"Developement cannot be measured from the point of view of the lower mind, and there is no evidence to show that it proceeds appreciably on this physical plane. It is God the Highest who looks down; not we who look up, who can judge upon the growth of the human soul. Eternal verities cannot be put in terms of space and time, for those illusions must be illiminated from the mind ere it can discern the celestial significance of the sublime teaching of the sacred scriptures of the world."

Maurice Nicoll

Ref: The Mark

I know that I do not know something, and at the same time say that I

know, or act as though I knew it, it is lying. For instance, we know

nothing about ourselves, and we really know that we know nothing, yet

we never recognize or admit the fact; we never confess it even to ourselves,

we act and think and speak as though we knew who we are. This

 is the origin, the beginning of lying.

When we understand this and follow this line, and when we try to

connect this idea with everything we think, everything we say, everything

we do, we will begin to remove the obstacles which lie on the way to

consciousness. But the psychology of lying is much more difficult than

we think, because there are many different kinds of lying and many very

Q. If we do not know what truth is, how do we know when we lie?

A. You know that you cannot know the truth, and if you say you do

know, or can know it, it would be a lie, because no one can know the

truth in the state in which we are. Do not think philosophically, take it in

relation to facts. People speak about everything as though they knew. If

you ask a man whether there are people on the moon, he will have an

opinion about it. And so with everything else. We have opinions about

everything, and all these opinions are lying, particularly about ourselves.

We do not know about states of consciousness, or the different

functions, or the speed of functions, or their relation to one another.

We do not know about how functions are divided. We know nothing, yet

we think we know about ourselves. All we have is opinions, and they

are all lies.

Q. If all opinions are lies, should we avoid opinions?

A. You must know their value. The first lie we tell ourselves is when we

say 'I'. It is a lie because in saying 'I' we presume certain things: we

presume a certain unity and a certain power. And if I say 'I' today and

say 'I' tomorrow, it is supposed to be the same 'I', when in reality there

is no connection between them. We are in this present state because of

certain obstacles or certain facts in ourselves, and the most important fact

that we do not understand is that we have no right to say 'I', for it will

be a lie. When you begin to observe yourself you will see that it is really

so: there are 'I's in you which do not know one another and never come

into contact. For instance, begin to study your likes and dislikes and you

will see that you can like one thing one moment and like another thing

another moment, and the two are so opposed to one another that you will

realize at once that those 'I's never meet. If you observe your decisions

you will see that one 'I', decides and another has to carry out the decision,

and this one is either unwilling to do it or never heard about it. If you

find one thing one does not lie to oneself about you will be very exceptional.

Being surrounded by these lies, born and educated in these lies, we

cannot be any different from what we are; we are just the result, the

product of this lying.

P.D. OUSPENSKY

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!

Amusement Park

The caliope of nature

Is prancing up and down,

And the rider of her steed

Is as foolish as a clown.

For she pumps and pushes onward

In a never ending pace.

And the ride, my friend, is endless

For the transient human race.

Life on earth is like a circle

On a painted merry-go-around.

You are riding it so firmly

With it's constant up and down.

The brass ring is the Truth

That you must desire to reach.

Hold to that aspiration

And the Spirit then will teach.

You'll overcome that whirligig

With it's rising and it fall,

And be a part no longer

But the essence of it all.

Vivian Heeschen (1920-1992)