In Search of the Miraculous

for themselves in the future. If a man in spite of this tries to transmit what he hears in groups to his friends he will very quickly be convinced that attempts in this direction

give entirely unexpected and undesirable results. Either people begin to argue with

him and without wanting to listen to him expect him to listen to their theories, or they misinterpret everything he tells them, attach an entirely different meaning to

everything they hear from him. In seeing this and understanding the uselessness of

such attempts a man begins to see one aspect of this restriction.

"The other and no less important side consists in the fact that it is very difficult for a man to keep silent about things that interest him. He would like to speak about them

to everyone with whom he is accustomed to share his thoughts, as he calls it. This is

the most mechanical of all desires and in this case silence is the most difficult

abstinence of all. But if a man understands this or, at least, if he follows this rule, it will constitute for him the best exercise possible for self-remembering and for the

development of will. Only a man who can be silent when it is necessary can be master

of himself.

"But for many people it is very difficult to reconcile themselves to the thought that one of their chief characteristics consists in undue talkativeness, especially for people who are accustomed to regard themselves as serious or sound persons, or for those

who regard themselves as silent persons who are fond of solitude and reflection. And

for this reason this demand is especially important. In remembering about this and in

carrying it out, a man begins to see sides of himself which he never noticed before.

"The next demand which is made of the members of a group is that they must tell

the teacher of the group the .whole truth.

"This also must be clearly and properly understood. People do not realize what a

big place in their lives is occupied by lying or even if only by the suppression of the truth. People are unable to be sincere either with themselves or with others. They do not even understand that to learn to be sincere when it is necessary is one of the most difficult things on earth. They imagine that to speak or not to speak the truth, to be or not to be sincere, depends upon them. Therefore they have to learn this and learn

it first of all in relation to the teacher of the work. Telling the teacher a deliberate lie, or being insincere with him, or suppressing something, makes their presence in the

group completely useless and is even worse than being rude or uncivil to him or in his

presence.

"The next demand made of members of a group is that they must remember why

they came to the group. They came to learn and to work on themselves and to learn and to work not as they understand it themselves but as they are told to. If, therefore,

once they are in the group, they begin to feel or to express mistrust towards the

teacher, to criticize his actions, to find that they understand better how the group

should be conducted and especially if they show lack of external considering in

relation to the teacher, lack of respect for him, asperity, impatience, tendency to

argument, this at once puts an end to any possibility of work, for work is possible only

as long as people remember that they have come to learn and not to teach.

"If a man begins to distrust the teacher, the teacher becomes unnecessary to him and he becomes unnecessary to the teacher. And in this event it is better for him to go and

look for another teacher or try to work without one. This will do him no good, but in

any case it will do less harm than lying, suppression, or resistance, or mistrust of the

teacher.

"In addition to these fundamental demands it is of course presumed that the

members of the group must work. If they merely frequent the group and do no work

but merely imagine that they are working, or if they regard as work their mere

presence in the group, or, as often happens, if they look upon their presence in the

group as a pastime, if they make pleasant acquaintances, and so on, then their presence

in the group likewise becomes completely useless. And the sooner they are sent away

or leave of their own accord the better it will be for them and for the others.

"The fundamental demands which have been enumerated provide the material for

rules which are obligatory for all members of a group. In the first place rules help

everyone who wants to work to avoid everything that may hinder him or do harm to

his work, and secondly they help him to remember himself.

"It very often happens that at the beginning of the work the members of a group do not like some or other of the rules. And they even ask: