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ARISE.....................3
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If we were to conceive all beings to be static in this way we see that each being would be isolated from the rest. No special grouping together would occur, and thus no complex beings would arise. Thus nothing of the process we call involution or evolution would occur. The dynamic world of complex beings and relations we know would not exist. | 158 |
The sense of individual separate self existence, and the ego sense, arise by identification with form. Body, which stands as the centre of such identification, is known by its form and mass inertic resistance, a form of motion. | 352 |
All purely mental disorders arise from identification with particular emotionally charged contents of consciousness. The full return of consciousness to itself in the act of reflexion is the return of health to that consciousness. | 444 |
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ARISEN....................1
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Attempts have been made by materialists to exclude consciousness from the source of being and then try to explain its presence in ourselves by saying that it has arisen by the aggregation of non conscious material particles into complex patterns, like those we know in our nervous system and brain-structures. | 44 |
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ARISES....................7
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The eye, of course, does not see itself. Behind the eye is the ocular brain centre and the observing self. Consciousness of an object arises only if these three are brought into relation and directed to an object. | 98 |
Let us examine the concept of motion. The concept arises from the observed change of position of bodies in space. In one moment we observe a body against a certain background. In the next moment we see it against another background. We explain this phenomena by saying that either the thing or the background or ourselves as observers have moved. | 194 |
Our idea of motion arises from the observed change in the relations between a thing, a background, and an observation point; or between bodies in space; or between contents of consciousness. If we abandon the use of particular observation points or finite bodies, no finite motions are observed as such and another order of experience of motion arises. What this is, is experienced in the resec state. | 196 |
Our idea of motion arises from the observed change in the relations between a thing, a background, and an observation point; or between bodies in space; or between contents of consciousness. If we abandon the use of particular observation points or finite bodies, no finite motions are observed as such and another order of experience of motion arises. What this is, is experienced in the resec state. | 196 |
Identification arises from emotionally charged experience. Whenever the experience of an object (or situation or event) gives rise to emotion, whether pleasure or pain, and the observer allows himself to focus on this emotion, a tendency arises to react to the object by moving towards or away from it and to record it as a reference for future orientation. | 334 |
Identification arises from emotionally charged experience. Whenever the experience of an object (or situation or event) gives rise to emotion, whether pleasure or pain, and the observer allows himself to focus on this emotion, a tendency arises to react to the object by moving towards or away from it and to record it as a reference for future orientation. | 334 |
Consciousness, which is sentient power, of itself free, binds itself in the involutionary process to forms of motion within and of itself. The sense of loss of power, the frustration of will which arises in the finite objectified state generates in its negative phase depression and melancholy. In its positive phase it generates the urge to escape the limitations of the body with which identification has taken place. This urge to escape expresses itself in the evolutionary process by the acquisition of ever more complex action capacities, by means of which consciousness seeks to control its content. | 528 |
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ARISING...................6
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We must be on guard at this point not to jump to the conclusion that the physically factual rotatory molecular motion of the water is ‘real’ and the appearance of the translating wave form is ‘unreal’. For although the translating wave form motion of the sea may be considered as a mere appearance arising from the rotatory motion of the water molecules, yet rotation itself may be viewed as a special kind of motion of translation, that is, translation about a point. Actually all motions pre suppose translation. | 192 |
The arising of pleasure from the experience of an object tends to lead consciousness to focus on that object. The tendency is so marked in general that it tends to assume almost the force of a law; sufficiently so in fact to have led many philosophers to formulate a hedonistic view of the universe, that is, a view which states life’s aim as the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. | 234 |
First we must accept that a being able freely to determine its actions from within itself, is a being not determined by inclinations arising from emotionally charged experience records within itself. | 320 |
Let us look at the behaviour of consciousness in the case of a man experiencing a sudden great pain to the point of loss of consciousness. Is the loss of consciousness of the body or to the body? Mechanistic thinkers might say that loss of consciousness is a loss by the body or brain of its consciousness arising mechanically from over-stimulation of the nervous system or brain. | 356 |
A concept is an idea or general notion arising from a group of percepts possessing some common factor. A percept may be defined as a simple act of perception, the presentation of a stimulus, a single act of a sense organ, its correspondent brain centre, and the psyche conjoined with it. A concept is a group of perceptual elements held together by some similar form. | 474 |
Wherever the motion constituents of a given body are such as to give rise to pain or unpleasant emotions, sentience at that point strives to inhibit those motions. But in the place of such inhibited motions fear is experienced lest they should break free from the inhibiting forces imposed upon them. Fear is the trembling arising from the conflict of the inhibiting forces and the inhibited motion complexes causing pain and unpleasant emotions. The unpleasantness of this fear leads sentience to try to break identification with the zones in which it is experienced. Such zones are walled in or encapsulated and constitute the content of the so called subconscious. | 574 |
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ARMS......................1
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If we think carefully about the nature of the self we realise that by self we do not necessarily mean a physical or other body. Grenfell of Labrador’s story of the man who lost both legs and arms yet could still say he was he, most aptly provides an illustration of the non identity of the self and the body. | 360 |
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AROUND....................2
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Motions of pure translation are like those attributed to the Absolute, the Infinite Motion presupposed by the existence of the finite things of the world around us. | 164 |
Consciousness is then bound to that motion complex and is affected as we see it in the things around us. In the mineral world it evidences itself only in offering resistance to imposed forces. In the vegetable world it expresses itself in growth processes. In the animal worlds it expresses itself in instinct and desire impelled action. In man it expresses itself in rational thought. In the fully developed human being it expresses itself as resec. | 522 |
