Notebooks of Paul Brunton > Category 3: Relax and Retreat > Chapter 2: Withdraw fro !

ension and Pressure

Withdraw fro !ension and Pressure
"
Ci#ili$ation has %arried us far away fro the sour%es of life& We ha#e no first'hand
%onta%t with the (other )arth& !he proble for those of us who are dis*uieted by this
unhealthy %ondition''though e#ery sort of alfun%tion and e#il happening ust
e#entually for%e awareness of its existen%e upon the others''is how to go ba%k soe of
the distan%e to our origins without abandoning our a%hines or dis%arding our aterial
%oforts&
2
+t is a fa%t that illions of people are being stiulated to seek what they do not already
possess, are kept insatiably dis%ontented with what they do possess, and are thus kept
out of inner pea%e&
3
!he need to relax fro the burden of worldly duties, to renew %onta%t with the
-nearthly at least now and then, is left unsatisfied& +f prolonged o#er the years, this
leads to personal ibalan%e, to psy%hosoati% illness, to #ague dis%ontent&
.
+n the end he has to seek refuge fro the world/s stresses& !his he %an try to do in
external withdrawal, or in a %ulti#ation of inward deta%hent, or in both&
0
We ust let the others rush on their freneti% %ourse and hasten in their neuroti% way
sin%e that is their a%%eptan%e& We hear *uieter and gentler suggestions whi%h ust be
#alued ore be%ause their sour%e is high&
1
!he pra%ti%e of these editational exer%ises and the study of these etaphysi%al
do%trines forerly re*uired a withdrawal into solitude where, in an atosphere of
unhurried leisure and unworldly purity, they %ould be patiently and safely pursued&
2
+f the struggle to earn a li#elihood, or to support a faily, or to reali$e an abition is not
to o#erwhel his thought and energy and lea#e hi bereft of spiritual aspiration, he
should deta%h hiself fro tie to tie and take note of what it is doing to hi& +f the
gathering of ne%essary possessions is turned into the gathering of superfluous ones, he
will harass hiself with new desires and sedu%e his spiritual pursuits in %onse*uen%e&
3
!here is a %al whi%h falls upon the harassed ind when it su%%eeds in shutting off the
world/s %ares, the world/s noise, the world/s strains and pressures&
4
!he worse the world/s pressure, tension, %onfli%t, or #iolen%e in%reases, the greater is the
need of soe kind of retreat fro it&
"5
+f, being a odern, he must be tense, he %an guide hiself into a better state by letting
the tension stret%h toward his ideal self&
""
+t is a noti%eable fa%t that so any en and woen of our tie ha#e ore highly strung
ner#es, and %onse*uently find li#ing ore diffi%ult than those of earlier ties& !his is
ob#iously be%ause the %latter and #ibration of a%hines fills their days or the pressure
and *ui%kening of tie fills their hours& +n the %ase of ore e#ol#ed and ore sensiti#e
indi#iduals, neither the o#eents of the huan body nor the workings of the huan
ind %ould su%%essfully adapt thesel#es to the o#eents and workings of the power'
dri#en a%hine& +n their %ase the result is fatigue, ner#ousness, irritability, and si%kness&
+f their sanity is not lost, their poise is&
"2
+f passion and wrath are two great destroyers of an/s inner pea%e, worry and hurry are
two great disturbers of it&
"3
-nless a an firly and stubbornly and repeatedly asserts hiself against these
aterialisti% surroundings, they will tend to o#erwhel hi& 6e ust bring to his self'
defense *ualities abnorally de#eloped if they are to be su%%essfully used&
".
When energy''ental and physi%al''is ex%essi#ely %onsued by business or profession,
it leads to ner#ous and spiritual penalties&
"0
!he doinant habits, regies, and pra%ti%es of the regular routine whi%h odern
Western an follows show in thesel#es how far he has lost the true purposes of li#ing,
how disproportionate is the ephasis he has put on the things of this world&
"1
!he tie and strength spent in taking %are of one/s own or one/s faily/s needs, ha#e to
be redu%ed if ore tie and strength ha#e to be gi#en, as they ought to be gi#en, to
taking %are of spiritual needs&
"2
+s he to be%oe one of the any who are suberged beneath the di%tatorial pressures of
so%iety and who ha#e %onse*uently lost their sin%erity, faithfulness, and intuiti#e
guidan%e7
"3
When he is %harged with ner#ous tension, a an ore easily %oits errors of
8udgeent&
"4
!he ental longing for inner *uiet as a refuge fro agitated eotions or tired ner#es, is
often felt first as a physi%al longing for outer *uiet as a refuge fro ex%essi#e noise and
in%essant bustle and %ontinual hurry&
25
+f a an is to be free in the odern Western world, he ust be able to earn his li#ing in
the way that he likes, or else he ust ha#e a suffi%ien%y of oney to sa#e hi fro that
ne%essity, yet not enough to tept hi daily&
2"
9ife %an be better #alued in the *uiet of the study than in the tuult of the street&
22
+t be%oes ore and ore diffi%ult for a an of inner de#elopent to express hiself
in odern %i#ili$ation without adulterating, diluting, or dropping his spiritual integrity&
!he dreaers in their i#ory towers''few and rapidly diinishing as they are''will one
day ha#e to awaken brus*uely to the harsh fa%ts&
23
:or a an of the highest ideals there is hardly a pla%e in the world of today& !he food
that will be offered hi, the business, work, or profession that he ust follow, the taxes
he will ha#e to pay in %ontribution for war preparations or defense, the #i#ise%tionati#e
%ost he ust %ontribute to %annot possibly be fully %onsistent with those ideals&
2.
6e finds it less trouble to get out of the way of people for who he does not %are than
to endure the irritating fri%tion of eeting the& ;Who <od has put asunder, let no
an 8oin together&;
20
=oe leisure and a little training are %ertainly desirable ad#antages for etaphysi%al
study, but they are not absolutely essential ad#antages& >gain, if %ity life denies the first
it offers the se%ond, whilst if %ountry life denies the se%ond it offers the first& !he oral
is that we ust ake the best of what e*uipent and what %onditions we already ha#e&
!o the extent that we do this, we in#ite help fro the ?#erself/s <ra%e&
21
+t is no ore turning his ba%k on life for a %ity dweller to take to rural *uietude than it is
for a %ountry dweller to take to the %ity&
22
>%tion is right, needful, and ine#itable, but if it is o#erdone, if we be%oe ex%essi#e
extro#erts, if it dri#es us like a torenting deon, then no inward pea%e is e#er possible
for us&
23
We grip so strongly on the tied life, with its pressures and turoils, that we do not
find the se%ret way to utter pea%e of ind''perhaps do not e#en know of its existen%e&
24
6e ust not only learn to relax, but also learn to relax in the #ery idst of this intensely
stiulated working life whi%h >eri%a thrusts upon hi& Whene#er in the orning or
the afternoon it sees that he ust pa%k an o#erwheling aount of work into a short
tie and ust fe#erishly try to %oplete it, the #ery oent this is reali$ed, he should
get up and lea#e both offi%e and work& 6e should walk slowly and leisurely outdoors,
aid the bushes and trees or out in the open spa%es until this foolishness, this needless
anxiety to get finished soething that by its #ery nature %an ne#er be finished, is
forgotten& !hen, and only then, ay he return to the offi%e desk and %ontinue %ally at
his task& +t is idling, yes, but who shall say that idling, too, has not its #alue7''at least as
u%h #alue as o#erdoing oneself7 +s it not rather a kind of re%epti#e serenity7
35
!ensions will disappear if you refuse to rush with the ultitude, if you walk and work in
a leisurely anner&
3"
!he irritability of teperaent and the rushing atta%k at a%ti#ities are %onne%ted
together& > *uieter, less hasty approa%h to the will lead in the end to a relaxed, less
irritable teperaent&
32
!he opposition to deeper spiritual aspiration and to wiser e#eryday li#ing habits has
grown stronger with ea%h de%ade& !he e#ils and diffi%ulties are too foridable, too
plentiful, too o#erwheling to be o#er%oe su%%essfully& !he battle against the %an
ha#e no other ending than failure& !he helpless indi#idual who %an do nothing for the
sal#ation of huanity under these %ir%ustan%es %an at least look to his own sal#ation
and ake soe headway in a%hie#ing it& !his in#ol#es retreat, withdrawal, and perhaps
e#en flight& But it is better than ab8e%t surrender to an en#ironent whi%h renders the
pra%ti%e of spiritual exer%ises a atter of foridable diffi%ulty and in ost %ases alost
ipossible& +t is better than wasting tie and life in futile struggles and foredooed
endea#ours&
33
When the pressures of odern li#ing be%oe intolerable he has to ake a %hoi%e& )ither
fall into physi%al'ner#ous breakdown, ake a physi%al es%ape, or learn soe art of
relaxation, su%h as hatha yoga&
3.
