knowledge, the vital will manifest an invincible power and strength and the body will be the expression of a perfect beauty and harmony.
Bulletin, November 1950
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
762:Mental Education
OF ALL lines of education, mental education is the most widely known and practised, yet except in a few rare cases there are gaps which make it something very incomplete and in the end quite insufficient.
Generally speaking, schooling is considered to be all the mental education that is necessary. And when a child has been made to undergo, for a number of years, a methodical training which is more like cramming than true schooling, it is considered that whatever is necessary for his mental development has been done. Nothing of the kind. Even conceding that the training is given with due measure and discrimination and does not permanently damage the brain, it cannot impart to the human mind the faculties it needs to become a good and useful instrument. The schooling that is usually given can, at the most, serve as a system of gymnastics to increase the suppleness of the brain. From this standpoint, each branch of human learning represents a special kind of mental gymnastics, and the verbal formulations given to these various branches each constitute a special and well-defined language.
A true mental education, which will prepare man for a higher life, has five principal phases. Normally these phases follow one after another, but in exceptional individuals they may alternate or even proceed simultaneously. These five phases, in brief, are:
(1) Development of the power of concentration, the capacity of attention.
(2) Development of the capacities of expansion, widening, complexity and richness.
(3) Organisation of one's ideas around a central idea, a higher ideal or a supremely luminous idea that will serve as a guide in life.
(4) Thought-control, rejection of undesirable thoughts, to become able to think only what one wants and when one wants.
(5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being.
It is not possible to give here all the details concerning the methods to be employed in the application of these five phases of education to different individuals. Still, a few explanations on points of detail can be given.
Undeniably, what most impedes mental progress in children is the constant dispersion of their thoughts. Their thoughts flutter hither and thither like butterflies and they have to make a great effort to fix them. Yet this capacity is latent in them, for when you succeed in arousing their interest, they are capable of a good deal of attention. By his ingenuity, therefore, the educator will gradually help the child to become capable of a sustained effort of attention and a faculty of more and more complete absorption in the work in hand. All methods that can develop this faculty of attention from games to rewards are good and can all be utilised according to the need and the circumstances. But it is the psychological action that is most important and the sovereign method is to arouse in the child an interest in what you want to teach him, a liking for work, a will to progress. To love to learn is the most precious gift that one can give to a child: to love to learn always and everywhere, so that all circumstances, all happenings in life may be constantly renewed opportunities for learning more and always more.
For that, to attention and concentration should be added observation, precise recording and faithfulness of memory. This faculty of observation can be developed by varied and spontaneous exercises, making use of every opportunity that presents itself to keep the child's thought wakeful, alert and prompt. The growth of the understanding should be stressed much more than that of memory. One knows well only what one has understood. Things learnt by heart, mechanically, fade away little by little and finally disappear; what is understood is never forgotten. Moreover, you must never refuse to explain to a child the how and the why of things. If you cannot do it yourself, you must direct the child to those who are qualified to answer or point out to him some books that deal with the question. In this way you will progressively awaken in the child the taste for true study and the habit of making a persistent effort to know.
This will bring us quite naturally to the second phase of development in which the mind should be widened and enriched.
You will gradually show the child that everything can become an interesting subject for study if it is approached in the right way. The life of every day, of every moment, is the best school of all, varied, complex, full of unexpected experiences, problems to be solved, clear and striking examples and obvious consequences. It is so easy to arouse healthy curiosity in children, if you answer with intelligence and clarity the numerous questions they ask. An interesting reply to one readily brings others in its train and so the attentive child learns without effort much more than he usually does in the classroom. By a choice made with care and insight, you should also teach him to enjoy good reading-matter which is both instructive and attractive. Do not be afraid of anything that awakens and pleases his imagination; imagination develops the creative mental faculty and through it study becomes living and the mind develops in joy.
In order to increase the suppleness and comprehensiveness of his mind, one should see not only that he studies many varied topics, but above all that a single subject is approached in various ways, so that the child understands in a practical manner that there are many ways of facing the same intellectual problem, of considering it and solving it. This will remove all rigidity from his brain and at the same time it will make his thinking richer and more supple and prepare it for a more complex and comprehensive synthesis. In this way also the child will be imbued with the sense of the extreme relativity of mental learning and, little by little, an aspiration for a truer source of knowledge will awaken in him.
Indeed, as the child grows older and progresses in his studies, his mind too ripens and becomes more and more capable of forming general ideas, and with them almost always comes a need for certitude, for a knowledge that is stable enough to form the basis of a mental construction which will permit all the diverse and scattered and often contradictory ideas accumulated in his brain to be organised and put in order. This ordering is indeed very necessary if one is to avoid chaos in one's thoughts. All contradictions can be transformed into complements, but for that one must discover the higher idea that will have the power to bring them harmoniously together. It is always good to consider every problem from all possible standpoints so as to avoid partiality and exclusiveness; but if the thought is to be active and creative, it must, in every case, be the natural and logical synthesis of all the points of view adopted. And if you want to make the totality of your thoughts into a dynamic and constructive force, you must also take great care as to the choice of the central idea of your mental synthesis; for upon that will depend the value of this synthesis. The higher and larger the central idea and the more universal it is, rising above time and space, the more numerous and the more complex will be the ideas, notions and thoughts which it will be able to organise and harmonise.
It goes without saying that this work of organisation cannot be done once and for all. The mind, if it is to keep its vigour and youth, must progress constantly, revise its notions in the light of new knowledge, enlarge its frame-work to include fresh notions and constantly reclassify and reorganise its thoughts, so that each of them may find its true place in relation to the others and the whole remain harmonious and orderly.
All that has just been said concerns the speculative mind, the mind that learns. But learning is only one aspect of mental activity; the other, which is at least equally important, is the constructive faculty, the capacity to form and thus prepare action. This very important part of mental activity has rarely been the subject of any special study or discipline. Only those who want, for some reason, to exercise a strict control over their mental activities think of observing and disciplining this faculty of formation; and as soon as they try it, they have to face difficulties so great that they appear almost insurmountable.
And yet control over this formative activity of the mind is one of the most important aspects of self-education; one can say that without it no mental mastery is possible. As far as study is concerned, all ideas are acceptable and should be included in the synthesis, whose very function is to become more and more rich and complex; but where action is concerned, it is just the opposite. The ideas that are accepted for translation into action should be strictly controlled and only those that agree with the general trend of the central idea forming the basis of the mental synthesis should be permitted to express themselves in action. This means that every thought entering the mental consciousness should be set before the central idea; if it finds a logical place among the thoughts already grouped, it will be admitted into the synthesis; if not, it will be rejected so that it can have no influence on the action. This work of mental purification should be done very regularly in order to secure a complete control over one's actions.
For this purpose, it is good to set apart some time every day when one can quietly go over one's thoughts and put one's synthesis in order. Once the habit is acquired, you can maintain control over your thoughts even during work and action, allowing only those which are useful for what you are doing to come to the surface. Particularly, if you have continued to cultivate the power of concentration and attention, only the thoughts that are needed will be allowed to enter the active external consciousness and they then become all the more dynamic and effective. And if, in the intensity of concentration, it becomes necessary not to think at all, all mental vibration can be stilled and an almost total silence secured. In this silence one can gradually open to the higher regions of the mind and learn to record the inspirations that come from there.
But even before reaching this point, silence in itself is supremely useful, because in most people who have a somewhat developed and active mind, the mind is never at rest. During the day, its activity is kept under a certain control, but at night, during the sleep of the body, the control of the waking state is almost completely removed and the mind indulges in activities which are sometimes excessive and often incoherent. This creates a great stress which leads to fatigue and the diminution of the intellectual faculties.
The fact is that like all the other parts of the human being, the mind too needs rest and it will not have this rest unless we know how to provide it. The art of resting one's mind is something to be acquired. Changing one's mental activity is certainly one way of resting; but the greatest possible rest is silence. And as far as the mental faculties are concerned a few minutes passed in the calm of silence are a more effective rest than hours of sleep.
When one has learned to silence the mind at will and to concentrate it in receptive silence, then there will be no problem that cannot be solved, no mental difficulty whose solution cannot be found. When it is agitated, thought becomes confused and impotent; in an attentive tranquillity, the light can manifest itself and open up new horizons to man's capacity. Bulletin, November 1951
~ The Mother, On Education,#KEYS
763:The Supreme Discovery
IF WE want to progress integrally, we must build within our conscious being a strong and pure mental synthesis which can serve us as a protection against temptations from outside, as a landmark to prevent us from going astray, as a beacon to light our way across the moving ocean of life.
Each individual should build up this mental synthesis according to his own tendencies and affinities and aspirations. But if we want it to be truly living and luminous, it must be centred on the idea that is the intellectual representation symbolising That which is at the centre of our being, That which is our life and our light.
This idea, expressed in sublime words, has been taught in various forms by all the great Instructors in all lands and all ages.
The Self of each one and the great universal Self are one. Since all that is exists from all eternity in its essence and principle, why make a distinction between the being and its origin, between ourselves and what we place at the beginning?
The ancient traditions rightly said:
"Our origin and ourselves, our God and ourselves are one."
And this oneness should not be understood merely as a more or less close and intimate relationship of union, but as a true identity.
Thus, when a man who seeks the Divine attempts to reascend by degrees towards the inaccessible, he forgets that all his knowledge and all his intuition cannot take him one step forward in this infinite; neither does he know that what he wants to attain, what he believes to be so far from him, is within him.
For how could he know anything of the origin until he becomes conscious of this origin in himself?
It is by understanding himself, by learning to know himself, that he can make the supreme discovery and cry out in wonder like the patriarch in the Bible, "The house of God is here and I knew it not."
That is why we must express that sublime thought, creatrix of the material worlds, and make known to all the word that fills the heavens and the earth, "I am in all things and all beings."When all shall know this, the promised day of great transfigurations will be at hand. When in each atom of Matter men shall recognise the indwelling thought of God, when in each living creature they shall perceive some hint of a gesture of God, when each man can see God in his brother, then dawn will break, dispelling the darkness, the falsehood, the ignorance, the error and suffering that weigh upon all Nature. For, "all Nature suffers and laments as she awaits the revelation of the Sons of God."
This indeed is the central thought epitomising all others, the thought which should be ever present to our remembrance as the sun that illumines all life.
That is why I remind you of it today. For if we follow our path bearing this thought in our hearts like the rarest jewel, the most precious treasure, if we allow it to do its work of illumination and transfiguration within us, we shall know that it lives in the centre of all beings and all things, and in it we shall feel the marvellous oneness of the universe.
Then we shall understand the vanity and childishness of our meagre satisfactions, our foolish quarrels, our petty passions, our blind indignations. We shall see the dissolution of our little faults, the crumbling of the last entrenchments of our limited personality and our obtuse egoism. We shall feel ourselves being swept along by this sublime current of true spirituality which will deliver us from our narrow limits and bounds.
The individual Self and the universal Self are one; in every world, in every being, in every thing, in every atom is the Divine Presence, and man's mission is to manifest it.
In order to do that, he must become conscious of this Divine Presence within him. Some individuals must undergo a real apprenticeship in order to achieve this: their egoistic being is too all-absorbing, too rigid, too conservative, and their struggles against it are long and painful. Others, on the contrary, who are more impersonal, more plastic, more spiritualised, come easily into contact with the inexhaustible divine source of their being.But let us not forget that they too should devote themselves daily, constantly, to a methodical effort of adaptation and transformation, so that nothing within them may ever again obscure the radiance of that pure light.
But how greatly the standpoint changes once we attain this deeper consciousness! How understanding widens, how compassion grows!
On this a sage has said:
"I would like each one of us to come to the point where he perceives the inner God who dwells even in the vilest of human beings; instead of condemning him we would say, 'Arise, O resplendent Being, thou who art ever pure, who knowest neither birth nor death; arise, Almighty One, and manifest thy nature.'"
Let us live by this beautiful utterance and we shall see everything around us transformed as if by miracle.
This is the attitude of true, conscious and discerning love, the love which knows how to see behind appearances, understand in spite of words, and which, amid all obstacles, is in constant communion with the depths.
What value have our impulses and our desires, our anguish and our violence, our sufferings and our struggles, all these inner vicissitudes unduly dramatised by our unruly imagination - what value do they have before this great, this sublime and divine love bending over us from the innermost depths of our being, bearing with our weaknesses, rectifying our errors, healing our wounds, bathing our whole being with its regenerating streams?
For the inner Godhead never imposes herself, she neither demands nor threatens; she offers and gives herself, conceals and forgets herself in the heart of all beings and things; she never accuses, she neither judges nor curses nor condemns, but works unceasingly to perfect without constraint, to mend without reproach, to encourage without impatience, to enrich each one with all the wealth he can receive; she is the mother whose love bears fruit and nourishes, guards and protects, counsels and consoles; because she understands everything, she can endure everything, excuse and pardon everything, hope and prepare for everything; bearing everything within herself, she owns nothing that does not belong to all, and because she reigns over all, she is the servant of all; that is why all, great and small, who want to be kings with her and gods in her, become, like her, not despots but servitors among their brethren.
How beautiful is this humble role of servant, the role of all who have been revealers and heralds of the God who is within all, of the Divine Love that animates all things....
And until we can follow their example and become true servants even as they, let us allow ourselves to be penetrated and transformed by this Divine Love; let us offer Him, without reserve, this marvellous instrument, our physical organism. He shall make it yield its utmost on every plane of activity.
To achieve this total self-consecration, all means are good, all methods have their value. The one thing needful is to persevere in our will to attain this goal. For then everything we study, every action we perform, every human being we meet, all come to bring us an indication, a help, a light to guide us on the path.
Before I close, I shall add a few pages for those who have already made apparently fruitless efforts, for those who have encountered the pitfalls on the way and seen the measure of their weakness, for those who are in danger of losing their self-confidence and courage. These pages, intended to rekindle hope in the hearts of those who suffer, were written by a spiritual worker at a time when ordeals of every kind were sweeping down on him like purifying flames.
You who are weary, downcast and bruised, you who fall, who think perhaps that you are defeated, hear the voice of a friend. He knows your sorrows, he has shared them, he has suffered like you from the ills of the earth; like you he has crossed many deserts under the burden of the day, he has known thirst and hunger, solitude and abandonment, and the cruellest of all wants, the destitution of the heart. Alas! he has known too the hours of doubt, the errors, the faults, the failings, every weakness.
But he tells you: Courage! Hearken to the lesson that the rising sun brings to the earth with its first rays each morning. It is a lesson of hope, a message of solace.
You who weep, who suffer and tremble, who dare not expect an end to your ills, an issue to your pangs, behold: there is no night without dawn and the day is about to break when darkness is thickest; there is no mist that the sun does not dispel, no cloud that it does not gild, no tear that it will not dry one day, no storm that is not followed by its shining triumphant bow; there is no snow that it does not melt, nor winter that it does not change into radiant spring.
And for you too, there is no affliction which does not bring its measure of glory, no distress which cannot be transformed into joy, nor defeat into victory, nor downfall into higher ascension, nor solitude into radiating centre of life, nor discord into harmony - sometimes it is a misunderstanding between two minds that compels two hearts to open to mutual communion; lastly, there is no infinite weakness that cannot be changed into strength. And it is even in supreme weakness that almightiness chooses to reveal itself!
Listen, my little child, you who today feel so broken, so fallen perhaps, who have nothing left, nothing to cover your misery and foster your pride: never before have you been so great! How close to the summits is he who awakens in the depths, for the deeper the abyss, the more the heights reveal themselves!
Do you not know this, that the most sublime forces of the vasts seek to array themselves in the most opaque veils of Matter? Oh, the sublime nuptials of sovereign love with the obscurest plasticities, of the shadow's yearning with the most royal light!
If ordeal or fault has cast you down, if you have sunk into the nether depths of suffering, do not grieve - for there indeed the divine love and the supreme blessing can reach you! Because you have passed through the crucible of purifying sorrows, the glorious ascents are yours.
You are in the wilderness: then listen to the voices of the silence. The clamour of flattering words and outer applause has gladdened your ears, but the voices of the silence will gladden your soul and awaken within you the echo of the depths, the chant of divine harmonies!
You are walking in the depths of night: then gather the priceless treasures of the night. In bright sunshine, the ways of intelligence are lit, but in the white luminosities of the night lie the hidden paths of perfection, the secret of spiritual riches.
You are being stripped of everything: that is the way towards plenitude. When you have nothing left, everything will be given to you. Because for those who are sincere and true, from the worst always comes the best.
Every grain that is sown in the earth produces a thousand. Every wing-beat of sorrow can be a soaring towards glory.
And when the adversary pursues man relentlessly, everything he does to destroy him only makes him greater.
Hear the story of the worlds, look: the great enemy seems to triumph. He casts the beings of light into the night, and the night is filled with stars. He rages against the cosmic working, he assails the integrity of the empire of the sphere, shatters its harmony, divides and subdivides it, scatters its dust to the four winds of infinity, and lo! the dust is changed into a golden seed, fertilising the infinite and peopling it with worlds which now gravitate around their eternal centre in the larger orbit of space - so that even division creates a richer and deeper unity, and by multiplying the surfaces of the material universe, enlarges the empire that it set out to destroy.
Beautiful indeed was the song of the primordial sphere cradled in the bosom of immensity, but how much more beautiful and triumphant is the symphony of the constellations, the music of the spheres, the immense choir that fills the heavens with an eternal hymn of victory!
Hear again: no state was ever more precarious than that of man when he was separated on earth from his divine origin. Above him stretched the hostile borders of the usurper, and at his horizon's gates watched jailers armed with flaming swords. Then, since he could climb no more to the source of life, the source arose within him; since he could no more receive the light from above, the light shone forth at the very centre of his being; since he could commune no more with the transcendent love, that love offered itself in a holocaust and chose each terrestrial being, each human self as its dwelling-place and sanctuary.
That is how, in this despised and desolate but fruitful and blessed Matter, each atom contains a divine thought, each being carries within him the Divine Inhabitant. And if no being in all the universe is as frail as man, neither is any as divine as he!
In truth, in truth, in humiliation lies the cradle of glory! 28 April 1912 ~ The Mother, Words Of Long Ago, The Supreme Discovery,#KEYS
764:It does not matter if you do not understand it - Savitri, read it always. You will see that every time you read it, something new will be revealed to you. Each time you will get a new glimpse, each time a new experience; things which were not there, things you did not understand arise and suddenly become clear. Always an unexpected vision comes up through the words and lines. Every time you try to read and understand, you will see that something is added, something which was hidden behind is revealed clearly and vividly. I tell you the very verses you have read once before, will appear to you in a different light each time you re-read them. This is what happens invariably. Always your experience is enriched, it is a revelation at each step.
But you must not read it as you read other books or newspapers. You must read with an empty head, a blank and vacant mind, without there being any other thought; you must concentrate much, remain empty, calm and open; then the words, rhythms, vibrations will penetrate directly to this white page, will put their stamp upon the brain, will explain themselves without your making any effort.
Savitri alone is sufficient to make you climb to the highest peaks. If truly one knows how to meditate on Savitri, one will receive all the help one needs. For him who wishes to follow this path, it is a concrete help as though the Lord himself were taking you by the hand and leading you to the destined goal. And then, every question, however personal it may be, has its answer here, every difficulty finds its solution herein; indeed there is everything that is necessary for doing the Yoga.
*He has crammed the whole universe in a single book.* It is a marvellous work, magnificent and of an incomparable perfection.
You know, before writing Savitri Sri Aurobindo said to me, *I am impelled to launch on a new adventure; I was hesitant in the beginning, but now I am decided. Still, I do not know how far I shall succeed. I pray for help.* And you know what it was? It was - before beginning, I warn you in advance - it was His way of speaking, so full of divine humility and modesty. He never... *asserted Himself*. And the day He actually began it, He told me: *I have launched myself in a rudderless boat upon the vastness of the Infinite.* And once having started, He wrote page after page without intermission, as though it were a thing already complete up there and He had only to transcribe it in ink down here on these pages.
In truth, the entire form of Savitri has descended "en masse" from the highest region and Sri Aurobindo with His genius only arranged the lines - in a superb and magnificent style. Sometimes entire lines were revealed and He has left them intact; He worked hard, untiringly, so that the inspiration could come from the highest possible summit. And what a work He has created! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. It is an unequalled work. Everything is there, and it is put in such a simple, such a clear form; verses perfectly harmonious, limpid and eternally true. My child, I have read so many things, but I have never come across anything which could be compared with Savitri. I have studied the best works in Greek, Latin, English and of course French literature, also in German and all the great creations of the West and the East, including the great epics; but I repeat it, I have not found anywhere anything comparable with Savitri. All these literary works seems to me empty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality - apart from a few rare exceptions, and these too represent only a small fraction of what Savitri is. What grandeur, what amplitude, what reality: it is something immortal and eternal He has created. I tell you once again there is nothing like in it the whole world. Even if one puts aside the vision of the reality, that is, the essential substance which is the heart of the inspiration, and considers only the lines in themselves, one will find them unique, of the highest classical kind. What He has created is something man cannot imagine. For, everything is there, everything.
It may then be said that Savitri is a revelation, it is a meditation, it is a quest of the Infinite, the Eternal. If it is read with this aspiration for Immortality, the reading itself will serve as a guide to Immortality. To read Savitri is indeed to practice Yoga, spiritual concentration; one can find there all that is needed to realise the Divine. Each step of Yoga is noted here, including the secret of all other Yogas. Surely, if one sincerely follows what is revealed here in each line one will reach finally the transformation of the Supramental Yoga. It is truly the infallible guide who never abandons you; its support is always there for him who wants to follow the path. Each verse of Savitri is like a revealed Mantra which surpasses all that man possessed by way of knowledge, and I repeat this, the words are expressed and arranged in such a way that the sonority of the rhythm leads you to the origin of sound, which is OM.
My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature. How the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny - all is there. You can find all the answers to all your questions there. Everything is explained, even the future of man and of the evolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has described it all in beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve the mysteries of the world may understand it more easily. But this mystery is well hidden behind the words and lines and one must rise to the required level of true consciousness to discover it. All prophesies, all that is going to come is presented with the precise and wonderful clarity. Sri Aurobindo gives you here the key to find the Truth, to discover the Consciousness, to solve the problem of what the universe is. He has also indicated how to open the door of the Inconscience so that the light may penetrate there and transform it. He has shown the path, the way to liberate oneself from the ignorance and climb up to the superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how they can be scaled, how one can cross even the barrier of death and attain immortality. You will find the whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altogether unknown to man. That is Savitri and much more yet. It is a real experience - reading Savitri. All the secrets that man possessed, He has revealed, - as well as all that awaits him in the future; all this is found in the depth of Savitri. But one must have the knowledge to discover it all, the experience of the planes of consciousness, the experience of the Supermind, even the experience of the conquest of Death. He has noted all the stages, marked each step in order to advance integrally in the integral Yoga.
All this is His own experience, and what is most surprising is that it is my own experience also. It is my sadhana which He has worked out. Each object, each event, each realisation, all the descriptions, even the colours are exactly what I saw and the words, phrases are also exactly what I heard. And all this before having read the book. I read Savitri many times afterwards, but earlier, when He was writing He used to read it to me. Every morning I used to hear Him read Savitri. During the night He would write and in the morning read it to me. And I observed something curious, that day after day the experiences He read out to me in the morning were those I had had the previous night, word by word. Yes, all the descriptions, the colours, the pictures I had seen, the words I had heard, all, all, I heard it all, put by Him into poetry, into miraculous poetry. Yes, they were exactly my experiences of the previous night which He read out to me the following morning. And it was not just one day by chance, but for days and days together. And every time I used to compare what He said with my previous experiences and they were always the same. I repeat, it was not that I had told Him my experiences and that He had noted them down afterwards, no, He knew already what I had seen. It is my experiences He has presented at length and they were His experiences also. It is, moreover, the picture of Our joint adventure into the unknown or rather into the Supermind.
These are experiences lived by Him, realities, supracosmic truths. He experienced all these as one experiences joy or sorrow, physically. He walked in the darkness of inconscience, even in the neighborhood of death, endured the sufferings of perdition, and emerged from the mud, the world-misery to breathe the sovereign plenitude and enter the supreme Ananda. He crossed all these realms, went through the consequences, suffered and endured physically what one cannot imagine. Nobody till today has suffered like Him. He accepted suffering to transform suffering into the joy of union with the Supreme. It is something unique and incomparable in the history of the world. It is something that has never happened before, He is the first to have traced the path in the Unknown, so that we may be able to walk with certitude towards the Supermind. He has made the work easy for us. Savitri is His whole Yoga of transformation, and this Yoga appears now for the first time in the earth-consciousness.
And I think that man is not yet ready to receive it. It is too high and too vast for him. He cannot understand it, grasp it, for it is not by the mind that one can understand Savitri. One needs spiritual experiences in order to understand and assimilate it. The farther one advances on the path of Yoga, the more does one assimilate and the better. No, it is something which will be appreciated only in the future, it is the poetry of tomorrow of which He has spoken in The Future Poetry. It is too subtle, too refined, - it is not in the mind or through the mind, it is in meditation that Savitri is revealed.
And men have the audacity to compare it with the work of Virgil or Homer and to find it inferior. They do not understand, they cannot understand. What do they know? Nothing at all. And it is useless to try to make them understand. Men will know what it is, but in a distant future. It is only the new race with a new consciousness which will be able to understand. I assure you there is nothing under the blue sky to compare with Savitri. It is the mystery of mysteries. It is a *super-epic,* it is super-literature, super-poetry, super-vision, it is a super-work even if one considers the number of lines He has written. No, these human words are not adequate to describe Savitri. Yes, one needs superlatives, hyperboles to describe it. It is a hyper-epic. No, words express nothing of what Savitri is, at least I do not find them. It is of immense value - spiritual value and all other values; it is eternal in its subject, and infinite in its appeal, miraculous in its mode and power of execution; it is a unique thing, the more you come into contact with it, the higher will you be uplifted. Ah, truly it is something! It is the most beautiful thing He has left for man, the highest possible. What is it? When will man know it? When is he going to lead a life of truth? When is he going to accept this in his life? This yet remains to be seen.
My child, every day you are going to read Savitri; read properly, with the right attitude, concentrating a little before opening the pages and trying to keep the mind as empty as possible, absolutely without a thought. The direct road is through the heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this aspiration you can light the flame, the psychic flame, the flame of purification in a very short time, perhaps in a few days. What you cannot do normally, you can do with the help of Savitri. Try and you will see how very different it is, how new, if you read with this attitude, with this something at the back of your consciousness; as though it were an offering to Sri Aurobindo. You know it is charged, fully charged with consciousness; as if Savitri were a being, a real guide. I tell you, whoever, wanting to practice Yoga, tries sincerely and feels the necessity for it, will be able to climb with the help of Savitri to the highest rung of the ladder of Yoga, will be able to find the secret that Savitri represents. And this without the help of a Guru. And he will be able to practice it anywhere. For him Savitri alone will be the guide, for all that he needs he will find Savitri. If he remains very quiet when before a difficulty, or when he does not know where to turn to go forward and how to overcome obstacles, for all these hesitations and incertitudes which overwhelm us at every moment, he will have the necessary indications, and the necessary concrete help. If he remains very calm, open, if he aspires sincerely, always he will be as if lead by the hand. If he has faith, the will to give himself and essential sincerity he will reach the final goal.
Indeed, Savitri is something concrete, living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is the supreme knowledge above all human philosophies and religions. It is the spiritual path, it is Yoga, Tapasya, Sadhana, in its single body. Savitri has an extraordinary power, it gives out vibrations for him who can receive them, the true vibrations of each stage of consciousness. It is incomparable, it is truth in its plenitude, the Truth Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. My child, one must try to find the secret that Savitri represents, the prophetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals there for us. This is the work before you, it is hard but it is worth the trouble. - 5 November 1967
~ The Mother, Sweet Mother, The Mother to Mona Sarkar, [T0],#KEYS
765:One little picture in this book, the Magic Locket, was drawn by 'Miss Alice Havers.' I did not state this on the title-page, since it seemed only due, to the artist of all these (to my mind) wonderful pictures, that his name should stand there alone.
The descriptions, of Sunday as spent by children of the last generation, are quoted verbatim from a speech made to me by a child-friend and a letter written to me by a lady-friend.
The Chapters, headed 'Fairy Sylvie' and 'Bruno's Revenge,' are a reprint, with a few alterations, of a little fairy-tale which I wrote in the year 1867, at the request of the late Mrs. Gatty, for 'Aunt Judy's Magazine,' which she was then editing.
It was in 1874, I believe, that the idea first occurred to me of making it the nucleus of a longer story.
As the years went on, I jotted down, at odd moments, all sorts of odd ideas, and fragments of dialogue, that occurred to me--who knows how?--with a transitory suddenness that left me no choice but either to record them then and there, or to abandon them to oblivion. Sometimes one could trace to their source these random flashes of thought--as being suggested by the book one was reading, or struck out from the 'flint' of one's own mind by the 'steel' of a friend's chance remark but they had also a way of their own, of occurring, a propos of nothing --specimens of that hopelessly illogical phenomenon, 'an effect without a cause.' Such, for example, was the last line of 'The Hunting of the Snark,' which came into my head (as I have already related in 'The Theatre' for April, 1887) quite suddenly, during a solitary walk: and such, again, have been passages which occurred in dreams, and which I cannot trace to any antecedent cause whatever. There are at least two instances of such dream-suggestions in this book--one, my Lady's remark, 'it often runs in families, just as a love for pastry does', the other, Eric Lindon's badinage about having been in domestic service.
And thus it came to pass that I found myself at last in possession of a huge unwieldy mass of litterature--if the reader will kindly excuse the spelling --which only needed stringing together, upon the thread of a consecutive story, to constitute the book I hoped to write. Only! The task, at first, seemed absolutely hopeless, and gave me a far clearer idea, than I ever had before, of the meaning of the word 'chaos': and I think it must have been ten years, or more, before I had succeeded in classifying these odds-and-ends sufficiently to see what sort of a story they indicated: for the story had to grow out of the incidents, not the incidents out of the story I am telling all this, in no spirit of egoism, but because I really believe that some of my readers will be interested in these details of the 'genesis' of a book, which looks so simple and straight-forward a matter, when completed, that they might suppose it to have been written straight off, page by page, as one would write a letter, beginning at the beginning; and ending at the end.
It is, no doubt, possible to write a story in that way: and, if it be not vanity to say so, I believe that I could, myself,--if I were in the unfortunate position (for I do hold it to be a real misfortune) of being obliged to produce a given amount of fiction in a given time,--that I could 'fulfil my task,' and produce my 'tale of bricks,' as other slaves have done. One thing, at any rate, I could guarantee as to the story so produced--that it should be utterly commonplace, should contain no new ideas whatever, and should be very very weary reading!
This species of literature has received the very appropriate name of 'padding' which might fitly be defined as 'that which all can write and none can read.' That the present volume contains no such writing I dare not avow: sometimes, in order to bring a picture into its proper place, it has been necessary to eke out a page with two or three extra lines : but I can honestly say I have put in no more than I was absolutely compelled to do.
My readers may perhaps like to amuse themselves by trying to detect, in a given passage, the one piece of 'padding' it contains. While arranging the 'slips' into pages, I found that the passage was 3 lines too short. I supplied the deficiency, not by interpolating a word here and a word there, but by writing in 3 consecutive lines. Now can my readers guess which they are?
A harder puzzle if a harder be desired would be to determine, as to the Gardener's Song, in which cases (if any) the stanza was adapted to the surrounding text, and in which (if any) the text was adapted to the stanza.
Perhaps the hardest thing in all literature--at least I have found it so: by no voluntary effort can I accomplish it: I have to take it as it come's is to write anything original. And perhaps the easiest is, when once an original line has been struck out, to follow it up, and to write any amount more to the same tune. I do not know if 'Alice in Wonderland' was an original story--I was, at least, no conscious imitator in writing it--but I do know that, since it came out, something like a dozen storybooks have appeared, on identically the same pattern. The path I timidly explored believing myself to be 'the first that ever burst into that silent sea'--is now a beaten high-road: all the way-side flowers have long ago been trampled into the dust: and it would be courting disaster for me to attempt that style again.
Hence it is that, in 'Sylvie and Bruno,' I have striven with I know not what success to strike out yet another new path: be it bad or good, it is the best I can do. It is written, not for money, and not for fame, but in the hope of supplying, for the children whom I love, some thoughts that may suit those hours of innocent merriment which are the very life of Childhood; and also in the hope of suggesting, to them and to others, some thoughts that may prove, I would fain hope, not wholly out of harmony with the graver cadences of Life.
If I have not already exhausted the patience of my readers, I would like to seize this opportunity perhaps the last I shall have of addressing so many friends at once of putting on record some ideas that have occurred to me, as to books desirable to be written--which I should much like to attempt, but may not ever have the time or power to carry through--in the hope that, if I should fail (and the years are gliding away very fast) to finish the task I have set myself, other hands may take it up.
First, a Child's Bible. The only real essentials of this would be, carefully selected passages, suitable for a child's reading, and pictures. One principle of selection, which I would adopt, would be that Religion should be put before a child as a revelation of love--no need to pain and puzzle the young mind with the history of crime and punishment. (On such a principle I should, for example, omit the history of the Flood.) The supplying of the pictures would involve no great difficulty: no new ones would be needed : hundreds of excellent pictures already exist, the copyright of which has long ago expired, and which simply need photo-zincography, or some similar process, for their successful reproduction. The book should be handy in size with a pretty attractive looking cover--in a clear legible type--and, above all, with abundance of pictures, pictures, pictures!
Secondly, a book of pieces selected from the Bible--not single texts, but passages of from 10 to 20 verses each--to be committed to memory. Such passages would be found useful, to repeat to one's self and to ponder over, on many occasions when reading is difficult, if not impossible: for instance, when lying awake at night--on a railway-journey --when taking a solitary walk-in old age, when eyesight is failing or wholly lost--and, best of all, when illness, while incapacitating us for reading or any other occupation, condemns us to lie awake through many weary silent hours: at such a time how keenly one may realise the truth of David's rapturous cry "O how sweet are thy words unto my throat: yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth!"
I have said 'passages,' rather than single texts, because we have no means of recalling single texts: memory needs links, and here are none: one may have a hundred texts stored in the memory, and not be able to recall, at will, more than half-a-dozen--and those by mere chance: whereas, once get hold of any portion of a chapter that has been committed to memory, and the whole can be recovered: all hangs together.
Thirdly, a collection of passages, both prose and verse, from books other than the Bible. There is not perhaps much, in what is called 'un-inspired' literature (a misnomer, I hold: if Shakespeare was not inspired, one may well doubt if any man ever was), that will bear the process of being pondered over, a hundred times: still there are such passages--enough, I think, to make a goodly store for the memory.
These two books of sacred, and secular, passages for memory--will serve other good purposes besides merely occupying vacant hours: they will help to keep at bay many anxious thoughts, worrying thoughts, uncharitable thoughts, unholy thoughts. Let me say this, in better words than my own, by copying a passage from that most interesting book, Robertson's Lectures on the Epistles to the Corinthians, Lecture XLIX. "If a man finds himself haunted by evil desires and unholy images, which will generally be at periodical hours, let him commit to memory passages of Scripture, or passages from the best writers in verse or prose. Let him store his mind with these, as safeguards to repeat when he lies awake in some restless night, or when despairing imaginations, or gloomy, suicidal thoughts, beset him. Let these be to him the sword, turning everywhere to keep the way of the Garden of Life from the intrusion of profaner footsteps."
Fourthly, a "Shakespeare" for girls: that is, an edition in which everything, not suitable for the perusal of girls of (say) from 10 to 17, should be omitted. Few children under 10 would be likely to understand or enjoy the greatest of poets: and those, who have passed out of girlhood, may safely be left to read Shakespeare, in any edition, 'expurgated' or not, that they may prefer: but it seems a pity that so many children, in the intermediate stage, should be debarred from a great pleasure for want of an edition suitable to them. Neither Bowdler's, Chambers's, Brandram's, nor Cundell's 'Boudoir' Shakespeare, seems to me to meet the want: they are not sufficiently 'expurgated.' Bowdler's is the most extraordinary of all: looking through it, I am filled with a deep sense of wonder, considering what he has left in, that he should have cut anything out! Besides relentlessly erasing all that is unsuitable on the score of reverence or decency, I should be inclined to omit also all that seems too difficult, or not likely to interest young readers. The resulting book might be slightly fragmentary: but it would be a real treasure to all British maidens who have any taste for poetry.
If it be needful to apologize to any one for the new departure I have taken in this story--by introducing, along with what will, I hope, prove to be acceptable nonsense for children, some of the graver thoughts of human life--it must be to one who has learned the Art of keeping such thoughts wholly at a distance in hours of mirth and careless ease. To him such a mixture will seem, no doubt, ill-judged and repulsive. And that such an Art exists I do not dispute: with youth, good health, and sufficient money, it seems quite possible to lead, for years together, a life of unmixed gaiety--with the exception of one solemn fact, with which we are liable to be confronted at any moment, even in the midst of the most brilliant company or the most sparkling entertainment. A man may fix his own times for admitting serious thought, for attending public worship, for prayer, for reading the Bible: all such matters he can defer to that 'convenient season', which is so apt never to occur at all: but he cannot defer, for one single moment, the necessity of attending to a message, which may come before he has finished reading this page,' this night shalt thy soul be required of thee.'
The ever-present sense of this grim possibility has been, in all ages, 1 an incubus that men have striven to shake off. Few more interesting subjects of enquiry could be found, by a student of history, than the various weapons that have been used against this shadowy foe. Saddest of all must have been the thoughts of those who saw indeed an existence beyond the grave, but an existence far more terrible than annihilation--an existence as filmy, impalpable, all but invisible spectres, drifting about, through endless ages, in a world of shadows, with nothing to do, nothing to hope for, nothing to love! In the midst of the gay verses of that genial 'bon vivant' Horace, there stands one dreary word whose utter sadness goes to one's heart. It is the word 'exilium' in the well-known passage
Omnes eodem cogimur, omnium
Versatur urna serius ocius
Sors exitura et nos in aeternum
Exilium impositura cymbae.
Yes, to him this present life--spite of all its weariness and all its sorrow--was the only life worth having: all else was 'exile'! Does it not seem almost incredible that one, holding such a creed, should ever have smiled?
And many in this day, I fear, even though believing in an existence beyond the grave far more real than Horace ever dreamed of, yet regard it as a sort of 'exile' from all the joys of life, and so adopt Horace's theory, and say 'let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.'
We go to entertainments, such as the theatre--I say 'we', for I also go to the play, whenever I get a chance of seeing a really good one and keep at arm's length, if possible, the thought that we may not return alive. Yet how do you know--dear friend, whose patience has carried you through this garrulous preface that it may not be your lot, when mirth is fastest and most furious, to feel the sharp pang, or the deadly faintness, which heralds the final crisis--to see, with vague wonder, anxious friends bending over you to hear their troubled whispers perhaps yourself to shape the question, with trembling lips, "Is it serious?", and to be told "Yes: the end is near" (and oh, how different all Life will look when those words are said!)--how do you know, I say, that all this may not happen to you, this night?
And dare you, knowing this, say to yourself "Well, perhaps it is an immoral play: perhaps the situations are a little too 'risky', the dialogue a little too strong, the 'business' a little too suggestive.
I don't say that conscience is quite easy: but the piece is so clever, I must see it this once! I'll begin a stricter life to-morrow." To-morrow, and to-morrow, and tomorrow!
"Who sins in hope, who, sinning, says,
'Sorrow for sin God's judgement stays!'
Against God's Spirit he lies; quite stops Mercy with insult; dares, and drops,
Like a scorch'd fly, that spins in vain
Upon the axis of its pain,
Then takes its doom, to limp and crawl,
Blind and forgot, from fall to fall."
Let me pause for a moment to say that I believe this thought, of the possibility of death--if calmly realised, and steadily faced would be one of the best possible tests as to our going to any scene of amusement being right or wrong. If the thought of sudden death acquires, for you, a special horror when imagined as happening in a theatre, then be very sure the theatre is harmful for you, however harmless it may be for others; and that you are incurring a deadly peril in going. Be sure the safest rule is that we should not dare to live in any scene in which we dare not die.
But, once realise what the true object is in life--that it is not pleasure, not knowledge, not even fame itself, 'that last infirmity of noble minds'--but that it is the development of character, the rising to a higher, nobler, purer standard, the building-up of the perfect Man--and then, so long as we feel that this is going on, and will (we trust) go on for evermore, death has for us no terror; it is not a shadow, but a light; not an end, but a beginning!
One other matter may perhaps seem to call for apology--that I should have treated with such entire want of sympathy the British passion for 'Sport', which no doubt has been in by-gone days, and is still, in some forms of it, an excellent school for hardihood and for coolness in moments of danger.
But I am not entirely without sympathy for genuine 'Sport': I can heartily admire the courage of the man who, with severe bodily toil, and at the risk of his life, hunts down some 'man-eating' tiger: and I can heartily sympathize with him when he exults in the glorious excitement of the chase and the hand-to-hand struggle with the monster brought to bay. But I can but look with deep wonder and sorrow on the hunter who, at his ease and in safety, can find pleasure in what involves, for some defenceless creature, wild terror and a death of agony: deeper, if the hunter be one who has pledged himself to preach to men the Religion of universal Love: deepest of all, if it be one of those 'tender and delicate' beings, whose very name serves as a symbol of Love--'thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women'--whose mission here is surely to help and comfort all that are in pain or sorrow!
'Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.' ~ Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno,#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:A kindness is never wasted ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 2:Never make it perfect. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 3:I never get it done. ~ esther-hicks, @wisdomtrove 4:God's hand never slips. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 5:Never seek illicit wealth. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 6:True wars are never won. ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 7:A lie never lives to be old. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 8:May God never abandon me. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 9:Be happy, but never satisfied. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 10:Charity never faileth. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 11:Hunger is never delicate. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 12:I will never lie again. ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 13:Never despair. [Nil desperandum.] ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 14:The best fighter is never angry. ~ lao-tzu, @wisdomtrove 15:At least he never walked. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 16:I never intended to make art. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 17:Never excuse yourself. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 18:We can never be born enough. ~ e-e-cummings, @wisdomtrove 19:Authority is never without hate. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 20:Cowards can never be moral. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 21:Love would never leave us alone ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 22:Most people never listen. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 23:Never ask people about your work. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 24:Never despair. Never surrender. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 25:Never laugh at live dragons. ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 26:Never miss a chance to shut up ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 27:Running water never grows stale. ~ bruce-lee, @wisdomtrove 28:Today will never come again. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 29:We must never edit God. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 30:Freedom is now or never. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 31:I was never a topical songwriter. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 32:Never ask a man where he has been. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 33:Till I loved I never lived. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 34:Always winter but never Christmas. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 35:Humanity would never tolerate it ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 36:Ill-gotten wealth is never stable. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 37:I never saw Portsmouth by day. ~ quentin-crisp, @wisdomtrove 38:I will never be below the title. ~ bette-davis, @wisdomtrove 39:Never compromise your values. ~ steve-maraboli, @wisdomtrove 40:Never lose a holy curiosity. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 41:Never without a shilling in my purse. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 42:The deeds of men never escape the gods. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 43:Never mistake the power of influence ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 44:Never put business before family. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 45:Never soar aloft on an enemy's pinions. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 46:Selfishness has never been admired. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 47:The envious will die, but envy never. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 48:We can always take but never give. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 49:Hope . . . never stops at all. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 50:I never saw myself as a folk singer. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 51:I never wish to be easily defined. ~ franz-kafka, @wisdomtrove 52:Never build a case against yourself. ~ les-brown, @wisdomtrove 53:Never mind the use& 54:There will never be no love at all. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 55:Wise girls kiss but never love, ~ marilyn-monroe, @wisdomtrove 56:Art never comes from happiness. ~ chuck-palahniuk, @wisdomtrove 57:Councils of War never fight. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 58:Dogs never bite me. Just humans. ~ marilyn-monroe, @wisdomtrove 59:Fortune never helps the fainthearted. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 60:Happiness never becomes a habit. ~ marilyn-monroe, @wisdomtrove 61:Have a heart that never hardens ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 62:Life: I'll never understand it. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 63:Nature and wisdom never are at strife. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 64:Never kick a cow chip on a hot day. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 65:Never settle for the crumbs of life. ~ og-mandino, @wisdomtrove 66:Prayer can never be in excess. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 67:Silence never makes any blunders. ~ josh-billings, @wisdomtrove 68:I never could guess your weight, baby. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 69:I never try to predict the market. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 70:Malicious men may die, but malice never. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 71:Never be afraid of your Bibles. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 72:Never get too hung up on mistakes. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 73:Never have a ceiling on your income. ~ t-harv-eker, @wisdomtrove 74:Never hesitate to ask a lesser person. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 75:Never lie, never cheat, never steal. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 76:Never lie under any circumstances. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 77:Never trust a man in a jumpsuit ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 78:The ignorant man never enjoys. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 79:The intelligent man is never bored. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 80:The Truth never flaunted a sign. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 81:Women and elephants never forget. ~ dorothy-parker, @wisdomtrove 82:You'll never be greater than yourself. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 83:You never judge a day by the weather! ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 84:A word once uttered can never be recalled. ~ horace, @wisdomtrove 85:Go, and never darken my towels again ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 86:I never met a man that I didn't like. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 87:Is it meaningless to apologize? Never. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 88:Never mistake motion for action. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 89:Never mistake motive for action. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 90:Never, never try to scope the market. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 91:One can never have too large a party. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 92:Pessimism never won any battle. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 93:Quality brands never go bankrupt. ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 94:Sharing with Jupiter is never a dishonor. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 95:The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 96:Things never happen the same way twice. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 97:We never thought we could ever get old. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 98:You are never too old to become younger! ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 99:A promise must never be broken. ~ alexander-hamilton, @wisdomtrove 100:Even I never dreamed of Magic like this! ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 101:For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 102:God is never late, but rarely early. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 103:I have never been a communicant. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 104:I never saw a U-Haul behind a hearse. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 105:I was never without a book in my hand. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 106:Never get out of bed before noon. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 107:Never laugh at anyone's dreams. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 108:Never take anything for granted. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 109:Never was patriot yet, but was a fool. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 110:Rest when you need to, but never quit. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 111:The bank of love is never bankrupt. ~ steve-maraboli, @wisdomtrove 112:The person of benevolence never worries. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 113:Tomorrow never comes, it is always today. ~ rajneesh, @wisdomtrove 114:True love stories never have endings. ~ richard-bach, @wisdomtrove 115:You must never fear anything at all. ~ vernon-howard, @wisdomtrove 116:A friend in word is never friend of mine. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 117:Art is a never-ending dance of illusions. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 118:Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 119:Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 120:Grief never mended no broken bones. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 121:I never quit until I get what I want. ~ thomas-edison, @wisdomtrove 122:I never set out to be a businessman ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 123:I never take my own side in a quarrel. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 124:It is finished, is never said of us ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 125:It's never crowded along the extra mile. ~ wayne-dyer, @wisdomtrove 126:I usually never walk by a microphone. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 127:Nature never breaks her own laws. ~ leonardo-da-vinci, @wisdomtrove 128:Never accept a drink from a urologist. ~ erma-bombeck, @wisdomtrove 129:Never complain and never explain. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 130:Never confuse motion with action. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 131:Never mistake activity for achievement. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 132:Never resist a generous impulse. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 133:Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 134:Only a fool never changes his mind. ~ richard-branson, @wisdomtrove 135:Time spent with cats is never wasted. ~ sigmund-freud, @wisdomtrove 136:Art never expresses anything but itself. ~ oscar-wilde, @wisdomtrove 137:Better to separate than never to marry. ~ henry-miller, @wisdomtrove 138:God never made his work for man to mend. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 139:I guess there are never enough books. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 140:It is never a mistake to say good-bye. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 141:My pessimism has never been flabby. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 142:Never confuse movement with action. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 143:Never overlook the power of simplicity. ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 144:Never slap a man who is chewing tobacco. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 145:Never trust the teller, trust the tale. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 146:One is never alone with a rubber duck. ~ douglas-adams, @wisdomtrove 147:Socialism never took root in America. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 148:Space we can recover; time never. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 149:The soul never grows old. ~ henry-wadsworth-longfellow, @wisdomtrove 150:They never fail who die in a great cause. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 151:Unity has never meant uniformity. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 152:You will never change what you tolerate. ~ joel-osteen, @wisdomtrove 153:A dull ax never loves grindstones. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 154:Chaos is always losing, but never defeated ~ alan-watts, @wisdomtrove 155:Deadly emotions, buried alive, never die. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 156:Dream, diversify-and never miss an angle. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 157:Dreams can never be made captive. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove 158:Great men never require experience. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 159:He who is really kind, can never be unhappy ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 160:I am not romantic, you know; I never was. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 161:If I look at the mass I will never act. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 162:Ignorance never settles a question. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 163:I never really said all those things I said ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 164:It's never paid to bet against America. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 165:Jesus wept, but He never complained. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 166:Nature never gives everything at once. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 167:Never tire to study. And to teach to others ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 168:Our plans never turn out as tasty as reality. ~ ram-das, @wisdomtrove 169:Silence is a true friend who never betrays. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 170:The best general is the one who never fights. ~ sun-tzu, @wisdomtrove 171:The doors of wisdom are never shut. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 172:The hearts that never lean must fall. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 173:The unrighteous are never really fortunate. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 174:A life lived in love will never be dull. ~ leo-buscaglia, @wisdomtrove 175:Dogs have never hurt me. Only men have. ~ marilyn-monroe, @wisdomtrove 176:Get this in mind early: We never grow up. ~ richard-bach, @wisdomtrove 177:God never promised us a trouble-free life. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 178:He that never thinks can never be wise. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 179:How can you hide from what never goes away? ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 180:I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 181:Insist on yourself; never imitate. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 182:It's always winter but it's never Christmas. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 183:Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove 184:Necessity never made a good bargain. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 185:NEVER be surprised by your own success! ~ steve-maraboli, @wisdomtrove 186:Never confuse activity with action. ~ f-scott-fitzgerald, @wisdomtrove 187:Never give a sword to a man who can't dance. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 188:Never go to bed mad. Stay up and fight. ~ phyllis-diller, @wisdomtrove 189:Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties. ~ aesop, @wisdomtrove 190:Of prosperity mortals can never have enough. ~ aeschylus, @wisdomtrove 191:Politics always change. Stories never do. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 192:Some stories are true that never happened. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 193:The paranoid is never entirely mistaken. ~ sigmund-freud, @wisdomtrove 194:The score never interested me, only the game. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 195:Those who attempt to level never equalize ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 196:War never leaves where it found a nation. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 197:We are never trapped unless we choose to be. ~ anais-nin, @wisdomtrove 198:We need never be ashamed of our tears. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 199:You can never step in the same river twice. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 200:You'll never see a happy ungrateful person. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 201:A man that is afraid is never a man. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 202:A spiritual life means: It is now or never. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 203:Change is never easy, but always possible. ~ barack-obama, @wisdomtrove 204:I've never dropped anyone I believed in. ~ marilyn-monroe, @wisdomtrove 205:... life, by definition, is never still. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 206:May the hair on your toes never fall out! ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 207:My books are friends that never fail me. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 208:Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 209:Never be ashamed of your patriotism. ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 210:Never confuse activity with accomplishment. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 211:Never let your emotions overrule your head. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 212:Never underestimate the power of being seen ~ brene-brown, @wisdomtrove 213:The Absolute can never be thought of. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 214:The genuine essence of truth never dies. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 215:There's no next time. It's now or never. ~ celestine-chua, @wisdomtrove 216:Those who do not complain are never pitied. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 217:We should never use the truth to wound. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 218:You can never plan the future by the past. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 219:You never answer a question nobody does. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 220:Art is never finished, only abandoned. ~ leonardo-da-vinci, @wisdomtrove 221:A winner is a dreamer who never gives up. ~ nelson-mandela, @wisdomtrove 222:A Woman never looks better than on horseback ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 223:Earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 224:He who's never loved cannot be good. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 225:If you never noticed, it never happened. ~ haruki-murakami, @wisdomtrove 226:I never fight with reason- I just ignore it. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 227:I never saw a meme; I never saw the sea. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove 228:I never smoked a cigarette until I was nine. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 229:Never depend on a single source of income. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 230:Never go to bed angry, stay up and fight. ~ phyllis-diller, @wisdomtrove 231:Never is a man wholly a saint or a sinner. ~ hermann-hesse, @wisdomtrove 232:Never ruin a good painting with the truth. ~ henri-matisse, @wisdomtrove 233:One should never be where one does not belong. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 234:Our necessities never equal our wants. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 235:Silence is the true friend that never betrays. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 236:So long as I can laugh, never will I be poor. ~ og-mandino, @wisdomtrove 237:The work of creation is never without travail. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 238:True enjoy stories never ever have endings. ~ richard-bach, @wisdomtrove 239:Truth never damages a cause that is just. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 240:You will never outperform your inner circle. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 241:You will never win if you never begin. ~ robert-h-schuller, @wisdomtrove 242:Call me any name you like I will never deny it. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 243:Change is never a loss - it is change only. ~ vernon-howard, @wisdomtrove 244:Genius must be born, and never can be taught. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 245:God never sends us more than we can handle. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 246:I never fight, except against difficulties. ~ hellen-keller, @wisdomtrove 247:It's never just a game when you're winning. ~ george-carlin, @wisdomtrove 248:I've never been very fully employed either. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 249:Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 250:Let me never become a slave to crowds. ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 251:Liberty of any kind is never lost all at once. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 252:Materialists and madmen never have doubts. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 253:Never be so busy as not to think of others. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 254:Never give up hope! Hope ultimately succeeds. ~ sri-chinmoy, @wisdomtrove 255:One must never fail to pronounce moral judgment. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 256:Opportunity never knocks; it is within you. ~ denis-waitley, @wisdomtrove 257:There is never only ONE of anything in nature. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 258:Thought and action must never part company. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 259:Virtue has never been as respectable as money. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 260:We never love a person, but only qualities. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 261:Winners never quit and quitters never win. ~ vince-lombardi, @wisdomtrove 262:You can never get ahead by trying to get even. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 263:Better never begin; once begun, better finish. ~ dan-millman, @wisdomtrove 264:Doing your best means never stop trying. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 265:Humanity, you never had it to begin with. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 266:I am a slow walker, but I never walk back. ~ abraham-lincoln, @wisdomtrove 267:I never asked to be born in the first place. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 268:I never feel more at home than at a ballgame. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 269:It's never too late to do the right thing. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 270:I've never met another man I'd rather be. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 271:Never regret anything that makes you smile. ~ audrey-hepburn, @wisdomtrove 272:Never settle for anything less than your best. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 273:Never sign a valentine with your own name. ~ charles-dickens, @wisdomtrove 274:One can never ask anyone to change a feeling. ~ susan-sontag, @wisdomtrove 275:One easily bears moral reproof, but never mockery. ~ moliere, @wisdomtrove 276:Pleasure disappoints; possibility never. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 277:Reason can never prove the existence of God. ~ immanuel-kant, @wisdomtrove 278:The clouds, - the only birds that never sleep. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 279:The part can never be well unless the whole is well. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 280:There's never a new fashion but it's old. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 281:This day of your life will never come again. ~ caroline-myss, @wisdomtrove 282:We'll never be as young as we are tonight. ~ chuck-palahniuk, @wisdomtrove 283:You'll never go wrong in doing what is right. ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 284:Genius never desires what does not exist. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 285:It is never too late in life to practice yoga ~ b-k-s-iyengar, @wisdomtrove 286:It's never too late to have a happy childhood. ~ tony-robbins, @wisdomtrove 287:Justified means just as if you've never sinned. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 288:Just make sure you never do less than your best ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 289:Never allow anyone else to define your success. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 290:Never assume you understand. Ask the questions. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 291:Never begin the day until it is finished on paper. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 292:Perfection can never be attained by work. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 293:Talent may be in time forgiven, but genius never ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 294:The worst evils are those that never arrive. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 295:Truth never penetrates an unwilling mind. ~ jorge-luis-borges, @wisdomtrove 296:Adventures are never fun while you're having them. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 297:A happy fart never comes from a miserable ass. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 298:As a body everyone is single, as a soul never. ~ hermann-hesse, @wisdomtrove 299:A saint is a sinner who never gave up. ~ paramahansa-yogananda, @wisdomtrove 300:Don't wait. The time will never be just right. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 301:Elegance is the only beauty that never fades. ~ audrey-hepburn, @wisdomtrove 302:He is the truly courageous man who never desponds. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 303:If you want to keep a friend, never test him. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 304:I never saw any good that came of telling truth. ~ john-dryden, @wisdomtrove 305:Mark it down. You will never go where God is not. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 306:Men are never attached to you by favours. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 307:Never be disagreeable just because you disagree. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 308:Never drink if you've got any work to do. Never. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 309:Never order food in excess of your body weight. ~ erma-bombeck, @wisdomtrove 310:Never say that marriage has more of joy than pain. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 311:Never to talk to ones self is a form of hypocrisy ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 312:Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 313:On ne sait jamais! One never knows! ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 314:That which never has been, never is, and never will be. ~ ovid, @wisdomtrove 315:The living have never shown me how to live. ~ george-santayana, @wisdomtrove 316:The most important actions are never comfortable. ~ tim-ferris, @wisdomtrove 317:The past is never dead. It's not even past. ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 318:The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore. ~ dale-carnegie, @wisdomtrove 319:The trouble with a mask is it never changes ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 320:Why can't there be love that never gets tired? ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 321:You've never heard of them- and you never will . ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 322:Ability will never catch up with the demand for it. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 323:A nation that knows how to work will never suffer. ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove 324:Ever let thy Fancy roam, Pleasure never is at home ~ john-keats, @wisdomtrove 325:God is never angry for His sake, only for ours. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 326:He makes no friend who never made a foe. ~ alfred-lord-tennyson, @wisdomtrove 327:He never fell, never slipped back, never flew. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 328:Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 329:I never loved another person the way I loved myself. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 330:I've never used a PC in my life; I don't like them. ~ brian-eno, @wisdomtrove 331:Never go to Pluto, it's a Mickey Mouse planet. ~ robin-williams, @wisdomtrove 332:Never invest in a business you can't understand ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 333:Never lose heart in the power of the gospel. ~ charles-spurgeon, @wisdomtrove 334:Never, never be afraid to do what's right. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 335:One size NEVER fits all. One size fits one. Period ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 336:People will never forget how you made them feel. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 337:There's a Chaplain who never visited the front. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 338:The superior man is never in anyone's way. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 339:The team is the star, never an individual player. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 340:We are never defeated unless we give up on God. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 341:you can live a whole life time never being awake. ~ dan-millman, @wisdomtrove 342:You can never be wise unless you love reading. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 343:You never know anyone until you marry them. ~ eleanor-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 344:You never understand anybody that loves you. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 345:An insincere critic of a sincere person never wins. ~ criss-jami, @wisdomtrove 346:A poet's interest in craft never fades, of course. ~ mary-oliver, @wisdomtrove 347:As long as men die, liberty will never parish. ~ charlie-chaplan, @wisdomtrove 348:Chance never helps those who do not help themselves. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 349:Eke wonder last but nine deies never in toun. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 350:For my part, I will never give up, and I mean never. ~ elon-musk, @wisdomtrove 351:God is never angry for His sake, only for ours. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 352:Heaven never helps the man who will not help himself ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 353:I make it a rule never to smoke while I'm sleeping. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 354:I never go jogging, it makes me spill my martini. ~ george-burns, @wisdomtrove 355:In morals, always do as others do; in art, never. ~ jules-renard, @wisdomtrove 356:In the life of one man, never The same time returns. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 357:Love is ever new because it never groweth old. ~ saint-augustine, @wisdomtrove 358:Love is never outside ourselves; love is within us. ~ louise-hay, @wisdomtrove 359:Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 360:Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. ~ heraclitus, @wisdomtrove 361:Never, ever become a writer. It's a nightmare. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove 362:Never give up on what you really want to do ~ h-jackson-brown-jr, @wisdomtrove 363:Never invest in a business you don't understand. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 364:Never memorize something that you can look up. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 365:Never underestimate the booberie of the booboisie. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 366:Never use a long word where a short one will do. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 367:Once a year, go where you've never been before. ~ dalai-lama, @wisdomtrove 368:The never-ending task of self improvement. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 369:There never was a winner, who wasn't a beginner. ~ denis-waitley, @wisdomtrove 370:The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 371:The spell of power never quite releases its hold. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 372:The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 373:The truth can only be recalled, never invented. ~ marilyn-monroe, @wisdomtrove 374:Things gained through unjust fraud are never secure. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 375:Tough times never last, but tough people do. ~ robert-h-schuller, @wisdomtrove 376:Wisdom has never made a bigot, but learning has. ~ josh-billings, @wisdomtrove 377:Words without thoughts never to heaven go. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 378:All the money you made will never buy back your soul. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 379:A man should never neglect his family for business. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 380:As long as we live there is never enough singing. ~ martin-luther, @wisdomtrove 381:Great men are never cruel without necessity. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 382:He who never says "no" is no true man. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 383:If I bet on humanity, I'd never cash a ticket. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 384:Laws can never be enforced unless fear supports them. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 385:Life isn't fair. In never was and never will be. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 386:Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms. ~ kahlil-gibran, @wisdomtrove 387:Never go on trips with anyone you do not love. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 388:Never lose your temper, except intentionally. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 389:Never test the depth of river with both the feet. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 390:There are never any traffic jams on the extra mile. ~ brian-tracy, @wisdomtrove 391:Today is your own. Tomorrow perchance may never come. ~ sivananda, @wisdomtrove 392:Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 393:War is never fatal but always lost. Always lost. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 394:A man never has good luck who has a bad wife. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 395:First impressions never have a second chance. ~ charles-r-swindoll, @wisdomtrove 396:God never tempts any man. That is Satan's business. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 397:If you look for perfection, you'll never be content. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 398:I have never loved a man as much as I have loved myself ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 399:I have never seen a man as fond of virtue as of women. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 400:I never have lunch because it makes me foggy-headed. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 401:I never knew a writer's wife who wasn't beautiful. ~ kurt-vonnegut, @wisdomtrove 402:I never worry about action, but only inaction. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 403:I've never seen a wild thing feel sorry for itself. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 404:Like the man said, a little hope never hurt anybody ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 405:Never exaggerate. Never say more than you really mean. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 406:Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. ~ erma-bombeck, @wisdomtrove 407:Never have more children than you have car windows. ~ erma-bombeck, @wisdomtrove 408:Never make a calculation until you know the answer. ~ john-wheeler, @wisdomtrove 409:Never say No when the world says Aye. ~ elizabeth-barrett-browning, @wisdomtrove 410:Not even in the face of Armageddon. Never compromise. ~ alan-moore, @wisdomtrove 411:Old is definitely not cool in America. Never has been. ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 412:Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before. ~ dalai-lama, @wisdomtrove 413:Passion governs, and she never governs wisely. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 414:Reading can take you places you have never been before. ~ dr-seuss, @wisdomtrove 415:The ladder of success is never crowded at the top. ~ napoleon-hill, @wisdomtrove 416:The way I see it, Disneyland will never be finished. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 417:They say women and music should never be dated. ~ oliver-goldsmith, @wisdomtrove 418:War is never a solution; it is an aggravation. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 419:When money is once parted with, it can never return. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 420:a person is never entirely holy or entirely sinful. ~ hermann-hesse, @wisdomtrove 421:Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 422:Cherish each hour of this day for it can NEVER return. ~ og-mandino, @wisdomtrove 423:Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 424:Good Christians should never avenge injuries. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 425:Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ~ salvador-dali, @wisdomtrove 426:How many people have never raised their hand before? ~ steve-martin, @wisdomtrove 427:I hope the exit is joyful and i hope never to return. ~ frida-kahlo, @wisdomtrove 428:I never invest in anything that I don't understand. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove 429:I never saw a pessimistic general win a battle. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 430:It is never too late to become reasonable and wise. ~ immanuel-kant, @wisdomtrove 431:Never sit a table when you can stand at the bar. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 432:Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 433:Never trust your tongue when your heart is bitter. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 434:One realm we have never conquered: the pure present. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove 435:Success is never deserved. Success is always earned. ~ robin-sharma, @wisdomtrove 436:The civilities of the great are never thrown away. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 437:The course of true love never did run smooth. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 438:The Schools ain't what they used to be and never was. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 439:This day of your life will never come again. ~ norman-vincent-peale, @wisdomtrove 440:Wine taken in moderation never does any harm. ~ miguel-de-cervantes, @wisdomtrove 441:You should never trust a person who prays in public. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 442:A sensible woman can never be happy with a fool. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 443:Fame and tranquillity can never be bedfellows. ~ michel-de-montaigne, @wisdomtrove 444:Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 445:God will never help us be anyone other than ourselves. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 446:How soon & 447:I never did a day's work in my life, it was all fun. ~ thomas-edison, @wisdomtrove 448:I never look back, darling. It distracts from the now. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 449:I never wanted to be a prophet or a saviour. Elvis maybe ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 450:Men have never been individually self-sufficient. ~ reinhold-niebuhr, @wisdomtrove 451:Never begrudge the money you spend on your own education. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 452:Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 453:Success is never ending, failure is never final. ~ robert-h-schuller, @wisdomtrove 454:Talent is never static. It's always growing or dying. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 455:The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 456:The cup was emptied and would never be filled again. ~ hermann-hesse, @wisdomtrove 457:The man who loves his job never works a day in his life. ~ confucius, @wisdomtrove 458:The past is never forgotten; it's never even past ~ william-faulkner, @wisdomtrove 459:There had never been a shortage of fools in the world ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 460:This crime against humanity must never be forgotten. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 461:To never have been born may be the greatest boon of all. ~ sophocles, @wisdomtrove 462:Too much knowledge never makes for simple decisions. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 463:True education is a kind of never-ending story . . . ~ j-r-r-tolkien, @wisdomtrove 464:When a person opens a book, he can never be in prison. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove 465:Why can I never set my heart on a possible thing? ~ ursula-k-le-guin, @wisdomtrove 466:You never know how a good quest is going to end. ~ elizabeth-gilbert, @wisdomtrove 467:You never oughta drink water when it ain't runnin'. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 468:A scatterbrain is one who never has an unspoken thought. ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove 469:History will never accept difficulties as an excuse. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 470:I believe in all that has never yet been spoken. ~ rainer-maria-rilke, @wisdomtrove 471:I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment. ~ walt-disney, @wisdomtrove 472:I could stay with you forever and never realize the time. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 473:I have never given adoration to any body except myself. ~ oscar-wilde, @wisdomtrove 474:I never think of the future - it comes soon enough. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 475:I never turned to drink. It seemed to turn to me. ~ benjamin-franklin, @wisdomtrove 476:It is a thousand pities never to say what one feels. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 477:Most people see what is, and never see what can be. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 478:Never attack a problem without also presenting a solution. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 479:Never judge your own writing. You're not fit to do so. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 480:Never sweep. After four years the dirt gets no worse. ~ quentin-crisp, @wisdomtrove 481:Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly. ~ mother-teresa, @wisdomtrove 482:People in distress never think that you feel enough. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 483:Salvation never will come through hope of reward. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 484:She turned the key, never taking her eyes from him. ~ nicholas-sparks, @wisdomtrove 485:Something that never happens anywhere at any time. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 486:So wise so young, they say, do never live long. ~ william-shakespeare, @wisdomtrove 487:Thank God, men that art greatly guilty are never wise. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 488:The poor never get the job done they are sleepy. ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 489:There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic. ~ zig-ziglar, @wisdomtrove 490:There's never any great risk as long as you have money. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 491:The United States never lost a war or won a conference. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 492:Those whose cause is just will never lack good arguments. ~ euripedes, @wisdomtrove 493:Unless we die to ourselves, we can never be alive again. ~ d-t-suzuki, @wisdomtrove 494:We need men who can dream of things that never were. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 495:Worry is a down payment on a problem you may never have ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 496:You can never be great at anything unless you love it. ~ maya-angelou, @wisdomtrove 497:You never want to confuse activity with accomplishment. ~ john-wooden, @wisdomtrove 498:You will never enjoy life if you do not enjoy yourself. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove 499:A work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned. ~ e-m-forster, @wisdomtrove 500:Compelling reason will never convince blinding emotion. ~ richard-bach, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:never alone ~ Wayne Thomas Batson, #NFDB
2:Never grow up. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
3:Never say never ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
4:The lover never despairs. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
5:the never ~ Stephen Harrod Buhner, #NFDB
6:A kindness is never wasted ~ Aesop, #NFDB
7:A lie never grows old. ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
8:And she never has. ~ Wendy Markham, #NFDB
9:BLOOD NEVER SLEEPS. ~ Daniel Silva, #NFDB
10:I'll never leave you. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
11:Love never fails. ~ Caroline Fyffe, #NFDB
12:Maybes never are. ~ Anne McCaffrey, #NFDB
13:Monsters never die. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
14:Never Alone! ~ Wayne Thomas Batson, #NFDB
15:Never and always, ~ Daniel Arenson, #NFDB
16:Never make it perfect. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
17:Never— nevermore ~ Edgar Allan Poe, #NFDB
18:Never regret love. ~ Cameron Dokey, #NFDB
19:Never waste a crisis. ~ Paul Romer, #NFDB
20:You never cut it. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
21:Change is never easy. ~ Sally Field, #NFDB
22:Grief is never fatal. ~ Leo Tolstoy, #NFDB
23:I was never a writer. ~ Simon Sinek, #NFDB
24:Nature's never quite ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
25:Never at night. ~ Keith C Blackmore, #NFDB
26:Never be daunted ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
27:Never belittle love ~ Preeti Shenoy, #NFDB
28:Never go to sleep ~ Thomas A Edison, #NFDB
29:Never humiliate anyone. ~ Hans Blix, #NFDB
30:Never impress by others ~ Rida Noor, #NFDB
31:Never regret. Never forget. ~ Tijan, #NFDB
32:Never stop dreaming. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
33:Never stop forgiving. ~ Johnny Hunt, #NFDB
34:Never venture, never win! ~ Sun Tzu, #NFDB
35:Polka will never die. ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
36:Sometime” means “never ~ Marie Kond, #NFDB
37:The key is: never fold. ~ DJ Khaled, #NFDB
38:You were never alone. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
39:A good man never dies. ~ Callimachus, #NFDB
40:for never yet ~ William Butler Yeats, #NFDB
41:Good enough, never is. ~ Peter David, #NFDB
42:He is never cowardly. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
43:He never dreamed ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, #NFDB
44:he never gave his scars ~ Wendy Mass, #NFDB
45:I have never been wise. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
46:I never drink... wine. ~ Bela Lugosi, #NFDB
47:I never regret anything. ~ Ai Weiwei, #NFDB
48:Knowledge never hurts. ~ Thomas Mann, #NFDB
49:Never lie in writing. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
50:Never Moon a Werewolf. ~ Mike Binder, #NFDB
51:Never moon a werewolf. ~ Mike Binder, #NFDB
52:Never oversimplify. ~ James C Klagge, #NFDB
53:Never say never
-A ~ Sara Shepard,#NFDB
54:Never say never... ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
55:Never Stop Dreaming ~ Tom Hiddleston, #NFDB
56:Never that is shall die. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
57:Never trust a duck ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
58:Numbers never lied ~ Roshani Chokshi, #NFDB
59:Son,you never quit ~ Lance Armstrong, #NFDB
60:Zoms never tired. ~ Jonathan Maberry, #NFDB
61:Better laid than never. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
62:Between always and never ~ Paul Celan, #NFDB
63:Desire means never quit. ~ Jeff Hardy, #NFDB
64:Easter is never deserved. ~ Jan Karon, #NFDB
65:Freedom is never free. ~ Maya Angelou, #NFDB
66:I never dress to shock. ~ Leona Lewis, #NFDB
67:I never get recognised. ~ Allen Leech, #NFDB
68:I never made promises lightly ~ Sting, #NFDB
69:I never miss England. ~ Quentin Crisp, #NFDB
70:It's never too late. ~ Kody Keplinger, #NFDB
71:I was never a critic. ~ Curtis Hanson, #NFDB
72:I will never hurt you. ~ Cayla Kluver, #NFDB
73:Jesus never gave advice ~ John Bevere, #NFDB
74:Let it hurt then let it go. ~ M Never, #NFDB
75:Life NEVER slows down. ~ Lauren Holly, #NFDB
76:Love is never wrong. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
77:Never attack in anger, ~ Grace Draven, #NFDB
78:Never be afraid to dream. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
79:Never floss a stranger. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
80:Never look a tulip in the eye. ~ Lulu, #NFDB
81:Never moon a werewolf. ~ Jessica Park, #NFDB
82:Never trust a duck. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
83:Never trust a faerie. ~ Skylar Dorset, #NFDB
84:The Dark Ages never ended ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
85:True love never dies. ~ Cameron Dokey, #NFDB
86:War, war never changes. ~ Ron Perlman, #NFDB
87:We never burned right. ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
88:A good thing never ends. ~ Mick Jagger, #NFDB
89:A man is never ugly". ~ Buchi Emecheta, #NFDB
90:Cheaters never prosper ~ Greg Behrendt, #NFDB
91:Frail but never weak. ~ Paul Kalanithi, #NFDB
92:God's hand never slips. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
93:History is never tidy. ~ Antony Beevor, #NFDB
94:Honesty is never wrong. ~ Terry Brooks, #NFDB
95:Hope is never dead. ~ G Norman Lippert, #NFDB
96:I never fall in love. ~ Karl Lagerfeld, #NFDB
97:I never use a computer. ~ Andrew Wiles, #NFDB
98:Injustice never rules forever ~ Seneca, #NFDB
99:Innocent? Her? Never. ~ Marie Rutkoski, #NFDB
100:I've never voted, no. ~ Conor McGregor, #NFDB
101:I was you
and never knew it ~ Rumi,#NFDB
102:I will never be able to... ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
103:I would never wear fur. ~ Kristen Wiig, #NFDB
104:Mama never fumbles.” No, ~ Betty Smith, #NFDB
105:Nearly never kills a bird ~ Harper Lee, #NFDB
106:Never believe your eyes ~ Clive Barker, #NFDB
107:Never Explain Anything ~ H P Lovecraft, #NFDB
108:Never forget who you are. ~ Teri Terry, #NFDB
109:Never hide who you are, ~ Kim Harrison, #NFDB
110:Never leave an enemy standing. ~ Shaka, #NFDB
111:Never leave fish to find fish. ~ Moses, #NFDB
112:Never lick a steak knife. ~ Dave Barry, #NFDB
113:Never mind – just give ~ Deric Longden, #NFDB
114:Never Need A Plunger Again ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
115:Never seek illicit wealth. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
116:Never settle for average. ~ Steve Jobs, #NFDB
117:Never take advice! ~ Louisa May Alcott, #NFDB
118:Never tell me the odds! ~ George Lucas, #NFDB
119:Never trust a journalist. ~ Wendy Cope, #NFDB
120:Never trust originality. ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
121:No, you never get any fun ~ Ogden Nash, #NFDB
122:Pretty is never beautiful. ~ Tori Amos, #NFDB
123:Real love never dies, ~ Melissa Foster, #NFDB
124:Stupid never dies. ~ Michael G Manning, #NFDB
125:The Dark Ages never ended. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
126:The Empire Never Ended ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
127:Things never go smoothly. ~ Jeff Bezos, #NFDB
128:We’ll never be over, Eva. ~ Sylvia Day, #NFDB
129:You're never finished. ~ Betty Friedan, #NFDB
130:Always more, never less. ~ Karina Halle, #NFDB
131:Fast never saw us go. ~ W Bruce Cameron, #NFDB
132:He was never fond of dogs, ~ E Lockhart, #NFDB
133:I'm never embarassed. ~ Charles Barkley, #NFDB
134:I never asked for stimulus. ~ Paul Ryan, #NFDB
135:I never got into coffee. ~ Marisa Tomei, #NFDB
136:I never had innocence. ~ Bijou Phillips, #NFDB
137:I never met a kid I liked. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
138:I never say I am a guru. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
139:I never want to be pretentious. ~ Kesha, #NFDB
140:I've never been a bad boy. ~ John Mayer, #NFDB
141:I've never been prudish. ~ Jenny Eclair, #NFDB
142:I will never lie to you. ~ Jimmy Carter, #NFDB
143:John Wayne never wore Lycra. ~ Ron Kauk, #NFDB
144:Leaving is never easy. ~ Veronica Rossi, #NFDB
145:...love is never stationary. ~ Bob Goff, #NFDB
146:Miss! Never trust a Jew! ~ Nikola Tesla, #NFDB
147:Never a day without a line. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
148:Never argue with what is. ~ Tyler Perry, #NFDB
149:Never bet against a cat. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
150:Never Explain Anything ~ H P Lovecraft, #NFDB
151:Never get caught acting. ~ Lillian Gish, #NFDB
152:Never Quit, Never backdown. ~ John Cena, #NFDB
153:Never re-elect anybody ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
154:Never say no to now ~ Benny Bellamacina, #NFDB
155:Never trust a ruminant. ~ Joanne Harris, #NFDB
156:Never trust a woman or ~ John Dillinger, #NFDB
157:REAL LOVE NEVER FAILS ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
158:Some loves never die. ~ Mark T Sullivan, #NFDB
159:so we began and will never cease ~ Rumi, #NFDB
160:Sunsets are never simple. ~ Delia Owens, #NFDB
161:The truth is never cussing, ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
162:The truth never set me free. ~ Paramore, #NFDB
163:The war never leaves ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
164:Too much is never enough. ~ Mick Jagger, #NFDB
165:True wars are never won. ~ e e cummings, #NFDB
166:We singe but never burn. ~ Peggy Noonan, #NFDB
167:Will night never come? ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
168:You can never out-give God. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
169:You'll never see us coming. ~ Dan Wells, #NFDB
170:A lie never lives to be old. ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
171:Almes never make poore. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
172:Always...no wait...never. ~ Steve Martin, #NFDB
173:Be the chief but never the lord. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
174:But never had come first. ~ Rachel Simon, #NFDB
175:By and by never comes. ~ Saint Augustine, #NFDB
176:Do what I will never do. ~ Jhumpa Lahiri, #NFDB
177:Fear could never make virtue. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
178:Freedom is never very safe. ~ Annie Hill, #NFDB
179:God's time never stops. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
180:Got 27 children I never see. ~ Tom Waits, #NFDB
181:Heart, you were never hot ~ Wilfred Owen, #NFDB
182:i hope but never expect ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
183:I never had a sense of home. ~ Ai Weiwei, #NFDB
184:I never photograph reality. ~ Sarah Moon, #NFDB
185:I never read the tabloids. ~ Dana Carvey, #NFDB
186:I never starved myself. ~ Tatjana Patitz, #NFDB
187:I never stopped reading. ~ Doris Lessing, #NFDB
188:I never wear leather. ~ Linda Fiorentino, #NFDB
189:I never wish for critics. ~ Jasper Johns, #NFDB
190:In fact, I am never wrong. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
191:I've never flown a kite. ~ David Benioff, #NFDB
192:language is never neutral ~ Paulo Freire, #NFDB
193:Men, they never think. ~ Agatha Christie, #NFDB
194:Never Change F0r Someone! ~ Taylor Swift, #NFDB
195:Never ever give up ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
196:Never forget to dream. ~ Madonna Ciccone, #NFDB
197:Never forget what you are. ~ N K Jemisin, #NFDB
198:Never forgive, never forget. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
199:Never hurry and never worry! ~ E B White, #NFDB
200:Never lose your child's heart. ~ Mencius, #NFDB
201:Never throw out anyone. ~ Audrey Hepburn, #NFDB
202:Never trust a man in red trousers ~ Mika, #NFDB
203:never trust a Troglotroll ~ Walter Moers, #NFDB
204:Never waste, never worry ~ Kate Carlisle, #NFDB
205:Not brother. And never again. ~ J R Ward, #NFDB
206:People never believe you. ~ J D Salinger, #NFDB
207:Real love never fails. ~ Karen Kingsbury, #NFDB
208:Revenge is never the answer ~ Kasie West, #NFDB
209:Saint Noah is never wrong ~ Jenn Bennett, #NFDB
210:The Beatles never get old. ~ Mark Hoppus, #NFDB
211:The best fighter is never angry. ~ Laozi, #NFDB
212:The war never leaves. ~ Victoria Aveyard, #NFDB
213:Time is flying never to return. ~ Virgil, #NFDB
214:You can never be free ~ Anthony de Mello, #NFDB
215:You can never love me. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
216:A cat is never vulgar. ~ Carl Van Vechten, #NFDB
217:A dead love never dies. ~ Pedro Almodovar, #NFDB
218:American girls never whimper. ~ Ami McKay, #NFDB
219:Americans never quit. ~ Douglas MacArthur, #NFDB
220:A watched pot never boils, ~ Ann M Martin, #NFDB
221:A winner never stops trying. ~ Tom Landry, #NFDB
222:Better late than never. ~ Spencer Johnson, #NFDB
223:But he could never bear mice. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
224:But it is never over; ~ Gwendolyn MacEwen, #NFDB
225:Christians never say goodbye! ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
226:Death is never very pretty. ~ Maj Sjowall, #NFDB
227:Did I lose you?"
"Never. ~ Mitch Albom,#NFDB
228:Dreams never wear you down. ~ Amy Poehler, #NFDB
229:Eyes never learn how to lie ~ V C Andrews, #NFDB
230:Feelings are never wrong, ~ David Simpson, #NFDB
231:Go away and never come back. ~ D L Carter, #NFDB
232:God never forgets a promise. ~ Max Anders, #NFDB
233:Good words never expire. ~ Winter Renshaw, #NFDB
234:Happiness is never grand. ~ Aldous Huxley, #NFDB
235:Hello Kitty will never speak. ~ Pico Iyer, #NFDB
236:I could never be over you ~ Monica Murphy, #NFDB
237:I'm NEVER making it up. ~ Cleolinda Jones, #NFDB
238:I'm never shaken or stirred. ~ Idris Elba, #NFDB
239:I never learn my lesson. ~ Chris Shiflett, #NFDB
240:I never read Karl Marx. ~ Jean Luc Godard, #NFDB
241:I never saw no military solution ~ Sting, #NFDB
242:I never use that word, retire. ~ B B King, #NFDB
243:I never will give up. ~ Junior dos Santos, #NFDB
244:It's never too late to start. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
245:...I've never been happier. ~ Alyson Noel, #NFDB
246:May God never abandon me. ~ Blaise Pascal, #NFDB
247:Mystery is never disproof. ~ Robert Lanza, #NFDB
248:Never Again the Burning. ~ Isaac Bonewits, #NFDB
249:Never apologize for love. ~ Heather Burch, #NFDB
250:Never apologize for your art. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
251:Never ask for 'a beer.' ~ Michael Jackson, #NFDB
252:Never be sorry for smiling! ~ M L Stedman, #NFDB
253:Never buy gold, simply earn it ~ Mary Kom, #NFDB
254:Never fear, KidsCare is here, ~ R L Stine, #NFDB
