Lecture 8 to the Youth Occult Class
Given by the Master Beinsa Douno
April 19, 1922 – Wednesday, 19.00 local time, Sofia
I had asked each of you in class to write one sentence in your notebooks that would include the first of the proposed words from last Wednesday - that is the verb “Come!” Your sentence structure should be simple, with just one connection, without adjectives or complements.
Now let's read the sentences you have written. Here are some of them: “Come to God!” “Come to Truth!” “Come onto the Path!” “Come into the steps of your Master!”
I ask, can one really come to God or to Truth? Motion is a spatial process, while Truth is not spatial. In this case, can one really come to God or to Truth in time and space? Being disciples of the Spiritual school, you should learn to think and speak precisely, using strictly determined words in the same way that mathematicians are strict and precise in their work with numbers and formulas. Each word that is used should express its exact meaning. Now write some new sentences using the verb “Come!" The motion expressed in them should refer to strictly determined time and space.
What is the definition of verbs? Verbs express actions and states. And all actions are related to time and space. Which world includes time and space? Time and space are related to the material world. As a matter of fact, only physical bodies require space and place. Therefore, volume and space are characteristics of the physical or the spatial world, for example, the world of forms.
I ask you now about the meaning of the word "Love." Is Love spatial? Love is not spatial. Love knows neither time nor space. Love has neither beginning nor end. How then can you know something that is without beginning or end? How can you know something that does not require time and space? It remains unknown. But if you begin to feel Love, this is the first instance that determines the state of Love. Is there a relation between states and space? When you say of someone that he is a person of substance, it means that inwardly he has much at his disposal.
What was the second of the words? “Harmony." Then the word “symphony” comes in turn. What is the difference between “harmony” and “symphony?” A symphony comes as a result of harmony. These words are outside of spiritual science because they have meanings different from the literal meanings. When you examine a certain word, you have to pay attention to its root and origin. You must also consider its conceptual meaning, for example, you should know the idea that is expressed by the word. In this sense, "symphony” is not a precise word. We say “symphony” and “symphonic orchestra." Which of the two words, "symphony” or “harmony,” is more precise? Harmony, but not symphony may exist between two tunes.
Which are the most important of the words you have read? Two results of this question are the words “persistency” and “perfection.” “God” is a very indeterminate word. “Love” is a good word. Humans are able to love. Whom? Are they able to love one another? First they should love God. Before you utter the word “God,” you must say the word “Love.” To say the word “God” without love is like reading a book without light.
To pronounce a name, or to go somewhere, you should first have the impulse in your consciousness. You cannot enter onto the spiritual path if you do not have the impulse to do so. This motivating force can be conscious as it is in animals, self-conscious as it is in humans, and subconscious or superconscious as it is in Higher Beings. Motion in a definite direction is caused by an inner impulse that aims at some fulfilment. If the word “mother” is pronounced without love, it loses its meaning and sense, as a result of which it will produce a certain disharmony in human thoughts and feelings. In this sense Love is a key to Life, like a musical key for the tuning of instruments. Therefore, the word “God” becomes meaningful only when it is pronounced with love and tenderness. Love is the key for the notes of Life. First use the key of Love, and after that say “God,” for only in this way will this word be filled with meaning and sense. And when the word “God” is full of meaning, it will also give meaning to the other words: “come,” “harmony,” “symphony,” etc.
So, you now know that words are ordered in the flow of speech in the same way that tunes are ordered in musical work. The poets among you who have not studied that words are like keys of speech should learn to regard them in this way, in order to know how to use them and where to put them. What inspires poets to write poems? Love for their native land, for their mothers and friends. Therefore, both love and affection represent a path leading to a particular destination.
You cannot begin a journey every time, but when you do begin it, you should have a definite direction and destination. What is the destination of an apple seed when put into the soil? It moves in two directions – upwards, to the centre of the Sun, and downwards, to the centre of the Earth. What is the destination of the human being, according to you? – The Sun. No, the human being first strikes roots into himself and then thinks how to come to others. To come to yourself in your language means to come into yourself. Two other verbs originate from the verb “to come”: “come in” and “come out.” First you have to begin, so as to come in and then come out of a particular place. Once you have decided to come into a place, I understand that you have already started on your way. At whatever moment you want to come out, I understand the same again. Therefore, whatever you do, thinking or feeling, it has a starting point. So the word “to come” is like the placing of a key. Keys are demanded everywhere and in everything. When you say that we should come to God, you are not precise in one aspect, namely that we should know the direction and the destination of our motion. If someone wants to go to the town of Russe, Varna, etc., the name of this town determines the destination of one’s journey. Therefore, when you say that you should come to God, you must know the direction and the destination of your path. Which path leads to God? – The inner path, the path that is lodged within ourselves. Do you have any experience in this respect? – We have not experienced such things yet. How can you then talk about the experience, when you have not yet gone through it?