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ARRANGE...................1
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Of this we assert, that whilst the complex brain cell aggregate we possess may be patterned in such a way as to provide our consciousness with a machine complicated enough to serve as a vehicle for the expression of the complex processes of consciousness, if the brain is considered to be merely an aggregate of non conscious material particles it cannot of itself give rise to consciousness. If each material particle is non conscious or insentient then the mere placing together of a large number of such particles, however arranged, cannot give rise to consciousness. If a material particle is a not-knower, then a million million like it can not add up to a knower. No number of zeros ever adds up to more than zero no matter how we arrange them. | 46 |
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ARRANGED..................1
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Of this we assert, that whilst the complex brain cell aggregate we possess may be patterned in such a way as to provide our consciousness with a machine complicated enough to serve as a vehicle for the expression of the complex processes of consciousness, if the brain is considered to be merely an aggregate of non conscious material particles it cannot of itself give rise to consciousness. If each material particle is non conscious or insentient then the mere placing together of a large number of such particles, however arranged, cannot give rise to consciousness. If a material particle is a not-knower, then a million million like it can not add up to a knower. No number of zeros ever adds up to more than zero no matter how we arrange them. | 46 |
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ART.......................1
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Today, with the surgeon’s art so beautifully developed, we are not surprised to hear that a man has had some organ of his body removed and replaced with a plastic one. | 362 |
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ARTIFICIAL................1
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We can easily conceive an operation or series of operations in which a man’s organs are one by one removed and replaced by artificial ones. At each stage of the operation series the patient would express his satisfaction with the change of organ. Finally, like the axe fitted with a new blade and a new handle, nothing would remain of the original body. Yet the same consciousness would still be operative through it. The self of man is not the body of man. | 364 |
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ART’......................1
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Resec confers upon man the power to be himself; the power to fulfil the imperative, ‘Become what thou art’, the power to see Time as a function of Eternity, and to act in Time from the essence and form of Eternity. | 460 |
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AS........................135
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Before entering into the discussion of our subject we will quickly examine a few terms relating to consciousness. There are several words often used more or less indiscriminately to express what we mean when we say we know anything, and as knowing is known only to a knower, words relating to knowing are not definable ultimately other than by appeal to the knowingness in a knower. | 2 |
A field in electronic theory is defined as a zone of influence of a force. Psychologically we may say, a field is a zone of feeling, or a place where we feel some process, or sense something, without defining precisely what form it has. In principle a field is ultimately infinite. The field of sentience is limitless. | 20 |
The word ‘consciousness’ has a more specific significance. It is from the same root as ‘science’. The ‘sci’ in the word is seen in the Latin scindere, ‘to split, to separate.’ Consciousness knows things as separate from each other. Consciousness defines analytically what sentience experiences wholly and none analytically. (One of the most efficient ways of developing consciousness is by verbalisation, for words help towards analysis of its content). | 24 |
The word ‘consciousness’ has a more specific significance. It is from the same root as ‘science’. The ‘sci’ in the word is seen in the Latin scindere, ‘to split, to separate.’ Consciousness knows things as separate from each other. Consciousness defines analytically what sentience experiences wholly and none analytically. (One of the most efficient ways of developing consciousness is by verbalisation, for words help towards analysis of its content). | 24 |
The objects in the field of sentience are limited or finite. The field itself is not. Every thing, every definable idea, every temporary feeling, state or emotion, may be considered as a finite datum within a sentient field itself infinite. | 34 |
When we consider the ultimate source of all beings, we are forced to conceive it as such a source which has given rise to beings of our own order, that is, conscious beings. | 40 |
There is a peculiar fact about sentience, or awareness, or consciousness. If we exclude it from the ultimate source of being, if we do not posit it as a property of that source present from the very beginning of creation or evolution, we cannot find a point later on at which we may logically introduce it. Sentience denied at the source of being cannot be later introduced into the stream flowing from it. | 42 |
Of this we assert, that whilst the complex brain cell aggregate we possess may be patterned in such a way as to provide our consciousness with a machine complicated enough to serve as a vehicle for the expression of the complex processes of consciousness, if the brain is considered to be merely an aggregate of non conscious material particles it cannot of itself give rise to consciousness. If each material particle is non conscious or insentient then the mere placing together of a large number of such particles, however arranged, cannot give rise to consciousness. If a material particle is a not-knower, then a million million like it can not add up to a knower. No number of zeros ever adds up to more than zero no matter how we arrange them. | 46 |
Of this we assert, that whilst the complex brain cell aggregate we possess may be patterned in such a way as to provide our consciousness with a machine complicated enough to serve as a vehicle for the expression of the complex processes of consciousness, if the brain is considered to be merely an aggregate of non conscious material particles it cannot of itself give rise to consciousness. If each material particle is non conscious or insentient then the mere placing together of a large number of such particles, however arranged, cannot give rise to consciousness. If a material particle is a not-knower, then a million million like it can not add up to a knower. No number of zeros ever adds up to more than zero no matter how we arrange them. | 46 |
The absolute man is the man who sees beyond the universe as a formed thing, into the laws of motion which bring it into being. He recognises the relation between these laws and the laws of his own consciousness. He sees all things as produced by motion, and motion as produced by the Absolute, and the Absolute as infinite eternal sentient power. And he knows his own consciousness as that Absolute Sentient Power, operating through the vehicle of his body. He knows what is meant when it is said, ‘the Universal works through the particular, the Absolute through the relative.’ He centres himself in the Absolute even as he operates through the relative. | 68 |
The absolute man is the man who sees beyond the universe as a formed thing, into the laws of motion which bring it into being. He recognises the relation between these laws and the laws of his own consciousness. He sees all things as produced by motion, and motion as produced by the Absolute, and the Absolute as infinite eternal sentient power. And he knows his own consciousness as that Absolute Sentient Power, operating through the vehicle of his body. He knows what is meant when it is said, ‘the Universal works through the particular, the Absolute through the relative.’ He centres himself in the Absolute even as he operates through the relative. | 68 |