255:Never give up and never conform. ~ G Eazy, #NFDB
256:Never give up the ganja. ~ Morgan Freeman, #NFDB
257:Never let the children cry, ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
258:Never piss off a gangster. ~ Chael Sonnen, #NFDB
259:Never run when you’re scared. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
260:Obscurity is never a virtue. ~ Roald Dahl, #NFDB
261:Perhaps it never went away. ~ Andr Aciman, #NFDB
262:pretty name that never ~ Michael Connelly, #NFDB
263:Rock and Roll can never die. ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
264:She's the one. I'm the never. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
265:Sinning never felt so good. ~ Tillie Cole, #NFDB
266:Some things never change ~ Jeffrey Archer, #NFDB
267:So rich people never die? ~ Mark Lawrence, #NFDB
268:States will never be happy until ~ Plato, #NFDB
269:The public is never wrong. ~ Adolph Zukor, #NFDB
270:Vertue never growes old. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
271:What was can never be again. ~ Jane Yolen, #NFDB
272:You can never lose a true friend. ~ Sable, #NFDB
273:You never can tell with bees. ~ A A Milne, #NFDB
274:A coward never forgives. ~ Laurence Sterne, #NFDB
275:Always attack, never defend. ~ Paul Begala, #NFDB
276:A mother’s love never fades. ~ Jen Minkman, #NFDB
277:Art should never be popular. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
278:A shiver I've never felt. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
279:Beautiful people never lie. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
280:Beauty is never private. ~ Mallory Ortberg, #NFDB
281:Be happy, but never satisfied. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
282:Being good enough never is. ~ Debbi Fields, #NFDB
283:Charity never faileth. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
284:Charm never made a rooster. ~ Dean Acheson, #NFDB
285:Dreamers can never be tamed ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
286:Easy money is never easy. ~ David Dalglish, #NFDB
287:Freedom has never felt so good. ~ Zoe Sugg, #NFDB
288:Hard times never kill. [49] ~ Tendai Huchu, #NFDB
289:Here's to Never Growing up ~ Avril Lavigne, #NFDB
290:How we
never, ever fight. ~ Ally Condie,#NFDB
291:Hunger is never delicate. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
292:I could never be James Bond. ~ Kevin James, #NFDB
293:I have never gone bankrupt. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
294:I hope, but never expect. ~ David Levithan, #NFDB
295:I'll never be a weightlifter. ~ Kai Greene, #NFDB
296:Ill ware is never cheape. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
297:I’m never without a bandage. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
298:I never eat before breakfast. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
299:I never had that star aura. ~ Lauren Holly, #NFDB
300:I never liked long walks ~ Charlotte Bront, #NFDB
301:I never made a good movie. ~ Dick Van Dyke, #NFDB
302:I never quite toed the line. ~ Dan Stevens, #NFDB
303:I never think about losing. ~ Lou Ferrigno, #NFDB
304:I never tire of that view, ~ Cathy Bramley, #NFDB
305:I never wanted to be famous. ~ Dave Attell, #NFDB
306:I own I never really warmed ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
307:it never rains but it pours. ~ Bram Stoker, #NFDB
308:I've never been a feminist. ~ Dolly Parton, #NFDB
309:I was never a prodigy. ~ Lindsay Davenport, #NFDB
310:I was never out of my Bible. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
311:I will never lie again. ~ William Faulkner, #NFDB
312:Jesus never pussyfooted ~ Elisabeth Elliot, #NFDB
313:Julia had never seen ~ J Courtney Sullivan, #NFDB
314:Mummy will never forget you! ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
315:Never a failure,always a lesson. ~ Rihanna, #NFDB
316:Never floss with a stranger. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
317:Never follow the crowd. ~ Bernard M Baruch, #NFDB
318:Never mind the mind. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, #NFDB
319:Never quit. Never give up. ~ Gabby Douglas, #NFDB
320:Never saw one worth a damn. ~ Harry Vardon, #NFDB
321:Never say “whoa”in a tight place ~ Unknown, #NFDB
322:Never stop. Never forget. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
323:Never trust the quiet ones. ~ Dannika Dark, #NFDB
324:Never was strumpet faire. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
325:One cowboy is never enough. ~ Vanessa Vale, #NFDB
326:Praise thyself never. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
327:Pride would never be her ally. ~ Zane Grey, #NFDB
328:Reading never wears me out. ~ Ian Falconer, #NFDB
329:Revenge never felt so good. ~ Karina Halle, #NFDB
330:See? We never needed you. ~ Nnedi Okorafor, #NFDB
331:Sense is never common. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
332:Simple is never that simple. ~ Philip Roth, #NFDB
333:Some stains never wash out. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
334:Success is never accidental. ~ Jack Dorsey, #NFDB
335:Success is never accidental. ~ Peter Thiel, #NFDB
336:The best fighter is never angry. ~ Lao Tzu, #NFDB
337:the canvas is never empty ~ Gilles Deleuze, #NFDB
338:The enemy never sleeps! ~ Donald O Donovan, #NFDB
339:The lights must never go out, ~ W H Auden, #NFDB
340:The truth is never pretty. ~ Gerard Butler, #NFDB
341:true love never says goodbye ~ Lauren Kate, #NFDB
342:Truer words were never spoken ~ Amy Harmon, #NFDB
343:Truth never perishes. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
344:You Were Never Lovelier. ~ Mark T Sullivan, #NFDB
345:A good life is never wasted. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
346:A good story never dies. ~ Roberta Williams, #NFDB
347:At least he never walked. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
348:A woman's work is never done ~ Farahad Zama, #NFDB
349:faint heart never won fair lady ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
350:Fear never keeps anyone safe ~ Rene Denfeld, #NFDB
351:Freedom has never been free. ~ Medgar Evers, #NFDB
352:God has never disappointed me. ~ Brenda Lee, #NFDB
353:Good manners are never passé. ~ Slim Aarons, #NFDB
354:He never leaves, does he? ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
355:Hitler was never a socialist. ~ Ian Kershaw, #NFDB
356:Home is never out of reach. ~ Melissa Sarno, #NFDB
357:Honesty will never break you. ~ Kate Hudson, #NFDB
358:Humility was never a loser. ~ Thomas Watson, #NFDB
359:I am never going to give music up. ~ Dr Dre, #NFDB
360:I can never get enough of you. ~ Katie Reus, #NFDB
361:I can wait beyond never. ~ Sarah Beth Durst, #NFDB
362:I'll never have a stylist. ~ Liam Gallagher, #NFDB
363:I'll never let you fall, baby. ~ Maya Banks, #NFDB
364:I'm never going to be Tolstoy. ~ Tucker Max, #NFDB
365:I never cared, I was careless, ~ Joe Budden, #NFDB
366:I never had a long-term plan. ~ Bryan Adams, #NFDB
367:I never intended to make art. ~ Walt Disney, #NFDB
368:I never liked my own species. ~ Gary Larson, #NFDB
369:I never play without my cape. ~ Bela Lugosi, #NFDB
370:I never said I was a genius. ~ Orson Welles, #NFDB
371:I never seen snakes on a plane ~ Kanye West, #NFDB
372:I never was what I should be. ~ Henry James, #NFDB
373:Integrity is never painless. ~ M Scott Peck, #NFDB
374:I think that I shall never see ~ Ogden Nash, #NFDB
375:It's never too late to start. ~ Jeff Olson, #NFDB
376:I've never been a yes man. ~ Rogers Hornsby, #NFDB
377:I've never been baptised. ~ Quentin S Crisp, #NFDB
378:I've never not been famous. ~ Quentin Crisp, #NFDB
379:I've never regretted a swim ~ Joseph Murray, #NFDB
380:Keep going and never stop. ~ Julie Bertagna, #NFDB
381:Kindness is never wasted. ~ Sylvain Reynard, #NFDB
382:Misfortunes never come singly. ~ Anne Frank, #NFDB
383:Negativity is never an option ~ Steve L pez, #NFDB
384:Never abandon imagination ~ Tony DiTerlizzi, #NFDB
385:Never a dull day in Starfleet. ~ David Mack, #NFDB
386:Never ask a bore a question. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
387:Never compromise who you are. ~ N G Osborne, #NFDB
388:Never depend on one action. ~ Grant Cardone, #NFDB
389:Never do what you can’t undo. ~ Donna Tartt, #NFDB
390:Never excuse yourself. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
391:Never have an Ordinary Day. ~ Emilie Barnes, #NFDB
392:Never is a long word. ~ Ivy Compton Burnett, #NFDB
393:Never is an awfully long time. ~ J M Barrie, #NFDB
394:Never mind the use--do it! ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
395:Never say 'no' to adventures. ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
396:Never trust a Cahill.” They ~ Gordon Korman, #NFDB
397:No, no, I never mess around. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
398:Normal people never like me. ~ Blake Nelson, #NFDB
399:Now or never!" said the prince. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
400:One never knows. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry, #NFDB
401:One never knows, do one? ~ Lawrence Sanders, #NFDB
402:Random fuckery is never random, ~ Rhys Ford, #NFDB
403:Real acting is never personal. ~ Jean Klein, #NFDB
404:Revolutions are never peaceful. ~ Malcolm X, #NFDB
405:Shoot first and never miss. ~ Bat Masterson, #NFDB
406:Some stains never came out. ~ Marissa Meyer, #NFDB
407:Stories never end. We end. ~ Peter S Beagle, #NFDB
408:Success is never final. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
409:...the crazy never die. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
410:True gratitude can never come ~ Sri Chinmoy, #NFDB
411:Wand of elder, never prosper. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
412:We can never be born enough. ~ E E Cummings, #NFDB
413:We can never be born enough. ~ e e cummings, #NFDB
414:We will never lose the land. ~ Willa Cather, #NFDB
415:a bookmad girl never dies. ~ Amanda Lovelace, #NFDB
416:A garden is never finished. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #NFDB
417:A good deed is never lost. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
418:A great artist is never poor. ~ Isak Dinesen, #NFDB
419:A great artist is never poor. ~ Karen Blixen, #NFDB
420:A little party never killed nobody. ~ Fergie, #NFDB
421:Always forward, never back. ~ Briana Pacheco, #NFDB
422:Always...no wait...never..... ~ Steve Martin, #NFDB
423:A negative is never finished. ~ Sigmar Polke, #NFDB
424:A rock star never gets old! ~ Anthony Kiedis, #NFDB
425:Authority is never without hate. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
426:A watched iPhone never syncs. ~ Steve Martin, #NFDB
427:Be smart, but never show it. ~ Louis B Mayer, #NFDB
428:Book lovers never go to bed alone. ~ Various, #NFDB
429:Cowards can never be moral. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
430:Devaluations are never easy. ~ Jeffrey Sachs, #NFDB
431:Echo…I will never leave you. ~ Katie McGarry, #NFDB
432:Forgive but never forget........ ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
433:God would never hang out here. ~ Nicola Yoon, #NFDB
434:Great saints are never wimps. ~ Peter Kreeft, #NFDB
435:He had never seen snow before. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
436:I could never regret you. Us ~ Susan Mallery, #NFDB
437:I hate to run. I never, ever run. ~ Bo Derek, #NFDB
438:I never enjoyed being famous. ~ Elaine Paige, #NFDB
439:I never knew my mother's name. ~ Zo Marriott, #NFDB
440:I never pretended with you. ~ Maria V Snyder, #NFDB
441:I never saw a discontented tree. ~ John Muir, #NFDB
442:I never say never about anything. ~ Iggy Pop, #NFDB
443:I never slept outside of my home. ~ Paz Vega, #NFDB
444:I never thought I’d have this. ~ Pepper Pace, #NFDB
445:I never took to Hollywood. ~ Kathleen Turner, #NFDB
446:It never rains in Tiger Stadium. ~ Les Miles, #NFDB
447:It's never boring in makeup. ~ Dave Bautista, #NFDB
448:It's never too early to panic. ~ Len Goodman, #NFDB
449:I've never belonged anywhere. ~ Kevin Brooks, #NFDB
450:I've never done online dating. ~ Aziz Ansari, #NFDB
451:I've never felt so...light ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
452:I've never had writer's block. ~ David Byrne, #NFDB
453:I've never really been wanted. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
454:I was never trained for anything ~ Alan Ladd, #NFDB
455:We never made it, did we? ~ Lang Leav, #NFDB
456:I will never feel successful. ~ Howard Stern, #NFDB
457:I will never turn to God. ~ Marianne Wiggins, #NFDB
458:Language is never innocent. ~ Roland Barthes, #NFDB
459:Love's never a fair trade. ~ Margaret Atwood, #NFDB
460:Love would never leave us alone ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
461:Most people never listen. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
462:Never ask people about your work. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
463:Never be born, never be died. ~ Ted Berrigan, #NFDB
464:Never dance on a small boat. ~ Holly Throsby, #NFDB
465:Never despair. Never surrender. ~ Alan Moore, #NFDB
466:Never despise meger beginings! ~ Janette Oke, #NFDB
467:Never, ever ball up your socks. ~ Marie Kond, #NFDB
468:Never give advice in a crowd. ~ Pope Paul VI, #NFDB
469:Never give up, no, never give up ~ Cat Power, #NFDB
470:Never give up on your dreams. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
471:Never give up, trust your instincts! ~ Falco, #NFDB
472:Never join an organization. ~ Georges Braque, #NFDB
473:Never laugh at live dragons. ~ J R R Tolkien, #NFDB
474:Never rude, always aloof. ~ Vladimir Nabokov, #NFDB
475:Never stray from the Way. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #NFDB
476:Never trust a man who can dance. ~ E L James, #NFDB
477:Never underestimate people. ~ James Carville, #NFDB
478:NEVER USE HIGHLITER IN MY BOOKS ~ John Green, #NFDB
479:Never waste a good crisis. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
480:Now or never was the time. ~ Laurence Sterne, #NFDB
481:People never cease to amaze us. ~ Frank Iero, #NFDB
482:People never notice anything. ~ J D Salinger, #NFDB
483:Radical surgery is never fun. ~ Brent Spiner, #NFDB
484:Rebuttals never alter desire. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
485:Running water never grows stale. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
486:Sex is never messy on screen. ~ Brenda Novak, #NFDB
487:Some people should never meet. ~ Tana French, #NFDB
488:Some things can never be left behind. ~ Brom, #NFDB
489:The offender never pardons. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
490:The stars will never align ~ Timothy Ferriss, #NFDB
491:The weak can never forgive. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
492:The Word of God never dies. ~ Robert Godfrey, #NFDB
493:They never expect the knife. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
494:Though God alone never tastes woe, ~ Pindar, #NFDB
495:Today will never come again. ~ Thomas Merton, #NFDB
496:True love never forces. ~ William Paul Young, #NFDB
497:Truth is never far behind. ~ Madonna Ciccone, #NFDB
498:Violence is never the answer. ~ Stuart Gibbs, #NFDB
499:We will never be great again. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
500:What I set seems to never extinguish ~ Drake, #NFDB
501:You must never forget to smile. ~ Lee Taemin, #NFDB
502:You never know about life. ~ Eileen Davidson, #NFDB
503:A garden is never finished. ~ Shunryu Suzuki, #NFDB
504:A human being can never be broken ~ Hugh Herr, #NFDB
505:Always a godfather, never a god. ~ Gore Vidal, #NFDB
506:An only child is never twelve. ~ Enid Bagnold, #NFDB
507:A Warrior is never in a hurry. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
508:A watched cervix never dilates. ~ Amy Poehler, #NFDB
509:Beautiful things never last. ~ Steph Campbell, #NFDB
510:Better never than late. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
511:Clever tyrants are never punished. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
512:Divine grace was never slow. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
513:Emma knows I never flatter her, ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
514:For dreams that never die. ~ James Tiptree Jr, #NFDB
515:Freedom is now or never. ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti, #NFDB
516:God never breaks His promises. ~ Francis Chan, #NFDB
517:He had never even glimpsed her. ~ Kim Edwards, #NFDB
518:Heiresses are never jilted. ~ George Meredith, #NFDB
519:how he had done so she never ~ Robert Goddard, #NFDB
520:I am a whisper that never was. ~ Tahereh Mafi, #NFDB
521:I'd never hurt another person. ~ Adam Carolla, #NFDB
522:I’ll never speak to God again. ~ Sylvia Plath, #NFDB
523:I'm back? I never went away. ~ Andres Iniesta, #NFDB
524:I'm glad I was never in a band. ~ Leona Lewis, #NFDB
525:I'm never happy with anything. ~ Glenn Branca, #NFDB
526:I never claimed to be good. ~ Madeline Miller, #NFDB
527:I never say 'No' to anything. ~ Quentin Crisp, #NFDB
528:I never went to drama school. ~ Matthew Lewis, #NFDB
529:I never worked with a stinker. ~ Mitzi Gaynor, #NFDB
530:It's never been today before. ~ Cynthia Voigt, #NFDB
531:I've never abandoned the novel. ~ V S Naipaul, #NFDB
532:I've never had my heart broken. ~ Sally Field, #NFDB
533:I've never lied about my age. ~ Sutton Foster, #NFDB
534:I've never really looked back. ~ Diane Keaton, #NFDB
535:I've never said I'm a communist. ~ John Lydon, #NFDB
536:I've never wanted a quiet life. ~ Lydia Cacho, #NFDB
537:I've never worried about age. ~ Jeanne Moreau, #NFDB
538:I was never a topical songwriter. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
539:I was never up four percent. ~ Michael Bennet, #NFDB
540:I...will never...regret you. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
541:I will never stop complaining. ~ Margaret Cho, #NFDB
542:Laws die. Books never. ~ Edward Bulwer Lytton, #NFDB
543:Long jesting was never good. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
544:Love never betrays. People do. ~ Rohit Sharma, #NFDB
545:Men are never brave, are they? ~ Cherie Blair, #NFDB
546:must never submit to animals. ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
547:Never apologize. Never explain. ~ Janet Fitch, #NFDB
548:Never argue with an artist. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
549:Never ask age of a woman. ~ Douglas MacArthur, #NFDB
550:Never chase after opponents ~ Morihei Ueshiba, #NFDB
551:Never contradict anybody. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
552:Never darken my Dior again! ~ Beatrice Lillie, #NFDB
553:Never fall out of love with life ~ Judi Dench, #NFDB
554:Never fire a laser at a mirror. ~ Larry Niven, #NFDB
555:Never give up on anybody. ~ Hubert H Humphrey, #NFDB
556:Never is a boring word. ~ Meghan Ciana Doidge, #NFDB
557:Never judge a book by it's cover. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
558:Never judge a book by it's movie. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
559:Never let a crisis go to waste ~ Saul Alinsky, #NFDB
560:Never mail the blue ones. ~ Kristi Ann Hunter, #NFDB
561:Never mock a tender heart. ~ Orson Scott Card, #NFDB
562:Never put a sock in a toaster. ~ Eddie Izzard, #NFDB
563:Never say can't, its better to try ~ Jadakiss, #NFDB
564:Never stray from the Way. ~ Miyamoto Musashi, #NFDB
565:Never tickle a sleeping dragon. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
566:Never trust money more than gold. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
567:Never underestimate the Pricey. ~ Katie Price, #NFDB
568:Never wish to be somebody else. ~ Tyler Perry, #NFDB
569:Never work with kids or animals. ~ Cat Deeley, #NFDB
570:Nonfiction is never going to die. ~ Tom Wolfe, #NFDB
571:Norman Bates will never die... ~ Robert Bloch, #NFDB
572:One can never have enough socks ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
573:One should never say never. ~ Mathias Dopfner, #NFDB
574:Pop music will never be low brow. ~ Lady Gaga, #NFDB
575:Rap will never be the same as before ~ Eminem, #NFDB
576:Smoke, drink and never think. ~ Rebecca Wells, #NFDB
577:Spies and parents never sleep. ~ Linda Gerber, #NFDB
578:The one-legged never stumble. ~ Ernest Bramah, #NFDB
579:They never said winning was easy. ~ DJ Khaled, #NFDB
580:Till I loved I never lived. ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
581:War is never cheap or easy. ~ George H W Bush, #NFDB
582:We must never bend too much. ~ Yitzhak Shamir, #NFDB
583:You are never too young to lead. ~ Kofi Annan, #NFDB
584:You should never have thoughts. ~ K M Weiland, #NFDB
585:You should never poison a witch. ~ Kelly Link, #NFDB
586:You 'will never belive it. ~ Luis J Rodr guez, #NFDB
587:You will never regret being kind. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
588:#1 Never Get Used to Anything. ~ Ruth Bernhard, #NFDB
589:A canvas is never empty. ~ Robert Rauschenberg, #NFDB
590:A leapord never changes his stripes. ~ Al Gore, #NFDB
591:Always winter but never Christmas. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
592:A Lyons skin is never cheape. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
593:A mother never fully delivers. ~ Judith Kelman, #NFDB
594:a watched pot never boils. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell, #NFDB
595:Because love, love never finishes. ~ Sara Zarr, #NFDB
596:Be happy, but never satisfied. ~ Stephen Guise, #NFDB
597:Be true to yourself. Never compromise. ~ Tweet, #NFDB
598:Champagne is never a mistake. ~ Liane Moriarty, #NFDB
599:Dead people never stop talking. ~ Marlon James, #NFDB
600:Drought never brought dearth. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
601:For never, never, wicked man was wise. ~ Homer, #NFDB
602:Freedom is never very safe. ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
603:God's love supply is never empty. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
604:Heavens never seals off all the exits ~ Mo Yan, #NFDB
605:Humanity would never tolerate it ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
606:I almost never shoot people. ~ Janet Evanovich, #NFDB
607:I am never afraid of what I know ~ Anna Sewell, #NFDB
608:I guess some things never change. ~ Tim McGraw, #NFDB
609:Ill-gotten wealth is never stable. ~ Euripides, #NFDB
610:I'll never go against my morals. ~ Leona Lewis, #NFDB
611:In a dream you are never eighty. ~ Anne Sexton, #NFDB
612:I never let myself get desperate. ~ Kim Alexis, #NFDB
613:I never met a man I could marry. ~ Greta Garbo, #NFDB
614:I never met a man I didn't like. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
615:I never met a pet I didn't like. ~ Andy Warhol, #NFDB
616:I never quit. I just got fired. ~ Greg Gutfeld, #NFDB
617:I never raise my voice! ~ Kristin Scott Thomas, #NFDB
618:I never really followed grunge. ~ Robert Quine, #NFDB
619:I never saw Portsmouth by day. ~ Quentin Crisp, #NFDB
620:I never smile unless I mean it. ~ Donny Osmond, #NFDB
621:I never told a joke in my life. ~ Andy Kaufman, #NFDB
622:I never want to ever look back. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
623:Irony, like sin, never rests. ~ Michael Bunker, #NFDB
624:It's never too late to learn. ~ Malcolm Forbes, #NFDB
625:I've never been a big gore guy. ~ Jon Bernthal, #NFDB
626:I've never been a fan of euphemism. ~ Jo Brand, #NFDB
627:I've never cheated on a woman. ~ Corey Feldman, #NFDB
628:I've never felt so... light. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
629:I've never gotten enough credit! ~ Hugh Hefner, #NFDB
630:I've never made money from films. ~ Jared Leto, #NFDB
631:I was never a believer in decline. ~ Max Gallo, #NFDB
632:I was never a keeper of sheep ~ Alberto Caeiro, #NFDB
633:I was never part of the crowd. ~ Jimmy Connors, #NFDB
634:I will never be below the title. ~ Bette Davis, #NFDB
635:I will never possess my hand. ~ Arthur Rimbaud, #NFDB
636:I would never hurt him.” Beau ~ Megan Erickson, #NFDB
637:I would never walk off any show. ~ Randy Quaid, #NFDB
638:Life never forgives weaknesses. ~ Adolf Hitler, #NFDB
639:Live your dream and never wake up ~ Liam Payne, #NFDB
640:Never apologise, never explain. ~ Muriel Spark, #NFDB
641:Never ask why, always ask what. ~ Lynda Aicher, #NFDB
642:Never bend over for a Christian. ~ Frank Zappa, #NFDB
643:Never bullshit a bullshitter. ~ Jennifer Niven, #NFDB
644:Never compromise your values. ~ Steve Maraboli, #NFDB
645:Never cut what you can untie. ~ Joseph Joubert, #NFDB
646:Never dip lower than you can dip. ~ Gary Busey, #NFDB
647:Never economize on luxuries. ~ Angela Thirkell, #NFDB
648:never ever quake in the face of hate ~ S K Ali, #NFDB
649:Never, ever, work for bad people ~ George Lois, #NFDB
650:Never had I beheld such despair. ~ Kien Nguyen, #NFDB
651:Never kill a man who says nothing. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
652:Never let an old flame bum you twice ~ Unknown, #NFDB
653:Never let any obstacle stop you. ~ Ruth Gruber, #NFDB
654:Never look back. If Cinderella ~ Selena Gomez, #NFDB
655:Never lose a holy curiosity. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
656:Never mix the grain and the grape. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
657:Never speak ill of an absent friend. ~ Plautus, #NFDB
658:never take counsel of your fears. ~ S C Gwynne, #NFDB
659:Never the time and the place ~ Robert Browning, #NFDB
660:Never try to stop the thoughts. ~ Robert Adams, #NFDB
661:Never underestimate yourself ~ Carolyn Mackler, #NFDB
662:Never use guilt as motivation. ~ Stephen Guise, #NFDB
663:Never we sleep, a thug doesn't rest, ~ Big Pun, #NFDB
664:Never without a shilling in my purse. ~ Horace, #NFDB
665:Never wound a snake; kill it. ~ Harriet Tubman, #NFDB
666:Never yawn in front of a lady. ~ Frank Sinatra, #NFDB
667:One can never wait too long. ~ Henning Mankell, #NFDB
668:Reality is never a golden age. ~ Joan Robinson, #NFDB
669:Shakespeare never did this. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
670:Some things will never change. ~ Bruce Hornsby, #NFDB
671:The deeds of men never escape the gods. ~ Ovid, #NFDB
672:The true traveler never arrives. ~ Edgar Degas, #NFDB
673:They were never real lovers. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
674:Treachery never goes unpunished, ~ Paul S Kemp, #NFDB
675:Truth never hurt the teller. ~ Robert Browning, #NFDB
676:Tyler never knew his father. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
677:Up is never where you are now. ~ David Belasco, #NFDB
678:War never stops; it only pauses. ~ Mitch Albom, #NFDB
679:We're never too old for dreams. ~ Tobias Wolff, #NFDB
680:we wish we had never known. ~ Richard Flanagan, #NFDB
681:What is matter? Never mind. ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
682:What is necessary is never unwise. ~ Ben Cross, #NFDB
683:What's dead may never die. ~ George R R Martin, #NFDB
684:You'll never find me in a gym. ~ Ellen Hollman, #NFDB
685:You never know who’s watching. ~ Don Mattingly, #NFDB
686:You never monkey with the truth. ~ Ben Bradlee, #NFDB
687:A good deed never goes unpunished. ~ Gore Vidal, #NFDB
688:A little angst never hurt anyone. ~ Nicola Yoon, #NFDB
689:Always advance. Never dig in. ~ George S Patton, #NFDB
690:A writer is never unemployed. ~ Mark Rubinstein, #NFDB
691:can never have what you really want ~ L J Smith, #NFDB
692:Cheating is never a mistake. ~ Ravi Subramanian, #NFDB
693:comfort never leads to excellence. ~ Jeff Goins, #NFDB
694:Courage never to submit of yield. ~ John Milton, #NFDB
695:Dietrich would never do that ~ Marlene Dietrich, #NFDB
696:Faint heart never won fair lady! ~ W S Gilbert, #NFDB
697:Fashion is not art. Never. ~ Jean Paul Gaultier, #NFDB
698:Forgive: if you never know forgiveness, ~ Rumi, #NFDB
699:Fortunately, I've never had a job ~ Lyle Lovett, #NFDB
700:Giving up was never an option ~ Lance Armstrong, #NFDB
701:God forgive you, but I never can. ~ Elizabeth I, #NFDB
702:God has never made a mistake. Ever. ~ Ray Lewis, #NFDB
703:God never abandons His children. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
704:God never tires of forgiving us. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
705:Having no destination, I am never lost. ~ Ikkyu, #NFDB
706:Hunger never saw bad bread. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
707:Ignorance never yet helped anybody. ~ Karl Marx, #NFDB
708:I have never voted in my life. ~ Andres Serrano, #NFDB
709:I hope we’re never perfect,” I say. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
710:I never back down and I never quit! ~ John Cena, #NFDB
711:I never cared about money. ~ Jeanette Winterson, #NFDB
712:I never discuss discussions. ~ Dag Hammarskjold, #NFDB
713:I never get far from Well Being. ~ Esther Hicks, #NFDB
714:I never had to answer to anyone ~ Peter Saville, #NFDB
715:I never have sought the world; ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
716:I never learned to read music. ~ Norman Spinrad, #NFDB
717:I never liked making albums. ~ Big Jim Sullivan, #NFDB
718:I never met a lasagna I didn't like ~ Jim Davis, #NFDB
719:I never mewt a man I didn't like. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
720:I never took myself too seriously. ~ Curt Gowdy, #NFDB
721:I never wanted to be an actor. ~ Moon Bloodgood, #NFDB
722:I never wanted to be a pundit. ~ Robert MacNeil, #NFDB
723:I never watched 'Harper's Island.' ~ Dave Foley, #NFDB
724:Injustice can never be stood for. ~ Amber Heard, #NFDB
725:Integrity never goes out of style. ~ Jim George, #NFDB
726:It is never too late to be wise. ~ Daniel Defoe, #NFDB
727:It is never too late to learn. ~ Malcolm Forbes, #NFDB
728:It’s like they never miss. ~ Josephine Angelini, #NFDB
729:It's never too late to change your luck ~ Diplo, #NFDB
730:I've never been much of a joiner. ~ Sean Parker, #NFDB
731:I've never even been to Long Island ~ Meg Cabot, #NFDB
732:I've never quit anything in my life. ~ Rob Ford, #NFDB
733:I've never studied psychology. ~ Hayao Miyazaki, #NFDB
734:I was never meant to sit at home. ~ Tina Ambani, #NFDB
735:I was never much of a bass player. ~ Ryan Adams, #NFDB
736:I was never very happy at school. ~ Dan Stevens, #NFDB
737:I will never reach perfection. ~ Misty Copeland, #NFDB
738:...language is never innocent. ~ Roland Barthes, #NFDB
739:Love should never be a game. ~ Sherry D Ficklin, #NFDB
740:My choices were never wrong. ~ Anthony Anderson, #NFDB
741:My fat never made me less money. ~ Dolly Parton, #NFDB
742:Never a bad day, only bad moments. ~ Jon Gordon, #NFDB
743:Never admit more than you have to. ~ Nyrae Dawn, #NFDB
744:Never apologize for your cooking. ~ Julia Child, #NFDB
745:Never bored on a hoverboard. ~ Scott Westerfeld, #NFDB
746:Never complain, never explain. ~ Dorothy Parker, #NFDB
747:Never explain, never complain. ~ Wallis Simpson, #NFDB
748:Never fear because Triple H is here. ~ Triple H, #NFDB
749:Never fight an inanimate object. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
750:Never forget how beautiful you are ~ Gerard Way, #NFDB
751:Never fuck with the nuts too much. ~ Sarah Lotz, #NFDB
752:Never give a sucker an even break. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
753:Never give in, never back down. ~ Andy Biersack, #NFDB
754:Never give power of attorney. ~ Debbie Reynolds, #NFDB
755:Never Give up, never surrender. ~ Nancy J Cohen, #NFDB
756:Never is an awfully long time. ~ James M Barrie, #NFDB
757:Never let a friend rule you. ~ David Staniforth, #NFDB
758:Never lie; for to lie is infamous. ~ Zendavesta, #NFDB
759:Never make a promise in haste. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
760:Never mistake motion for progress. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
761:Never mistake the power of influence ~ Jim Rohn, #NFDB
762:Never, never, never give up ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
763:Never put business before family. ~ Walt Disney, #NFDB
764:never regret what we’ve left behind. ~ Kim Th y, #NFDB
765:Never run back to what broke you. ~ Frank Ocean, #NFDB
766:Never soar aloft on an enemy's pinions. ~ Aesop, #NFDB
767:Never stop wandering into wonder. ~ Suzy Kassem, #NFDB
768:Never throw into double coverage. ~ Sid Gillman, #NFDB
769:Never underestimate a droid, ~ Alan Dean Foster, #NFDB
770:Noble knights never sleep at night. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
771:Novelists never have to footnote. ~ Jane Smiley, #NFDB
772:One life can never know another's. ~ David Vann, #NFDB
773:one should never assume anything ~ Dick Francis, #NFDB
774:Our beginnings never know our ends. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
775:Real love stories never end. ~ Claire Contreras, #NFDB
776:Retire? I will never retire. ~ Eckhard Pfeiffer, #NFDB
777:Rule number three: Never assume. ~ Anne Fortier, #NFDB
778:Selfishness has never been admired. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
779:Some shall reap that never sow ~ Madison Cawein, #NFDB
780:THE BRITISH NEVER WATCH BASEBALL! ~ John Irving, #NFDB
781:The cell never acts; it reacts. ~ Ernst Haeckel, #NFDB
782:The crowd is not us. It never is. ~ Bill Buford, #NFDB
783:The envious will die, but envy never. ~ Moliere, #NFDB
784:Their story will never be over. ~ Tarryn Fisher, #NFDB
785:The journey never happens alone. ~ Richard Rohr, #NFDB
786:There never was such a goose. ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
787:There’s never been anyone but you. ~ Katie Reus, #NFDB
788:The trick is to never lose hope! ~ Tupac Shakur, #NFDB
789:They may never be able to prove it. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
790:They never taste who always drink. ~ Matt Prior, #NFDB
791:Time never stops for the great ones. ~ Al Davis, #NFDB
792:Trouble is never hard to find. ~ Nnedi Okorafor, #NFDB
793:Truth never hurts the teller. ~ Robert Browning, #NFDB
794:We can always take but never give. ~ Carl Sagan, #NFDB
795:Which means it'll never be over ~ Kathleen Duey, #NFDB
796:You can never do too much drawing. ~ Tintoretto, #NFDB
797:You can never give up on family. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
798:You'll never call him Fifi again. ~ Lynda Barry, #NFDB
799:You may be gone but you're never over. ~ Eminem, #NFDB
800:You never get off this train. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
801:You never know what's gonna be a hit. ~ Juicy J, #NFDB
802:You never see a smiling runner. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
803:You're never altogether unhappy. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
804:A bad dog never sees the Wolfe. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
805:A dog is faithful, a woman never. ~ Sophia Loren, #NFDB
806:A forest bird never wants a cage. ~ Henrik Ibsen, #NFDB
807:A friend is never an imposition. ~ Frank Sinatra, #NFDB
808:A gentleman is never in a hurry. ~ Andre Maurois, #NFDB
809:Always afraid, never a coward ~ Margaret Killjoy, #NFDB
810:Always resent, never relent. ~ Viet Thanh Nguyen, #NFDB
811:Always wrong but never in doubt. ~ Alex Berenson, #NFDB
812:And never forget, there is memory. ~ John Irving, #NFDB
813:Androids were never meant to dream. ~ Tim Lebbon, #NFDB
814:A real diamond is never perfect. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
815:Artists never thrive in colonies. ~ Henry Miller, #NFDB
816:Art never comes from happiness ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
817:Baby, I thought you'd never ask. ~ Stylo Fantome, #NFDB
818:Birds never sing in caves. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
819:But I will never have a bride. ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
820:Castes never meant that much to me. ~ Kiera Cass, #NFDB
821:Death is never the end. ~ Alexander Gordon Smith, #NFDB
822:Deep experience is never peaceful. ~ Henry James, #NFDB
823:Don't run I never liked fast food ~ Rachel Caine, #NFDB
824:[Emily Litella line:] Never mind. ~ Gilda Radner, #NFDB
825:Farre shooting never kild bird. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
826:Geniuses never pay attention. ~ Michael Crichton, #NFDB
827:Grace and mercy are never deserved. ~ R C Sproul, #NFDB
828:Having no destination, I am never lost.^ ~ Ikkyu, #NFDB
829:He can’t miss what he’s never had! ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
830:Hope . . . never stops at all. ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
831:I could never be afraid of you. ~ Tammara Webber, #NFDB
832:I could never dream of being cool. ~ Andrea Corr, #NFDB
833:I could never hate anyone I knew. ~ Charles Lamb, #NFDB
834:I do or die, but I never cancel out. ~ Pat Nixon, #NFDB
835:If it rusts, it can never be trusted ~ Tite Kubo, #NFDB
836:I have never painted a recent picture. ~ Man Ray, #NFDB
837:I have never used steroids. Never. ~ Todd Helton, #NFDB
838:I have never yielded to reality. ~ Philip K Dick, #NFDB
839:I never boned a honey that I didn't like, ~ Dres, #NFDB
840:I never do anything by chance. ~ Brigitte Bardot, #NFDB
841:I never felt like I had a mother. ~ Quincy Jones, #NFDB
842:I never have celebrity crushes. ~ Samantha Barks, #NFDB
843:I never imagined I'd write a book. ~ Simon Sinek, #NFDB
844:I never look back, I look forward. ~ Steffi Graf, #NFDB
845:I never planned on being a plumber. ~ Scott Caan, #NFDB
846:I never saw myself as a folk singer. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
847:I never take a nap after dinner ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
848:I never wanted to be a director. ~ Albert Brooks, #NFDB
849:I never was a very good singer. ~ Jackson Browne, #NFDB
850:I never wish to be easily defined. ~ Franz Kafka, #NFDB
851:In my mind, I've never lost a fight. ~ Jon Jones, #NFDB
852:I seek the truth we've never been told ~ R H Sin, #NFDB
853:I think you never stop learning. ~ Norman Foster, #NFDB
854:It's a gift. Never lend a book. ~ Ronald D Moore, #NFDB
855:It's never been about making money. ~ Rob Zombie, #NFDB
856:I've never been afraid to fail. ~ Michael Jordan, #NFDB
857:I've never been a great cook. ~ Freddie Highmore, #NFDB
858:I've never been no superficial cat. ~ Bernie Mac, #NFDB
859:I've never been onstage in my life. ~ Anna Friel, #NFDB
860:I've never feared the unexpected. ~ Kate Voegele, #NFDB
861:I've never liked rehearsing too much. ~ J Mascis, #NFDB
862:I will never deny my King. ~ Wayne Thomas Batson, #NFDB
863:Kingdoms which act unjustly never last. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
864:Love is never worth giving up on. ~ Leigh Fallon, #NFDB
865:Luck never made a man wise. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
866:Nashville will never be the same. ~ Larry Gatlin, #NFDB
867:Never be a minion, always be an owner. ~ 50 Cent, #NFDB
868:Never better, Tom. And you? ~ Mary Higgins Clark, #NFDB
869:Never bored, so I'll never get old ~ David Bowie, #NFDB
870:Never break faith with the truth. ~ George Tenet, #NFDB
871:Never buy a fur from a vegetarian. ~ Joan Rivers, #NFDB
872:Never compromise with honesty. ~ Stephen R Covey, #NFDB
873:never drink the same wine twice. ~ Bianca Bosker, #NFDB
874:never feel guilty for starting again ~ Rupi Kaur, #NFDB
875:Never f*!k with the ineffable. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
876:Never forget how beautiful you are. ~ Gerard Way, #NFDB
877:Never give up, no matter what. ~ Louis Zamperini, #NFDB
878:Never judge a cover by its book. ~ Fran Lebowitz, #NFDB
879:Never let anyone steal your joy. ~ Mike Richards, #NFDB
880:Never live beneath your privileges. ~ Wayne Dyer, #NFDB
881:Never look back' is my philosophy. ~ Helen Clark, #NFDB
882:Never, never, never give up. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
883:Never play leapfrog with a unicorn. ~ Benny Hill, #NFDB
884:Never tell a crazy person he’s crazy. ~ Tina Fey, #NFDB
885:Never the spirit was born, ~ Emma Curtis Hopkins, #NFDB
886:Never think of results, just do! ~ G I Gurdjieff, #NFDB
887:never underestimate your dumbness!! ~ Jim Benton, #NFDB
888:Never was a miser a brave soul. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
889:New learning never hurt anybody. ~ Tamora Pierce, #NFDB
890:Nineteen and never been kissed. ~ Pepper Winters, #NFDB
891:Of course, it has never paid much. ~ Molly Ivins, #NFDB
892:One swallow never makes a summer. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
893:Our fathers never leave us. Ever. ~ Brad Meltzer, #NFDB
894:Pain is never permanent. ~ Saint Teresa of Avila, #NFDB
895:People who give will never be poor. ~ Anne Frank, #NFDB
896:Rarely isn't the same as never... ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
897:Religion will never show the way. ~ Irving Stone, #NFDB
898:Science never sucks, it vacuums! ~ Julie Halpern, #NFDB
899:Self-defense is never murder,” he ~ Vered Ehsani, #NFDB
900:Some people will never change. ~ Penelope Wilton, #NFDB
901:The comforters head never akes. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
902:The devil never repents.
~ Eliphas Levi, [T5],#NFDB
903:The game is never lost till won. ~ George Crabbe, #NFDB
904:The pimp has a grin, never a smile. ~ Jean Genet, #NFDB
905:There will never be no love at all. ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
906:The truth is never so palatable, ~ Preeti Shenoy, #NFDB
907:those we love are never really gone. ~ J S Scott, #NFDB
908:Time spent with a cat is never wasted. ~ Colette, #NFDB
909:Tomorrow never comes, it is always today. ~ Osho, #NFDB
910:Water sleeps, but Enemy never rests. ~ Glen Cook, #NFDB
911:We never become what we aren’t already ~ Jo Nesb, #NFDB
912:We never make a decision. When the ~ Byron Katie, #NFDB
913:We never pay anyone Dane-geld, ~ Rudyard Kipling, #NFDB
914:Who never lost, are unprepared ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
915:Wise girls kiss but never love, ~ Marilyn Monroe, #NFDB
916:you never forget your first fall. ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
917:You never know: rain, sleet, hail, snow, ~ Q Tip, #NFDB
918:You're never too old for anything! ~ Betty White, #NFDB
919:Your heart never forgets your mother ~ Sarah Jio, #NFDB
920:You will never go where God is not. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
921:Always be classy. Never be crazy. ~ Greg Behrendt, #NFDB
922:An angel of God never has wings ~ Joseph Smith Jr, #NFDB
923:Art never comes from happiness. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
924:Be liked and you will never want. ~ Arthur Miller, #NFDB
925:But a warrior is never distracted. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
926:Councils of War never fight. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
927:Death cannot kill what never dies. ~ William Penn, #NFDB
928:Dogs never bite me. Just humans. ~ Marilyn Monroe, #NFDB
929:Easy will never be good enough. ~ Rachel E Carter, #NFDB
930:Eating is never so simple as hunger. ~ Erica Jong, #NFDB
931:Fortune never helps the fainthearted. ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
932:Generosity is never out of season. ~ Janet Morris, #NFDB
933:God is never late, we're just impatient. ~ LeCrae, #NFDB
934:grief never leaves, it just mutates ~ Skip Horack, #NFDB
935:Happiness never becomes a habit. ~ Marilyn Monroe, #NFDB
936:Have a heart that never hardens ~ Charles Dickens, #NFDB
937:Having dreams never killed anybody. ~ Nicola Yoon, #NFDB
938:"Having no destination, I am never lost." ~ Ikkyu, #NFDB
939:He didn't look back. He never did ~ John Flanagan, #NFDB
940:I could never be so lucky again ~ Jimmy Doolittle, #NFDB
941:I dream of things that never were, ~ W P Kinsella, #NFDB
942:I had know it and never known it. ~ Margo Lanagan, #NFDB
943:I have never been awake before. ~ Stephen LaBerge, #NFDB
944:I'll never be mistaken for Pat Boone. ~ Sal Mineo, #NFDB
945:I'll never graduate from collagen. ~ Dolly Parton, #NFDB
946:I’ll never sleep again, he thought ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
947:I love you Stefan, never let that go. ~ L J Smith, #NFDB
948:I'm glad I was never an heiress. ~ Antonia Fraser, #NFDB
949:Immortals are never alien to one another. ~ Homer, #NFDB
950:I never, ever wanted to be an actor. ~ Ray Liotta, #NFDB
951:I never had any boyhood ambitions. ~ Daniel Craig, #NFDB
952:I never lost as much but twice, ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
953:I never met a color I didn't like. ~ Dale Chihuly, #NFDB
954:I never new real happiness until you ~ Jojo Moyes, #NFDB
955:I never pay any attention to figures. ~ Eric Idle, #NFDB
956:I never ponder counterfactuals. ~ John Derbyshire, #NFDB
957:I never pursued being 'famous.' ~ Francesca Annis, #NFDB
958:I never saw the swing set again. ••• ~ John Green, #NFDB
959:I never though much about race. ~ Thelonious Monk, #NFDB
960:I never took another picture of him. ~ John Green, #NFDB
961:I never took any vocal training ~ Marvin Hamlisch, #NFDB
962:I never want to be a role model. ~ Kate DiCamillo, #NFDB
963:I never wear the same shoe twice. ~ Deion Sanders, #NFDB
964:I never went out looking for glory. ~ Don Rickles, #NFDB
965:I never wore high heels in my hometown. ~ Liu Wen, #NFDB
966:It is never a crime to love someone. ~ Malinda Lo, #NFDB
967:It never occurred to me to say no. ~ Sylvia Plath, #NFDB
968:I've never asked for a happy ending ~ Lauren Kate, #NFDB
969:I've never done anything by halves. ~ Coco Chanel, #NFDB
970:I've never wanted to be the boss. ~ Harrison Ford, #NFDB
971:I was good and bad, but never wicked. ~ Anne Rice, #NFDB
972:I was never a rail-thin person. ~ Jessica Capshaw, #NFDB
973:I will never forget you, Hollyleaf. ~ Erin Hunter, #NFDB
974:I will never have my best season. ~ Brian Dawkins, #NFDB
975:I will never let Israel down. ~ William J Clinton, #NFDB
976:Knowledge is never too dear. ~ Francis Walsingham, #NFDB
977:Laws die, but Books never. ~ Edward Bulwer Lytton, #NFDB
978:Life: I'll never understand it. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
979:Life: I’ll never understand it. ~ Haruki Murakami, #NFDB
980:Luck is never the whole picture, ~ Eleanor Catton, #NFDB
981:Man is never perfect nor contented. ~ Jules Verne, #NFDB
982:My goal is to never stop growing. ~ Monica Wright, #NFDB
983:Nature and wisdom never are at strife. ~ Plutarch, #NFDB
984:Never a dull moment,” Dad repeated. ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
985:Never apologize for being nerdy. ~ John Barrowman, #NFDB
986:Never argue, repeat your assertion. ~ Robert Owen, #NFDB
987:Never be bullied into silence. ~ Harvey Fierstein, #NFDB
988:Never delegate. Always empower. ~ Mike Krzyzewski, #NFDB
989:Never fry bacon when you're naked. ~ Richard Jeni, #NFDB
990:Never kick a cow chip on a hot day. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
991:Never let shyness conquer your mind. ~ Arfa Karim, #NFDB
992:Never misconceive that which is real ~ Kim Holden, #NFDB
993:Never miss a good chance to shut up. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
994:Never rub another man's rhubarb. ~ Jack Nicholson, #NFDB
995:Never run a bluff with a six-gun. ~ Bat Masterson, #NFDB
996:Never run back to whatever broke you. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
997:Never say no when you mean yes, ~ William Glasser, #NFDB
998:Never settle for the crumbs of life. ~ Og Mandino, #NFDB
999:Never tell a computer to forget it. ~ Larry Niven, #NFDB
1000:Never touch another man's button. ~ Blake Shelton, #NFDB
1001:Never trust a man who doesn't drink. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
1002:Never trust internet quotes ~ Gaius Julius Caesar, #NFDB
1003:Never work with animals or children. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
1004:Prayer can never be in excess. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1005:Revenge is never a straight line. ~ Hattori Hanzo, #NFDB
1006:Revolutions never go backward. ~ William H Seward, #NFDB
1007:Silence can never be misquoted. ~ Calvin Coolidge, #NFDB
1008:Success Should Never Breed Complacency ~ Xenophon, #NFDB
1009:The cold never bothered me anyway. ~ Idina Menzel, #NFDB
1010:There will never be another now - ~ Helen Keller, #NFDB
1011:They'll never be able to forget us. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
1012:They never asked, I kept offering. ~ Jack Kerouac, #NFDB
1013:The young never expected to die. ~ Edoardo Albert, #NFDB
1014:They say troubles never comes singly, ~ G A Henty, #NFDB
1015:Things are never as bad as they seem ~ Harper Lee, #NFDB
1016:This, he never doubted, was magic. ~ Laini Taylor, #NFDB
1017:Thou shalt never wash my feet. ~ John the Apostle, #NFDB
1018:Too much of something is never good. ~ Phife Dawg, #NFDB
1019:Try and fail, but never fail to try! ~ Jared Leto, #NFDB
1020:Unlike people, numbers never lied. ~ Daniel Silva, #NFDB
1021:Where you are is never who you are. ~ Mike Dooley, #NFDB
1022:You can never have too much butter. ~ Nora Ephron, #NFDB
1023:You can never have too much money. ~ Jess C Scott, #NFDB
1024:You can't lost what you never had. ~ Gayle Forman, #NFDB
1025:You'll never win anything with kids ~ Alan Hansen, #NFDB
1026:You never know what motivates you. ~ Cicely Tyson, #NFDB
1027:You never know what's coming for you. ~ Eric Roth, #NFDB
1028:You never put her in your heart. ~ Iyanla Vanzant, #NFDB
1029:Your body will never be familiar. ~ Leonard Cohen, #NFDB
1030:You're never too old to be crazy. ~ Michael Caine, #NFDB
1031:You're never too young to die. ~ Anthony Horowitz, #NFDB
1032:You're the fantasy I never knew I had. ~ Amy Lane, #NFDB
1033:Always forwards, never backwards. ~ Erich Honecker, #NFDB
1034:A Mario Brother never says 'can't', Luigi! ~ Mario, #NFDB
1035:An attitude's growth never stops. ~ John C Maxwell, #NFDB
1036:And that is why she will never be mine. ~ K M Shea, #NFDB
1037:And you have never given me your love. ~ Anne Rice, #NFDB
1038:Art should never try to be popular. ~ Edward Albee, #NFDB
1039:As I say to people, never say never. ~ Gary Louris, #NFDB
1040:beauty of life never lay in logic. ~ Smita Kaushik, #NFDB
1041:Books should never be disrespected. ~ Anyta Sunday, #NFDB
1042:Calculation never made a hero. ~ John Henry Newman, #NFDB
1043:Celluloid heroes never feel any pain. ~ Ray Davies, #NFDB
1044:Change is growth; love is never lost. ~ Wendy Pini, #NFDB
1045:Corruption is never compulsory. ~ Sheldon Vanauken, #NFDB
1046:Ever heard of the word please?" "Never. ~ P C Cast, #NFDB
1047:Fair words never hurt the tongue. ~ George Chapman, #NFDB
1048:For those who never give up ~ Christopher Andersen, #NFDB
1049:Going backwards is never an option. ~ Melissa Marr, #NFDB
1050:Go the extra mile. It's never crowded. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1051:Have never been a minor league fan. ~ W P Kinsella, #NFDB
1052:Having no destination,
I am never lost. ~ Ikkyu,#NFDB
1053:He is a longing I will never cure. ~ Tarryn Fisher, #NFDB
1054:Hollywood life is never true. Ever. ~ Selena Gomez, #NFDB
1055:I am not gay. I never have been gay. ~ Larry Craig, #NFDB
1056:I am working never to be late again. ~ June Jordan, #NFDB
1057:I'd never been content in America ~ Julie Christie, #NFDB
1058:I got Soul Power, never took a cold shower, ~ J Ro, #NFDB
1059:I'll never have enough of you, never. ~ Katy Evans, #NFDB
1060:I'm young and happy. I'll never die. ~ Tim O Brien, #NFDB
1061:I never could guess your weight, baby. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1062:I never had a desire to hurt anybody. ~ Joe Greene, #NFDB
1063:I never liked group work in school. ~ Brendan Fehr, #NFDB
1064:I never met a color I did not like. ~ Dale Chihuly, #NFDB
1065:I never met a girl I didn't meet ~ Daniel Johnston, #NFDB
1066:I never really did any disco dancing. ~ Barry Gibb, #NFDB
1067:I never really had a strong accent. ~ Daniel Craig, #NFDB
1068:I never thought heroin was very chic. ~ Nan Goldin, #NFDB
1069:I never told my love vocally still. ~ Emily Bronte, #NFDB
1070:I never went wrong by being myself. ~ Kevyn Aucoin, #NFDB
1071:I never wrote off [Donald] Trump. ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
1072:Investigation is never complete. ~ Peter Greenaway, #NFDB
1073:It'll never get well if you pick it. ~ No l Coward, #NFDB
1074:It's my life and it's now or never. ~ Jon Bon Jovi, #NFDB
1075:It's never too early for a cocktail. ~ Noel Coward, #NFDB
1076:It's never too late to have a fling ~ Sandy Wilson, #NFDB
1077:It Will Be As If I Never Existed ~ Stephenie Meyer, #NFDB
1078:I've never been a blind romantic. ~ Sandra Bullock, #NFDB
1079:I've never been a competition guy. ~ Robert Irvine, #NFDB
1080:I've never been fired in my life. ~ Kara DioGuardi, #NFDB
1081:I've never considered failure. ~ Jennifer Lawrence, #NFDB
1082:...I've never had a dream in my life, ~ Aesop Rock, #NFDB
1083:I've never met a lasagna I didn't like ~ Jim Davis, #NFDB
1084:I've never outgrown my childhood. ~ David McCallum, #NFDB
1085:I've never said I'm a fashion designer. ~ Tim Gunn, #NFDB
1086:I've never taken myself too seriously. ~ Omar Epps, #NFDB
1087:I will never ever sell Neverland ~ Michael Jackson, #NFDB
1088:I would never want to move to L.A. ~ Saoirse Ronan, #NFDB
1089:Learning never exhausts the mind. ~ Hourly History, #NFDB
1090:Love can be put off, never abandoned. ~ Propertius, #NFDB
1091:Love is a never ending smile... ~ Ronnie James Dio, #NFDB
1092:Love is never governed by Reason. ~ Alexander Chee, #NFDB
1093:Love never claims, it ever gives. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1094:Love never fails. —I Corinthians 13:8a ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1095:Malicious men may die, but malice never. ~ Moliere, #NFDB
1096:Malicious men may die, but malice never. ~ Moli re, #NFDB
1097:Man is ill because he is never still. ~ Paracelsus, #NFDB
1098:Man is never perfect, nor contended. ~ Jules Verne, #NFDB
1099:Marianne could never love by halves. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1100:…men never forgive like women. ~ Louisa May Alcott, #NFDB
1101:Mere adequacy is never adequate. ~ John Lanchester, #NFDB
1102:My mother never forgave my father ~ Stanley Kunitz, #NFDB
1103:Never a button without a buttonhole. ~ Coco Chanel, #NFDB
1104:Never apologize for being yourself. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1105:Never argue with a drunk or a fool. ~ Aaron Sorkin, #NFDB
1106:Never be afraid of your Bibles. ~ Charles Spurgeon, #NFDB
1107:never brave enough to actually get. ~ Meghan March, #NFDB
1108:Never build a case against yourself.” ~ Les Brown, #NFDB
1109:Never complain. Never explain. ~ Katharine Hepburn, #NFDB
1110:Never find fault with the absent. ~ Alexander Pope, #NFDB
1111:Never have a ceiling on your income. ~ T Harv Eker, #NFDB
1112:Never hesitate to ask a lesser person. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
1113:Never let a bully see you scared. ~ Susan Crandall, #NFDB
1114:Never look away from me for too long. ~ J J McAvoy, #NFDB
1115:Never love for me, only obsession. ~ Carrie Fisher, #NFDB
1116:Never lower your price, add value. ~ Grant Cardone, #NFDB
1117:Never mingle love and business. ~ Anthony Trollope, #NFDB
1118:Never miss a good chance to shut up. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
1119:Never miss an opportunity to shut up. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1120:Never miss a party if you can make it! ~ Sam Berns, #NFDB
1121:Never never, Charlie,” I whisper. ~ Colleen Hoover, #NFDB
1122:Never, never, never give in! ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
1123:Never, never, never give up. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
1124:Never offend an enemy in a small way. ~ Gore Vidal, #NFDB
1125:Never outsource your core competency. ~ Tony Hsieh, #NFDB
1126:Never play cards with a man called Doc. ~ Amy Sohn, #NFDB
1127:Never put bananas in the refrigerator. ~ Roz Chast, #NFDB
1128:Never repeat old grievances. ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
1129:never-seeing-another-vagina monogamy? ~ Liz Fenton, #NFDB
1130:Never show unfinished work. ~ R Buckminster Fuller, #NFDB
1131:Never take advice from a donkey. ~ Bryce Courtenay, #NFDB
1132:Never take drugs before Marmalade ~ Tyne O Connell, #NFDB
1133:Never take "NO" for an answer. ~ David Copperfield, #NFDB
1134:Never take yourself too seriously. ~ Ariana Grande, #NFDB
1135:Never tell a lie-except for practice. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1136:Never tempt fate. It plays for keeps. ~ Mira Grant, #NFDB
1137:Never trust a man in a jumpsuit ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
1138:Never try to out-stubborn a cat. ~ Melissa McPhail, #NFDB
1139:Nick Cannon or Will never did it this ill. ~ Drake, #NFDB
1140:Normally, we're never satisfied. ~ Craig Groeschel, #NFDB
1141:Now is the moment that never ends. ~ Deepak Chopra, #NFDB
1142:Oh, I'll never leave Montana, brother. ~ Brad Pitt, #NFDB
1143:One is never too old for romance. ~ Ingrid Bergman, #NFDB
1144:Peace is never a perfect achievement. ~ Kofi Annan, #NFDB
1145:Pension never inriched young man. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1146:people never outgrow their passion. ~ Leisa Rayven, #NFDB
1147:Pique or policy. We would never know. ~ Roger Kahn, #NFDB
1148:Reading is never a waste of time. ~ Roberto Bola o, #NFDB
1149:Some people never need to let up at all. ~ Ted Leo, #NFDB
1150:The desert never forgot itself. ~ Paolo Bacigalupi, #NFDB
1151:The devil never sleeps. ~ Saint Catherine of Siena, #NFDB
1152:The end is never worth the beginning. ~ Vali Myers, #NFDB
1153:The ignorant man never enjoys. ~ Swami Vivekananda, #NFDB
1154:The intelligent man is never bored. ~ Isaac Asimov, #NFDB
1155:The mind can never be satisfied. ~ Wallace Stevens, #NFDB
1156:The past is never gone. It just hides. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
1157:There are never enough I Love You's. ~ Lenny Bruce, #NFDB
1158:There's never an end for the sea. ~ Samuel Beckett, #NFDB
1159:The sun never sets on my gallery. ~ Larry Gagosian, #NFDB
1160:The Truth never flaunted a sign. ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
1161:The way out is never through yourself. ~ Matt Haig, #NFDB
1162:Things are never as bad as they seem. ~ Harper Lee, #NFDB
1163:Truth never lost ground by enquiry. ~ William Penn, #NFDB
1164:War is sweet to those who never tried it. ~ Pindar, #NFDB
1165:We were never fuck buddies, Ally. ~ Kristen Ashley, #NFDB
1166:We were never good with good-byes. ~ Suzanne Young, #NFDB
1167:What if he was never mine to ask? ~ Belinda Boring, #NFDB
1168:Who has never killed an hour? ~ Mark Z Danielewski, #NFDB
1169:Why do dying people never shed tears? ~ Max Frisch, #NFDB
1170:Women and elephants never forget. ~ Dorothy Parker, #NFDB
1171:Women never dress without thought. ~ Karen Hawkins, #NFDB
1172:Yes, I've never inherited a penny! ~ William Hague, #NFDB
1173:You can never be totally confident. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
1174:You can never have too much sky. ~ Sandra Cisneros, #NFDB
1175:You can’t miss what you never had. ~ Barbara Davis, #NFDB
1176:You'll never be greater than yourself. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1177:You must never stop being whimsical. ~ Mary Oliver, #NFDB
1178:You must render: never report. ~ Guy de Maupassant, #NFDB
1179:You're not leaving me, never again. ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1180:A good old rodeo never hurt anyone. ~ Taylor Kitsch, #NFDB
1181:A little showbiz never hurt anyone. ~ Peter Capaldi, #NFDB
1182:America will never ever be the same. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
1183:Art is never without consequences. ~ Bertolt Brecht, #NFDB
1184:A true initiation never ends. ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #NFDB
1185:A woman with good shoes i never ugly! ~ Coco Chanel, #NFDB
1186:A word once uttered can never be recalled. ~ Horace, #NFDB
1187:But I am not here and never have been. ~ Sarah Kane, #NFDB
1188:Data may disappoint, but it never lies. ~ Jay Samit, #NFDB
1189:Enjoy the things that never happened. ~ Neil Gaiman, #NFDB
1190:Evil tongues never want a whet. ~ Alain Rene Lesage, #NFDB
1191:For sale, baby shoes, never used. ~ Richard Branson, #NFDB
1192:Go, and never darken my towels again ~ Groucho Marx, #NFDB
1193:God is never early and never late. ~ David Jeremiah, #NFDB
1194:Honestly, I never really put the mic down. ~ Eminem, #NFDB
1195:Hope is never ill when faith is well. ~ John Bunyan, #NFDB
1196:How soon 'not now' becomes 'never'! ~ Martin Luther, #NFDB
1197:I am not normal. I never will be. ~ Kerrelyn Sparks, #NFDB
1198:I CAN BE ROBBED BUT NEVER DENIED, ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1199:I could never sit down and write jokes. ~ Louis C K, #NFDB
1200:I don't like overdubs, never liked them. ~ Lou Reed, #NFDB
1201:I feel like women's minds never stop. ~ Hilary Duff, #NFDB
1202:If they love you to death never die on them ~ Drake, #NFDB
1203:If we still advise we shall never do. ~ Elizabeth I, #NFDB
1204:I have never been opposed to earmarks. ~ Judd Gregg, #NFDB
1205:I have striven never to betray myself ~ Jude Morgan, #NFDB
1206:I know, I've never had boobs before! ~ Olivia Wilde, #NFDB
1207:I’ll never drink that much again. ~ Kirkus MacGowan, #NFDB
1208:I’ll never let you fall again. ~ Amber Lynn Natusch, #NFDB
1209:Imagine if you could never fail. ~ Gretchen Bleiler, #NFDB
1210:I'm not Stravinsky, I never will be. ~ Terry Bozzio, #NFDB
1211:I never did think I had brain damage. ~ Leon Spinks, #NFDB
1212:I never knew kissing could be this good ~ Jenny Han, #NFDB
1213:I never knew real happiness until you. ~ Jojo Moyes, #NFDB
1214:I never lied to you and I never will. ~ Jaci Burton, #NFDB
1215:I never like seeing myself on screen. ~ Nathan Lane, #NFDB
1216:I never make conscious decisions. ~ Anthony Hopkins, #NFDB
1217:I never met a man that I didn't like. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
1218:I never practice; I always play. ~ Wanda Landowska, #NFDB
1219:I never said I was consistent. ~ Laurell K Hamilton, #NFDB
1220:Never stop believing in magic. ~ A L Jackson, #NFDB
1221:I never take counsel of my fears. ~ George S Patton, #NFDB
1222:I never thought I was cute, ever. ~ Erin Heatherton, #NFDB
1223:I never thought I would be divorced. ~ Andrew Cuomo, #NFDB
1224:I never try and sound like Sabbath. ~ Geezer Butler, #NFDB
1225:I never try to predict the market. ~ Warren Buffett, #NFDB
1226:I never turned down a mother role. ~ Dorothy Malone, #NFDB
1227:I never wear pigtails, I wear plaits. ~ Emma Watson, #NFDB
1228:Injustice never rules forever. ~ Seneca the Younger, #NFDB
1229:In my heart, I've never left Brazil. ~ Brent Spiner, #NFDB
1230:In politics, victory is never total. ~ Donald Freed, #NFDB
1231:... insanity is never reasonable. ~ E A Bucchianeri, #NFDB
1232:I once caught a bid, I never hit skid, ~ Grand Puba, #NFDB
1233:Is it meaningless to apologize? Never. ~ Alan Moore, #NFDB
1234:I swore I'd never fall for her again. ~ Kelly Moran, #NFDB
1235:It never ends, the bruise
of being ~ Kevin Young,#NFDB
1236:It's never too early for ice cream. ~ Michael Scott, #NFDB
1237:It's never too late to fall in love. ~ Sandy Wilson, #NFDB
1238:I've never been in a writer's room. ~ Rashida Jones, #NFDB
1239:Ive never supported a payroll tax. ~ David Dewhurst, #NFDB
1240:I was never meant to be this thing. ~ Shane Koyczan, #NFDB
1241:I will always be found, never alone. ~ Anne Heltzel, #NFDB
1242:I will never play for the Miami Heat. ~ Rajon Rondo, #NFDB
1243:I will never vote for Donald Trump. ~ Bret Stephens, #NFDB
1244:I would never be on a reality show. ~ Busy Philipps, #NFDB
1245:Life is now. There was never a time ~ Eckhart Tolle, #NFDB
1246:Life never end when you are in it. ~ Daniel Handler, #NFDB
1247:Lost Time is never found again. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
1248:Lost time is never found again. ~ Benjamin Franklin, #NFDB
1249:Love side, hate side, never in between ~ Jhene Aiko, #NFDB
1250:Marching on a promise never given, ~ Steven Erikson, #NFDB
1251:May your night guard never fail you. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1252:Mind is never a problem. Mindset is ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
1253:Misfortunes never come single. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle, #NFDB
1254:Money never goes out of fashion. ~ Elfriede Jelinek, #NFDB
1255:Never answer a hypothetical question. ~ Moshe Arens, #NFDB
1256:Never apologize for someone you love, ~ J P Delaney, #NFDB
1257:Never apologize, never explain. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
1258:Never been a washcloth user, no. ~ Jonathan Franzen, #NFDB
1259:Never break the heart, you live in. ~ M F Moonzajer, #NFDB
1260:Never cast pearls before swine. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
1261:Never change horses in midstream. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1262:Never confuse activity with results. ~ Lou Gerstner, #NFDB
1263:Never confuse honor with stupidity! ~ R A Salvatore, #NFDB
1264:Never fuck someone you work with. ~ Santino Hassell, #NFDB
1265:Never get too hung up on mistakes. ~ Warren Buffett, #NFDB
1266:Never give up on something you love ~ Ariana Grande, #NFDB
1267:Never king dropped out of the clouds. ~ John Selden, #NFDB
1268:Never leave a read email in your inbox. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1269:Never let anyone dull your sparkle ~ Marilyn Monroe, #NFDB
1270:Never let fear decide your destiny. ~ Lucinda Riley, #NFDB
1271:Never let your fear decide your fate. ~ Aaron Bruno, #NFDB
1272:Never lie under any circumstances. ~ Warren Buffett, #NFDB
1273:Never look back, never forget. ~ Jessica Day George, #NFDB
1274:Never make a companion equal to a brother. ~ Hesiod, #NFDB
1275:Never miss a good chance to shut up. ~ Brenda Novak, #NFDB
1276:Never mistake motion for action. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1277:Never mistake motive for action. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1278:Never, never try to scope the market. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
1279:Never so good as what you don’t see. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1280:Never try to leap from a standstill. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
1281:Never try to outstubborn a cat. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
1282:Never underestimate human stupidity ~ Pittacus Lore, #NFDB
1283:Never use pages for personal brand! ~ Robert Scoble, #NFDB
1284:Often immitated, but never duplicated! ~ Lou Albano, #NFDB
1285:One can never have too large a party. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1286:One never knows how loyalty is born. ~ Robert Morse, #NFDB
1287:Paper is patient; authors never are.) ~ Nina George, #NFDB
1288:People are never who they seem to be ~ Jodi Picoult, #NFDB
1289:People die, but money never does. ~ Penelope Lively, #NFDB
1290:Quality brands never go bankrupt. ~ Richard Branson, #NFDB
1291:Safety is an illusion never to trust. ~ Sabaa Tahir, #NFDB
1292:Sharing with Jupiter is never a dishonor. ~ Moliere, #NFDB
1293:Silence can never be taken back. ~ Camilla L ckberg, #NFDB
1294:Software will never replace the Koran. ~ Dan Wieden, #NFDB
1295:Some griefs can never be put right. ~ Anthony Doerr, #NFDB
1296:Something once lost will never return ~ Yana Toboso, #NFDB
1297:The #18 jersey will never be worn again ~ Jim Irsay, #NFDB
1298:The cholerick man never wants woe. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1299:The face that cannot smile is never fair. ~ Martial, #NFDB
1300:The odds are never in our favour. ~ Suzanne Collins, #NFDB
1301:The poetry of the earth is never dead. ~ John Keats, #NFDB
1302:The radiant one in me has never said a word. ~ Rumi, #NFDB
1303:There are never enough 'I love you's. ~ Lenny Bruce, #NFDB
1304:There's never a beginning for eternity. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
1305:There's never any guarantee at war. ~ Rudy Giuliani, #NFDB
1306:The truthe wakes up once and never dies. ~ Jos Mart, #NFDB
1307:The whole of anything, is never told. ~ Henry James, #NFDB
1308:The winds that never moderation knew, ~ John Dryden, #NFDB
1309:Things never happen the same way twice. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1310:Till this moment I never knew myself. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1311:True love never dies. Not for anyone. ~ Carian Cole, #NFDB
1312:True portraits are never realistic ~ Anne McCaffrey, #NFDB
1313:True wit never made us laugh. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1314:We can never cease to be ourselves. ~ Joseph Conrad, #NFDB
1315:We never lose the people we love. ~ Lisa Scottoline, #NFDB
1316:We never thought we could ever get old. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1317:We never touch but at points. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1318:What is not in nature can never be true. ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
1319:Why, I never did believe it, ~ Edgar Rice Burroughs, #NFDB
1320:You are never too old to become younger! ~ Mae West, #NFDB
1321:You can never go wrong with kindness. ~ Megan Young, #NFDB
1322:You can never have enough books, ~ Christina Farley, #NFDB
1323:You can never have too much, butter. ~ Julie Powell, #NFDB
1324:You can never overlook a guy. ~ Floyd Mayweather Jr, #NFDB
1325:You have never talked to a mere mortal. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1326:You’ll never progress if you never try ~ Joe Budden, #NFDB
1327:You never can tell what's magic. ~ Noel Streatfeild, #NFDB
1328:You never get every job you want. ~ Mackenzie Astin, #NFDB
1329:your strength is your magic never lose it ~ R H Sin, #NFDB
1330:You should never reveal your true age. ~ Eve Arnold, #NFDB
1331:You were never what I wanted to forget. ~ Sara Zarr, #NFDB
1332:A conditioned mind is never a free mind. ~ Bruce Lee, #NFDB
1333:And I will never, ever lose count. ~ Debra Anastasia, #NFDB
1334:And never resist a perfect moment. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
1335:An unpopular rule is never long maintained. ~ Seneca, #NFDB
1336:appearance, but because Rell had never ~ Megg Jensen, #NFDB
1337:A promise must never be broken. ~ Alexander Hamilton, #NFDB
1338:A word of the faith that never balks, ~ Walt Whitman, #NFDB
1339:Cavil you may, but never criticise. ~ Alexander Pope, #NFDB
1340:Champagne and Benzedrine! Never again. ~ Ian Fleming, #NFDB
1341:Corruption never has been compulsory. ~ Anthony Eden, #NFDB
1342:Country music will never be the same. ~ Larry Gatlin, #NFDB
1343:death is never allowed to touch you ~ Kiersten White, #NFDB
1344:Diss me and you'll never hear a reply for it ~ Drake, #NFDB
1345:Do never give up bro.... I belive at you ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1346:Don't hit women. Never, ever, ever. ~ Craig Ferguson, #NFDB
1347:Eternity bores me, I never wanted it. ~ Sylvia Plath, #NFDB
1348:Ethical leaders never ask for loyalty. ~ James Comey, #NFDB
1349:Even I never dreamed of Magic like this! ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1350:For sale: baby shoes, never used. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1351:For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1352:For sale: baby shoes, never worn. ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1353:For the anvil never cries for the iron. ~ John Ringo, #NFDB
1354:God is never late, but rarely early. ~ Mother Teresa, #NFDB
1355:Grief Changes shape but it never dies ~ Keanu Reeves, #NFDB
1356:Hate never sleeps, so neither can love! ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
1357:her true name is never spoken aloud. ~ Kris Waldherr, #NFDB
1358:He’s never kissed anyone before. It ~ Sloane Kennedy, #NFDB
1359:He was every sin I never knew I wanted. ~ Cari Quinn, #NFDB
1360:I can never do nothing in this house! ~ George Lopez, #NFDB
1361:I can't remember, because I never knew. ~ John Green, #NFDB
1362:I can't wait to never see you again. ~ Ariana Reines, #NFDB
1363:I’d lost something I never knew I’d had. ~ Lee Child, #NFDB
1364:I don't smoke pot. I never liked it. ~ Kirstie Alley, #NFDB
1365:If you don't go, you'll never know. ~ Robert De Niro, #NFDB
1366:If you have to ask, you'll never know. ~ Miles Davis, #NFDB
1367:If you need to ask, you'll never know. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1368:I had never really been around cards. ~ Jeremy Piven, #NFDB
1369:I have never been a communicant. ~ George Washington, #NFDB
1370:I have never felt bereft of anything. ~ Ben Kingsley, #NFDB
1371:I hope I shall never see the day ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
1372:I just never was the marrying kind. ~ Holland Taylor, #NFDB
1373:I'll never be the best guitar player. ~ Chad Kroeger, #NFDB
1374:I'll never be yours until you're mine ~ Nalini Singh, #NFDB
1375:I'"ll never look into your eyes again ~ Jim Morrison, #NFDB
1376:I might be alone, but i'm never lonely. ~ Megan Hart, #NFDB
1377:I'm never satisfied with what I do. ~ Brian McKnight, #NFDB
1378:I never drink water... fish f**k in it. ~ W C Fields, #NFDB
1379:I never faked my feelings with Miranda ~ R J Palacio, #NFDB
1380:I never got a job from a poor person. ~ Sean Hannity, #NFDB
1381:I never liked mellow sounding guitar. ~ Tom Verlaine, #NFDB
1382:I never met a writer who wasn't lazy. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1383:I never pretended to be a great actor. ~ Joel McCrea, #NFDB
1384:I never promised you a rose garden. ~ Traian Basescu, #NFDB
1385:I never read, I just look at pictures. ~ Andy Warhol, #NFDB
1386:I never read. I just look at pictures. ~ Andy Warhol, #NFDB
1387:I never really wore Gucci. I never did. ~ Jared Leto, #NFDB
1388:I never said most of the things I said. ~ Yogi Berra, #NFDB
1389:I never saw a U-Haul behind a hearse. ~ Billy Graham, #NFDB
1390:I never set out to be a photographer. ~ David Bailey, #NFDB
1391:I never tire of reading Tom Paine. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
1392:I never wanted to be a public speaker. ~ Simon Sinek, #NFDB
1393:I never waste time looking back. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt, #NFDB
1394:I never worked in an office in my life. ~ Jack Vance, #NFDB
1395:I never worked on the school newspaper. ~ Jeff Bezos, #NFDB
1396:I've never said flange to a monkey! ~ Russell Howard, #NFDB
1397:I've never wanted more, until I met you. ~ E L James, #NFDB
1398:I’ve never wanted more, until I met you. ~ E L James, #NFDB
1399:I was never without a book in my hand. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
1400:I will never retire unless I have to. ~ Dolly Parton, #NFDB
1401:LEARNING NEVER EXHAUSTS THE MIND ~ Leonardo da Vinci, #NFDB
1402:LeBlanc’s law: Later equals never. ~ Robert C Martin, #NFDB
1403:Life has gone by as if I never lived ~ Anton Chekhov, #NFDB
1404:Life is never quite like the brochure. ~ Chuck Lorre, #NFDB
1405:Listen first and never stop listening. ~ Dave Kerpen, #NFDB
1406:Look i never wanted to be a halfblood ~ Rick Riordan, #NFDB
1407:Lost time is never found again.”27 ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
1408:Love can be broken but never forgotten. ~ Ivy Devlin, #NFDB
1409:Love is, and I hope it never isn't. ~ Demetri Martin, #NFDB
1410:Love is a thing you never can share. ~ Elvis Presley, #NFDB
1411:Love like you've never been hurt ~ Jentezen Franklin, #NFDB
1412:Love means you can never be apart. ~ James Patterson, #NFDB
1413:Maybe there’s never enough time. “Okay, ~ Lyla Payne, #NFDB
1414:My darling boy whom I shall never know, ~ Allen Tate, #NFDB
1415:My worst expectations never happened. ~ Barbara Bush, #NFDB
1416:Never do wrong when people are looking. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1417:Never eat in a place called 'Mom's'. ~ Nelson Algren, #NFDB
1418:Never get out of bed before noon. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
1419:Never give in and never give up. ~ Hubert H Humphrey, #NFDB
1420:Never give up on what makes you smile ~ Heath Ledger, #NFDB
1421:Never had ill workeman good tooles. ~ George Herbert, #NFDB
1422:Never insult anyone by accident. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
1423:Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day. ~ Harry Truman, #NFDB
1424:Never knowingly be serious. Rule 27. ~ Steven Moffat, #NFDB
1425:Never look a gift horse in the mouth. ~ John Heywood, #NFDB
1426:Never mistake movement for action ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
1427:Never relinquish the initiative. ~ Charles de Gaulle, #NFDB
1428:Never say let me be honest with you! ~ Stu Schreiber, #NFDB
1429:Never settle. There is no need to rush. ~ Mark Cuban, #NFDB
1430:Never take anything for granted. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
1431:Never take your eyes off your opponent. ~ Cary Elwes, #NFDB
1432:Never trust a duck -Will Herondale ~ Cassandra Clare, #NFDB
1433:Never try to out-stubborn a cat. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
1434:Never turn your back on a friend. ~ Alfred Hitchcock, #NFDB
1435:Never underestimate a clown with a book. ~ Rawi Hage, #NFDB
1436:Never underestimate human stupidity. ~ Pittacus Lore, #NFDB
1437:Never underestimate maternal rage. ~ Janet Evanovich, #NFDB
1438:Never underestimate the power of denial. ~ Alan Ball, #NFDB
1439:Never use a warning when you mean undo. ~ Aza Raskin, #NFDB
1440:Never was patriot yet, but was a fool. ~ John Dryden, #NFDB
1441:No. I’ll never be ready to leave you. ~ Kahlen Aymes, #NFDB
1442:Numb souls are never growing souls. ~ Lysa TerKeurst, #NFDB
1443:Obsessions never count the cost. ~ Phyllis A Whitney, #NFDB
1444:Onstage, I was never the ingenue. ~ Kristen Johnston, #NFDB
1445:Real love stories never have endings. ~ Richard Bach, #NFDB
1446:Relationships are never chance events. ~ Keith Ablow, #NFDB
1447:Restraint never ruins one's health. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1448:Seven for a secret never to be told. ~ Sarah MacLean, #NFDB
1449:She who has never lov'd, has never liv'd. ~ John Gay, #NFDB
1450:Slavery is back
but never went away ~ Eve Ensler,#NFDB
1451:Smooth sail never made a skilled sailor. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1452:Sobriety has never done harm to anyone. ~ The Mother, #NFDB
1453:So long as you're living, never give up. ~ Ginn Hale, #NFDB
1454:The bank of love is never bankrupt. ~ Steve Maraboli, #NFDB
1455:The person of benevolence never worries. ~ Confucius, #NFDB
1456:There is never only one, of anyone ~ Margaret Atwood, #NFDB
1457:There's never been a good government. ~ Emma Goldman, #NFDB
1458:The soul never thinks without a picture. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
1459:Thinking never did anybody any good. ~ Lauren Oliver, #NFDB
1460:Till I loved I never liked enough. ~ Emily Dickinson, #NFDB
1461:True change has never been bloodless. ~ Anthony Ryan, #NFDB
1462:True friends are never a weakness.” I ~ Annie Bellet, #NFDB
1463:True love stories never have endings. ~ Richard Bach, #NFDB
1464:Truly great poems never do, somehow. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, #NFDB
1465:Truth, like love, is never absolute. ~ E Lynn Harris, #NFDB
1466:Try as you may, you can never defy love. ~ Emery Lee, #NFDB
1467:Until now, I’ve never told that story ~ Ben Horowitz, #NFDB
1468:Vampires should never say Uh-Oh!! ~ Charlaine Harris, #NFDB
1469:We've never been anti-Semitic. ~ Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, #NFDB
1470:What is right can never be impossible. ~ Amma Asante, #NFDB
1471:When you are loved you never die. ~ Stephen Richards, #NFDB
1472:Where a boy runs he never forgets. ~ Bernard Malamud, #NFDB
1473:Winners never quit and quitters never win. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
1474:You are never too old to play chess! ~ Bobby Fischer, #NFDB
1475:You can never trust what you read. ~ William Goldman, #NFDB
1476:You Can't Lose Something You Never Had ~ Kate Hudson, #NFDB
1477:You can't miss what you've never had. ~ Linda Howard, #NFDB
1478:You give me courage I never knew I had. ~ Kim Holden, #NFDB
1479:You gotta imagine what's never been. ~ Sue Monk Kidd, #NFDB
1480:You know that it never has been easy ~ Joni Mitchell, #NFDB
1481:You must never fear anything at all. ~ Vernon Howard, #NFDB
1482:You never get something for nothing. ~ Leigh Bardugo, #NFDB
1483:You never win any games you don't play. ~ Mark Cuban, #NFDB
1484:You're never going to satisfy everybody. ~ Jon M Chu, #NFDB
1485:You should never act against yourself. ~ Mya Robarts, #NFDB
1486:You should never think without an image. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
1487:Actors never discuss future plans. ~ James Earl Jones, #NFDB
1488:A first impulse was never a crime. ~ Pierre Corneille, #NFDB
1489:A friend in word is never friend of mine. ~ Sophocles, #NFDB
1490:A gentleman never talks about his tailor. ~ Nick Cave, #NFDB
1491:Alexander Gustafsson was never my friend ~ Dana White, #NFDB
1492:A little blood never bothers me. ~ Karen Marie Moning, #NFDB
1493:A little extra wisdom never goes amiss. ~ J K Rowling, #NFDB
1494:A lot like yesterday, a lot like never. ~ Tim O Brien, #NFDB
1495:A love that dies has never lived. ~ Franz Grillparzer, #NFDB
1496:Always look ahead, but never look back. ~ Miles Davis, #NFDB
1497:Art is a never-ending dance of illusions. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1498:As an actor, you're never busy enough. ~ Bryan Callen, #NFDB
1499:A sneeze can never be to far away ~ Benny Bellamacina, #NFDB
1500:A thing is never seen as it really is. ~ Josef Albers, #NFDB
1403 Integral Yoga
890 Poetry
217 Philosophy
207 Occultism
174 Fiction
149 Christianity
116 Mysticism
100 Yoga
71 Psychology
36 Philsophy
24 Hinduism
22 Science
17 Sufism
17 Mythology
16 Education
14 Integral Theory
12 Theosophy
9 Kabbalah
8 Cybernetics
7 Zen
6 Buddhism
6 Baha i Faith
1 Thelema
1 Taoism
1 Alchemy
917 The Mother
597 Satprem
477 Sri Aurobindo
213 Nolini Kanta Gupta
106 H P Lovecraft
104 William Wordsworth
95 Aleister Crowley
89 Walt Whitman
83 Percy Bysshe Shelley
71 Carl Jung
63 William Butler Yeats
61 John Keats
56 Robert Browning
54 Plotinus
51 Friedrich Schiller
49 Friedrich Nietzsche
48 Sri Ramakrishna
46 Rabindranath Tagore
46 James George Frazer
42 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
36 Ralph Waldo Emerson
32 Saint Augustine of Hippo
29 Swami Vivekananda
28 Saint Teresa of Avila
27 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
26 Jorge Luis Borges
26 A B Purani
25 Aldous Huxley
21 Rudolf Steiner
20 Swami Krishnananda
20 Lucretius
19 Saint John of Climacus
18 Anonymous
17 Li Bai
16 Franz Bardon
16 Edgar Allan Poe
13 Vyasa
12 Plato
11 Rainer Maria Rilke
11 Ovid
11 Nirodbaran
11 George Van Vrekhem
10 Kabir
9 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
9 Jalaluddin Rumi
8 Norbert Wiener
7 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
7 Sri Ramana Maharshi
7 Paul Richard
7 Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia
7 Henry David Thoreau
6 Taigu Ryokan
6 Lewis Carroll
6 Joseph Campbell
6 Jordan Peterson
6 Hafiz
6 Baha u llah
6 Al-Ghazali
5 Patanjali
4 Thubten Chodron
4 Thomas Merton
4 Ibn Arabi
3 Vidyapati
3 Saint John of the Cross
3 R Buckminster Fuller
3 Omar Khayyam
3 Ken Wilber
3 Farid ud-Din Attar
3 Aristotle
3 Alice Bailey
2 Ramprasad
2 Peter J Carroll
2 Muso Soseki
2 Mechthild of Magdeburg
2 Lalla
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Jetsun Milarepa
2 Jean Gebser
2 Italo Calvino
2 H. P. Lovecraft
2 Hakim Sanai
2 Genpo Roshi
2 Bokar Rinpoche
2 Alfred Tennyson
106 Lovecraft - Poems
104 Wordsworth - Poems
94 Record of Yoga
85 Whitman - Poems
83 Shelley - Poems
66 Agenda Vol 01
63 Yeats - Poems
63 The Synthesis Of Yoga
61 Magick Without Tears
61 Keats - Poems
56 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
56 Browning - Poems
52 Agenda Vol 10
51 Schiller - Poems
51 Agenda Vol 08
48 Agenda Vol 05
47 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
47 Agenda Vol 04
47 Agenda Vol 03
47 Agenda Vol 02
46 The Golden Bough
46 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
45 Tagore - Poems
43 Agenda Vol 06
41 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
40 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
40 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
39 Agenda Vol 09
38 Savitri
38 Agenda Vol 13
37 Questions And Answers 1956
36 Emerson - Poems
36 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
34 Agenda Vol 07
33 Letters On Yoga IV
33 Agenda Vol 11
32 The Life Divine
32 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
31 Questions And Answers 1953
31 Prayers And Meditations
30 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
30 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
28 Liber ABA
28 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
27 Questions And Answers 1954
27 Letters On Yoga II
26 Words Of Long Ago
26 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
25 The Perennial Philosophy
25 Questions And Answers 1955
25 Mysterium Coniunctionis
25 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
22 City of God
20 The Study and Practice of Yoga
20 The Divine Comedy
20 The Bible
20 Of The Nature Of Things
20 Labyrinths
20 Agenda Vol 12
19 The Practice of Psycho therapy
19 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
19 Essays On The Gita
18 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
18 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
17 The Way of Perfection
17 Li Bai - Poems
17 Faust
16 Collected Poems
15 The Human Cycle
15 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
15 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
15 Poe - Poems
15 On Education
14 Words Of The Mother II
14 The Future of Man
14 On the Way to Supermanhood
13 Vishnu Purana
13 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
12 The Phenomenon of Man
12 Some Answers From The Mother
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
12 Letters On Poetry And Art
12 Bhakti-Yoga
12 Aion
11 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
11 The Practice of Magical Evocation
11 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
11 Talks
11 Rilke - Poems
11 Raja-Yoga
11 Preparing for the Miraculous
11 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 03
11 Metamorphoses
10 The Problems of Philosophy
10 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
10 Letters On Yoga I
10 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
10 Goethe - Poems
10 Essays Divine And Human
10 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
9 Twilight of the Idols
9 Theosophy
9 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
9 General Principles of Kabbalah
9 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
8 Vedic and Philological Studies
8 Songs of Kabir
8 Let Me Explain
8 Hymn of the Universe
8 Cybernetics
8 Crowley - Poems
8 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
7 Words Of The Mother III
7 Walden
7 The Blue Cliff Records
7 5.1.01 - Ilion
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
6 The Alchemy of Happiness
6 Ryokan - Poems
6 Maps of Meaning
6 Letters On Yoga III
6 Isha Upanishad
6 Dark Night of the Soul
6 Anonymous - Poems
6 Alice in Wonderland
5 Patanjali Yoga Sutras
5 Initiation Into Hermetics
5 Borges - Poems
5 Amrita Gita
4 The Secret Of The Veda
4 The Integral Yoga
4 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
4 Song of Myself
4 Kena and Other Upanishads
4 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
4 Hafiz - Poems
3 Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit
3 The Red Book Liber Novus
3 The Lotus Sutra
3 The Book of Certitude
3 Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
3 Sex Ecology Spirituality
3 Poetics
3 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
3 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
3 Arabi - Poems
2 Words Of The Mother I
2 The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
2 The Ever-Present Origin
2 The Essentials of Education
2 The Castle of Crossed Destinies
2 Tara - The Feminine Divine
2 Symposium
2 Selected Fictions
2 Rumi - Poems
2 Milarepa - Poems
2 Liber Null
2 God Exists
2 Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin
2 Agenda Vol 1
2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
To be a man after rediscovering a million years was mysteriously like being something still other than man, a strange, unfinished possibility that could also be all kinds of other things. It was not in the dictionary, it was fluid and boundless - it had become a man through habit, but in truth, it was formidably virgin, as if all the old laws belonged to laggard barbarians. Then other moons began whirring through the skies to the cry of macaws at sunset, another rhythm was born that was strangely in tune with the rhythm of all, making one single flow of the world, and there we went, lightly, as if the body had never had any weight other than that of our human thought; and the stars were so near, even the giant airplanes roaring overhead seemed vain artifices beneath smiling galaxies. A man was the overwhelming Possible. He was even the great discoverer of the Possible.
never had this precarious invention had any other aim through millions of species than to discover that which surpassed his own species, perhaps the means to change his species - a light and lawless species. After rediscovering a million years in the great, rhythmic night, a man was still something to be invented. It was the invention of himself, where all was not yet said and done.
--
Mother, for She never ceased being a mystery right to her ninety-fifth year, and to this day still, challenges us from the other side of a wall of invisibility and keeps us floundering fully in the mystery - with a smile. She always smiles. But the mystery is not solved.
Perhaps this AGENDA is really an endeavor to solve the mystery in the company of a certain
--
This AGENDA is not even a path: it is a light little vibration that seizes you at any turning - and then, there it is, you are IN IT. 'Another world in the world,' She said. One has to catch the light little vibration, one has to flow with it, in a nothing that is like the only something in the midst of this great debacle. At the beginning of things, when still nothing was FIXED, when there was not yet this habit of the pelican or the kangaroo or the chimpanzee or the XXth century biologist, there was a little pulsation that beat and beat - a delightful dizziness, a joy in the world's great adventure; a little never-imprisoned spark that has kept on beating from species to species, but as if it were always eluding us, as if it were always over there, over there - as if it were something to become,
something to be played forever as the one great game of the world; a who-knows-what that left this sprig of a pensive man in the middle of a clearing; a little 'something' that beats, beats, that keeps on breathing beneath every skin that has ever been put on it - like our deepest breath, our lightest air, our air of nothing - and it keeps on going, it keeps on going. We must catch the light little breath, the little pulsation of nothing. Then suddenly, on the threshold of our clearing of concrete, our head starts spinning incurably, our eyes blink into something else, and all is different, and all seems surcharged with meaning and with life, as though we had never lived until that very minute.
Then we have caught the tail of the Great Possible, we are upon the wayless way, radically in the new, and we flow with the little lizard, the pelican, the big man, we flow everywhere in a world that has lost its old separating skin and its little baggage of habits. We begin seeing otherwise, feeling otherwise. We have opened the gate into an inconceivable clearing. Just a light little vibration that carries you away. Then we begin to understand how it CAN CHANGE, what the mechanism is - a light little mechanism and so miraculous that it looks like nothing. We begin feeling the wonder of a pure little cell, and that a sparkling of joy would be enough to turn the world inside out. We were living in a little thinking fishbowl, we were dying in an old, bottled habit. And then suddenly, all is different. The Earth is free! Who wants freedom?
00.01 - The Mother on Savitri, #Sweet Mother - Harmonies of Light, #unset, #Integral Yoga
You know, before writing Savitri Sri Aurobindo said to me, *I am impelled to launch on a new adventure; I was hesitant in the beginning, but now I am decided. Still, I do not know how far I shall succeed. I pray for help.* And you know what it was? It was - before beginning, I warn you in advance - it was His way of speaking, so full of divine humility and modesty. He never... *asserted Himself*. And the day He actually began it, He told me: *I have launched myself in a rudderless boat upon the vastness of the Infinite.* And once having started, He wrote page after page without intermission, as though it were a thing already complete up there and He had only to transcribe it in ink down here on these pages.
In truth, the entire form of Savitri has descended "en masse" from the highest region and Sri Aurobindo with His genius only arranged the lines - in a superb and magnificent style. Sometimes entire lines were revealed and He has left them intact; He worked hard, untiringly, so that the inspiration could come from the highest possible summit. And what a work He has created! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. It is an unequalled work. Everything is there, and it is put in such a simple, such a clear form; verses perfectly harmonious, limpid and eternally true. My child, I have read so many things, but I have never come across anything which could be compared with Savitri. I have studied the best works in Greek, Latin, English and of course French literature, also in German and all the great creations of the West and the East, including the great epics; but I repeat it, I have not found anywhere anything comparable with Savitri. All these literary works seems to me empty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality - apart from a few rare exceptions, and these too represent only a small fraction of what Savitri is. What grandeur, what amplitude, what reality: it is something immortal and eternal He has created. I tell you once again there is nothing like in it the whole world. Even if one puts aside the vision of the reality, that is, the essential substance which is the heart of the inspiration, and considers only the lines in themselves, one will find them unique, of the highest classical kind. What He has created is something man cannot imagine. For, everything is there, everything.
It may then be said that Savitri is a revelation, it is a meditation, it is a quest of the Infinite, the Eternal. If it is read with this aspiration for Immortality, the reading itself will serve as a guide to Immortality. To read Savitri is indeed to practice Yoga, spiritual concentration; one can find there all that is needed to realise the Divine. Each step of Yoga is noted here, including the secret of all other Yogas. Surely, if one sincerely follows what is revealed here in each line one will reach finally the transformation of the Supramental Yoga. It is truly the infallible guide who never abandons you; its support is always there for him who wants to follow the path. Each verse of Savitri is like a revealed Mantra which surpasses all that man possessed by way of knowledge, and I repeat this, the words are expressed and arranged in such a way that the sonority of the rhythm leads you to the origin of sound, which is OM.
My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature. How the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny - all is there. You can find all the answers to all your questions there. Everything is explained, even the future of man and of the evolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has described it all in beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve the mysteries of the world may understand it more easily. But this mystery is well hidden behind the words and lines and one must rise to the required level of true consciousness to discover it. All prophesies, all that is going to come is presented with the precise and wonderful clarity. Sri Aurobindo gives you here the key to find the Truth, to discover the Consciousness, to solve the problem of what the universe is. He has also indicated how to open the door of the Inconscience so that the light may penetrate there and transform it. He has shown the path, the way to liberate oneself from the ignorance and climb up to the superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how they can be scaled, how one can cross even the barrier of death and attain immortality. You will find the whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altogether unknown to man. That is Savitri and much more yet. It is a real experience - reading Savitri. All the secrets that man possessed, He has revealed, - as well as all that awaits him in the future; all this is found in the depth of Savitri. But one must have the knowledge to discover it all, the experience of the planes of consciousness, the experience of the Supermind, even the experience of the conquest of Death. He has noted all the stages, marked each step in order to advance integrally in the integral Yoga.
--
These are experiences lived by Him, realities, supracosmic truths. He experienced all these as one experiences joy or sorrow, physically. He walked in the darkness of inconscience, even in the neighborhood of death, endured the sufferings of perdition, and emerged from the mud, the world-misery to brea the the sovereign plenitude and enter the supreme Ananda. He crossed all these realms, went through the consequences, suffered and endured physically what one cannot imagine. Nobody till today has suffered like Him. He accepted suffering to transform suffering into the joy of union with the Supreme. It is something unique and incomparable in the history of the world. It is something that has never happened before, He is the first to have traced the path in the Unknown, so that we may be able to walk with certitude towards the Supermind. He has made the work easy for us. Savitri is His whole Yoga of transformation, and this Yoga appears now for the first time in the earth-consciousness.
And I think that man is not yet ready to receive it. It is too high and too vast for him. He cannot understand it, grasp it, for it is not by the mind that one can understand Savitri. One needs spiritual experiences in order to understand and assimilate it. The farther one advances on the path of Yoga, the more does one assimilate and the better. No, it is something which will be appreciated only in the future, it is the poetry of tomorrow of which He has spoken in The Future Poetry. It is too subtle, too refined, - it is not in the mind or through the mind, it is in meditation that Savitri is revealed.
0 0.02 - Topographical Note, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother would be seated in this rather medieval-looking chair with its high, carved back, her feet on a little tabouret, while we sat on the floor, on a slightly faded carpet, conquered and seduced, revolted and never satisfied - but nevertheless, very interested. Treasures, never noted down, were lost until, with the cunning of the Sioux, we succeeded in making Mother consent to the presence of a tape recorder. But even then, and for a long time thereafter, She carefully made us erase or delete in our notes all that concerned Her rather too personally - sometimes we disobeyed Her.
But finally we were able to convince Her of the value inherent in keeping a chronicle of the route.
00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Some Western and Westernised scholars have tried to show that the phenomenon described here is an exclusively natural phenomenon, actually visible in the polar region where the sun never sets for six months and moves in a circle whose plane is parallel to the plane of the horizon on the summer solstice and is gradually inclined as the sun regresses towards the equinox (on which day just half the solar disc is visible above the horizon). The sun may be said there to move in the direction East-South-West-North and again East. Indeed the Upanishad mentions the positions of the sun in that order and gives a character to each successive station. The Ray from the East is red, symbolising the Rik, the Southern Ray is white, symbolising the Yajur, the Western Ray is black symbolising the Atharva. The natural phenomenon, however, might have been or might not have been before the mind's eye of the Rishi, but the symbolism, the esotericism of it is clear enough in the way the Rishi speaks of it. Also, apart from the first four movements (which it is already sufficiently difficult to identify completely with what is visible), the fifth movement, as a separate descending movement from above appears to be a foreign element in the context. And although, with regard to the sixth movement or status, the sun is visible as such exactly from the point of the North Pole for a while, the ring of the Rishi's utterance is unmistakably spiritual, it cannot but refer to a fact of inner consciousness that is at least what the physical fact conveys to the Rishi and what he seeks to convey and express primarily.
Now this is what is sought to be conveyed and expressed. The five movements of the sun here also are nothing but the five smas and they refer to the cycle of the Cosmic or Universal Brahman. The sixth status where all movements cease, where there is no rising and setting, no ebb and flow, no waxing and waning, where there is the immutable, the ever-same unity, is very evidently the Transcendental Brahman. It is That to which the Vedic Rishi refers when he prays for a constant and fixed vision of the eternal Sunjyok ca sryam drie.
--
The third in the line of ascension is the region of Varuna and the Adityas, that is to say, of the large Mind and its lightsperhaps it can be connected with Tantric Ajnachakra. The fourth is the domain of Soma and the Marutsthis seems to be the inner heart, the fount of delight and keen and sweeping aspirations the Anahata of the Tantras. The fifth is the region of the crown of the head, the domain of Brahma and the Sadhyas: it is the Overmind status from where comes the descending inflatus, the creative Maya of Brahma. And when you go beyond, you pass into the ultimate status of the Sun, the reality absolute, the Transcendent which is indescribable, unseizable, indeterminate, indeterminable, incommensurable; and once there, one never returns, neverna ca punarvartate na ca punarvartate.
VIII. How Many Gods?
0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
For this reason I am especially pleased to be writing an introduction to a new edition of A Garden of Pomegranates. I feel that never, perhaps, was the need more urgent for just such a roadmap as the Qabalistic system provides. It should be equally useful to any who chooses to follow it, whether he be Jew, Christian or Buddhist, Deist, Theosophist, agnostic or atheist.
The Qabalah is a trustworthy guide, leading to a comprehension both of the Universe and one's own Self. Sages have long taught that Man is a miniature of the Universe, containing within himself the diverse elements of that macrocosm of which he is the microcosm. Within the Qabalah is a glyph called the Tree of Life which is at once a symbolic map of the Universe in its major aspects, and also of its smaller counterpart, Man.
--
I felt this a long time ago, as I still do, but even more so. The only way to explain the partisan Jewish attitude demonstrated in some small sections of the book can readily be explained. I had been reading some writings of Arthur Edward Waite, and some of his pomposity and turgidity stuck to my mantle. I disliked his patronising Christian attitude, and so swung all the way over to the other side of the pendulum. Actually, neither faith is particularly important in this day and age. I must be careful never to read Waite again before embarking upon literary work of my own.
Much knowledge obtained by the ancients through the use of the Qabalah has been supported by discoveries of modern scientists- anthropologists, astronomers, psychiatrists, et al. Learned Qabalists for hundreds of years have been aware of what the psychiatrist has only discovered in the last few decades-that man's concept of himself, his deities and the Universe is a constantly evolving process, changing as man himself evolves on a higher spiral. But the roots of his concepts are buried in a race-consciousness that antedated Neanderthal man by uncounted aeons of time.
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
first in history of which it could be said that the Sun never set.
000.107 As professor of economics at the East India Company College in 1810
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
About his parents Sri Ramakrishna once said: "My mother was the personification of rectitude and gentleness. She did not know much about the ways of the world; innocent of the art of concealment, she would say what was in her mind. People loved her for her open-heartedness. My father, an orthodox brahmin, never accepted gifts from the sudras. He spent much of his time in worship and meditation, and in repeating God's name and chanting His glories. Whe never in his daily prayers he invoked the Goddess Gayatri, his chest flushed and tears rolled down his cheeks. He spent his leisure hours making garlands for the Family Deity, Raghuvir."
Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandra Devi, the parents of Sri Ramakrishna, were married in 1799. At that time Khudiram was living in his ancestral village of Dereypore, not far from Kamarpukur. Their first son, Ramkumar, was born in 1805, and their first daughter, Katyayani, in 1810. In 1814 Khudiram was ordered by his landlord to bear false witness in court against a neighbour. When he refused to do so, the landlord brought a false case against him and deprived him of his ancestral property. Thus dispossessed, he arrived, at the invitation of another landlord, in the quiet village of Kamarpukur, where he was given a dwelling and about an acre of fertile land. The crops from this little property were enough to meet his family's simple needs. Here he lived in simplicity, dignity, and contentment.
--
At the age of nine Gadadhar was invested with the sacred thread. This ceremony conferred upon him the privileges of his brahmin lineage, including the worship of the Family Deity, Raghuvir, and imposed upon him the many strict disciplines of a brahmin's life. During the ceremony of investiture he shocked his relatives by accepting a meal cooked by his nurse, a sudra woman. His father would never have dreamt of doing such a thing But in a playful mood Gadadhar had once promised this woman that he would eat her food, and now he fulfilled his plighted word. The woman had piety and religious sincerity, and these were more important to the boy than the conventions of society.
Gadadhar was now permitted to worship Raghuvir. Thus began his first training in meditation. He so gave his heart and soul to the worship that the stone image very soon appeared to him as the living Lord of the Universe. His tendency to lose himself in contemplation was first noticed at this time. Behind his boyish light-heartedness was seen a deepening of his spiritual nature.
--
The anguish of the inner soul of India found expression through these passionate words of the young Gadadhar. For what did his unsophisticated eyes see around him in Calcutta, at that time the metropolis of India and the centre of modem culture and learning? Greed and lust held sway in the higher levels of society, and the occasional religious practices were merely outer forms from which the soul had long ago departed. Gadadhar had never seen anything like this at Kamarpukur among the simple and pious villagers. The sadhus and wandering monks whom he had served in his boyhood had revealed to him an altogether different India. He had been impressed by their devotion and purity, their self-control and renunciation. He had learnt from them and from his own intuition that the ideal of life as taught by the ancient sages of India was the realization of God.
When Ramkumar reprimanded Gadadhar for neglecting a "bread-winning education", the inner voice of the boy reminded him that the legacy of his ancestors — the legacy of Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Sankara, Ramanuja, Chaitanya — was not worldly security but the Knowledge of God. And these noble sages were the true representatives of Hindu society. Each of them was seated, as it were, on the crest of the wave that followed each successive trough in the tumultuous course of Indian national life. All demonstrated that the life current of India is spirituality. This truth was revealed to Gadadhar through that inner vision which scans past and future in one sweep, unobstructed by the barriers of time and space. But he was unaware of the history of the profound change that had taken place in the land of his birth during the previous one hundred years.
--
Naturally the temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wishers brought him to skilled physicians; but no-medicine could cure his malady. Many a time he doubted his sanity himself. For he had been sailing across an uncharted sea, with no earthly guide to direct him. His only haven of security was the Divine Mother Herself. To Her he would pray: "I do not know what these things are. I am ignorant of mantras and the scriptures. Teach me, Mother, how to realize Thee. Who else can help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" And the sustaining presence of the Mother never failed him in his distress or doubt. Even those who criticized his conduct were greatly impressed with his purity, guilelessness, truthfulness, integrity, and holiness. They felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
It is said that samadhi, or trance, no more than opens the portal of the spiritual realm. Sri Ramakrishna felt an unquenchable desire to enjoy God in various ways. For his meditation he built a place in the northern wooded section of the temple garden. With Hriday's help he planted there five sacred trees. The spot, known as the Panchavati, became the scene of many of his visions.
--
Mathur had faith in the sincerity of Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual zeal, but began now to doubt his sanity. He had watched him jumping about like a monkey. One day, when Rani Rasmani was listening to Sri Ramakrishna's singing in the temple, the young priest abruptly turned and slapped her. Apparently listening to his song, she had actually been thinking of a law-suit. She accepted the punishment as though the Divine Mother Herself had imposed it; but Mathur was distressed. He begged Sri Ramakrishna to keep his feelings under control and to heed the conventions of society. God Himself, he argued, follows laws. God never permitted, for instance, flowers of two colours to grow on the same stalk. The following day Sri Ramakrishna presented Mathur Babu with two hibiscus flowers growing on the same stalk, one red and one white.
Mathur and Rani Rasmani began to ascribe the mental ailment of Sri Ramakrishna in part, at least, to his observance of rigid continence. Thinking that a natural life would relax the tension of his nerves, they engineered a plan with two women of ill fame. But as soon as the women entered his room, Sri Ramakrishna beheld in them the manifestation of the Divine Mother of the Universe and went into samadhi uttering Her name.
--
Hardly had he crossed the threshold of the Kali temple when he found himself again in the whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. The same meditation and prayer, the same ecstatic moods, the same burning sensation, the same weeping, the same sleeplessness, the same indifference to the body and the outside world, the same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, the two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one hand and some earth in the other, he would reflect on the comparative value of these two for the realization of God, and finding them equally worthless he would toss them, with equal indifference, into the Ganges. Women he regarded as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. never even in a dream did he feel the impulses of lust. And to root out of his mind the idea of caste superiority, he cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. When he would sit in meditation, birds would perch on his head and peck in his hair for grains of food. Snakes would crawl over his body, and neither would be aware of the other. Sleep left him altogether. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw the sannyasi who had previously killed the "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with the trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or the same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening there. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in the case of an advanced devotee the mind itself becomes the guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
Rani Rasmani, the foundress of the temple garden, passed away in 1861. After her death her son-in-law Mathur became the sole executor of the estate. He placed himself and his resources at the disposal of Sri Ramakrishna and began to look after his physical comfort. Sri Ramakrishna later spoke of him as one of his five "suppliers of stores" appointed by the Divine Mother. Whe never a desire arose in his mind, Mathur fulfilled it without hesitation.
--
Sri Ramakrishna set himself to the task of practising the disciplines of Tantra; and at the bidding of the Divine Mother Herself he accepted the Brahmani as his guru. He performed profound and delicate ceremonies in the Panchavati and under the bel-tree at the northern extremity of the temple compound. He practised all the disciplines of the sixty-four principal Tantra books, and it took him never more than three days to achieve the result promised in any one of them. After the observance of a few preliminary rites, he would be overwhelmed with a strange divine fervour and would go into samadhi, where his mind would dwell in exaltation. Evil ceased to exist for him. The word "carnal" lost its meaning. The whole world and everything in it appeared as the lila, the sport, of Siva and Sakti. He beheld held everywhere manifest the power and beauty of the Mother; the whole world, animate and inanimate, appeared to him as pervaded with Chit, Consciousness, and with Ananda, Bliss.
He saw in a vision the Ultimate Cause of the universe as a huge luminous triangle giving birth every moment to an infinite number of worlds. He heard the Anahata Sabda, the great sound Om, of which the innumerable sounds of the universe are only so many echoes. He acquired the eight supernatural powers of yoga, which make a man almost omnipotent, and these he spurned as of no value whatsoever to the Spirit. He had a vision of the divine Maya, the inscrutable Power of God, by which the universe is created and sustained, and into which it is finally absorbed. In this vision he saw a woman of exquisite beauty, about to become a mother, emerging from the Ganges and slowly approaching the Panchavati. Presently she gave birth to a child and began to nurse it tenderly. A moment later she assumed a terrible aspect, seized the child with her grim jaws, and crushed it. Swallowing it, she re-entered the waters of the Ganges.
--
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.
--
. What is shallow is worthless and can never give real felicity. But the Knowledge by which one does not see another or hear another or know another, which is beyond duality, is great, and through such Knowledge one attains the Infinite Bliss. How can the mind and senses grasp That which shines in the heart of all as the Eternal Subject?"
Totapuri asked the disciple to withdraw his mind from all objects of the relative world, including the gods and goddesses, and to concentrate on the Absolute. But the task was not easy even for Sri Ramakrishna. He found it impossible to take his mind beyond Kali, the Divine Mother of the Universe. "After the initiation", Sri Ramakrishna once said, describing the event, "Nangta began to teach me the various conclusions of the Advaita Vedanta and asked me to withdraw the mind completely from all objects and dive deep into the Atman. But in spite of all my attempts I could not altogether cross the realm of name and form and bring my mind to the unconditioned state. I had no difficulty in taking the mind from all the objects of the world. But the radiant and too familiar figure of the Blissful Mother, the Embodiment of the essence of Pure Consciousness, appeared before me as a living reality. Her bewitching smile prevented me from passing into the Great Beyond. Again and again I tried, but She stood in my way every time. In despair I said to Nangta: 'It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to the unconditioned state and come face to face with Atman.' He grew excited and sharply said: 'What? You can't do it? But you have to.' He cast his eyes around. Finding a piece of glass he took it up and stuck it between my eyebrows. 'Concentrate the mind on this point!' he thundered. Then with stern determination I again sat to meditate. As soon as the gracious form of the Divine Mother appeared before me, I used my discrimination as a sword and with it clove Her in two. The last barrier fell. My spirit at once soared beyond the relative plane and I lost myself in samadhi."
--
Totapuri, a monk of the most orthodox type, never stayed at a place more than three days. But he remained at Dakshineswar eleven months. He too had something to learn.
Totapuri had no idea of the struggles of ordinary men in the toils of passion and desire. Having maintained all through life the guilelessness of a child, he laughed at the idea of a man's being led astray by the senses. He was convinced that the world was maya and had only to be denounced to vanish for ever. A born non-dualist, he had no faith in a Personal God. He did not believe in the terrible aspect of Kali, much less in Her benign aspect. Music and the chanting of God's holy name were to him only so much nonsense. He ridiculed the spending of emotion on the worship of a Personal God.
--
After the departure of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna remained for six months in a state of absolute identity with Brahman. "For six months at a stretch", he said, "I remained in that state from which ordinary men can never return; generally the body falls off, after three weeks, like a sere leaf. I was not conscious of day and night. Flies would enter my mouth and nostrils just as they do a dead body's, but I did not feel them. My hair became matted with dust."
His body would not have survived but for the kindly attention of a monk who happened to be at Dakshineswar at that time and who somehow realized that for the good of humanity Sri Ramakrishna's body must be preserved. He tried various means, even physical violence, to recall the fleeing soul to the prison-house of the body, and during the resultant fleeting moments of consciousness he would push a few morsels of food down Sri Ramakrishna's throat. Presently Sri Ramakrishna received the command of the Divine Mother to remain on the threshold of relative consciousness. Soon there-after after he was afflicted with a serious attack of dysentery. Day and night the pain tortured him, and his mind gradually came down to the physical plane.
