A Record of Meetings held by P.D. Ouspensky - HolyBooks.com

Question about triads.MR. O. ... With certain time and observation we can begin to distinguishtriads beginning with neutralizing force. This is really workbeyond our possibilities. In the fourth state of consciousness we canalways see what truth is and how to approach it. In the third state wecan know more than we do now.MR. N. So these triads have no practical value?MR. O. The greatest value, if we could use them. Man is asleep. Theywould be of greatest value if he was awake. We are half asleep, not fully.And there are degrees even in this state. We know too little, but even nowwe can easily see the use of a wrong triad. We can say: 'In this way wecannot do it.' But we cannot do it in any other way. We begin somethingand get negative results. How to get positive results, we have got to learn.MR. C. How to recognize triads?MR. O. Examples are given. Try to find analogies. You know too littleto think easily and freely of this. You are only starting.MR. C. When you are in a negative state, is it second triad?MR. O. You think negative state means negative force? It has nothingto do with it. Active, passive and neutralizing are only names.MR. C. When one is day-dreaming, can one say it is the destructivetriad at work?MR. O. Find analogy. Then we can speak about it. Again you beginfrom the wrong end. You must begin with facts, if you find them.Then it is possible to talk.MR. N. Can one carry out an action with right centre but wrong triad?MR. O. Yes. It produces a wrong result, different to what one wishes,but one persuades oneself that it is the right result.MR. H. You want results. How does one activate oneself?MR. O. ... This is a different thing.MR. M. Is the third triad necessary to get over an interval?MR. O. We have an example in the Food Diagram. This is all we knowin this case. There can be no law. It is a matter for observation.MR. R. Is there any difference between ascending and descendingoctave in this sense?MR. O. It is the same octave. Depends from which end you take it.***There was a question about schools. It is very necessary that weunderstand one another in this. People in the world are divided into