A Marionette Pulled by Invisible Strings

A Marionette Pulled by Invisible Strings

P.D. Ouspensky was likely Intellectually centered, and he wrote about the Fourth Way system from an intellectual perspective. In this post, I would like to compare Ouspensky’s excerpt from “The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution” to the similar sentiments in the following Sonnet of Shakespeare, which might snuggle a bit more comfortably and receptively into those who are centered in the Emotional Center.

From Ouspensky:

“What does it mean that man is a machine?

It means that he has no independent movements, inside or outside of himself. He is a machine which is brought into motion by external influences and external impacts. All his movements, actions, words, ideas, emotions, moods, and thoughts are produced by external influences. By himself, he is just an automaton with a certain store of memories of previous experiences, and a certain amount of reserve energy.

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” … 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 … 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 … which in right circumstances, and with right treatments, can know that he is a machine, and, having fully realized this, he may find the ways to cease to be a machine.”

For some, the intellectual explanation of man’s condition as a sleeping machine is hard to digest. In contrast to Ouspensky, Shakespeare’s expression of nearly the same insight in Sonnet 15 might be more palatable.

From Shakespeare:

“When I consider everything that grows Holds in perfection but a little moment, That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows Whereon the stars in secret influence comment; When I perceive that men as plants increase, Cheered and checked even by the selfsame sky, Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease, And wear their brave state out of memory; Then the conceit of this inconstant stay Sets you most rich in youth before my sight, Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay To change your day of youth to sullied night; And, all in war with Time for love of you. As he takes from you, I engraft you new.”

With others in North America, I recently witnessed a spectacular show on “this huge stage” – the enigmatic confluence of our sun and moon. The scale, beauty and influence of the solar eclipse undeniably puts into perspective our own small place in the universe and yet, remarkably, we stand in the reception line – “in right circumstances” – for something even more amazing: transcending mechanicality and the endowment of our soul.

Our lives are made up of moments. To borrow a line from Shakespeare, an observer “holds in perfection but a little moment” of consciousness while using an impression, such as a solar eclipse. It does not matter whether our moments are mundane or dazzling experiences, but our use of these moments is what profoundly affects us. The ancient Greek stoic, Epictetus, reminds us that “The gods have released you from accountability [except] for the only thing that is under your control—the proper use of impressions” – which is to awaken Higher Centers. We are accountable for what is within our control: presence.

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Solar Eclipse 2024, NASA