“Yes,” I said, “from the strictly scientific point of view all people are machines governed by external INFLUENCES. But the question is, can the scientific point of view be wholly accepted?” Fragments: One

“Quite right,” said G., “people are very unlike one another, but the real difference between people you do not know and cannot see. The difference of which you speak simply does not exist. This must be understood. All the people you see, all the people you know, all the people you may get to know, are machines, actual machines working solely under the power of external INFLUENCES, as you yourself said. Machines they are born and machines they die. How do savages and intellectuals come into this? Even now, at this very moment, while we are talking, several millions of machines are trying to annihilate one another. What is the difference between them? Where are the savages and where are the intellectuals? They are all alike . . . Fragments: One

“Man is a machine. All his deeds, actions, words, thoughts, feelings, convictions, opinions, and habits are the results of external INFLUENCES, external impressions. Out of himself a man cannot produce a single thought, a single action. Everything he says, does, thinks, feels — all this happens. Man cannot discover anything, invent anything. It all happens. Fragments: One

“But the whole thing is: how?” he said. “It is necessary to know a great deal in order to understand that. What is war? It is the result of planetary INFLUENCES. Somewhere up there two or three planets have approached too near to each other; tension results. Have you noticed how, if a man passes quite close to you on a narrow pavement, you become all tense? The same tension takes place between planets. For them it lasts, perhaps, a second or two. But here, on the earth, people begin to slaughter one another, and they go on slaughtering maybe for several years. It seems to them at the time that they hate one another; or perhaps that they have to slaughter each other for some exalted purpose; or that they must defend somebody or something and that it is a very noble thing to do; or something else of the same kind. They fail to realize to what an extent they are mere pawns in the game. They think they signify something; they think they can move about as they like; they think they can decide to do this or that. But in reality all their movements, all their actions, are the result of planetary INFLUENCES. And they themselves signify literally nothing. Then the moon plays a big part in this. But we will speak about the moon separately. Only it must be understood that neither Emperor Wilhelm, nor generals, nor ministers, nor parliaments, signify anything or can do anything. Everything that happens on a big scale is governed from outside, and governed either by accidental combinations of INFLUENCES or by general cosmic laws.” Fragments: One

This was all I heard. Only much later I understood what he wished to tell me — that is, how accidental INFLUENCES could be diverted or transformed into something relatively harmless. It was really an interesting idea referring to the esoteric meaning of “sacrifices.” But, in any case at the present time, this idea has only an historical and a psychological value. What was really important and what he said quite casually, so that I did not even notice it at once, and only remembered later in trying to reconstruct the conversation, was his words referring to the difference of time for planets and for man. Fragments: One

Somewhere about this time I was very much struck by a talk about the sun, the planets, and the moon. I do not remember how this talk began. But I remember that G. drew a small diagram and tried to explain what he called the “correlation of forces in different worlds.” This was in connection with the previous talk, that is, in connection with the INFLUENCES acting on humanity. The idea was roughly this: humanity, or more correctly, organic life on earth, is acted upon simultaneously by INFLUENCES proceeding from various sources and different worlds: INFLUENCES from the planets, INFLUENCES from the moon, INFLUENCES from the sun, INFLUENCES from the stars. All these INFLUENCES act simultaneously; one influence predominates at one moment and another influence at another moment. And for man there is a certain possibility of making a choice of INFLUENCES; in other words, of passing from one influence to another. Fragments: One

