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

MR. J. Did Mr. O. say last time that man had only vague recollectionsof having lived before and that these moments were only apparentduring early years? Do these recollections vary in clarity according tothe state of the development of a man's essence?MR. O. I will speak later about that.MR. J. Did Mr. O. say that man's essence either develops after death orgoes to the moon?MR. O. No, that is wrong. It is soul which goes to the moon. Soul ismaterial, a certain quantity of fine matter, energy if you like, whichleaves the body at death.MR. J. Is it possible to make more of my 'I's interested in the system,or is it a case of making the ones already interested stronger tofight the ones that are always taking me away from the work of selfdevelopment?MR. O. That is a wrong question, wrong observation. You ask if it ispossible. Many things are possible, but whether they are possible foryou only you can tell, by effort and observation.MR. J . Can any of the octaves in the Food Table be completed?MR. O. Again this is theoretical. Ask definitely what you want toknow. Which octave? And explain what you mean by 'completed'.MR. S. From observation I find that some kind of double attention isnecessary before one can control it without identification. By this, Imean attention on oneself and on what one is doing. If this is correct,will one attain better control of attention by making efforts in thisdirection although it may slow up what one is doing?MR. O. This is purely material for your own observation. What can Ianswer?MR. S. There is some kind of energy I get from making efforts in thiswork. Is this an emotion or is it energy that one hadn't experienced before?MR. O. As you give no example, how can I say?MR. F. The body as chemical factory refers to production of ascendinggrades of energy. Is there a set of descending octaves in a similarfashion dealing with burning of energy? I have visualized this processas impressions causing the food and air energies to combine in aburning operation.MR. O. You have to study what is given, not to speak just by opposites.This is a most formatory thing. What is given in diagrams must bestudied, not just by trying to find what is opposite.