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

Thursday. February 3rd 1938. (Warwick Gardens.)[Written questions read.]MRS. D. Are optimists and pessimists examples of different types ofpeople?MR. O. No, I do not think so. I think these words have meaning morein literature than in actual life. I never met an optimist and never met apessimist yet.MRS. D. We were told at the last lecture that sometimes we might beable to recognize similar types of people by their reactions in similarsituations. Does this mean only in critical or emotional situations?MR. O. Any situation. I will read you next time one experiment withtypes from the book you heard something from beforeMISS F. Much of my behaviour, mental attitudes, mannerisms, etc seemto originate and to be bound up with the fact that I belong to the femaleof the species. I can't believe that I shall ever be able to combine thequalities and outlook of the male with my own qualities and outlook.Does this imply that none of us can ever be complete and canpossess only one side of the emotional and intellectual qualities?Does the idea of male and female persist with astral bodies?MR. O. No.MISS F. I have thought about this often and would find it helpful ifMr. O. would talk on this subjectMR. O. It may be, but you see our words are not sufficient Our idea ofastral bodies is not sufficient. I have nothing to say really. I think it isan exaggerated idea. Actually man or woman in themselves are balanced.They must be different. It is quite all right to be a man orwoman—nothing wrong with it.MISS D. I am beginning to get an idea of the significance of actionwhere before I had considered only motive and result were important.I can see that action, to be effective, must be deliberate, but I cannotconnect different kinds of actions, such as burning and stealing, withdifferent triads.