In Search of the Miraculous

is concealing anything; there is no mystery whatever. But the acquisition or

transmission of true knowledge demands great labor and great effort both of him who

receives and of him who gives. And those who possess this knowledge are doing

everything they can to transmit and communicate it to the greatest possible number of

people, to facilitate people's approach to it and enable them to prepare themselves to

receive the truth. But knowledge cannot be given by force to anyone and, as I have

already said, an unprejudiced survey of the average man's life, of what fills his day

and of the things he is interested in, will at once show whether it is possible to accuse men who possess knowledge of concealing it, of not wishing to give it to people, or of

not wishing to teach people what they know themselves.

"He who wants knowledge must himself make the initial efforts to find the source

of knowledge and to approach it, taking advantage of the help and indications which

are given to all, but which people, as a rule, do not want to see or recognize.

Knowledge cannot come to people without effort on their own part. They understand

this very well in connection with ordinary knowledge, but in the case of great

knowledge, when they admit the possibility of its existence, they find it possible to expect something different. Everyone knows very well that if, for instance, a man

wants to learn Chinese, it will take several years of intense work; everyone knows that

five years are needed to grasp the principles of medicine, and perhaps twice as many

years for the study of painting or music. And yet there are theories which affirm that

knowledge can come to people without any effort on their part, that they can acquire it

even in sleep. The very existence of such theories constitutes an additional explanation of why knowledge cannot come to people. At the same time it is essential to

understand that man's independent efforts to attain anything in this direction can also give no results. A man can only attain knowledge

with the help of those who possess it. This must be understood from the very

beginning. One must learn from him who knows"

At one of the following meetings of the group G. continued, in reply to a question,

to develop the ideas given by him before on reincarnation and the future life.

The talk began by one of those present asking:

"Can it be said that man possesses immortality?"

"Immortality is one of the qualities we ascribe to people without having a sufficient understanding of their meaning," said G. "Other qualities of this kind are

'individuality,' in the sense of an inner unity, a 'permanent and unchangeable I,'

'consciousness,' and 'will.' All these qualities can belong to man" (he emphasized the word "can"), "but this certainly does not mean that they do belong to him or belong to each and every one.

"In order to understand what man is at the present time, that is, at the present level of development, it is necessary to imagine to a certain extent what he can be, that is,

what he can attain. Only by understanding the correct sequence of development

possible will people cease to ascribe to themselves what, at present, they do not

possess, and what, perhaps, they can only acquire after great effort and great labor.

"According to an ancient teaching, traces of which may be found in many systems,

old and new, a man who has attained the full development possible for man, a man in

the full sense of the word, consists of four bodies. These four bodies are composed of substances which gradually become finer and finer, mutually interpenetrate one

another, and form four independent organisms, standing in a definite relationship to

one another but capable of independent action.

"The reason why it is possible for four bodies to exist is that the human organism,

that is, the physical body, has such a complex organization that, under certain

conditions, a new independent organism can grow in it, affording a much more

convenient and responsive instrument for the activity of consciousness than the

physical body. The consciousness manifested in this new body is capable of governing

it, and it has full power and full control over the physical body. In this second body,

under certain conditions, a third body can grow, again having characteristics of its

own. The consciousness manifested in this third body has full power and control over

the first two bodies; and the third body possesses the possibility of acquiring

knowledge inaccessible either to the first or to the second body. In the third body,

under certain conditions, a fourth can grow, which differs as much from the third as

the third differs from the second and the second from the first. The consciousness

manifested in the fourth body has full control over the first three bodies and itself.

"These four bodies are defined in different teachings in various ways." G. drew a diagram, reproduced in Figure 1, and said: