Post by lokidreaming on Jul 28, 2011 0:50:56 GMT -6
"The next demand made of members of a groups is that they must remember why they came to the group. They came to learn and to work on themselves and to learn 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 mistrust towards the teacher, to criticize his actions, to find that that they understand better how the groups should be conducted especially if they show lack of external considering in relation to the teacher, lack of respect of him, asperity, impatience, tendency to arguement, 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 the teacher. And in this event it is better for him to go and look for another teacher or try and to work without one. This will do no good, but in any case it will do less harm than lying, suppression (of the truth), 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 not work but merely imagine that they are working, or if they regard as work their presence in the group, or as so often happens, if they look look upon their presence in the group as a pastime, if they make pleasant acquaintances, and so on, then their presence in the group becomes likewise 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 even ask: Can we not work without rules? Rules seems to them to be unnecessary constraint on their freedom or a tiresome formality, and to be reminded about rules seems to them to be ill will dissatisfaction on the part of the teacher.
"In reality rules are the chief and the first help that they get from the work. It stands to reason the rules do not pursue the object of affording them amusement or satisfaction or of making things more easy for them, Rules pursue a definite aim: to make them behave as they would behave 'if they were,' if they remembered themselves and realized how they ought to behave with regard to people outside of the work, to people in the work, and to the teacher. If they remember themselves and realized this, rules will not be necessary for them. But they are not able to remember themselves and understand this at the beginning of work, so that rules are indispensable, although rules can never be either easy, pleasant, or comfortable. On the contrary, they ought to be difficult, unpleasant, and uncomfortable; otherwise they would answer their purpose. Rules are the alarm clocks which awake the sleeping man. But the man, opening his his eyes for a second, is indignant with the alarm clock and asks: Can one not awaken without the alarm clocks?......"
In Search of The Miraculous
Chapter 11
pg 225-226
Fourth Impression 1957
"If a man begins to distrust the teacher, the teacher becomes unnecessary to the teacher. And in this event it is better for him to go and look for another teacher or try and to work without one. This will do no good, but in any case it will do less harm than lying, suppression (of the truth), 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 not work but merely imagine that they are working, or if they regard as work their presence in the group, or as so often happens, if they look look upon their presence in the group as a pastime, if they make pleasant acquaintances, and so on, then their presence in the group becomes likewise 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 even ask: Can we not work without rules? Rules seems to them to be unnecessary constraint on their freedom or a tiresome formality, and to be reminded about rules seems to them to be ill will dissatisfaction on the part of the teacher.
"In reality rules are the chief and the first help that they get from the work. It stands to reason the rules do not pursue the object of affording them amusement or satisfaction or of making things more easy for them, Rules pursue a definite aim: to make them behave as they would behave 'if they were,' if they remembered themselves and realized how they ought to behave with regard to people outside of the work, to people in the work, and to the teacher. If they remember themselves and realized this, rules will not be necessary for them. But they are not able to remember themselves and understand this at the beginning of work, so that rules are indispensable, although rules can never be either easy, pleasant, or comfortable. On the contrary, they ought to be difficult, unpleasant, and uncomfortable; otherwise they would answer their purpose. Rules are the alarm clocks which awake the sleeping man. But the man, opening his his eyes for a second, is indignant with the alarm clock and asks: Can one not awaken without the alarm clocks?......"
In Search of The Miraculous
Chapter 11
pg 225-226
Fourth Impression 1957