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

will not be good either. There is nothing special to do. Try toremember. I will come back to that later.MISS T . Are there any particular books on esoteric ideas which you canadvise? The choice of books seems important.MR. O. No. There are many books, but how can I advise? I must knowwhat you have read before, what you are prepared for and so on.There are many books from which you can find something, but youmust expect very little from books always.MISS T . Making effort will sometimes cause tension, particularly of thehead muscles. How can I avoid this?MR. O. This is more imaginary than anything, you know. It is necessaryto continue to make efforts.MISS A . Does consciousness exclude the possibility of disliking athing—for instance, deliberate cruelty? . . .MR. O. Such things as cruelty (what we call 'deliberate' means that onecan do it or not do it) can be only mechanical, it cannot be conscious.There are many reasons for that which you will understand later on.But the expression 'deliberate cruelty' is a wrong expression. This isone of our chief illusions, that we have choice. We always deceiveourselves. In mechanical manifestations, we have no choice. If ithappens, it happens. We are machines, and if our machines work in acertain way, and if we let them work, then we have no power to do ornot to doMISS A. Can dislike exist without its emotional colouring, which, Itake it, is always negative?MR. O. No, like or dislike is a sign of emotion. If I look at this table, Ineither like nor dislike it. Like or dislike may be instinctive emotion,but in this case it is just the same.MISS A . Under what centre do you classify the desire to confide inpeople? I find it very hard to resist even when realizing it is against myown interests.MR. O. It may be different in different cases, and I cannot give oneanswer to fit all cases. It may be weakness, habit, self-pity. Generallysome kind of weakness.MISS A . Are ascetic practices useful in that they strengthen the will, ordo they only strengthen the illusion of will?MR. O. Ascetic practices may be on very different levels, so it isdifficult to answer that in general.