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

work, school-work. Certainly it was impossible after this last war inRussia, Germany, Italy and Turkey. Here there are still possibilities,but how long, in this war, we don't know.MRS. P. But is there not a spot in the world that one could go to?MR. O. This is individual, you know. This is not a general question.Everybody must decide for himself. Then if they decide right theymeet at some place; if they decide wrong they meet in a different place.MRS. P. I meant school.MR. O. It is difficult to say. School can only disappear and appear inanother place. It will be different.MR. R. For the mass of humanity, can we take this war as a turningpoint of growth?MR. O. There is no reason to believe in it. If things go right and ifpeople do right things, then it may be, but it may make things onlyworse. We don't know what will be better or worse after this.MR. R. It appears our present civilization is about 3, 000 years, whereasother civilizations had even less.MR. O. Certainly. But again conditions change. You cannot speak likethat.MR. W. Do you think there is any significance in the present hesitationon both sides to begin anything on a really serious scale, or is it justfear?MR. O. No. I think it depends on many things. It is impossible to saynow. If we survive, we will know later. And again, if you comparewith 1914, certainly there was bigger fighting, bigger events in thebeginning, but then it came to the same position very quickly. This isonly six weeks, and things began to be seen fully only about a yearafter the beginning—real conditions and real relation of forces.MISS C. Do you think it is likely the United States might becomeinvolved?MR. O. That I don't know.MISS S. Do we come under new laws when a war is declared?MR. O. Yes certainly. We were more free; now we are less free. Theblackout—that is a new law—there wasn't a blackout. Rationing ofpetrol is another law.MR. R. You once said knowledge is only for the few and in times likethis there is no more knowledge to be had.MR. O. Yes if you like you can put it in a similar way, but not exactly