!he stress ipulses whi%h bobard the body ust be stopped in their a%ti#ity at regular
periodi% ties&
30
(ost aspirants ha#e to spend their working days in an atosphere that has little use for
their ideas and ideals, that is harshly dis%repant or %opletely in%opatible with the one
that they seek to %ulti#ate or find during editation and study& What exists in the latter
#anishes when the forer is entered&
31
!oo any people feel that they are too tired in the e#ening after a day/s hard work, and
by rea%tion too keen on using their leisure for so%ial purposes or for light entertainent&
32
+n the %ir%ustan%es of odern life, it be%oes in%reasingly diffi%ult to find a pla%e
where he ay withdraw into silen%e fro the noise whi%h a%%opanies odern
%i#ili$ation, or obtain a tie when he ay withdraw into stillness fro its pressures&
33
!he insistent deands, the e#er'ultiplying duties of the world %oe pressing down on
us& 6ow seldo do we retire into oursel#es to sear%h or to listen or to understand or to
draw on unused resour%es@
34
We %oplain of the la%k of tie in odern life& Aet it was an an%ient <reek who said
that when en are free fro the stress of affairs, they ha#e tie to think and dis%o#er
ind&
.5
Crowds of people li#e in the illusion that they are getting soewhere when in fa%t they
are really getting nowhere&
."
+t is not only benefi%ial to stand ba%k at ties fro the furor and pressure, but also *uite
ne%essary if ner#es, feelings, and ideas are to be kept sound&
.2
> alady of the ner#es %an blo%k his onward progress to the sae extent that a fault of
%hara%ter %an blo%k it&
.3
+s it %owardly to withdraw fro a world where so any e#ils are rapant, and to
abandon its duties and responsibilities7 What is the yearning whi%h propts su%h
thoughts but a hoesi%kness of the inner an, an intuiti#e re%ognition that he was born
for a higher purpose in life than a erely earthly one7
..
!here %oes a tie when integrally de#eloped persons find this artifi%ial way of li#ing
so obnoxious to their instin%ts and so %ontrary to their prin%iples, that they are for%ed to
%onsider totally withdrawing fro it& !his is a stateent, not a %oplaint&
.0
>re we not suffering fro too u%h %i#ili$ation, too u%h s%ien%e, too u%h loss of
%onta%t with Nature, too u%h restlessness7 :or when ex%ess is leading to destru%tion is
it not ore prudent to %all a halt, and ad8ust the unfair balan%e7 6as not the tie %oe
to look the other way for a while, eanwhile keeping our gains7
.1
(ind turns itself ore readily and ore easily to these de#otional and editational
exer%ises of the inner life where there is *uiet, pea%e, and beauty in the outer s%ene&
.2
Where tuult and %laour pre#ail, do not expe%t to hear the ?#erself/s whisper as
easily as where silen%e pre#ails&
.3
!he %i#ili$ed ode of li#ing is not %ondu%i#e to the birth and growth of spiritually
intuiti#e feelingsB it generally obstru%ts and stifles the&
.4
!he tension of odern li#ing is su%h that a truly balan%ed and spiritually integrated
pattern of inward being and outward %ondu%t is alost ipossible to a%hie#e&
05
Prolonged iersion in worldly atters and %easeless interest in the ay dull the
ind to the ipetus of finer thoughts and to the proptings of finer eotions&
0"
!he turoil whi%h goes on e#erywhere in the world and whi%h is being daily re%orded
in newspapers throughout the world is not %ondu%i#e to the inward sear%h for truth and
for pea%e of ind& +t gi#es too any personal sho%ks, %reates too any #ague
apprehensions, and pro#ides too any disturbing ental ex%iteents&
02
(y plaint is that all these odern %oplexities haper the free outlet of spiritual for%es&
03
>ll this o#er'ephasis on doing, whi%h is su%h a feature of our tie, leads to under'
ephasis on being&
0.