“Many things are possible,” said G. “But it is necessary to understand that man’s being, both in life and after death, if it does exist after death, may be very different in quality. The ‘man-machine’ with whom everything depends upon external INFLUENCES, with whom everything happens, who is now one, the next moment another, and the next moment a third, has no future of any kind; he is buried and that is all. Dust returns to dust. This applies to him. In order to be able to speak of any kind of future life there must be a certain crystallization, a certain fusion of man’s inner qualities, a certain independence of external INFLUENCES. If there is anything in a man able to resist external INFLUENCES, then this very thing itself may also be able to resist the death of the physical body. But think for yourselves what there is to withstand physical death in a man who faints or forgets everything when he cuts his finger? If there is anything in a man, it may survive; if there is nothing, then there is nothing to survive. But even if something survives, its future can be very varied. In certain cases of fuller crystallization what people call ‘reincarnation’ may be possible after death, and, in other cases, what people call ‘existence on the other side.’ In both cases it is the continuation of life in the ‘astral body,’ or with the help of the ‘astral body.’ You know what the expression ‘astral body’ means. But the systems with which you are acquainted and which use this expression state that all men have an ‘astral body.’ This is quite wrong. What may be called the ‘astral body’ is obtained by means of fusion, that is, by means of terribly hard inner work and struggle. Man is not born with it. And only very few men acquire an ‘astral body.’ If it is formed it may continue to live after the death of the physical body, and it may be born again in another physical body. This is ‘reincarnation.’ If it is not re-born, then, in the course of time, it also dies; it is not immortal but it can live long after the death of the physical body. Fragments: Two

“This applies still more, of course, to the ‘mental body’ and the fourth body. Ordinary man does not possess these bodies or their corresponding functions. But he often thinks, and makes others think, that he does. The reasons for this are, first, the fact that the physical body works with the same substances of which the higher bodies are composed, only these substances are not crystallized in him, do not belong to him; and secondly, it has all the functions analogous to those of the higher bodies, though of course they differ from them considerably. The chief difference between the functions of a man possessing the physical body only and the functions of the four bodies, is that, in the first case, the functions of the physical body govern all the other functions, in other words, everything is governed by the body which, in its turn, is governed by external INFLUENCES. In the second case, the command or control emanates from the higher body. Fragments: Two

G. drew another diagram, representing the parallel functions of a man of physical body and a man of four bodies. “In the first case,” said G., “that is, in relation to the functions of a man of physical body only, the automaton depends upon external INFLUENCES, and the next three functions depend upon the physical body and the external INFLUENCES it receives. Desires or aversions — ‘I want,’ ‘I don’t want,’ ‘I like,’ ‘I don’t like’ — that is, functions occupying the place of the second body, depend upon accidental shocks and INFLUENCES. Thinking, which corresponds to the functions of the third body, is an entirely mechanical process. ‘Will’ is absent in ordinary mechanical man, he has desires only; and a greater or lesser permanence of desires and wishes is called a strong or a weak will. Fragments: Two

“In the second case, that is, in relation to the functions of the four bodies, the automatism of the physical body depends upon the INFLUENCES of the other bodies. Instead of the discordant and often contradictory activity of different desires, there is one single I, whole, indivisible, and permanent; there is individuality, dominating the physical body and its desires and able to overcome both its reluctance and its resistance. Instead of the mechanical process of thinking there is consciousness. And there is will, that is, a power, not merely composed of various often contradictory desires belonging to different “I’s,” but issuing from consciousness and governed by individuality or a single and permanent I. Only such a will can be called “free,” for it is independent of accident and cannot be altered or directed from without. Fragments: Two

“An Eastern teaching describes the functions of the four bodies, their gradual growth, and the conditions of this growth, in the following way: “Let us imagine a vessel or a retort filled with various metallic powders. The powders are not in any way connected with each other and every accidental change in the position of the retort changes the relative position of the powders. If the retort be shaken or tapped with the finger, then the powder which was at the top may appear at the bottom or in the middle, while the one which was at the bottom may appear at the top. There is nothing permanent in the position of the powders and under such con­ditions there can be nothing permanent. This is an exact picture of our psychic life. Each succeeding moment, new INFLUENCES may change die position of the powder which is on the top and put in its place another which is absolutely its opposite. Science calls this state of the powders the state of mechanical mixture. The essential characteristic of the interrelation of the powders to one another in this kind of mixture is the instability of these interrelations and their variability. Fragments: Two

“When the third body has been formed and has acquired all the properties, powers, and knowledge possible for it, there remains the problem of fixing this knowledge and these powers, because, having been imparted to it by INFLUENCES of a certain kind, they may be taken away by these same INFLUENCES or by others. By means of a special kind of work for all three bodies the acquired properties may be made the permanent and inalienable possession of the third body. Fragments: Two

