A, B, and C Influences

A, B, and C Influences

All the motives of living out one’s life – having food to eat, making money, raising a family, career, education, keeping healthy, staying abreast of the news – are called Influence A. One can pursue these things a whole lifetime – they do not lead to a change of being, but only consume the precious time allotted to us.

From time to time, conscious beings are created on the earth. They have a direct connection with higher forces. If one could have been in their immediate circle, their influence on one would have been a conscious influence – very different from all the forces of ordinary life – and this is called Influence C. Influence C, per Ouspensky, is transmitted by direct instruction or word of mouth and is “conscious in its origins and conscious in its action”.

Sometimes these people leave behind literature or works of art. These serve to encourage people in the future to look for the same conscious influence in their own time. This is called Influence B and includes religion, philosophy, myths and works of art.

Influence B is also the traces of once living teachings. It’s not unusual that such a teaching is transmitted orally for a generation, or many, as in the case of Gautama Buddha, and then becomes a written text.

Over time, these B Influences can become watered down, to the point where they become Influences A. An example of this is when a religion or teaching promises to help you in a material way, be it health, wealth, friends or whatever. Also, some teachings we find today pretend to be Influence B when they have no conscious source but are the productions of ordinary albeit gifted human minds.

To truly change our level of being, we must encounter Influence C.

From our friend, David Tuttle

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Image: The Annunciation (detail), Leonardo da Vinci