The Supreme Doctrine - neo-alchemist

PASSIVITY OF THE MIND
The primary reaction consists in the awakening, in me, of a certain
amount of vital energy; this energy was lying, latent, in my central source of
energy until it was awakened by my perception of an energy manifested in
the Not-Self against Self. The foreign aggressive energy stirs up in me the
manifestation of a reactive force which balances the force of the Not-Self.
This reactive force is not yet a movement of anger, it has not yet a precise
form; it is comparable with the substance which is going to be poured into a
mould but, which has not yet been released. During an instant, without
duration, this budding force, mobilised at my source, is not yet a force of
anger; it is an informal force, a pure vital force.
This primary reaction corresponds to a certain perception of the outer
world, to a certain knowledge. It corresponds therefore to a certain
consciousness, but quite different from what is habitually so called. It is not
the mental consciousness, intellectual, clear, evident. It is an obscure
consciousness, profound, reflex, organic. It is the same consciousness which
presides over the release of the knee-cap reflex; every reflex corresponds to
this organic consciousness which 'knows' the outside world in a nonintellectual
manner. Besides, this is corroborated by an inward observation: I
feel anger going to my head where it will proceed to build up a thousand
images; I feel it rising from below, from my organic existence. This primary
reaction is extremely rapid and it escapes my observation if I am not very
attentive, but if, after my anger, I examine in detail what has happened in me,
I realise that, during a short moment, a pure anonymous organic force,
coming from an organic consciousness, has preceded the play of my
intellectual consciousness, formulator of images of anger.
Let us note that my organic consciousness releases my energy-reaction
against the Not-Self when it perceives it. That is, the play of this
consciousness implies the acceptance of the existence of the Not-Self in face
of the Self: it is in accord with the cosmic order, with things as they are. It
presides over exchanges of energy between Self and Not-Self, it conciliates
these two poles; it is in accord with the Tao.
Let us now study the secondary reaction. The dynamic modification of
my being constituted by the primary reaction, this mobilisation of my energy
in response to the energy of the outside world, will release a second reaction.
Just as the movement of the outside world released the reactive play of my
organic consciousness, this play in its turn—the inner movement which
manifests this play—will release the reactive play of my intellectual
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