America 1924

Has free will a place in your system?

Free will is the function of the real I, the result of
finding the master of the team. He who has a master, has will; he
who has not, has no will. What is ordinarily called will is adjustment
between illingness and unwillingness. For instance, the mind wants
something, the feelings do not want it; if the mind proves to be stronger
than the feelings man obeys his mind. If the two are equally opposed the
result will be opposite (conflict). This is what is called free will in
ordinary man; he is ruled - now by the mind, now by the feelings, now by
the body. Often the order comes from the automatic apparatus. Still
more often x the man is ordered about by the sex centre. Real free will
can only be where one "I" rules, when man has a master for his team.
But an ordinary man has no master - the carriage constantly changes
passengers, and each passenger calls himself "I". Free will is reality.
It may exist; but we, as we are, cannot have it.

Are there no people who have free will?

I am speaking about the majority of men. Those who have
will - have will. But free will is not an ordinary phenomenon; it
cannot be had for the asking, nor bought in a shop.

What is the attitude of your system to morality?

Morality can be subjective or objective. Objective morality
is the same everywhere. Subjective morality is different everywhere;
and everyone defines it differently; what is good for one person is
bad for another, and vice versa. Morality is a stick with two ends,
it can be turned this way and that.

From the time when man began to live on the earth, from the
time of Adam, there gradually began to be formed in us - with the help of
God, of nature, and of all our surroundings - an organ, whose function is

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conscience. Every man has this organ; and whoever is guided by conscience,
automatically lives according to its commandments. If our conscience were
clear and not buried, there would be no need to speak about morality;
for consciously or unconsciously everyone would behave according to the
dictates of the inner voice. Conscience is not a stick with two ends -
it is a realization of what is good and what is bad formed in us through
the ages. Unfortunately, owing to many reasons, this organ is usually
covered up with a kind of crust, which can be pierced only by intense
suffering; then conscience speaks. But after a while a man calms
down, and once more the organ becomes covered up. A strong shock is
needed for this organ to become uncovered automatically. For instance, a
man's mother dies; instinctively his conscience begins to speak in him.
To love, honor, and cherish one's mother is the duty of every man.
But seldom is a man a good son. When his mother dies a man remembers
how he had behaved towards her, and he begins to suffer from
remorse. But man is a great swine, and soon forgets, and again lives
in the old way.

He who has no conscience cannot be moral. I can know what
I should refrain from doing, but, through weakness, I cannot pre-
vent myself from doing it. I know that coffee is bad for me - the
doctor has told me so - but I remember about coffee; and only when I
don't want to drink coffee do I agree with the doctor and refrain
from drinking it. When I am full, I can, to a certain extent, be
moral.

You should forget about morality. Conversations about
morality at present are simply empty talk. Your aim is *inner morality*.
Your aim is to be Christians; but for this you must be able to *do* -
and this you cannot. When you are able to do you will become
Christians.

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External morality is different everywhere. One should behave like others and, as the saying goes, when in Rome do as the Romans do; this is external morality. For internal morality man must be able to do, and for this he must have an "I". The first thing necessary is to separate inner things from outer, similarly to what I said about internal and external considering. For instance, I am sitting here, and although I am accustomed to sitting with my legs crossed on the seat, I consider the opinion of those present, what they are accustomed to do and I sit as they do, with my legs hanging down. But one of those present gives me a disapproving look. This immediately starts corresponding associations in my feelings, and I am annoyed, being too weak to refrain from reacting by considering internally. Again, I know that coffee is bad for me, but if I don't drink it I know that I shall not be able to talk, I shall feel too tired; so I consider my body and drink the coffee, doing it for my body. This is usually the way we live - what we feel inside we manifest outside. But a boundary line should be established between the inner and the outer, one should learn to refrain from reacting to anything outer - not to consider outer impacts, but externally to consider, sometimes, more than we do now; when we should be polite we should be more polite than we usually are. It can be said that what till now was outside should be put inside, what was inside should be put outside. Unfortunately, we always react; but if we use common sense why should I be annoyed with someone who gives me a disapproving look? Perhaps he does it from foolishness, or perhaps someone turned him against me. He is a slave of someone else's opinion, an automaton, a parrot repeating other people's words. Tomorrow he may change his opinion. If he is weak, I, if I am annoyed, am still weaker; and I may spoil my relationship with other people if I am angry with him,

