Part One: The Middle Pillar - iPage

The Two Pillars of the Temple 13
Key of Life, whose separation is evil and death."'gThis, then, is the
solution to conflict. They must be reconciled.
Let me recapitulate. There must be the clear recognition of the
conflict. Its exact nature must be analyzed and faced, and its pres-
ence accepted in all its implications.
One must endeavor to bring up into consciousness, so far as the
capabilities of the mind permit, all the memories of childhood. In a
word, he should attempt to perform a species of what is called in
the Buddhist system the Sammasati meditation. This consists in a
cultivation and rigid examination of memory. The idea involved
here is not that these recollections in themselves are worth any-
thg, but that raising them up to the surface releases a great deal of
tension associated with early experiences. There is often a tying up
of nervous energy in childhood experiences, in trivial events which
are allowed to be forgotten and to sink into unconsciousness. But
ths forgetfulness does not overcome the shock of nervous exhaus-
tion connected with them. On the contrary, they set up what are
called resistances-resistances to the flow of life and vitality from
the primitive and vital layers of the unconscious level.
"What matters," remarks Georg Groddeck20 the brilliant Ger-
man physician-psychologist, "is not to make conscious anything
at all of the unconscious, but to relieve what is imprisoned, and in
so doing it is by no means rare for the repressed material to sink
into the depths instead of coming into consciousness.. .. What is
decisive in the success of treatment is the removal of resistance."
Beginning with the actual events of the day upon which the
reader determines to commence ths exercise, the meditation
should gradually extend its field of vision until ultimately the
events and occurrences of the earliest years are brought into the
light of day. The techruque is principally one of the training of the
mind to think backwards. Difficult though at first it may seem,
practice leads the student slowly and gradually to facility in the art
of remembering. The facts of memory confronted fearlessly, with-
out shame and discomforture, the resistance to the flow of vitality
between the various levels of consciousness is broken down,
restoring physical, nervous, and spiritual health.