Dont let your thoughts be your Master

Gurdjieff used to say that man is just like a palace where there are so many slaves, but the master has gone out. And he has been out for such a long time that the slaves have now completely forgotten that there was a master. Now, whenever someone passes by the palace... and it is such a beautiful palace that everyone wants to enquire to whom it belongs. So any slave who happens to be on the door says, ”It belongs to me. I am the master.” But another time, the same person passes by; someone else is on the door, and he asks, ”To whom does this palace belong?” He says, ”It belongs to me, I am the master.” So the whole city is confused, ”Who is the master?” Everyone says, ”I am the master” – every slave. Gurdjieff used to say, ”Such is the condition of man. Every thought that passes, even on your surface mind, becomes the master; and the master is either asleep or has gone for a long journey and has not come back. And it has been so long....” That’s why we have no will. We cannot have a will if we are just a crowd. You decide to do something, and the second moment you decide not to do it. And the third moment, neither you are decisive to do it, nor even not to do it – you are simply indecisive. You decide that you are going to be awake in the morning at four o’clock; and then at four o’clock you yourself say, ”There is no need.” Another slave is on the surface of your mind, not you – the same one is not here who decided. In the morning when you are awake at eight o’clock, you begin to repent, ”Why, when I had decided... why couldn’t I get up? Why? This is the third. And these three will never meet; they have no dialogue – they are just atomic thoughts. And any atomic thought on the surface becomes the master. You cannot have the will; really, you cannot have any soul. You are not an individual.You must know the meaning of the word ”individual.”  It means indivisible, that which cannot be divided. But we exist in division, so we cannot be said to be individuals. We are just a divided crowd. Yoga is the science of individuation. It is how to create the individual, how to crystallize this crowd into one, how to create a center which can be the master always, and how to put every slave in its place. Then you will need a purification of your mind; you will need a catharsis – a deep catharsis is needed then. You have to throw out all that is just contradictory; you have to create a harmony in your thoughts. And don’t allow any thought to come in, because to allow it to be in is easy, but then to displace it from there is very difficult. So the first thing is don’t allow inside, thoughts which are not going to help create a harmony, and then go on searching for, and observing what contradictory thoughts you have. Be the chosen.Emphasize the thoughts which can create an inner peace and inner silence – then you have a purified mental body. And with this body-transparent you can look beyond, and you can go to another body.