--
The Knowledge of Brahman in nirvikalpa samadhi had convinced Sri Ramakrishna that the gods of the different religions are but so many readings of the Absolute, and that the Ultimate Reality could never be expressed by human tongue. He understood that all religions lead their devotees by differing paths to one and the same goal. Now he became eager to explore some of the alien religions; for with him understanding meant actual experience.
--- ISLAM
--
Without being formally initiated into their doctrines, Sri Ramakrishna thus realized the ideals of religions other than Hinduism. He did not need to follow any doctrine. All barriers were removed by his overwhelming love of God. So he became a Master who could speak with authority regarding the ideas and ideals of the various religions of the world. "I have practised", said he, "all religions — Hinduism, Islam, Christianity — and I have also followed the paths of the different Hindu sects. I have found that it is the same God toward whom all are directing their steps, though along different paths. You must try all beliefs and traverse all the different ways once. Wherever I look, I see men quarrelling in the name of religion — Hindus, Mohammedans, Brahmos, Vaishnavas, and the rest. But they never reflect that He who is called Krishna is also called Siva, and bears the name of the Primal Energy, Jesus, and Allah as well — the same Rama with a thousand names. A lake has several ghats. At one the Hindus take water in pitchers and call it 'jal'; at another the Mussalmans take water in leather bags and call it pani'. At a third the Christians call it 'water'. Can we imagine that it is not 'jal', but only 'pani' or 'water'? How ridiculous! The substance is One under different names, and everyone is seeking the same substance; only climate, temperament, and name create differences. Let each man follow his own path. If he sincerely and ardently wishes to know God, peace be unto him! He will surely realize Him."
In 1867 Sri Ramakrishna returned to Kamarpukur to recuperate from the effect of his austerities. The peaceful countryside, the simple and artless companions of his boyhood, and the pure air did him much good. The villagers were happy to get back their playful, frank, witty, kind-hearted, and truthful Gadadhar, though they did not fail to notice the great change that had come over him during his years in Calcutta. His wife, Sarada Devi, now fourteen years old, soon arrived at Kamarpukur. Her spiritual development was much beyond her age and she was able to understand immediately her husband's state of mind. She became eager to learn from him about God and to live with him as his attendant. The Master accepted her cheerfully both as his disciple and as his spiritual companion. Referring to the experiences of these few days, she once said: "I used to feel always as if a pitcher full of bliss were placed in my heart. The joy was indescribable."
--
Sri Ramakrishna never taught his disciples to hate any woman, or womankind in general. This can be seen clearly by going through all his teachings under this head and judging them collectively. The Master looked on all women as so many images of the Divine Mother of the Universe. He paid the highest homage to womankind by accepting a woman as his guide while practising the very profound spiritual disciplines of Tantra. His wife, known and revered as the Holy Mother, was his constant companion and first disciple. At the end of his spiritual practice he literally worshipped his wife as the embodiment of the Goddess Kali, the Divine Mother. After his passing away the Holy Mother became the spiritual guide not only of a large number of householders, but also of many monastic members of the Ramakrishna Order.
--- THE MASTER'S YEARNING FOR HIS OWN DEVOTEES
Contact with the Brahmos increased Sri Ramakrishna's longing to encounter aspirants who would be able to follow his teachings in their purest form. "There was no limit", he once declared, "to the longing I felt at that time. During the day-time I somehow managed to control it. The secular talk of the worldly-minded was galling to me, and I would look wistfully to the day when my own beloved companions would come. I hoped to find solace in conversing with them and relating to them my own realizations. Every little incident would remind me of them, and thoughts of them wholly engrossed me. I was already arranging in my mind what I should say to one and give to another, and so on. But when the day would come to a close I would not be able to curb my feelings. The thought that another day had gone by, and they had not come, oppressed me. When, during the evening service, the temples rang with the sound of bells and conch-shells, I would climb to the roof of the kuthi in the garden and, writhing in anguish of heart, cry at the top of my voice: 'Come, my children! Oh, where are you? I cannot bear to live without you.' A mother never longed so intensely for the sight of her child, nor a friend for his companions, nor a lover for his sweetheart, as I longed for them. Oh, it was indescribable! Shortly after this period of yearning the devotees1 began to come."
In the year 1879 occasional writings about Sri Ramakrishna by the Brahmos, in the Brahmo magazines, began to attract his future disciples from the educated middle-class Bengalis, and they continued to come till 1884. But others, too, came, feeling the subtle power of his attraction. They were an ever shifting crowd of people of all castes and creeds: Hindus and Brahmos, Vaishnavas and Saktas, the educated with university degrees and the illiterate, old and young, maharajas and beggars, journalists and artists, pundits and devotees, philosophers and the worldly-minded, jnanis and yogis, men of action and men of faith, virtuous women and prostitutes, office-holders and vagabonds, philanthropists and self-seekers, dramatists and drunkards, builders-up and pullers-down. He gave to them all, without stint, from his illimitable store of realization. No one went away empty-handed. He taught them the lofty .knowledge of the Vedanta and the soul
--
But he remained as ever the willing instrument in the hand of God, the child of the Divine Mother, totally untouched by the idea of being a teacher. He used to say that three ideas — that he was a guru, a father, and a master — pricked his flesh like thorns. Yet he was an extraordinary teacher. He stirred his disciples' hearts more by a subtle influence than by actions or words. He never claimed to be the founder of a religion or the organizer of a sect. Yet he was a religious dynamo. He was the verifier of all religions and creeds. He was like an expert gardener, who prepares the soil and removes the weeds, knowing that the plants will grow because of the inherent power of the seeds, producing each its appropriate flowers and fruits. He never thrust his ideas on anybody. He understood people's limitations and worked on the principle that what is good for one may be bad for another. He had the unusual power of knowing the devotees' minds, even their inmost souls, at the first sight. He accepted disciples with the full knowledge of their past tendencies and future possibilities. The life of evil did not frighten him, nor did religious squeamishness raise anybody in his estimation. He saw in everything the unerring finger of the Divine Mother. Even the light that leads astray was to him the light from God.
To those who became his intimate disciples the Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even the chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. The devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that they would have no time to ask themselves whether he was an Incarnation, a perfect soul, or a yogi. His very presence was a great teaching; words were superfluous. In later years his disciples remarked that while they were with him they would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of their frivolities in the presence of such a great person. They had convincing proof that the Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in their hearts the love of God and give them His vision.
--
The first two householder devotees to come to Dakshineswar were Ramchandra Dutta and Manomohan Mitra. A medical practitioner and chemist, Ram was sceptical about God and religion and never enjoyed peace of soul. He wanted tangible proof of God's existence. The Master said to him: "God really" exists. You don't see the stars in the day-time, but that doesn't mean that the stars do not exist. There is butter in milk. But can anybody see it by merely looking at the milk? To get butter you must churn milk in a quiet and cool place. You cannot realize God by a mere wish; you must go through some mental disciplines." By degrees the Master awakened Ram's spirituality and the latter became one of his foremost lay disciples. It was Ram who introduced Narendranath to Sri Ramakrishna. Narendra was a relative of Ram.
Manomohan at first met with considerable opposition from his wife and other relatives, who resented his visits to Dakshineswar. But in the end the unselfish love of the Master triumphed over worldly affection. It was Manomohan who brought Rakhal to the Master.
--
Balaram Bose came of a wealthy Vaishnava family. From his youth he had shown a deep religious temperament and had devoted his time to meditation, prayer, and the study of the Vaishnava scriptures. He was very much impressed by Sri Ramakrishna even at their first meeting. He asked Sri Ramakrishna whether God really existed and, if so, whether a man could realize Him. The Master said: "God reveals Himself to the devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not draw response by praying to Him once, you must not conclude that He does not exist. Pray to God, thinking of Him as dearer than your very self. He is much attached to His devotees. He comes to a man even before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God." Balaram had never before heard God spoken of in such forceful words; every one of the words seemed true to him. Under the Master's influence he outgrew the conventions of the Vaishnava worship and became one of the most beloved of the disciples. It was at his home that the Master slept whe never he spent a night in Calcutta.
--- MAHENDRA OR M.
--
Durgacharan Nag, also known as Nag Mahashay, was the ideal householder among the lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He was the embodiment of the Master's ideal of life in the world, unstained by worldliness. In spite of his intense desire to become a sannyasi, Sri Ramakrishna asked him to live in the world in the spirit of a monk, and the disciple truly carried out this injunction. He was born of a poor family and even during his boyhood often sacrificed everything to lessen the sufferings of the needy. He had married at an early age and after his wife's death had married a second time to obey his father's command. But he once said to his wife: "Love on the physical level never lasts. He is indeed blessed who can give his love to God with his whole heart. Even a little attachment to the body endures for several births. So do not be attached to this cage of bone and flesh. Take shelter at the feet of the Mother and think of Her alone. Thus your life here and hereafter will be ennobled." The Master spoke of him as a "blazing light". He received every word of Sri Ramakrishna in dead earnest. One day he heard the Master saying that it was difficult for doctors, lawyers, and brokers to make much progress in spirituality. Of doctors he said, "If the mind clings to the tiny drops of medicine, how can it conceive of the Infinite?" That was the end of Durgacharan's medical practice and he threw his chest of medicines into the Ganges. Sri Ramakrishna assured him that he would not lack simple food and clothing. He bade him serve holy men. On being asked where he would find real holy men, the Master said that the sadhus themselves would seek his company. No sannyasi could have lived a more austere life than Durgacharan.
--- GIRISH GHOSH
--
As time passed, Girish began to learn that the guru is the one who silently unfolds the disciple's inner life. He became a steadfast devotee of the Master. He often loaded the Master with insults, drank in his presence, and took liberties which astounded the other devotees. But the Master knew that at heart Girish was tender, faithful, and sincere. He would not allow Girish to give up the theatre. And when a devotee asked him to tell Girish to give up drinking, he sternly replied: "That is none of your business. He who has taken charge of him will look after him. Girish is a devotee of heroic type. I tell you, drinking will not affect him." The Master knew that mere words could not induce a man to break deep-rooted habits, but that the silent influence of love worked miracles. Therefore he never asked him to give up alcohol, with the result that Girish himself eventually broke the habit. Sri Ramakrishna had strengthened Girish's resolution by allowing him to feel that he was absolutely free.
One day Girish felt depressed because he was unable to submit to any routine of spiritual discipline. In an exalted mood the Master said to him: "All right, give me your power of attorney. Henceforth I assume responsibility for you. You need not do anything." Girish heaved a sigh of relief. He felt happy to think that Sri Ramakrishna had assumed his spiritual responsibilities. But poor Girish could not then realize that He also, on his part, had to give up his freedom and make of himself a puppet in Sri Ramakrishna's hands. The Master began to discipline him according to this new attitude. One day Girish said about a trifling matter, "Yes, I shall do this." "No, no!" the Master corrected him. "You must not speak in that egotistic manner. You should say, 'God willing, I shall do it.'" Girish understood. Thenceforth he tried to give up all idea of personal responsibility and surrender himself to the Divine Will. His mind began to dwell constantly on Sri Ramakrishna. This unconscious meditation in time chastened his turbulent spirit.
--
Narendra was born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863, of an aristocratic kayastha family. His mother was steeped in the great Hindu epics, and his father, a distinguished attorney of the Calcutta High Court, was an agnostic about religion, a friend of the poor, and a mocker at social conventions. Even in his boyhood and youth Narendra possessed great physical courage and presence of mind, a vivid imagination, deep power of thought, keen intelligence, an extraordinary memory, a love of truth, a passion for purity, a spirit of independence, and a tender heart. An expert musician, he also acquired proficiency in physics, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, history, and literature. He grew up into an extremely handsome young man. Even as a child he practised meditation and showed great power of concentration. Though free and passionate in word and action, he took the vow of austere religious chastity and never allowed the fire of purity to be extinguished by the slightest defilement of body or soul.
As he read in college the rationalistic Western philosophers of the nineteenth century, his boyhood faith in God and religion was unsettled. He would not accept religion on mere faith; he wanted demonstration of God. But very soon his passionate nature discovered that mere Universal Reason was cold and bloodless. His emotional nature, dissatisfied with a mere abstraction, required a concrete support to help him in the hours of temptation. He wanted an external power, a guru, who by embodying perfection in the flesh would still the commotion of his soul. Attracted by the magnetic personality of Keshab, he joined the Brahmo Samaj and became a singer in its choir. But in the Samaj he did not find the guru who could say that he had seen God.
--
Narendra began to talk of his doubt of the very existence of God. His friends thought he had become an atheist, and piously circulated gossip adducing unmentionable motives for his unbelief. His moral character was maligned. Even some of the Master's disciples partly believed the gossip, and Narendra told these to their faces that only a coward believed in God through fear of suffering or hell. But he was distressed to think that Sri Ramakrishna, too, might believe these false reports. His pride revolted. He said to himself: "What does it matter? If a man's good name rests on such slender foundations, I don't care." But later on he was amazed to learn that the Master had never lost faith in him. To a disciple who complained about Narendra's degradation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: "Hush, you fool! The Mother has told me it can never be so. I won't look at you if you speak that way again."
The moment came when Narendra's distress reached its climax. He had gone the whole day without food. As he was returning home in the evening he could hardly lift his tired limbs. He sat down in front of a house in sheer exhaustion, too weak even to think. His mind began to wander. Then, suddenly, a divine power lifted the veil over his soul. He found the solution of the problem of the coexistence of divine justice and misery, the presence of suffering in the creation of a blissful Providence. He felt bodily refreshed, his soul was bathed in peace, and he slept serenely.
--
Harinath had led the austere life of a brahmachari even from his early boyhood — bathing in the Ganges every day, cooking his own meals, waking before sunrise, and reciting the Gita from memory before leaving bed. He found in the Master the embodiment of the Vedanta scriptures. Aspiring to be a follower of the ascetic Sankara, he cherished a great hatred for women. One day he said to the Master that he could not allow even small girls to come near him. The Master scolded him and said: "You are talking like a fool. Why should you hate women? They are the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Regard them as your own mother and you will never feel their evil influence. The more you hate them, the more you will fall into their snares." Hari said later that these words completely changed his attitude toward women.
The Master knew Hari's passion for Vedanta. But he did not wish any of his disciples to become a dry ascetic or a mere bookworm. So he asked Hari to practise Vedanta in life by giving up the unreal and following the Real. "But it is not so easy", Sri Ramakrishna said, "to realize the illusoriness of the world. Study alone does not help one very much. The grace of God is required. Mere personal effort is futile. A man is a tiny creature after all, with very limited powers. But he can achieve the impossible if he prays to God for His grace." Whereupon the Master sang a song in praise of grace. Hari was profoundly moved and shed tears. Later in life Hari achieved a wonderful synthesis of the ideals of the Personal God and the Impersonal Truth.
--
With his woman devotees Sri Ramakrishna established a very sweet relationship. He himself embodied the tender traits of a woman: he had dwelt on the highest plane of Truth, where there is not even the slightest trace of sex; and his innate purity evoked only the noblest emotion in men and women alike. His woman devotees often said: "We seldom looked on Sri Ramakrishna as a member of the male sex. We regarded him as one of us. We never felt any constraint before him. He was our best confidant." They loved him as their child, their friend, and their teacher. In spiritual discipline he advised them to renounce lust and greed and especially warned them not to fall into the snares of men.
--- GOPAL MA
--
She spent about two months in uninterrupted communion with God, the Baby Gopala never leaving her for a moment. Then the intensity of her vision was lessened; had it not been, her body would have perished. The Master spoke highly of her exalted spiritual condition and said that such vision of God was a rare thing for ordinary mortals. The fun-loving Master one day confronted the critical Narendranath with this simple-minded woman. No two could have presented a more striking contrast. The Master knew of Narendra's lofty contempt for all visions, and he asked the old lady to narrate her experiences to Narendra. With great hesitation she told him her story. Now and then she interrupted her maternal chatter to ask Narendra: "My son, I am a poor ignorant woman. I don't understand anything. You are so learned. Now tell me if these visions of Gopala are true." As Narendra listened to the story he was profoundly moved. He said, "Yes, mother, they are quite true." Behind his cynicism Narendra, too, possessed a heart full of love and tenderness.
--- THE MARCH OF EVENTS
In 1881 Hriday was dismissed from service in the Kali temple, for an act of indiscretion, and was ordered by the authorities never again to enter the garden. In a way the hand of the Divine Mother may be seen even in this. Having taken care of Sri Ramakrishna during the stormy days of his spiritual discipline, Hriday had come naturally to consider himself the sole guardian of his uncle. None could approach the Master without his knowledge. And he would be extremely jealous if Sri Ramakrishna paid attention to anyone else. Hriday's removal made it possible for the real devotees of the Master to approach him freely and live with him in the temple garden.
During the week-ends the householders, enjoying a respite from their office duties, visited the Master. The meetings on Sunday afternoons were of the nature of little festivals. Refreshments were often served. Professional musicians now and then sang devotional songs. The Master and the devotees sang and danced, Sri Ramakrishna frequently going into ecstatic moods. The happy memory of such a Sunday would linger long in the minds of the devotees. Those whom the Master wanted for special instruction he would ask to visit him on Tuesdays and Saturdays. These days were particularly auspicious for the worship of Kali.
--
But his large heart never turned anyone away. He said, "Let me be condemned to be born over and over again, even in the form of a dog, if I can be of help to a single soul." And he bore the pain, singing cheerfully, "Let the body be preoccupied with illness, but, O mind, dwell for ever in God's Bliss!"
One night he had a hemorrhage of the throat. The doctor now diagnosed the illness as cancer. Narendra was the first to break this heart-rending news to the disciples. Within three days the Master was removed to Calcutta for better treatment. At Balaram's house he remained a week until a suitable place could be found at Syampukur, in the northern section of Calcutta. During this week he dedicated himself practically without respite to the instruction of those beloved devotees who had been unable to visit him oftener at Dakshineswar. Discourses incessantly flowed from his tongue, and he often went into samadhi. Dr. Mahendra Sarkar, the celebrated homeopath of Calcutta, was invited to undertake his treatment.
--
Yet one is not sure whether the Master's soul actually was tortured by this agonizing disease. At least during his moments of spiritual exaltation — which became almost constant during the closing days of his life on earth — he lost all consciousness of the body, of illness and suffering. One of his attendants (Latu, later known as Swami Adbhutananda.) said later on: "While Sri Ramakrishna lay sick he never actually suffered pain. He would often say: 'O mind! Forget the body, forget the sickness, and remain merged in Bliss.' No, he did not really suffer. At times he would be in a state when the thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even when he could not speak he would let us know in some way that there was no suffering, and this fact was clearly evident to all who watched him. People who did not understand him thought that his suffering was very great. What spiritual joy he transmitted to us at that time! Could such a thing have been possible if he had 'been suffering physically? It was during this period that he taught us again these truths: 'Brahman is always unattached. The three gunas are in It, but It is unaffected by them, just as the wind carries odour yet remains odourless.' 'Brahman is Infinite Being, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Bliss. In It there exist no delusion, no misery, no disease, no death, no growth, no decay.' 'The Transcendental Being and the being within are one and the same. There is one indivisible Absolute Existence.'"
The Holy Mother secretly went to a Siva temple across the Ganges to intercede with the Deity for the Master's recovery. In a revelation she was told to prepare herself for the inevitable end.
--
Sunday, August 15, 1886. The Master's pulse became irregular. The devotees stood by the bedside. Toward dusk Sri Ramakrishna had difficulty in breathing. A short time afterwards he complained of hunger. A little liquid food was put into his mouth; some of it he swallowed, and the rest ran over his chin. Two attendants began to fan him. All at once he went into samadhi of a rather unusual type. The body became stiff. Sashi burst into tears. But after midnight the Master revived. He was now very hungry and helped himself to a bowl of porridge. He said he was strong again. He sat up against five or six pillows, which were supported by the body of Sashi, who was fanning him. Narendra took his feet on his lap and began to rub them. Again and again the Master repeated to him, "Take care of these boys." Then he asked to lie down. Three times in ringing tone's he cried the name of Kali, his life's Beloved, and lay back. At two minutes past one there was a low sound in his throat and he fell a little to one side. A thrill passed over his body. His hair stood on end. His eyes became fixed on the tip of his nose. His face was lighted with a smile. The final ecstasy began. It was mahasamadhi, total absorption, from which his mind never returned. Narendra, unable to bear it, ran downstairs.
Dr. Sarkar arrived the following noon and pronounced that life had departed not more than half an hour before. At five o'clock the Masters body was brought downstairs, laid on a cot, dressed in ochre clothes, and decorated with sandal-paste and flowers. A procession was formed. The passers-by wept as the body was taken to the cremation ground at the Baranagore Ghat on the Ganges.
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
But mind, never at ease, creaketh "I".
This I persisteth not, posteth not through genera-
--
nevertheless, One True God crieth hriliu!
And the laughter of the Death-rattle is akin.
--
and faileth never.
The wings of love droop not with time, nor slacken
--
fection is impossible never cease to attract.
The lesson of the chapter is thus always to rise
--
But I have never tasted anything to match the
(?)
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
"M", as the author modestly styles himself, was peculiarly qualified for his task. To a reverent love for his master, to a deep and experiential knowledge of that master's teaching, he added a prodigious memory for the small happenings of each day and a happy gift for recording them in an interesting and realistic way. Making good use of his natural gifts and of the circumstances in which he found himself, "M" produced a book unique, so far as my knowledge goes, in the literature of hagiography. No other saint has had so able and indefatigable a Boswell. never have the small events of a contemplative's daily life been described with such a wealth of intimate detail. never have the casual and unstudied utterances of a great religious teacher been set down with so minute a fidelity. To Western readers, it is true, this fidelity and this wealth of detail are sometimes a trifle disconcerting; for the social, religious and intellectual frames of reference within which Sri Ramakrishna did his thinking and expressed his feelings were entirely Indian. But after the first few surprises and bewilderments, we begin to find something peculiarly stimulating and instructive about the very strangeness and, to our eyes, the eccentricity of the man revealed to us in "M's" narrative. What a scholastic philosopher would call the "accidents" of Ramakrishna's life were intensely Hindu and therefore, so far as we in the West are concerned, unfamiliar and hard to understand; its "essence", however, was intensely mystical and therefore universal. To read through these conversations in which mystical doctrine alternates with an unfamiliar kind of humour, and where discussions of the oddest aspects of Hindu mythology give place to the most profound and subtle utterances about the nature of Ultimate Reality, is in itself a liberal, education in humility, tolerance and suspense of judgment. We must be grateful to the translator for his excellent version of a book so curious and delightful as a biographical document, so precious, at the same time, for what it teaches us of the life of the spirit.
--------------------
--
I have made a literal translation, omitting only a few pages of no particular interest to English-speaking readers. Often literary grace has been sacrificed for the sake of literal translation. No translation can do full justice to the original. This difficulty is all the more felt in the present work, whose contents are of a deep mystical nature and describe the inner experiences of a great seer. Human language is an altogether inadequate vehicle to express supersensuous perception. Sri Ramakrishna was almost illiterate. He never clothed his thoughts in formal language. His words sought to convey his direct realization of Truth. His conversation was in a village patois. Therein lies its charm. In order to explain to his listeners an abstruse philosophy, he, like Christ before him, used with telling effect homely parables and illustrations, culled from his observation of the daily life around him.
The reader will find mentioned in this work many visions and experiences that fall outside the ken of physical science and even psychology. With the development of modern knowledge the border line between the natural and the supernatural is ever shifting its position. Genuine mystical experiences are not as suspect now as they were half a century ago. The words of Sri Ramakrishna have already exerted a tremendous influence in the land of his birth. Savants of Europe have found in his words the ring of universal truth.
--
Sri Ramakrishna was a teacher for both the Orders of mankind, Sannysins and householders. His own life offered an ideal example for both, and he left behind disciples who followed the highest traditions he had set in respect of both these ways of life. M., along with Nag Mahashay, exemplified how a householder can rise to the highest level of sagehood. M. was married to Nikunja Devi, a distant relative of Keshab Chander Sen, even when he was reading at College, and he had four children, two sons and two daughters. The responsibility of the family, no doubt, made him dependent on his professional income, but the great devotee that he was, he never compromised with ideals and principles for this reason. Once when he was working as the headmaster in a school managed by the great Vidysgar, the results of the school at the public examination happened to be rather poor, and Vidysgar attri buted it to M's preoccupation with the Master and his consequent failure to attend adequately to the school work. M. at once resigned his post without any thought of the morrow. Within a fortnight the family was in poverty, and M. was one day pacing up and down the verandah of his house, musing how he would feed his children the next day. Just then a man came with a letter addressed to 'Mahendra Babu', and on opening it, M. found that it was a letter from his friend Sri Surendra Nath Banerjee, asking whether he would like to take up a professorship in the Ripon College. In this way three or four times he gave up the job that gave him the wherewithal to support the family, either for upholding principles or for practising spiritual Sadhanas in holy places, without any consideration of the possible dire worldly consequences; but he was always able to get over these difficulties somehow, and the interests of his family never suffered. In spite of his disregard for worldly goods, he was, towards the latter part of his life, in a fairly flourishing condition as the proprietor of the Morton School which he developed into a noted educational institution in the city. The Lord has said in the Bhagavad Git that in the case of those who think of nothing except Him, He Himself would take up all their material and spiritual responsibilities. M. was an example of the truth of the Lord's promise.
Though his children received proper attention from him, his real family, both during the Master's lifetime and after, consisted of saints, devotees, Sannysins and spiritual aspirants. His life exemplifies the Master's teaching that an ideal householder must be like a good maidservant of a family, loving and caring properly for the children of the house, but knowing always that her real home and children are elsewhere. During the Master's lifetime he spent all his Sundays and other holidays with him and his devotees, and besides listening to the holy talks and devotional music, practised meditation both on the Personal and the Impersonal aspects of God under the direct guidance of the Master. In the pages of the Gospel the reader gets a picture of M.'s spiritual relationship with the Master how from a hazy belief in the Impersonal God of the Brahmos, he was step by step brought to accept both Personality and Impersonality as the two aspects of the same Non-dual Being, how he was convinced of the manifestation of that Being as Gods, Goddesses and as Incarnations, and how he was established in a life that was both of a Jnni and of a Bhakta. This Jnni-Bhakta outlook and way of living became so dominant a feature of his life that Swami Raghavananda, who was very closely associated with him during his last six years, remarks: "Among those who lived with M. in latter days, some felt that he always lived in this constant and conscious union with God even with open eyes (i.e., even in waking consciousness)." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXXVII. P. 442.)
--
The two pamphlets in English entitled the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna appeared in October and November 1897. They drew the spontaneous acclamation of Swami Vivekananda, who wrote on 24th November of that year from Dehra Dun to M.:"Many many thanks for your second leaflet. It is indeed wonderful. The move is quite original, and never was the life of a Great Teacher brought before the public untarnished by the writer's mind, as you are doing. The language also is beyond all praise, so fresh, so pointed, and withal so plain and easy. I cannot express in adequate terms how I have enjoyed them. I am really in a transport when I read them. Strange, isn't it? Our Teacher and Lord was so original, and each one of us will have to be original or nothing.
I now understand why none of us attempted His life before. It has been reserved for you, this great work. He is with you evidently." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P. 141. Also given in the first edition of the Gospel published from Ramakrishna Math, Madras in 1911.)
0.00 - The Wellspring of Reality, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
It follows that the more specialized society becomes, the less attention does it pay to the discoveries of the mind, which are intuitively beamed toward the brain, there to be received only if the switches are "on." Specialization tends to shut off the wide-band tuning searches and thus to preclude further discovery of the all-powerful generalized principles. Again we see how society's perverse fixation on specialization leads to its extinction. We are so specialized that one man discovers empirically how to release the energy of the atom, while another, unbeknownst to him, is ordered by his political factotum to make an atomic bomb by use of the secretly and anonymously published data. That gives much expedient employment, which solves the politician's momentary problem, but requires that the politicians keep on preparing for further warring with other political states to keep their respective peoples employed. It is also mistakenly assumed that employment is the only means by which humans can earn the right to live, for politicians have yet to discover how much wealth is available for distribution. All this is rationalized on the now scientifically discredited premise that there can never be enough life support for all. Thus humanity's specialization leads only toward warring and such devastating tools, both, visible and invisible, as ultimately to destroy all Earthians.
Only a comprehensive switch from the narrowing specialization and toward an evermore inclusive and refining comprehension by all humanity-regarding all the factors governing omnicontinuing life aboard our spaceship Earth-can bring about reorientation from the self-extinction-bound human trending, and do so within the critical time remaining before we have passed the point of chemical process irretrievability.
0.01 - I - Sri Aurobindos personality, his outer retirement - outside contacts after 1910 - spiritual personalities- Vibhutis and Avatars - transformtion of human personality, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Greatness is magnetic and in a sense contagious. Wherever manifested, greatness is claimed by humanity as something that reveals the possibility of the race. The highest utility of greatness is not merely to attract us but to inspire us to follow it and rise to our own highest spiritual stature. To the majority of men Truth remains abstract, impersonal and far unless it is seen and felt concretely in a human personality. A man never knows a truth actively except through a person and by embodying it in his own personality. Some glimpse of the Truth-Consciousness which Sri Aurobindo embodied may be caught in these Evening Talks.
***
0.01 - Letters from the Mother to Her Son, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
say, in all truth, that I never lose consciousness throughout the
twenty-four hours, which thus form an unbroken sequence, and
--
way to perpetuate the human race. I have never denied this, but
I wish to add that there is nothing to fear in this respect; if it is
--
will surely never suffer from a dearth of men.
28 September 1931
0.01 - Life and Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
God. Therefore we see in India that a sharp incompatibility has been created between life in the world and spiritual growth and perfection, and although the tradition and ideal of a victorious harmony between the inner attraction and the outer demand remains, it is little or else very imperfectly exemplified. In fact, when a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on the path of Yoga, he is popularly supposed to be lost inevitably to the great stream of our collective existence and the secular effort of humanity. So strongly has the idea prevailed, so much has it been emphasised by prevalent philosophies and religions that to escape from life is now commonly considered as not only the necessary condition, but the general object of Yoga. No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a liberated and perfected human life or, in its method, not only permit but favour the harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in the divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a higher Existence descended into the material world in which it is possible for the lower to transfigure itself and put on the nature of the higher and the higher to reveal itself in the forms of the lower. To avoid the life which is given him for the realisation of that possibility, can never be either the indispensable condition or the whole and ultimate object of his supreme endeavour or of his most powerful means of self-fulfilment. It can only be a temporary necessity under certain conditions or a specialised extreme effort imposed on the individual so as to prepare a greater general possibility for the race. The true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplished when the conscious
Yoga in man becomes, like the subconscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous with life itself and we can once more, looking out both on the path and the achievement, say in a more perfect and luminous sense: "All life is Yoga."
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
formation is at least as strong as yours - and we must never
tempt the adverse forces.
--
all. Each one has his faults and must never forget it when he
deals with others.
--
help from an invisible and silent Mother (who never contradicts
you openly) if he likes.
--
keep it: never LOSE YOUR TEMPER.
I told you already that far from diminishing, your hold upon
--
You must be calm and concentrated, never utter an unnecessary
sentence and have faith in the divine help.
--
quenched, for the waters of love never run dry.
3 July 1934
--
I sing Your praises. I will never forget how You respond when one calls You with intensity, nor the marvel
of Your presence which changes the attitude of others
--
Yes, I am always with you, but you must never forget to call me,
for it is by calling me that the presence becomes effective.
--
I never said that you should be the judge. I agree to be the judge
in all cases, because I recognise that it is very difficult to know
0.02 - The Three Steps of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
If, then, this inferior equilibrium is the basis and first means of the higher movements which the universal Power contemplates and if it constitutes the vehicle in which the Divine here seeks to reveal Itself, if the Indian saying is true that the body is the instrument provided for the fulfilment of the right law of our nature, then any final recoil from the physical life must be a turning away from the completeness of the divine Wisdom and a renunciation of its aim in earthly manifestation. Such a refusal may be, owing to some secret law of their development, the right attitude for certain individuals, but never the aim intended for mankind. It can be, therefore, no integral Yoga which ignores the body or makes its annulment or its rejection indispensable to a perfect spirituality. Rather, the perfecting of the body also should be the last triumph of the Spirit and to make the bodily life also divine must be God's final seal upon His work in the universe. The obstacle which the physical presents to the spiritual is no argument for the rejection of the physical; for in the unseen providence of things our greatest difficulties are our best opportunities. A supreme difficulty is Nature's indication to us of a supreme conquest to be won and an ultimate problem to be solved; it is not a warning of an inextricable snare to be shunned or of an enemy too strong for us from whom we must flee.
Equally, the vital and nervous energies in us are there for a great utility; they too demand the divine realisation of their possibilities in our ultimate fulfilment. The great part assigned to this element in the universal scheme is powerfully emphasised by the catholic wisdom of the Upanishads. "As the spokes of a wheel in its nave, so in the Life-Energy is all established, the triple knowledge and the Sacrifice and the power of the strong and the purity of the wise. Under the control of the LifeEnergy is all this that is established in the triple heaven."2 It is therefore no integral Yoga that kills these vital energies, forces them into a nerveless quiescence or roots them out as the source
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo was never a social man in the current sense of the term and definitely he was not a man of the crowd. This was due to his grave temperament, not to any feeling of superiority or to repulsion for men. At Baroda there was an Officers' Club which was patronised by the Maharajah and though Sri Aurobindo enrolled himself as a member he hardly went to the Club even on special occasions. He rather liked a small congenial circle of friends and spent most of his evenings with them whe never he was free and not occupied with his studies or other works. After Baroda when he went to Calcutta there was hardly any time in the storm and stress of revolutionary politics to permit him to lead a 'social life'. What little time he could spare from his incessant activities was spent in the house of Raja Subodh Mallick or at the Grey Street house. In the Karmayogin office he used to sit after the office hours till late chatting with a few persons or trying automatic writing. Strange dictations used to be received sometimes: one of them was the following: "Moni [Suresh Chakravarty] will bomb Sir Edward Grey when he will come as the Viceroy of India." In later years at Pondicherry there used to be a joke that Sir Edward took such a fright at the prospect of Moni's bombing him that he never came to India!
After Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondicherry from Chandernagore, he entered upon an intense period of Sadhana and for a few months he refused to receive anyone. After a time he used to sit down to talk in the evening and on some days tried automatic writing. Yogic Sadhan, a small book, was the result. In 1913 Sri Aurobindo moved to Rue Franois Martin No. 41 where he used to receive visitors at fixed times. This was generally in the morning between 9 and 10.30.
--
Very often some news-item in the daily newspaper, town-gossip, or some interesting letter received either by him or by a disciple, or a question from one of the gathering, occasionally some remark or query from himself would set the ball rolling for the talk. The whole thing was so informal that one could never predict the turn the conversation would take. The whole house therefore was in a mood to enjoy the freshness and the delight of meeting the unexpected. There were peals of laughter and light talk, jokes and criticism which might be called personal, there was seriousness and earnestness in abundance.
These sittings, in fact, furnished Sri Aurobindo with an occasion to admit and feel the outer atmosphere and that of the group living with him. It brought to him the much-needed direct contact of the mental and vital make-up of the disciples, enabling him to act on the atmosphere in general and on the individual in particular. He could thus help to remould their mental make-up by removing the limitations of their minds and opinions, and correct temperamental tendencies and formations. Thus, these sittings contributed at least partly to the creation of an atmosphere amenable to the working of the Higher Consciousness. Far more important than the actual talk and its content was the personal contact, the influence of the Master, and the divine atmosphere he emanated; for through his outer personality it was the Divine Consciousness that he allowed to act. All along behind the outer manifestation that appeared human, there was the influence and presence of the Divine.
--
But there were occasions when he did give his independent, personal views on some problems, on events or other subjects. Even then it was never an authoritarian pronouncement. Most often it appeared to be a logically worked out and almost inevitable conclusion expressed quite impersonally though with firm and sincere conviction. This impersonality was such a prominent trait of his personality! Even in such matters as dispatching a letter or a telegram it would not be a command from him to a disciple to carry out the task. Most often during his usual passage to the dining room he would stop on the way, drop in on the company of four or five disciples and, holding out the letter or the telegram, would say in the most amiable and yet the most impersonal way: "I suppose this has to be sent." And it would be for someone in the group instantly to volunteer and take it. The expression he very often used was "It was done" or "It happened", not "I did."
From 1918 to 1922, we gathered at No. 41, Rue Franois Martin, called the Guest House, upstairs, on a broad verandah into which four rooms opened and whose main piece of furniture was a small table 3' x 1' covered with a blue cotton cloth. That is where Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind the table with a few chairs in front for the visitors or for the disciples.
--
The long period of the Second World War with all its vicissitudes passed through these years. It was a priceless experience to see how he devoted his energies to the task of saving humanity from the threatened reign of Nazism. It was a practical lesson of solid work done for humanity without any thought of return or reward, without even letting humanity know what he was doing for it! Thus he lived the Divine and showed us how the Divine cares for the world, how He comes down and works for man. I shall never forget how he who was at one time in his own words "not merely a non-co-operator but an enemy of British Imperialism" bestowed such anxious care on the health of Churchill, listening carefully to the health-bulletins! It was the work of the Divine, it was the Divine's work for the world.
There were no formal evening sittings during these years, but what appeared to me important in our informal talks was recorded and has been incorporated in this book.
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
right. One should never talk about others - it is always useless
- and least of all about their difficulties; it is uncharitable because it does not help them to overcome the difficulties. As
--
You must not accept depression, never, and still less these
suggestions, so stupid and false, that I could ask you to go away!
--
I am never satisfied, even though You have given me
Series Three - To "My little smile"
--
and more; it is never satisfied with what You give it.
My child, I am going to reveal something that you will try to
--
should never have wished to come here. Mother, I wish
You would not tell me that I am rebelling, I do not like
--
And never doubt my affection, which is always with you to
help you make this indispensable progress.
--
The trouble one takes like this for someone is never in vain. The
result may not appear immediately, but one day or another a
--
peace and silence will be established in you some day never to
leave you again.
--
always keep that silence and peace one never feels poor
for any reason.
0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
That highest thing, the spiritual existence, is concerned with what is eternal but not therefore entirely aloof from the transient. For the spiritual man the mind's dream of perfect beauty is realised in an eternal love, beauty and delight that has no dependence and is equal behind all objective appearances; its dream of perfect Truth in the supreme, self-existent, self-apparent and eternal Verity which never varies, but explains and is the secret of all variations and the goal of all progress; its dream of perfect action in the omnipotent and self-guiding Law that is inherent for ever in all things and translates itself here in the rhythm of the worlds. What is fugitive vision or constant effort of creation in the brilliant Self is an eternally existing Reality in the Self that knows2 and is the Lord.
But if it is often difficult for the mental life to accommodate itself to the dully resistant material activity, how much more difficult must it seem for the spiritual existence to live on in a world that appears full not of the Truth but of every lie and illusion, not of Love and Beauty but of an encompassing discord and ugliness, not of the Law of Truth but of victorious selfishness and sin? Therefore the spiritual life tends easily in the saint and Sannyasin to withdraw from the material existence and reject it either wholly and physically or in the spirit. It sees this world as the kingdom of evil or of ignorance and the eternal and divine either in a far-off heaven or beyond where there is no world and no life. It separates itself inwardly, if not also physically, from the world's impurities; it asserts the spiritual reality in a spotless isolation. This withdrawal renders an invaluable service to the material life itself by forcing it to regard and even to bow down to something that is the direct negation of its own petty ideals, sordid cares and egoistic self-content.
0.04 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
intend that it should never be renewed.
10 March 1934
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
confidence in my love which never leaves you.
Your mother.
--
important point which should never be forgotten. All that leads
you away from me in thought and feeling is bad. All that brings
--
you. never for a moment do I leave you and I am sure that if
you are a little attentive you will very clearly feel the warmth of
--
who loved us very much - my brother and myself - never allowed us to be ill tempered or discontented or lazy. If we went
to complain to her about one thing or another, to tell her that
--
you go and work, and never mind whether you are in a good or
a bad mood! That is of no interest at all."
--
its own, the vital will never accept it.
So you must open yourself to the spiritual force and allow it
--
You must never lose confidence in my unvarying love.
30 August 1934
--
by my love which never leaves you.
7 September 1934
--
that you must never do what you would not dare to do in my
physical presence, for I am always with you.
--
is never happy. When one allows oneself to be ruled by every
passing impulse, one is never peaceful.
It is through work and self-mastery that one can find happiness and peace.
--
But you know that I never advise anyone to marry; it is a
terrible bondage.
--
I have never thought that you really wanted to marry, but
now and then it is good that I remind you that you are free and
--
Love from your mother who never leaves you.
15 May 1938
--
I am always with you, my dear child, and my love never
leaves you.
--
know that I shall never be able to leave this life. This is
my situation right now. The struggle is getting more and
--
grace will always be with you and never fail you. Moreover, there
is no reason to believe that you will not succeed in this life; on the
--
for violent sensations can never be a remedy; on the contrary,
they increase the confusion and obscurity.
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This system is the way of the Tantra. Owing to certain of its developments Tantra has fallen into discredit with those who are not Tantrics; and especially owing to the developments of its left-hand path, the Vama Marga, which not content with exceeding the duality of virtue and sin and instead of replacing them by spontaneous rightness of action seemed, sometimes, to make a method of self-indulgence, a method of unrestrained social immorality. nevertheless, in its origin, Tantra was a great and puissant system founded upon ideas which were at least partially true. Even its twofold division into the right-hand and left-hand paths, Dakshina Marga and Vama Marga, started from a certain profound perception. In the ancient symbolic sense of the words Dakshina and Vama, it was the distinction between the way of Knowledge and the way of Ananda, - Nature in man liberating itself by right discrimination in power and practice of its own energies, elements and potentialities and Nature in man
The Synthesis of the Systems
0.06 - INTRODUCTION, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
which have preceded it. This, nevertheless, is the Dark Night par excellence, of
which the Saint speaks in these words: 'The night which we have called that of
--
As far as we know, this commentary was never written. We have only the briefest
outline of what was to have been covered in the third, in which, following the same
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have never said anything of the kind. But you must prepare
yourself, purify yourself within, so that this approach may be
--
the Divine and never loses this contact.
The Divine is constantly present in the psychic being and the
--
I shall never be able to realise fully this relationship
which exists eternally, if You don't help me to do it.
--
and never refuses what is offered to Him whole-heartedly; thus
you may live in the peace of the certitude that you are accepted
--
union an accomplished fact, but it never complains, and knows
how to wait for the hour of realisations to come.
It is the vital which asks and asks and is never satisfied... The
psychic, the true deep feelings are always satisfied and never ask
for anything. The psychic feels my constant presence, is aware
--
Yesterday you were surprised that she had never broken anything, - naturally today she has broken something; this is how
mental formations work. That is why one must state only what
--
Without perseverance one never attains anything.
Because a thing is difficult it does not mean that one should give
--
rest assured it is always with you, and one never calls in vain.
If you resolve to do it, my force will be there to back up your
--
To be pessimistic has never been of any use except to attract
towards oneself just the things one fears. One must, on the
--
One must never be afraid, and if the adverse forces try to lodge
themselves in your lower nature, you have only to dislodge them,
--
One must never be afraid. Even in your sleep you must be able
to remember me and call me to your help if there is some danger.
--
more and will never be satisfied.
Y told me that very often he becomes an instrument of
--
In keeping quiet one never risks doing anything wrong, while
one has nine chances out of ten of saying something stupid when
--
It is never good to tell a lie, but here its results cannot but be
disastrous, for falsehood is the very symbol of that which wants
--
One must never lose hope or faith - there is nothing incurable,
and no limit can be set to the power of the Divine.
--
first control yourself and never use brute force to impose your
will.
--
The most important is to master yourself and never lose your
temper. If you don't have control over yourself, how can you
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
that was never there before. It seems to me that soon you will
discover, behind the apparent dryness of the surface, the always
--
I know that it is only the weak who complain. The strong never
do because they can't be hurt. So I never attach much importance
to complaints.
--
blessings never leave you.
31 October 1938
--
mother never.
But what a joy and love it is when both mother and son are
--
will come and go. But may I never lose sight of your
luminous smiling face through all these passing clouds!
--
are solved and you will get rid of your difficulties. I never feel
that I am forgiving. Love does not forgive, it understands and
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
them the appearance of a power or an action they do not possess in themselves. Hence the necessity of never being afraid and
of recognising them for what they are - a deceptive appearance.
--
For you must never forget that the outer person is only the
form and symbol of an eternal Reality, and through the physical
--
based on the experience of its founder. nevertheless, despite
these divergences, there is a sort of tradition which, behind the
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
being, we can never lose it. Isn't that so? But can we
come into contact with it from time to time when we are
--
we adore. We must learn to live with respect and never forget
His constant and immutable Presence.
01.01 - Sri Aurobindo - The Age of Sri Aurobindo, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
If one were to be busy about reforming the world and when that was done then alone to turn to other-worldly things, in that case, one would never take the turn, for the world will never be reformed totally or even considerably in that way. It is not that reformers have for the first time appeared on the earth in the present age. Men have attempted social, political, economic and moral reforms from times immemorial. But that has not barred the spiritual attempt or minimised its importance. To say that because an ideal is apparently too high or too great for the present age, it must be kept in cold storage is to set a premium on the present nature of humanity arid eternise it: that would bind the world to its old moorings and never give it the opportunity to be free and go out into the high seas of larger and greater realisations.
The ideal or perhaps one should say the policy of Real-politick is the thing needed in this world. To achieve something actually in the physical and material field, even a lesser something, is worth much more than speculating on high flaunting chimeras and indulging in day-dreams. Yes, but what is this something that has to be achieved in the material world? It is always an ideal. Even procuring food for each and every person, clothing and housing all is not less an ideal for all its concern about actuality. Only there are ideals and ideals; some are nearer to the earth, some seem to be in the background. But the mystery is that it is not always the ideal nearest to the earth which is the easiest to achieve or the first thing to be done first. Do we not see before our very eye show some very simple innocent social and economic changes are difficult to carry outthey bring in their train quite disproportionately gestures and movements of violence and revolution? That is because we seek to cure the symptoms and not touch the root of the disease. For even the most innocent-looking social, economic or political abuse has at its base far-reaching attitudes and life-urgeseven a spiritual outlook that have to be sought out and tackled first, if the attempt at reform is to be permanently and wholly successful. Even in mundane matters we do not dig deep enough, or rise high enough.
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
This has been the highest consummation, the supreme goal which the purest spiritual experience and the deepest aspiration of the human consciousness generally sought to attain. But in this view, the world or creation or Nature came in the end to be looked upon as fundamentally a product of Ignorance: ignorance and suffering and incapacity and death were declared to be the very hallmark of things terrestrial. The Light that dwells above and beyond can be made to shed for a while some kind of lustre upon the mortal darkness but never altogether to remove or change itto live in the full light, to be in and of the Light means to pass beyond. Not that there have not been other strands and types of spiritual experiences and aspirations, but the one we are considering has always struck the major chord and dominated and drowned all the rest.
But the initial illusory consciousness of the Overmind need not at all lead to the static Brahmic consciousness or Sunyam alone. As a matter of fact, there is in this particular processes of consciousness a hiatus between the two, between Maya and Brahman, as though one has to leap from the one into the other somehow. This hiatus is filled up in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga by the principle of Supermind, not synthetic-analytic2 in knowledge like Overmind and the highest mental intelligence, but inescapably unitarian even in the utmost diversity. Supermind is the Truth-consciousness at once static and dynamic, self-existent and creative: in Supermind the Brahmic consciousness Sachchidanandais ever self-aware and ever manifested and embodied in fundamental truth-powers and truth-forms for the play of creation; it is the plane where the One breaks out into the Many and the Many still remain one, being and knowing themselves to be but various self-expressions of the One; it develops the spiritual archetypes, the divine names and forms of all individualisations of an evolving existence.
--
Now, with regard to the time that the present stage of evolution is likely to take for its fulfilment, one can presume that since or if the specific urge and stress has manifested and come up to the front, this very fact would show that the problem has become a problem of actuality, and even that it can be dealt with as if it had to be solved now or never. We have said that in man, with man's self-consciousness or the consciousness of the psychic being as the instrument, evolution has attained the capacity of a swift and concentrated process, which is the process of Yoga; the process will become swifter and more concentrated, the more that instrument grows and gathers power and is infused with the divine afflatus. In fact, evolution has been such a process of gradual acceleration in tempo from the very beginning. The earliest stage, for example, the stage of dead Matter, of the play of the mere chemical forces was a very, very long one; it took millions and millions of years to come to the point when the manifestation of life became possible. But the period of elementary life, as manifested in the plant world that followed, although it too lasted a good many millions of years, was much briefer than the preceding periodit ended with the advent of the first animal form. The age of animal life, again, has been very much shorter than that of the plant life before man came upon earth. And man is already more than a million or two years oldit is fully time that a higher order of being should be created out of him.
