Chapter 17

The life in Peyreblanque

The lengthening days call again for visitors in Peyreblanque. So Eric stayed for a month, and helped with the finishing touches for the temple. Eric is a young Dane who took a year between his studies and his future work, to feel the atmosphere of the most diverse European groups. He is astonished to see French public and administrative life passing by without taking advantage of ecology, whereas he intends to apply it in his professional life. He even includes this year of visits in his training. Eric was, like many, a vegetarian without really being one. Yolande and Hélène's patient explanations for a world without violence left him a little perplexed. A few months later, when he became a civil servant, he sent a missive to say that he had a luminous memory of Peyreblanque, whereas in a group of raw meat eaters he had been verbally assaulted all day long.

 

May sees the arrival of a whole family, the idealistic but weak father, the aggressive and stubborn mother, imposing her educational conceptions based on instinct. The two elders had become real little thugs, and the third clings to her father, because her mother hates her for some unavowable reason. The father, aware of the destruction, tries to amend things, but the mother systematically thwarts him. He would like to give up this bad companion who betrayed him, who betrayed the life that she carried within her. But if he leaves, what will become of the children? He knows that sexist judges would «give» the children to the mother, regardless of her conspicuous inability.

Is he really him the weak, he who keeps his course under the injuries and bad luck, or this woman who indulges herself without any restraint into all her psychological disturbances? If this man cannot make himself respected, at least he has the strength of soul. He is himself.

This family leaves thousands of francs in damage, broken windows, soiled mattresses and carpets, which the mother insolently refuses to pay, but the father does so in secret.

 

A couple, who arrived on the first of May, start with saying they are enchanted with nature, the mountains and all the birds singing. It must be said that the May in Peyreblanque is marvellous: before dawn the blackbirds open the pastoral symphony, relayed by the titmouses, thrushes and of course the cuckoos. It is a delicious aubade, in the humid perfume of still fresh nature. And the first of May is Labour Day, which in Peyreblanque is honoured with some enthusiastic collective activity.

The lady speaks all the time of Love, everything is Love, everything goes to Love.

«Well, let's go there too», cheerfully invites Gerard. Would you like to visit the mas?» In the garden and around, Oooohs and Aaaahs arise... But right in the middle of the temple, which floor is now almost entirely tiled by Helene, the lady starts whispering, in an overworked voice: «If I were at home here, you see, I would remove this false ceiling, in order to leave the exposed beams, and I would pass them in dark walnut stain, it is more natural, more in the old style, in short. This dome here, I don't want to disappoint you, but it looks intellectual in this place.»

The Peyreblanque dwellers look at each other, stunned, while Gérard, who worked so lovingly for this magnificent celestial ceiling, retains a definitively not intellectual reaction.

At meal time, it goes on and on:

«Ah, vegetarianism... What a beautiful ideal... Unfortunately, my friends, you have to understand the subtlety of the ecological balances that God has patiently adjusted for our wonder. You see, we must not see evil in the divine creation; each creature has its divine role to fulfil...»

Helen tries to reason with the lady, but nothing can stop the flood of unctuous tartuffery:

«I can assure you, I am totally sure they are not suffering... As long as an animal gives its life to ensure the ecological balance and the survival of its species, no, no, it does not suffer, no more than a plant. It is our intellect which projects suffering. When you pick a vegetable, don't you consider it may suffer, in its own way? This is because you do not hear it screaming, but believe me, you have to understand that this is unnatural.»

Gerard is starting to lose patience: «Do you think it is the same if I bite into your arm or in a gherkin?» Anita and the children refrain from giggling (In the French text, a gherkin is called a «cornichon», and this also means a stupid or obnoxious person). The «great lady» can, in her total insensitivity, allow herself to keep her false serenity, so he insists heavily:

«Mh... no, I prefer the vegetable gherkin.»

Yolande, with a big smile on her lips, makes a convened sign to Gerard: it is time to train into Serenity. «Ah», he says as he gets back into his chair. «We are going to serene, it really is the perfect time.»

 

Other visits are more interesting, like Jocelyne and René. He is a computer technician, she's expecting her first baby. They visit the farmhouse without much comment, then the garden and meadows where neighbours left a brown mare.

But in the evening Jocelyne starts to cry desperately: «My God! My God! How lucky you are! Oh yes, this is how I would like to live! What... How lucky your children are! This is what I always wanted, a world of peace... And Rene too, don't you?

- Yes, of course... This is how we met, remember?«

Rene and Jocelyn have an ideal, but they suffer from not being able to live it. Rene does not like his job. He would have preferred painting, alternating with an activity in nature, like farming. They met in a pacifist group, but soon they regretted not starting the World Peace with Peace of the Hearts here and now. So, for lack of anything better, here they are in their turn in a cheap council lodge... Coming to Peyreblanque? Children of the cities, anaemic, they don't know how to work, and René still smokes tobacco. He will try to quit... And also to cut down on meat and avoid the television to the children. Their week at Peyreblanque will remain at home as an escape to the Light, a guide and an encouragement to progress, wherever they are.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

June finally sees the long-awaited event: the consecration of the temple.

Everything has been carefully cleaned, even the entrance and the storeroom. They have furnished it with carpets, candles, an Earth globe, music, and some Christmas garlands which are as beautiful all year round. A perfume spray has already been in action for several days.

Peyreblanque and its friends are all together, plus an unknown visitor, Anne, an ecology activist who arrived the day before and wants to get an idea of spirituality.

Everyone has put on their best clothes, all in beautiful colours where white dominates. Once in the entrance hall, they close the outside door and collect themselves before opening the (padded) door which leads inside. Gerard guides, with that deep voice he has in the great moments: «We detach ourselves from all the daily preoccupations; in a few moments we will enter this place to dedicate ourselves to a work on ourselves in Harmony with the universe». Children are serious as only children can be.

Some perfume filters under the door which finally opens. The moment is truly moving for those who have been waiting for it for more than four years, but it is also moving for Anne who is attending such a ceremony for the first time.

The temple adorned with its finery is simple but very beautiful. In the centre on a small round altar shines a red lamp.

When everyone has settled into a circle, Gerard guides the ceremony. As his voice rises in a respectful silence, hearts are filled with the gravity of the moment. «We consecrate this place to the Spirit, to the Good. We consecrate this place to the purest vibrations. We consecrate this place to the highest ideal that God will give us. In this place we will work to become better, to purify our hearts, our souls and our intellects to become free beings, resonators available for the Harmony of the universe. Yolande will guide the first session of spiritual work.»

Once they are all lying on the mats, Yolande first guides the relaxation of the bodies, insisting, as usual, on the face and the muscles covering the skull. After breathing exercises, it is the relaxation of the consciousness, which must stop holding on to daily feelings and preoccupations. She then invites each participant to fill himself with pure vibrations, in the inner silence, and then she keeps silent for a moment to let each one free to use this time of meditation as he wishes: visualizations, exercises of inner silence, communion with the Divine Spirit, work on the body... Finally, she called everyone to return to daily life, where the concrete application of what they have received is awaiting for them.

They get up, their eyes still filled with wonder, and they go out. They find outside the joyful sun and the buzzing of insects. A rooster crows in the distance. Blinking a little, they look at each other, then they smile. Anne squirms, looking like she wants to talk, without daring. She seizes Yolande's invitation: «Well, uh... It was very beautiful... And above all very different from what I thought... I thought that spirituality was beliefs, abstruse exercises, but here, in fact, it is very simple, and above all, how can I say it? It joins things I already felt, but without understanding their importance... How can I explain that?»

Yolande commented, in a soft voice: «There is only one knowledge, which is accessible to all, as long as we look at it. It always finds a way to come.

- To come how? By telepathy?

- It is already within us. It doesn't need to come: we just have to silence our chatter, our role, and what has always been appears at last, no longer hidden. As you have seen.

- But what about God? For me, who had always been an atheist like a party official, it's a bit hard to swallow... I... don't think I can.»

This time it is Gérard who intervenes, a Gérard still full of lyricism, who has not yet regained his usual good-natured look: «What messes things about God is that we have made of Him a character, and even a character with a human psyche. Let us sweep away this false image, and let us allow this universal energy, this consciousness common to all living beings, to come, which we can call God, or, if this word bothers us, call it Cosmic Energy, Universal Consciousness... or Universal Knowledge, as you just saw. This is what the Prophets were talking about, who captured it. But of their misunderstood, belittled, mutilated word, we made the religious conceptions, which are only the wrapping paper of the original light.

- I don't know... Anyway, I felt good, I felt like I was rediscovering something both exciting and familiar.»

Anne will spend a few more days with them at the farmhouse, without resuming this discussion. But a small light remained in her eyes...

 

 

They did not much talk again about the strange way Brigitte had reconnected with Peyreblanque. It is not from lack of curiosity, it is that, deep down, it seems natural to them. Extraordinary, of course, but natural. Also, a kind of modesty keeps them from evoking these moments out of the ordinary world, that Brigitte had the privilege of experiencing. Or only on certain quiet evenings, when the conversation is free to go into deeper topics.

Brigitte herself wonders what peculiarity her destiny may present, to enjoy the fabulous privilege of an evening with Yanathor. Oh, how she would be disappointed if he never came back! She knows very well that UFO manifestations are elusive, like those marvellous dreams which awakening deprives us of the end. Sometimes she has an awful doubt: this experience would not make sense, would have no continuation, it would let her languish forever, after having kindled such hopes in her... Or worse, if she does not meet some mysterious expectation...

As Yanathor promised, she remembers these prodigious moments perfectly, in the smallest details, with all their emotional intensity. Better still, details or nuances of feelings come back to her memory, which she had not noticed at first sight. For example, she has her eyes riveted on Yanathor, but she is aware of the expressions of Auranaia behind her.

How do you explain Auranaia's vision? As immaterial as a light in the form of an angel, and yet so intensely present, so warm and so alive! Her dress is not made of fabric, but of pure colour, radiating from within. Her jewels have no dimension; they are coloured stars, they have their piqué, their luminosity. Her flesh... is not flesh, it is pure vibration, pure human warmth, pure Love... Do these marvellous beings vibrate in the registers of bodily love? Brigitte has noticed nothing in this field, although these spacemen are undeniably virile and very beautiful, and the women are exquisitely feminine. So what?

Brigitte, dreamy, goes to meditate in the little sanctuary in one of the corners of the temple. It is a tiny room which ceiling is also a small dome made of dark blue glass, lit from above. The effect is striking: this ceiling radiates light without any apparent source. The resemblance with the rooms of the ship is even more striking than in the temple. There is only a small carpet and a tiny altar, with a red light eternally lit to testify to the presence of the Spirit. In this world so blue, the red dot takes on a surprising vibratory intensity, which exalts the blue even more, by contrast.

Brigitte loves this intimate place, where, alone with herself, she can commune with all the souls of the universe. What a wonderful gift to consciousness meditation is! In this tiny, quivering temple of the Sacred, it is much easier to concentrate and let the luminous flower of consciousness blossom. Ah, how simple and beautiful everything seems to her! How easily are unravelled these paradoxes which so much divided philosophers and moralists! The world and life shine with clarity, Simplicity, Accuracy... It is the same state of grace that she first encountered at her grandmother's house, but stronger, and above all much better defined and easier to reach.

 

 

Brigitte takes stock. In a few days the first trainees will arrive. The people of Peyreblanque are impatiently waiting for these intense moments of sharing and communion, while at the same time being somewhat apprehensive about them: agitation, problems which keep coming back...

With the new visitors, they have to explain the same things over and over again, and to put up with always the same character defects. In spite of this repetition, no weariness seems to take hold on the farmhouse. The people from Peyreblanque say «Those who have understood, those who have evolved, those who have learned.» They see all the good they do. Visitors leave with a little less of their ignorance, faults or doubts, and richer in enthusiasm and joy.

Brigitte also sees the results of their work on themselves. Gerard is still full of fire, but calmer, more constructive. Especially since he was able to build this temple. This enormous accumulation of positive karma seems to benefit him already: he is more serene, deeper; even his face reflects this, gentler and stronger in the same time. He no longer has this pout of contempt which often darkened him, when Brigitte met him. Hélène is less anxious, more open, more communicative, deeper. Marc and Yolande are more mature, more solid. Them who always lived in the vain artificiality of the city, have succeeded quite well in making the transition to the real activities of nature. Only Yolande experienced some difficulties, that she mastered herself, thus increasing the strength of her radiance. Here she is, in a denim pant in the garden, her jet black hair held back by a celestial blue scarf, her nose in the carrots to be weeded. As you approach, she raises her head and suddenly stabs you in the eyes with her magical gaze. Whether you like it or not, you get into the spiritual life!

Brigitte also remembers how far she went on her side, since she was an unhappy teenager who tried a tennis club without believing in it. Well, she still is somewhat angry when someone comes and tells her nonsense, but she is not as quick to condemn as she used to be. She realized that it is through a warm complicity that people open their minds to what we have to tell them. In the slightest judgement, they become defensive and the delicate communication is broken. Contempt for people who are wrong only drives them deeper into that wrongness. To help them, we must be able to offer them a cocktail of friendship, Sincerity and Humility... Where a discreet but essential ingredient is to be ourselves, to be coherent between our ideas and our way of life. To get people enthusiastic by our example, by our coherence, by our joy.

 

Obviously, if we undertake the fight against a specific problem, for example one of our character defects, we have little chance of obtaining an immediate result. Often it even exacerbates it! But little by little, without thinking about it, through patient exercises, in life situations or during persevering meditation sessions, then the defects recede, return to acceptable limits. Over the years and stages of life, progress can become important.

Brigitte is well aware of this, when her own consciousness had broadened in larger and larger circles. The personality is not following as quickly, but this is not a problem so long as we do not try to hide its defects. And even the character can ripe in a spectacular way. Brigitte remembers her student life, when she thought she was better than the others, for some sketchy political principles. She judged and condemned, the perfectly conscious on one side, and the reactionaries beyond redemption on the other side. But now she got accustomed to meet all kind of people, young or old, of any philosophies, of every of all social condition. She is no more judging: she sees the good in everybody, and she is happy of this. She is still upset with the bad, but not so much than before. This should arise compassion in her. Ok, Brigitte can be satisfied with the advance she got. What is done is done, and at least she is certain not to fall again in the mistakes of the past. But not everything is accomplished, and by far...

 

 

 

 

Here are the trainees for the lessons. Some cars arrive in caravans, others isolated, between some appointments at the railway station. It is the cheerful animation of the arrivals, of the friends who get together, of the bedrooms which are distributed. Brigitte is moved, because three summers earlier, it was her who arrived like that, her blond hair all ruffled with sun... How time has passed!

The first lesson of the summer is for the students of the yoga group. It already is a tradition. Some of them remember Brigitte when she was in town. They all are happy to see her here, especially the ones in the group who prayed to free her from Frédérique!

After the kisses, the bags we take down, it is the exclamations in the gardens, in the meadow above. They will visit the temple, as a ritual, only for the first working session. A second, larger consecration with the whole group is planned, and a richer ceremony with flowers, fruits, clothing and songs.

With all these people buzzing in the corridors, exclaiming and laughing, the mas suddenly seems too full. It is warm, and also very involving!

You have to take care of all these people! The lavender-scented sheets have been waiting on the beds for three days already, and they have to cook food for everybody.

Peyreblanque has adopted an organization. Usually everyone does a little bit of what they want, in the workshops or in the kitchen, as needed, and everything goes well. But during the workshops, this is no longer possible.

Of course Marc and Yolande are taken full time by the courses. Them who usually are discreet and kind, become radiant masters, teaching an entire room, guiding, correcting their students. Gérard and Hélène cannot claim the title of teachers, but they have Sensitivity. Under the direction of Marc and Yolande they can rectify a posture, find a muscular blockage, give massages. Gérard makes the women sigh, and Hélène takes care of the men. Definitively not a matter of sexuality (completely banned at such times) but simply a question of polarity, of energy. For those who would be embarrassed, they do differently. Outside of the classes, Gerard and Hélène take care of the gardening (for those who do not know it) and the discussions. Above all, Gerard has no equal when it comes to games. Spiritual and formative games, of course. Gérard and Hélène are the jokers, the dowsers of energy, who sing songs during the meal and find ways to get everyone to happily participate in the washing up of the dishes.

Then who is left to cook, clean up and look after things? Anita has been doing it for five years. This year Brigitte is doing it too. At first she is a bit panicked. But Anita is guiding her. Anita proves to be a fairy of organization, humble and discreet service. No need to worry about anything: Anita is here, she already took care of everything. She can almost sense your needs in advance. Her South American background translates into a great ability to work silently.

Brigitte is used to see her in the office or in the garden. But she does not know her well. You do not notice Anita by her words, but her presence radiates the grace of things accomplished. Everything indicates her presence: a soup simmering, seeds to germinate for the salad, a basket of chanterelles, some perfume, the stove rumbling when you arrive, flower pots appearing here and there and wandering around as the days go by, the red tiles of the large room gleaming from the mop... Anita has no other project than to make herself useful to the ideal of Peyreblanque. She is not one of those creators who are only happy when the tangible, finished and definitive work passes to posterity. Anita loves what is perpetually to be recreated: the kitchen, the garden, feeding the birds... She takes pleasure in arranging raw vegetables in country bouquets, artistically arranging tablecloths and cutlery, elegantly raking paths and sowing the most unexpected flowers, meticulously decorating rockeries and arbours or installing bird feeders in winter. Soft vibrations of a lively and welcoming home...

She does not talk much, rarely discuss. It is difficult to get to the bottom of her personality, to enter into her mystery, as if she was keeping some secret inside her. But perhaps there is nothing hidden, perhaps she is simply entirely in her gestures, in her work, in the help and humble activity that she gives, in the warm aura that she distils around her.

Anita does not play any character, she has nothing to show or to make believe in. When she sweeps, it is just that sweeping was needed, that's all. She never talks about herself, rarely about her family, whom she visits regularly. Little is known about them, except that her real father died in mysterious circumstances in South America, and that her mother remarried another man, also quite singular.

In some ways, she integrates well into the old society, devotes herself to her family, dresses conventionally, is at ease in the city, juggles with secretarial work, accounting, administrative and legal regulations. But on the other hand, she can only live for a better world. Serenely ignoring profit mind and the temptation of money, she is as natural in the temple as she is in front of her accountancy.

Anita is one of those people who is loved even if you hardly speak to them.

 

The fourth course is the famous weaving course, which tools had fascinated Brigitte three years earlier. It is organized and animated by Parisians who are friends of Peyreblanque. Unlike the spiritual courses where each one comes to change his life, to get to the bottom of things, at the weaving course one remains on a form of friendly camaraderie, where communion is more superficial. Those of Peyreblanque do not seek to deepen it, because they know that it is useless if people do not do it on their own.

This does not prevent this course from being a joyful moment for its participants, apart from a few sad ones who grumble after the vegetarian menus. This provokes a lively discussion, where the other trainees recall that this choice on their part is voluntary and important, because for them weaving is not a hobby, but a step towards a more harmonious life closer to nature. They are so fervent that neither the animators nor the Peyreblanque people need to support them. It all ends very well, by the way.

