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Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 376:
376. Also, let us make an end to the confused conception of a group soul. The spirit of concordance is expressed with especial force in animals before individuality has been actualized. But it is incorrect to call the concordant soul a group soul. Translations and commentaries have produced this confusion. Plato's conception of twin souls not only was closer to the truth but was expressed beautifully. Thus, let us not use this erroneous term group soul ; let us replace it with the term spiritual concordance . Also among men such concordance is a valuable achievement; it builds individuality. Let us not complicate what can be readily understood. Before a long journey it is necessary to provide oneself with only the most essential. It would be unfortunate to load oneself with elaborate laces and forget the key to the gates of our Father's house. Our Father is not in need of laces and furbelows. Remember the simplest paths of the Light of Agni. Of course, read books, for one should know the paths of former thoughts, but for the future provide yourself with the lamp of Agni. Fiery World - Book 2 (1934) - 248:
248. Reading without the heart's functioning, even memorizing, helps but little. One can even compile a table showing how much the participation of the heart evokes true understanding. Let this not be understood as an abstraction. By its quality the pulse indicates how much heart participation assists the manifestation of perception. Such a concept draws one near to the Fiery World. It is tedious to listen to babblings which lack the heart quality, particularly since the number of printed books is reaching frightening proportions. Rarely has the quantity been so at variance with the quality! In this is also revealed a sign of heartlessness. We encourage each burning of the spirit. The flaming heart is a torch of the Fiery World. One should become accustomed to delving into the meaning of what has been said; and for this, translations into different languages are useful. Thereby is developed a precision of understanding. The Teacher must always rotate a concept so that it contacts the consciousness of the disciple in its full scope. Though urgent, it is impossible to accept many concepts at the first reading. One must return to them, as has been said, under all the shades of color of morning and evening. Even the night will bring a ray of understanding. You yourselves have seen how strangely people form opinions about what they have read. When they hear about the Messiah, they merely think - isn't he a demon? When they read about the heart, they are afraid - isn't it sorcery? This means that demons and sorcery are very familiar to them. The man who is pure in heart will not think first of all about darkness. Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 592:
592. Too often are words used in an incorrect meaning. People speak about the supernatural instead of saying the unusual. The supernatural does not exist in any of the Worlds. Perhaps a certain thing is unusual for the ignorant, but even this definition is conditional, as that something is unusual only under certain conditions. Thus it would be possible to revise dictionaries considerably. We have often spoken about this, and in translations into other languages you see how needful are various shades of meaning. People do not like to search for better definitions, yet diverse old dialects demonstrate that it is not easy to rejuvenate a dictionary with befitting expressions. It is especially difficult in the case of concepts of earthly and heavenly Fire. There are so many visible and invisible Fires that far more subtle definitions are needed.
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