Nicoll - On Being

Birdlip, June 4, 1942
III - On Being - (continued)

Part I. - "Everyone who has taken up this Work seriously and reflected upon its meaning, by means of that faculty which we all possess but rarely use - namely, thinking for oneself - should eventually be capable of entering consciously into and understanding the position of others. This is a development of being essential for us in the Work. No one can develop alone. [New] relationship is only possible through the contact of inner worlds. We meet through our inner worlds. To understand another you must enter into his inner world, but this is not possible if you have not entered into your own inner world. The first step therefore towards entering into and understanding the position of another is attained through entering into and understanding the position of oneself and unless that step is taken, to as full a degree as possible, there is little or no possibility of entering into and understanding the position of another person. The entry into oneself begins with self observation and the understanding of oneself comes through long self study in the light of this teaching, whose ultimate aim is the gradual but definite transformation of oneself. For this reason merely to think that one is capable of entering into and understanding the position of another person and even giving help, as one is - and this illusion is very common - is to misunderstand entirely the nature of human contact and the universal difficulties that attend this impulse, which so frequently ends in disaster or some sort of compromise, which - as often as not - is the breeding ground of bitterness, mutual criticism, hostility and even worse emotional states and trains of thought. No one as he is mechanically - that is, as formed by life and its influences can enter into and understand another, and from that, give help, unless he already knows from his own self observation, self study and insight, what is in the other person. Only through self knowledge is knowledge of others practically possible. Only by seeing and knowing and understanding what is in yourself can you see, know and understand what is in another person. One of the greatest evils of human relationship is that people make no attempt to enter into another's position but merely criticize one another without any restraint and do not possess any inner check to this mechanical criticism owing to the absence of any insight into themselves and their own glaring crudities, faults and shortcomings. As a result, not only do they not help each other, but the normal balance of things is upset, and by this I mean that an accumulation of wrong or evil psychic material is formed daily in human relationships and, in fact, in everyone's life, which should never exist if people saw themselves simultaneously, and in this way could neutralize the effects of their conduct day by day. This lack of psychological responsibility, both to oneself and to others, is perhaps especially characteristic of modern times and is perhaps the the source of one part of the widespread modern unhappiness that marks the present age, in which, amongst other things, there is a decline in even ordinary human kindness, with a resulting hardness, which is among the most dangerous factors in regard to the future, and which effectually stops all possibility of the right development of the emotional life."

I end here but this whole chapter is worth reading again and again.

Awaken, Be Good, Be Well, Be Happy, Be at Peace - BE

Note On Prayer - Cause and Effect

"In the paper that was read last time about the idea of Prayer as given in the Gospels (which is not included in this volume [1]) it was said that the Universe can be taken as response to request. Man requests, and the Universe in all it's full and total reality, outer and inner, responds according to the request. In regard to what I said last time, I wish to draw your attention to this fact: many people are getting responses to requests which they do not understand they are making. If the Universe, visible and invisible, material and psychological, gross and fine, as apprehended externally by the senses and internally by the mind and heart, is response to request, then you will see how important it is to realize what kind of requests you are making in order to understand why you get the response, from any side of life, that you are actually getting. The Work says: "Your being attracts your life". Do you see the connection? Without knowing it, a man or a woman may be making request[s] and so getting a response from the total Universe that he or she does not like. They see the response but do not see what excites the response, what it is in themselves that attracts it. People, in other words, may be asking for trouble without being aware that they are. They only see the result - that is, the response. They only see effects, not causes. To think only from effects is one thing. It is how mechanical people think. To think from causes is another thing. IT belongs to more conscious thinking. Now the level of your being enters into request as much or more than your knowledge. You may ask intellectually for happiness but do not see how factors that govern your being,as love of your negative states, your grievances, your secret jealousies, your laziness, your dislikes and so on, are asking for something quite different, and that the Universe is responding to these factors in yourbeing that you are secretly affirming without seeing that you are. Understand that full request must contain both thought and will - formulation and emotional desire. The side of knowledge is the side of thought and a man can only think from his knowledge. The side of being wills, and a man only wills what he desires. If you love negative states, then your will is of this quality. Your love is your will; it will attract the response belonging to it. Only self knowledge will make you aware of your state of being and this begins with self observation. Enough has been said here on this subject - namely that a person may be getting responses does not expect or desire, without seeing that he is attracting them because he is making requests for them that he is not aware of."

~ from Volume I of "Commentaries" by Maurice Nicoll
Chapter: Birdlip, June 19, 1942
Note on Prayer
Response and Request - Paragraph 1

Awaken, Be Good, Be Well, Be Happy, Be at Peace - BE