The Search for the Way
January 21st, 2009
Speaking of shocks, a diagram by P.D. Ouspensky from his 1949 In Search of the Miraculous.
Ouspensky quotes G., “‘The results of the influences whose source lies outside life [i.e., esoteric influences] collect together within him, he remembers them together, feels them together. They begin to form within him a certain whole. He does not give a clear account to himself as to what, how, and why, or if he does give an account to himself, then he explains it wrongly. But the point is not in this, but in the fact that the results of these influences collect together within him and after a certain time they form within him a kind of magnetic center, which begins to attract to itself kindred influences and in this manner it grows. If the magnetic center receives sufficient nourishment, and if there is no strong resistance on the part of the other sides of a man’s personality which are the result of influences created in life [i.e., nation, climate, family, education, wealth, customs, etc.], the magnetic center begins to influence a man’s orientation, obliging him to turn round and even to move in a certain direction. When the magnetic center attains sufficient force and development, a man already understands the idea of the way and he begins to look for the way. The search for the way may take many years and lead to nothing. This depends upon conditions, upon circumstances, upon the power of the magnetic center, upon the power and the direction of inner tendencies which are not concerned with this search and which may divert a man at the very moment when the possibility of finding the way appears'” (p200).
“‘If the magnetic center works rightly and if a man really searches, or even if he does not search actively yet feels rightly, he may meet another man who knows the way and who is connected directly or through other people with a center existing outside the law of accident, from which proceed the ideas which created the magnetic center'” (p200-201).
Ouspensky’s embodiment and, below, its legend (p204).
| V | life |
|---|---|
| H | an individual man |
| A | influences created in life, that is, in life itself — the first kind of influences |
| B | influences created outside life but thrown into the general vortex of life — the second kind of influences |
| H1 | a man, connected by means of succession with the esoteric center or pretending to it |
| E | esoteric center, standing outside the general laws of life |
| M | magnetic center in man |
| C | influence of man h1 on man h; in the event of his actually being connected with the esoteric center, directly or by succession, this is the third kind of influences. This influence is conscious, and under its action at the point m, that is, in the magnetic center, a man becomes free from the law of accident |
| H2 | a man, deceiving himself or deceiving others and having no connection, either directly or by succession, with the esoteric center |
January 24th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
[…] again of shocks, two ink & dye works by tantric artist Sohan Qadri, cataloged in Seeker: The Art of Sohan […]
January 25th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
This one is a very important passage: I have seen a lot of people getting in touch with B influences and never “upgrade” to C level. To be able to discriminate between the two is a major step in the Work: if one develops the “taste” for C food, one never comes back to B nourishment.
PS Almost everything which currently goes under the banner of esoterism is actually B influence. As a matter of fact, there is an entire gamut of B influences: the farther they are from C-onscious Teaching, the more spurious they are, and less active nutrients one can find. Food rots fast…
February 7th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Mouravieff corrected this diagramm here.
February 8th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Thanks for the comment, Jsf.
I’ll be sure to review Mouravieff’s version in a future post.
May 12th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Earlier ths morning, a friend’s email about her current obsession with Florensky’s ‘Iconostasis’ had me googling and so I came across yr entry referencing him.
Your blog stayed with me through the day and I intend to explore it further, but most of my day was spent considering a novel I intend to write – unusually for me it’s autobiographical in nature and concerns a pivotal event I have chewed over a great deal in recent years without thinking of it in terms of a possible fiction.
This entry – this diagram – but more the description of the diagram so accurately mirrored how I have come to think of the event and how I wish to summon and represent it in fictional form I felt that I had sat down to dinner with an unexpectedly remarkable man.
Sometimes in art one looks not for inspiration, but confirmation, and yr entry worked in this way for me. Thank you.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
[…] (This post on it is maybe good, too.) […]
October 21st, 2009 at 11:53 pm
[…] corrects Ouspensky’s diagram (see previous post), “which is the most important diagram for all who begin studying esotericism. We can see at […]