“Those who dislike war have been trying to do so almost since the creation of the world,” said G. “And yet there has never been such a war as the present. Wars are not decreasing, they are increasing and war cannot be stopped by ordinary means. All these theories about universal peace, about peace conferences, and so on, are again simply laziness and hypocrisy. Men do not want to think about themselves, do not want to work on themselves, but think of how to make other people do what they want. If a sufficient number of people who wanted to stop war really did gather together they would first of all begin by making war upon those who disagreed with them. And it is still more certain that they would make war on people who also want to stop wars but in another way. And so they would fight. Men are what they are and they cannot be different. War has many causes that are unknown to us. Some causes are in men themselves, others are outside them. One must begin with the causes that are in man himself. How can he be independent of the external influences of great cosmic forces when he is the SLAVE of everything that surrounds him? He is controlled by everything around him. If he becomes free from things, he may then become free from planetary influences. Fragments: Six

“Freedom, liberation, this must be the aim of man. To become free, to be liberated from SLAVEry: this is what a man ought to strive for when he becomes even a little conscious of his position. There is nothing else for him, and nothing else is possible so long as he remains a SLAVE both inwardly and outwardly. But he cannot cease to be a SLAVE outwardly while he remains a SLAVE inwardly. Therefore in order to become free, man must gain inner freedom. Fragments: Six

“The first reason for man’s inner SLAVEry is his ignorance, and above all, his ignorance of himself. Without self-knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a SLAVE, and the plaything of the forces acting upon him. Fragments: Six

“He begins to be afraid of ‘Ouspensky,’ begins to feel that he is his ‘enemy.’ No matter what he would like to do, everything is intercepted and altered by ‘Ouspensky.’ ‘Ouspensky’ is his ‘enemy.’ ‘Ouspensky’s’ desires, tastes, sympathies, antipathies, thoughts, opinions, are either opposed to his own views, feelings, and moods, or they have nothing in common with them. And, at the same time, ‘Ouspensky’ is his master. He is the SLAVE. He has no will of his own. He has no means of expressing his desires because whatever he would like to do or say would be done for him by ‘Ouspensky.’ Fragments: Eight

“Identifying is the chief obstacle to self-remembering. A man who identifies with anything is unable to remember himself. In order to remember oneself it is necessary first of all not to identify. But in order to learn not to identify man must first of all not be identified with himself, must not call himself ‘I’ always and on all occasions. He must remember that there are two in him, that there is himself, that is ‘I’ in him, and there is another with whom he must struggle and whom he must conquer if he wishes at any time to attain anything. So long as a man identifies or can be identified, he is the SLAVE of everything that can happen to him. Freedom is first of all freedom from identification. Fragments: Eight

“Contemporary culture requires automatons. And people are undoubtedly losing their acquired habits of independence and turning into automatons, into parts of machines. It is impossible to say where is the end of all this and where the way out — or whether there is an end and a way out. One thing alone is certain, that man’s SLAVEry grows and increases. Man is becoming a willing SLAVE. He no longer needs chains. He begins to grow fond of his SLAVEry, to be proud of it. And this is the most terrible thing that can happen to a man. Fragments: Fifteen

“And it must be further understood that we are not speaking of exceptions or accidents which may or may not occur, but of general principles, of what happens every day to everyone. Ordinary man, even if he comes to the conclusion that work on himself is indispensable — is the SLAVE of his body. He is not only the SLAVE of the recognized and visible activity of the body but the SLAVE of the unrecognized and the invisible activities of the body, and it is precisely these which hold him in their power. Therefore when a man decides to struggle for freedom he has first of all to struggle with his own body. Fragments: Seventeen

“The whole thing is in being ready to sacrifice one’s freedom,” said G. “A man consciously and unconsciously struggles for freedom as he imagines it and this, more than anything else, prevents him from attaining real freedom. But a man who is capable of attaining anything comes sooner or later to the conclusion that his freedom is illusion and he agrees to sacrifice this illusion. He voluntarily becomes a SLAVE. He does what he is told, says what he is told, and thinks what he is told. He is not afraid of losing anything because he knows that he has nothing. And in this way he acquires everything. Everything in him that was real in his understanding, in his sympathies, tastes, and desires, all comes back to him accompanied by new things which he did not have and could not have had before, together with a feeling of unity and will within him. But to arrive at this point, a man must pass through the hard way of SLAVEry and obedience. And if he wants results he must obey not only outwardly but inwardly. This requires a great determination, and determination requires a great understanding of the fact that there is no other way, that a man can do nothing himself, but that at the same time, something has to be done. Fragments: Seventeen