The absolute man is the man who sees beyond the universe as a formed thing, into the laws of motion which bring it into being. He recognises the relation between these laws and the laws of his own consciousness. He sees all things as produced by motion, and motion as produced by the Absolute, and the Absolute as infinite eternal sentient power. And he knows his own consciousness as that Absolute Sentient Power, operating through the vehicle of his body. He knows what is meant when it is said, ‘the Universal works through the particular, the Absolute through the relative.’ He centres himself in the Absolute even as he operates through the relative. | 68 |
The absolute man is the man who sees beyond the universe as a formed thing, into the laws of motion which bring it into being. He recognises the relation between these laws and the laws of his own consciousness. He sees all things as produced by motion, and motion as produced by the Absolute, and the Absolute as infinite eternal sentient power. And he knows his own consciousness as that Absolute Sentient Power, operating through the vehicle of his body. He knows what is meant when it is said, ‘the Universal works through the particular, the Absolute through the relative.’ He centres himself in the Absolute even as he operates through the relative. | 68 |
The absolute man is the man who sees beyond the universe as a formed thing, into the laws of motion which bring it into being. He recognises the relation between these laws and the laws of his own consciousness. He sees all things as produced by motion, and motion as produced by the Absolute, and the Absolute as infinite eternal sentient power. And he knows his own consciousness as that Absolute Sentient Power, operating through the vehicle of his body. He knows what is meant when it is said, ‘the Universal works through the particular, the Absolute through the relative.’ He centres himself in the Absolute even as he operates through the relative. | 68 |
The absolute man is the man who sees beyond the universe as a formed thing, into the laws of motion which bring it into being. He recognises the relation between these laws and the laws of his own consciousness. He sees all things as produced by motion, and motion as produced by the Absolute, and the Absolute as infinite eternal sentient power. And he knows his own consciousness as that Absolute Sentient Power, operating through the vehicle of his body. He knows what is meant when it is said, ‘the Universal works through the particular, the Absolute through the relative.’ He centres himself in the Absolute even as he operates through the relative. | 68 |
Reflexive self consciousness, which for convenience we abbreviate to ‘resec’, is a state of transcendent self awareness which confers upon the beings who attain it certain powers of adequate response and capacities of stimulus assimilation. These powers man must attain or perish from the earth as unfit for the next necessary step in the evolution of consciousness. | 94 |
Somehow consciousness is, yet is not so in any objective sense. We know this to be so because we are immediately aware of our consciousness as soon as we turn to it. We say immediately aware because our awareness of our awareness is not mediated by anything other than itself. | 108 |
Somehow consciousness is, yet is not so in any objective sense. We know this to be so because we are immediately aware of our consciousness as soon as we turn to it. We say immediately aware because our awareness of our awareness is not mediated by anything other than itself. | 108 |
The Observer is consciousness serving some object. But the object served is a form of motion within consciousness. There are no objects of consciousness other than within consciousness, as modifications of it. Without modifications in consciousness there are no objects in it, and there is no objective-consciousness. | 122 |
When we consider possible kinds of motions we see at once that we may consider them basically as of two kinds, motions which close upon themselves, and motions which do not close upon themselves. | 132 |
We know today that material bodies are simply modes of motion. We know that whatever finitely exists must be composed of the motion form we call rotation; for unless the motion is of the type of rotation it cannot circumscribe a boundary in space and thus mark out that space as the place of its being. A non rotating motion does not locate itself in space and thus cannot bring into being anything characterised by a boundary or formal limit, that is, it cannot bring into being any finite object whatever. | 140 |
What is not circumscribed is not a being properly so called. Thus the Infinite, power source of all being, is not properly called a being, though all beings subsist in it and of it as motion modalities of it. | 144 |
What can we say about non rotating motion, motion of translation? First we must say that it does not as such bring into being any finite thing or object whatever. Finite beings are constituted, consist of, motions of rotation. A motion of pure translation brings no finite whatever into existence. It is an infinite motion, like the everlasting motion of Anaximander’s apeiron. | 150 |
But if we conceive motions of translation to be added to those of rotation we see that such motions would confer on beings the possibility of dynamic relations, coming together and separating, integrating and disintegrating, which as beings constituted by mere rotation they could not have. | 160 |
Motions of pure translational type do not as such bring to be any existential beings whatever. They simply pass through space, leaving no trace of evidence of their passing. | 162 |
The sentience and motion of the Absolute are not factually separable from each other. It is merely a process of abstractionist thought to consider them so. Sentience and motion are both properties of the Absolute and must be held together in thought with the Absolute. If we conceptually remove either one of them, the universe we know must also be removed. If motion is removed there is no action, no bringing to be of actual things. If sentience is removed there is nothing to know the world. Power is the name given to motion as cause, or to motion as imparting itself to other motion. The word ‘cause’ is from a Latin word meaning ‘to strike’. | 178 |
The sentience and motion of the Absolute are not factually separable from each other. It is merely a process of abstractionist thought to consider them so. Sentience and motion are both properties of the Absolute and must be held together in thought with the Absolute. If we conceptually remove either one of them, the universe we know must also be removed. If motion is removed there is no action, no bringing to be of actual things. If sentience is removed there is nothing to know the world. Power is the name given to motion as cause, or to motion as imparting itself to other motion. The word ‘cause’ is from a Latin word meaning ‘to strike’. | 178 |
This is the same question as, ‘What is the relation between the circumscribing motions of rotation complexes and between these and the motion of translation?’ | 182 |
The peculiar thing about the wave form motion of the sea is that we know as a physical fact that it is really an illusion. We know that the apparent travelling of a wave over the surface of the sea is really the product of a cyclic motion of the water molecules. Each molecule of water rises and falls about a centre but is confined in its motions within a very small zone of action. Each molecule’s motion up and down and its slight lateral displacements are so related to the motions of adjacent molecules that the resultant effect of their motions on an observer is the creation of an apparent wave form travelling across the sea’s surface. If we watch a piece of floating wood we see that the motion of the water in that place is more or less a rise and fall without much lateral shift. | 188 |