“In order to grasp the essence of this teaching it is necessary clearly to understand the idea that the ways are the only possible methods for the development of man’s hidden possibilities. This in turn shows how difficult and rare such development is. The development of these possibilities is not a law. The law for man is existence in the circle of mechanical INFLUENCES, the state of ‘man-machine.’ The way of the development of hidden possibilities is a way against nature, against God. This explains the difficulties and the exclusiveness of the ways. The ways are narrow and strait. But at the same time only by them can anything be attained. In the general mass of everyday life, especially modern life, the ways are a small, quite imperceptible phenomenon which, from the point of view of life, need not exist at all. But this small phenomenon contains in itself all that man has for the development of his hidden possibilities. The ways are opposed to everyday life, based upon other principles and subject to other laws. In this consists their power and their significance. In everyday life, even in a life filled with scientific, philosophical, religious, or social interests, there is nothing, and there can be nothing, which could give the possibilities which are contained in the ways. The ways lead, or should lead, man to immortality. Everyday life, even at its best, leads man to death and can lead to nothing eke. The idea of the ways cannot be understood if the possibility of man’s evolution without their help is admitted. Fragments: Two

“The alternation of I’s, their continual obvious struggle for supremacy, is controlled by accidental external INFLUENCES. Warmth, sunshine, fine weather, immediately call up a whole group of I’s. Cold, fog, rain, call up another group of I’s, other associations, other feelings, other actions. There is nothing in man able to control this change of I’s, chiefly because man does not notice, or know of it; he lives always in the last I. Some I’s, of course, are stronger than others. But it is not their own conscious strength; they have been created by the strength of accidents or mechanical external stimuli. Education, imitation, reading, the hypnotism of religion, caste, and traditions, or the glamour of new slogans, create very strong I’s in man’s personality, which dominate whole series of other, weaker, I’s. But their strength is the strength of the ‘rolls’ in the centers. And all I’s making up a man’s personality have the same origin as these ‘rolls’; they are the results of external INFLUENCES; and both are set in motion and controlled by fresh external INFLUENCES. Fragments: Three

“Man number four is not born ready-made. He is born one, two, or three, and becomes four only as a result of efforts of a definite character. Man number four is always the product of school work. He can neither be born, nor develop accidentally or as the result of ordinary INFLUENCES of bringing up, education, and so on. Man number four already stands on a different level to man number one, two, and three; he has a permanent center of gravity which consists in his ideas, in his valuation of the work, and in his relation to the school. In addition his psychic centers have already begun to be balanced; one center in him cannot have such a preponderance over others as is the case with people of the first three categories. He already begins to know himself and begins to know whither he is going. Fragments: Four

On the next occasion we had very many questions chiefly about the INFLUENCES of the various worlds and why the influence of the Absolute does not reach us. Fragments: Four

“Before examining these INFLUENCES,” began G., “and the laws of transformation of Unity into Plurality, we must examine the fundamental law that creates all phenomena in all the diversity or unity of all universes. Fragments: Four

“In this way the ray of creation helps us to determine and to realize our place in the world. But, as you see, we have not yet come to questions about INFLUENCES. In order to understand the difference between the INFLUENCES of various worlds we must better understand the law of three and then, further, still another fundamental law — the Law of Seven, or the law of octaves.” Fragments: Four

“For this it is necessary ‘to be’ If a man is changing every minute, if there is nothing in him that can withstand external INFLUENCES, it means that there is nothing in him that can withstand death. But if he becomes independent of external INFLUENCES, if there appears in him something that can live by itself, this something may not die. In ordinary circumstances we die every moment. External INFLUENCES change and we change with them, that is, many of our I’s die. If a man develops in himself a per­manent I that can survive a change in external conditions, it can survive the death of the physical body. The whole secret is that one cannot work for a future life without working for this one. In working for life a man works for death, or rather, for immortality. Therefore work for immortality, if one may so call it, cannot be separated from general work. In attaining the one, a man attains the other. A man may strive to be simply for the sake of his own life’s interests. Through this alone he may become immortal. We do not speak specially of a future life and we do not study whether it exists or not, because the laws are everywhere the same. In studying his own life as he knows it, and the lives of other men, from birth to death, a man is studying all the laws which govern life and death and immortality. If he becomes the master of his life, he may become the master of his death. Fragments: Six

