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

MR. S. Trying to think of yourself, how can you know you are notimagining?MR. O. I speak of not thinking. No, imagination doesn't enter.MRS. N. Shall we always be third force blind?MR. O. No, for instance in chemistry, if one studies seriously—notsuperficially—one can see three forces a re necessary.MR. S. Then the only thing that can help you is consciousness?MR. O. All we can do is to try to realize that we are asleep.MR. S. How can we feel the lack of something we never had?MR. O. That's a fact. First and last, truth, and that we must learn weare not conscious.MRS. D. Are we nearer to sleep when we are mechanical?MR. O. Certainly, yes. We are aware that it is very cold, but not thatwe are asleep.MRS. S. What about the deeper sleep, like anaesthetic?MR. O. Oh, it's the same thing. Quite opposite, under anaesthesia wemay be more aware.MR. S. Anaesthesia implies there is no memory?MR. O. Yes, it is all very vague and not established.MR. S. There is no consciousness without memory, is there?MR. O. Yes, certainly, but it is local consciousness.MRS. M. You can't avoid thinking you are trying to stop thoughts.MR. O. Well, what you cannot avoid, remains.MRS. Z. You spoke in the lecture about movies and theatre producingnegative emotions?MR. O. No, no, we only put them anywhere.MRS. S. Is fear negative emotions?MR. O. Yes, they are negative emotions, but there are about 40,000.MR. S. Is the memory of one centre better than another?MR. O. Not better, different. And in each centre there are many differ­ent kinds of memory.MR. S. How can one deal with that long term of emotional states?MR. O. One can use them for self-remembering. They can create a verygood energy for being aware of yourself.***