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

way, you will have to explain to new people what refers to the Societyand what refers to school work So you must understand yourselves—I mean you must understand before, for when you have to explain, itwill be too late, so you must think nowMR S What, for example, is historical research in art and religion? Isthis something that belongs to the Society?MR O Yes, but how will you take it? You can formulate it in theordinary way or from the point of view of the system From our pointof view we introduce many ideas—of relativity, of being, of schools,etc It is not ordinary research in sculpture, architecture, etcMR S Would the work which is apart from special doctrine take aconcrete form, such as a book?MR O That would refer to a special momentMRS L Will there be any members of the Society who are not in thesystem?M R O Not at present—maybe never If you have people in the Societywho do not understand these groups, it will create many difficultiesand give no useful resultsMRS J Will it be necessary to be able to explain to any new peoplewhat the Society meant in the first place?MR O There would be no need to explain to them or mention theSociety until they understood more of the work They might hear ofthe Society first, and then they would be told that there was no roomfor new members—only the possibility of coming to some lectureswith the idea that they might be able to come to the Society in a fewyears' timeMRS J I was thinking of that in connection with your saying that itwill be necessary to know the differenceMR O I did not mean quite new people, but people of different stagesPerhaps somebody who came only a few months might ask how tounderstand this or that If you cannot explain, you must refer thisperson to someone W ho can explainMISS T I do not quite understand, if the Society is not to haveanybody in it who is not in the work, what difference there will be toexplainMR O No difference There are people on different levels, some havecome five years, some ten months, so their understanding is differentMRS J When one is not actually at meetings or going to Lyne, is it