“There was a question about war. How to stop wars? Wars cannot be stopped. War is the result of the slavery in which men live. Strictly speaking men are not to blame for war. War is due to cosmic forces, to planetary INFLUENCES. But in men there is no resistance whatever against these INFLUENCES, and there cannot be any, because men are slaves. If they were men and were capable of ‘doing,’ they would be able to resist these INFLUENCES and refrain from killing one another.” Fragments: Six

“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

“If he carries out all these rules while he observes himself, a man will record a whole series of very important aspects of his being. To begin with he will record with unmistakable clearness the fact that his actions, thoughts, feelings, and words are the result of external INFLUENCES and that nothing comes from himself. He will understand and see that he is in fact an automaton acting under the INFLUENCES of external stimuli. He will feel his complete mechanicalness. Everything ‘happens,’ he cannot ‘do’ anything. He is a machine controlled by accidental shocks from outside. Each shock calls to the surface one of his I’s. A new shock and that I disappears and a different one takes its place. Another small change in the environment and again there is a new I. A man will begin to under-stand that he has no control of himself whatever, that he does not know what he may say or do the next moment, he will begin to understand that he cannot answer for himself even for the shortest length of time. He will understand that if he remains the same and does nothing unexpected, it is simply because no unexpected outside changes are taking place. He will understand that his actions are entirely controlled by external conditions and he will be convinced that there is nothing permanent in him from which control could come, not a single permanent function, not a single permanent state.” Fragments: Six

Then a great deal was elucidated for me by the idea that each center was not only a motive force but also a “receiving apparatus,” working as receiver for different and sometimes very distant INFLUENCES. When I thought of what had been said about wars, revolutions, migrations of peoples, and so on; when I pictured how masses of humanity could move under the control of planetary INFLUENCES, I began to understand our fundamental mistake in determining the actions of an individual. We regard the actions of an individual as originating in himself. We do not imagine that the “masses” may consist of automatons obeying external stimuli and may move, not under the influence of the will, consciousness, or inclination of individuals, but under the influence of external stimuli coming possibly from very far away. Fragments: Six

“In the big cosmic octave, which reaches us in the form of the ray of creation, we can see the first complete example of the law of octaves. The ray of creation begins with the Absolute. The Absolute is the All. The All, possessing full unity, full will, and full consciousness, creates worlds within itself, in this way beginning the descending world octave. The Absolute is the do of this octave. The worlds which the Absolute creates in itself are si. The ‘interval’ between do and si in this case is filled by the will of the Absolute. The process of creation is developed further by the force of the original impulse and an ‘additional shock.’ Si passes into la which for us is our star world, the Milky Way. La passes into sol — our sun, the solar system. Sol passes into fa — the planetary world. And here between the planetary world as a whole and our earth occurs an ‘interval.’ This means that the planetary radiations carrying various INFLUENCES to the earth are not able to reach it, or, to speak more correctly, they are not received, the earth reflects them. In order to fill the ‘interval’ at this point of the ray of creation a special apparatus is created for receiving and transmitting the INFLUENCES coming from the planets. This apparatus is organic life on earth. Organic life transmits to the earth all the INFLUENCES intended for it and makes possible the further development and growth of the earth, mi of the cosmic octave, and then of the moon or re, after which follows another do — Nothing. Between All and Nothing passes the ray of creation. Fragments: Seven