We must be on guard at this point not to jump to the conclusion that the physically factual rotatory molecular motion of the water is ‘real’ and the appearance of the translating wave form is ‘unreal’. For although the translating wave form motion of the sea may be considered as a mere appearance arising from the rotatory motion of the water molecules, yet rotation itself may be viewed as a special kind of motion of translation, that is, translation about a point. Actually all motions pre suppose translation. | 192 |
We must be on guard at this point not to jump to the conclusion that the physically factual rotatory molecular motion of the water is ‘real’ and the appearance of the translating wave form is ‘unreal’. For although the translating wave form motion of the sea may be considered as a mere appearance arising from the rotatory motion of the water molecules, yet rotation itself may be viewed as a special kind of motion of translation, that is, translation about a point. Actually all motions pre suppose translation. | 192 |
Let us examine the concept of motion. The concept arises from the observed change of position of bodies in space. In one moment we observe a body against a certain background. In the next moment we see it against another background. We explain this phenomena by saying that either the thing or the background or ourselves as observers have moved. | 194 |
Our idea of motion arises from the observed change in the relations between a thing, a background, and an observation point; or between bodies in space; or between contents of consciousness. If we abandon the use of particular observation points or finite bodies, no finite motions are observed as such and another order of experience of motion arises. What this is, is experienced in the resec state. | 196 |
Whether we consider a motion as rotating or translating, if we wish to measure it, we must posit some fixed reference points from which to make our measurements. Such reference points must, at the existential level, be finite bodies, that is, they must be constituted by circumscribing motions, for an existential body owes its existence to rotatory motion. | 200 |
The concept of a motion of translation may now be stated as based upon the change of place of a body without reference to any fixed reference point such that the change of place could be considered as having occurred round that point and having returned to its place of original observation. | 204 |
The concept of a motion of translation may now be stated as based upon the change of place of a body without reference to any fixed reference point such that the change of place could be considered as having occurred round that point and having returned to its place of original observation. | 204 |
The concept of a motion of rotation may be stated to be based upon the change of place of a body with such reference to a fixed point that the change of place may be considered as having occurred round that point and having returned to its place of original observation. | 206 |
Motions of translation and rotation now differ only in according to whether they are considered as relative to some reference points assumed by an observer and the motion defined in relation to this point as either cyclic or not. | 208 |
Motions of translation and rotation now differ only in according to whether they are considered as relative to some reference points assumed by an observer and the motion defined in relation to this point as either cyclic or not. | 208 |
We can easily see the meaning of the bodies constituting the background and the body whose change of place is to be measured and the body we intend to use as an observation point. They are all points of reference within the field of consciousness, within sentience, within the observer, the self. | 214 |
No philosopher has yet succeeded in defining consciousness or awareness or sentience. Why is this so? Because to define is to indicate limits and sentience as such has no limits. Sentience is not a finite object. It is that in which finite objects are presented and known. | 220 |
No one has at any time seen as an object the consciousness which sees the object. In theological terms we would say, ‘No man has seen God at any time.’ In psychological terms we would say consciousness as such never appears to itself as an object. Yet in the resec act consciousness is aware of itself; but not as finite, not as an object. | 224 |
No one has at any time seen as an object the consciousness which sees the object. In theological terms we would say, ‘No man has seen God at any time.’ In psychological terms we would say consciousness as such never appears to itself as an object. Yet in the resec act consciousness is aware of itself; but not as finite, not as an object. | 224 |
No one has at any time seen as an object the consciousness which sees the object. In theological terms we would say, ‘No man has seen God at any time.’ In psychological terms we would say consciousness as such never appears to itself as an object. Yet in the resec act consciousness is aware of itself; but not as finite, not as an object. | 224 |
No one has at any time seen as an object the consciousness which sees the object. In theological terms we would say, ‘No man has seen God at any time.’ In psychological terms we would say consciousness as such never appears to itself as an object. Yet in the resec act consciousness is aware of itself; but not as finite, not as an object. | 224 |
No one has at any time seen as an object the consciousness which sees the object. In theological terms we would say, ‘No man has seen God at any time.’ In psychological terms we would say consciousness as such never appears to itself as an object. Yet in the resec act consciousness is aware of itself; but not as finite, not as an object. | 224 |
The observer is the subject who sees. The observed is the object which is seen. The subject is the awareness, the consciousness, the sentience. The object is a finited zone of formal motion within the subject, which stands as the subject’s reference point in an act of cognition. | 226 |
Sentience as such is infinite, being a property of the Absolute. The apparently limited observer, the consciousness in a living body, identified with that body, is limited only by its own act of identification. Identification for all practical purposes confines consciousness to the zone of identification. | 228 |
The arising of pleasure from the experience of an object tends to lead consciousness to focus on that object. The tendency is so marked in general that it tends to assume almost the force of a law; sufficiently so in fact to have led many philosophers to formulate a hedonistic view of the universe, that is, a view which states life’s aim as the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. | 234 |
Not that pleasure or pain as such is bad; but the identification of consciousness with the objects it accompanies leads to slavery of consciousness and the reduction of man to a pleasure pain mechanism. As such a mechanism he is entirely at the mercy of those beings who know the principles governing such mechanisms. Standing as evidence of this is the great interest of business men and their advisers and political power pursuers in motivational research. | 238 |
Not that pleasure or pain as such is bad; but the identification of consciousness with the objects it accompanies leads to slavery of consciousness and the reduction of man to a pleasure pain mechanism. As such a mechanism he is entirely at the mercy of those beings who know the principles governing such mechanisms. Standing as evidence of this is the great interest of business men and their advisers and political power pursuers in motivational research. | 238 |
Not that pleasure or pain as such is bad; but the identification of consciousness with the objects it accompanies leads to slavery of consciousness and the reduction of man to a pleasure pain mechanism. As such a mechanism he is entirely at the mercy of those beings who know the principles governing such mechanisms. Standing as evidence of this is the great interest of business men and their advisers and political power pursuers in motivational research. | 238 |