The Dhammapada, I. 1
The Supermind is not merely synthetic. The Supermind is synthetic only on the lowest spaces of itself, where it has to prepare the principles of Overmind,synthesis is necessary only where analysis has taken place, one has dissected everything, put in pieces (analysis), so one has to piece together. But Supermind is unitarian, has never divided up, so it does not need to add and piece together the parts and fragments. It has always held the conscious Many together in the conscious One.
***
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We do not say that poets have never sung of God and Soul and things transcendent. Poets have always done that. But what I say is this that presentation of spiritual truths, as they are in their own home, in other words, treated philosophically and yet in a supreme poetic manner, has always been a rarity. We have, indeed, in India the Gita and the Upanishads, great philosophical poems, if there were any. But for one thing they are on dizzy heights out of the reach of common man and for another they are idolised more as philosophy than as poetry. Doubtless, our Vaishnava poets sang of God and Love Divine; and Rabindranath, in one sense, a typical modern Vaishnava, did the same. And their songs are masterpieces. But are they not all human, too human, as the mad prophet would say? In them it is the human significance, the human manner that touches and moves us the spiritual significance remains esoteric, is suggested, is a matter of deduction. Sri Aurobindo has dealt with spiritual experiences in a different way. He has not clothed them in human symbols and allegories, in images and figures of the mere earthly and secular life: he presents them in their nakedness, just as they are seen and realised. He has not sought to tone down the rigour of truth with contrivances that easily charm and captivate the common human mind and heart. Nor has he indulged like so many poet philosophers in vague generalisations and colourless or too colourful truisms that do not embody a clear thought or rounded idea, a radiant judgment. Sri Aurobindo has given us in his poetry thoughts that are clear-cut, ideas beautifully chiselledhe is always luminously forceful.
Take these Vedantic lines that in their limpidity and harmonious flow beat anything found in the fine French poet Lamartine:
--
Where murmurs never sound of harp or lute
And no voice sings,
01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
one can explain that it is the Christ calling the Church or God appealing to the human soul or one can simply find in it nothing more than a man pining for his woman. Anyhow I would not call it spiritual poetry or even mystic poetry. For in itself it does not carry any double or oblique meaning, there is no suggestion that it is applicable to other fields or domains of consciousness: it is, as it were, monovalent. An allegory is never mysticism. There is more mysticism in Wordsworth, even in Shelley and Keats, than in Spenser, for example, who stands in this respect on the same ground as Bunyan in his The Pilgrim's Progress. Take Wordsworth as a Nature-worshipper,
Breaking the silence of the seas
--
O never then from me depart !11
I am anticipating however, I shall come to the point presently again. I was speaking of spiritual poetry. Listen once more to these simple, transparent, yet vibrant lines:
--
This is spiritual matter and spiritual manner that can never be improved upon. This is spiritual poetry in its quintessence. I am referring naturally here to the original and not to the translation which can never do full justice, even at its very best, to the poetic value in question. For apart from the individual genius of the poet, the greatness of the language, the instrument used by the poet, is also involved. It may well be what is comparatively easy and natural in the language of the gods (devabhasha) would mean a tour de force, if not altogether an impossibility, in a human language. The Sanskrit language was moulded and fashioned in the hands of the Rishis, that is to say, those who lived and moved and had their being in the spiritual consciousness. The Hebrew or even the Zend does not seem to have reached that peak, that absoluteness of the spiritual tone which seems inherent in the Indian tongue, although those too breathed and grew in a spiritual atmosphere. The later languages, however, Greek or Latin or their modern descendants, have gone still farther from the source, they are much nearer to the earth and are suffused with the smell and effluvia of this vale of tears.
Among the ancients, strictly speaking, the later classical Lucretius was a remarkable phenomenon. By nature he was a poet, but his mental interest lay in metaphysical speculation, in philosophy, and unpoetical business. He turned away from arms and heroes, wrath and love and, like Seneca and Aurelius, gave himself up to moralising and philosophising, delving 'into the mystery, the why and the how and the whither of it all. He chose a dangerous subject for his poetic inspiration and yet it cannot be said that his attempt was a failure. Lucretius was not a religious or spiritual poet; he was rather Marxian,atheistic, materialistic. The dialectical materialism of today could find in him a lot of nourishment and support. But whatever the content, the manner has made a whole difference. There was an idealism, a clarity of vision and an intensity of perception, which however scientific apparently, gave his creation a note, an accent, an atmosphere high, tense, aloof, ascetic, at times bordering on the supra-sensual. It was a high light, a force of consciousness that at its highest pitch had the ring and vibration of something almost spiritual. For the basic principle of Lucretius' inspiration is a large thought-force, a tense perception, a taut nervous reactionit is not, of course, the identity in being with the inner realities which is the hallmark of a spiritual consciousness, yet it is something on the way towards that.
01.03 - Rationalism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Now the question is, does Reason never fail? Is it such a perfect instrument as intellectualists think it to be? There is ground for serious misgivings. Reason says, for example, that the earth revolves round the sun: and reason, it is argued, is right, for we see that all the facts are conformableto it, even facts that were hitherto unknown and are now coming into our ken. But the difficulty is that Reason did not say that always in the past and may not say that always in the future. The old astronomers could explain the universe by holding quite a contrary theory and could fit into it all their astronomical data. A future scientist may come and explain the matter in quite a different way from either. It is only a choice of workable theories that Reason seems to offer; we do not know the fact itself, apart perhaps from exactly the amount that immediate sense-perception gives to each of us. Or again, if we take an example of another category, we may ask, does God exist? A candid Rationalist would say that he does not know although he has his own opinion about the matter. Evidently, Reason cannot solve all the problems that it meets; it can judge only truths that are of a certain type.
It may be answered that Reason is a faculty which gives us progressive knowledge of the reality, but as a knowing instrument it is perfect, at least it is the only instrument at our disposal; even if it gives a false, incomplete or blurred image of the reality, it has the means and capacity of correcting and completing itself. It offers theories, no doubt; but what are theories? They are simply the gradually increasing adaptation of the knowing subject to the object to be known, the evolving revelation of reality to our perception of it. Reason is the power which carries on that process of adaptation and revelation; we can safely rely upon Reason and trust It to carry on its work with increasing success.
01.03 - Sri Aurobindo and his School, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
This is the present nature of man, with its threefold nexus of mind and life and body, that stands there to be fought and conquered. This is the inferior nature, of which the ancients spoke, that holds man down inexorably to a lower dharma, imperfect mode of life the life that is and has been the human order till today. No amount of ceaseless action, however selflessly done, can move this wheel of Nature even by a hair's breadth away from the path that it has carved out from of old. Human nature and human society have been built up and are run by the forces of this inferior nature, and whatever shuffling and reshuffling we may make in its apparent factors and elements, the general scheme and fundamental form of life will never change. To displace earth (and to conquer nature means nothing less than that) and give it another orbit, one must find a fulcrum outside earth.
Sri Aurobindo does not preach flight from life and a retreat into the silent and passive Infinite; the goal of life is not, in his view, the extinction of life. Neither is he satisfied on that account to hold that life is best lived in the ordinary round of its unregenerate dharma. If the first is a blind alley, the second is a vicious circle,both lead nowhere.
01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
A search for something or someone never found,
Cult of an ideal never made real here,
An endless spiral of ascent and fall
--
And joys that never flowed through mortal limbs,
And lovelier scenes than earth's and happier lives.
--
And all the beauty that will never be.
Inaudible to our deaf mortal ears
--
Illumined That which never yet was made.
Thought lay down in a mighty voicelessness;
--
Peered out; he saw the hope that never sleeps,
The feet that run behind a fleeting fate,
01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Mental quiet and happiness they can get, but it can never be permanent or secure. But the spiritual consciousness is all light, peace, power and bliss. If one can live entirely in it, there is no question; these things become naturally and securely his.
But even if he can live partly in it or keep himself constantly open to it, he receives enough of this spiritual light and peace and strength and happiness to carry him securely through all the shocks of life. What one gains by opening to this spiritual consciousness, depends on what one seeks from it; if it is peace, one gets peace; if it is light or knowledge, one lives in a great light and receives a knowledge deeper and truer than any the normal mind of man can acquire; if it [is] strength or power, one gets a spiritual strength for the inner life or Yogic power to govern the outer work and action; if it is happiness, one enters into a beatitude far greater than any joy or happiness that the ordinary human life can give.
01.04 - Motives for Seeking the Divine, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Divine will bring Ananda, therefore it must be for the Ananda that we seek the union, is not true and has no force. One who loves a queen may know that if she returns his love it will bring him power, position, riches and yet it need not be for the power, position, riches that he seeks her love. He may love her for herself and could love her equally if she were not a queen; he might have no hope of any return whatever and yet love her, adore her, live for her, die for her simply because she is she. That has happened and men have loved women without any hope of enjoyment or result, loved steadily, passionately after age has come and beauty has gone. Patriots do not love their country only when she is rich, powerful, great and has much to give them; their love for country has been most ardent, passionate, absolute when the country was poor, degraded, miserable, having nothing to give but loss, wounds, torture, imprisonment, death as the wages of her service; yet even knowing that they would never see her free, men have lived, served and died for her - for her own sake, not for what she could give. Men have loved Truth for her own sake and for what they could seek or find of her, accepted poverty, persecution, death itself; they have been content even to seek for her always, not finding, and yet never given up the search.
That means what? That men, country, Truth and other things besides can be loved for their own sake and not for anything else, not for any circumstance or attendant quality or resulting enjoyment, but for something absolute that is either in them or behind their appearance and circumstance. The Divine is more than a man or woman, a stretch of land or a creed, opinion, discovery or principle. He is the Person beyond all persons, the
01.04 - The Intuition of the Age, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
This is the truth that is trying to dawn upon the new age. Not matter but that which forms the substance of matter, not intellect but a vaster consciousness that informs the intellect, not man as he is, an aberration in the cosmic order, but as he may and shall be the embodiment and fulfilment of that orderthis is the secret Intuition which, as yet dimly envisaged, nevertheless secretly inspires all the human activities of today. Only, the truth is being interpreted, as we have said, in terms of vital life. The intellectual and physical man gave us one aspect of the reality, but neither is the vital and psychical man the complete reality. The one acquisition of this shifting of the viewpoint has been that we are now in touch with the natural and deeper movement of humanity and not as before merely with its artificial scaffolding. The Alexandrine civilisation of humanity, in Nietzsche's phrase, was a sort of divagation from nature, it was following a loop away from the direct path of natural evolution. And the new Renaissance of today has precisely corrected this aberration of humanity and brought it again in a line with the natural cosmic order.
Certainly this does not go far enough into the motive of the change. The cosmic order does not mean mentalised vitalism which is also in its turn a section of the integral reality. It means the order of the spirit, it means the transfiguration of the physical, the vital and the intellectual into the supernal Substance, Power and Light of that Spirit. The real transcendence of humanity is not the transcendence of one or other of its levels but the total transcendence to an altogether different status and the transmutation of humanity in the mould of that statusnot a Nietzschean Titan nor a Bergsonian Dionysus but the tranquil vision and delight and dynamism of the Spirit the incarnation of a god-head.
01.04 - The Poetry in the Making, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The consciously purposive activity of the poetic consciousness in fact, of all artistic consciousness has shown itself with a clear and unambiguous emphasis in two directions. First of all with regard to the subject-matter: the old-world poets took things as they were, as they were obvious to the eye, things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with them in the beauty of their normal form and function. The modern mentality has turned away from the normal and the obvious: it does not accept and admit the "given" as the final and definitive norm of things. It wishes to discover and establish other norms, it strives to bring about changes in the nature and condition of things, envisage the shape of things to come, work for a brave new world. The poet of today, in spite of all his effort to remain a pure poet, in spite of Housman's advocacy of nonsense and not-sense being the essence of true Art, is almost invariably at heart an incorrigible prophet. In revolt against the old and established order of truths and customs, against all that is normally considered as beautiful,ideals and emotions and activities of man or aspects and scenes and movements of Natureagainst God or spiritual life, the modern poet turns deliberately to the ugly and the macabre, the meaningless, the insignificant and the triflingtins and teas, bone and dust and dustbin, hammer and sicklehe is still a prophet, a violent one, an iconoclast, but one who has his own icon, a terribly jealous being, that seeks to pull down the past, erase it, to break and batter and knead the elements in order to fashion out of them something conforming to his heart's desire. There is also the class who have the vision and found the truth and its solace, who are prophets, angelic and divine, messengers and harbingers of a new beauty that is to dawn upon earth. And yet there are others in whom the two strains mingle or approach in a strange way. All this means that the artist is far from being a mere receiver, a mechanical executor, a passive unconscious instrument, but that he is supremely' conscious and master of his faculties and implements. This fact is doubly reinforced when we find how much he is preoccupied with the technical aspect of his craft. The richness and variety of patterns that can be given to the poetic form know no bounds today. A few major rhythms were sufficient for the ancients to give full expression to their poetic inflatus. For they cared more for some major virtues, the basic and fundamental qualitiessuch as truth, sublimity, nobility, forcefulness, purity, simplicity, clarity, straightforwardness; they were more preoccupied with what they had to say and they wanted, no doubt, to say it beautifully and powerfully; but the modus operandi was not such a passion or obsession with them, it had not attained that almost absolute value for itself which modern craftsmanship gives it. As technology in practical life has become a thing of overwhelming importance to man today, become, in the Shakespearean phrase, his "be-all and end-all", even so the same spirit has invaded and pervaded his aesthetics too. The subtleties, variations and refinements, the revolutions, reversals and inventions which the modern poet has ushered and takes delight in, for their own sake, I repeat, for their intrinsic interest, not for the sake of the subject which they have to embody and clothe, have never been dream by Aristotle, the supreme legislator among the ancients, nor by Horace, the almost incomparable craftsman among the ancients in the domain of poetry. Man has become, to be sure, a self-conscious creator to the pith of his bone.
Such a stage in human evolution, the advent of Homo Faber, has been a necessity; it has to serve a purpose and it has done admirably its work. Only we have to put it in its proper place. The salvation of an extremely self-conscious age lies in an exceeding and not in a further enhancement or an exclusive concentration of the self-consciousness, nor, of course, in a falling back into the original unconsciousness. It is this shift in the poise of consciousness that has been presaged and prepared by the conscious, the scientific artists of today. Their task is to forge an instrument for a type of poetic or artistic creation completely new, unfamiliar, almost revolutionary which the older mould would find it impossible to render adequately. The yearning of the human consciousness was not to rest satisfied with the familiar and the ordinary, the pressure was for the discovery of other strands, secret stores of truth and reality and beauty. The first discovery was that of the great Unconscious, the dark and mysterious and all-powerful subconscient. Many of our poets and artists have been influenced by this power, some even sought to enter into that region and become its denizens. But artistic inspiration is an emanation of Light; whatever may be the field of its play, it can have its origin only in the higher spheres, if it is to be truly beautiful and not merely curious and scientific.
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
We hear what mortal ears have never heard,
We feel what earthly sense has never felt,
We love what common hearts repel and dread;
--
And stretches arms to what was never hers.
Outstretching arms to the unconscious Void,
--
A river that can never find its sea,
It runs through life and death on an edge of Time;
--
Remote in sovereign spheres that never meet
Or fronting like far poles of Night and Day.
--
A limit, a farness never wholly reached,
An unattained perfection calls to him
--
And never can the mighty Traveller rest
And never can the mystic voyage cease
Till the nescient dusk is lifted from man's soul
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In an age when Reason was considered as the highest light given to man, Tagore pointed to the Vision of the mystics as always the still greater light; when man was elated with undreamt-of worldly success, puffed up with incomparable material possessions and powers, Tagore's voice rang clear and emphatic in tune with the cry of the ancients: "What shall I do with all this mass of things, if I am not made immortal by that?" When men, in their individual as well as collective egoism, were scrambling for earthly gains and hoards, he held before them vaster and cleaner horizons, higher and deeper ways of being and living, maintained the sacred sense of human solidarity, the living consciousness of the Divine, one and indivisible. When the Gospel of Power had all but hypnotised men's minds, and Superman or God-man came to be equated with the Titan, Tagore saw through the falsehood and placed in front and above all the old-world eternal verities of love and self-giving, harmony and mutuality, sweetness and light. When pessimism, cynicism, agnosticism struck the major chord of human temperament, and grief and frustration and death and decay were taken as a matter of course to be the inevitable order of earthlylifebhasmantam idam shariramhe continued to sing the song of the Rishis that Ananda and Immortality are the breath of things, the birth right of human beings. When Modernism declared with a certitude never tobe contested that Matter is Brahman, Tagore said with the voice of one who knows that Spirit is Brahman.
Tagore is in direct line with those bards who have sung of the Spirit, who always soared high above the falsehoods and uglinesses of a merely mundane life and lived in the undecaying delights and beauties of a diviner consciousness. Spiritual reality was the central theme of his poetic creation: only and naturally he viewed it in a special way and endowed it with a special grace. We know of another God-intoxicated man, the Jewish philosopher Spinoza, who saw things sub specie aeternitatis, under the figure or mode of eternity. Well, Tagore can be said to see things, in their essential spiritual reality, under the figure or mode of beauty. Keats indeed spoke of truth being beauty and beauty truth. But there is a great difference in the outlook and inner experience. A worshipper of beauty, unless he rises to the Upanishadic norm, is prone to become sensuous and pagan. Keats was that, Kalidasa was that, even Shelley was not far different. The spiritual vein in all these poets remains secondary. In the old Indian master, it is part of his intellectual equipment, no doubt, but nothing much more than that. In the other two it comes in as strange flashes from an unknown country, as a sort of irruption or on the peak of the poetic afflatus or enthousiasmos.
--
Thus, on the one hand, the Eternity, the Infinity, the Spirit is brought nearer home to us in its embodied symbols and living vehicles and vivid formulations, it becomes easily available to mortals, even like the father to his son, to use a Vedic phrase; on the other hand, earthly things, mere humanities are uplifted and suffused with a "light that never was, on sea or land."
Another great poet of the spirit says also, almost like Tagore:
01.05 - The Nietzschean Antichrist, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Nietzsche as the apostle of force is a name now familiar to all the world. The hero, the warrior who never tamely accepts suffering and submission and defeat under any condition but fights always and fights to conquersuch is the ideal man, according to Nietzsche,the champion of strength, of greatness, of mightiness. The dominating personality infused with the supreme "will to power"he is Ubermensch, the Superman. Sentiment does not move the mountains, emotion diffuses itself only in vague aspiration. The motive power, the creative fiat does not dwell in the heart but somewhere higher. The way of the Cross, the path of love and charity and pity does not lead to the kingdom of Heaven. The world has tried it for the last twenty centuries of its Christian civilisation and the result is that we are still living in a luxuriant abundance of misery and sordidness and littleness. This is how Nietzsche thinks and feels. He finds no virtue in the old rgimes and he revolts from them. He wants a speedy and radical remedy and teaches that by violence only the Kingdom of Heaven can be seized. For, to Nietzsche the world is only a clash of forces and the Superman therefore is one who is the embodiment of the greatest force. Nietzsche does not care for the good, it is the great that moves him. The good, the moral is of man, conventional and has only a fictitious value. The great, the non-moral is, on the other hand, divine. That only has a value of its own. The good is nothing but a sort of makeshift arrangement which man makes for himself in order to live commodiously and which changes according to his temperament. But the great is one with the Supreme Wisdom and is absolute and imperative. The good cannot create the great; it is the great that makes for the good. This is what he really means when he says, "They say that a good cause sanctifies war but I tell thee it is a good war that sanctifies all cause." For the goodness of your cause you judge by your personal predilections, by your false conventionalities, by a standard that you set up in your ignoranceBut a good war, the output of strength in any cause is in itself a cause of salvation. For thereby you are the champion of that ultimate verity which conduces to the ultimate good. Do not shrink, he would say, to be even like the cyclone and the avalanche, destructive, indeed, but grand and puissant and therefore truer emblems of the BeyondJenseitsthan the weak, the little, the pitiful that do not dare to destroy and by that very fact cannot hope to create.
This is the Nietzsche we all know. But there is another aspect of his which the world has yet been slow to recognise. For, at bottom, Nietzsche is not all storm and fury. If his Superman is a Destroying Angel, he is none the less an angel. If he is endowed with a supreme sense of strength and power, there is also secreted in the core of his heart a sense of the beautiful that illumines his somewhat sombre aspect. For although Nietzsche is by birth a Slavo-Teuton, by culture and education he is pre-eminently Hellenic. His earliest works are on the subject of Greek tragedy and form what he describes as an "Apollonian dream." And to this dream, to this Greek aesthetic sense more than to any thing else he sacrifices justice and pity and charity. To him the weak and the miserable, the sick and the maimed are a sort of blot, a kind of ulcer on the beautiful face of humanity. The herd that wallow in suffering and relish suffering disfigure the aspect of the world and should therefore be relentlessly mowed out of existence. By being pitiful to them we give our tacit assent to their persistence. And it is precisely because of this that Nietzsche has a horror of Christianity. For compassion gives indulgence to all the ugliness of the world and thus renders that ugliness a necessary and indispensable element of existence. To protect the weak, to sympathise with the lowly brings about more of weakness and more of lowliness. Nietzsche has an aristocratic taste par excellencewhat he aims at is health and vigour and beauty. But above all it is an aristocracy of the spirit, an aristocracy endowed with all the richness and beauty of the soul that Nietzsche wants to establish. The beggar of the street is the symbol of ugliness, of the poverty of the spirit. And the so-called aristocrat, die millionaire of today is as poor and ugly as any helpless leper. The soul of either of them is made of the same dirty, sickly stuff. The tattered rags, the crouching heart, the effeminate nerve, the unenlightened soul are the standing ugliness of the world and they have no place in the ideal, the perfect humanity. Humanity, according to Nietzsche, is made in order to be beautiful, to conceive the beautiful, to create the beautiful. Nietzsche's Superman has its perfect image in a Grecian statue of Zeus cut out in white marble-Olympian grandeur shedding in every lineament Apollonian beauty and Dionysian vigour.
01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
One among many thousands never touched,
Engrossed in the external world's design,
--
Surprises of creation never achieved
Even by Matter's strange unconscious skill.
01.07 - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
"They can no longer tell us that it is only small minds that have piety. They are shown how it has grown best in one of the the greatest geometricians, one of the subtlest metaphysicians, one of the most penetrating minds that ever existed on earth. The piety of such a philosopher should make the unbeliever and the libertine declare what a certain Diocles said one day on seeing Epicurus in a temple: 'What a feast, what a spectacle for me to see Epicurus in a temple! All my doubts vainsh, piety takes its place again. I never saw Jupiter's greatness so well as now when I behold Epicurus kneeling down!"1
What characterises Pascal is the way in which he has bent his brainnot rejected it but truly bent and forced even the dry "geometrical brain" to the service of Faith.
--
"What will men do in such a state? Will he doubt everything?... Will he doubt whether he doubts ? Will he doubt whether he exists?. . . In fact there has never been a perfectly effective Pyrrhonian."6
The process of conversion of the doubting mind, of the dry intellectual reason as propounded and perhaps practised by Pascal is also a characteristic mark of his nature and genius. It is explained in his famous letter on "bet" or "game of chance" (Le Pari). Here is how he puts the issue to the doubting mind (I am giving the substance, not his words): let us say then that in the world we are playing a game of chance. How do the chances stand? What are the gains and losses if God does not exist? What 'are the gains and losses if God does exist? If God exists, by accepting and reaching him what do we gain? All that man cares forhappiness, felicity. And what do we lose? We lose the world of misery. If, on the other 'hand, God does not exist, by believing him to exist, we lose nothing, we are not more miserable than what we are. If, however, God exists and we do not believe him, we gain this world of misery but we lose all that is worth having. Thus Pascal concludes that even from the standpoint of mere gain and loss, belief in God is more advantageous than unbelief. This is how he applied to metaphysics the mathematics of probability.
01.08 - A Theory of Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The method of unconscious or subconscious nature is fundamentally that of repression. Apart from Defence Reaction which is a thing of pure coercion, even in Substitution and Sublimation there always remains in the background a large amount of repressed complexes in all their primitive strength. The system is never entirely purified but remains secretly pregnant with those urges; a part only is deflected and camouflaged, the surface only assumes a transformed appearance. And there is always the danger of the superstructure coming down helplessly by a sudden upheaval of the nether forces. The whole system feels, although not in a conscious manner, the tension of the repression and suffers from something that is unhealthy and ill-balanced. Dante's spiritualised passion is a supreme instance of control by Sublimation, but the Divina Comedia hardly bears the impress of a serene and tranquil soul, sovereignly above the turmoils of the tragedy of life and absolutely at peace with itself.
In conscious control, the mind is for the first time aware of the presence of the repressed impulses, it seeks to release them from the pressure to which they are habitually and normally subjected. It knows and recognises them, however ugly and revolting they might appear to be when they present themselves in their natural nakedness. Then it becomes easy for the conscious determination to eliminate or regulate or transform them and thus to establish a healthy harmony in the human vehicle. The very recognition itself, as implied in conscious control, means purification.
01.08 - Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
It is never possible for man, weak and bound as he is, to reject the thraldom of his flesh, he can never purify himself wholly by his own unaided strength. God in his infinite mercy sent his own son, an emanation created out of his substancehis embodied loveas a human being to suffer along with men and take upon himself the burden of their sins. God the Son lived upon earth as man and died as man. Sin therefore has no longer its final or definitive hold upon mankind. Man has been made potentially free, pure and worthy of salvation. This is the mystery of Christ, of God the Son. But there is a further mystery. Christ not only lived for all men for all time, whether they know him, recognise him or not; but he still lives, he still chooses his beloved and his beloved chooses him, there is a conscious acceptance on either side. This is the function of the Holy Ghost, the redeeming power of Love active in him who accepts it and who is accepted by it, the dynamic Christ-Consciousness in the true Christian.
Indeed, the kernel of the mystic discipline and its whole bearingconsists in one and only one principle: to love Jhesu. All roads lead to Rome: all preparations, all trials lead to one realisation, love of God, God as a living person close to us, our friend and lover and master. The Christian mystic speaks almost in the terms of the Gita: Rise above your senses, give up your ego-hood, be meek and humble, it is Jesus within you, who embraces your soul: it is he who does everything for you and in you, give yourself up wholly into his hands. He will deliver you.
--
If you are told you are still full of sins and you are not worthy to follow the path, that you must go and work out your sins first, here is your answer: "Go shrive thee better: trow not this saying, for it is false, for thou art shriven. Trust securely that thou art on the way, and thee needeth no ransacking of shrift for that that is passed, hold forth thy way and think on Jerusalem." That is to say, do not be too busy with the difficulties of the moment, but look ahead, as far as possible, fix your attention upon the goal, the intermediate steps will become easy. Jerusalem is another name of the Love of Jesus or the Bliss in Heaven. Grow in this love, your sins will fade away of themselves. "Though thou be thrust in an house with thy body, nevertheless in thine heart, where the stead of love is, thou shouldst be able to have part of that love... " What exquisite utterance, what a deep truth!
Indeed, there are one or two points, notes for the guidance of the aspirant, which I would like to mention here for their striking appositeness and simple "soothfastness." First of all with regard to the restless enthusiasm and eagerness of a novice, here is the advice given: "The fervour is so mickle in outward showing, is not only for mickleness of love that they have; but it is for littleness and weakness of their souls, that they may not bear a little touching of God.. afterward when love hath boiled out all the uncleanliness, then is the love clear and standeth still, and then is both the body and the soul mickle more in peace, and yet hath the self soul mickle more love than it had before, though it shew less outward." And again: "without any fervour outward shewed, and the less it thinketh that it loveth or seeth God, the nearer it nigheth" ('it' naturally refers to the soul). The statement is beautifully self-luminous, no explanation is required. Another hurdle that an aspirant has to face often in the passage through the Dark Night is that you are left all alone, that you are deserted by your God, that the Grace no longer favours you. Here is however the truth of the matter; "when I fall down to my frailty, then Grace withdraweth: for my falling is cause there-of, and not his fleeing." In fact, the Grace never withdraws, it is we who withdraw and think otherwise. One more difficulty that troubles the beginner especially is with regard to the false light. The being of darkness comes in the form of the angel of light, imitates the tone of the still small voice; how to recognise, how to distinguish the two? The false light, the "feigned sun" is always found "atwixt two black rainy clouds" : they are "highing" of oneself and "lowing" of others. When you feel flattered and elated, beware it is the siren voice tempting you. The true light brings you soothing peace and meekness: the other light brings always a trail of darknessf you are soothfast and sincere you will discover it if not near you, somewhere at a distance lurking.
The ultimate truth is that God is the sole doer and the best we can do is to let him do freely without let or hindrance. "He that through Grace may see Jhesu, how that He doth all and himself doth right nought but suffereth Jhesu work in him what him liketh, he is meek." And yet one does not arrive at that condition from the beginning or all at once. "The work is not of the hour nor of a day, but of many days and years." And for a long time one has to take up one's burden and work, co-operate with the Divine working. In the process there is this double movement necessary for the full achievement. "Neither Grace only without full working of a soul that in it is nor working done without grace bringeth a soul to reforming but that one joined to that other." Mysticism is not all eccentricity and irrationality: on the contrary, sanity seems to be the very character of the higher mysticism. And it is this sanity, and even a happy sense of humour accompanying it, that makes the genuine mystic teacher say: "It is no mastery to me for to say it, but for to do it there is mastery." Amen.
01.09 - William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Touching the very core of the malady of our age he says that our modern enlightenment seeks to cancel altogether the higher values and install instead the lower alone as true. Thus, for example, Marx and Freud, its twin arch priests, are brothers. Both declare that it is the lower, the under layer alone that matters: to one "the masses", to the other "the instincts". Their wild imperative roars: "Sweep away this pseudo-higher; let the instincts rule, let the pro-letariat dictate!" But more characteristic, Monsieur Thibon has made another discovery which gives the whole value and speciality to his outlook. He says the moderns stress the lower, no doubt; but the old world stressed only the higher and neglected the lower. Therefore the revolt and wrath of the lower, the rage of Revanche in the heart of the dispossessed in the modern world. Enlightenment meant till now the cultivation and embellishment of the Mind, the conscious Mind, the rational and nobler faculties, the height and the depth: and mankind meant the princes and the great ones. In the individual, in the scheme of his culture and education, the senses were neglected, left to go their own way as they pleased; and in the collective field, the toiling masses in the same way lived and moved as best as they could under the economics of laissez-faire. So Monsieur Thibon concludes: "Salvation has never come from below. To look for it from above only is equally vain. No doubt salvation must come from the higher, but on condition that the higher completely adopts and protects the lower." Here is a vision luminous and revealing, full of great import, if we follow the right track, prophetic of man's true destiny. It is through this infiltration of the higher into the lower and the integration of the lower into the higher that mankind will reach the goal of its evolution, both individually and collectively.
But the process, Monsieur Thibon rightly asserts, must begin with the individual and within the individual. Man must "turn within, feel alive within himself", re-establish his living contact with God, the source and origin from which he has cut himself off. Man must learn to subordinate having to being. Each individual must be himself, a free and spontaneous expression. Upon such individual , upon individuals grouped naturally in smaller collectivities and not upon unformed or ill-formed wholesale masses can a perfect human society be raised and will be raised. Monsieur Thibon insistsand very rightlyupon the variety and diversity of individual and local growths in a unified humanity and not a dead uniformity of regimented oneness. He declares, as the reviewer of the London Times succinctly puts it: "Let us abolish our insensate worship of number. Let us repeal the law of majorities. Let us work for the unity that draws together instead of idolizing the multiplicity that disintegrates. Let us understand that it is not enough for each to have a place; what matters is that each should be in his right place. For the atomized society let us substitute an organic society, one in which every man will be free to do what he alone is qualified and able to do."
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
desire, for desire is insatiable and can never be satisfied.
What he writes ought not to be taken separately; it is always
--
should never criticise someone unless one has proved beyond
dispute that in the same circumstances one can do better than he.
--
I have never made this statement.
Things are not so cut and dried as the mind thinks and even
--
(2) The very nature of energy is to be inexhaustible, unfailing, tireless. Are you never tired? Yes, very often - therefore:
indolent energy.
--
watch all one's emotional movements and vital reactions, never
close one's eyes with indulgence to one's own weaknesses, and
--
In any case, you should never pretend to be more perfect
than you are, and still less should you be satisfied with false
--
"The greatest egoist is the Supreme Lord because He never
bothers about anything but Himself!"
--
Effort is never silent.
23 December 1964
--
human and egoistic lines. I have never promised to do anything
of the kind. Human nature is made up of imperfections, even
--
The experience must come first and the explanation afterwards. That is why Sri Aurobindo has said: never distrust your
experience; but you may distrust your explanation, which is a
01.10 - Nicholas Berdyaev: God Made Human, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Nicholas Berdyaev is an ardent worker, as a Russian is naturally expected to be, in the cause of the spiritual rehabilitation of mankind. He is a Christian, a neo-Christian: some of his conclusions are old-world truths and bear repetition and insistence; others are of a more limited, conditional and even doubtful nature. His conception of the value of human person, the dignity and the high reality he gives to it, can never be too welcome in a world where the individual seems to have gone the way of vanished empires and kings and princes. But even more important and interesting is the view he underlines that the true person is a spiritual being, that is to say, it is quite other than the empirical ego that man normally is"not this that one worships" as the Upanishads too declare. Further, in his spiritual being man, the individual, is not simply a portion or a fraction; he is, on the contrary, an integer, a complete whole, a creative focus; the true individual is a microcosm yet holding in it and imaging the macrocosm. Only perhaps greater stress is laid upon the aspect of creativity or activism. An Eastern sage, a Vedantin, would look for the true spiritual reality behind the flux of forces: Prakriti or Energy is only the executive will of the Purusha, the Conscious Being. The personality in Nature is a formulation and emanation of the transcendent impersonality.
There is another aspect of personality as viewed by Berdyaev which involves a bias of the more orthodox Christian faith: the Christ is inseparable from the Cross. So he says: "There is no such thing as personality if there is no capacity for suffering. Suffering is inherent in God too, if he is a personality, and not merely an abstract idea. God shares in the sufferings of men. He yearns for responsive love. There are divine as well as human passions and therefore divine or creative personality must always suffer to the end of time. A condition of anguish and distress is inherent in it." The view is logically enforced upon the Christian, it is said, if he is to accept incarnation, God becoming flesh. Flesh cannot but be weak. This very weakness, so human, is and must be specially characteristic of God also, if he is one with man and his lover and saviour.
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.
01.12 - Goethe, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The Christian too accepts the dual principle, but does not give equal status to the two. Satan is there, an eternal reality: it is anti-God, it seeks to oppose God, frustrate his work. It is the great tempter whose task it is to persuade, to inspire man to remain always an earthly creature and never turn to know or live in God. Now the crucial question that arises is, what is the necessity of this Antagonist in God's scheme of creation? What is the meaning of this struggle and battle? God could have created, if he had chosen, a world without Evil. The orthodox Christi an answer is that in that case one could not have fully appreciated the true value and glory of God's presence. It is to manifest and proclaim the great victory that the strife and combat has been arranged in which Man triumphs in the end and God's work stands vindicated. The place of Satan is always Hell, but he cannot drag down a soul into his pit to hold it there eternally (although according to one doctrine there are or may be certain eternally damned souls).
Goe the carries the process of convergence and even harmony of the two powers a little further and shows that although they are contrary apparently, they are not contradictory principles in essence. For, Satan is, after all, God's servant, even a very obedient servant; he is an instrument in the hand of the Almighty to work out His purpose. The purpose is to help and lead man, although in a devious way, towards a greater understanding, a nearer approach to Himself.
--
Thus, as sanctioned by God, there is a competition, a wager between man and Satan. The pact between the parties is this that, on the one hand, Satan will serve man here in life upon earth, and on the other hand, in return, man will have to serve Satan there, on the other side of life. That is to say, Satan will give the whole world to man to enjoy, man will have to give Satan only his soul. Man in his ignorance says he does not care for his soul, does not know of a there or elsewhere: he will be satisfied if he gets what he wants upon earth. That, evidently, is the demand of what is familiarly known as life-force (lan vital): the utmost fulfilment of the life-force is what man stands for, although the full significance of the movement may not be clear to him or even to Satan at the moment. For life-force does not necessarily drag man down, as its grand finale as it were, into hellhowever much Satan might wish it to be so. In what way, we shall see presently. Now Satan promises man all that he would desire and even more: he would give him his fill so' that he will ask for no more. Man takes up the challenge and declares that his hunger is insatiable, whatever Satan can bring to it, it will take in and press on: satisfaction and satiety will never come in his way. Satan thinks he knows better, for he is armed with a master weapon to lay man low and make him cry halt!
Love Human and Love Divine
01.12 - Three Degrees of Social Organisation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The principle of Dharma then inculcates that each individual must, in order to act, find out his truth of being, his true soul and inmost consciousness: one must entirely and integrally merge oneself into that, be identified with it in such a manner that all acts and feelings and thoughts, in fact all movements, inner and outerspontaneously and irrepressibly well out of that fount and origin. The individual souls, being made of one truth-nature in its multiple modalities, when they live, move and have their being in its essential law and dynamism, there cannot but be absolute harmony and perfect synthesis between all the units, even as the sun and moon and stars, as the Veda says, each following its specific orbit according to its specific nature, never collide or haltna me thate na tas thatuh but weave out a faultless pattern of symphony.
The future society of man is envisaged as something of like nature. When the mortal being will have found his immortal soul and divine self, then each one will be able to give full and free expression to his self-nature (swabhava); then indeed the utmost sweep of dynamism in each and all will not cause clash or conflict; on the contrary, each will increase the other and there will be a global increment and fulfilmentparasparam bhavayantah. The division and conflict, the stress and strain that belong to the very nature of the inferior level of being and consciousness will then have been transcended. It is only thus that a diviner humanity can be born and replace all the other moulds and types that can never lead to anything final and absolutely satisfactory.
***
01.13 - T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Is England and nowhere. never and always.7
First, the movement towards transcendence, that is the journey in the Night which you do throwing away one by one all your possessions and burdens till you make yourself bare and naked, you die but you are reborn a new babe:
01.14 - Nicholas Roerich, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
I speak of Roerich as a Western soul, but more precisely perhaps he is a soul of the mid-region (as also in another sense we shall see subsequently) intermediary between the East and the West. His external make-up had all the characteristic elements of the Western culture, but his mind and temperament, his inner soul was oriental. And yet it was not the calm luminous staticancientsoul that an Indian or a Chinese sage is; it is a nomad soul, newly awakened, young and fresh and ardent, something primitive, pulsating with the unspoilt green sap of life something in the manner of Whitman. And that makes him all the more representative of the young and ardent West yearning for the light that was never on sea or land.
Is it not strange that one should look to the East for the light? There is a light indeed that dwells in the setting suns, but that is the inferior light, the light that moves level with the earth, pins us down to the normal and ordinary life and consciousness: it" leads into the Night, into Nihil, pralaya. It is the light of the morning sun that man looks up to in his forward march, the sun that rises in the East whom the Vedic Rishi invoked in these magnificent lines:
0.11 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This is one way of putting it. Mental definitions are never more
than approximations, ways of speaking.
--
own experiences. nevertheless, Sri Aurobindo has often said
and written that his yoga begins where the others leave off.
--
but whom it could never reach if it did not carry him in itself.
One must go beyond notions of space and Matter to be able
--
(1) never forget the goal that one wants to attain.
(2) never allow any part of the being or any of its movements to contradict one's aspiration.
This also makes it necessary to become conscious of one's
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have never discussed with my friends the question
of knowing why we are here on earth, but I have thought
--
be driven out of the consciousness so that they may never come
back again.
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I dont know dates. I dont know, I never remember dates. I can only tell you this that it happened before Sri Aurobindo left his body, that he was told about it beforeh and and that he well, he acknowledged the fact.
But there was a formidable battle with the Inconscient, for when I saw that the level of receptivity was not what it should have been, I blamed the Inconscient and tried to wage the battle there.
--
But as I said, bit by bit things changed. However, this had one advantage: we were too much outside of life. So there were a number of problems which had never arisen but which would have suddenly surged up the moment we wanted a complete manifestation. We took on all these problems a little prematurely, but it gave us the opportunity to solve them. In this way we learned many things and surmounted many difficulties, only it complicated things considerably. And in the present situation, given such a large number of elements who havent even the slightest idea why theyre here (!) well, it demands a far greater effort on the disciples part than before.
Before, when there were we started with 35 or 36 people but even when it got up to 150, even with 150it was as if they were all nestled in a cocoon in my consciousness: they were so near to me that I could constantly guide ALL their inner or outer movements. Day and night, at each moment, everything was totally under my control. And naturally, I think they made a great deal of progress at that time: it is a fact that I was CONSTANTLY doing the sadhana2 for them. But then, with this baby boom The sadhana cant be done for little sprouts who are 3 or 4 or 5 years old! Its out of the question. The only thing I can do is wrap them in the Consciousness and try to see that they grow up in the best of all possible conditions. However, the one advantage to all this is that instead of there being such a COMPLETE and PASSIVE dependence on the disciples part, each one has to make his own little effort. Truly, thats excellent.
--
It is very clear. So it is not I who can make Her stay. And I certainly cannot ask Her to stay for egotistical reasons. Moreover, all these Aspects, all these Personalities manifest constantly but they never manifest for personal reason. Not one of them has ever thought of helping my bodybesides, I dont ask them to because that is not their purpose. But it is more than obvious that if the people around me were receptive, She could permanently manifest since they could receive Herand this would help my body enormously because all these vibrations would run through it. But She never gets even a chance to manifestnot a single one. She only meets people who dont even feel Her when Shes there! They dont even notice Her, theyre not even aware of her presence. So how can She manifest in these conditions? Im not going to ask Her, Please come and change my body. We dont have that kind of relationship! Furthermore, the body itself wouldnt agree. It never thinks of itself, it never pays attention to itself, and besides, it is only through the work that it can be transformed.
Yes, certainly had there been any receptivity when She came down and had She been able to manifest with the power with which She came But I can tell you one thing: even before Her coming, when, with Sri Aurobindo, I had begun going down (for the Yoga) from the mental plane to the vital plane, when we brought our yoga down from the mental plane into the vital plane, in less than a month (I was forty years old at the time I didnt seem very old, I looked less than forty, but I was forty anyway), after no more than a month of this yoga, I looked exactly like an 18 year old! And someone who knew me and had stayed with me in Japan5 came here, and when he saw me, he could scarcely believe his eyes! He said, But my god, is it you? I said, Of course!
0 1955-03-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Mother, without Mahakalis grace, I shall never be able to get out of this mechanical round, to shatter these old formations, ever the same, which keep coming back. Mother, I beg of you, help. me to BREAK this shell in which I am suffocating. Deliver me from myself, deliver me in spite of myself. Alone, I am helpless; sometimes I cannot even call you! May your force come and burn all my impurities, shatter my resistances.
Signed: Bernard2
0 1955-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
When I am not immediately engrossed in work, I have to confront a thousand little temptations and daily difficulties that come from my contact with other beings and a life that does indeed remain in life. Here, even more, there is the feeling of an impossible struggle, and all these little difficulties seem to gnaw away at me; scarcely has one hole been filled when another opens up, or the same one reappears, and there is never any real victoryone has constantly to begin everything again. Finally, it seems to me that I really live only one hour a day, during the evening distribution at the playground.2 It is scarcely a life and scarcely a sadhana!
Consequently, I understand much better now why in the traditional yogas one settled all these difficulties once and for all by escaping from the world, without bothering to transform a life that seems so untransformable.
0 1955-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Mother, it is an impossible, absurd, unlivable life. I feel as though I have no hand in this cruel little game. Oh Mother, why doesnt your grace trust that deep part in me which knows so well that you are the Truth? Deliver me from these evil forces since, profoundly, it is you and you alone I want. Give me the aspiration and strength I do not have. If you do not do this Yoga for me, I feel I shall never have the strength to go on.
There is something that must be SHATTERED: can it not be done once and for all without lingering on indefinitely? Mother, I am your child.
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
When the mind came down upon earth, something like a million years went by between the manifestation of the mind in the earth atmosphere and the appearance of the first man. But it will go faster this time because man is waiting for something, he has a vague idea: he is awaiting in some way or another the advent of the superman. Whereas the apes were certainly not awaiting the birth of man, they never thought of it for the excellent reason that they probably dont think very much! But man has thought about it and is waiting, so it will go faster. But faster probably still means thousands of years. We shall speak of this again in a few thousand years!
(silence)
--
I am not speaking of people from outside who have never thought about it, who have never felt concerned and who do not even know that there may be something like the Supermind to receive, in fact. I am speaking of people who have built their lives upon this aspiration (and I dont doubt their sincerity for a minute), who have workedsome of them for thirty years, some for thirty-five, others somewhat lessall the while saying, When the supermind comes When the supermind comes That was their refrain: When the supermind comes Consequently, they were really in the best possible frame of mind, one could not have dreamt of a better predisposition. How is it, then, that their inner preparation was so lets just say incomplete, that they did not feel the Vibration immediately, as soon as it came, through a shock of identity?
Individually, each ones goal was to make himself ready, to enter into a more or less intimate individual relationship with this Force, so as to help the process; or else, if he could not help, at least be ready to recognize and be open to the Force when it would manifest. Then instead of being an alien element in a world in which your OWN inner capacity remains unmanifest, you suddenly become THAT, you enter directly, fully, into the very atmosphere: the Force is there, all around you, permeating you.
--
There was indeed a possibility to enter into contact with the Thing individuallythis was even what Sri Aurobindo had described as being the necessary procedure: a certain number of people would enter into contact with this Force through their inner effort and their aspiration. We had called it the ascent towards the Supermind. And IF and when they had touched the Supermind through an inner ascent (that is, by freeing themselves from the material consciousness), they should have recognized it SPONTANEOUSLY as soon as it came. But a preliminary contact was indispensableif you have never touched it, how can you recognize it?
Thats how the universal movement works (I read this to you a few days ago): through their inner effort and inner progress, certain individuals, who are the pioneers, the forerunners, enter into communication with the new Force which is to manifest, and they receive it in themselves. And because a number of calls like this surge forth, the thing becomes possible, and the era, the time, the moment for the manifestation comes. This is how it happened and the Manifestation took place.
0 1956-09-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
An experience I had never had.
I begin to see what the supramental body will be.
0 1956-09-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
But perhaps you have felt this way because you had left your work in the Ashram for an entirely personal, that is, necessarily egoistical reason, and egoism always isolates one from the great current of universal forces. That is why, too, you no longer clearly perceive my love and my help which nevertheless are always with you.
You asked me what I see and whether your difficulties will not reappear upon your return to the Ashram. It may well be. If you return as you still are at present, it may be that after a very short period it will all begin again. That is why I am going to propose something to you but to accept it you will have to be heroic and very determined in your consecration to my work.
--
All my affection is with you, and my blessings never leave you.
Signed: Mother
0 1956-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
One is never anything but a divine apprentice: the Divine of yesterday is only an apprentice to the Divine of tomorrow No, I am not speaking of a progressive manifestation that is much farther below.
When I am at my highest, I am already too high for the manifestation.
0 1956-12-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
This is actually what is happening in me: I never really accepted the W solution, and the solution of Somalil and doesnt appeal to me. But I feel drawn by the idea of Turkestan, as I already told you, and this is why:
Ten years ago, I had two intuitions the first of which, to my great astonishment, was realized. It was that I had something important to do in South America and though I never could have foreseen such a voyage, I went there. The second was that I had something to do in Turkestan.
Mother, this is the problem around which I have desperately been turning in circles. What is the truth of my destiny? Is it that which is urging me so strongly to leave, or that which is struggling against my freedom? For ultimately, sincerely, what I want is to fulfill my lifes truth. If I have ever had a will, then it is: LET BE WHAT MUST BE. Mother, how can one truly know? Is this drive, this very old and very CLEAR urge in me, false??
0 1957-09-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Had I not come as you are, I would never have been able to be close to you and tell you:
Become what I am.
0 1957-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
One of the very first results of the supramental manifestation was to give the body a freedom and an autonomy it has never before known. And when I say freedom, I dont mean some psychological perception or an inner state of consciousness, but something else and far betterit is a new phenomenon in the body, in the cells of the body. For the first time, the cells themselves have felt that they are free, that they have the power to decide. When the new vibrations came and combined with the old ones, I felt it at once and it showed me that a new world was really taking birth.
In its normal state, the body always feels that it is not its own master: illnesses invade it without its really being able to resist thema thousand factors impose themselves or exert pressure upon it. Its sole power is the power to defend itself, to react. Once the illness has got in, it can fight and overcome iteven modern medicine has acknowledged that the body is cured only when it decides to get cured; it is not the drugs per se that heal, for if the ailment is temporarily suppressed by a drug without the bodys will, it grows up again elsewhere in some other form until the body itself has decided to be cured. But this implies only a defensive power, the power to react against an invading enemyit is not true freedom.
0 1957-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
To conclude, a final recommendation: never pose as an examiner. For while it is good to remember constantly that perhaps one is passing a very important test, it is, on the other hand, extremely dangerous to imagine oneself entrusted with applying tests to others, for that is an open door to the most absurd and harmful vanities. It is not an ignorant human will that decides these things but the Supreme Wisdom.
***
0 1957-12-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Humility, a perfect humility, is the condition for all realization. The mind is so cocksure. It thinks it knows everything, understands everything. And if ever it acts through idealism to serve a cause that appears noble to it, it becomes even more arrogant more intransigent, and it is almost impossible to make it see that there might be something still higher beyond its noble conceptions and its great altruistic or other ideals. Humility is the only remedy. I am not speaking of humility as conceived by certain religions, with this God that belittles his creatures and only likes to see them down on their knees. When I was a child, this kind of humility revolted me, and I refused to believe in a God that wants to belittle his creatures. I dont mean that kind of humility, but rather the recognition that one does not know, that one knows nothing, and that there may be something beyond what presently appears to us as the truest, the most noble or disinterested. True humility consists in constantly referring oneself to the Lord, in placing all before Him. When I receive a blow (and there are quite a few of them in my sadhana), my immediate, spontaneous reaction, like a spring, is to throw myself before Him and to say, Thou, Lord. Without this humility, I would never have been able to realize anything. And I say I only to make myself understood, but in fact I means the Lord through this body, his instrument. When you begin living THIS kind of humility, it means you are drawing nearer to the realization. It is the condition, the starting point.
***
0 1958-02-03b - The Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
This immense ship had just arrived at the shore of the supramental world, and a first batch of people destined to become the future inhabitants of the supramental world were about to disembark. Everything was arranged for this first landing. A certain number of very tall beings were posted on the wharf. They were not human beings and never before had they been men. Nor were they permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I was in charge of all this since the beginning and throughout. I myself had prepared all the groups. I was standing on the bridge of the ship, calling the groups forward one by one and having them disembark on the shore. The tall beings posted there seemed to be reviewing those who were disembarking, allowing those who were ready to go ashore and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training aboard the ship. While standing there watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all the people, to see how they had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to remain and continue their training. After awhile, as I was observing, I began to feel pulled backwards and that my body was being awakened by a consciousness or a person from here1and in my consciousness, I protested: No, no, not yet! Not yet! I want to see whos there! I was watching all this and noting it with intense interest It went on like that until, suddenly, the clock here began striking three, which violently jerked me back. There was the sensation of a sudden fall into my body. I came back with a shock, but since I had been called back very suddenly, all my memory was still intact. I remained quiet and still until I could bring back the whole experience and preserve it.
The nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, the clothes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufacturedit was a part of the body, made of the same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and outer means but by an inner working, by a working of the consciousness that gave the substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. There was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed the nature of its vibration according to the needs or uses.
0 1958-05-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I saw there (center of the heart) the Master of the Yoga; he was no different from me, but nevertheless I saw him, and he even seemed slightly imbued with color. Well, he does everything, he decides everything, he organizes everything with an almost mathematical precision and in the smallest detailseverything.
To do the divine Will I have been doing the sadhana for a long time, and I can say that not a day has passed that I have not done the Divines Will. But I didnt know what it was! I was living in all the inner realms, from the subtle physical to the highest regions, yet I didnt know what it was I always had to listen, to refer things, to pay attention. Now, no morebliss! There are no more problems, and everything is done in such harmony! Even if I had to leave my body, I would be in bliss! And it would happen in the best possible way.
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
It is a hard path. I try to make it as comfortable as possible, but nevertheless, it is a hard path. And it is obvious that it cannot be otherwise. You are beaten and battered until you understand. Until you are in that state in which all bodies are your body. But at that point, you begin to laugh! You were upset by this, hurt by that, you suffered from this or that but now, how laughable it all seems! And not only the head, but the body too finds it laughable!
(silence)
--
Well, to be able to cure that, which of all the obstacles is the greatest (I mean the habit of putting spiritual life on one side and material life on the other, of acknowledging the right of material laws to exist), one must make a resolution never to legitimize any of these movements, at any cost.
To be able to see the problem as it is, it is absolutely indispensable, as a first step, to get out of the mental consciousness, even out of a mental transcription (in the highest mind) of the supramental vision and truth. A thing cannot be seen as it is, in its truth, except in the supramental consciousness, and if you try to explain, it immediately begins to escape you because you are obliged to give it a mental formulation.
--
And the proof I have the proof because I experienced it myselfis that from the minute you are in the other consciousness, the true consciousness, all these things which appear so real, so concrete, change INSTANTLY. There are a number of things, certain material conditions of my bodymaterial that changed instantly. It did not last long enough for everything to change, but some things changed and never returned, they remained changed. In other words, if that consciousness were kept constantly, it would be a perpetual miracle (what we would call a miracle from our ordinary point of view), a fantastic and perpetual miracle! But from the supramental point of view, it would not be a miracle at all, it would be the most normal of things.
Therefore, if we do not want to oppose the supramental action by an obscure, inert and obstinate resistance, we have to admit once and for all that none of these things should be legitimized.
0 1958-06-06 - Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Its all the same thing, but the word realization can be reserved for something that is durable, that does not wear off. Because everything on earth fades awayeverything fades away, nothing remains. In this sense, there has never been any realization, for everything fades away. Nothing is ever permanent. And I know for myself: I am doing the sadhana at a gallop, as it were; never are two experiences identical nor do they recur in the same way. As soon as something is established, the next thing begins immediately. It may appear to fade away, but it doesnt fade away; rather, it is the basis upon which the next thing is built.
***
--
From that moment on, I was conscious that all one does is the expression of the indwelling Divine Will. But it is the Divine Will AT THE VERY CENTER of oneself, although for a while there remained an activity in the physical mind. But this was stilled two or three days after I saw Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1914, and it never started up again. Silence settled. And the consciousness was established above the head.
In the first experience [of 1910], the consciousness was established in the psychic depths of the being, and from that poise issued the feeling of no longer doing anything but what the Divine wantedit was the consciousness that the divine Will was all-powerful and that there was no longer any personal will, although there was still some mental activity and everything had to be made silent. In 1914, it was silenced, and the consciousness was established above the head. Here (the heart) and here (above the head), the connection is constant.
--
As it was the first experience, it started to fade slightly when I began having contact with people; but I really had the feeling that it was a first experience, new upon earth. For I have experienced an absolute identity of the will with the divine Will ever since 1910, it has never left me. It isnt that, its SOMETHING ELSE. It is MATTER BECOMING THE DIVINE. And it really came with the feeling that this thing was happening for the first time upon earth. It is difficult to say for sure, but Ramakrishna died of cancer, and now that I have had the experience, I know in an ABSOLUTE way that this is impossible. If he had decided to go because the Divine wanted him to go, it would have been an orderly departure, in total harmony and with a total will, whereas this illness is a means of disorder.
Is this experience of May 1 related to the Supramental Manifestation of 1956? Is it a supramental experience?
--
When you had this experience of February 3, 1958 [the supramental ship], the vision of your usual consciousness, which is nevertheless a Truth Consciousness, no longer seemed true to you at all. Did you see things you had never before seen, or did you see things in another way?
Yes, one enters into another world.
0 1958-07-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Something I have never said completely. On the one hand, there is the attitude of those in yesterday evenings film2: God is everything, God is everywhere, God is in he who smites you (as Sri Aurobindo wroteGod made me good with a blow, shall I tell Him: O Mighty One, I forgive you your harm and cruelty but do not do it again!), an attitude which, if extended to its ultimate conclusion, accepts the world as it is: the world is the perfect expression of the divine Will. On the other hand, there is the attitude of progress and transformation. But for that, you must recognize that there are things in the world which are not as they should be.
In The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says that this idea of good and bad, of pure and impure, is a notion needed for action; but the purists, such as Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and others, do not agree. They do not agree that it is indispensable for action. They simply say: your acceptance of action as a necessary thing is contrary to your perception of the Divine in all things.
--
I recall that once I tried to speak of this, but no one followed me, no one understood, so I did not insist. I left it open and never pursued it further, for they could not decipher anything or find any meaning in what I was saying. But now I could give a very simple answer: Let the Supreme do the work. It is He who has to progress, not you!
Ramdas does not at all consider that the world as it is, is good.
--
But this crystal clear vision Sri Aurobindo had, where everything is in its place, where contradictions no longer existthey never soared to that height. This was the thing, this really crystalline, perfect supramental vision, even from the standpoint of understanding and knowledge. They never went that far.
***
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
And it is always like that. I never ask for anything, but if by chance I say to myself, Hmm, wouldnt it be nice to have that, mountains of them pour in! So last year, I made an experiment, I told Nature, Listen, my little one, you say that you will collaborate, you told me I would never lack anything. Well then, to put it on a level of feelings, it would really be fun, it would give me joy (in the style of Krishnas joy), to have A LOT of money to do everything I feel like doing. Its not that I want to increase things for myself, no; you give me more than I need. But to have some fun, to be able to give freely, to do things freely, to spend freely I am asking you to give me a crore of rupees1 for my birthday!
She didnt do a thing! Nothing, absolutely nothing: a complete refusal. Did she refuse or was she unable to? It may be that I always saw that money was under the control of an asuric force. (I am speaking of currency, cash; I dont want to do business. When I try to do business, it generally succeeds very well, but I dont mean that. I am speaking of cash.) I never asked her that question.
You see, this is how it happened: theres this Ganesh2 We had a meditation (this was more than thirty years ago) in the room where Prosperity3 is now distributed. There were eight or ten of us, I believe. We used to make sentences with flowers; I arranged the flowers, and each one made a sentence with the different flowers I had put there. And one day when the subject of prosperity or wealth came up, I thought (they always say that Ganesh is the god of money, of fortune, of the worlds wealth), I thought, Isnt this whole story of the god with an elephant trunk merely a lot of human imagination? Thereupon, we meditated. And who should I see walk in and park himself in front of me but a living being, absolutely alive and luminous, with a trunk that long and smiling! So then, in my meditation, I said, Ah! So its true that you exist!Of course I exist! And you may ask me for whatever you wish, from a monetary standpoint, of course, and I will give it to you!
0 1958-07-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
The Divine is everywhere, in everything. We should never forget itnot for a second should we forget it. He is everywhere, in everything; and in an unconscious but spontaneous, therefore sincere, way, all that exists below the mental manifestation is divine, without mixture; in other words, it exists spontaneously and in harmony with its nature. It is man with his mind who has introduced the idea of guilt. Naturally, he is much more conscious! Theres no question about it, its a fact, although what we call consciousness (what we call it, that is, what man calls consciousness) is the power to objectify and mentalize things. It is not the true consciousness, but its what men call consciousness. So according to the human mode, it is obvious that man is much more conscious than the animal, but the human brings in sin and perversion which do not exist outside of this state we call consciouswhich in fact is not conscious but merely consists in mentalizing things and in having the ability to objectify them.
It is an ascending curve, but a curve that swerves away from the Divine. So naturally, one has to climb much higher to find a higher Divine, since it is a conscious Divine, whereas the others are divine spontaneously and instinctively, without being conscious of it. All our moral notions of good and evil, all of that, are what we have thrown over the creation with our distorted and perverted consciousness. It is we who have invented it.
0 1958-08-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
My blessings never leave you.
Signed: Mother
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I have a whole stock of mantras; they have all come spontaneously, never from the head. They sprang forth spontaneously, as the Veda is said to have sprung forth.
I dont know when it begana very long time ago, before I came here, although some of them came while I was here. But in my case, they were always very short. For example, when Sri Aurobindo was here in his body, at any moment, in any difficulty, for anything, it always came like this: My Lord!simply and spontaneouslyMy Lord! And instantly, the contact was established. But since He left, it has stopped. I can no longer say it, for it would be like saying My Lord, My Lord! to myself.
0 1958-10-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Each time we try to realize something and we encounter a resistance or an obstacle, or even a failurewhat appears to be a failurewe should know, we should never forget, that it is exclusively, absolutely, to make the realization more perfect.
So this habit of cringing, of being discouraged or even feeling ill at ease or abusing oneself, saying, There, Ive done it again All this is absolute foolishness.
0 1958-10-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
If we could truly, perfectly know all the details of the ceremony of life, the worship of the Lord in physical life, it would be wonderfulto know, and no longer to err, never again to err. To perform the ceremony as perfectly as an initiation.
To know life utterly Oh, there is a very interesting thing in this regard! And its strange, but this particular knowledge reminds me of one of my Sutras1 (which I read out, but no one understood or understood only vaguely, like that):
--
And this explains everything, absolutely everything: how it works, how it functions in the world.3 I was saying to myself, But I have no powers, I have no powers! Several days ago, I said, But after all, I KNOW WHO is there, I know, yet how is it that ? There, up to there (the level of the head), it is all-powerful, nothing can resist but here it is ineffective. So those who have faith, even an ignorant but real faith (it can be ignorant but nevertheless it is real), say, What! How can you have no powers? Because the sadhana is not yet over.
The Lord will possess his universe only when the universe will have consciously become the Lord.
0 1958-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
'If mankind only caught a glimpse of what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, they would leave all and never rest till they had gained these treasures. But the way is narrow, the doors are hard to force, and fear, distrust and scepticism are there, sentinels of Nature to forbid the turning away of our feet from less ordinary pastures.'
Cent. Ed. Vol. XVII, p. 79
0 1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I learned all this through Theon. Probably, he was I dont know if he was Russian or Polish (a Russian or Polish Jew), he never said who he really was or where he was born, nor his age nor anything.
He had assumed two names: one was an Arab name he had adopted when he took refuge in Algeria (I dont know for what reason). After having worked with Blavatsky and having founded an occult society in Egypt, he went to Algeria, and there he first called himself Aa Aziz (a word of Arabic origin meaning the beloved). Then, when he began setting up his Cosmic Review and his cosmic group, he called himself Max Theon, meaning the supreme God (!), the greatest God! And no one knew him by any other name than these twoAa Aziz or Max Theon.
--
What happened in my life is that I never studied or knew things until AFTER having the experienceonly BECAUSE OF the experience and because I wanted to understand it would I study things related to it.
It was the same thing for visions of past lives. I knew NOTHING when I would have the experience, not even the possibility of past lives, and only after having had the experience would I study the question and, for example, even verify certain historical facts that had occurred in my vision but about which I had no prior knowledge.
0 1958-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Truly speaking, perhaps one is never rid of the hostile forces as long as one has not permanently emerged into the Light, above the lower hemisphere. There, the term hostile forces loses its meaning; they become only forces of progress, they force you to progress. But to see things in this way, you have to get out of the lower hemisphere, for below, they are very real in their opposition to the divine plan.
It was said in the ancient traditions that one could not live for more than twenty days in this higher state without leaving ones body and returning to the supreme Origin. Now this is no longer true.
0 1958-12-15 - tantric mantra - 125,000, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I have just received your letter of the 15th. Yes, I know that the hour is critical. It has been grave here as well. I had to stop everything, for the attack upon my body was too violent. Now it is better but I have not yet resumed any of my outer activities, and I remain in my room upstairs. The battle continues in the invisible and I consider it decisive. You are a very intimate part of this battle. This is to tell you that I am with you in the most integral sense of these words. I know what you are suffering, I feel it but you must hold on. The Grace is there, all-powerful. As soon as it is possible and without going through one minute more than needed to transform that which has to be transformed, the trial will reach its end and we shall emerge into the light and joy. So never forget that I am with youin youand that WE SHALL TRIUMPH:
With all that love can bring of solace and endurance,
0 1959-01-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I never leave you, and my love too is always with you.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-01-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
They would never resume.
About the tantric initiation.
0 1959-01-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
By a special grace, X gave me both stages of the tantric initiation at the same time, although they are normally separated by several years; then if all goes well, he will give me the full initiation in 6 months. I have thus received a mantra, along with the power of realizing it. X told me that a realization should come at the beginning of the fifth month if I repeat the mantra strictly according to his instructions, but he again told me that the hostile forces would do all they could to prevent me from saying my mantra: mental suggestions and even illness. X has understood that I have work at the Ashram, and he has exempted me from the outer forms (pujas and other rituals), but nevertheless I must repeat my mantra very accurately every day (3,333 times, that is, a little more than 3 hours uninterrupted in the mornings, and more than 2 hours in the evening). I must therefore organize myself in such a way as to get up very early in the morning in Pondicherry, for in no case will your work suffer.
Apart from this, he has not yet entirely finished the work of purging that he has been doing on me for over a month, but I believe that everything will be completed in a short time from now.
Sweet Mother, I have a kind of fear that all these mantras are not bringing me nearer to you I mean you in your physical body, for it is not upon you physically that I was told to concentrate. Also, I almost never see you in my dreams any longer, or else only very vaguely. Last night, I dreamed that I was offering you flowers (not very pretty ones), one of which was called mantra, but I did not see you in my dream. Mother, I would like to be true, to do the right thing, to be as you want me to be.
I am your child. I belong to you alone.
--
In constant communion in the effort towards victory; my love and my force never leave you.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-03-10 - vital dagger, vital mass, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Take these movements of anger, for example, when someone is carried away by his passion and does things which, in his normal state, he would never do: he is not doing it, it is done by these little formations which are there, swarming in the atmosphere, just waiting for an occasion to rush in.
When you see them, oh! its suffocating. When youre in contact with that Really, you wonder how anyone can brea the in such an atmosphere. And yet people CONSTANTLY live in that atmosphere! They live in it. Only when they rise above are they NOT in it. Or else there are those who are entirely below; but those are the toys of these things, and their reactions are sometimes not only unexpected but absolutely dreadfulbecause they are puppets in the hands of these things.
0 1959-04-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
May you never again suffer because of me. O Mother, purify me and open my heart.
Your child,
0 1959-05-19 - Ascending and Descending paths, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
The thing can still be brought down as far as the mental and vital planes (although Sri Aurobindo said that thousands of lifetimes would be needed merely to bring it down to the mental plane, unless one practiced a perfect surrender1). With Sri Aurobindo, we went down below Matter, right into the Subconscient and even into the Inconscient. But after the descent comes the transformation, and when you come down to the body, when you attempt to make it take one step forwardoh, not even a real step, just a little step!everything starts grating; its like stepping on an anthill And yet the presence, the help of the supreme Mother, is there constantly; thus you realize that for ordinary men such a task is impossible, or else millions of lives would be needed but in truth, unless the work is done for them and the sadhana of the body done for the entire earth consciousness, they will never achieve the physical transformation, or else it will be so remote that it is better not even to speak of it. But if they open themselves, if they give themselves over in an integral surrender, the work can be done for themthey have only to let it be done.
The path is difficult. And yet this body is full of good will; it is filled with the psychic in every one of its cells. Its like a child. The other day, it cried out quite spontaneously, O my Sweet Lord, give me the time to realize You! It did not ask to hasten the process, it did not ask to lighten its work; it only asked for enough TIME to do the work. Give me the time!
0 1959-05-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I can easily understand that your task on this earth is not particularly encouraging and you must find our human matter stupid and rebellious. I do not wish to throw upon you more bad things than you already receive, but I wish you could also understand certain things. I am not made for this withered life, not made for putting sentences together all day long, not made for living alone in my holefriendless, loveless, with nothing but mantras, and waiting for a better that never comes. For three years I have wanted to leave and each time I yielded out of scruples that you needed me, though also because I am attached to you. But after the [book on] Sri Aurobindo, there will be something else, there will always be something else that will make my departure look like a betrayal. I am fed up with living in my head, always in my head, with paper and ink. It was not of this that I dreamed when I was ten years old and ran with the wind over the untamed heaths. I am suffocating. You ask too much of me; or rather, I am not worth your expectation.
A love for you might have held me here. And indeed, for you I have devotion, veneration, respect, an attachment, but there has never been this marvelous thing, warm and full, that links one to a being in the same beating of a heart. Through love, I could do all, accept all, endure all, sacrifice all but I do not feel this love. You cannot give yourself with your head, through a mental decision, yet that is what I have been doing for five years. I have tried to serve you as best I could. But I am at the end of my rope. I am suffocating.
I have no illusions, and I do not at all suppose that elsewhere my life may at last be fulfilled. No, I know that this whole life is cursed, but it may as well be truly cursed. If the Divine does not want to give me his Love, may he give me his curse. But not this life between two worlds. Or if I am too hardened, may he break me. But not this tepidness, this approximation.
--
There is someone here who could have saved me, whom I could have loved. Oh, it has nothing to do with all those things you might imagine! My soul loves her soul. It is something very serene. We have known each other for five years, and I had never even dreamed of calling it love. But all the outer circumstances are against us. And I do not want to turn anyone away from you. Anyway, if I sink into the depths of the pit, or so I tell myself, it is no reason to drag someone else along with me. So this too is one more reason for me to leave. I cannot continue suffocating all alone in my corner. (It is useless to ask her name, I will say nothing.)
You are imposing a new ordeal on me by asking me to go to Rameswaram. For you, I have accepted. But I shall go there sheathed in my sturdiest armor and I will not yield, because I know that it is always to be begun again. I do not want to become a great Tantric or whatever else it may be. I want only to love. And since I cannot love, I am leaving. I will arrive in Rameswaram at 2 in the morning, and will leave again by the 11 oclock train.
0 1959-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Regarding me, this is more or less what he said: First of all, I want an agreement from you so that under any circumstances you never leave the Ashram. Whatever happens, even if Yama1 comes to dance at your door, you should never leave the Ashram. At the critical moment, when the attack is the strongest, you should throw everything into His hands, then and then only the thing can be removed (I no longer know whether he said removed or destroyed ). It is the only way. SARVAM MAMA BRAHMAN [Thou art my sole refuge]. Here in Rameswaram, we are going to meditate together for 45 days, and the Asuric-Shakti may come with full strength to attack, and I shall try my best not only to protect but to destroy, but for that, I need your determination. It is only by your own determination that I can get strength. If the force comes to make suggestions: lack of adventure, lack of Nature, lack of love, then think that I am the forest, think that I am the sea, think that I am the wife (!!) Meanwhile, X has nearly doubled the number of repetitions of the mantra that I have to say every day (it is the same mantra he gave me in Pondicherry). X repeated to me again and again that I am not merely a disciple to him, like the others, but as if his son.
This was a first, hasty conversation, and we did not discuss things at length. I said nothing. I have no confidence in my reactions when I am in the midst of my crises of complete negation. And truly speaking, at the time of my last crisis in Pondicherry, I do not know if it was really Xs occult working that set things right, for personally (but perhaps it is an ignorant impression), I felt that it was thanks to Sujata and her childlike simplicity that I was able to get out of it.
--
In any case, I had never heard him attacking the Congress as he did yesterday evening, almost violently.
That is all, Sweet Mother. In spite of my anesthesia, I think of you. (I am not blocked; on the contrary, it seems to me that the bond has been renewed since our last meeting, but I feel strangely empty.) I am unable to understand how you can love me. Oh Mother, I have truly to begin living, truly loving!
0 1959-06-13a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I have received your last two letters of the 10th and 11th. I told X what you wrote about this trip to France and that your finances are in an almost desperate state. He replied with perfect assurance, Soon it will increase, very soon it will change. I am obviously hesitant to accept your generous offer and I do not know what I should do. I had never thought of returning to France, except in a distant future. I dont know why X told me that I should return there, except perhaps because he felt who my mother is. I know that she is sad, that she believes me lost to her and thinks she will die without seeing me again. It would surely be a great joy to her. But other than that, I have no desire to go there, for each time I go to France, I feel like I am entering a prison. Naturally I would be happy for my mothers joy; she is a great soul, but is this reason enough?
Sunday, 14th
0 1959-06-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
These last days I have come to realize that to blame all my crises on the hostile forces is perhaps to oversimplify things. I understand better and better, for in my suffering, my soul is all I have and I rely on that alone; otherwise I could never bear all that I have borne, all that I still bear. I understand, too, that there was also a truth in the force which periodically impelled me to leave, the truth of that destiny in me which is not fulfilled in the Ashram.
Mother, I have suffered so much and prayed so much this last while that I am sure my soul cannot but arrange circumstances in such a way that somehow I may live at last that somehow EVERYTHING may truly become reconciled: not later on or one of these days, but soon for it cannot go on any longer; I am at my end.
0 1959-07-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
A moment ago I barely found the strength not to kill myself. Destiny has repeated itself once again, but this time it was not I who rejected her, as in past existences, it is she who rejected me: Too late. For a moment, I thought I was going to go crazy too, so much pain did I have then finally I said, May Thy Will be done, (that of the Supreme Lord) and I kept repeating, Thy Grace is there, even in the greatest suffering. But I am broken, rather like a living dead man. So be happy, for I will never wear the white robe that Guruji gave me.
You will understand that I do not have the strength to come to see you. My only strength is not to rebel, my only strength is to believe in the Grace in the face of everything. I believe I have too much grief in my heart to rebel against anything at all. I seem to have a kind of great pity for this world.
0 1959-07-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
This is what I should have told you this morning, but I was afraid. For the last month I have been afraid of you, afraid that you might not understand. But I cannot leave with this weight on me. I beg of you to understand, Sweet Mother. I want nothing bad, nothing impure. I feel I have something to create with Sujata, I feel she is absolutely a part of something I have to achieve, that we have something to achieve together. For the five years we have known each other I have never had a single wrong thought but suddenly she opened my heart, which had been so completely walled-off, and this was like a wonder in me and at the same time a fear. A fear, perhaps because this love has been thwarted for so many lives.
Mother, I need Sujata like my very soul. It seems to me that she is a part of me, that she alone can help me break with this horrible past, that she alone can help me to love truly at last. I need peace so much, a quiet, PEACEFUL happinessa base of happiness upon which I could use my strength to build, instead of always fighting, always destroying. Mother, I am not at all sure of what must be, but I know that Sujata is part of this realization.
0 1959-10-06 - Sri Aurobindos abode, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
In fact, when I walk back and forth in my room, I dont cut myself off from the rest of the worldalthough it would be so much more convenient! All kinds of things come to mesuggestions, wills, aspirations. But automatically I make a movement of offering: things come to me and just as they are about to touch my head, I turn them upwards and offer them to the Light. They dont enter into me. For example, if someone speaks to me while I am saying my japa, I hear quite well what is being said, I may even answer, but the words remain a little outside, at a certain distance from the head. And yet sometimes, there are things that insist, more defined wills that present themselves to me, so then I have to do a little work, but all that without a pause in the japa. If that happens, there is sometimes a change in the quality of my japa, and instead of being fully the power, fully the light, it is certainly something that produces results, but results more or less sure, more or less long to fructify; it becomes uncertain, as with all things of this physical world. Yet the difference between the two japas is imperceptible; its not a difference between saying the japa in a more or less mechanical way and saying it consciously, because even while I work I remain fully conscious of the japa I continue to repeat it putting the full meaning into each syllable. But nevertheless, there is a difference. One is the all-powerful japa; the other, an almost ordinary japa There is a difference in the inner attitude. Perhaps for the japa to become true, a kind of joy, an elation, a warmth of enthusiasm has to be added but especially joy. Then everything changes.
Well, it is the same thing, the same imperceptible difference, when it comes to entering the world of Truth. On one side there is the falsehood, and on the other, close by, like the lining of this one, the true life. Only a little difference in the inner quality, a little reversal, is enough to pass to the other side, into the Truth and Light.
0 1960-01-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo had made it clear to me when I was still in France that this yoga in matter is the most difficult of all. For the other yogas, the paths have been well laid, you know where to tread, how to proceed, what to do in such-and-such a case. But for the yoga of matter, nothing has ever been done, never, so at each moment everything has to be invented.
Of course, things are now going better, especially since Sri Aurobindo became established in the subtle physical, an almost material subtle physical.2 But there are still plenty of question marks The body understands once, and then it forgets. The Enemys opposition is nothing, for I can see clearly that it comes from outside and that its hostile, so I do whats necessary. But where the difficulty lies is in all the small things of daily material lifesuddenly the body no longer understands, it forgets.
0 1960-03-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
And there are many, many experiences like this. It is only a small, a very small beginning. This one in particular came to mark the new stage: four years have elapsed, and now four years to come. Because everything has focused on this body to prepare it, everything has concentrated on itNature, the Master of the Yoga, the Supreme, everything So only when its over, not before, will it really be interesting to speak of all this. But maybe it will never be over, after all. Its a small beginning, very small.
The Darshan on February 29, 1960, the first anniversary of the Supramental Manifestation.
0 1960-04-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
A few lines to tell you that I miss you. I truly realize more and more that I shall never be happy until I have disappeared in you entirely. There must be nothing left but That. I understand well enough, but Im so blocked, so thick. In any case, I think of you a lot and I really only live by this something that pulls me deep within. If that were not there, it would all be so absurd.
Ive booked my ticket to Rameswaram for the evening of the 13th, so I will probably reach there on the 15th.
0 1960-05-16, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
And what is wonderful is that at each moment the Grace, the Joy, the Light, the Love never cease pouring down in the very midst of all thisdespite the ego, despite the shame, despite the unworthiness. To be humble
***
0 1960-05-21 - true purity - you have to be the Divine to overcome hostile forces, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
At times, I feel that Ill never get over the difficulty. We are besieged by this enormous world of hostile forcesoceans of forces, churning and combining and submerging each other in gigantic pralayas,1 then again regrouping and combining. When you see that, it feels as if you had to be the Divine Himself to get over the difficulty. Precisely so! (And its the hostile forces who help you to see this, its their role.) You have TO BE THE DIVINE, that is the solution, that is the true divine purity.
***
--
For example, there was one difficulty he helped me resolve. I have always been literally pestered, constantly, night and day, by all kinds of thoughts coming from peopleall kinds of calls, questions, formations2 that have naturally to be answered. For I have trained myself to be conscious of everything, always. But it disturbed me in the work, particularly when I needed absolute concentration and I could never cut myself off from people or cut myself off from the world. I had to answer all these calls and these questions, I had to send the necessary force, the necessary light, the healing power, I constantly had to purify all these formations, these thoughts, these wills, these false movements that were falling on me.
What was needed was to effect a shift, a sort of transference upwards, a lifting up of all these things that come to meso that each one, each thing, each circumstance could directly and automatically receive the force from above, the light, the response from above, and I would be a mere intermediary and a channel of the Light and the Force.
0 1960-05-24 - supramental flood, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
These experiences are always absolute, as long as they last; then, through certain signs that I know (I am accustomed to it), I notice that the body consciousness begins closing up again. Or rather, somethingevidently a Supreme Wisdomdecides its sufficient for this time and that the body has had enough. It ought not to break, which is why certain precautions are taken. So this comes in several little stages that I know quite well. The final one is always a bit unpleasant because my body gets into rather peculiar positions as a result of the work. As its only a sort of machine, towards the end I have some difficulty straightening my knees, for example, or opening my fingers I think they even make a noise, like something forced into one position whose life has become purely spontaneous and mechanical. There are plenty of people like that, plenty, who enter into trance and then can no longer get out by themselves; they get themselves into a certain position and someone has to free them. This has never happened to me; I have always managed to extricate myself. But yesterday evening, the experience lasted a very long time. There was even a little cracking at the end, as when people have rheumatism.
And during all this time, approximately three hours, the consciousness was completely, completely different. It was here, however; it was not outside the earth, it was on earth, but it was completely differenteven the body consciousness was different. And what remained was very mechanical; it was a body, but it could just as well have been anything. All this power of consciousness that for more than seventy years Ive gradually pushed into each of the bodys cells so that each cell could become conscious (and it goes on constantly, constantly), all this seemed to have withdrawn there only remained one almost lifeless thing. However, I could raise myself up from my bed and even drink a glass of water, but it was all so bizarre. And when I went back to bed, it took nearly forty-five minutes for the body to regain its normal state. Only after I had entered into another type of samadhi2 and again come out of it did my consciousness fully return. It is the first time I have had an experience of this kind.
--
It moves and it doesnt move. How can you explain that? It was in motion, a constant, unceasing motion, and yet there was no shifting of place. I had the perception, or rather there was the perception, of something which WAS forever, which never repeated itself, neither began nor ended, which didnt shift places yet was always in motion.
Words cannot express it. No translation, none, not even the most subtle mental translation can express this. It was Even now the memory I have of it is inexpressible. You have to be in it to feel it, otherwise
--
And during the time my experience lasted, I had no feeling of anything exceptional, but rather simply the fact that after all its preparation, the body consciousness was ready for a total identification with Thatin my consciousness its always the same, a perpetual, constant and eternal state in that it never leaves me. Its like that, and it never varies. What diminishes the immensity of the Vibration are the limitations of the material consciousness which can color it and even sometimes change it by giving it a personal appearance. Thus, when I see someone and speak to him, for example, when my eyes concentrate on the person, I have almost the sensation of this flood flowing from me towards the person or of it passing through me to go onto the person. There is an awareness of the eyes, the body. And it is this which limits or even changes a little the immensity of the thing But already this feeling has almost disappeared; this immensity seems to be acting almost constantly. There are moments when I am less interiorized, when I am more on the surface, and it feels like its passing through a bodymoments when the body consciousness comes back a little. And this is what diminishes the thing.
This experience last night also enabled me to understand what X had felt during one of our meditations. He had explained his experience by way of saying that I was this mystic tree whose roots plunge into the Supreme and whose branches spread forth over the world,3 and he said that one of these branches had entered into himand it had been a unique experience. He had said, this is the Mother.
0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
It is even good for people whove never been in trance to repeat a mantra (or a word, a prayer) before going to sleep. But the words must have a life of their ownby this I dont mean an intellectual meaning, nothing of the kind, but rather a vibration. And this has an extraordinary effect on the body, it starts vibrating, vibrating, vibrating and so calm, you let yourself go, like falling off to sleep. And the body vibrates more and more, more and more, more and more, and you drift off.
Such is the cure for tamas.
0 1960-07-12 - Mothers Vision - the Voice, the ashram a tiny part of myself, the Mothers Force, sparkling white light compressed - enormous formation of negative vibrations - light in evil, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I had a startling experience one day when X was doing his pujas to encircle the titans. He was in difficulty and I was about to intervene to help him when I was abruptly stopped. I was faced by a massive blackness (blacker than the blackest physical thing) and suddenly, right at its center, I saw the Divine Love shining with such a splendor I had never seen it so splendid.
And now it has become constant; each time I hear or see something ugly or horrible, or each time something ugly or horrible happens, something which is a negation of the divine life just behind is this flameso wonderful. And then the effect is annulled.
0 1960-07-23 - The Flood and the race - turning back to guide and save amongst the torrents - sadhana vs tamas and destruction - power of giving and offering - Japa, 7 lakhs, 140000 per day, 1 crore takes 20 years, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
These were universal forces. I cant say it means war. Ive foreseen many warswidespread wars, local wars, so many warsand up to now they have never been presented to me in that form. Theyve always come as a fireflames, flames, the home burning. Not as an inundation.
A cataclysm?
--
In fact, the Ashrams financial situation has never been so bad. Were living from day to day, minute to minute One day, it will crackall these things are connected (Mother is alluding to the vision of the flood She has just described).
I myself am clearly seeing it from the other side; I see a black, muddy forma black, black force. And I see the [Divine] Force acting on people and, miraculously, the money comesand then its like something armored1it seeps in with difficulty, a thin trickle from day to day.
0 1960-08-10 - questions from center of Education - reading Sri Aurobindo, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I answered. The letters must have left. I wrote (in English) that its not so much a question of organization as of attitudeto begin with. Then I said, It seems to me that unless the teachers themselves get out of this ordinary intellectuality (!), they will never be able to fulfill their duty.
And this is what I wrote to Z (Mother reads):
--
Im continuing The Yoga of Self-Perfection. Its really something I shall never tire of saying its fabulous. Everything, absolutely everything, in detail, everything is there. And he foresawforesaw, gave the remedy; foresaw, gave the remedy; foresaw, gave
Have you read it?
--
Sri Aurobindo and the Transformation of the World, an initial book on Sri Aurobindo by Satprem that was never published. It was meant to be part of a certain 'Series of Spiritual Masters,' but finally Sri Aurobindo never took part.
***
0 1960-08-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
You know, someone who appreciates this work tremendously is Nolini. Once he timidly asked me, Could I have a copy9? Fine, I said. Oh, he really appreciates it. And when I have something amusing like these most recent notes, I give him a copy. With that, hes happy. So he blesses you! (Mother laughs) Oh! Without you, this would never have been doneyou can be quite sure. never.
***
0 1960-08-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
We should not allow all this to upset us. There is but one thing to doremain in a state of constant peace, constant equanimity, for things are not they are not very pleasant. Oh, if you only knew all the letters they write me if you knew, first of all, the tremendous pile of stupidities that need never be written at all; then, added to that, such a display of ignorance, egoism, bad will, total incomprehension and unequalled ingratitude, and all this so candid, my child! They heap all this on me daily, you know, and it comes from the most unexpected quarters.
If this were to affect me (Mother laughs), I would long ago have been who knows where. I dont care at all, not at all, really not at allit doesnt bother me, it makes me smile.
0 1960-09-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
When Amrita,5 seized with zeal, wanted to make him understand what we were doing here and what Sri Aurobindo had wanted, it almost erupted into an unpleasant situation. So after that, I decided to identify myself with him to see I had never done this, because normally I only do it when I am responsible for someone, in order to truly help someone, and Ive never felt any responsibility in regard to X. So I wanted to see his inner situation, what could and could not be done. That was the day you saw him coming down from our meditation in an ecstatic state, when he told you that all separation between him and me had dropped awayit was to be expected, I anticipated as much!
But when I did that, I saw what X wanted to do for me. As a matter of fact, I recalled that when we first met I had told him that everything was all right up to this point (Mother indicates the region above the head), but below that, in the outer being, I wanted to hasten the transformation, and things there were difficult to handle.
When Sri Aurobindo was here, I never bothered about all this; I was constantly up above and I did what the Gita and the traditional writings advise I left it to Natures care. In fact I left it to Sri Aurobindos care. He is making the best use of it, I would say. He will manage it, he will do with it what he wants. And I was constantly up above. And from up there I worked, leaving the instrument as it was because I knew that he would see to it.
Actually, it was very different at that time because I was not even aware of any resistance or any difficulty in the outer being; it was automatic, the work was done automatically. Later on, when I had to do both thingswhat he had been doing as well as what I was doingit became rather complicated and I realized there were many what we could call gapsthings which had to be worked out, transformed, set right before the total work could be done without hindrance. So then I began. And several times I thought how unfortunate it was that I had never studied or pursued certain ancient Indian disciplines. Because, for example, when Sri Aurobindo and I were working to bring down the supramental forces, a descent from the mental plane to the vital plane, he was always telling me that everything I did (when we meditated together, when we worked)all my movements, all my gestures, all my postures, all my reactionswas absolutely tantric, as if I had pursued a tantric discipline. But it was spontaneous, it did not correspond to any knowledge, any idea, any will, nothing, and I thought it was like that simply because, as He knew, naturally I followed.
Later on, when Sri Aurobindo left his body, I said to myself, If only I knew what he had known, it would be easier! So when Swami and later X came, I thought, I am going to take advantage of this opportunity. I had written to Swami that I was working on transforming the cells of the body and that I had noticed the work was going faster with Xs influence. So it was understood that X would help when he came thats how things began, and this idea has remained with X. But I have raced on I dont wait. Ive raced on, Ive gone like wildfire. And now the situation is reversed. What I wanted to find out, I found out. I experienced what I wanted to experience, but he is still He is very kind, actually, he wants really to help me. So, when I identified with him the other day during our meditation, I realized that he wanted to give silence, control and perfect peace to the physical mind. My own trick, if you will, is to have as little relationship with the physical mind as possible, to go up above and stay therethis (Mother indicates her forehead), silent, motionless, turned upwards, while That (gesture above the head) sees, acts, knows, decidesall is done from there. Only there can you feel at ease.
--
Oh, I had tried for years I had tried to catch silence in my head I never succeeded. I could detach myself from it, but it would keep on turning But at that moment, all the mental constructions, all the mental, speculative structures none of it remaineda big hole.
And such a peaceful, such a luminous hole!
--
So I saw this I saw it moving about. And it kept coming and coming and coming, accumulating, piling up (they work 24 hours a day, six days a weekonly on the seventh do they rest). So I thought that this angry force must have some effect on the peoplewho knows, maybe this is what creates accidents. For I could see that once the sugar cane was fully crushed and had gone back up the chute, this force that had been beaten out was right there. And this worried me a little; I thought that there must be a certain danger in doing such a thing! What saves them is their ignorance and their insensitivity. But Indians are never entirely insensitive in the way Westerners arethey are much more open in their subconscious.
I didnt speak of it to anyone, but it caused me some concern. And just the next day the machine broke down! When I was informed, immediately I thought It was then repaired, and again it broke downthree times. Then the following night, just before ten oclock I should mention that during the day I had thought, But why not attract these forces to our side, take them and satisfy them, give them some peace and joy and use them? I thought about it, concentrated a little, but then I didnt bother any further. At ten oclock that evening, they came upon mein a flood! They kept coming and coming. And I was busy with them the whole time. They were not ugly (not so luminous either! ), they were wholesome, straightforwardhonest forces. So I worked on them. This began exactly at 9:30, and for one hour I was busy working. After an hour, Id had enough: Listen, this is quite fine, youre very nice, but I cant spend all my time like this! We shall see what to do later for it absorbed my whole consciousness. They kept coming and coming (you understand what that means to a body?!). So at 10:30 I told them, Listen, my little ones, be quiet now, thats enough for today At 10:30, the machine broke down!
0 1960-10-02a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
This has protected me from all seeking for pleasure in life. It was a wonderful protection, because pleasure always seemed so futile to meyes, futile; for the sake of your personal satisfaction. Later, I even understood how foolish it is, for you can never be satisfiedthough when youre small you dont yet know that. I never liked it: But is it really useful, does it serve some purpose? And I still have this attitude in regard to my nights. I have this widening of the consciousness, this impersonalization, this wonderful joy of being above all that. But at the same time I also have, Im here in this body, on earth, to do something I mustnt forget it. And this is what I have to do. But probably Im wrong!
Im waiting for the Lord to tell me clearly.
0 1960-10-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
And its true, those things I saw this morning which seemed so above all stupid and ugly (Ive never had a sense of morality at any time in my life, thank God! But stupid and ugly things have always seemed Ive always done my best to distance myself from them, even when I was very small). And now I see that these things which seem not only ridiculous but, well, almost shameful were considered, as I recall, remarkably noble earlier on and they represented an exceptionally lofty attitude in life the very same things. So then I understood that its quite simply a question of proportion.
And thats how the world isthings which now seem totally unacceptable to us, things we CANNOT tolerate, were quite all right in the past.
--
It has never left. I have always kept it. Like a smooth white surface turned upwards. And at any moment at all You see, we speak like a machine, but there nothing moves; at any moment at all it can turn towards the heights. Its ALWAYS turned like that, but we can become aware of it being like that. Then, if we listen, we can hear what comes from above. My active consciousness, which was here (Mother points to her forehead), has settled above, and it has never again moved from there.
I told this to Xor rather had someone tell himto see his reaction. And I realized that he did not understand in the least! Once Amrita asked him how he himself SAW and KNEW things. So he tried to explain; he told Amrita that he had to pull his consciousness upwards by a gradual effort, to go beyond the heart, beyond the throat center to pull it right up here (the top of the head), and once there, youre divine, you know! All of a sudden, I understood that when I said it was there, above the head, it must have seemed absolutely impossible to him! For him, its the crown of the head1 (what they call the thousand-petalled lotus), just at the top of the head, whereas in my experience it opens, it rises and you go above, and then you settle there For a number of years it even changed my [physical] visionit was as if I were looking at things from above. It returns from time to time, too, as if suddenly I were seeing from above instead of from here, at eye level.
0 1960-10-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Theons wife dictated it in English while she was in trance. Another English lady who was there claimed to know French like a Frenchman. Myself, I never use a dictionary, she would say, I dont need a dictionary. But then she would turn out such translations! She made all the classic mistakes of English words that mustnt be translated like that. Then it was sent to me in Paris for correcting. It was literally impossible.
There was this Themanlys, my brothers schoolmate; he wrote books, but he was lazy-minded and didnt want to work! So he had passed that job on to me. But it was impossible, you couldnt do a thing with it. And what words! Theon would invent words for the subtle organs, the inner senses; he had found a word for each thinga frightful barbarism! And I took care of everything: I found the printer, corrected the proofsall the work for a long time.
--
And never in my life, never, had I felt such peaceit was absolutely luminous and soft a peace, such a soft, tender, luminous peace. After a moment, she bent down and whispered in my ear, One must never question ones master! It wasnt I who was questioning!
She was a wonderful woman, wonderful. But as for him well
--
Traditionally, one's mantra is never to be repeated before anyone except the guru.
Tamas: inertia.
0 1960-10-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
But then there came a frightful reaction. For one day I was nearly as sicknot quiteas two years ago5 (they must have used the same mantra). And, you see, I who never vomit terrible vomitingeverything inside came out! Only now Im a bit more experienced than two years ago (!), so I set it right It happened here, downstairs, in the afternoon. I went right back up to my room (I didnt see anyone that afternoon), and I remained concentrated to try to find out what had happened. I saw that it came from therea backlash of those people trying to defend themselves.
I did what had to be done.
--
Only, there is all that comes from outside thats what is most dangerous. Constantly, constantlywhen you eat, you catch it oh, what a mass of vibrations! The vibrations of the thing you eat when it was living (they always remain), the vibrations of the person who cooked it, vibrations of All the time, all the time, they never stopyou breathe, they enter. Of course, when you start talking to someone or mixing with people, then you become a bit more conscious of what is coming, but even just sitting still, uninvolved with othersit comes! There is an almost total interdependenceisolation is an illusion. By reinforcing your own atmosphere (Mother gestures, as if building a wall around her), you can hold these things off TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, but simply this effort to keep them at a distance creates (Im thinking in English and speaking in French) disturbances.8 Anyway, now all this has been SEEN.
But I know in an absolute way that once this whole mass of the physical mind is mastered and the Brahmic consciousness is brought into it in a continuous way, you CAN you become the MASTER of your health.
--
For with that idea, the earth and men will never be able to change. This is why I have often said that this idea is the work of the Asuras,10 and with it they have ruled the earth.
Whereas whatever the effort, whatever the difficulty, whatever time it takes, whatever number of lives, you must know that all this doesnt matter: you KNOW you ARE the Master, that the Master and you are the same. All thats necessary is to know it INTEGRALLY, and nothing must belie it. Thats the way out.
0 1960-10-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
When I meditate with you When Im alone, there is never this power, this Its something else Sometimes its strong but it always lacks this particular quality. There are powerful moments when Im alone, but not like this.
Of course! Im also with you there in your room when you meditate, but it does make a difference
0 1960-11-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
I have so totally forgotten a whole world of incidents and events that when someone reminds me of something (the people around me have lived with me, so theyve seen things and remember them), I get the feeling that they are speaking of someone or something elseit no longer has any connection with me at all. And its the same with everything, whether near or far, which has brought to my consciousness whatever it had to bring, lost its utility anddisappeared. Only, these memories probably still have some utility for the others, so they remain. But for me its completely erased, absolutely, as if it had never been.
Its the only way to forget.
--
I went down into a place a place simply in the human consciousness, thus necessarily in my body I have never seen anything more timorous, fearful, feeble and mean! Its it must be a part of the cells, part of the consciousness, something that lives in apprehension, fear, dread, anxiety It was truly, truly dreadful.
And we carry that within us! We arent aware of it, its almost subconscious for you see, the consciousness is there to prevent us from yielding to thatits cowardly, and it can make you fall sick IN A MINUTE. I saw it, I saw things that had been cured and overcome in myself (cured in the true manner, not in an outer way), and then they return! Its cured, but then it begins again.
0 1960-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
From my earliest childhood, instinctively, I have never felt the slightest contempt or how should I say (well, well! I was thinking in English) shrinking or disapproval, severe criticism or disgust for the things people call vice.
(silence)
I have experienced all kinds of things in life, but I have always felt a sort of lightso INTANGIBLE, So perfectly pure (not in the moral sense, but pure light!)and it could go anywhere, mix everywhere without ever really getting mixed with anything. I felt this flame as a young childa white flame. And never have I felt disgust, contempt, recoil, the sense of being dirtiedby anything or anyone. There was always this flamewhite, white, so white that nothing could make it other than white. And I started feeling it long ago in the past (now my approach is entirely differentit comes straight from above, and I have other reasons for seeing the Purity in everything). But it came back when I met Z (because of the contact with him)and I felt nothing negative, absolutely nothing. Afterwards, people said, Oh, how he used to be this, how he used to be that! And now look at him! See what hes become! Someone even used the word rotten that made me smile. Because, you see, that doesnt exist for me.
What I saw is this world, this realm where people are like that, they live that, for its necessary to get out from below and this is a wayits a way, the only way. It was the only way for the vital formation and the vital creation to enter into the material world, into inert matter. An intellectualized vital, a vital of ideas, an artist; it even fringes upon or has the first drops of Poetrythis Poetry which upon its peaks goes beyond the mind and becomes an expression of the Spirit. Well, when these first drops fall on earth, it stirs up mud.
--
They also find I give too much time and too much force (and maybe too much attention) to people and things that should be regarded with more severity. That never bothered me much. It doesnt matter, they can say what they like.