You should learn to think correctly. Everything of which you speak should be experienced and tested by yourself alone. It is not good to think without having a thought. What does it mean “to think without a thought?" Thoughts consist of two components simultaneously: feelings and actions. Without these two components thoughts are not proper. It is akin to saying that you love without Love. If it lacks an impulse and a method, it's not love. Love says to you in a symbolic language: “Come!” In other words: “Put the seed in the soil! Sow a feeling in your heart! Sow a thought in your mind!” Therefore, we treat each feeling as a separate seed to be placed in the heart, so as to bear fruit in the future. We will judge the quality of each seed by its fruit.
The words “Love,” “to love,” and “I love” have two significant elements: first is the growth, and second is the “ripening” or the result. The letter “ch” in the Bulgarian word “obich” (Love) shows that the seed should be put into the soil, so that it may grow and develop. But that's not enough, for the seed should also blossom, set and bear fruit, and its fruit should ripen. This means that the seed has to overcome all difficulties: winds, storms, snows, frosts, droughts, etc. The letter “a” in the Bulgarian word “obicham” (I love) shows that the seed will produce good results. Once we have the results, we can test what Love really is. Any results by which we can judge the reality of things, without falling into contradictions, indicates that we are on the Path of Love.
Thus, the first word, “come,” means that you will begin seeking Truth. When you find Truth, you will begin to love it. When you love Truth, it will free you from fear and falsehood.
At present you are not able to tell the Truth. Suppose that a teacher gives an easy task to a student, but the latter cannot solve it. The teacher asks him: “Why did you not solve the task?” Since the student does not have the courage to reveal the real reason, he finds a number of other causes by way of apologizing to the teacher. Thus he resorts to falsehood.
The ambition of this student does not allow him to tell the Truth, because it will discredit him before his classmates and he'll lose their esteem. He will lose nothing in respect to his classmates, but he will lose in respect to the Truth.
In giving you these exercises, I can read your thoughts and see your ambitions for displaying your knowledge. But this is already a lie. When you write on a topic, you think you've said a lot. One can say a lot in theory, but the theory will fail in the first clash with Life. This indicates the existence of a great difference between theory and practice. Someone says that evil does not exist in the world, but when he's robbed he changes his stance at once. Then he's assuredly of the opinion that evil exists in Life. If theory and practice were one in this person, then even after he had been robbed, he would not think of evil, or admit to it. He would not care whether his money was in his or in someone else’s pocket. This indicates that the things people say come to nothing in practice – there is dissension. You say: “How did they take my money! Didn't they know that I needed it?” So? They took your money because they needed it as well. “But this is not right!” Rightness is one and the same for you and for them. Whether you or they get the money, it's one and the same. So it is - if you think like philosophers. However, in practice it is different. This is where evil is hidden. If a hungry person sees that someone has more than he can eat, he has the right to take the surplus food and satisfy his hunger. But if someone who is not hungry takes the food, he will commit a crime because he does not need it. Therefore, only those who are hungry have the right to take bread from someone else’s bags in order to satisfy their needs. Those who do not have such needs do not have the right to steal.
Please, observe the rules that I am giving you. They are maxims that should be used in Life. You ask: “Who has the right to eat?” Those who have starved for three days and have prayed to God for bread have the right to sit at the table first. Those who have starved for two days have the right to take the second seat. Those who have starved for one day may take the third seat, etc. Therefore, an individual's right to take this or that place is determined by the extent of his need. In this sense we consider hunger to be a deep inner experience. Only those who are hungry deserve this experience.
I ask, why do people not tell the Truth? Someone goes to buy a cloth. He believes the trader and buys a pure woollen cloth on trust. But at home he sees that the cloth is not wool, but cotton. This individual then meets a friend of his and shows him the cloth, telling him that it's wool. His friend likes it and buys it, but later on he also understands that he has been cheated. He resells the cloth to another friend and so on. In this way everyone is cheated. I say, check the quality of things before you buy them! Those who are not experts in certain fields should not go shopping alone. Thus people will learn to tell the Truth. Only those who know and understand the quality of certain goods should become traders. Otherwise, they will forever justify themselves, they will cheat others in the same way that they've been cheated. Only those who know and understand the subject of farming should become farmers. The ignorant should stay away. Only good disciples should attend school for study. School is a place for talented and gifted students. It is said in the Scriptures: “You have received for free, so shall you give for free!” Only talented disciples receive free schooling. A teacher in music will take up a student and teach him for free, but only if the student is gifted. Why? Because the student’s heart will be burning with love for music. Mediocre students usually wait impatiently for the end of the lessons so they can get away, while talented students are very single-minded. They think mainly of one thing: their work. Mediocre students are double-minded, thinking of at least two things simultaneously. Therefore, talented individuals and those of genius are distinguished mainly by their thinking – at a certain moment they have only one thing on their minds, the one thing that is most important. If you go to God with your gifts, burning with the aspiration to study and grow, He will take you for His disciple and teach you for free.
