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

view; at the same time, by studying ourselves individually, we establishour own level of being. We realize that we are like this and we are likethat, and we have imagination about this and that, and that defines our/ being—it means plurality, not unity. In relation to all of us it meanswe are not one, we are many, we cannot 'do', we are asleep, we don'tremember ourselves; these are features of our state of being. Even ifwe want to we cannot awake because we have so many favouritedreams that immediately these favourite dreams put us to sleep again,even if we awake for a second, and it is very hard work and needs verymany efforts to begin to awake. This is our present level of being; weare not collected, we always lose ourselves in everything, that meanswe are identified with everything.Q . What is the practical application of this system?MR. O. For instance, a possibility to establish our state of consciousnessand possibility by self-remembering to increase our consciousness—that immediately becomes practical; that is what first struck me when Ibegan to study it, that this is particularly important and particularlyinteresting (because Eastern systems miss this point) that we are notconscious and secondly that we can become conscious.There were interesting plays and interesting books, but they werevery specialized like [?] or they went under name of philosophy,and generally written in such difficult language that they remainedunknown to general public. I thought in the nineteenth century thebest psychologist was [?]—very few people know of him.Q . Can this system as a practical application be used by doing thingsbetter, or making things better?MR. O. How can you do better if you cannot make at all? No, wecannot start with that, it is not the first step, it is very far, the onlything we can do is to become more conscious.Q . I must find another word because I do make things which I call'doing'—cannot I do it better?MR. O. No, neither better nor worse, nor for long time. When yourstate of consciousness begins to change, when you become moreconscious than ordinary....Q . Somebody asked a question after you left last time as to whetheryou thought we could build cathedrals.MR. O. It means very much study, because people who came toschool—suppose there are schools which were connected with building