!his ner#ous rush and speed, this flight fro boredo into di#ersion, defeats its own
purpose in the end& +t brings satisfa%tions that ust be repeated and ultiplied be%ause
they are too epheeral& !he %orre%t way out is to learn to relax, to seek inner repose&
00
When the di#ine is utterly forgotten in the press of daily a%ti#ity, the negati#e, the
foolish, and the self'weakening will be easily reebered&
01
=u%h is the #ery nature of twentieth'%entury %i#ili$ation that it robs hi of tran*uillity,
of se%lusion, of *uietude, and of %alness& +t sees to gi#e hi so u%h yet it fails to
gi#e hi the one thing whi%h his harassed ner#es deand''inner pea%e&
02
!oday the a#erage >eri%an %ity dweller tries to do ten ties ore than the a#erage
)uropean %ity dweller of a hundred years ago did& 6e is o#era%ti#e in a physi%al and
ental sense&
03
=oe tension in life there ust be, but when it be%oes %ontinual, as in odern life, it
be%oes reprehensible&
04
!he hurried life of the West is all shell and little kernel& ?ur bodies are o#era%ti#e but
our souls fall into disuse&
15
!ie tightens around odern an today& 6e is urged, pressed, in#ited, persuaded, and
ordered to do ore than he %an fit into his s%hedule&
1"
We ha#e ade a %ult of a%ti#ity and a #irtue of gregariousness&
12
We who li#e in the world/s fastest o#ing epo%h ha#e to keep hold of our inner still
%entre all the ore&
13
!hey %an find no roo for the one a%ti#ity whi%h is the ost worthwhile of all
a%ti#ities& >ll the tri#ia of life are in%luded in the day/s prograe but the holy
%ounion whi%h %an bring us into %onta%t with the essen%e of 9ife itself is ex%luded&
!hey are blind, yet the only reedy whi%h %an ake the see is %rowded out&
1.
!he odern an, hustled by the tietable of an industriali$ed age, harried by the %ares
of a%%uulating wants, is hardly e#er happy& 6en%e he seeks to find in fleeting
pleasures what he has not found in daily life& 6is life rides on a set of iron rails, the
unseen lo%ooti#e being the steely syste into whi%h he was born&
10
We oderns li#e too *ui%kly to li#e happily& +f it yields pleasure, it ust ine#itably yield
pain also&
11
!o find an oasis of pea%e in a noise'ridden world be%oes ore and ore a rarity& !his
is the *uester/s proble for he needs to study and editate, but it is also a growing
proble for general huanity&
12
We oderns li#e so restlessly, or work so hard, or pursue business and pleasure so
intensely, that our attention is %ontinually drawn outwards, rarely inwards& We do not
li#e at pea%e with oursel#es& -nder su%h %onditions, the de#elopent of intuition and
the %ulti#ation of ysti%al states is *uite hard&
13
!he haste of odern ties *ui%kens the body/s o#eents but irritates the ner#es& !he
it%h of odern ties to be always doing soething leads to a %oplete la%k of repose&
14
+n today/s he%ti% life the gaining of inward pea%e be%oes a ne%essity& +t is no longer a
luxury for onks and nuns only&
25
We do not find en%ourageent for %al thinking in the intense tepo of odern life,
u%h less for %aling all thoughts into stillness& !he rate at whi%h we work, the haste
with whi%h we o#e through our days, blurs our keener per%eptions of what we really
are and what our higher purpose really should be&
2"
!he ordinary franti% a%ti#ities of odern li#ing keep our fa%ulties, ental and physi%al,
at an unnatural stret%h for long periods& >lthough habit has ade it see natural, it is in
fa%t dangerous to sanity pea%e and health&
22
!oo any persons feel that they ust keep busy all day and e#ery day& =oe are so
o#erwheled by this feeling that it be%oes an obsession&
23
!heir souls find no resting'pla%e in the odern world, wilt before its harsh noise and
finally wither in its tough aterialis&
2.