Bodies are limited zones of cyclic motion. As limited, circumscribed zones their energy absorption capacity is also limited. | 246 |
Stimuli entering bodies are constituted of quantities of motion. Motion considered as operating or working within a closed system is called energy. Finite bodies can assimilate only finite amounts of energy presented at a certain rate and intensity, and in a certain pattern. | 248 |
At times of the disturbance or destruction of a body, consciousness identified with it suffers as if it were itself disturbed or destroyed. | 252 |
The consciousness which is released from identification with particular objects is not deprived of them. When consciousness no longer identifies itself with objects, they still persist as functions of the absolute motion, but they are seen simply as forms within consciousness having no power to determine the direction in which new stresses may appear. New stresses ordinarily depend on the previous stress patterns in the objects with which consciousness has identified. At the resec level consciousness is a catalyst able to initiate action without itself being in any way determined by it. | 272 |
The consciousness which is released from identification with particular objects is not deprived of them. When consciousness no longer identifies itself with objects, they still persist as functions of the absolute motion, but they are seen simply as forms within consciousness having no power to determine the direction in which new stresses may appear. New stresses ordinarily depend on the previous stress patterns in the objects with which consciousness has identified. At the resec level consciousness is a catalyst able to initiate action without itself being in any way determined by it. | 272 |
Consciousness is therefore not to be released from identification with objects in order to annihilate all objects and stand in nothingness. That would be to inhibit the power of consciousness to act as a catalytic formative agent or creative intelligence. | 274 |
Within an individual organism the orientation of the psyche (or body identified sentience) affects the distribution of its constituent motions, which we may consider as a field of forces, in such a way that its resistance pattern to incoming stimuli and to their outgoing results is altered, and thereby its mode of action or behaviour. | 290 |
The inclination determined actions of the body must be considered for all practical purposes as mechanical. The man who acts only from inclination must be considered to be unfree. | 294 |
We often hear a person say, as if it were evidence of his free will, ‘I can do what I want.’ But the man who does what he wants and yet cannot determine his wants, must be said to be a slave to want. An act of free will is not an act of want. Want implies deprivation, lack of something. Free will is a pure positive, lacking nothing. Free will is pure creativity and can bring to be the forms it wills to project. Want is determined by experience records and their emotional content. Free will is determined by nothing other than itself, and can create its own objects. This is the way the Absolute has brought the world into being, not out of want, or lack, but out of the fullness of its own free will. | 296 |
Such, of course, are geniuses; but, if they were to uncover the roots of genius in the long continuous line of protoplasmic evolution, we would find operating even there what the theologian would correctly call ‘grace’, that is a capacity in an individual which that individual, considered as a finite being, has not itself created. We here say, with the rabbis, ‘The fruits such men eat are plucked from trees planted by men they never knew.’ | 308 |
Inclination determined actions are actions determined by emotionally charged experience records. Such actions must be considered to be in principle not superior to the conditioned reflex behaviour of Pavlov’s dogs. If actions of this order were the only kind possible for man we would have to abandon as meaningless the use of all terms referring to the concept of free will. Man would be merely a machine and the evolution of consciousness an illusion. Fortunately this is not so. | 310 |
It is true that the object identified man acts as if he were a machine. It is not true that this mode of action is the only possible for him. | 312 |
To become a god, if we understand the concept correctly, is not impossible. ‘Is it not written’, says Jesus, ‘Ye are gods?’ And ‘Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.’ A god is simply a being, able from within itself, from its own free will, to determine its own actions towards its good. How are we to become such? The God of gods is the Absolute Infinite Sentient power which determines its own action towards its own good absolutely. | 318 |
Identification arises from emotionally charged experience. Whenever the experience of an object (or situation or event) gives rise to emotion, whether pleasure or pain, and the observer allows himself to focus on this emotion, a tendency arises to react to the object by moving towards or away from it and to record it as a reference for future orientation. | 334 |
To break object identification we must do four things. First we must see that the object identified state is a false one, a state which falsely represents consciousness, the subject, as identical with its content, the object. Next we must make clear to ourselves that by allowing ourselves to act by inclination we reduce our action level to that of Pavlov’s dogs, the mechanical reflex level. Thirdly, we must see that such mechanically determined responses are incompatible with freedom and human dignity. Finally, we must withdraw our will from the experience records and from the pleasure-pain aspects of the content of consciousness, and turn it back upon itself. | 338 |
Let us look more closely at the idea of consciousness turning back on itself. The Greeks, of course, had a word for it the word epistrophe, a word surviving as a term in rhetoric for the repetition of the same word at the end of several sentences; as if we were to repeat the word ‘consciousness’ at the end of every act of perception in order to return consciousness from the object to itself. | 342 |
Let us look more closely at the idea of consciousness turning back on itself. The Greeks, of course, had a word for it the word epistrophe, a word surviving as a term in rhetoric for the repetition of the same word at the end of several sentences; as if we were to repeat the word ‘consciousness’ at the end of every act of perception in order to return consciousness from the object to itself. | 342 |
The sense of individual separate self existence, and the ego sense, arise by identification with form. Body, which stands as the centre of such identification, is known by its form and mass inertic resistance, a form of motion. | 352 |
For such identification originally to occur the form must, in being experienced, have been accompanied by some emotional charge. This emotional content of the experience leads consciousness, prior to its gaining the resec state, into identification with it in the attempt to re experience it if pleasurable or to note it for future avoidance if painful. Once identification of consciousness with a given body or motion complex as centre of emotional charge has occurred identification tends by inertia to continue to maintain itself. | 354 |
We say rather, the over stimulation of the body makes it unprofitable for a pleasure orientated consciousness to remain in a state of identification with the body. This explanation covers more facts than the mechanistic one, including the behaviour of martyrs at the stake, for although their body is over stimulated, yet because they are not pleasure orientated they do not lose consciousness but continue to praise the principle of free consciousness which they worship as God. | 358 |
The careful thinker, penetrating into his being to discover to what he refers when he uses the words ‘I myself’ knows that the Self is a free will consciousness, the ground and possibility and actuality of all being, yet itself transcendent of being. (The word ‘being’ may properly be used only of what is circumscribed, and consciousness as such is not circumscribed and therefore not properly called a being). | 368 |
