Inner Space

Quelques points clés

Le livre se présente comme un guide, élaboré par une adepte du Raja Yoga bien enracinée dans le monde moderne, pour aider le lecteur à agrandir son espace intérieur, c’est-à-dire à trouver la paix en se désencombrant des pensées qui nous envahissent sans cesse habituellement. Il s’agit de prendre du recul par rapport à soi-même, de développer un regard plus profond, on pourrait dire transcendant (l’œil intérieur, inner eye), qui voit la réalité « vraie », spirituelle, qui se cache derrière le monde bruyant auquel nous sommes confrontés. Le livre se présente comme un véritable ouvrage de spiritualité, faisant très régulièrement référence à Dieu et à des concepts comme la réincarnation ou le karma.

Anthropology

“You have a body, you are a soul.” P.1

Natural law: 

o   There is one. “Inner space is a moral thing. Love may be unconditional – although in reality I doubt it really is – but space is not. You have to accept that you are ultimately ruled by your conscience. You do not have to think what is wrong and what is right, your conscience already knows. And if your mind is unaccepting of its message, your conscience will speak through your body instead. Although I love those roundly spoken American tapes about the inner child about total acceptance, in my heart I question their validity, because I just don’t think it is possible to be unconditionally at peace. If something is wrong, it will scream at you until it is faced. […] The Christians say there are seven deadly sins; the Buddhists say there are six. In Raja Yoga we speak of the five vices: attachment, ego, anger, greed and lust.” P.81 Then: “Possibly the noisiest of all, a broad term for all vices combined, is desire. When you want something with all your heart, you will never rest.” p.84

o   Ultimately, all is good: see quote p.106-107 under “God”

o   Idem : “Simplicity is an extremely elevated quality. It is the first stop and the last stop, to be experienced only by those in the pram and by people who have worked hard on themselves; if not in this life, in another. They are the people who see a rose as a rose, manure as manure, water as water. They can talk about good and evil in total equanimity, because in their soul is total knowledge and so detachment from both. As such, they are as close to God as a human person can be, because they have that same ease, that same concentrated full quality that comes of knowing but having no need to exhibit their knowledge.” P.121

Reincarnation 

“In you, the soul, there is a mind which feels, an intellect which judges and assesses, and a bank of memories which informs your feeling. Those memories come from many births. Some are good and some are not.” P.1

“The main attribute of the inner eye is that it has seen many, many more things than your physical eyes. It has lived many lives, moved through different cultures and lands. It can, if you let it, open and widen to take in a much longer span of time than the twenty, forty, sixty years of your body. […] Of course, it is natural to forget. […] And yet the sense of that eternity, with the occasional specific insight, is a healthy one, for it increases your stability.” P.42

God

Who He is

o   “There is a God. He is a soul like you. […] He has a mind that feels good things, an intellect that sees the whole picture of our human existence, and memories that are merely a record of His giving.” P.2

o   “He has no gender, because He is light, a point of pure energy that is totally free of the emotional traps that come of feeling oneself as man or woman.” P.2 

o   “[God is] a sustainer of all that is good and a Destroyer of evil, He looks after anyone who has this balance of caution and innocence.” P.4

o   “What is He [God]? He is a mind that loves; a mind that creates thoughts slowly and powerfully, not a single one wasted, likes waves made far out to sea that eventually flatten gently on the shore of people’s lives and soothe. He is also an observer, and that observer sees the French Revolution as clearly and equally as it sees the tatters in the ozone layer; sees the future before it has happened, the past as if it were today, and all with an equanimity that comes of knowing the equal place of tragedy and joy. And He has a personality. He acts? Not with a face, hands, legs, but with appropriate thoughts that stretch out as tangibly and generously into receptive places as feet walk into a house. But behind all that, as with us, He too is a peace pulse. And His pulse of peace differs from ours in that it is much, much powerful. While ours is very slightly vibrant, His is absolutely still. Our holds steady our lives, His the universe.” P.37-38

o   God and love: “God. Maybe it is because I believe that He does embody perfection that I love Him so much. [… Nobody is perfect.] Only God is God, and only God has that elusive art that my pupils, my mother and I all struggle with: to combine a knowledge of brilliance with an acceptance of chaos. He does not try to arrange things, but He does, in my experience of meditation, help you to see the subtle patterns that make life exciting. In His essential form, I understand God to be like the sun, warming in that indiscriminate way described above. He is love. […] One of the most important things I have learned is that, if I am treating myself badly, I am unable to feel God’s love. In this He seems almost human. People who hate themselves are hard to love. Though in the most need, they are often the most obtuse, the most dismissive. If you are like that to yourself, almost chemically, God cannot come close.” P.60-61

o   “At other times I try and picture God and think: "You look like that too. You are a light as well." […] At that moment, I invoke God as a Child: innocent, because he has never had bad thoughts; light, because He carries no burden of regret. Innocent God. Very, very light God. And I think: "What would I give You if You were to stay with me happily? Which thought would make the environment of my forehead comfortable for You?"” p.98 Then God is called: Mother, Guru, Companion, Teacher, Father, Prince.

o   “God has the knowledge of the past, the present, the future, God whose mantra says that everything that happened is good, everything that is happening is very good, and whatever is going to happen will be very, very good.” P.106-107

What He does

o   “[God has a home which is] a place of rest and complete silence in which nothing is done.”

o   “God is here to help [to deal with your life and karma]. God whose presence is felt here but who is not here.” P.2

o   God and karma: “There is a law that is as basic to the way of life in the East as water: the law of karma. And it says: every action has a reaction. I believe that, free as He is, God is not beyond that law. He can only respond in a consistent way, in accordance with the effort that you make to free yourself from limited thinking. […] Deep thought attracts the glance of God, so that suddenly amidst what must be a vast agenda of tasks, souls, concerns, constellations, His glance falls upon you. And it is a kiss in which you do not lose but gain your purity.” P.51

o   People praying: “Then there is another passage [in the teaching of Raja Yoga]. It is humorous. It describes how, when people talk to God, they ae like shoppers in queues; they come for different things: some to complain, some to beg, some even to have their fortune told, but there are some – a handful only – who do not struggle when they sit before God, but instantly, quietly, as though dialing a direct line, can hear His voice. In one second they celebrate a meeting, and that is because of their love.” P.101

Karma

“You have a task, whether you want it or not. And that is to deal with your account of give and take. Everything you have done returns to you. If you are alert to that you can develop the strength to deal with it in a dignified unobtrusive way. If not, if you do not care about the quality of your activity, there may be a price to pay later. Everything you have ever done and ever said is recorded.” P.2

“There is a law that is as basic to the way of life in the East as water: the law of karma. And it says: every action has a reaction. I believe that, free as He is, God is not beyond that law. He can only respond in a consistent way, in accordance with the effort that you make to free yourself from limited thinking.” P.51

Purpose of life and “salvation”

“Your quality as a person lies in your capacity to deal first with your feeling mind, then with your memories.” P.1

Return to peace and silence: “[…God] who has a home devoid of the push and pull of karma, a place of rest and complete silence in which nothing is done. You too have lived in that place once. You too have been without body, without commitments and without memories; in the wings, as it were, of this stage. The more, in moments of silence, you can recall that time, the faster you will reach the state of simplicity which is the destination of every human soul.” P.2-3

How to find “salvation”

o   “To recall that buried happiness [which you have lived before] you cannot leave automatically. You have to take time to think deeply, be silent, explore your soul and deal with what you have become. For there are rules which say: be careful where you go, how you spend your time, what you eat, how you speak. Just as a builder with a deadline focuses only on the unfinished house before him, once you decide to live spiritually, rules become merely a support to your concentration.” P.4

o   Towards deep thoughts and spiritual experiences, and the help of God: “When I have these experiences, I feel valuable. It is like someone being in love with you, sweeping you away, showing you a special place that is of a different order completely from your day-to-day one. They are gift of God and they come with a price. There is a law that is as basic to the way of life in the East as water: the law of karma. And it says: every action has a reaction. I believe that, free as He is, God is not beyond that law. He can only respond in a consistent way, in accordance with the effort that you make to free yourself from limited thinking. Principally, that effort to free yourself is to do with thinking consciously; as it were, exercising your inner eye to look more and more deeply, more and more broadly, more and more subtly. Stretch its looking to perceive the soul within the body, the world of souls beyond this world, the tasks that might be involved in laying each soul to rest, and the journey through time on which your soul have been. Giving time for this – even ten minutes daily – is like making time to improve your appearance to attract another person. Deep thought attracts the glance of God, so that suddenly amidst what must be a vast agenda of tasks, souls, concerns, constellations, His glance falls upon you. And it is a kiss in which you do not lose but gain your purity.” P.51

o   The help of insights… for which you have to work on the deepness of your thoughts. “All of us receive gifts of insight from time to time and, though they may appear to come unbidden, they usually follow a period of consistent work. That work is no more than the effort to think at a deep level; and, sometimes more importantly, to think lovingly. I do not mean love as an emotion, a set of passionate preferences, for these to are potentially space-consuming, but love in its gentle form, a state which is indiscriminate, pervasive, peaceful.” P.56-57

o   What is a deep thought? “A deep thought is a piece of information that comes to you as you stand on the line between the inner and the outer world. A deep thought is an insight into exactly what is happening in this scene in which you have been acting. It is when you stop, become quiet, withdraw your expectations and, seeing more clearly, you realize significance. A deep thought can only come when there is a stillness of a framework through which you view your life. For instance, the law of karma is a framework” P.89

o   Deep thoughts bring you resistance: “You can tolerate everything because you understand.” P.90

o   The state of “salvation”:“Simplicity is an extremely elevated quality. It is the first stop and the last stop, to be experienced only by those in the pram and by people who have worked hard on themselves; if not in this life, in another. They are the people who see a rose as a rose, manure as manure, water as water. They can talk about good and evil in total equanimity, because in their soul is total knowledge and so detachment from both. As such, they are as close to God as a human person can be, because they have that same ease, that same concentrated full quality that comes of knowing but having no need to exhibit their knowledge.” P.121

Spiritual experiences

“Since then and particularly since meditating, there have been countless moments like that [of spiritual awareness, consciousness of past lives…], where literally silence has fallen; space has been made as a truth rises to the surface, absorbs and clears away that which is ordinary. I would say very sincerely that I live for those moments, because they emerge in me a love for myself so deep that I am able more naturally to love other people.” P.44

“When I have these experiences, I feel valuable. It is like someone being in love with you, sweeping you away, showing you a special place that is of a different order completely from your day-to-day one. They are gift of God and they come with a price [see quote from page 51 under Karma].” P.50

Love

What it is: “[…] I do not mean love as an emotion, a set of passionate preferences, for these too are potentially space-consuming, but love in its gentle form, a state which is indiscriminate, pervasive, peaceful.” P.57

Idem: “To speak with love is not just an emotional thing. It is physiological. It is the ability to put energy into your voice so that it stretches beyond the words; it also to mage all your words a message to you first. Then you are honest; you are filtering everything through your own system. Then people trust you.” P.67

Its link with silence and space: “Love is at the heart of space, because anything or anyone whom you really love will always stand aside for you. They will not crowd you out; they will not keep demanding, because the very state of love is such that it meets need in a natural way.” P.57 

Evil (lovelessness): “Lovelessness or force is the enemy of depth and space. It creates the most noise of all and, like a systemic illness, it affects every part of your life until everything feels just out; just wrong. In that stat, the inner eye closes, and those wonderful subtleties are gone.” p.57

Other religions

“Together [all the] religions form a tree. However much feelings of division and disagreement may suggest otherwise, all religions belong together because there is one trunk from which the branches spring and one Seed from which the tree grows. That seed is God. When a person finds its place on that tree, be it Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, or whatever, his life can proceed peacefully.” P.3

Other quotes

“And it is here [when I have found the unstoppable beating of the pulse of peace that is in me, and when I relax with it] that, were my guru a physical person, I feel he might smile because I have reached him and we would be breathing together, standing before each other in the present and yet completely alone with our own eternity. For no one can touch this place in you. […] You can reach across to each other from here but not touch.” P.36

Damages of the “speedy way of life”: “Speed kills love because it stops you seeing the patterns in things. You get up fast, you eat fast, you dress fast, you go to work fast, you speak fast, and at the end of the day you feel distress or bored or restless. When you move slowly, you can hear the significance of life.” P.68

Taking spiritual time every day: “I have found that the most helpful way o steady my pace is to have a period of meditation in the early morning, for it is at this that you can set the rhythm of your breath, your thoughts. […] If you do not set yourself, life sets you. […] Equally, I have found it useful to sit quietly for a few minutes before sleeping. The day, whatever it may have seemed superficially, is a treasure box.” P.68

C’est comme-nous

Dieu existe

Dieu est amour

Dieu agit dans ta vie et te vient en aide. Tu peux l’expérimenter.

L’homme a besoin d’un salut, et doit agir pour cela

Le point clé de notre vie est le développement de la partie spirituelle de notre personne, que la vie du monde nous pousse très facilement à négliger (par le rush, le bruit permanent, les multiples préoccupations et injonctions…).

Nous avons besoin de silence, de silence intérieur, de temps de recul sur notre vie, d’un temps spirituel quotidien et d’une « prière continuelle » : d’un retour très fréquent à cette posture spirituelle.

Il existe une loi naturelle, et ses injonctions sont globalement les mêmes que celles que nous pouvons donner.

C’est pas-comme-nous 

Dieu est « comme nous », il est « fait » de la même « matière » : c’est une âme, un esprit, seulement infiniment plus puissant et vaste que le nôtre. Il n’est pas au-delà de l’être comme pour nous. Il est même soumis à des lois, qui sont donc en quelque sorte plus grandes que lui. Il n’est pas une personne, encore que ce ne soit pas tout à fait clair.

Derrière « amour », on ne met pas du tout la même chose. Ici, l’amour est une énergie positive, une implication positive dans l’instant et dans l’action accomplie. Il est avant tout tourné vers soi-même.

C’est une foutue gnose du début à la fin. Le salut par la pensée, la connaissance. L’approche de Dieu dépend entièrement de cela. La seule chose qui importe, le seul chemin vers le salut, c’est la profondeur des pensées, de la réflexion, de la vue sur le monde. Tout est ordonné à cela, tout s’articule autour de cela (Dieu, amour, bien, mal, organisation de la vie personnelle, action…).

La loi du karma, la réincarnation bien sûr.

Le désir vu comme la cause capitale des vicissitudes de la vie.

Et ce qui va avec les deux points précédents, une anthropologie qui renie le corps.

Une certaine négation des notions de bien et de mal : tout ce qui advient est bien (puisque soumis à la loi du karma, donc justifié, et épuisant les conséquences mauvaises pour aller vers le bien). Il n’y a pas d’attraction de l’homme ou de Dieu pour le bien : le « salut » est la capacité à regarder l’un et l’autre avec équanimité.

Relativisme en ce qui concerne les religions.