Continuing from https://www.josephazize.com/2024/11/20/prospectus-of-the-institute-for-the-harmonious-development-of-man-part-1/
(4) The failure of the three centres to co-ordinate is due to the fact that there are, as it were, three different men in a single individual, the first of whom does nothing but think, the second only feels, and the third only lives by his instincts and motor functions: a logical man, an emotional man and an automatic man.
These three men in one never understand one another; consciously and unconsciously they frustrate the plans, the intentions and the work of one another; and yet each of them at the moment when he is in action occupies a prepotent position and calls himself “I”.
Observation of the disunited and contradictory of the centres shews that man cannot be master of himself, since it is not he who governs his centres, and he himself does not know which of his centres will begin to function next. People do not notice this, because they are under the illusion of the unity of their “I’s” and of their general psychic constitution.
If a correct observation of the psychic activities of man is made, it will be clearly seen that modern man never acts of his own accord, and for reasons within himself, but by his action merely expresses the changes that are induced in his mechanism by external causes. It is not man who thinks, but something thinks in him; he does not act, but something acts through him; he does not create, but something creates in him; he does not accomplish, but something accomplishes through him.
This thesis becomes particularly clear when we understand the process of perception by each centre of external (and internal) influences and similarly the process by which responsive actions are brought about.
The psychic centres of a new-born child may be compared to blank phonograph rolls, upon which from the first day the impressions of both the internal and external worlds inscribe themselves. The matter thus impressed is preserved in each centre in the same order, sometimes absurd, and in the same relations in which the impressions were actually received in life.
(5) The process of imagination, memory, judgement, reasoning and thinking are made up exclusively of the matter inscribed, which combines and associates in various ways under the influence of chance shocks. These shocks set in motion with more or less intensity one or another of the rolls whose contents (the matter inscribed on it) thus become the centre of association in the given case. A further shock, or a shock of a different intensity, evokes yet another association and, consequently, another train of thoughts, feelings and acts. And no centre can add anything from itself or anything new to the combinations thus formed, nor can it draw upon the material formed in the other centres.
It will be understood from this that man’s world perception is always the work of only a part of his being, or, stated differently, that man has three different processes of perception. These processes have but little association with one another, or associate quite by chance and only partially. Therefore every judgement man forms about things is the work of merely a part of his psychic constitution and the expression of but a fraction of the matter at his disposal. Hence, man’s judgements are invariably partial, and consequently false.
It is clear from the foregoing that the first thing necessary to the harmonious development of man is to train him to be able to introduce immediately the work of his three centres into each of his psychic functions. The work of the centres must be of equal intensity at one time, and then the three main wheels of the human machine will work smoothly without obstruction one another and with the highest efficiency, both as regards their separate functions and as regard the level of consciousness which it is possible for man to attain, but which he never reaches in ordinary circumstances.
When it is borne in mind that the degree of development possible in each centre differs with every individual and that their contents (impressions registered) are also different, we are forced to the obvious conclusion that each person’s approach to the work must be strictly individual.
All the functional disorders to which the human machine is liable in the conditions of ordinary life increase as time goes on. And this machine can only be made to run smoothly after a long and determined struggle with the defects that have arisen.
(5-6) But man is unable to carry on this struggle unaided and by his own efforts of will. Nor will it avail him to work upon himself (6) by the various methods of self-training and self-development now widely current. These recommend for all and sundry general methods and processes, such as various physical exercises, exercises in meditation and concentration, breathing and physical exercises, various systems of diet, fasting, etc.
Such methods, prescribed for everybody without distinction of individual needs and abilities and without due regard to the peculiarities and qualities of each person, are not only useless, but may even become dangerous, for while ignorant attempts to overhaul a defective machine may possibly bring about certain changes, these will at the same time cause other changes, which an inexperienced and ignorant person can neither foresee nor guard against. It should be borne in mind that the human machine is always in mechanical equilibrium, whether running smoothly or irregularly. Therefore any change wrought in one direction is bound to bring about a change in another direction, and it is absolutely essential that this should be foreseen and allowed for.
In order to obviate unexpected and undesirable consequences, it is necessary when working upon oneself to conform to the discipline imposed by the special and strictly individual methods aiming at the development of new and particular “inertias,” by means of which the old ones may be regulated and changed. In other words it is necessary to develop new faculties, unattainable in ordinary life, and which man can neither develop unaided nor by recourse to any general method.