There is no absolutely non sentient level of being. The Absolute source of all beings, the ultimate reality, is itself eternal and infinite sentient motion. Whatever it produces or creates it does so within and of itself as its functions. Nothing, therefore, exists but in and of the infinite eternal sentient motion, which considered as cause is called power. | 378 |
There is no absolutely non sentient level of being. The Absolute source of all beings, the ultimate reality, is itself eternal and infinite sentient motion. Whatever it produces or creates it does so within and of itself as its functions. Nothing, therefore, exists but in and of the infinite eternal sentient motion, which considered as cause is called power. | 378 |
The sub-conscious and un-conscious are therefore not to be thought of as non-sentient, but only as not closely linked to verbal forms, not levels of analysis and synthesis of the contents of the field of sentience. | 380 |
The sub-conscious and un-conscious are therefore not to be thought of as non-sentient, but only as not closely linked to verbal forms, not levels of analysis and synthesis of the contents of the field of sentience. | 380 |
Prior to adequate verbalisation or logical definition the field of sentient motion must be conceived of as in a state of chaotic flux; yet this flux at its own level, viewed as absolute motion, must contain the forms of the infinite wisdom. | 384 |
Prior to adequate verbalisation or logical definition the field of sentient motion must be conceived of as in a state of chaotic flux; yet this flux at its own level, viewed as absolute motion, must contain the forms of the infinite wisdom. | 384 |
The fall into identification with the object world places man under the law governing that world. Only the resec man can truthfully say with Paul, ‘We are of the law but not under the law.’ We are of the law insofar as we use finite reference points. We are not under the law insofar as we remain free from identification with such points. | 402 |
The fall into identification with the object world places man under the law governing that world. Only the resec man can truthfully say with Paul, ‘We are of the law but not under the law.’ We are of the law insofar as we use finite reference points. We are not under the law insofar as we remain free from identification with such points. | 402 |
The resec man sees the same world he saw before, the same world other men see. But he sees it not in the same way. He knows what Blake meant when he said, ‘The fool sees not the same tree the wise man sees.’ He sees the myriad branched tree Yggdrasil, but not as other men see it. For he does not fall into identification with any particular branch of it. He sees this tree in the nervous system of the body he uses as a reference centre, as he sees it in the driving radiating forces of macro cosmos. | 408 |
The resec man sees the same world he saw before, the same world other men see. But he sees it not in the same way. He knows what Blake meant when he said, ‘The fool sees not the same tree the wise man sees.’ He sees the myriad branched tree Yggdrasil, but not as other men see it. For he does not fall into identification with any particular branch of it. He sees this tree in the nervous system of the body he uses as a reference centre, as he sees it in the driving radiating forces of macro cosmos. | 408 |
The resec man sees the same world he saw before, the same world other men see. But he sees it not in the same way. He knows what Blake meant when he said, ‘The fool sees not the same tree the wise man sees.’ He sees the myriad branched tree Yggdrasil, but not as other men see it. For he does not fall into identification with any particular branch of it. He sees this tree in the nervous system of the body he uses as a reference centre, as he sees it in the driving radiating forces of macro cosmos. | 408 |
The resec man sees the world wholly without falling into identification with any particular part of it. He is not identified with it, not inclined towards it, not enslaved by it. He can use it, as the Taoist uses an empty vessel to put things in. He can create within it by the catalytic creativity of his awareness, his sentience, his consciousness. | 410 |
The word ‘flex’ from Latin flexum, from flectere, ‘to bend’, is related to the word falcem or falx, a ‘sickle’. The falcon, so called from its sickle-shaped beak, was sacred to the resec priest kings of the ancient world. The falcon the hawk, the eagle, are symbols of the high flying consciousness which returns to itself as the falcon flies into the eye of the sun, that ‘medicinable eye’ which brings order to the planets and establishes a hierarchy of powers on earth. | 420 |
The material image of this return was seen by the ancients in the orbits and revolutions of the planets. Reflexive self consciousness returns to its original as the planets return upon their orbits. This is the ground of the Eternal Recurrence which fascinated Nietzsche as it had spell bound the imagination of the ancients. | 426 |
The material image of this return was seen by the ancients in the orbits and revolutions of the planets. Reflexive self consciousness returns to its original as the planets return upon their orbits. This is the ground of the Eternal Recurrence which fascinated Nietzsche as it had spell bound the imagination of the ancients. | 426 |
The motion of the Absolute produces within itself the modulations which its sentience experiences as phenomena. Sentient power creates an objective world within itself. It may identify itself with its objectifying motion complexes and thus become inertically carried by the necessary mechanical mode of action of their being. In which case we say it is ‘under the law’. Or it can retain its self awareness whilst it is creating and thus retain its freedom and creative initiative, in which case we say it is ‘of the law, but not under the law’. | 430 |
Nothing truly exists in its fullness which is not turned back upon itself. A material body does not exist unless its constituting forces continually turn back on themselves and thus avoid dissipation in space. Consciousness does not truly exist in its fullness till it turns back upon itself in the reflexive act of self recognition. The consciousness which identifies with its object and becomes fixated upon it, is as if it did not exist for itself. We see this in its extreme form in certain mental disorders in which the patient is so identified with emotionally charged experience records that he cannot release himself from the identification, and is therefore determined by his experience records. Such a person may be held in a fixated state as long as the emotional charge on the records is not removed. | 434 |
Nothing truly exists in its fullness which is not turned back upon itself. A material body does not exist unless its constituting forces continually turn back on themselves and thus avoid dissipation in space. Consciousness does not truly exist in its fullness till it turns back upon itself in the reflexive act of self recognition. The consciousness which identifies with its object and becomes fixated upon it, is as if it did not exist for itself. We see this in its extreme form in certain mental disorders in which the patient is so identified with emotionally charged experience records that he cannot release himself from the identification, and is therefore determined by his experience records. Such a person may be held in a fixated state as long as the emotional charge on the records is not removed. | 434 |
Nothing truly exists in its fullness which is not turned back upon itself. A material body does not exist unless its constituting forces continually turn back on themselves and thus avoid dissipation in space. Consciousness does not truly exist in its fullness till it turns back upon itself in the reflexive act of self recognition. The consciousness which identifies with its object and becomes fixated upon it, is as if it did not exist for itself. We see this in its extreme form in certain mental disorders in which the patient is so identified with emotionally charged experience records that he cannot release himself from the identification, and is therefore determined by his experience records. Such a person may be held in a fixated state as long as the emotional charge on the records is not removed. | 434 |