“In examining the ray of creation or cosmic octave we see that ‘intervals’ should come in the development of this octave: the first between do and si, that is between world 1 and world 3, between the Absolute and ‘all worlds,’ and the second between fa and mi, that is, between world 24 and world 48, between ‘all planets’ and the earth. But the first ‘interval’ is filled by the will of the Absolute. One of the manifestations of the will of the Absolute consists precisely in the filling of this ‘interval’ by means of a conscious manifestation of neu­tralizing force which fills up the ‘interval’ between the active and the passive forces. With the second ‘interval’ the situation is more complicated. Something is missing between the planets and the earth. Planetary INFLUENCES cannot pass to the earth consecutively and fully. An ‘additional shock’ is indispensable; the creation of some new conditions to insure a proper passage of forces is indispensable. Fragments: Seven

“Organic life represents so to speak the earth’s organ of perception. Organic life forms something like a sensitive film which covers the whole of the earth’s globe and takes in those INFLUENCES coming from the planetary sphere which otherwise would not be able to reach the earth. The vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms are equally important for the earth in this respect. A field merely covered with grass takes in planetary INFLUENCES of a definite kind and transmits them to the earth. The same field with a crowd of people on it will take in and transmit other INFLUENCES. The population of Europe takes in one kind of planetary INFLUENCES and transmits them to the earth. The population of Africa takes in planetary INFLUENCES of another kind, and so on. Fragments: Seven

“All great events in the life of the human masses are caused by planetary INFLUENCES. They are the result of the taking in of planetary INFLUENCES. Human society is a highly sensitive mass for the reception of planetary INFLUENCES. And any accidental small tension in planetary spheres can be reflected for years in an increased animation in one or another sphere of human activity. Something accidental and very transient takes place in planetary space. This is immediately received by the human masses, and people begin to hate and to kill one another, justifying their actions by some theory of brotherhood, or equality, or love, or justice. Fragments: Seven

“I mentioned before about fate and accident in man’s life. We will now take the meaning of these words in more detail. Fate also exists but not for everyone. Most people are separated from their fate and live under the law of accident only. Fate is the result of planetary INFLUENCES which correspond to a man’s type. We will speak about types later. In the meantime you must grasp one thing. A man can have the fate which corresponds to his type but he practically never does have it. This arises because fate has relation to only one part of man, namely to his essence. Fragments: Eight

“But as soon as so-called ‘education’ begins personality begins to grow. Personality is created partly by the intentional INFLUENCES of other people, that is, by ‘education,’ and partly by involuntary imitation of them by the child itself. In the creation of personality a great part is also played by ‘resistance’ to people around him and by attempts to conceal from them something that is ‘his own’ or ‘real.’ Fragments: Eight

“The action of the Absolute upon the world, or upon the worlds created by it or within it, continues. The action of each of these worlds upon subsequent worlds continues in exactly the same way. ‘All suns’ of the Milky Way influence our sun. The sun INFLUENCES the planets. ‘All planets’ influence our earth and the earth INFLUENCES the moon. These INFLUENCES are transmitted by means of radiations passing through starry and interplanetary space. Fragments: Nine

“Man lives in life under the law of accident and under two kinds of INFLUENCES again governed by accident. Fragments: Ten

“The first kind are INFLUENCES created in life itself or by life itself. Influences of race, nation, country, climate, family, education, society, profession, manners and customs, wealth, poverty, current ideas, and so on. The second kind are INFLUENCES created outside this life, INFLUENCES of the inner circle, or esoteric INFLUENCES — INFLUENCES, that is, created under different laws, although also on the earth. These INFLUENCES differ from the former, first of all in being conscious in their origin. This means that they have been created consciously by conscious men for a definite purpose. Influences of this kind are usually embodied in the form of religious systems and teachings, philosophical doctrines, works of art, and so on. Fragments: Ten

“They are let out into life for a definite purpose, and become mixed with INFLUENCES of the first kind. But it must be borne in mind that these INFLUENCES are conscious only in their origin. Coming into the general vortex of life they fall under the general law<law of accident and begin to act mechanically, that is, they may act on a certain definite man or may not act; they may reach him or they may not. In undergoing change and distortion in life through transmission and interpretation, INFLUENCES of the second kind are transformed into INFLUENCES of the first kind, that is, they become, as it were, merged into the INFLUENCES of the first kind. Fragments: Ten

