His childhood was passed on the frontier of Asia Minor in strange, very remote, almost biblical circumstances of life. Flocks of innumerable SHEEP. Wanderings from place to place. Coming into contact with various strange people. His imagination was particularly struck by the Yezidis, the “Devil Worshipers,” who, from his earliest youth, had attracted his attention by their incomprehensible customs and strange dependence upon unknown laws. He told me, among other things, that when he was a child he had often observed how Yezidi boys were unable to step out of a circle traced round them on the ground. Fragments: Two

“There is an Eastern tale which speaks about a very rich magician who had a great many SHEEP. But at the same time this magician was very mean. He did not want to hire shepherds, nor did he want to erect a fence about the pasture where his SHEEP were grazing. The SHEEP consequently often wandered into the forest, fell into ravines, and so on, and above all they ran away, for they knew that the magician wanted their flesh and skins and this they did not like. Fragments: Eleven

“At last the magician found a remedy. He hypnotized his SHEEP and suggested to them first of all that they were immortal and that no harm was being done to them when they were skinned, that, on the contrary, it would be very good for them and even pleasant; secondly he suggested that the magician was a good master who loved his flock so much that he was ready to do anything in the world for them; and in the third place he suggested to them that if anything at all were going to happen to them it was not going to happen just then, at any rate not that day, and therefore they had no need to think about it. Further the magician suggested to his SHEEP that they were not SHEEP at all; to some of them he suggested that they were lions, to others that they were eagles, to others that they were men, and to others that they were magicians. Fragments: Eleven

“And after this all his cares and worries about the SHEEP came to an end. They never ran away again but quietly awaited the time when the magician would require their flesh and skins. Fragments: Eleven

“In reality Kundalini is the power of imagination, the power of fantasy, which takes the place of a real function. When a man dreams instead of acting, when his dreams take the place of reality, when a man imagines himself to be an eagle, a lion, or a magician, it is the force of Kundalini acting in him. Kundalini can act in all centers and with its help all the centers can be satisfied with the imaginary instead of the real. A SHEEP which considers itself a lion or a magician lives under the power of Kundalini. Fragments: Eleven

“The application of the ‘table of hydrogens’ for the determination of the different properties of things and of living creatures which consist of many ‘hydrogens’ is based on the principle that in each living creature and in each thing there is one definite ‘hydrogen’ which is the center of gravity; it is, so to speak, the ‘average hydrogen’ of all the ‘hydrogens’ constituting the given creature or thing. To find this ‘average hydrogen’ we will, to begin with, speak about living creatures. First of all it is neces-sary to know the level of being of the creature in question. The level of being is primarily determined by the number of stories in the given machine. So far we have spoken only about man. And we have taken man as a three-story structure. We cannot speak about animals and man at one and the same time because animals differ in a radical way from man. The highest animals we know consist of two stories and the lowest of only one story.” “A man consists of three stories. “A SHEEP consists of two stories. “A worm consists of only one story. “At the same time the lower and middle stories of a man are, so to speak, equivalent to the SHEEP, and the lower story — to the worm. So that it can be said that a man consists of a man, a SHEEP, and a worm, and that a SHEEP consists of a SHEEP and a worm. Man is a complex creature; the level of his being is determined by the level of being of the creatures of which he is composed. The SHEEP and the worm may play a bigger or a smaller part in man. Thus the worm plays the chief part in man number one; in man number two — the SHEEP; and in man number three — man. But these definitions are important only in individual cases. In a general sense ‘man’ is determined by the center of gravity of the middle story. Fragments: Sixteen

“When a man comes to the conclusion that he cannot, and does not desire, to live any longer in the way he has lived till then; when he really sees everything that his life is made up of and decides to work, he must be truthful with himself in order not to fall into a still worse position. Because there is nothing worse than to begin work on oneself and then leave it and find oneself between two stools; it is much better not to begin. And in order not to begin in vain or risk being deceived on one’s own account a man should test his decision many times. And principally he must know how far he is willing to go, what he is willing to sacrifice. There is nothing more easy to say than everything. A man can never sacrifice everything and this can never be required of him. But he must define exactly what he is willing to sacrifice and not bargain about it afterwards. Or it will be the same with him as with the wolf in the Armenian fairy tale. “Do you know the Armenian fairy tale of the wolf and the SHEEP? “Once there lived a wolf who slaughtered a great many SHEEP and reduced many people to tears. Fragments: Seventeen

“At length, I do not know why, he suddenly felt qualms of conscience and began to repent his life; so he decided to reform and to slaughter no more SHEEP. Fragments: Seventeen

“The priest began the service and the wolf stood weeping and praying in the church. The service was long. The wolf had slaughtered many of the priest’s SHEEP, therefore the priest prayed earnestly that the wolf would indeed reform. Suddenly the wolf looked through a window and saw that SHEEP were being driven home. He began to fidget but the priest went on and on without end. Fragments: Seventeen

“At last the wolf could contain himself no longer and he shouted: “‘Finish it, priest! Or all the SHEEP will be driven home and I shall be left without supper!’ Fragments: Seventeen