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

MR. A . As soon as a man throws himself into his task in the ordinarysense, he is identified?MR. O. Not if he can control it. He may control or not control hisstate. If he can control his state, this is not identification. If he cannotcontrol it, this means identification and bad work. This is what it isnecessary to understand. Identification always means worse work thanwithout identification.MISS A . Can one get to such a point that one does not identify withanything?MR. O. One day we identify more, another day less. We can try.MR. A . Is there a state between self-remembering and identification?MR. O. Different sides of the same thing. Not remembering is identification.Not identified one must remember oneself to a certain extent,perhaps even without knowing it. There are many different degrees.MR. A . I thought it was an essential part of self-remembering—to beaware of it?MR. O. That is intentional self-remembering. In this case we speakabout not intentional. Man in ordinary conditions who can controlhimself better than another man. It is already a certain degree ofconsciousness. By itself, without school, it cannot become consciousness.It will always remain half-consciousness, so to say.MRS. N. Can you possibly do anything wrong while self-remembering?MR. O. It depends on degree, you know. Self-remembering by itselfdoes not prevent one from doing wrong. It depends what is connectedwith it, what degree. Only one thing you can be sure [of]. There is lesschance of doing something wrong if you remember yourself, and morechance if you do not remember yourself. That is definite.MR. A . Was self-remembering a feature of the old esoteric knowledge?MR. O. Always, everywhere. Only sometimes, in religious schools, forinstance, it is called by a different name. It is not arbitrary. It is anecessary stage in one's development, not an arbitrarily imposed task.One has to pass it and one can pass it only in one way.MR. A . Did Christ at any time speak about it—in what words?MR. O. Every page. Different words. For instance, 'Do not sleep','Watch'—all the time.MR. H. If identification is an emotional disturbance, what causes thisdisturbance? Why is it so?MR. O. Anything, anything in the world can cause it. Difficult to say