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New Era Community (1926) - 93:
93. I speak about the quality of travels. It is necessary to assimilate the knowledge of how to travel! It is necessary not only to break away from home, but also to conquer the very concept of home. It would be more precise to say that one should broaden the concept of home. Where we are - there is home. Evolution casts off the meaning of home as a prison. Progress in liberating the consciousness will yield the possibility of becoming flexible. And not achievement, not privation, not exaltation, but quality of consciousness enables one to break away from a long occupied place. In a long-occupied place there is so much smokiness, so much sourness and dust. We are opposed to the solitary life of hermitage, but small cottages with moldy atmosphere are worse than caves. We summon those who can give expanse to thought. Heart (1932) - 231:
231. Likewise, the roots of a tree may sometimes be more secure than the foundations of a house. When the floor begins to shake, would it not be safer to catch at the branch of a tree? The time is so difficult that one may find the branch of a tree more secure than the stones of a floor. Even a small window may serve better than a door. Amidst the shakings of the earth, the flexible and living branch will not break; hence, study the nature of things. It is unwise not to utilize that which grows beside the window. Only a madman needlessly uproots that which he himself cannot plant. Similarly, only the creatures of falsehood try to encircle the path so as to force the traveler to deviate. But upon the branches of life one can leave the signs of the true path. Thus, let us safeguard each branch near a window. When needed, let the leaves of the garden protect our work and safeguard us from the gale - this means that the gale is raging. Heart (1932) - 425:
425. On observing the activity of the heart, the average mind will encounter a multitude of perplexities. Thus, it will seem strange to it that even the most refined heart records the most powerful events very slightly, but reacts powerfully to comparatively insignificant actions. There are numerous causes - external and internal - for this, but one ought to distinguish between them wisely. One must take into consideration all counteractions of the currents, but, on the other hand, one must also understand all karmic circumstances, which may magnify or diminish the transmission. One should not be distressed if the law cannot be expressed by a dead letter. On the contrary, the diversity of intervening conditions enriches the possibilities of new observations. Thus, even in schools one should exercise the attention of the small ones, who are often much more honest and flexible than adults; one should only approach them with the attractive proposal that they pay attention to their own sensations. Heart (1932) - 428:
428. Cor bovinum, in other words, ox heart, is the familiar condition of an enlarged heart. There are many causes for this, but only the chief cause concerns us. The enlarged heart may be caused by an overflow of unutilized heart energy. It can be said that people who suffer from an enlarged heart did not begin the education of the heart in time. The potentiality of their organ was good but the heart energy was not applied. Of course, an enlarged heart is preferable to a fatty one. Thus, the heart may be called the most individual organ. Hence, the methods for the education of the heart must be very flexible. From the earliest years one must pay attention to aversions and predilections. It is stupid to regard as ignorant nonsense aversions which are merely not understood. Often the entire structure of the heart is reflected in this. And very useful conclusions can be arrived at. But above all, one must beware of the heart that knows neither attraction nor aversion. It means that the heart is asleep. There are multitudes of such dormant hearts, and this leads to decay of the spirit. Thus, once again the most inconceivably spiritual is connected with the physical manifestation. Fiery World - Book 2 (1934) - 210:
210. The spark of immortality is justly located by certain people in various centers, each will be right in his own way. True, in each center there is such a spark, but according to the conditions of the epoch the centers can vary in significance. Only the heart remains unchanged and only the chalice follows the heart in significance; the remaining centers and glands may be subject to cosmic currents. Not only are people mistaken in their judgment about the centers, but everywhere they do not admit a flexible expediency. Yet not only according to the epoch is the significance of psychic energy altered, but also according to races, to nationalities, and even to generations. Seemingly, a thing re-occurs, but meanwhile man has come in contact with the Highest by means of new antennae. Thus, one can observe how multiped insects may lose certain legs without a lessening of their vital capacity. Certainly where there is the fiery consciousness such atrophy of the centers is not found. Hence, again we come to the affirmation of the usefulness of the fiery consciousness. It will be no exaggeration when we say that fire is advantageous for the earthly as well as for the Fiery World. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 270:
How beautiful can be the role of a flexible free will, which, through discrimination, can recognize higher wisdom and subordinate itself to it. By knowing this wisdom, man will also know the profundity of his own soul, and will learn to respect that force within himself which leads to the best achievements. Man's good fortune is his access to Primal Energy, and his misfortune that he does not accept this blessed power, but usually condemns it. What a dreadful thing it is that man refuses to accept his best treasure!
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