The light in this room is of a lamp. Its flame in the glass is of the dry, silent, and famished delicateness of the latest lateness of the night, and of such ultimate, such holiness of silence and peace that all on earth and within extremest remembrance seems suspended upon it in perfection as upon reflective water: and I feel that if I can by utter quietness succeed in not disturbing this silence, in not so much as touching this plain of water, I can tell you anything within realm of God, whatsoever it may be, that I wish to tell you, and that what so ever it may be, you will not be able to help but understand it.This echoes a familiar spiritual vista, terrain, landscape. Here's something from Ravi Ravindra's Heart Without Measure:
There is something so entirely sane, normal and lovable about Madame de Salzmann. She is overflowing with love, but there is nothing sentimental in this. She has an enormous common sense and makes room for everything and everybody – in their right place. By contrast, Krishnamurti – clearly a person of very high being – seemed to be so correct, so good, almost pious. There is such a partiality in his insistence that process must be excluded, that traditions are only traps, that thought at all levels breeds fear, that one must not have anything to do “with money, sex and all that.” I told Madame de Salzmann about a conversation I had had with Krishnaurti. I had said to him that just as a diver needs to be loaded with some heavy material to go lower down in the ocean, he should put on a belt of lead in order to come down to our level; otherwise, he is too light and cannot be in contact with the Earth, where we are.
He asked me, “What do you mean, sir? What kind of belt?” I replied, “Krishnaji, … a little meat and sex.”
He found it amusing, but refused to engage with the idea, and said, “Sir, you are too clever for your own good.”
Madame de Salzmann was characteristically generous: “You can see the inner freedom Krishnamurti has. But he does not have a science of being; Mr. Gurdjieff brought a science of being.”
While Madame de Salzmann was sitting there, Michel said, “As far as I am concerned the best advice I can give you is to stay in my mother’s darshana as much as possible.” I was struck by his use of this Sanskrit word, commonly used and understood in India; he was advising me to remain in her sight and presence, to abide near her.
the "fourth way" doesn't own enlightenment. whereas a fakir has to work for a lifetime, perhaps a monk and yogi don't have to work quite as long, and perhaps someone on the fourth way might opt for one pill, or the other. but it all queries lead back to questions of Will, Higher Bodies, and Stupid Saints. from Thomas Merton's Chuang Tzu, xxii. 3:
Nieh Chueh, who had no teeth,
Came to Pi and asked for a lesson on Tao.
(Maybe he could bite on that!)
So Pi began:
First, gain control of the body
And all its organs.
Then control the mind.
Attain one-pointedness.
Then the harmony of heaven will
comedown and dwell in you.
You will be radiant with Life.
You will rest in Tao.
You will have the simple look of a
new-born calf. O, lucky you,
You will not even know the
cause of your state.
But long before Pi had reached this point in his
sermon, the toothless one had fallen asleep.
His mind just could not bite on the meat of doctrine.
But Pi was satisfied. He wandered away singing:
His body is dry
Like an old leg bone,
His mind is dead
As dead as ashes:
His knowledge is solid,
His wisdom true!
In deep dark night
He wanders free,
Without aim
And without design:
Who can compare
With this toothless man?
an interesting parenthetical: "(Maybe he could bite on that!)." but alas, he has no teeth!
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