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making a mountain out of a molehill. You should understand and establish it as a firm rule that you must not pay attention to other people's opinions - you must be free of people surrounding you; and if you are free inside you *will* be free of them. At times, externally, it may be necessary to pretend to be annoyed. For instance, if you are smitten on one cheek it does not necessarily mean that you must offer the other; sometimes it is necessary to answer back in such a way that the other will forget his grandmother. But, internally, you must be free. It may happen that if someone smites you on one cheek you should offer the other. This depends on a man's type. Sometimes the other man will not forget such a lesson in a hundred years. At times one should retaliate, at others, not - but choice of action is possible only if one is free inside. An ordinary man cannot choose. He cannot form a critical estimate of the situation - with him his external is his internal. It is necessary to learn to be unbiased, to sort out and analyze each situation as if one were a stranger - then one can be just. To be just at the moment of action is a hundred times more valuable than to be just afterwards. A great deal is necessary for this. An unbiased action is the basis of inner freedom, the first step towards free will.

Is it necessary to suffer all the time to keep conscience open?

Suffering can be of very different kinds. Suffering is also a stick with two ends. One leads to the angel, the other to the devil. Man is a very complicated machine. Side by side with every good road there is a corresponding bad one. One thing is always side by side with another. Where there is little good there is also little bad; where there is much good there is also much bad. The same with suffering - it is very easy to find oneself on the other road. Suffering easily

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becomes transformed into pleasure. You are hit once - you are hurt;
the second time you are less hurt. The fifth time you already wish to be
hit. One must be on guard, one must know what is necessary at each
moment, because from the road one may fall into the ditch.

What is the relation of Conscience to the acquisition of I?

Conscience helps only in that it saves time. A man who has
conscience is calm; he who is calm has time, which he can use for work.
However, conscience serves this purpose only in the beginning, later
it serves another purpose. In an ordinary man all his time is taken up
with considering - one vibration stops, another begins; now he is
glad, now sad, now angry. The machine works without stopping, waste
goes on all the time. We have only one accumulator, which can contain
only a certain amount of energy. This energy is collected everyday and
spent everyday. The energy collected and stored when we are asleep
sets in motion our day-time associations. All through the day
expenditure is going on in us; when night comes we collect anew.
Our store of energy is sufficient for the usual mechanical life, but not
for active work on oneself. If we compare, for example, the expenditure
of energy on mechanical experiences with the expenditure of electric
current of a five candle bulb, then the expenditure of active work
corresponds to a hundred candle power bulb, which very quickly consumes
the available current. For instance, with our store it is possible
to work, perhaps, through the morning, but there will be no energy
left for the afternoon, even for the daily work - and without this
energy man is merely a lump of flesh. It is necessary for this energy
to be sufficient both for the new work and for every day work. But
there is no room for a new accumulator. There are no spare batteries.
All that we can do is to spend the energy economically. Nature has made

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When you are lying down you have fewer external impacts, but the expenditure of energy on mental associations is much greater than usual. When I walk I spend less energy than when I sit, because legs move by momentum and I push them only from time to time. The same with a motor-car; when it is running in first gear it spends more energy than when running in top gear, for then a large part of the motion goes by momentum. Thus when you lie down your expenditure corresponds to the first gear of a car. In the same way expenditure for a movement of one and the same muscle may be different. When you begin to do physical exercises you bring into motion muscles which until then worked but seldom, and consequently have no momentum. A long time is necessary for the momentum to be created. Then the same movements will need a much smaller amount of energy. But the result is not achieved quickly.

Is it true that children have more energy than grown-ups?

No, the amount of energy is proportionate to the size of the organism. A large machine has more energy. But children are not spoiled. They have less material for associations than grown-ups, and therefore have more energy for physical manifestations.