Brigitte could not avoid to ask to participate. No problem at all. Charlotte, the hostess with the strong Parisian accent, is surprised that she knows how to do it so well. Brigitte manages to make an original and very pretty jacket, a beautiful sky blue, which we shall see her wearing until the end of this story. She will even be allowed to use the looms after the course, which is a great joy for her. She takes a lot of pleasure in weaving, but she also feels a kind of nostalgia, as of a lost paradise. Strangely enough, she feels several times as of a memory just about to awake, but no image comes back in her consciousness. She sings as she weaves. Only some technical details do not match her intuition.

 

 

Summer goes by like this, from workshop to workshop, one week each with some rest days in between. There is an herbalist's workshop, a natural medicine seminar, more an ecology group which organizes a gathering, half working meeting, half country party. Work and celebration, far from being incompatible, galvanize each other.

On this topic, there is a big discussion, everyone together, ecologists and Peyreblanque people, about money. Or more precisely «What economy for an ecological society».

To their great surprise, all of them who vomit on the profit system, ecologists or yogis, they all find themselves equally unable to propose another one, which would be in the same time simple and user-friendly, and free from any manipulation or cheating, without the need for cops everywhere, as they say. Well, of course, the economy will have to provide access to resources for all, without waste or parasitism. But how can we guarantee its proper functioning without requiring the intervention of «wise men» or gendarmes at every turn against possible profiteers, cheaters or exploiters of all calibres. Distributive economy, Marxism, kibbutz, all are excellent on paper, but they all need a police force against profiteers, otherwise they are doomed to failure.

Suddenly Brigitte's voice, which had not been heard until now, arises.

«There is no solution for what you are looking for.»

A reproving hubbub responds to this seemingly pessimistic remark. She is asked to explain herself. She is embarrassed, because finally she finds difficult to put her idea into words.

Brigitte: «No, no, that is not what I meant: there are solutions, but you have to do some spiritual work first.

- Yes, but we are not like you yogis, who put our heads down to see the world right side up.

- If I put myself in a lotus, after a while I get sore all over.

- If we want to know what she meant, we have to let her explain, otherwise how can we...»

 

Fellow readers, take a little aspirin, as you are going to experience the typical atmosphere of an ecologist meeting at that time. I hope they have progressed since then.

Brigitte: «How can I say... Economics is about giving and receiving from others.

- It is all about exchange.

Brigitte: - No, this is exactly what distorts everything. On one hand, there is a need to receive certain things, like food, and on the other hand, there is a need to participate in collective life. For example, an engineer will do it by making calculations, whereas to eat, it is the farmers who...

- ...give the food in exchange for the calculations.

Brigitte: - No, not at all: I chose this example precisely to show that it has nothing to do with that. What do you want a farmer does with calculations? He is not going to use them as fertilizer for his potatoes! We would fall back into barter, which has been abandoned precisely because it is not practical at all. Since we wanted to remain in a system of exchange, we replaced barter with money. But we must understand that what a person needs and what he can produce are generally two completely different activities, and that there is no reason to make them interfere.

- But there is, because otherwise there would be cheating.

Brigitte: - Ah, of course, it always comes down to that. Well, do you agree that if there wasn't a mentality of cheating, there would not be any need for money or any kind of control?

- But that's obvious.

- Of course everybody knows that.

Brigitte: - No, you don't get it at all. Economics, from a person's point of view, is about giving and receiving. Okay. But who usually governs these kinds of actions? THE EGO! We need to seriously consider what is egocentricity. If there is a pie to be divided in ten, you get a tenth of the pie, but egocentrism makes you hungry for the whole pie. If there is a flower in a field, the real being admires the flower, the egomaniac picks it...

- How, how, are we not allowed to pick flowers anymore?

Brigitte: - Well, it is okay, in Japan there even is an art of the bouquet. But understand what I mean: egocentrism appropriates, exploits, it wants everything for itself. It is the primordial illusion that ME is not subject to the same laws as all the other beings in the universe.»

Gerard is standing there, curious to know what Brigitte is getting at. If she seems so sure of herself, in spite of her explanations interspersed with silly criticisms, it may be because she knows something? Obviously, these ecologists don't know about Yanathor. But Brigitte may have figured out a lot of things from her interactions with him...

- But the guy from the Third World who is hungry, he wants the whole pie?

Brigitte: - Well, in that case it is not his egocentricity, it is a physical need. He is not the one at fault, it is the other egocentrics who monopolize the food. You know very well that hunger in the world is because of meat in rich countries (Author's note: this was written in 1989. It was not a prophecy, but already well-known facts at that time)

- And a bit of propaganda for vegetarianism!»

Gerard starts looking at this guy who interrupts all the time. «Jean-Marie, let her speak, otherwise how else can we understand her? She already has trouble explaining herself, and you are confusing her even more.» At this remark, Brigitte suddenly realizes that this Jean-Marie looks physically like this E. who was already sabotaging her old ecologists group, and even like this guy who always asked her to leave the court for the competition, when she went to the tennis club! Distrustful, she starts again:

«Where was I? Well, it is the egocentricity which confuses. Imagine at the end of prehistory: groups NEEDED each other's food, but they were too self-centred to get go their own, so the only reflex of these hunters must have been to fight. As it was painful, they may have limited these fights into singular confrontations, then to rituals, theatrical fights, as among the Indians or Papuans today, at the end of which the arrangement took place. Thus they invented barter, which is a SOCIALIZED CONFLICT. We go directly to the result of the conflict, without going through the physical fight. Such an agreement, once stripped of any ritual, is what we call a contract today. Barter is a COMPROMISE, a relationship of CONFLICT which has been ARRANGED, stripped of its physically violent character, but not at all of its EGOCENTRIC VIOLENT MOTIVATION of everyone for himself! The guys had to rely on each other, but they could not find the real solution: Mutual Aid. They were left with a CONFLICT, DISGUISED in a social ritual: the exchange.

- Yes, well, what's the problem?» says Jean Marie. Brigitte refrains from answering him, and even from looking at him. But another one breaks out:

«How, you say barter is a conflict, when everyone knows that the ideal society without money is a return to barter?

B: - But NOT AT ALL! What nonsense! The ideal society is not the society without money, it is the society without egocentrism. The return to barter is exactly what technocrats belittle as wanting to return to the past. And they are right about that.

- Would you keep the money? But I'd...

B: - Well, in transition, maybe, but without egocentrism, what good would it do? But let us not be so hasty. Well, after the barter, there was the money which simplified the exchange.

- But they still were exchanges.

B: - That's it! That's the whole problem: tribal rituals have been eliminated, technical improvements have been made, money, laws, written contracts have been made, but in essence we still are in this implied conflict, this mutual distrust. If, in a relationship, everyone asks for guarantees, it really is because there is no trust, is it not? Otherwise there would be no need for paperwork, signatures, and no need to count what we give.

«In fact, the whole economy has remained a matter of egocentricity. This is why there is exploitation, theft, deception. Some people act illegally; others abide by the laws, but the principle remains exactly the same: how to take the maximum for oneself while giving the minimum to others.

- Not everyone tries to cheat their neighbour, still.

Brigitte: - No, of course not, but very few people are really capable of giving themselves wholeheartedly to a stranger, or even of receiving from a stranger without thinking he is an idiot. Would you just give a book you have already read to your neighbour? Or when we give, we say it is charity, to clearly mean it is a concession. Basically, in spite of all our fine speeches, when it comes to GIVING or RECEIVING, don't we act with others as if they were only RESOURCES TO EXPLOIT, or even ANNOYANCES?

- ... Well, once we went to help at René's vegetable farm... But it was for our co-op.

- I can't see that either.

- But then, Brigitte, how would the economy work without egocentrism?

Brigitte: - Well, it's simple. Everyone does his own thing FOR ITSELF. The farmer cultivates. The engineer calculates. The dressmaker sews. The mason builds. Nowadays a mason works for pay, without pay he stops working. But in the real economy, he works to house the future inhabitants, and that's all. He makes the decision himself to take on this work, he does it, and when it is finished he does what he wants, he chooses another job or not.

- But without pay, how does he eat?

Brigitte: - What is the relationship with masonry? Eating is a completely different activity. The farmer is the one who takes care of it. He grows, he sees what is needed, so he plants potatoes, apples, wheat, he harvests them and distributes them, among others, to the mason. The same goes for the dressmaker, who makes clothes for everybody. Everyone sees what is needed, and decides to work to satisfy who needs it. In a society there are all kinds of skills and availabilities to satisfy the variety of needs for food, transportation, housing, culture, science, etc...

- But it's going to take a lot of computer science to remember who...

Brigitte: - Computers? Why do you need them? There's nothing complicated, nothing that is not immediately accessible to everyone. Everybody looks at what is needed, and decide how they can make themselves useful, at their own level. This is the most essential freedom, the one of a responsible and concerned person who chooses his or her own way of integrating harmoniously into a society, a society which itself respects and supports all its members. You know very well that people are prevented to work with unemployment, that their work is squandered on nonsense, armament, paperwork and so on. In reality we only need to work one or two days a week, and the rest of the time would be available for art, science and other activities. If people got rid of egocentricity, there would be almost no need to change anything else in society to make it run properly: the farmer would keep ploughing, the bricklayer would keep laying bricks, the dressmaker would keep sewing.... But instead of doing it for pay, he would do it out of a spirit of service, out of mutual aid. The wages, the bank accounts, all this would become useless and would be forgotten.

Jean Marie: - And the arms manufacturers, they would continue to...

Brigitte: Oh don't be stupid! You know I didn't mean that! If people were not enslaved by their egocentricity they would not work to their own loss!

Jean Marie: - But everything is linked...

Brigitte: - That is no a reason to mix them up.

- Okay, but you've forced opened doors here, Brigitte. Everybody knows that if people acted in a spirit of Service, without ulterior motives, everything would be fine, that there would be no injustice, no theft, etc. What good does it do to say that?

Brigitte: - Well, the solution: to eliminate egocentricity. Very simple and immediate means, guaranteed results.