“If we think about this, we shall see that it is not difficult for us to distinguish INFLUENCES created in life from INFLUENCES whose source lies outside life. To enumerate them, to make up a catalogue of the one and the other, is impossible. It is necessary to understand; and the whole thing depends upon this understanding. We have spoken about the beginning of the way. The beginning of the way depends precisely upon this understanding or upon the capacity for discriminating between the two kinds of INFLUENCES. Of course, their distribution is unequal. One man receives more of the INFLUENCES whose source lies outside life, another less; a third is almost isolated from them. But this cannot be helped. This is already fate. Speaking in general and taking normal life under normal conditions and a normal man, conditions are more or less the same for everybody, that is, to put it more correctly, difficulties are equal for everybody. The difficulty lies in separating the two kinds of INFLUENCES. If a man in receiving them does not separate them, that is, does not see or does not feel their difference, their action upon him also is not separated, that is, they act in the same way, on the same level, and produce the same results. But if a man in receiving these INFLUENCES begins to discriminate between them and put on one side those which are not created in life itself, then gradually discrimination becomes easier and after a certain time a man can no longer confuse them with the ordinary INFLUENCES of life. Fragments: Ten

“The results of the INFLUENCES whose source lies outside life collect together within him, he remembers them together, feels them together. They begin to form within him a certain whole. He does not give a clear account to himself as to what, how, and why, or if he does give an account to himself, then he explains it wrongly. But the point is not in this, .but in the fact that the results of these INFLUENCES collect together within him and after a certain time they form within him a kind of magnetic center, which begins to attract to itself kindred INFLUENCES and in this manner it grows. If the magnetic center receives sufficient nourishment, and if there is no strong resistance on the part of the other sides of a man’s personality which are the result of INFLUENCES created in life, the magnetic center begins to influence a man’s orientation, obliging him to turn round and even to move in a certain direction. When the magnetic center attains sufficient force and development, a man already understands the idea of the way and he begins to look for the way. The search for the way may take many years and may lead to nothing. This depends upon conditions, upon circumstances, upon the power of the magnetic center, upon the power and the direction of inner tendencies which are not concerned with this search and which may divert a man at the very moment when the possibility of finding the way appears. Fragments: Ten

“Here again there are many possibilities. But this will be spoken of later on. For the moment let us imagine that he has met a man who really knows the way and is ready to help him. The influence of this man upon him goes through his magnetic center. And then, at this point, the man frees himself from the law of accident. This is what must be understood. The influence of the man who knows the way upon the first man is a special kind of influence, differing from the former two, first of all in being a direct influence, and secondly in being a conscious influence. Influences of the second kind, which create magnetic center, are conscious in their origin but afterwards they are thrown into the general vortex of life, are intermixed with INFLUENCES created in life itself, and are equally subject to the law of accident. Influences of the third kind can never be subject to the law of accident; they are themselves outside the law of accident and their action also is outside the law of accident. Influences of the second kind can proceed through books, through philosophical systems, through rituals. Influences of the third kind can proceed only from one person to another, directly, by means of oral transmission. Fragments: Ten

“So far I have spoken of the right magnetic center, of the right guide, and of the right way. But a situation is possible in which the magnetic center has been wrongly formed. It may be divided in itself, that is, it may include contradictions. In it, moreover, may enter INFLUENCES of the first kind, that is, those created in life, under the guise of INFLUENCES of the second kind, or the traces of INFLUENCES of the second kind but distorted to such an extent that they have become their own opposite. Such a wrongly formed magnetic center cannot give a right orientation. A man with a wrong magnetic center of this kind may also look for the way and he may meet another man who will call himself a teacher and will say that he knows the way and that he is connected with a center standing outside the law of accident. But in reality he may not know the way and may not be connected with such a center. Moreover here again there are many possibilities: “1. He may be genuinely mistaken and think that he knows something, when in reality he knows nothing. “2. He may believe another man, who in his turn may be mistaken. “3. He may deceive consciously. Fragments: Ten