A material body, a finite thing, is constituted of motions of sentient power which, insofar as the body continues to exist, rotate within the zone marked by that body. | 436 |
Insofar as the motions constituting a body are totally closed in upon themselves the sentience aspect of those motions is held in a state of identification with that body. This state of the total identification of sentience with a closed system of motions is referred to in various ways. The ancients, who knew the value of resec, called the state of total identification with a closed motion system ‘Hell’. The same state is also called ‘Death’, for in it one is dead to the larger possibilities of sentient power. To be ‘dead in one’s sins’ simply means to be so identified with the object of one’s consciousness that one is unaware of the infinity of other possible objects or of the meaning of freedom. | 438 |
Insofar as the motions constituting a material body cannot break out from themselves, the body cannot leave itself. Not being able to leave itself, it cannot return to itself. Thus a body cannot as such become reflexively self-conscious. Return to self consciousness is not possible for a body as such. Return to self consciousness is possible only for a non body, for consciousness itself, for sentient power. The fact of reflexive self consciousness proves the non materiality of the reflexive Self. | 440 |
Insofar as the motions constituting a material body cannot break out from themselves, the body cannot leave itself. Not being able to leave itself, it cannot return to itself. Thus a body cannot as such become reflexively self-conscious. Return to self consciousness is not possible for a body as such. Return to self consciousness is possible only for a non body, for consciousness itself, for sentient power. The fact of reflexive self consciousness proves the non materiality of the reflexive Self. | 440 |
Insofar as the motions constituting a material body cannot break out from themselves, the body cannot leave itself. Not being able to leave itself, it cannot return to itself. Thus a body cannot as such become reflexively self-conscious. Return to self consciousness is not possible for a body as such. Return to self consciousness is possible only for a non body, for consciousness itself, for sentient power. The fact of reflexive self consciousness proves the non materiality of the reflexive Self. | 440 |
Disintegration cannot happen to sentience as such, for sentience is not itself a compound. It is a pure continuum, an aspect of the Absolute, the field in which objects are presented. | 448 |
Objective existence is the product of the motion of the absolute sentient continuum of power. By its modes of motion the continuum produces the forms of actuality we know as the world. Motions of translation intersect and at their points of intersection produce rotations which constitute the primary points which aggregate together to produce so called material bodies. | 452 |
Although the motion of the continuum is necessarily itself continuous, yet it produces within itself by its own translation rotational motions which give rise to the phenomenal world of apparently separate bodies. Bodies, as motion-complexes of the continuum, cannot actually be separate from each other in any ultimate sense. Every body, as a function of the continuum, is influenced by the motions of the continuum and thus of all other bodies. No bodies are completely isolated or insulated from other bodies. All bodies reciprocally interact within the continuum which is the plastic power substance of their being. | 454 |
Although the motion of the continuum is necessarily itself continuous, yet it produces within itself by its own translation rotational motions which give rise to the phenomenal world of apparently separate bodies. Bodies, as motion-complexes of the continuum, cannot actually be separate from each other in any ultimate sense. Every body, as a function of the continuum, is influenced by the motions of the continuum and thus of all other bodies. No bodies are completely isolated or insulated from other bodies. All bodies reciprocally interact within the continuum which is the plastic power substance of their being. | 454 |
In the infinite continuum of sentient power, the Godhead of the theologians, all beings ‘live, move and have their being.’ The reality of beings is constituted by the functions of this continuum. To identify with this continuum as pure sentience is to return to the Supreme Self. The return of absolute sentience to itself is the return of God to God. The return of the relative awareness of man to the infinite sentience is the return of man to God. | 456 |
Resec confers upon man the power to be himself; the power to fulfil the imperative, ‘Become what thou art’, the power to see Time as a function of Eternity, and to act in Time from the essence and form of Eternity. | 460 |
For illustration of this we may look at a man identified with a given functional concept. A soldier is a man identified with such a concept. This concept includes subsidiary concepts, such as obedience to superiors, freedom from ethical considerations when acting under orders (‘Yours not to reason why, Yours but to do and die.’), and so on. | 468 |
Thus when a man is identified with the soldier concept he goes under the law governing beings identified with that concept. He therefore responds to orders from those conceptualised as his superiors, and performs actions which, as a human being, not identified with the soldier concept, he would be ethically unable to do. | 470 |
Thus when a man is identified with the soldier concept he goes under the law governing beings identified with that concept. He therefore responds to orders from those conceptualised as his superiors, and performs actions which, as a human being, not identified with the soldier concept, he would be ethically unable to do. | 470 |
A concept is an idea or general notion arising from a group of percepts possessing some common factor. A percept may be defined as a simple act of perception, the presentation of a stimulus, a single act of a sense organ, its correspondent brain centre, and the psyche conjoined with it. A concept is a group of perceptual elements held together by some similar form. | 474 |
Just as a percept may possess an emotional charge which inclines the psyche to conjoin with it or not (for a percept is a definite amount of characterised energy having a degree of assimilability for a given organism), so a concept may possess an emotional charge which similarly tends to orientate the psyche towards or away from it. | 476 |
Concepts, then, as complex formed energy packets possessing emotional charges, tend to condition the behaviour of the being identified with them. | 478 |
When one identifies with the subject only, the object disappears and only the subject remains. The Self is there with no otherness, sentience is there, yet it is as if it were only a potential. | 506 |
When one identifies simultaneously with both subject and object, both the Self and its objects exist. Consciousness and its objects appear then as two poles of the Absolute. | 508 |
There is a cyclic process of involution and evolution of sentience. Prior to creation the Infinite, Eternal, Absolute, Sentient Motion or Power is as if it were a mere potentiality (yet only from the point of view of a finite mind trying to conceive it). For itself it is a pure self actuating motion, ‘without shadow of turning,’ pure translation of spirit, infinite and eternal. | 512 |
But this pure motion, Self aware Absolute Sentient Power, by its own essentiality produces within itself (as the motion of the sea produces waves and the intersection of the waves vortices) the motion modes which constitute the forms we use as reference points for consciousness and which we call bodies. | 514 |