- But the people they won't...

Brigitte: - That, my friend, is absolutely not for you to decide what people will do or will not do. If they decide to do it, you can't stop them; if they don't want to do it, you can't force them. All what we can say is that if they do it, then they will have a fair economy, without exploitation. If they don't do it, then everything will stay the way it is. But in that case, there is no point in complaining, not of the thieves, not of the cops. It is a matter of consciousness, and no system, no outside organization can solve a problem of consciousness».

A dubious silence greets this sentence, as when one finds oneself at the bottom of the wall to build, and there is no other solution than to assume, or to cowardly escape...

Gérard laughs in himself: Yes, Brigitte has forced open doors, but she went all the way to the end of this string of open doors, where no one ever dared to go. And here she is brandishing the key to problems that were thought to be insoluble... She goes on, with an increased energy:

«Any final solution will pass through one point, and only one, but a mandatory one: the suppression of the spirit of personal gain, of selfishness. It is a famous paradox that it is precisely this spirit of personal profit which proves to be the main, if not the only obstacle which blocks our freedom and prevents us from satisfying our legitimate personal needs and aspirations! This is a good example of karma returning. Instantaneous. And unstoppable.

- Yes, but the managers and the government, they...

Brigitte: - NO! There are only a few thousand great managers and politicians in the world, not even as many as Guajiras or Papuans, and their group rituals are not even funny. The people let themselves be manipulated by their psychology. If we awaken our consciousnesses, then there is no more psychology, therefore no more domination, and therefore no more good places to dominate others. The people have much more power than any big company, but this power remains inoperative as long as it remains dispersed among all these egocentres who each pull the covers to them.

- But how can we pool this power? How do you get people to make one big political party?

Brigitte: - No, not like that. It has nothing to do with joining a system, or forming a new clan. It is just about doing something together. To really do it, without playing a role in doing that thing. It is about people helping each other, having activities, culture, workshops. The point is not to have a card in any organization, it is to have a COHERENCE RELATIONSHIP by being in the same SPIRIT OF CARE. For this, we need to trust each other, therefore TO BE SINCERE and above all to have the same basic VALUES: Peace, Ecology, Respect for all life, Harmony and Poetry, etc...».

Brigitte looks at her audience and finds nothing to say. The contradictor makes mines and pff pfft, hoping to attract attention. Yolande is sitting in lotus position on a carpet, Gérard is doing the acrobat between the back of a chair and a table corner. They are not used to this kind of speech either. For them the suppression of egocentrism is essentially a spiritual exercise, and they thought little of its usefulness in practical matters, nor of the considerable power which would result from it. Yolande speaks:

«In short, you are telling us that all current social and economic problems come from people's egocentrism, and that if they suppressed it, they would be able to achieve a fair economy, which could easily be mastered at the grassroots level, with just a little stock management. A kind of direct and user-friendly democracy. But with egocentrism, there is no simple automatic solution as we were looking for earlier.

Brigitte: - Exactly. With Mutual Aid, it always is easy to reach a viable solution, a balance which works and which lasts. With egocentrism, on the contrary, whatever the system, we always tend to move away from this balance, to end up in situations which are completely unbearable. Or else we need cops and state intervention all the time.

Yolande: - It is very curious, because, as you know, the suppression of egocentricity is one of the major axes of spiritual awakening. But I never thought about what would result in economy.

Brigitte: - The effects are even more radical.

Yolande: - As Jean-Marie was saying earlier, everything is linked, much more than we think. In fact, we cannot expect Justice or Social Peace without spiritual work. Where most people stumble, is when they look for the origin of their problems in others, instead of finding the evil in themselves.»

There is some brouhaha welcoming this Wisdom. It is that we need some time to assimilate it. But this is not the concern of the contradictor, who then goes on: «But how will you remove their egocentricity, then?

Brigitte: - How can I do away with all the egocentrisms? And how will you do that? That is not possible. Even if it were possible, for example, if I could take your egocentricity out of your head with a screwdriver...

Jean Marie: - Ah, never try that!

Brigitte: - ...you wouldn't let me do it, then. The only egocentricity I can undo is... mine.

Jean Marie: - So this is what I was saying: people will not do it.

Brigitte: - BUT FINALLLY people are free, yes or no? If they want to get rid of their egocentrism, it is not you who will stop them.

Jean Marie: - No, but they won't.

Brigitte: - If they want to do it, they will, whether you like it or not. That's the point. Some people are starting to do it. In order to think each of us on our own side «What can all the little others do for ME», we must think together «What it is good to do in order to participate in us humans».

To these words Jean Marie makes a deep grimace… (Today 2022 he denied all his pseudo-spiritual ideals, showing bare his deep misanthropism)

 

The next day finds Jean-Marie in the garden. Not to help as you would think, but to explain Yolande that we must not spade, and even less weed, because these are profoundly unnatural gestures. Yolande, instead of getting angry, finds there the opportunity for a traditional Yogic exercise of Serenity, called satsang, which has the property of sending back everything we receive, Love or aggression, Enthusiasm or discouragement. In other words, Jean-Marie must have suffered that morning, without being able to blame anyone but himself.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Autumn brings back to Peyreblanque its calm and intimacy, while waiting for the next sessions, All Saints' Day and other holidays.

Gerard, after these years of hard work at his temple, devotes himself to various smaller jobs in the house, which have been waiting for a long time.

But first of all he has to keep a promise to his children.

He has to enlarge their tiny domed house.

How can this be done without demolishing everything?

Gerard has his idea.

He begins by having the children dig a small trench all around the small building for the new foundation. This is a careful job, because the grass and flowers growing around it must not be damaged. They are doing very well. It is no wonder, since they have not spent their lives slouching in front of a TV. When it is finished, Gerard pours some wheelbarrows of concrete with three twisted irons to prevent the future construction from splitting and taking on water like the first one did.

Then three small forms are needed, one for the future door and two for the windows that the first house lacked. Simone is in charge of this: this is not her first carpentry either, but this one has curved shapes!

Joël and Fabien get impatient, when their turn comes. They pass a layer of sandy clay over the old dome, which will serve as a release agent. It is the old dome itself which will be the inner mould for the new one! They put the three small forms in place.

Then Simone passes a first layer of mortar, and the next day the wall itself is mounted, in successive layers of clay. A quantity of old ropes impregnated with liquid clay, one every five centimetres or so, is included in two layers spaced out in this masonry, which is about twenty centimetres thick. The windows and the door have small canopies, where more strings are put, in criss-crossed beds. Finally, a final layer of mortar gives the exterior its resistance to rain. They took the precaution of placing old planks and plastics on the grass, so that the splashes do not clump together.

The next day, the formwork is taken out and the rounded parts of the doors is finished with mortar, not forgetting the drip moulding on the canopies. Finally, a white cement milk is brushed on, coloured in blue using a powder found in masonry stores. As soon as it holds, they need to shelter it with a plastic, and to water it with a garden mister, during one or two days, so that the setting of the thin coloured layer can be accomplished without the sun drying it out. The fine cracks which appear on setting are plugged by brushing the same mixture, very diluted, almost transparent, with a brush.

At last the children's game: to take down the old dome from the inside, which is easy for a clay construction. Once this interior is clean, it is also brushed with tinted cement, this time peach-coloured. It is so beautiful that you could smell the perfume...

One month later, the trampled grass has grown back, and once again the same larger, more beautiful, stronger dome stands up as if it had always been there. And in fact, if you pass by Peyreblanque today, you will still see it. Gérard contemplates their work, proud of his children who already know how to handle shovel and trowel to build something beautiful. He tenderly passes his arm around the waist of his blonde Hélène, who smiles at him, pretty in the pink dress she wears for the holidays. Both of them crawl on all fours into the little bubble to kiss each other, while the faces of their children are framed through the windows, laughing and applauding, always so happy to see their parents loving each other...

And we shall see them there, the children. Simone, alone, is already meditating there. Joël and Fabien play hide-and-seek there, or stay there for hours with some school books. They are so much better here, than in some dreary school room.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Autumn and winter pass with gentle activities, punctuated by some courses, less colourful than in summer, but also constructive. These courses during the year are welcome, for a whole host of reasons. First of all, the group that Marc and Yolande had left in town was dwindling, despite the change brought by two other teachers in a larger place. Then, their new formula alternates a morning of yoga exercises and an afternoon of concrete activities (garden, art, modelling...) which is an opportunity for a spirituality applied to everyday life. These more lively activities will now replace some of the games, which, however formative they may be, remain games. Finally, a third reason is that Peyreblanque cannot live indefinitely on family allowances and Marc and Yolande's savings. In spite of their aversion to the money system, the Peyreblanquais, alone against the atavism of all, are forced to accept a business activity. This gives Gerard desires and projects...

In the meantime, community and vegetarian life being by far the least expensive, Peyreblanque can, in spite of poverty, live in relative serenity and even acquire equipment such as a typewriter, a photocopier, tools and an airbrush for painting, which Yolande quickly handles like a virtuoso.

A room that Gérard and Brigitte just plastered is dedicated to the desire of Hélène and Yolande, Brigitte and Simone: a painting workshop, which advantageously replaces the small room formerly dedicated to this use. All what is missing is to open a window on the roof, which is done quite quickly, by simply removing a few battens, without touching the rafters, and covering this opening with a special unbreakable verandah plastic, correctly fitted between the tiles. The rest of the ceiling is generously padded with glass wool. Contrary to their habit of using pastels, they paint the walls white, for the balance of colours.

The women (since they are the ones who paint) are no longer satisfied with sketches on paper, they now throw themselves into dream landscapes on plywood panels, with languidly gradient skies (the airbrush) or portraits of free and happy characters, with big eyes of dream and Wisdom. Curiously, despite their rather different styles, they make a good team and manage to help each other.

