63. "Man is a Machine", from "The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution", by P. D. Ouspensky, 1954

Excerptsfrom

"The Psychology
of Man's
Possible Evolution",

by
P. D. Ouspensky,

Alfred A. Knopf

publishers,

1954

"For thousands of years
Psychology existed
under the name
of Philosophy.
 
In India
all forms of Yoga,
which are essentially
Psychology,
are described as one
of the six systems
of
Philosophy.

"Sufi teachings,
which again
are
chiefly Psychological,
are regarded as
partly Religious
and partly
Metaphysical.
 
In Europe,
even quite recently,
in the last decades
of
the nineteenth century,
many works
on Psychology
were referred to
as Philosophy.
 
And
in spite
of the fact
that
almost all
subdivisions
of
Philosophy
such as
Logic,
the Theory of Cognition,
Ethics,
Aesthetics,
referred
to the work
of the
human mind
or senses,
Psychology
was regarded
as inferior
to Philosophy
and
as relating only
to
the lower
or
more trivial sides
of
human nature.
 
Parallel
with its existence
under the name
of Philosophy,
Psychology
existed even longer
connected
with one or another
Religion.
 
This does not mean
that Religion
and Psychology
ever were
one and the same
thing,
or
that the fact
of the connection
between
Religion
and
Psychology
was recognized.
 
But there is
no doubt
that almost
every known Religion --
certainly
I do not mean
modern sham religions --
developed
one or another
kind of
Psychological teaching
connected often
with
a certain practice,
so that
the study of Religion
very often included
in itself
the study
of Psychology."
(p. 2)
 
"During the time
when Psychology
was connected with
Philosophy
and
Religion
it also existed
in the form
of
Art.
 
Poetry,
Drama,
Sculpture,
Dancing,
even
Architecture,
were
means
for transmitting
Psychological knowledge.
 
For instance,
the Gothic cathedrals
were
in their chief meaning
works
on Psychology.
 
In the ancient times
before Philosophy,
Religion, and Art
had taken
their separate forms
as we
now know them,
Psychology
had existed
in the form of
Mysteries,
such as those
of Egypt
and
of ancient Greece.
 
Later, after the
disappearance
of the Mysteries,
Psychology existed
in the form of
Symbolical Teachings
which were
sometimes connected
with
the Religion of the period
and
sometimes
not connected,
such as
Astrology,
Alchemy,
Magic,
and
the more modern
Masonry,
Occultism,
and
Theosophy."
(p. 2 - 3)
 
"We must realize
that we know
nothing
about
the
origin of Man
and we have
no Proofs
of
man's physical
or
mental
evolution."
(p. 4)
 
"Why cannot all men
develop and become
different beings?
 
The answer
is very simple.
 
Because
they do not
want it.
 
Because they
do not know
about it
and
will not understand
without a long preparation
what it means,
even
if they are told.
 
The chief idea
is that in order to
become
a
different being
man must want it
very much
and
for
a very long time.
 
A passing desire
or
a vague desire
based on
dissatisfaction
with
external conditions
will not create
a
sufficient impulse.
 
The evolution of Man
depends
on his understanding
of
what he may get
and
what he must give
for it.
 
If Man does not want it,
or if he does not want it
strongly enough,
and
does not make
necessary efforts,
he will never develop.
 
So there is
no Injustice in this.
 
Why should Man have
what he does not want?
 
If Man were forced
to become
a different being
when he is satisfied
with what he is,
then this
would be injustice."
(p. 6 - 7)
 
"Man does not
know himself.
 
He does not know
his own limitations
and
his own possibilities.
 
Man has invented
many machines,
and he knows
that a
complicated machine
needs sometimes years
of careful study
before one
can use it
or
control it.
 
But he does not apply
this knowledge
to himself,
although
he himself
is
a much more
complicated machine
than any machine
he has invented.
 
He has all sorts
of wrong ideas
about himself.
 
First of all,
he does not realize
that he
actually
is a machine."
(p. 8)
 
"We must
understand
that Man
can do nothing.
 
But he does not
realize this
and
ascribes to himself
the
capacity to do.
 
This is
the first
wrong thing
that Man
ascribes
to himself.
 
That must be
understood
very clearly.
 
Man cannot do.
 
Everything
that man
thinks he does,
really
happens.
 
It happens exactly as
'it rains', or 'it thaws'.
 
In the English language
there are no
impersonal verbal forms
which can be used
in relation
to human actions.
 
So we must continue
to say that
Man
thinks,
reads,
writes,
loves,
hates,
starts wars,
fights,
and so on.
 
Actually,
all this
happens.
 
Man cannot move,
think,
or speak
of
his own accord.
 
He is a marionette
pulled here and there
by invisible strings.
 
If he understands this,
he can learn
more about himself,
and possibly then
things may begin
to change for him.
 
But if he cannot
realize and understand
his
utter mechanicalness,
or
if he does not wish
to accept it as a fact,
he can learn
nothing more,
and things
cannot change for him.
 
Man is a machine,
but
a very peculiar machine.
 
He is a machine which,
in right circumstances,
and
with right treatment,
can know
that he is a machine,
and
having fully realized this,
he may find
the ways
to cease to be
a machine.
 
First of all,
what man
must know
is that he
is not
one;
he is
many.
 
He has not
one
permanent
and
unchangeable
'I'
or Ego.
 
He is
always different.
 
One moment
he is one,
another moment
he is
another,
the third moment
he is
a third,
and so on,
almost without end.
 
In reality
there is no
oneness in Man
and
there is no
controlling center,
no permanent 'I'
or Ego"
 
[...]
 
"Every thought,
every feeling,
every sensation,
every desire,
every like
and
every dislike
is an 'I'."
(p. 9)
 
"In most cases
he believes
in the last 'I'
which
expressed itself,
as long as it lasts:
that is,
as long as
another 'I' --
sometimes
quite unconnected
with
the preceding one --
does not express
its opinion
or
its desire
louder
than the first."
[p. 11]
 
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