Chapter 3February 19, 1966

Yes, he was comfortably seated in front of a pillar (a pillar whose end couldn’t be seen; it rose so high that its end couldn’t be seen), and he said to me, "Oh, I have no path." (Mother laughs) But what he gave to eat was very good! I remember I crunched it, I bit into it, and it had a marvelous taste.

Who could it be?... I don’t know. They must have been known people.

And it was rather strange: I was always a bit taller than all of them, and when I moved about, I did so with much greater speed than they, and I would reach the doors, just about to go through... when they would come along and the door would close!

Very amusing. I could write volumes with all that!

But last night I didn’t understand, I wondered, "Why do I go strolling in such places?" Now I understand!

About Satprem’s mother:

...It’s not a miracle that you are your mother’s son: it’s natural (!) It means many things.... It means a good atavism. It means that the journey here did not multiply difficulties, on the contrary. As for me, I chose my parents ([laughing] don’t go about repeating what I am saying!), I chose my parents in order to have a solid physical base, because I knew that the work I had to do was "very very difficult" and a solid base was needed. From that point of view I succeeded. But then, there were difficulties... It doesn’t matter, because from the physical point of view, it was good. But with you, it’s not just that: it’s psychically, you understand – she is your mother psychically, too. So it’s very good.

(Regarding a Playground Talk of April 9, 1951, in which Mother spoke of the degeneration of taste, of

the war and what a new war would mean:)

"Now, to tell you the truth, we are on the upward curve again. I think we have really

can lead you straight to the Yoga, straight. That is, you feel a sort of very deep detachment from all the things of this world, a very intense need to find something else, an imperious need to find something truly beautiful, truly fresh, truly good... so, quite naturally, it leads you to a spiritual aspiration. And those horrors seem to have divided people: a minority who were ready have risen very high; a majority who weren’t ready have gone down very low. Those are now wallowing in mud, and that’s why we can’t get out of it for the moment; and if it goes on, we will be moving towards a new war, and this time it will really be the end of this civilization – I am not saying the end of the world, because nothing can be the end of the world, but the end of this civilization, which means we will have to build another. You may tell me that it will be very good, for this civilization is on the decline, it’s rotting away; but still, there were in it some beautiful things that deserved to be preserved, and it would be a great pity if all that disappeared. But if there is a new war, I can tell you that it will all disappear. For men are very clever creatures, and they have found the way to destroy everything. And they will use it, because what’s the use of spending billions to make certain bombs if they aren’t to be used? What’s the use of discovering that a city can be destroyed in a few minutes if not to destroy it! One wants to see the fruit of one’s efforts! If there is a war, that’s what will happen."

...Quite appropriate. We’ll publish it in the next Bulletin.

* * *

Once more arose the great destroying Voice: Across the fruitless labour of the worlds His huge denial’s all-defeating might Pursued the ignorant march of dolorous Time.

(X.IV.643)

The ignorant march of dolorous Time.... That’s quite it, we’re poor devils.

That’s exactly the state of mind I have been in for two days, but more particularly this morning.... Oh, as an experience it’s very interesting.

The spontaneous activity of Matter is defeatist ["the all-defeating might"]. It has to surrender, it has to annul itself so that a creative power – truly creative and victorious – can manifest. That’s quite interesting.

Théon used to say that this defeatist state (the result of which is death), this destructive power, was born with the Vital’s infusion into Matter. The rock, the stone, that is, the most exclusively material, isn’t defeatist. The beginning of destruction came with the beginning of the entry of the vital force: with water – water, air, all that moves. All that begins to move brings along the power of destruction.