!he pa%e today is beyond the ner#es of soe persons and a torture to the ner#es of
others& !he philosophi%ally inded person who seeks to preser#e his balan%e will refuse
to be rushed while %oing to ters with it if he %an& +f he %an not, then he will ha#e to
seek a new and different set of %ir%ustan%es&
20
!he s%enes of boyhood are fast #anishing''wooded, winding lanes, sheltering relaxed
#illage refuges''and with the the *uietude and dignity of a bygone era&
21
!he tenden%ies to outward a%tion are u%h stronger than the tenden%ies to inward rest&
22
>ll this busyness and a%ti#ity is not his real life but only arginal to it&
23
!he great %apitals of the world are %i#ili$ed, they say, and it is true& !here you ay find
the intelle%tual and the aestheti% arts flourish ostB you ay obser#e ore elegan%e in
the anners, spee%h, %lothes and hoes than elsewhere& But the work and wealth
%entered there indire%tly breed slus, ultiply sins, and degrade en orally&
24
> siple an, unspoiled by %ity influen%es, %lose to earth and Nature, is ore likely to
listen to a religious essage than a brain'sharpened, politi%s'ex%ited, and abitious
urban dweller& Aet the latter needs it ore than the forer@
35
+f we ust es%ape to soe rural retreat in the %ountry whene#er we %an, to shut out the
world/s turoil and turbulen%e, its din and %laour, and to shut oursel#es in with pea%e
and %al, let us do so& But if we are %apti#es of the onstrous %ity and %annot e#en do
that, let us do the next best thing& !here are %hur%hes where we ay sit in *uietude for
prayer and editation& !here are the early orning and late night hours when the world
is *uieter&
3"
!he %onditions of %ity life are su%h that periods of withdrawal fro it are absolutely
ne%essary& We need these periods for going into silen%e, for tran*uil %on%entration, for
self'exaination, and for self'deta%hent&
32
+f you want to pra%tise editation or study s%riptures, a tuultuous %ity will disturb and
hinder you& But if you want to test your pra%ti%e and li#e the truth you so far ha#e, the
%ity is as good a pla%e as any other&
33
!he assing together of illions of people in one #ast %ity is unhealthy in a psy%hi% as
well as a physi%al sense&
3.
9et hi be openly unashaed of this inspired %asualness, *uite unabashed before others
about this deliberate e#asion of fixed s%hedules and endless prograes, routines, or
itineraries&
30
!hose early en who left the %rowds whi%h pushed and sho#ed their way in %ity streets
and who took to the desert, %a#e, forest, or ountain''anywhere to es%ape their
neighbours''ust ha#e had good reasons for doing so& !hey did& !hey found that if they
were to a%hie#e the kind of pea%e whi%h %oes through editation, they would ha#e to
a%hie#e it in the %ountry, not in the %ity& Withdrawal fro the %opetition, struggle,
fri%tion, strife, and teptation of worldly life be%ae to the a ne%essity for whi%h they
were willing to pay the pri%e&
31
!he serious worker in the arts, like the serious ysti%s, ust ha#e his periods of
solitude& +f he li#es in a %ity he ust be on his guard against being trapped in a network
of appointents and in#itations, entertainents and extraneous business&
32
!o o#e one/s residen%e and work fro %ity to %ountry is not es%ape fro the world but
re#aluation of the world& !o take so%ial %onta%ts in sall doses is not wilful oroseness
but wiser anageent of tie and energy& !o bring leisure, beauty, refle%tion, and
repose into the day is not to run away fro life but to seek it ore fully&
33
9et it go, this bustle and hurry of the %ities, and seek another way of life where the ind
%an %oe to soe easure of pea%e instead of losing what little it has&
34
!his feeling of a need to get away fro %rowds into solitude, to es%ape fro %ity tuult
into rural *uietude, ay be the intuiti#e warning fro the higher self of an ipending
deterioration unless this %hange be ade& +t ay be a guidan%e toward better ner#ous
and e#en physi%al health& !o denoun%e it, as a aterialisti% se%tion of psy%hiatrists
denoun%e it, as orbid and psy%hoti% es%apis is a gra#e error&
45
When the %ity 8ob be%oes a sour%e of ul%ers and the %ity apartent be%oes a
strait8a%ket, it is tie to reeber that woodlands, bea%hes, ri#ers, hills, eadows, and
wide open spa%es also exist and that the an who akes up his ind that he wants to
li#e aong the for part, ost, or all of the year %an find soe way to do so if he is
really deterined enough& +f it in#ol#es taking soe risks and aking soe sa%rifi%es at
the beginning, he will take the only if his desire to es%ape is ardent and strong&
4"
What is the ideal solution of this proble of withdrawal7 !hat whi%h really attra%ts us
to onasti% life but whi%h %annot be satisfied by its rigidity would better be satisfied in
%ountry'%ottage life& We will ha#e retreat, freedo, inspiration, and pea%e there&
42
!he glorifi%ation of %ountryside and #illage life, the denigration of urban and %ity life,
aking the forer %ondu%i#e to spirituality, if not paradisi%al, and the latter satani%al, a
breeder of e#ils, is an o#ersiplifi%ation and an exaggeration whi%h does not %hie
with the fa%ts& !here is no Ain without its opposing Aang: to ignore this basi% prin%iple
of Nature and an is to ignore truth&
43
+t is unad#enturous and unex%iting to li#e in a *uiet ba%kwater of life& Ne#ertheless, if
the ind is suffi%iently refle%ti#e and the intuiti#e or aestheti% feelings are suffi%iently
a%ti#e, su%h an existen%e %an be pleasant, %ontented, and pea%eful&
4.
