MAN IS NOT A UNITY BUT MULTIPLE

MAN IS NOT A UNITY BUT MULTIPLE

(1) If a man takes himself as one, no struggle can develop within him. If no struggle develops within him, he cannot change. Why is this so?

(2) If a man supposes there is only one thing that acts, thinks and feels in him—that is, one 'I'—then he cannot understand that there should be one thing that commands and another that obeys. This means that if man regards himself as a unity, nothing can change in him. The work says: "Unless a man divides himself into two, he cannot shift from where he is in himself"—that is, he cannot be different in himself.

3) If a man is so hypnotized and therefore so asleep as to think he is one, he cannot receive the ideas of the work. What is the object of the practical side of the work—that is, the ideas and instructions relating to work on oneself? This object is to make a man work on himself by dividing himself into a work-side and a mechanical side—that is, to observe himself from the angle of the work ideas. In that case, the observing side looks at the side to be observed. So a man becomes two —an observing side and an observed side.

Maurice Nicoll