Now, since we speak of Truth, the Invisible world will put you unexpectedly to a test so that you can see for yourselves the extent to which you can tell the Truth. It will be a great surprise for you, but you want to know Truth, don’t you? It is not easy to know Truth. It is even more difficult to realize when and how to reveal Truth. I will give you an example of this. A young person had three good and faithful friends who had sworn their friendship and loyalty to him. One day he decided to put their friendship to a test. So he killed a calf and put it in a sack, then went to the first friend and told him: “A creditor of mine came yesterday to get his money back. As I did not have the money, I killed him and I have hidden his corpse in this sack. What will you advise me to do now? Give me a piece of advice, please!" – "Get this sack out of my house right now! Hurry up, because we will both be blamed if someone finds it here!” Then the young man went to the second friend, told him the same story and asked: “What is your opinion?” – “I do not want to interfere in this. Treat the dead body as you wish.” Finally he went to the third friend with the same story. “What shall I do now?” – “Listen, my friend, I am going to help you. I have a secret place in my garden that no one knows about. We will bury the corpse there, and no one will know what you have done; your crime will not be discovered.”
I ask you, whose love was the greatest? The third friend demonstrated his readiness to sacrifice himself for his friend, which means that his love was real. He took part in concealing the crime and was prepared to share the penalty. One is the main criminal – the killer - and the other is the concealer and accessory after the fact. In such case, he will share the penalty with his friend. Through this example I wanted to direct your attention to unusual Truth, not to trivial Truth. Real Truth will free you; trivial Truth will limit you.
The Master may also come to class with a dead calf in a sack in order to test his disciples in revealing the Truth or not. He may say to one of them: “Listen, I killed a person and put his body in this sack. Tell me where to hide it and keep it a secret.” He may tell the same story to another, yet ask him to tell it to everyone on the street. When both disciples are called into court to reveal what they know, the first one will say that he knows nothing. The second will say that he knows about the crime of his Master. Finally the two disciples will fall into contradiction.
I regard the next two cases as symbolic of Life. The Master gives a full bottle of water to one of his disciples with the assignment: “Do not tell anyone about the contents of this bottle, keep it secret.” Then he gives a full bottle of water to another disciple with the assignment: “Tell everyone that the contents of this bottle is water.” Therefore, when someone keeps silence, he will receive the maximum amount; when someone speaks, he will become empty. When people do not reveal the Truth, they fill themselves; when they do reveal the Truth, they become empty. It is a Law. This is the deep meaning of the words: “Tell the Truth!” or “Do not tell the Truth!” Keep quiet and do not utter a word when you are empty, and when the Truth is not in you – then your bottle will be filled. When the Truth comes to fill you, then speak, tell the truth to everyone; thus you will empty your bottle and it will begin to refill.
We will stop here. I spoke to you mostly about the first word, “come.” I also spoke of some other words. Today we spoke of seven words altogether. We will discuss the remaining words throughout the year. They will provide us with material for many lectures.
Be ready, for the Master may come to you with a sack and order you to hide a dead person. Consider well what you should do, because you could go to prison for more than ten years. It is not easy to tell the Truth! You may see all of this in a dream, realize you've concealed a crime, and go to prison. When you wake up, you will say: “Thank God, it was just a dream, not reality.” Many events and situations in Life are like this, as though happening in a dream. Those who awake from the dream and are aware of reality are on the right path; those who are not awake live unconsciously and feel fear and horror. They ask themselves: “What will happen to us?”
I wish you to waken from the deep sleep into which you have fallen, realizing that much of your experience is not real, but fictitious.
Secret Prayer
Comments from the corrector:
Just a few helpful notes --
The punctuation, the period or comma for example, goes inside the closing quotation marks.
I removed the commas in the second paragraph because the quotes are complete sentences.
Here's an example of the placement of punctuation inside quotation marks from a book I have --
The ancient Chinese also used small "counting rods," and the Romans made simple computations from little pebbles, or "calculi."
In honest puzzlement I asked her, "Why didn't you use a desk calculator?" "I don't know how." "Then what about a pencil and graph paper?"
So, where I corrected your quotation marks, unfortunately my computer does not put in the pretty ones you have, so you'll have to type over mine with your nice ones for your final text.
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Near the beginning, the sentence that comes at the end of the paragraph:
When you say of someone that he is a person of substance, it means that inwardly he has much at his disposal.
This was very difficult, but I think I came up with the correct interpretation.
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Not far from the end there's a Scripture quotation, but it isn't exact. It doesn't look exact or right to me. I think it may be more like "As you have received, so shall you give." You'll need to either find the exact quote from Scripture - and should include Chapter and Verse - or re-word the sentence to read - without italics -
It is said in the Scriptures that as you have received, so shall you give.
I don't think the words "for free," are included anywhere in that quote, though I could be wrong about that.
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i.e., should really be written out in the text as for example, with a comma, because it is the spoken word. So he said in Bulgarian for example, or for instance, i.e. does not convey what he said. This is really a minor point, and not extremely important, but I thought I would point it out. I let this go a few times and left in i.e.
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