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

quite personal; there are not two people for whom the same food isbest. What is best for one is worst for another. I have lived all my lifeon hors-d'oeuvres. Who else could live on this?MR. F. Is the consciousness of cells superior to man's consciousnesssince cells know their future functions and destiny in an exact manner?MR. O. There are different cells, you know. And you do not say whichman you are comparing. There are men 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and thereare also cells 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7—animal cells, vegetable cells, allsorts. So which cells are you taking?MR. C. I have very little choice in my actions. Until my selective powerhas considerably widened and I am able to observe more clearly,certain theoretical concepts present themselves. Would you be goodenough, meanwhile, to bring me to a nearer understanding of a triadby answering a hypothetical question? If, by accident, I chose a righttriad to carry out an action, would all three forces of the triad beoperating at the same time, at the beginning and for the duration ofthe action or might they be in some sort of sequence?MR. O. The idea of different triads is based on the principle of timesequence. Really it is not like this, but we have to take it that way—theorder in which the forces enter into the triad. 1-2-3 means one triad;1-3-2 another triad, and so on. That is how we study them at present.Perhaps later we will not need to describe them in this way, but wehave to start studying them as we are. How we learn to use differentforms of action comes partly from experience, partly from the developmentof self-consciousness. The one will help the other. That is all Ican say.MR. P . Is a change of hydrogen value a characteristic of all activities? Ifso, is the kind of change always connected with the triad involved? Iask this because I am trying to see what is meant by activity.MR. O. Take it in the ordinary sense, anything we may do. In order tolimit the question, not to make it too rich at the beginning, we areconsidering only human activity. But here we come to a great difficulty.We have never thought of activity itself being different. We understandthat motives can be different and results, but not the activity itself.When you begin to look at human activity from this point of view,remembering that there are different kinds, you will begin to see it. Itis not the capacity to see which is lacking, but knowledge of thisprinciple, which we never heard before. Some people have come near