Four Lost Souls

July 1, 2002

From "The Master Game", Robert De Ropp

If we accept the idea that there is no way of separating mind from matter and all that mental phenomena, even the most lofty, have a chemical basis, it will follow that the depletion of erroneous metabolism of certain materials in the body will produce defects in behavior. This is as obvious as the fact that wine can turn to vinegar if exposed to air or milk, unsterilized, will turn sour. But what, if anything, can be done about it? If people have these essence defects, does this render them incapable of playing the Master Game? Does the inner work become actually harmful rather than beneficial to a psyche already teetering on the edge of dysorganization?

A few examples will illustrate the problem. Consider the case of Joe. He has a natural aptitude for music, could, if he really tried, be a fine musician. He also has a weakness for dabbling in the occult, has read whole libraries full of books on yoga, occultism, theosophy, magic, the Tarot. He has a history of drifting never holds a job longer than two months. His sex life consists entirely of liasisions with women old enough to be his mother, with whom he establishes a parasitic relationship. He regularly gets drunk, and when drunk, regularly becomes offensive. Has driven his car into the ditch, emerged unscathed and unrepentent, putting the blame on the road. Now he wishes to become a candidate for the higher life. He has applied to a teacher. Is he worthy to receive guidance and instruction?

Or here is Sue. She, too, loves the occult, religiously attends seminars at which mystical teachers of various kinds offer their recipes for the higher life. She drifts from one to another, tries a technique, tires of it, turns to another. She drinks too much, takes LSD whenever she can lay hands on it, smokes "pot" (as does everyone else in her circle), was recently arrested for possession of the weed and had to spend much money on lawyers to stay out of jail. She, too, now decides she needs a teacher, is eager to accept discipline and direction.

Or here is Willy. Willy is poetic, bearded, unwashed and dreamy. He has drifted around various college campuses seeking enlightenment but decided that none had anything to offer him. He writes poetry of teh "fried shoe" variety, practices asanas, now and then adopts the lotus posture and squats like a yogi at the gate of his favorite campus. Often he waves placards inscribed with words like "shit" and "fuck" to show that he is a rebel, but no one, including Willy, understands what he is protesting against. He eats peyote, smokes "pot", tried heroin but idd not become addicted. Now, he too, after adisappointing affair with a "chick" and a bad bout of Asian influenza, has decided that this will not do. He wants more structure in his life; he wants more discipline. He wants a teacher.

Or here is Sandra. One glance at her evokes Cythera and the "pale lost lillies" or drowning Ophelia and her trailing flowers. She is pale, underweight, her contact with reality is tenuous at best. She cultivates the type of arty "persona" that involves long, loose hair and feet shod in sandals or not at all. She dispenses both with panties and brassiers and wears sacklike mumus reaching to her ankles. She plays the samisen and even the sitar, all other musical instruments being either too obvious or too noisy. She composes "haiku", paints sumi-style pictues, has a boy friend as otherworldly as herself who dreams of entering a Zen monastary. She shares these dreams, influenced by the prevalent glorification of Nippon, which depicts Japan as a haven from Western worldliness, full of cherry blossom, flower arrangements and tea ceremonies, where, under sighing pines, smiling Zen masters politely guide their pupils towards "satori". Neither she nor her boy friend has money enough to get to Japan so they are reluctantly forced to seek a "Master" in the West.

Any genuine teacher will immediately detect the essence weaknesses which have made these aspirants failures from the ordinary life standpoint. A teacher trained in the "tough" tradition would chase all four applicants out of his presence after sharply reproaching them for their rashness in coming to him at all. Such teachers insist that the methods of Creative Psychology can be used only by those who are already in good health and already successful in whatever life game they have chosen. They will declare that the Way is not for weaklings nor for dabblers, nor is it for misfits or "neurotics". They insist on stern practicality, absense of sentimentality, ability on the part of the aspirant to estimate correctly his inner resources. "If you have not the strength to climb some trivial hill, how can you hope to ascend to lofty mountain? Go back! Stop fooling yourself! This is presumption and stupidity as if a cripple were to set out to run the four-minute mile."

Other teachers make no attempt to warn ill-prepared applicants that they are undertaking something far beyond their strength. They accept the pupil with all his defects, with all his weaknesses, in a spirit of experimentation to see what will happen. They are willing to take chances, to accept the risk that a borderline schizophrenic, for example, may disintegrate completely under the additional stress imposed by the inner work.

Teachers trained in the "mild" tradition do what they can to protect the pupil from the effects of his own weakness, patiently picking him up when he falls, forgiving his failures, endeavoring, as far as possible, to do for him the work he cannot or will not do for himself. Such teachers, needless to say, are frequently regarded as saints. But adherants of the tough tradition reproach them with being altogether too sentimental, with a failure to provide the student with proper challenges, with misunderstanding that principle which states that one can no more do another's inner work for him than one can digest his lunch for him. By trying to make the Way easy, they declare, one merely enourages self-deception and laziness.

Happy Days,Judi

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