But this pure motion, Self aware Absolute Sentient Power, by its own essentiality produces within itself (as the motion of the sea produces waves and the intersection of the waves vortices) the motion modes which constitute the forms we use as reference points for consciousness and which we call bodies. | 514 |
Once consciousness has fallen at any given locus into identification with the motion complex or body in that locus, it has fallen under the law governing such a motion complex. It is now conditioned by the motion characteristic of that complex and reacts to other motions (which now act as stimuli) in a manner determined by its characteristic form. It can now assimilate other motions only insofar as that motion complex can do so. | 520 |
Once consciousness has fallen at any given locus into identification with the motion complex or body in that locus, it has fallen under the law governing such a motion complex. It is now conditioned by the motion characteristic of that complex and reacts to other motions (which now act as stimuli) in a manner determined by its characteristic form. It can now assimilate other motions only insofar as that motion complex can do so. | 520 |
Consciousness is then bound to that motion complex and is affected as we see it in the things around us. In the mineral world it evidences itself only in offering resistance to imposed forces. In the vegetable world it expresses itself in growth processes. In the animal worlds it expresses itself in instinct and desire impelled action. In man it expresses itself in rational thought. In the fully developed human being it expresses itself as resec. | 522 |
Consciousness is then bound to that motion complex and is affected as we see it in the things around us. In the mineral world it evidences itself only in offering resistance to imposed forces. In the vegetable world it expresses itself in growth processes. In the animal worlds it expresses itself in instinct and desire impelled action. In man it expresses itself in rational thought. In the fully developed human being it expresses itself as resec. | 522 |
Either one is a slave or not. Either one is able to give orders to oneself or not. Not to be able to give orders to oneself and to obey them, is to be at the mercy of others. Happy and fortunate is he, who, being able to give himself orders and to obey them, is given the orders of truth and shown how to obey them, by One who is merciful. As was Jesus and Buddha and Mahavira the Jina and Lao Tse and Zarathustra and Socrates, and others who have shown the way back to the origin of all beings. | 538 |
The resec man sees Mythos, Logos and sense data as the three corners of a triangle having its being in the ultimate reality of the infinite eternal sentient motion of the Absolute. To gain resec is to gain the mastery of this triangle and establish one’s being in eternity, from which one will ‘go no more out’. | 560 |
Because sentience is infinite it is extended throughout all space. Whatever motions occur in space are experienced by sentience as the content of its consciousness. Wherever a given motion complex of a rotatory nature is sufficiently integrated and intense to serve as a relatively permanent reference point, sentience interprets this motion complex as a body or substantial being. | 570 |
Because sentience is infinite it is extended throughout all space. Whatever motions occur in space are experienced by sentience as the content of its consciousness. Wherever a given motion complex of a rotatory nature is sufficiently integrated and intense to serve as a relatively permanent reference point, sentience interprets this motion complex as a body or substantial being. | 570 |
Because sentience is infinite it is extended throughout all space. Whatever motions occur in space are experienced by sentience as the content of its consciousness. Wherever a given motion complex of a rotatory nature is sufficiently integrated and intense to serve as a relatively permanent reference point, sentience interprets this motion complex as a body or substantial being. | 570 |
Wherever the motion constituents of a given body are such as to give rise to the experience of some degree of pleasure there is a tendency for sentience to identify itself with that body and strive to keep it in being. | 572 |
Wherever the motion constituents of a given body are such as to give rise to pain or unpleasant emotions, sentience at that point strives to inhibit those motions. But in the place of such inhibited motions fear is experienced lest they should break free from the inhibiting forces imposed upon them. Fear is the trembling arising from the conflict of the inhibiting forces and the inhibited motion complexes causing pain and unpleasant emotions. The unpleasantness of this fear leads sentience to try to break identification with the zones in which it is experienced. Such zones are walled in or encapsulated and constitute the content of the so called subconscious. | 574 |
The totality of such zones of painful and unpleasant motion complexes constitutes for the sentience trapped in them, Hell. The totality of the motion-complexes which give rise to the experience of pleasure is interpreted by the sentience identified with it as Heaven. | 576 |
The Hermetic doctrine says, ‘As above, so below. As within, so without’. With the difference that Infinity has infinite assimilation capacity and response-ability, and the finite has only finite capacity and ability. Hence the necessity of gaining release from identification with the finite and returning to the Self in the Infinite. | 580 |
At the level of the sentience in object identified man the motion complex serving as his body or centre of reference has certain reaction and assimilation capacities of a finite order. | 582 |
If the motion complex constituting his reference centre or body receives stimuli resulting in pleasure, the sentience identified with that motion complex, and which he refers to as his own consciousness, tends to identify with such pleasure and the stimuli producing it. | 584 |
Thus the sentience identified with any given motion complex as a centre of reference, whether in man or any other being, from the particular to the universal, tends to act in similar ways in similar situations, and thus to involve itself in recurrent behaviour patterns, giving rise to what the psychologists have named, the ‘Law of the persistence of error.’ | 588 |
The body identified sentience in a man, therefore, as a being of finite reaction and assimilation, tends to try to reject or inhibit stimuli productive of pain or unpleasant emotion, and to identify with and preserve in being those stimuli resulting in pleasure. | 590 |
A man has, therefore, his individual Hell and Heaven within himself. Hell is constituted by motions of inhibited stimuli and their pain and unpleasant emotion resultants, Heaven by the motions of stimuli and their resultants which are experienced as pleasure. | 592 |
As long as the ‘Hell’ motions in a man are inhibited and vibrate within him, he lives with a background of fear that they may break out and invade consciousness. In fear of this possibility he strives to keep his consciousness away from them, and place it in those motion complexes which give rise to pleasure. | 594 |
As long as the ‘Hell’ motions in a man are inhibited and vibrate within him, he lives with a background of fear that they may break out and invade consciousness. In fear of this possibility he strives to keep his consciousness away from them, and place it in those motion complexes which give rise to pleasure. | 594 |
But man as a finite system has only finite energies and capacities. He tends like all finite systems to lose energy to his surroundings. When his energies drop below a certain level he has not sufficient to continue the inhibiting process which has kept his ‘Hell’ motions in subjection. At such times they tend to break out of bondage and invade his consciousness. Here is the point of his greatest need for the power to break identification with the content of consciousness. But it is also the time when he is least able to do it. | 596 |