After some time, they realize (and visitors tell them so too) that their production not only has a certain artistic value, but that it also offers an enthusiastic, very telling vision of a better world, a more spiritual, happier life. Even Simone loses her childlike style and evokes with a sure hand simple but masterfully composed landscapes. As for Brigitte, as a well-informed beginner, she first makes planets, then landscapes where flowers and fruits abound so much that we can hardly see the green anymore. In this exuberant and colourful Happiness nest small rounded domes where live colourful imps, dressed in pastel tunics and a large radiant hat.

During the Easter course, they make an exhibition in the large common room. What a wonderful idea! The trainees exclaim with admiration and comment on the naive works.

«Wow!

- Wow, the little guys are great there!

- And his darling, her hairs are of an impossible colour!

- Oh these wheat fields, we feel the vibrations of the Sun, of life, we feel as if we were in, better than nature.

- All these flowers, they are dripping with prana. You feel good just looking at them.»

Brigitte, on the other hand, does a lot of gardening, and more weaving. Little by little, she will dress all Peyreblanque with large woollen tunics in colours to match everybody: sky blue for Hélène and Gérard, a luminous midnight blue for Yolande, peach or dark purple for Marc, sky blue for Brigitte and Simone, orange with red patterns for Anita, indigo and peach for Joël and Fabien. These creations contribute to create a «Peyreblanque style» that visitors appreciate.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Gérard resumes his passionate discussions with Brigitte. «You say that one of the big problems of the societies in preparation will be to make moral choices. Which choices?

Brigitte: - Well, there are lots of them. Look, it is already starting, with the fiddling around with conception and birth, with all the other forms of crime like hunting or vivisection that people are less and less willing to accept. Same with meat, legal drugs, etc... Movements which reject these are an expression of a rise in the general moral level. Until now, debates of this kind are still excluded from the public place, but they will eventually impose themselves there and decisions will have to be made. The political and social life of the next century is likely to be animated by debates and contradictions. There will be so many, that people and governments will be fed up with them and will end up looking for a valid and general way to resolve them.

Gerard: - Yeah. It might indeed be painful, especially when the supporters of old criminality present them as expressions among others, and even as opposing values: democracy versus ecology, health versus Sensitivity, or whatever.

(Author's note: this was written in 1989. It wasn't a prophecy, but already well-known facts at that time).

(In 2019 I considerably shortened this text, since in the meantime I had written my book «General Epistemology». But it is indeed this novel of the Eolis which is the original publication. If you are interested, the original text of this long discussion is appended to this chapter).

«There should be an epistemology which is valid in the field of morality, of the Spirit, of metaphysics, and which can in turn be recognized by society, as science has been.

Gerard: - Ooooh! OoOh! OooOh! OooOh! What are you saying there, Brigitte!

Brigitte: - An epistemology which makes possible to discover things in these field, to understand them, and this in a way which is accessible and understandable by all, and indisputable, in order to lead to a moral and spiritual knowledge that can be understood and accepted by society as a whole, instead of being a matter of personal opinions or power balance!

Gérard: - Boy, that would go a long way, something like that! But how could we do that? A kind of spiritual science?

Brigitte: - Yes, of course. We must already start from the premise that there is a Truth, that there is a clear and identical answer for everyone, to questions such as «Does God exist?» «Is it acceptable to have an abortion?» «Is the soul immortal?» «Is it true that we must love each other?».

Gérard: - Well, it is quite obvious: we must be able to access truths, otherwise we would not be talking about science.

Brigitte: - From the moment we set out in search of the Truth, we must always have the Humility to accept it when it arrives. The word «Humility» is often used in physics, and even more so in spirituality, as you know. It is indispensable to have the Humility to accept a possible truth external to our opinions, otherwise what a mess! You know very well that spirituality is a reality with its laws, its domains and its mandatory paths. It cannot be a matter of daydreams or arbitrary fantasies.

Gerard: - Then spiritual science should allow everyone to access this reality, this truth, to find the answer to any question he might have in this field.

Brigitte: - But be careful, these answers may be unexpected. But the same kinds of problems have arisen for physical science, and this did not prevented it from advancing by successive trial and error, and arriving at discoveries which would have been completely incomprehensible a generation earlier.

Gérard: - In short, scientific epistemology is what we learn from objectively observed experience. Spiritual epistemology is the sincerely lived experience which teaches us.

Brigitte: - Well done, Gerard, Nobel Prize of clear and concise formula!»

A joyful flame now seems to animate Gerard:

«Gerard: - Yes. In fact there is nothing very new in all this, except to talk about it in terms of epistemology, science, and exact science if we don't want to measure it only by Aristotelian logic.

Brigitte: - Exactly.

Gerard: - Well, let's get at work, then.»

Gérard concludes this discussion, which leaves him dreaming for several days afterwards.

 

 

Oh, they will talk again about it, spiritual epistemology. Gerard is hooked on it. But for the time being, it has to be said, it is an outline, an idea, that Brigitte herself could not make more consistent. Wise people, thinkers, will be needed to get to know it, and it will progress slowly, as long as a public supra-intellectual means of communication has not been perfected.

But Gerard's Enthusiasm was communicated to Brigitte, and also to Hélène. Gérard congratulates Brigitte and restarts her on it, as long as she ends up thinking that her personal reflections (to which she gave little value) could be of great help to Mankind.

«What if this is the mission Yanathor spoke me about?» She asks to herself. What a pity that he was so vague! To give her credit for the discovery? Is spiritual epistemology the basis of the science of the Cosmic Guardians? Undoubtedly, but it must be much more advanced than hers. Obviously the mind of these ineffable creatures is much more flexible than the earthly brain, more at ease with ethereal thoughts, outside of those heavy concepts, rigid shackles that the earthly brain finds so difficult to do without.

 

Once again, Brigitte has the feeling that she is only beginning to get serious. She who was a beginner, here she is expressing ideas which excite others, which light up lights, which propagate the flame of life. And even in others who are not beginners either.

 

Brigitte no longer recognizes herself so much in this bookish and speculative spirituality that so many people talk about in their living rooms. What she is discovering now seems to her to be another area beyond, where abstract preoccupation become a powerful and rich experience. Ah what a pity, the world is not yet ready enough for us to talk about it freely, otherwise what happens to Brigitte is exciting. The energy! What was for her only an object of visualization, which was propagated only in her imagination, now this energy spreads in her body in languorous, REAL waves, in pulses of pleasure, in delicious waiting, in slow radiations of well-being! It is a new and delightful life that pulsates and spreads within her, making her sometimes startle with pleasure and joy. Soon Brigitte will do what she wants with her different vehicles, body, energy, feelings, intellect. This is the reward for years of hard work with no apparent results. A beginner could not imitate her. A dilettante would have given up before. Yet accomplishing this is within the reach of anyone who is sincere with himself, who will accept the necessary work and commitment.

This energy that she will soon direct and transmute at will, this energy has the power to act on the body, on the nerve cells, on the subtle vehicles. It is the energy which marks the trace of nerve impulses in their labyrinths of neurons, it is the energy which shapes the spiritual body. If Brigitte masters the energy, then no inner problem will resist her anymore. Soon she will be able to dissolve the emotional knots, the toughest conditioned reflexes that the vicissitudes of life imprint in each of us. Even in the long run the appearance of her face will be affected, because our body, which renews itself slowly, reflects our inner state. What great power has been entrusted to her! She was certainly worthy of it!

But shh, don't tell anyone. Not even Yolande.

Ah! But if this is the spiritual life, what a marvel! To live with this unpredictable pulses of pleasure in her being, with a communicative joy in her heart, to be always ready to set the fire of desire, with her head full of light and Enthusiasm, under the unfailing blessing of the smiling Universe!

What purity! What fire! Gone are the grey shreds, the pitiful memories of Brigitte's little past life, they dissolve in the light, in the joy! How light and clear she suddenly feels, as if after a joyful inspiration!

Radiant light, ardent desire which expects nothing, which gives itself and loves!

How strong it is! It is the beginning, it has a fiery side, wild, a bit raspy as mountain honey, but it will stabilize later on in a serene Happiness, in an eternal light, in a Sun which sometimes has the fantasy of shining pink or mauve, but which never forgets to light up the garden!

Ah, there are some who call this sexual energy. Of course, people who only have that level of openness can only experience it in that form. Of carnal love, we would have marvellous things to say here, but, friends readers, one must still keep silent, not by the fear of censorship, but by the much worse fear of seeing our poetic and innocent remarks interpreted and soiled by the dirty eyes of pornography.

But in fact, the energy we are talking about is the Universal Energy of life, with its many and equally beautiful facets! It is the energy which makes us admire flowers and stars; it is the energy which makes us climb mountains and explore distant planets, it is the energy which makes us help the poor and defend the oppressed; it is the energy which makes the artist's brush quiver and the violinist's bow palpitate; it is the energy which makes us want to make babies and then to be touched by their smile; it is it which makes us seek, want to understand life and the universe, whether it is through communion with others, through science or through the spiritual quest.

The recent years events made it clear to us all, that it is the politicians who are hostile to sexuality who also practice economic restrictions and put brakes on scientific research. These three seemingly unrelated attitudes do indeed have a precise determinism in common, the blocking of the energy of life. But can the physicist's thirst for discovery on his synchrotron be described as «sexual»? The astronomer on his spectra? Or the ecstasy of the mystic? It is the same energy, but expressed through different channels.

Since the energy of life does not pass through any meter, that it is free, gratuitous and indefinitely available, nothing prevents having several channels open simultaneously. There is no need to repress one to animate another, nor to «sublimate» anything (i.e. rendering unconscious!); these are only perverse and destructive processes, which most visible result is to dry out the heart. On the other hand, it is possible to transmute energies from one form to another, and this is the whole spiritual Alchemy of life! It is then a conscious act, and there is nothing subliminal about it, I assure you! It is something quite different, which already requires a good experience in meditation, and must be accomplished in joy and Harmony. But it is difficult to speak about it in public until true sexual freedom reigns, the one which respects the poetry of our emotions.

 

What a pity that Brigitte has no lover! Suddenly the final scene of Yanathor's visit comes back to her memory. A whiff of coy shyness overwhelms her. Why did she dared to ask him this question? What was the meaning of his answer «We are taking care of it»? A love encounter cannot be planned. Not even the Cosmic Guardians have this right. But they could arrange a reunion.

Aaaah! This is clear now!

Brigitte has an unknown companion waiting for her somewhere!

What would he be like? Blond? Brown? Is he a master who will welcome her like a little child? Or will she have to take him on her lap and help him to grow up? Is he a tender, passionate person, a researcher, a gardener? Does his spirit dazzle in the abstract spheres of high mathematics, or does it find its fullness in harmoniously marrying rows of leeks and carrots? Does he have some rare quality, some strange destiny, or is he simply and wonderfully ordinary? Is he one of those blasters who come to shake human souls out of their torpor, or is he one of those discreet and silent beings whose presence only our heart notices?

But, well... With Yanathor, anything is possible! Don't forget he is an extraterrestrial, and who knows what he is going to bring us back from the deepest depths of space, with secrets only known from him. So many unimaginable visions are possible in these boundless expanses, so many wonderful, extraordinary, overwhelming life forms...

Who knows what really are these little imps that Brigitte has started to paint? Simone's idea. «Make me a little leprechaun, Brigitte,» the girl said, unsuspecting what she was about to trigger. Of course, Brigitte immediately imagined a little man, on an imaginary planet of course, abundantly covered with flowers, fruits and birds, each one more extraordinary than the other.

Of course, the little leprechaun is not alone. There is a whole village of them, bearded and hairy as one pleases, and of course there are as many nice little female, a little mischievous, to be poetically pleasured throughout the sweet blue night of this idyllic world, populated with mysterious birds, sweet sighs and tender moans. And during the day, all these little people garden, sew, build little dome houses a little crazy, with an inextinguishable Enthusiasm, on their planet of Light and Joy.

Brigitte, like everyone else, had fun fantasizing about her future lover. But now, she is so enthusiastic about this fantasy, that it has a singular resonance in her. Among the little elves, there is one dressed in indigo, a little sad, he is waiting. At night, he contemplates and questions the distant stars, in a fabulous ultramarine sky crossed by a golden arch (What can it be?) From time to time Yanathor comes to see him, to talk to him about Brigitte, and, without being really unhappy, he waits, he hopes, he asks about what is happening on Earth.

More than a fantasy, the little world of the elves takes in Brigitte's mind the force of reality. What is this world? Is it the planet that Mother Grand painted? And what is the pyramid under its black sky?

Yanathor must know.

But well, we cannot make an appointment with Yanathor.

Or rather, there is a way. To continue the spiritual awakening, and to continue to live it in the situation we are given to live in. When Brigitte is ready, then Yanathor will come.

 

 

*** Annex ***

 

 

(Here is, as explained above, the original text of the long discussion between Gerard and Brigitte on epistemology. Since, I developed this point much further in my book «General Epistemology», but it is indeed this novel of the Eolis which is the original 1990 publication).

 

 

Gérard resumes his passionate discussions with Brigitte. «You say that one of the big problems of the societies in preparation will be to make moral choices. Which choices?

Brigitte: - Well, there are lots of them. Look, it is already starting, with the fiddling around with conception and birth, with all the other forms of crime like hunting or vivisection that people are less and less willing to accept. Same with meat, legal drugs, etc... Movements which reject these are an expression of a rise in the general moral level. Until now, debates of this kind are still excluded from the public place, but they will eventually impose themselves there and decisions will have to be made. The political and social life of the next century is likely to be animated by debates and contradictions. There will be so many, that people and governments will be fed up with them and will end up looking for a valid and general way to resolve them.

Gerard: - Yeah. It might indeed be painful, especially when the supporters of old criminality present them as expressions among others, and even as opposing values: democracy versus ecology, health versus Sensitivity, or whatever.

(Author's note: this was written in 1989. It wasn't a prophecy, but already well-known facts at that time).

«And then, basically, voting on whether to abort or to hunt is as stupid as voting on whether the Earth revolves around the Sun. In morality as in science, truth is an objective thing that we discover with Humility, even if it is against the unanimous opinion of the rest of humanity. Truth is not a convention that can be decided by decree, not even by a democratic vote.»

«This is why people will end up wondering if there may be a quick and general way to find the moral solution to all these kinds of problems, and more importantly, to allow everyone to understand and accept this way.

Brigitte: - This is what has been done with science, in the material field. Look, before Galileo Galilei, physics, astronomy, representations of the universe, all were about dogmas, arbitrary beliefs. There was no notion of objective truth, but a dominant opinion that could only be maintained by blind faith or brutal force. Galileo was the first experimenter, with his inclined planes and wires of different metals. He was therefore the first scientist, the first to be able to discover, in the material realm, how things really are, by the force of observation and demonstration, and no longer by the force of the truncheon or of arguing. His method made possible to make an indisputable material truth accessible to all, valid for all, even for people who did not consult each other. From then on, it was only a matter of applying his method and discovering the world, which was done, with all which followed: the Age of Enlightenment, which formalized science, and then the Industrial Revolution, which applied its results in practice. What has changed with science is not so much that it has replaced horse-drawn carriages with space shuttles, but above all that each one of us now has a sure means of knowing the material, physical and technical truth, an indisputable means which everyone trusts and refers to, which settles and definitively closes any debate. And now there are state bodies which use a large part of the budget to carry out science, whether to solve problems of general interest or to play games.

Gérard: - Mmmh, I see. But some people have recently been fighting the notion of scientific truth.

Brigitte: - Yes, but not in a very convincing way, admit. I even find that very worrying, because under the guise of nature, or spontaneity, they are in fact attacking human intelligence, or even the very notion of truth. Let us bear in mind that truth, even if only material truth, is an infinitely precious commodity, that it is our duty to defend bitterly and relentlessly, sometimes at the risk of our lives. The only useful point which can be drawn from these criticisms is that material science will sooner or later have to admit its limitations.

«What I meant was that at one point an objective science, accepted by society and exact as a whole, appeared because an effective method was found that made it possible.

Gérard: - An epistemology, you mean.

Brigitte: - Oh, you know that word. You should not use this kind of vocabulary with Frédérique, he was quick to call you an intellectual puffed up with pride and cut off from society. Let us move on. This is what this means, epistemology: a method for seeing what reality is like. I have to tell you that when I heard about this stuff in 12th grade, I asked my philosophy teacher to bring me ten kilos of it from the market!

Gérard: - Ah ah! He must have been furious!

Brigitte: - No, he laughed, he was a serious teacher, but pleasant to live with.

«Well, scientific epistemology is all about rules, like for example that experiments must give the same results with different experimenters; that a hypothesis can only be considered right if concrete things happen as it has been predicted, and all what follows. And if you apply the rules, then you find out things. I don't know, I'm not a scientist, but I guess it's working well, with all the toys that we were given, the computers, the pictures of the planets and all that.

Gérard: - But how can we be sure that an epistemology is valid?

Brigitte: - Ah, we can't prove it. Nice paradox: we can't demonstrate scientifically that the scientific method is valid. If an epistemology does not work, we give up. If we discover things, or if we solve problems, if it's fruitful, useful, then it is an epistemology that works. And then we are not sure that those results aren't somehow incomplete or perverted in some way. The question is even open, as far as science is concerned. My opinion is that precisely, being limited to what is physical, material, then current science is indeed incomplete.

Gérard: - It has even got us into a big mess, with pollution, nuclear power and all that.

Brigitte: - Physical science, although exact in its field, is powerless to solve the simplest, most immediate moral or philosophical problem, not even the problem of the correct use of its own discoveries. Today's scientists prefer to remain shamefully silent, and let scientistists bawl after the «subjective», the «affective» and other insults (Author's note: In the story this was said in 1988). Look at the difficulties ethics committees have in making decisions which however are so obvious! They are said to be sold to medical trusts. But the real problem is that, even if they manage to say something right, since they are made up of people who have no moral or spiritual competence whatsoever, they are totally incapable of defending themselves other than by hiding behind some sort of vague «feeling» or other «freedom of opinion». (Author's note: In the story this was said in 1988).

«What is needed is an epistemology which is valid in the field of morality, the Spirit, metaphysics, and which can in turn be recognized by society as science has been.

Gerard: - Ooooh! OoOh! OooOh! OooOh! What are you saying there, Brigitte!

Brigitte: - An epistemology which makes possible to discover things in these fields, to understand them, and this in a way which is accessible and understandable by all, and indisputable, in order to lead to a moral and spiritual knowledge which can be understood and accepted by society as a whole, instead of being a matter of personal opinions or power balance!

Gérard: - Boy, that would go a long way, something like that! But how could we do that? A kind of spiritual science?

Brigitte: - Yes, of course. We must already start from the premise that there is a Truth, that there is a clear and identical answer for everyone, to questions such as «Does God exist?» «Is it acceptable to have an abortion?» «Is the soul immortal?» «Is it true that we must love one another?».

Gérard: - Well, it's quite obvious: we must be able to access truths, otherwise we would not be talking about science.

Brigitte: - From the moment we set out in search of Truth, we must always have the Humility to accept it when it arrives. The word «Humility» is often used in physics, and even more in spirituality, as you know. It is indispensable to have the Humility to accept a possible truth external to our opinions, otherwise what a mess! You know very well that spirituality is a reality with its laws, its domains and its mandatory paths. It cannot be a matter of daydreams or arbitrary fantasies.

Gerard: - Then spiritual science should allow everyone to gain access to this reality, to this truth, to find the answer to any question he might have in this field.

Brigitte: - But be careful, these answers may be unexpected, or even not accessible to Aristotelian logic. But the same kinds of problems arose for physical science, and this did not prevented it from advancing by successive trial and error, and arriving at discoveries which would be completely incomprehensible a generation earlier.

Gerard: - If you look at all religions, at the prophets, you soon notice that there are many points in common between them, whereas they often ignored each other.

Brigitte: - This proves that they all became aware of the same higher realities, and therefore that these realities have something objective. But each of them, in his own place, expressed them according to his own culture, or tinged them with his own mistakes, that's all. But here again, exactly the same problem existed at the beginning of science: the first scientists were isolated, each with their own concepts and vocabulary, even their own personal prejudices. The French Revolution had to start a collective and institutional work to put things in order. For spirituality or morality, we will probably go through the same process.

Gérard: - But how can we achieve spiritual objectivity?

Brigitte: - As in physics, through experience.

Gérard: - But instead of being the experience of the lab, it would be the experience of life.

Brigitte: - Yes.

Gérard: - That's not new, and everyone justifies the cruelest and most contradictory speculations with that.

Brigitte: - We have to be much more rigorous. This «everyone» you're talking about are in fact very different people, each one having put on his or her own blinkers to see of life only what confirms his own pre-established opinions. Thus one who lives full of aggressiveness will not pay attention to the sweet moments of shared peace, and he will say that life is frustrating, because everyone flees from him. One who lives by giving Love will rather see smiles, and he will find that life is worth living, despite its limitations. Not everyone has the same experience of life! For the result of this experience obviously depends on his conditions, just as in physics. Except that here it is obviously not about the external physical conditions, but about the internal conditions, the mentality, the degree of evolution of the person who experiences it. For example, a life experience which is externally the same for all, such as unemployment, will make one person's selfishness play out, the despondency of a second, the spirit of initiative of a third, or the solidarity of a fourth... with obviously very different results on their happiness and their concrete situation!

«This is what we could call the «experimental conditions» of life experience: who is the person, whether he is positive, open, or indifferent, rebellious against life, what are his basic concepts, his character, his degree of evolution. The external material conditions in fact count for little. For example, to suffer injustices will comfort the pessimist in a negative and egocentric vision of life, but will give more strength to the light of the good who trains to remain so in spite of adversity. This is understandable, but it must also be seen that receiving riches and favors will often have the same result: the pessimist will see it as a mere coincidence, and the good will take advantage of it to give from himself. It is indeed the state of mind of the person which determines this result, which is the true experimental condition, much more than the external material conditions. And if the pessimist wants to understand the good person, how he can be happy in spite of everything, it is not by putting himself in the position of a victim: this would only reinforce his own bitterness. He will only be able to share the experience of goodness by putting himself IN HIS SPIRIT, in his feelings, in his energies, REPRODUCEING THE EXPERIENCE OF GOODNESS TO HIS OWN, to see if it is indeed a better source of happiness than selfishness. These two externally identical experiences are in fact two totally different inner experiences, which cannot be compared: those of selfishness confronted with its own reflection, in the pessimist, and the one of gratuitous Goodness, of Love that gives itself, in the good person. In the end it is not even useful to cite external experience; we can only speak, for example, of the «experience of Goodness», in a general way, knowing that everyone, deep down, is confronted with the same external conditions and sooner or later receives injustices, rewards or any other situation in life.

«Experiential conditions are essentially WHAT WE ARE at the time of the experience. And it is only with identical EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS that we can legitimately speak of a REPRODUCTIBLE SPIRITUAL EXPERIMENT, in the scientific sense of the word.

«We must go so far as to put our previous opinions between brackets. They only parasitize the experience, and more often than not they cause it to fail: we interpret everything according to what we think we already know, we learn nothing, we see nothing. Until we realize that opinions are useless, that nothing is better than knowing.

Gérard: - That only experience can bring us.

Brigitte: - It is only if you put things in order that you can talk about similar experiences. Especially when you write a meditation guide text, this is where you have to make these conditions clear! Indicate in which precise inner state one must put oneself, say for example that one must make oneself receptive to such and such a vibration, that one must accomplish such and such inner gesture, etc.... And this is how all the great traditional rituals of meditation or initiation proceed. These rituals were precisely developed to share experiences, that is to say, to give them to be reproduced, under specified conditions (to speak like scientists) so that everyone can see what is really going on, instead of simply believing what the master says.

Gérard: - We are far from the vague daydreams of certain operetta spiritualists.

Brigitte: - Ah yes! But it is actually much more difficult than in physics or in chemistry. In these material sciences, people outside the experiment can control it, and even redo it independently, on their own. It is then easy to find an error or to confuse a bad-faith experimenter. But in spirituality, no such control is possible, since everything is within, there can be no witnesses. Each one must then try to reproduce the experience himself, in his mind, and see for himself what it is like. This is why, unlike the physicist, the person who embarks on the spiritual path cannot spare sincerity with himself, and if he invents a novel to comfort himself in some psychological bias or belief, he will be able to rely only on himself to get rid of it afterwards.

«In science, we can have a good confidence in what is published by the community of physicists (how else can we do it when an experiment costs more than the budget of a small country: no way to reproduce it in our kitchen!) In spirituality, on the contrary, the experience being into our mind, the approach is much more personal, and we must live all the experiences ourselves. On the other hand, in spirituality, experiences cost nothing... financially, but require a total adhesion of the person, on all levels, body, intellect, feelings, Spirit. We must devote our life at 100% to the Awakening, without any ulterior motive.

Gérard: - Lots of work in perspective.

Brigitte: - Well, it is much less complicated than biochemistry or quantum mechanics. But in physics, it is all about seeing things with our eyes. If on a dial, the hand is in front of the five, it takes a lot of bad faith to pretend that it is in front of the twelve! Such a lie cannot take, and it would immediately discredit anyone who uttered it! In spirituality, however, it is ourselves who are the eye and the needle in the same time. It is too easy to cheat, to tell stories to others and especially to deceive oneself. There can never be any spiritual science for anyone who is not objective with himself.

Gérard: - But... Precisely, this notion of objectivity applied to spirituality, it bothers me a bit: isn't it said of spiritual awakening that it is essentially personal?

Brigitte: - Of course. There are many reasons, in addition to the one I just said. At the beginning, physics also was a solitary affair, whereas nowadays it has become exclusively a matter of teams and even institutions. The reason is that spirituality still lacks a means of communication, a common vocabulary to name all what happens in it. The candidate must also learn to orient himself in his new perception, to eliminate illusions. Nothing beats personal experience, just like learning to swim or to ride a bicycle. So we ourselves are the instrument. No two people have the same personality. So it is normal that each one explores the spiritual world in his own way, with his unique instrument, and exteriorises what he has discovered according to his culture.

«But there is one thing in spiritual science wich can be compared with nothing in physical science. The spiritual world is a world of Magic, of Mystery, with a capital M, a world of Poetry and dreams, a game, an immense work of art, which essence totally transcends any rational vision of the world. You cannot fit everything into square boxes. To talk about it requires another language, lyrical and poetic, warm and vibrant...

«But there is no reason why the spiritual truth itself whould be «subjective». If there is a truth, then by definition truth is objective; there can be subjectivity only in the way to approach it. On the contrary, among realized beings, they communicate without hindrance, but of course in ways other than those of the rational mind. If spiritual awakening is personal, its result is, on the other hand, a new means of communication, the basis of a new science and a new collective life, unimaginable without it. Spiritual science is the discovery of the laws of life, to the exclusion of all dogmas, beliefs and speculations which are usually confused with spirituality. It is therefore just as objective as physical science, but with other experimental bases and a different logic.

Gérard: - But isn't «objective» just a concept of the mind, of rationalism?

Brigitte: - Ah, yes, of course. The rational mind needs concepts, logical rules. It would find nothing to cling at, in the spiritual experience. This is why rationalists see only dreams and fantasies, whereas what can be captured in spiritual experience is as objective as the material world, albeit in a more subtle way. Besides, «objective» is a valorizing word among rationalists and technocrats, who use «subjective» as an insult for everything they don't understand. In reality, these two values only appear opposites only to the dualistic thinking!

 

«In fact, anybody can attempt the spiritual experience, just as one attempts an experiment in chemistry. First of all, the conditions of this experience must be well defined. Here the experimental conditions are ourselves, the inner state we find ourselves in, our vibration, our adhesion to what is going to happen.

Gérard: - Humility, that is.

Brigitte: - Yes, Humility. Humility is not a masochist trick to devalue ourselves, it is on the contrary what guarantees that we shall live the proposed experience, and not some personal dream that we shall project on it. It is very logical, there is nothing arbitrary about all this, but a very precise path to follow. The most curious thing is that even so, the spiritual experience is unique for everyone. Words like «objective» or «subjective» are neither appropriate, in fact. The Spirit exists beyond concepts, but since we need concepts to think, then each one puts his or her own, on what he or she has perceived. This explains why the same spiritual experience has given rise to so many apparently incompatible philosophical systems, but whose underlying unity is recognized by the realized being.

«But unlike the physical experience, where we observe from the outside with our material senses what happens in a test tube, in spirituality we observe our own mind with this mind itself. It is going to be a matter of observing what is happening inside us, of living it, of being inside it, not being separated from it, while being perfectly aware that we are living it. In advanced meditations, this very duality disappears: the observer and the observation become one, there is only consciousness. Consciousness will even go beyond its individual limits and blossom into cosmic consciousness. The least we can say is that there is nothing like this in physics! It is hard to see a physicist becoming a neutron and perceiving the universe around him.

Gerard: - Ah ah! Yes, it wouldn't hurt, however, if for example the vivisectors themselves experienced what they make their victims endure.

Brigitte: - Oh, when that will happen to them, they will certainly make very rapid progress in morality.

«For the spiritual experience, you see what we should do: find a precise description of what a beginner goes through, which would serve as a reference to say «this is the beginning of the spiritual path, the conditions which must be fulfilled to have spiritual knowledge». But this is still difficult nowadays because of the lack of an adequate language.

Gerard: - A language which names all the things which can happen during spiritual awakening, referring to a perception of these things, just as concrete language refers to objects which can be perceived with the physical senses. A language which above all must be itself spiritual, no longer intellectual.

Brigitte: - Physical science itself had this problem when it was created. It too had to create its own language, based on the intellectual mentality, which at that time was a great novelty, poorly known and really not developed. For example, alchemists founded chemistry, yet their writings are incomprehensible to a modern chemist, as much by their vocabulary as by the mentality in which they were written. Chemistry in the Middle Ages was a secret knowledge for only a few, just as advanced yogas is today. But science, as soon as it became collective and public, was able to create its own vocabulary, its own concepts, its rational mentality, as it needed them to understand its discoveries. So much so that this vocabulary is now international. Why shouldn't spirituality do the same? After all, a Boddhisattva is a lot nicer than a neutron spin flipper, isn't it? And aren't words like «karma» already adopted in all languages?

Gérard: - What anti-spiritualists often reproach us, is that spirituality is abstruse and incomprehensible.

Brigitte: - Lack of common language, lack of common experience, obviously. The scientists should not be saying that, because if, for example, I asked them to prove the existence of the Z zero boson, like that, here on my kitchen, they would be much more annoyed than I would be if they asked me to justify the law of Mutual Aid. It is finally easier, these days, to become a saint than a Nobel Prize winner in physics!

Gérard: - Yes, no doubt. But you have to pay more of yourself.

Brigitte: - Even a saint doesn't have a special «gift» which places him above the common person. He simply practiced the appropriate spiritual exercises, which give you everything you need when you need it, without any other «effort» than to accomplish them regularly and sincerely. It takes Humility, or objectivity in relation to oneself, combined with a healthy dose of perseverance, of faithfulness to oneself. Above all, we must have a strong desire to do so. With appropriate methods one can do things which seem extraordinary to a layman, like those monks who smile while they are ⚠ immolating themselves by fire. It's impossible to do this with a tense and aggressive will, it just requires to control certain things inside themselves.

Gérard: - Another reproach against spirituality is elitism.

Brigitte: - Well, I've just answered that. The only elitism is, as I said, to desire it. Everyone is free to choose and to be on the right side. Nothing can stop us from doing so. On the other hand, someone who has done nothing in his life has nothing to reproach, and especially not elitism, to another person who has worked on himself for twenty years, and who now enjoys the fruits of his work. It is the same for material science: in the beginning there was an elite of scientists whose work was completely incomprehensible to the common person. Think of the Anticythera machine, dating from the Greeks, with more than ten gears to calculate the age of the Moon, the ancient electric battery found in Baghdad, or the steam turbines of Heron of Alexandria, from the time of the Romans. This technical knowledge existed, but because it was not understood by society as a whole, it led to nothing and it was lost. Nowadays spirituality is a bit at the same stage, and every time a realized being dies, all his discoveries and achievements are lost to society. History is waiting for a spiritual science to emerge in its turn, just as material science did. (Author's note: this statement was made in 1987-1988).

 

Gérard: - Good. All this is quite good. To sum up, if we imagine a government, for example of the twenty-second century, which would want to see what it is about spirituality, or which would find itself obliged to solve a moral problem, such as vivisection, well, they would have to appoint an experimenter, for example.

Brigitte: - Exactly.

Gérard: - He would disregard all his ideas, his administrative role, and everything.

Brigitte: - He would have to. But still he wouldn't disregard what he is himself, as a person, because the spiritual path starts from where we are, and uses what you are as material to build something else.

Gérard: - Well, he would be a disciple, that is what he would be. A beginner, then confirmed, if he can do it. I don't know if an order given by an administrative director would be enough a motivation to be enthusiastic about a better world, but they would find a solution.

Brigitte: - Ah ah! Yes, but it would still be a much less painful sacrifice than if he was asked to give his life to the war! If this odious sacrifice of death is «acceptable» for these gentlemen, why shouldn't the sacrifice of awakening to happiness be acceptable too?

Gérard: - The administration lighting the sacred fire, a beautiful time in perspective!

Brigitte: - Not impossible, not impossible, but not for us. Or maybe it will be because they will have invented something better than our bureaucrats. Well, and then the guy, once accomplished, at the end of the necessary years, would find himself saying «Such and such thing is moral, such and such thing isn't, such and such building project is ugly, such and such thing is good, or God exists and what a laugh when he looks at you». What a challenge, the first time this happens! But there will be many of these guys, and they will all say the same, whatever their opinions at first.

Gerard: - Yeah.

Brigitte: - And all those who don't believe them will be invited to live the same experience.

Gérard: - Exactly. And let's make it happen.

Brigitte: - And then, just as society has come to rely on science for the determination of physical and technical truths, it will rely on spirituality for all the moral problems, and the hunters, the boozers, the vivisectors and torturers of all kinds will be able to go to heck, just as those blokes who were believing in Flat Earth and other nonsense.

Gérard: - But, my little Brigitte, what you are saying here is far too much! Ouaaaaaaaaah!»

Gerard jumps and dances in Brigitte's little room, among skeins of freshly dyed wool.

«Yap Yap Yap Yippee! At last we would have the means for true freedom, instead of what they call «democracy». When do we start?

Brigitte: - Oh, you know, the way things are going, I would be very surprised if we saw it in our lifetime. No doubt it will start in the next century, only to really happen in another two or three centuries. It will probably take longer than for material science, because unlike material science, authentic spiritual awakening cannot serve any grotesque purpose. It is difficult to say, because history could accelerate, by unpredictable events, or on the contrary have painful regressions, especially because of the injustices in the Third World. Finally, ethics committees, however lame they may be at present, are nevertheless a precedent, a very first step in this direction.

Gérard: - Still, administration raising the Sacred Fire, I would like to see that. It will certainly not be the same administration as today.

Brigitte: - You will see it in another life, anyway. Maybe you will be one of the actors. The problem that our modest peersons are facing at the moment, is the hodgepodge of pseudo-methods of spirituality, of pseudo-alternative medicine, which are more and more swarming and drown the valid practices behind a curtain of nonsense. There is no general synthesis, no method, and anyone can come along with impunity, and present any personal opinion or arbitrary speculation as a «spiritual teaching» or as a «health method». Physical science has also gone through this in the past, but it no longer wants to recognize itself in this age. The very first job of a new epistemology will be to sweep in front of our own door. In the case of alternative medicine, it comes out of both epistemologies at the same time, since it aims to achieve concrete results, even when it is by abstract means. For the fields of the Spirit, I believe that, at least in the beginning, we will have to stick to the great traditions, especially Indian and Tibetan traditions. It has to be said that among many spiritualists today there is no real research: they repeat everything they have read or heard, because «it is spiritual», period. They don't check anything. This is probably why the current spiritualist movement has so little control over society; it will probably have to disappear in its present form to start afresh on a more solid basis. At least a new epistemology would make possible to verify all these spiritual teachings, and to finally draw the true and false from them.»

(Added in 2021: this, said in 1988 and written in 1989, is exactly what happened since)

Gerard mimics a frightened look at this apparently iconoclastic discourse: How can we verify the sacred teachings of the Buddha, verify the writings of the apostles, verify the rare and precious words of the gurus, as if they were mere speculation, as if we were just a vulgar inquiry commission of parapsychologists?

Brigitte laughs at the sight of him: «Oh, it is not a matter of verifying, for example, if Jesus did such and such a thing in such and such a place, we really don't care, and even if He did not existed, that would not change anything to the words he is credited with: Yes or no, can loving one another make life more just, more harmonious, more happy? Or can being a vegetarian in the manner of Pythagoras really suppress wars and diseases? These are the real questions. And the only way to answer them is to try. And it is not enough just to have an opinion: we have to try the experience, by living it internally, concretely, by adhering with our whole being, by making it our daily life in society, at work, in family. Only on this last condition will the experience we have lived be able to teach us and show us the Truth, the light, or, if need be, the error, the distortion.

Gérard: - If Yolande were here, she would say that the best way to know what Yoga is worth is to practice it.

Brigitte: - Absolutely.

Gérard: - In short, scientific epistemology is the experience observed objectively which teaches us. Spiritual epistemology is the sincerely lived experience which teaches us.

Brigitte: - Well said, Gerard, Nobel Prize winner for a clear and concise formula!»

A joyful flame now seems to animate Gerard:

«Well, but what you call «experimental conditions», as if it was a chemistry experiment, are basically all the qualities that the spiritual beginner has to cultivate in order to start progressing.

Brigitte: - Exactly: the Sacred Fire, or the burning desire for knowledge, the trusting respect of this knowledge or Devotion, sincerity with oneself, or Humility, Sensitivity, Letting go, that is to say, ceasing to want to rule everything in us and in the universe. The first thing to achieve is physical relaxation, the second is inner calm. Then comes meditation, which can be learned through simple physical or mental exercises. Meditation is then the basic means which will allow higher states of consciousness, visualizations, and all the rest. If one starts seriously, after a period of probation, one is guided into the invisible, and then epistemology itself is of little use.

Gérard: - Yes, there is nothing very new in all this, except that we speak of it in terms of epistemology, science, and exact science if we do not want to measure it by the narrow Aristotelian logic.

Brigitte: - Exactly.

Gerard: - Well, let's get to work, then.»

Gérard concludes this discussion, which leaves him dreaming for several days afterwards.