!he odern idea that su%h a *uiet %ountry life is also a dull one, is both right and
wrong& +t is right where inner resour%es and intuiti#e appre%iation are la%king but wrong
where they are present&
40
=oe people are happier in the %ountry with its solitary a%ti#ities, but others''and they
are the ost nuerous''are happier in the %ity with its so%ial a%ti#ities& > well'balan%ed
life would in%orporate both sides as far as possible&
41
Country life is ore %ondu%i#e to prayer and spiritual de#elopent, besides being less
trouble so%ially&
42
!he high'pressure >eri%an %i#ili$ation, its swaring %ities pa%ked with frowning
buildings and hustling people, need not hinder a an/s ysti%al growth if only he will
resolutely reain in inner harony with Nature and regularly keep an appointent with
his ?#erself&
43
!o take the odern %ity/s life into his ind and not be affe%ted by its aterialisti%
narrowness and a#ari%ious tri#iality, he would need to be a superan&
44
What was the nae of that <reek %olony in =outhen +taly or =i%ily whi%h barred all
street noises fro their %ity7 =urely it ust ha#e been Pythagoras/ foundation, Crotona7
?nly he and his dis%iples %ould ha#e had so u%h sense and sensiti#ity&
"55
!he din of odern traffi% in%reases, brutali$ing e#en ore the already sei'aterialisti%
people in the streets&
"5"
!he restless hu and noisy bustle of %ity life work insidiously upon the ner#es, %reating
a state of tension&
"52
!hese tensions hold the ind resistant to the entry of intuiti#e proptings&
"53
!he roaring swirl of %ity life would be unbearable to a sensiti#e person if he had not this
se%ret pla%e of inner retreat&
"5.
Why blae the an who tires of the s%urry and worry of %ity life, or the one who turns
away in disgust fro its %rie and greed, its si%kness and adness, its hate and lust7 +f,
withdrawing fro it all, either an finds a happier existen%e in se%lusion, is it really any
worse than the existen%e he has left behind7
"50
!he general habit of odern %ity %i#ili$ation obstru%ts and opposes the dis%iplinary
habit of ysti%al seeking& !he two go ill together&
"51
!he %ity life where people talk too u%h and %ongregate too %losely %ontinually
distra%ts the ind whi%h seeks to be%oe editati#e&
"52
!hose who stay in the towns when they need not do so ipede the intuiti#e working&
"53
!hey are tired of the e%onoi% treadills asso%iated with the task of earning a
li#elihood, weary of the high pressures asso%iated with large odern %ities, and anxious
about the shadowed future of a %rubling regiented %i#ili$ation& !hey despise the
%opli%ated insin%erity of seeking to eet, %ulti#ate, and ;%ash in; on the ;right;
people, as well as the absurdity of %reating finan%ial strains by ;trying to keep up with
the Coneses&; !hey feel that life ought to be sipler, happier, serener, se%urer, and truer
than that&
"54
!he desire for the %ountryside/s adorable *uietness springs fro a deep need& >fter he
has endured the %ity/s noisy sounds and fretful busyness for a long period, a ha#en of
rest is really bal and edi%ine for a an&
""5
6ow soothing to pass fro the fe#erish a%ti#ity of our %ities to *uiet unhurried
existen%e in the eandering lanes of a %ountry #illage@ 6ere piety is not yet dead,
although the assault will doubtless %oe with the large e#ents yet to appear&
"""
!he iense %on%entration of e#il thinking whi%h is to be found in #ast etropolitan
%ities akes the sensiti#e and the aspiring feel the iperati#e need of es%ape at fre*uent
inter#als&
""2
6e is ore likely to learn these truths in lonely pla%es than in the noisy throngs whi%h
press around the %ity streets&
Price of excessive extroversion
""3
!he extro#ersions of the ego blo%k the %ouni%ation of the ?#erself&
"".