But since Zs visit yesterday, and this morning on the balcony Oh, its so I had already seen this long agothis whole milieu that is not very pretty and I had said, Well, its all right, thats how it is, and I didnt discuss it further: Thats how it is, and absolutely the whole world belongs to the Lord IS the Lord! And the Lord made it so, and the Lord wants it so, and its quite all right. Then I put it aside. But with his visit yesterday, it found its placesuch a smiling place. And theres a whole world of things of life which have found their true place in this waywith a smile!
--
If you werent there, all these things would never get said.
I dont know why. I dont know why I wouldnt say them. But I know why I say them to you I already gave you a hint. 3 I told you, didnt I, that there was a reason.
--
And, even with Sri Aurobindo, even with him I didnt speak of these things for I wouldnt waste his time, and I found it quite useless to burden him with all this. I would tell him I always described my visions and experiences at night I always recounted that to him. And he would remember (I myself would forget; the next day, the whole thing would be gone), he would remember; then sometimes, long afterwards, even years afterwards, he would say, Ah, yes! You had seen that back then. He had a wonderful memory. While myself, I would already have forgotten. But those were the only things I told him, and even then only when I saw that it had a very sure, very superior quality. I didnt bother him with a whole jumble of words. But otherwise . even Nolini,4 who understands well I never, never felt even the (its not the need) not even the POSSIBILITY.
I dont want to tell you this too precisely, to expand on it, for these things cannot be explained. I want you tonot know nor think it, but feel it suddenly, like a little electric shock within that leaps forth.
0 1960-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Certainly, we CAN be heard. So far I never said anything. It even surprised me, for I had never paid it any attention, I was quite away from all that: its raining?so what, its raining, it happens. Its not raining?so what, its not raining, its the same thing. And then gradually people started mentioning that should it continue, they wouldnt be able to do their exercises, and they wouldnt be ready for December 2.1 Then I started receiving desperate lettersone person even told me he was doing his puja underwater! So I answered by saying, Take it as the Lords blessing but Im not sure he appreciated it! And then I learned that 200 houses [in the Ashram]200!are leaking. Naturally, each one is in a great hurryits terribly urgent! So perhaps I shall file a complaint and ask them what they mean by this!
Actually, if communications are interrupted, it can be troublesome Let us see.
--
Theres a certain sensibility which makes any increase in humidity felt. Before it starts raining, even several hours before, it feels like there are drops falling on my body. I can always say when its going to rain. Its entirely physical, actually, merely a heightened sensitivity. It feels like very tiny drops (you know, like drizzle), the feeling of a very fine spray falling on the body. And yet the sky is clear; I say, Hmm, its going to rain. And it rains I felt it. I feel the water, and it never fails to come a few hours later.
(silence)
0 1960-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
So I understood that this must correspond to a certain realm of experience; I understood all those who say, If it has to be like this, if it can never be otherwise, then (this opposition, this abyss between a TRUE life, a TRUE consciousness, a TRUE activity, something living, powerful, fulfilling and life as it now is), if there must always be this difference between the physical expression as it is or as it can be in the present circumstances, and the true life, then For if despite everythingdespite this tremendous distance Ive covered in my life (these memories go back more than sixty years) and all the evolutionary effort upwards I have made since that time IN MATTER (Im not speaking of leaving Matter behind, but IN MATTER, IN action)if that doesnt further reduce this gap between the true consciousness and the possible material realization, then I understand I understand why people say, Its hopeless. (Of course, this hopeless is meaningless to me.)
But I (how can I put this?) I lived their experience, I lived it; and even events which seem quite extraordinary when seen from afar, which is the way they appear to most people, even historical things which have furthered the earths transformation and its upheavals the crucial events, the great works, you might sayare woven from the SAME fabric, they are the SAME thing! When you look at all this from afar, on the whole it can make an impression, but the life of each minute, of each hour, of each second is woven from this SAME fabric, drab, dull, insipid, WITHOUT ANY TRUE LIFEa mere reflection of life, an illusion of lifepowerless, void of any light or anything that resembles joy in the least. Oh! if it has always to remain like that, then we dont want any of it.
--
While it was all coming up, I thought, How is this possible? For during those years of my life (Im now outside things; I do them but Im entirely outside, so they dont involve mewhether its like this or like that makes no difference to me; Im only doing my work, thats all), I was already conscious, but nevertheless I was IN what I was doing to a certain extent; I was this web of social life (but thank God it wasnt here in India, for had it been here I could not have withstood it! I think that even as a child I would have smashed everything, because here its even worse than over there). You see, there its its a bit less constricting, a bit looser, you can slip through the mesh from time to time to brea the some air. But here, according to what Ive learned from people and what Sri Aurobindo told me, its absolutely unbearable (its the same in Japan, absolutely unbearable). In other words, you cant help but smash everything. Over there, you sometimes get a breath of air, but still its quite relative. And this morning I wondered (you see, for years I lived in that way for years and years) just as I was wondering, How was I ABLE to live that and not kick out in every direction?, just as I was looking at it, I saw up above, above this (it is worse than horrible, it is a kind of Oh, not despair, for there isnt even any sense of feeling there is NOTHING! It is dull, dull, dull gray, gray, gray, clenched tight, a closed web that lets through neither air nor life nor lightthere is nothing) and just then I saw a splendor of such sweet light above itso sweet, so full of true love, true compassion something so warm, so warm the relief, the solace of an eternity of sweetness, light, beauty, in an eternity of patience which feels neither the past nor the inanity and imbecility of thingsit was so wonderful! That was entirely the feeling it gave, and I said to myself, THAT is what made you live, without THAT it would not have been possible. Oh, it would not have been possible I would not have lived even three days! THAT is there, ALWAYS there, awaiting its hour, if we would only let it in.
(silence)
0 1960-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
You see, Im doing the sadhana really along a a path that has never been trod by anyone. Sri Aurobindo did it in principle. But he gave the charge of doing it in the body to me.
That was the wonderful thing when we were together and all these hostile forces were fighting (they tried to kill me any number of times. He always saved me in an absolutely miraculous and marvelous way). But you see, this seemed to create very great BODILY difficulties for him. We discussed this a great deal, and I told him, If one of us must go, I want that it should be me.
--
This interests me, for these things do not at all enter through the mind (he doesnt receive a thing there, hes closed there). So in his letter he says that this thing or that is necessary (he describes it in his own words), and he adds, This is why we must be so grateful to have among us the the great Mother7 (as he puts it), the great Mother who knows these things.Good! I said to myself. (It had to do with something specific concerning the capacity for discrimination in the outside world, the different qualities and different functions of different beings, all of which depends on ones inner construction, as it were.) So I see that even this, even these physical experiences, is received (and yet I hadnt tried, I had never tried to make him receive it); it merely works like this, you see (gesture of a widespread diffusion), and the experience is veryhow should I say?drastic, with a kind of (power of radiation). Imperative.
Original English.
0 1960-12-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
Nature is a marvelous inventoreverything She does is beautiful. I dont believe that man has succeeded in producing anything so perfect. Later, its true, some new species were developed by him, but nevertheless Nature still remains the origin.
Yes, ugliness seems to begin with man.
0 1960-12-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Integral Yoga
X seemed happy about his visit this time. We had long meditations of half an hourhe never seemed to want to leave at all! There was above all a kind of extremely calm universalization. An absolute and universal calm in all the cells of the body. I dont know if it was only me, but it seemed he was in the same stateunable to move, quite content, smiling. Once I heard the clock chime, and as I thought it was time and that perhaps he was ready to leave, I looked; he had removed the mala3 that he wears around his neck and I found him doing japa. As soon as he saw me looking, he quickly put it back on!
But whats most surprising is that with me, not a word, nothing, neither he nor I. And it seems to be just as comfortable for him as it is for me!
0 1961-01-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It is quite elementary: never take notice of evil, never speak of the evil present in others, never perpetuate the vibrations of evil by observation, criticism or giving undue attention to the evil deed. This is what Buddha taught: each time you mention an evil you help spread it.
This skirts the issue.
nevertheless, it ought to be a very general rule; yet its critics have a reply: If you dont see evil you can never cure it. If you leave someone to his squalor he will never emerge from it. (Its not exactly true, but its how they legitimize their actions.) In this aphorism, Sri Aurobindo has anticipated these objections: it is not through ignorance or unconsciousness or indifference that you fail to see evilyou can see and even feel it, but you refuse to collaborate in spreading it by giving it the force of your attention or the support of your consciousness. And for that, you must yourself be above the perception and sensationable to see evil or ugliness without suffering, without feeling shocked or troubled. You see them from a height where such things do not exist, yet you have the conscious perception of themthey dont affect you, you are free. This is the first step.
The second step is to be POSITIVELY conscious of the supreme Goodness and Beauty behind all things and supporting all things, permitting them to exist. Once you have seen Him, you can perceive Him behind the mask and the distortioneven ugliness, even cruelty, even evil are a disguise for that Something which is essentially good or beautiful, luminous, pure.
--
Oh no, my child, you dont see at all! To speak I must have a receptive atmosphere! The idea of talking aloud all alone in my room would never occur to me. Sound doesnt come: what comes is a direct transmission and if I manage to connect it to my hand and write its transmitted, although it always gets somewhat pulled down. I can be doing anything at all, it doesnt matter, but it must be something that doesnt monopolize my attention, like brushing my hair in the morning for example: then it comes directly and nothing stops it! But I would never think of uttering a word! That only happens when I find some receptivity in front of me, something I can use.
What I say to people depends entirely upon their inner state. Thats precisely why I had such enormous difficulty at the Playground3the atmosphere was so mixed! It was a STRUGGLE to find someone receptive so I could speak. And if Im in the presence of people who understand nothing, I cant say a word. On the other hand, some people come prepared to receive and then suddenly it all comes but usually theres no tape-recorder!
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Of course, people who dont think deeply enough will say, Oh, but if we see that things are exactly as they should be, then nothing will budge. But no! There isnt a fraction of a second when things arent moving: theres a continuous and total transformation, a movement that never stops. Only because its difficult for us to feel that way can we imagine that by our entering certain states of consciousness things would not change. Even if we entered into an apparently total inertia, things would continue to change and we along with them!
Ultimately, disgust, rebellion and anger, all movements of violence, are necessarily movements of ignorance and of limitation with all the weakness that limitation implies. Rebellion is a weakness, for its the feeling of an impotent will. When you feel, when you see that things are not as they should be, then you rebel against whatever is out of keeping with your vision. But if you were all-powerful, if your will and your vision were all-powerful, there would be no opportunity to rebel! You would always see that all things are as they should be! That is omnipotence.1 Then all these movements of violence become not only useless but profoundly ridiculous.
0 1961-01-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And its not a random experience coming now and then, its something you can witness minute by minute. You generally see it far more readily in others! But if you watch yourself carefully, you will catch yourself a thousand times a daylooking at things in a favorable way: Oh, its NOT the same thing! And besides, its never the same for you as it is for your neighbor!
For Sri Aurobindo and Mother, the 'vital' represents the regions of consciousness or the centers of consciousness below the mind between the throat and the sex center, i.e. the whole region of emotions, feelings, passions, etc., which constitute the various expressions of the Life-Energy.
0 1961-01-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its not at all the same as in the West, in Europe or America, not at all. Basically, the people in those countries are made of the same stuff as we are. But here thats not the case, because for centuries it never changeda Brahmin, for example, always remained a Brahmin, a Kshatria was always a Kshatria and all his servants were Kshatrias. It stayed in the family, in the sense that in each caste the servantsoften poor relativesbe longed to that same caste. From a social standpoint this might not have been too pleasant, but as far as atmosphere was concerned, it was very good. This was changed, however, first by the Muslim invasion, and then especially by the British.
The British, you see, were served only by pariahs (in fact, its we Europeans who named them that!). But they were not actually pariahs by birth, they became pariahs out of HABIT.
--
All this is just to tell you that some contacts are not very favorable. And I understand full well: I could never tolerate people like that coming into my room sometimes it would take me hours and hours to put things right!
We have to be careful.
There was a time when we had only a minimum of servants here and they always remained apartwe never had an epidemic. I dont know for how many years it wasyears and years while Sri Aurobindo was herewe never had a single case of an epidemic disease. It began when people started coming here with children; necessarily they brought their servants along with them, who went to the bazaar and even to the movies and here and there. Then everything came in.
But now the situation is bad. There are something like thirty cases of measles, four or five of smallpox and some chickenpox as well. You must be careful. I need you in good health, otherwise well have to stop everything!
--
Later, Mother added: 'All the experiences took place one after the other, but the new experience did not cancel the preceding one. The Consciousness this supreme Unity that I hadremained all the time, to the very end, even while the other centers were awakening. And each center that awakened was a kind of addition, taking away nothing from what had come before. So at the end it was all simultaneous: a kind of global consciousness total and simultaneousof everything.... You see, while rising up (one is obliged to say "rising" and "descending" for otherwise one would never be understood), while "rising up" to reach this supreme Consciousness, all the rest was annulled, there was only That. When the supreme Consciousness was realized, it remained ALL the time, continuously, to the very end, it did not move; but meanwhile, the other centers began to awaken one after another. And each awakening center assumed its place but canceled nothing either of what had come before or of what was about to come, so that when I reached the end, all of it together was a simultaneous whole the Supreme Consciousness.' When Satprem asked if this Supreme Consciousness was the 'New Consciousness,' Mother replied, 'Not "new!" One can't say "new"Supreme Consciousness.'
This entire experience and Mother's insistence that it all happened 'without moving,' unlike the experience of the ascent of the Kundalini, suggests that it is the supramental consciousness concealed in the depths of the cells, that somehow emerges and traverses all the layers until the junction is made with the most material body-consciousness.
0 1961-01-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was about the Word, the primal sound. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it in Savitri: the essence of the Word and how it will express itself, how it will bring in the possibility of a supramental expression that will take the place of languages. I began by speaking to him about the different languages, their limitations and possibilities; and I warned him against the deformations imposed on languages with the idea of making them a more flexible means of expressing something else. I told him how completely ridiculous it all was, and that it didnt correspond at all to the truth. Then little by little I began ascending to the Origin. So yesterday again, I had this same experience: a whole world of knowledge, of consciousness and of CERTAINTYprecluding the least possibility of contradiction, discussion, or opposition; the possibility DOES NOT EXIST, it doesnt exist. And the mind was absolutely silent and immobile, listening with obvious pleasure because these things had never before come into my consciousness; I had never been concerned with them in that way. It was completely newnot new in principle but completely new in action.
The experiences are multiplying.
0 1961-01-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have never said anything. I never say a word.
You can tell her anything you like, it doesnt matterjust tell her to keep it to herself.
0 1961-01-31, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, yes, this is very, very annoying, my child! You dont need to tell me! I have never in my life had enough time. Whatever I do, whether I am speaking to someone, organizing something, doing a particular work, the time is always too short, and I have the feeling, Oh, if I could only do that quietly! Anything, no matter what, becomes interesting if it can be done calmly, with the right attitude and the right concentration. Yet we are perpetually hurried by the next thing coming along.
But this is a shortcoming. And I know it, I know it I will find the solution. And when I have found it, it will be.
--
With my japa the contrast is the same, its absolutely astounding: I feel I am saying the words in the same way, with the same sound, exactly the same rhythm, but in some cases, with a particular inner attitude, the time by the clock is different! Yet nevertheless, bound up as we are in our physical Matter, we imagine it has taken exactly the same amount of time! Thats what is so strange, this extraordinary relativity vis--vis the clock.
This must be what they tried to express by Joshua making the sun stand still.
0 1961-02-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then after these two incidents, I received a visit one night from the King of Serpents. He was wearing a superb crown on his headsymbolic, of course, but anyway, he was the spirit of the species. He had the appearance of a cobra, and he was wonderful! A formidable beast, and wonderful! He said he had come to make a pact with me: I had demonstrated my power over his species, so he wanted to come to an understanding. All right, I said, what do you propose? I not only promise that serpents wont harm you, he replied, but that they will obey you. But you must promise me something in return: never to kill one of them. I thought it over and said, No, I cant make this promise, because if ever one of yours attacks one of mine (a being that depends upon me), my pact with you could not stop me from protecting him. I can assure you that I have no bad feelings and no intention of killingkilling is not on my program! But I cant commit myself, because it would restrict my freedom of decision. He left without replying, so it remains status quo.
I have had several experiences demonstrating my power over snakes (not so much as over catswith cats its extraordinary!). Long ago, I often used to take a drive and then stop somewhere for a walk. One day after my walk, as I was getting back into the car to drive away (the door was still open), a very large snake came out, right from the spot I had just left. He was furious and heading straight towards the open door, ready to strike (luckily I was alone, neither the driver nor Pavitra were there, otherwise). When the snake had come quite near, I looked at him closely and said, What do you want? Why have you come here? There was a pause. Then he fell down flat and off he went. I hadnt made a move, only asked him, What do you want? Why have you come here? You know, they have a way of suddenly falling back, going limp, and prrt! Gone!
--
And do you know how he received me when I arrived there? It was the first time in my life I had traveled alone and the first time I had crossed the Mediterranean. Then there was a fairly long train ride between Oran and Tlemcenanyway, I managed rather well: I got there. He met me at the station and we set off for his place by car (it was rather far away). Finally we reached his estatea wonder! It spread across the hillside overlooking the whole valley of Tlemcen. We arrived from below and had to climb up some wide pathways. I said nothingit was truly an experience from a material standpoint. When we came in sight of the house, he stopped: Thats my house. It was red! Painted red! And he added, When Barley came here, he asked me, Why did you paint your house red? (Barley was a French occultist who put Theon in touch with France and was his first disciple.) There was a mischievous gleam in Theons eyes and he smiled sardonically: I told Barley, Because red goes well with green! With that, I began to understand the gentleman. We continued on our way uphill when suddenly, without warning, he spun around, planted himself in front of me, and said, Now you are at my mercy. Arent you afraid? Just like that. So I looked at him, smiled and replied, Im never afraid. I have the Divine here. (Mother touches her heart.)
Well, he really went pale.
--
Someone had wanted to plant pine treesScotch firs, I think and by mistake Norway spruce were sent instead. And it began to snow! It had never snowed there before, as you can imagineit was only a few kilometers from the Sahara and boiling hot: 113 in the shade and 130 in the sun in summer. Well, one night Madame Theon, asleep in her bed, was awakened by a little gnome-like beinga Norwegian gnome with a pointed cap and pointed slippers turned up at the toes! From head to foot he was covered with snow, and it began melting onto the floor of her room, so she glared at him and said:
What are You doing here? Youre dripping wet! Youre making a mess of my floor!
--
It was the first time. They had lived there for years but had never seen snow. And every winter after that, the hillsides would be covered with snow.
(silence)
--
It doesnt matter! Put your ideas down on paper. There are things you already know you want to say. Put it all on paper. I assure you it will do you good. I have seen it several times recently and I wanted to tell you: begin your book on Sri Aurobindo! Begin anywhere at all, at any point the middle, the end, the beginningit doesnt matter! Whatever you feel you have to say, write it down. Its good to keep yourself occupied like that now, during this period. And for our next meetings you can work a little on The Synthesis of Yoga and we will look at it together instead of you always making me talk! I have increased your work, there will be no end to it. If it goes on like this, there will never be an end!
Fortunately!
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
For Sri Aurobindo, the important thing was always the Mother. As he explained it, the Mother has several aspects, and certain aspects are still unmanifest. So if he has represented the Mother by Kali in particular, I believe its in relation to all those gods. Because, as he wrote in The Mother, the aspects to be manifested depend upon the time, the need, the thing to be done. And he always said that unless one understands and profoundly feels the aspect of Kali, one can never really participate in the Work in the worldhe felt that a sort of timid weakness makes people recoil before this terrible aspect.
***
--
It is attached to nothing: none of its habits, none of its ways of being-nothing. It says in all sincerity, I ask only for the Light, only to change. That is its state. it has never, never said, Oh, Im tired, Ive had enough! Bah! Its not like that. It is attached to nothing for a long, long time it has ceased to have desiresit is attached to nothing at all, to nothing. There isnt a single thing for which it says, Oh, I cant do without that! Not one. It doesnt care-if something comes, it takes it; if it doesnt come, the body doesnt think about it. In other words, its truly good-natured. But if this isnt sufficient, then it doesnt know and it says, If there is something I cant do or I dont know or I am not doing It asks for nothing more than to make the necessary effort!
(silence)
--
Two nights ago, I saw a formation of illness over the entire Ashram, a kind of adverse formation trying to prevent me from leaving my room, and I had to hide to get out, leave clandestinely. Oh, what a terrible atmosphere, so heavy, so grayeverybody was ill. And this formation had some actual effects because many people fell ill who normally never do. It is an adverse formation and theres no reason to concede its victory; its simply a force which doesnt want us to succeed, of courseso we need not pay attention.
The trouble is, if I were thirty or forty years old, people wouldnt be affected. But unfortunately they think about how old I am all the time and it creates a bad atmosphere. After all, they keep saying, Mother is old and. All the usual nonsense.
But I know differently and so does my bodyto me its all foolishness and has no importance. For instance, when Vinoba Bhave came to see me4 (the man who takes care of poor people), he looked at me and said, Oh, youll live a hundred years! And I simply said, Yes, it all seemed so natural. At that moment, there wasnt even (how to put it?) the least intimation of a doubt. Of course its a clich, but nevertheless, he said it; afterwards he told people that this was what he had felt. And it seems completely natural I know if my body can last till its a hundred (a little less than twenty years more), then we will be on the other side the difficulty will be over.
I rather feel that your dream is another part of this present mass attack, but.
--
(Mother gets up to leave when suddenly, turning upon the threshold, She looks at Satprem with her eyes like diamonds and, in a tone of voice he has never heard before, as if it were a Command from above, says:)
In any case, one thing: never forget that what we have to do, we shall do; and we shall do it together because we have to do it together, that is alllike this, like that, in this way, in that way (Mother tilts her hand from right to left as though to indicate this side of the world or the other, life or death), it has no importance. But this is the true fact.
There, petit.
--
A recentand unifying (!)theory postulated by the American Nobel Laureate, Murray Gell-Mann, would reduce this somewhat startling enumeration to more reasonable proportions through the introduction of a unique sub-particle constituting all matter: the quark. nevertheless, there would still exist several kinds of quarks (e.g., 'strange,' 'charmed,' 'colored' in red, yellow and blue) for accommodating the various qualities of matter. A proton, for example, would consist of three quarks: red, yellow and blue. However, it should be noted that quarks are basically mathematical intermediaries to facilitate the comprehension or interpretation of certain experiments thus far unexplained. Moreover, the simple question still remains, even if they do exist materially: 'What are quarks made of?'
nevertheless, a mathematical model resulting from a recent theory that attempts to represent our material universe strangely resembles Mother's perception, for it postulates a milieu consisting entirely of electromagnetic waves of very high frequency. According to this theory, Matter itself is the 'coagulation' of these waves at the moment they exceed a certain frequency threshold; our perception of emptiness, of fullness, of the hard or the transparent, being finally due only to the differences in vibratory frequencies'vibratory modes within the same thing.'
But what is this 'same thing'?
0 1961-02-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
So well see how long this is going to last. I understand why people have never tried to change it: stir up that quagmire? No! It takes a lot (laughing), a lot of courage! Oh, its so easy to escape, so easy to say, None of that concerns me. I belong to higher spheres, it doesnt concern me.
Anyway, its obvious that nobody has succeeded, so far not a single person and I understand! I understand. When you find yourself face to face with it, you wonder, How could anything possibly withstand this!
--
Even mastery can be achievedits quite easy to do from above. But for the transformation one must descend, and that is terrible. Otherwise, the subconscient will never be transformed, it will remain as it is.
One can even pose as a superman! (Mother laughs) But it remains like that (gesture in the air), its not the real thing. Its not the new creation, its not the next step in terrestrial evolution.
--
Oh, in that, too, there are a lot of. I myself wasnt present, so I dont know what Sri Aurobindo said, but I have a kind of feeling. Just recently they wanted to publish something similar in Mother India6Conversations with me noted by A. Luckily it was sent to me first: I Cut EVERYTHING! Such platitudes, my child! Oh, it was disgusting. I said, This is impossible. I have never spoken like that, never! It was flat, flat, flat, with a superficial, word-for-word understanding! Oh, horrible, horrible. Whatever passes through people is terribly, terribly loweredpopularized, made commonplace.
Anyhow. Only Sri Aurobindo can speak of Sri Aurobindo. And as for their notes, its still Sri Aurobindo A la Z, or Sri Aurobindo A la A, and all the more so since Sri Aurobindo wrote in very different ways depending upon the person he was writing to (gesture indicating different levels).
--
Sri Aurobindo et la Transformation du Monde [Sri Aurobindo and the Transformation of the World], a book that Editions du Seuil had asked Satprem to write and subsequently refused on the pretext that it did not conform to the 'spirit of the collection.' This book would never see the light of day. Satprem would later write another book entitled Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness.
A long-time disciple (Suzanne Karpeles) and a member of the cole Franaise d'Extrme Orient.
0 1961-03-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, its dreadful, each one (Mother is referring to the disciples). Well, never mind.
Im not so late today.
--
In addition, I told them it was preferable not to hold any functions herethey can be held at Tapogiri in the Himalayas, or elsewhere and this is understood. They did hold a seminar here (a perfect fiasco, besides), but it had been arranged a long time ago. They invited people who promised to come (I think very few showed up in the end), and it was of very secondary importance. nevertheless, I told them, This is the last time; dont do it here any more. At Tapogiri, as often as you like: its a beautiful spot in the mountains, a health resort, people go there in the summer for the fresh air and to sit around and chat!
What shocked me was. You know I rarely leave my house, but each time I would come to the Ashram for darshan or to see you, always, as if by chance, I would find J. off in a corner with some European visitor. The repetition of this coincidence made me wonder, Whats he doing so systematically with ALL the European visitors?! And it shocked me to imagine myself in their place: just suppose, I said to myself, you are coming to the Ashram for the first time, very open, in search of a great truth, and you stumble upon this man who tells you: Sri Aurobindo = World Union. Well, my first reaction would be, Im leaving, Im not interested!
--
Then it proves they have never read anything by Sri Aurobindo. Its unimportant. No, its even better than unimportant: its a test. This place is full of tests, full, full, full! People dont realize. One can see it happening, as though it were done on purpose just to trip people up (not really on purpose, but thats how it acts). It protects me from hordes of good-for-nothings! I am not eager to have a lot of people here.
Another thing that shocked me was in their journal.
Ive never seen itfull of stupidities?
Its outrageous! First of all, they use Sri Aurobindos name, putting it on a level with Vinoba Bhave or Dr. Schweitzer or who knows what other sage; then at the end they launch an appeal for people to enroll! So the reader is left wondering, But I thought Sri Aurobindo. You understand, this indiscriminate mixture, this diminishing.
--
Oh, Ive had all sorts of examples! All these errors serve as tests. Take the case of P.: for a long time, whe never someone arrived from the outside world and asked to be instructed, he was sent to P.s room. (I didnt send them, but they would be told, Go speak to P.!) And P. is the sectarian par excellence! He would tell people, Unless you acknowledge Sri Aurobindo as the ONLY one who knows the truth, you are good for nothing! Naturally (laughing), many rebelled! (You see, out of lazinessso as not to be bothered with seeing people or answering their questionsone says, Go find so-and-so, go ask so-and-so, and passes off the work to another.) Well, it was finally understood that this wasnt very tactful, and perhaps it would be better not to send visitors to P., since so many had been put off. But actually. I was told about it afterwards and I replied, Let people read and see for THEMSELVES whether or not it suits them! What difference does it make if theyre put off! If they are, it means they NEED to be put off! Well see later. Some of them have come full circle and returned. Others never came backbecause they werent meant to. Thats how it goes. Basically, all this has NO importance. Or we could put it in another way: everything is perfectly all right.
(silence)
Each one of us must learn his lesson thats a different matter. WE are not perfectly all right because we can be bettercircumstances are simply the outgrowth of what we are, nothing else. And we neednt worry I never worry myself!
Whats more, I find it so funny! A time comes when all such things seem so childish, so stupid, so meaningless! What difference can it make! As long as people are still at that level, thats where they are. The day they get away from it, they too will smile!
0 1961-03-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I knew when I caught it: it was at the Playground.4 Certain people poisoned me with a mosquito bite the instant the mosquito bit me, I knew, because it so happens I am a little bit conscious! But I controlled it like this (gesture of holding the disease in abeyance and under control), so it couldnt stir. Probably it would never have stirred if I hadnt had that experience of January 24 and the body didnt need to be made ready. For the body to be ready, a host of things belonging to the dasyus, as the Vedas say, cant be stored inside it! These are very nasty little dasyus (laughing), they have to be chased away!
When the disease came back, I said to myself, Very well, this means it must be dealt with in a new way.
0 1961-03-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Theon used to say it wasnt (how to put it?) inevitable. In the total freedom of the manifestation, this voluntary separation from the Origin is the cause of all the disorder. How to explain it? Words express these things so poorly. We can call it inevitable because it happened! But outside of this creation, a creation can be imagined (or could have been) where this disorder would not have occurred. Sri Aurobindo saw it in approximately the same way: a sort of accident, as it were but an accident allowing the manifestation a far greater and more total perfection than if it had never occurred. But this is all still in the realm of speculation, and useless speculation at that. In any case, the experience, the feeling, is that all at once (Mother makes the gesture of a brutal fall) oh!
For the earth it probably happened like that, all at once: a sort of ascent, then the fall. But the earth is a tiny concentrationuniversally, its something else.
0 1961-03-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Man questions himself because the mental instrument is made for seeing all possibilities and because the human being feels he has freedom of choice and the immediate consequences are the notions of good and evil, right and wrong, and all the ensuing miseries. This cant be called a bad thing: its an intermediate stagenot a very pleasant stage, but nevertheless it was certainly inevitable for a total development.
***
0 1961-03-21, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Of course, there are certain symptoms which never appear with filariasis. And the doctor has been astounded at the control Ive had over it: it began in the feet, I checked it there; it went higher, I checked it there; then it went higher still and I continued to control it. Finally, the other day, it tried to get into the arms, but it couldnt hold outand last night there was a real riot! (Mother laughs) So perhaps its the deformation or transposition of some sort of mantric effort, like last time in 58 when there was an attempt to make me throw up all my blood but only food came out! Its probably something similar. My impression (Ive had it from the start) is that they have made a try at thrombosis (you know, when something blocks the circulation). Besides, it seems that X asked the doctor if blood-poisoning might be involved, so he must have seen this possibility. There has been absolutely nothing of the kind, but there has been an effort to block the circulation in the veins, probably an adaptation of the magic attack. And along with this have come all the usual things: all the usual suggestions, all the usual prophecies [about Mothers departure]. But for me, these are the normal facts of life, thats all. I am used to it. It has no importance.
Do you really believe Z could be behind this magician you saw?
--
Z was Satprem's first guru when he became a sannyasi. Then Z tried to exert his control over Satprem and predicted to Mother that he would never remain in the Ashram. Finally Satprem broke with him and Z went away furious.
Satprem has never believed for a minute that Z practiced black magic against Mother: it must have been something or someone else.
Satprem was trying to patch up some French translations of Sri Aurobindo done by well-meaning but not very gifted disciples, who of course wanted 'to publish' at all costs.
0 1961-03-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(On the previous day, Satprem had written a letter to Mother complaining of never having any concrete experiences. After a meditation together, this is what Mother replied.)
[This letter has disappeared.]
--
Several times in my life I have met with the particular phenomenon of having an absolutely exceptional and unique experience and at the same time feeling that a part of my being was unaware of it! I would tell myself, if I hadnt been both here and there at the same moment (Mother indicates two different levels in her consciousness), I might have had all these experiences and never known it! And this happened not just once but many times. Some were utterly unique, like certain ancient Vedic experiencesutterly unique. When I recounted them to Sri Aurobindo, he told me, Oh, its extremely rare! Some people try all their lives to attain that. And it happened to me not just once but often: the experience took place there (gesture above) and something up there knew, and yet there was something down here that would never have known if the other hadnt (same gesture). nevertheless the total experience was there.
Its very difficult to explain, its extremely subtle.
0 1961-03-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You know he said someone has been doing black magic against me; but I have never felt anything of the sort in the room where we meditate, because I make a point of coming half an hour early and this of course clears the atmosphere: everything is always ready when he arrives, in silence, in perfect peace. Hasnt he always told you that when he comes into that room he enters another world, like Kailas?1 And thats the way it has always been. If there has been a change, its that now its even more like thatbecause (how to put it?) its more stable. Before, it fluctuated a bit: it came, went, came. But now its like a tranquil mass (Mother lowers her arms) that doesnt stir. Yesterday in particular, this was the experience: I felt him coming (when he is about to come in, I always sense something drawing me outward a little so that I wont be completely in trance and can stand up), and this prayer came so spontaneously, oh! And then (laughing) in the afternoon N. tells me, Oh, X said he had some difficulty at the start of todays meditationa hostile force was present and it took him five minutes to clarify the atmosphere!
It gave me the impression you get in outer life: all the pieces more or less dovetail but with no inner unitytheres not ONE thing, not one, that is true, essentially and always true. We know it is like that outwardly, of course; but I have always felt that with people who have an inner life, one could attain a kind of identity of vibration and knowledge but no!
--
What ruffles me is that someone like X, who has worked on himself, ought to have felt it. Why do I feel it? Because since I have been doing all this work on my body, it senses things and it is never mistaken. I have had repeated proof that it is never mistaken. When a higher vibration comes, it feels it right away! But I must say that this has only been the case since the body became very universalized. However, I was under the impression that X must have been somewhat universalized to have the powers he has, but now I dont know.
Its not that I was disappointed by his way of being, certainly not; but it has suddenly confronted me with a terrible problem: Is it impossible to live a truth in material consciousness? Is it really impossible? An absolute, I mean an absolute truthnot something entirely subjective and relative, each one living his own truth in his own manner. Will one person always be like this and the other like that and the third like something else? So that only by putting all the pieces together do we actually amount to anything and yet to what?! Is it completely impossible for absolute truth to manifest in the present state of Matter? This is the problem that has seized me.
--
It ruffles me because its like a negation of my power. Till yesterday I had never experienced anything of the kind! On the 29th, you know, it will be forty-seven years since I first came here3thats not exactly yesterday! And ever since I began working with Sri Aurobindo, I have had the sense of this Power, it has never left me; so. It is disconcerting to have this kind of episode come up after such a long time.
Ill try to speak with X and find out exactly what happened.
--
I believe this body has suffered as much as a body can bear without going to pieces, and it keeps going, it has never asked for mercynot once has it said, No, its too much, not once. It says, As You will, Lord: here I am.
And so it continues.
--
Well, Im never going to tell people that its just a promenade! No, its nothing like a promenade. Some say, Oh, youre too severe! But too bad for them; its better to tell the truth, isnt it?
We mustnt get discouraged.
0 1961-04-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Theoretically, it shouldnt be that way, but in fact it is. Something will never be perfect until this accident has been abolished.
That is my experience.
--
I have never written or spoken to X about this, but through mental contact I have told him I dont know how many times: Satprem has a work to accomplish that is INFINITELY more important than reciting mantras. If it can help him to discipline himself, fine, but its nothing more; he will not accomplish his work by reciting mantras. He has something to do and he will do it. I have hammered that into his head (Mother laughs).
So, petit, see you tomorrow.
0 1961-04-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had another cat I called Big Boy. Oh, how beautiful he was! Enormous! A tail like the train of a gown. He was beautiful! Since there were all kinds of cats prowling around, including a big fierce tomcat who was extremely vicious, I was very afraid for this one when he was little and I got him used to spending his nights inside (which is hard for a cat to do). I forbade him to go out. So he spent his nights inside and when I got up in the morning, he got up too and came and sat down in front of me. Then I would say, All right, Big Boy, you can go, and he would jump out the window and go off but never before. And this is the one who was poisoned.
Because later on he would go roaming about; he had become terribly strong and would prowl around everywhere. At that time I was living in the Library house, and he would go off as far as the Ashram street (the Ashram didnt belong to us yet, the house was owned by all kinds of people), but when I would go out on the terrace across from Champaklals kitchen and call, Big boy! Big Boy! although he couldnt hear it, he could sense it, and he would come back galloping, galloping. He always came back, unfailingly. The day he didnt come back, I got worried; the servant went looking for himand found him moaning, vomiting, poisoned. He brought him to me. Oh, really! it was. He was so nice! He wasnt a thief or anythinghe was a wonderful cat. Someone had laid out poison for god knows what cat, and he ate it. I showed him to Sri Aurobindo and said, He has been killed.
--
That one too was beautiful, with such a color! Golden chestnut, I have never seen a cat like him. He is buried here beneath the tree I named Service. I put him beneath the roots myself. There had been an old mango tree there that was withering away. We replaced it with a little copper pod tree with yellow flowers.
These animals are so nice when you know how to handle them.
--
And she taught them everything. To eat, to. This cat would never eat before they had all eaten. She would show them what to do, give each one what it needed. And once they had grown up and she didnt have to look after them anymore, if they kept coming back she would send them away: Go away! Your turn is over, its finished. Go out into the world! And she would take care of the new ones.
Once one of her kittens was ill. She was pretty and gray colored, clear gray like a very soft fur, very pretty. She had caught this cat sickness and was lying down. And the mother was teaching all the little ones not to come near her; she would make them go all the way around, as if her instinct told her it was contagious. And you would see them (the sick kitten was right in their way) going all the way around, never coming near.
These cat stories went on for years and years.
--
Mind you, I would never have considered having any, but two cats were already there when I came to the house. They were not very interesting cats, but they became the parents of the one I just told you about (those boys who were living with Sri Aurobindo had already had some experience; they knew quite a few things about cats), and that was the origin of all the cats I had here. But people (you know how simplistic they always are!) believed I had some special attachment for cats, so then of course everybody started keeping cats! It was no use my telling them, No, its a particular study were making I wanted to see, to learn certain things, and I learned what I had to but now that I have moved to another house, the cat era is over; the old friends are gone, only the younger generation is left. I gave them all away and said) Thats enough. But its hard to make people understandsome people here have 25 cats! Thats unreasonable! Its not the way to deal with cats. You have to look after them as I did, and then it becomes interesting.
There was one I know I SAW it: when he died there was already the embryo of a psychic being, ready for a human incarnation. I made them progress like wildfire.
0 1961-04-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I feel that Ive never been as low as I am now.
Low? No, you arent low I see you too, among the things I am looking at, and it isnt true. No, you are much better than you were! (Mother laughs)
0 1961-04-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
These are political texts from the revolutionary period, concerning bomb attacks against the English. And then he says that the man God has protected can never be touched. However hard you try, you will never be able to slay him. But who can protect the man God has already slain? He has already been slain by God. And man is simply the instrument used by God to do here what has been done there (it has ALREADY been done there). Its very simple.
Yes, I quite understand. But in general, does EVERYTHING that happens here first get played out on the other side in some way? Its an occult problem, and furthermore a problem of freedom.
--
No! Thats exactly our falsehood! What we see is not THE THING; its a reflection, a distorted image in our consciousness. The thing itself exists outside this reflection, and in that existence it doesnt have the character we attri bute to it. Once we have grasped this, we understand that we can get out of itotherwise, we could never get out!
There is a universal unfolding, the true unfolding, that of the Supreme Lord who watches (this is the best way to put it) his own unfoldment. But for some reason or other, there has been a deformation of consciousness which makes us see this unfolding as something separate, a more or less adequate expression of the Divine Will. But it isnt so! It is the very unfolding of the Divine within Himselfwithin Himself, from Himself, for Himself. And its simply our falsehood that makes a separate thing of it The very fact of objectifying (what WE call objectification) is already a falsehood.5
0 1961-04-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I never manage to finish my mornings program. Things just keep piling up.
(Soon afterwards, concerning X, who had stated that the most recent attacks against Mother, and even those of two years earlier when she had been forced to withdraw to her room, were the result of black magic, and that certain members of the Ashram were DIRECTLY responsible for them, or in any case, had served as intermediariesas a switchboard, to quote himin connection with an outside magician.)
0 1961-04-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Already, with all the people here. (But I never told them they were my disciples, I told them they were my children and with children, to begin with, theres no need to do everything they want!) I already waste all my time answering their letters, which are worse than stupid. What questions they askquestions already answered at least fifty timessimply for the pleasure of writing! So now Ive stopped answering. I write one or two words, and thats it.
No, its disgusting!
0 1961-04-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Your second question, therefore, makes no sense! Furthermore, if you had read what appeared in the last Bulletin,1 you could never have asked it.
Let me repeat that when we speak of Sri Aurobindo, it is not a question of teaching nor even of revelation, but of an Action from the Supreme; upon this, no religion whatsoever can be founded.
--
It has always been like that for mealways. And I have never, never had the religious sense at allyou know, what people call this kind of what they have in religions, especially in Europe. I see only the English word for it: awe, like a kind of terror. This always made me laugh! But I have always felt whats behind, the presences behind.
I remember once going into a church (which I wont name) and I found it a very beautiful place. It wasnt a feast or ceremony day, so it was empty. There were just one or two people at prayer. I went in and sat down in a little chapel off to the side. Someone was praying there, someone who must have been in distressshe was crying and praying. And there was a statue, I no longer know of whom: Christ or the Virgin or a Saint I have no idea. And, oh! Suddenly, in place of the statue, I saw an enormous spider like a tarantula, you know, but (gesture) huge! It covered the entire wall of the chapel and was just waiting there to swallow all the vital force of the people who came. It was heart-rending. I said to myself, Oh, these people There was this miserable woman who had come seeking solace, who was praying there, weeping, hoping to find solace; and instead of reaching a consciousness that was at least compassionate, her supplications were feeding this monster!
--
In fact, I have seen this all over the world. I have never been on very good terms with religions, neither in Europe, nor Africa, nor Japan, nor even here.
(silence)
At the age of eighteen, I remember having such an intense need in me to KNOW. Because I was having experiences I had all kinds of experiences but my surroundings offered me no chance to receive an intellectual knowledge which would have given me the meaning of it all: I couldnt even speak of them. I was having experience after experience. For years, I had experiences during the night (but I was very careful never to speak about them!)memories from past lives, all sorts of things, but without any base of intellectual knowledge. (Of course, the advantage of this was that my experiences were not mentally contrived; they were entirely spontaneous.) But I had such a NEED in me to know! I remember living in a house (one of these houses with a lot of apartments), and in the apartment next door were some young Catholics whose faith was very they were very convinced. And seeing all that, I remember saying to myself one day while brushing my hair, These people are lucky to be born into a religion and believe unquestioningly! Its so easy! You have nothing to do but believehow simple that makes it. I was feeling like this, and then when I realized what I was thinking (laughing), well, I gave myself a good scolding: Lazybones!
To know, know, KNOW! You see, I knew nothing, really, nothing but the things of ordinary life: external knowledge. I had learned everything I had been given to learn. I not only learned what I was taught but also what my brother was taughthigher mathematics and all that! I learned and I learned and I learned and it was NOTHING. None of it explained anything to menothing. I couldnt understand a thing!
--
I remember a good-hearted priest in Pau [Southern France] who was an artist and wanted to have his church decorateda tiny cathedral. He consulted a local anarchist (a great artist) about it. The anarchist was acquainted with Andrs father and me. He told the priest, I recommend these people to do the paintings they are true artists. He was doing the mural decorationsome eight panels in all, I believe. So I set to work on one of the panels. (The church was dedicated to San Juan de Compostello, a hero of Spanish history; he had appeared in a battle between the Christians and the Moors and his apparition vanquished the Moors. And he was magnificent! He appeared in golden light on a white horse, almost like Kalki.6) All the slaughtered and struggling Moors were depicted at the bottom of the painting, and it was I who painted them; it was too hard for me to climb high up on a ladder to paint, so I did the things at the bottom! But anyway, it all went quite well. Then, naturally, the priest received us and invited us to dinner with the anarchist. And he was so nicereally a kind-hearted man! I was already a vegetarian and didnt drink, so he scolded me very gently, saying, But its Our Lord who gives us all this, so why shouldnt you take it? I found him charming. And when he looked at the paintings, he tapped Morisset on the shoulder (Morisset was an unbeliever), and said, with the accent of Southern France, Say what you like, but you know Our Lord; otherwise you could never have painted like that!
Well.
0 1961-05-23, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I never knew Vivekananda. I only know what I have heard or read about him, but that isnt what I call knowing. So I cant say anything, and above all I dont want to seem to give credence to all the gossip that has been spread about him. I have had no personal contact with him, neither in the physical nor elsewherenot with him personally. Naturally I could if I made an effort, but.
To tell the truth, this question seems stupid to me, because one can have mastery over circumstances only if one becomes the Supremebecause the Supreme alone has mastery over circumstances. So the question is senseless.
0 1961-06-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Thou art the sure friend who never fails,
the Power, the Support, the Guide. Thou art
--
Thou who never gainsayest our highest will
because it is Thou Thyself who willest in it!
--
ready to our call and never wilt Thou fail us!
Thou hast made me know the supreme,
--
And I see that the translation would go quickly if one moved into another domain. In one domain it is laborious, terrible, difficult, and the result is never very satisfying. But contrary to what I had thought, the domain of comprehension does not suffice, even the domain of experience does not suffice: something else is needed (oh, how to explain it?), a state in which effort is left totally behind. There is a state (which probably must be beyond the mind, because one no longer thinks at all, not at all) where everything is smiling and easy, and the sentences come to you all by themselves. Its peculiar I read, and even before I finish reading the sentence to be translated I know whats in it; and then without waitingalmost without waiting to know whats in it I know what to put for it. When its like that I can translate a page in half an hour.
But it doesnt lastit ought to last. Usually it ends in a trance: I go off into the experience, I am in a beatific state and ten minutes later I notice that Ive been in that state with my pen poised in my hand. Its not favorable to the work! But otherwise its I cant even say its like someone dictating (its not that, I dont hear); it comes by itself. Oh, the other day there were one or two sentences! I wrote something and suddenly saw what I was writing and doing so pulled me out of that state. Well, I said to myself, how nicely put! And plop! (Mother laughs) Everything was gone.
Be in that domain, and you will never grow tired.
But to get there, believe me, you must accept to be a total imbecile for quite some time! I am not exaggerating. I have found myself in such states: you no longer understand anything, no longer know anything, no longer think anything, no longer want anything, no longer can do anythingno more power, no more will, no more thought, no more anythingyou are like that. And when I am like that (when I WAS, because now its beginning to go away), I see the external world, people like those around me, looking at me and thinking, Ah! Mother is lapsing into her second childhood! Their vibrations come to me and unfortunately they sometimes have the power to shake me I have to make a movement to free myself from the thoughts of others.
--
In one of the handwritten notes left by Mother, we found the following: 'Sri Aurobindo told me: never give them the impression that they can do whatever they like, they will always be protected.'
With the exception of the second asterisked passage, which was not included in his English version of selected Prayers and Meditations, the following translations are Sri Aurobindo's.
0 1961-06-06, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No. I had finished reading the Veda and wanted to take up The Life Divine, but as I had never read On Himself,1 I chose it instead. I read the first chapter dealing with his life in England and to me it all seemed. Oh, why speak of all these things in connection with Sri Aurobindo? Why? I know quite well that he himself has repliedor rather rectified inexact things people had said about him but it made such a painful impression on me! Such a painful impression.
Something must definitely be done which is free of that whole useless jumble about who his father was and so forthpah! I dont like that sort of thing.
0 1961-06-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, it depends entirely upon the plane in which you find yourself! No, five different people will see five different things. Only when one is in marvelous accord, in an identical vibration, as happened to me with Sri Aurobindo. But that never took the form of little stories!
Whe never there was a special force descending, or an opening, or a supramental manifestation, we would know it at the same time, in the same manner. And we didnt even need to talk about it; we would sometimes exchange a word or two concerning the consequences, the practical effects on the work, but thats all. I never had this with anyone except Sri Aurobindo.
There have been times when I did things for people and they sensed exactly what I had done. It has happened. It is rather rare, but still it has happened.
--
The time has not yet come when we can stop eating. never in my life has food interested me; there have been long periods when I ate almost nothing. One day I said to myself, Why lose so much time eating? And the reply was, Dont stop yet, wait; thats not your look-out.
After that I decided I would encourage everyone to eat!
0 1961-06-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have never seen anyone but Sri Aurobindo do that.
X's deceased guru. See Agenda I, October 4, 1958, pp. 200-201
0 1961-06-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put him into C.s child.
This correlation in the work is very interesting because it has quite practical effectsV. was able to communicate exactly what I had to say to I.B., and I.B. understood better through him than through me directly (because I do the work, but dont have time to deal with all the details, to tell each individual what to do).
--- Overview of adv never
The adv never has 2 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (255) never, ne'er ::: (not ever; at no time in the past or future; "I have never been to China"; "I shall never forget this day"; "had never seen a circus"; "never on Sunday"; "I will never marry you!")
2. never ::: (not at all; certainly not; not in any circumstances; "never fear"; "bringing up children is never easy"; "that will never do"; "what is morally wrong can never be politically right")
--- Grep of noun never
never-never
never-never land