At one of the following meetings, in the presence of G., when he made me repeat what he had said about the way and about magnetic center, I embodied his idea in the following diagram: V …life; H … an individual man; A … INFLUENCES created in life, that is, in life itself — the first kind of INFLUENCES; B … INFLUENCES created outside life but thrown into the general vortex of life — the second kind of INFLUENCES Hi … a man, connected by means of succession with the esoteric center or pretending to it E … esoteric center, standing outside the general laws of life M … magnetic center in man C … influence of man h1 on man h; in the event of his actually being connected with the esoteric center, directly or by succession, this is the third kind of INFLUENCES. This influence is conscious, and under its action at the point m, that is, in the magnetic center, a man becomes free from the law of accident H2 … a man, deceiving himself or deceiving others and having no connection, either directly or by succession, with the esoteric center. Fragments: Ten

“Yes and no,” said G. “This is true in most cases, just as it is true in one life. But on a big scale new forces may enter. I shall not explain this now; but think about what I am going to say: Planetary INFLUENCES also can change. They are not permanent. Besides this, tendencies themselves can be different; there are tendencies which, once they have appeared, continue and develop by themselves mechanically, and there are others which need constant pushing and which immediately weaken and may vanish altogether or turn into dreaming if a man ceases to work on them. Moreover there is a definite time, a definite term, for everything. Possibilities for everything” (he emphasized these words) “exist only for a definite time.” Fragments: Twelve

“And then man becomes the six-pointed star, that is, by becoming locked within a circle of life independent and complete in itself, he becomes isolated from foreign INFLUENCES or accidental shocks; he embodies in himself the Seal of Solomon. Fragments: Fourteen

“To ordinary knowledge,” he said, “organic life is a kind of accidental appendage violating the integrity of a mechanical system. Ordinary knowledge does not connect it with anything and draws no conclusions from the fact of its existence. But you should already understand that there is nothing accidental or unnecessary in nature and that there can be nothing; everything has a definite function; everything serves a definite purpose. Thus organic life is an indispensable link in the chain of the worlds which cannot exist without it just as it cannot exist without them. It has been said before that organic life transmits planetary INFLUENCES of various kinds to the earth and that it serves to feed the moon and to enable it to grow and strengthen. But the earth also is growing; not in the sense of size but in the sense of greater consciousness, greater receptivity. The planetary INFLUENCES which were sufficient for her at one period of her existence become insufficient, she needs the reception of finer INFLUENCES. To receive finer INFLUENCES a finer, more sensitive receptive apparatus is necessary. Organic life, therefore, has to evolve, to adapt itself to the needs of the planets and the earth. Likewise also the moon can be satisfied at one period with the food which is given her by organic life of a certain quality, but afterwards the time comes when she ceases to be satisfied with this food, cannot grow on it, and begins to get hungry. Organic life must be able to satisfy this hunger, otherwise it does not fulfill its function, does not answer its purpose. This means that in order to answer its purpose organic life must evolve and stand on the level of the needs of the planets, the earth, and the moon. Fragments: Fifteen

“It was pointed out before when we spoke about the history of humanity that the life of humanity to which we belong is governed by forces proceeding from two different sources: first, planetary INFLUENCES which act entirely mechanically and are received by the human masses as well as by individual people quite involuntarily and unconsciously; and then, INFLUENCES proceeding from inner circles of humanity whose existence and significance the vast majority of people do not suspect any more than they suspect planetary INFLUENCES. Fragments: Fifteen

We continued to walk and G. continued to speak trying to explain what there was in man that could depend upon planetary INFLUENCES and what could not. Fragments: Seventeen

which came into the enneagram at the interval sol-la. Then I turned my attention to what the Moscow notes, in connection with commentaries on the enneagram, said about the INFLUENCES of the three octaves on one another in the “food diagram.” I drew the enneagram as it had been given to us and I saw that it represented up to a certain point the “food diagram.” Fragments: Eighteen