(en absorbed in the %easeless a%ti#ity of their fi#e senses %an ha#e no %oprehension
of ysti%is/s eaning, no sypathy with ysti%is/s pra%ti%e, no real %onta%t with
ysti%is/s exponents& :or their hidden failure to know thesel#es underlies their
ob#ious failure to know ysti%is&
""0
With thoughts and the body li#ing their own egoisti% life, the world ust needs be
regarded as obstru%ti#e to spiritual de#elopent&
""1
!his %ontinuous attra%tion to outer ebroilent is fatal to inner life& +t exists only
be%ause they abandon the real self for it& +t exhausts the, so that neither the desire nor
the energy to sear%h for this self are able to arise&
""2
!he good an or the religious an will take the trouble to weed out bad habits but
ne#er drea that his ex%essi#e extro#ersion is not the least of the&
""3
!oo u%h absorption with outward things, too little with inner life, %reates the
unbalan%e we see e#erywhere today& !he attention gi#en by people to their outer
%ir%ustan%es aounts alost to obsession&
""4
(ost en are so sugly %ontent to do their own ego/s will all the tie that it ne#er
enters their inds to pause and en*uire what the ?#erself/s will for the is&
"25
We listen to so any outer #oi%es that we do not ha#e tie, or gi#e pla%e, to listen
dire%tly to the +nner Doi%e, the ?#erself/s&
"2"
!he ass of outer a%ti#ities be%oes a hea#y burden& Whether tri#ial or iportant,
%asual or essential, they keep us fro looking within for the real self 8ust as u%h as
preo%%upation with the ass of superfluous possessions&
"22
?ur anxiety to keep a%ti#e %onstantly is in relation with our restlessness of ind&
"23
!he soul speaks to us in oents of pea%eful reali$ation and in ties of *uiet thought&
Nay, it is always speaking, but in the fret and fe#er of a%ti#e existen%e its #oi%e reains
unheard, its fa%e unre%ogni$ed&
"2.
>re these people in the %hared %ir%le so fortunate as they think they are7 ?nly by
%oparison with those who ha#e less oney, inferior positions, or no talent& But by
%oparison with the ysti%s who li#e *uietly and serenely, who use their leisure in deep
pondering or religious de#otion in silent %onteplation of <od, they are life'wasters and
infinitely poorer&
"20
!hose who are insensiti#e to spiritual nuan%es are ostly those who are obsessed by
their iediate a%ti#ities and lo%al surroundings&
"21
?ur attention is now so fully absorbed by externals that we ne#er ha#e the leisure to
%ulti#ate inwardness or the inwardness to ake a spiritual use of leisure& We are
ensla#ed by atta%hents and distra%tions& We pursue the irage of life, ne#er life itself&
"22
+f an insists on keeping so busy with the affairs of ordinary life that he has no tie to
gi#e for the affairs of the life that trans%ends itB if he insists, with #arious ex%uses, in
staying outside the %entral area of wisdo and pea%e that lies within, he hiself is
largely to blae for his darkness and ignoran%e, his agitation and isery, his #exation
and fear&
"23
!hey ne#er hear the inner %all be%ause they ne#er listen for it& !he setting aside of
spe%ial ties for editation is like lifting a telephone re%ei#er to hear a #oi%e at the
other end of the wire& +f the re%ei#er is left always on its hook, that is, if the ind is kept
a%ti#e with other atters, no %onne%tion %an be ade&
"24
(any of these %opulsi#e a%tions are the result of ner#ous tensions, either due to
spe%ifi% situations or to general personal %hara%teristi%s&
"35
!hey li#e too u%h on the outside of thesel#es, too little inside thesel#es&
"3"
!he ore a%ti#ities that re%ei#e his attention, the ore is he apt to be distra%ted fro his
higher purpose&
"32
While en are %aught in a tangle of work or o#erwork, with the worries that often
a%%opany it, they are unable to gi#e their %on%entrated thought to abstra%t *uestions
and spiritual issues&
"33
+f worldly business and external pleasures o%%upy odern an/s ind to su%h an extent
that they ha#e #irtually %rowded out all thoughts of the higher eaning and spiritual
duties of life, then that business and these pleasures will lead hi not to a happier
earthly existen%e, as they %ould, but to bitter disappointent and painful %atastrophe&
"3.
We %annot get to oursel#es be%ause the world is in the way&
"30
+f people keep too busy to entertain any thoughts of a higher #alue or to rest altogether
fro thought itself, they ha#e only thesel#es to blae if the next great %risis in their
li#es finds the with weak defenses&
The true place of peace
"31
!he true pla%e of pea%e aid the bustle of odern life ust be found within self, by
external oderation and internal editation&
"32
(odern life, with its pressure and pollutions, is bringing the need for relaxation fro
anxieties and the worth of editation to odern Western an/s attention& +t is no longer
the onk/s pri#ilege, no longer the un%on%ern of pra%ti%al en&
"33
>fter he has exhausted all worldly eans and hopes, in any parti%ular dire%tion, where
else %an a an turn ex%ept ba%kward''ba%k to his own di#ine sour%e7
"34
(editation ust be%oe a daily rite, a part of the regie whi%h is, like lun%h or dinner,
not to be issed, but regarded with a sa%redness the body/s feeding does not ha#e&
".5
>nother hindran%e pro#ided by our odern way of li#ing is that it breeds haste, tension,
pressure, and strain& !hese attitudes he %arries fro his daily routines into his
editation and thus spoils the pra%ti%e or doos it to failure& +t is useless to approa%h
su%h a deli%ate exer%ise with a deanding spirit whi%h wants all the results all at on%e,
with a haste whi%h is better suited to the ra%etra%k or the busy store& =u%%ess in
editation %an only be had by dis%arding su%h attitudes and by sitting down to it with a
willingness to gi#e steadfast patient re#erent effort whi%h is not disappointed if the goal
is not *ui%kly rea%hed&
"."
!hose people who ob8e%t that their li#es are too proble'filled, their inds too agitated
by pressures, their days too busy with deands to find tie or in%lination to sit down
and editate are the #ery people who need editation ost&
".2
!hose who let a %i#ili$ation whi%h has lost balan%e rob the of both the tie and
%apa%ity to editate, ust not only blae that %i#ili$ation but also thesel#es&
".3
!he ore a%ti#ities you need to deal with, the ore preparation you need to ake, in
editation, for the&
"..
)xtree fatigue ay be one obsta%le to the pra%ti%e, the want of leisure ay be another,
and unsypatheti% or %rowded surroundings a third obsta%le to it&
".0
When the #ery nature of odern li#ing is set for a totally different tepo and utterly
alien atosphere, it is soewhat astonishing that te%hni*ues of editation %an not only
find an audien%e to listen to their des%ription, but also find soe pra%titioners&
".1
6ow #aluable are those few inutes deliberately reo#ed fro the daily routine for this
pra%ti%e of ental *uiet@ !he world is so busy with its business that the profit to be
gained fro inner %onta%t with the =our%e is *uite unper%ei#ed, e#en unknown&
".2
!he businessan who o#es through his days at top speed need not therefore be bereft
of these serene %onsolations& 9et hi find twenty to thirty inutes wherein to open
hiself up to the ?#erself and if he uses the aright, they will suffi%e to keep open his
line of sa%red %ouni%ation throughout the day&
".3
(ost fors of o%%upying leisure periods ease either the pa%e or stress of life by relaxing
a part of the brain, the instruent of thoughtB or a part of the body, those us%les and
organs ost usedB or the eotions and passional natureB but the deeper kind of
editation brings pea%e to a an/s whole being&
".4
>s%eti% withdrawal fro the world is one thing, but withdrawal fro in#oluntary
ental iages of the world is another&
"05
!here is also the fa%tor of the desperate o#er%rowding of their leisure with tri#ialities
and fri#olities& +f they %oplain of the la%k of tie for editation, let the ask
thesel#es whether there is a la%k of tie for going to parties, %ineas, and theatres&
!hese offer the an ausing for of relaxation& Both will relax their inds and ner#es
and body& But whereas the one lea#es no benefits behind, the other will lea#e #aluable
benefits as its lega%y& +f they would organi$e their leisure by the light of spiritual #alues,
instead of hapha$ardly drifting through it, they ight find soe tie for both
auseent and editation too&
"0"
(ost persons who are willing to grant a pla%e theoreti%ally for editati#e pra%ti%es are
still unwilling to grant the a pla%e pra%ti%ally& !hey %oplain of being pre#ented by
too any distra%tions&
"02
We ha#e be%oe so extro#erted that it is thought *ueer for a an to sit io#able,
ina%ti#e, without stirring a us%le or fidgeting a lib, sunk %opletely in rapt
%onteplation@
"03
>ll that we %an find in the world without us %annot be beyond in range or *uality what
we ha#e already found in the world within us& ;(an, know thyself; is a pra%ti%al rule&
The Notebooks are %opyright E "43.'"434, !he Paul Brunton Philosophi% :oundation&