In Search of the Miraculous
Source entries are currently shown in Spanish; English-first entries arrive with the next cataloguing pass.
Se presenta como relato de una búsqueda declarada de antemano: «When leaving Petersburg at the start of my journey I had said that I was going to “seek the miraculous”», y el autor acota enseguida el término: «The “miraculous” was a penetration into this unknown reality» «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 5». Lo que buscaba eran escuelas, y lo dice con esa palabra: «whatever the name of the school: occult, esoteric, or yogi, they should exist on the ordinary earthly plane like any other kind of school» «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 7».
Lo que narra es el encuentro con un maestro al que nombra siempre con una inicial. Lo presenta como «a certain G., a Caucasian Greek» «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 8» y lo describe en un café de Moscú «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 9». De ahí en adelante el libro es, en su mayor parte, transcripción de lo que G. dijo en conferencias y grupos entre 1915 y 1918, con el hilo autobiográfico de la guerra, la revolución y la salida por el Cáucaso y Constantinopla «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · pp. 8, 321, 360».
El sistema que transcribe se articula en unas pocas piezas: el hombre como máquina que no puede hacer «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 23»; los cuatro estados de conciencia y el *self-remembering* «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · pp. 118, 140»; los siete números de hombre «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 73»; los cuatro cuerpos «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 42»; los cuatro caminos, con el cuarto como «the way of the sly man» «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · pp. 50, 52»; el rayo de creación y los siete cosmos «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · pp. 82, 192»; las leyes de tres y de siete con la tabla de hidrógenos «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · pp. 131, 169»; y el eneagrama, que se declara «the philosopher’s stone of the alchemists» «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 277».
Su relación con el corpus esotérico es de apropiación y deslinde a la vez, y las dos cosas están dichas. Cita dos veces la Tabla Esmeralda como fórmula operativa «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · pp. 174, 266», llama «our inner alchemy» a los procesos psíquicos «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 145» y lee la alquimia entera como alegoría de la fábrica humana «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 178». Y a la vez adjudica a la imitación casi todo lo que se sabe de escuelas «occult, masonic, and alchemical» «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 296» y pide al buscador que se desengañe del ocultismo «Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · p. 228».
107 claims · 2 sources · 1 attribution
Attribution
recorded, never asserted«Ouspensky — In Search of the Miraculous (1947) · pp. 3, 145, 253»
The chain of the work
the processed witness, in emeraldClaims
107 entries — the work's own voice, with its locator«I RETURNED to Russia in November, 1914, that is, at the beginning of the first world war, after a rather long journey through Egypt, Ceylon, and India.» — primera frase del libro; Ouspensky data y sitúa su regreso.
«When leaving Petersburg at the start of my journey I had said that I was going to “seek the miraculous.”» — Ouspensky declara el propósito que da título al libro.
«I already knew then as an undoubted fact that beyond the thin film of false reality there existed another reality from which, for some reason, something separated us.» — la premisa que Ouspensky declara traer consigo antes de conocer a G.
«The “miraculous” was a penetration into this unknown reality. And it seemed to me that the way to the unknown could be found in the East.» — Ouspensky define su término y su dirección.
«whatever the name of the school: occult, esoteric, or yogi, they should exist on the ordinary earthly plane like any other kind of school» — Ouspensky enuncia el criterio con que buscaba: escuelas terrenas, no legendarias.
«a group in Moscow which was engaged in various “occult” investigations and experiments and directed by a certain G., a Caucasian Greek» — así entra G. en el libro, ya como inicial.
«I saw a man of an oriental type, no longer young, with a black mustache and piercing eyes, who astonished me first of all because he seemed to be disguised and completely out of keeping with the place and its atmosphere.» — el primer retrato de G., hecho por Ouspensky.
«I think we spoke of India, of esotericism, and of yogi schools.» — Ouspensky recuerda así el tema de la primera conversación.
«There are schools which appear to make use of similar methods but understand them quite differently. A similarity of methods or even of ideas proves nothing.» — G., según Ouspensky, en la primera conversación: la semejanza externa no prueba parentesco.
«There are schools which make use of narcotics in the right way. People in these schools take them for self-study; in order to take a look ahead, to know their possibilities better» — G., según Ouspensky, sobre el uso de sustancias en escuelas.
«So you see that we must speak very cautiously about schools. They may do practically the same things but the results will be totally different.» — G., según Ouspensky, cierra el punto.
«Yes,” said G. “A great deal can be found by reading.» — respuesta de G., según Ouspensky, a la pregunta sobre la utilidad de la literatura ocultista y del Tarot.
«chief delusion is his conviction that he can do. All people think that they can do, all people want to do» — G., según Ouspensky: la ilusión primera del hombre.
«Man is a machine. All his deeds, actions, words, thoughts, feelings, convictions, opinions, and habits are the results of external influences, external impressions.» — la afirmación central del sistema, de G. según Ouspensky.
«Everything happens—popular movements, wars, revolutions, changes of government, all this happens.» — G., según Ouspensky: extiende la mecanicidad a la historia.
«But no one will ever believe you if you tell him he can do nothing. This is the most offensive and the most unpleasant thing you can tell people.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«According to an ancient teaching, traces of which may be found in many systems, old and new, a man who has attained the full development possible for man, a man in the full sense of the word, consists of four bodies.» — G., según Ouspensky: la doctrina de los cuatro cuerpos, adjudicada a una enseñanza antigua sin nombrarla.
«Immortality is one of the qualities we ascribe to people without having a sufficient understanding of their meaning» — G., según Ouspensky: la inmortalidad no se posee, se puede adquirir.
«On the way of the monk a man has a teacher, and a part of his duty, a part of his work, consists in having absolute faith in the teacher» — G., según Ouspensky, sobre la vía del monje.
«The way of the development of hidden possibilities is a way against nature, against God.» — G., según Ouspensky: por qué las vías son estrechas y raras.
«the religions of the West have degenerated to such an extent that for a long time there has been nothing alive in them. Various occult and mystical societies and naive experiments in the nature of spiritualism, and so on, can give no results whatever.» — G., según Ouspensky: el deslinde frente a las sociedades ocultistas de su tiempo.
«And the position would indeed be hopeless if the possibility of yet a fourth way did not exist.» — G., según Ouspensky, introduce el cuarto camino.
«The fourth way requires no retirement into the desert, does not require a man to give up and renounce everything by which he formerly lived.» — G., según Ouspensky: el rasgo que lo distingue de las otras tres vías.
«the fourth way affects simultaneously every side of man’s being. It is work ore the three rooms at once.» — G., según Ouspensky; «ore» es errata del reflujo del EPUB por *on*.
«The fourth way is sometimes called the way of the sly man. The ‘sly man’ knows some secret which the fakir, monk, and yogi do not know.» — G., según Ouspensky: el nombre alterno del cuarto camino.
«Man is a plurality. Man’s name is legion.» — G., según Ouspensky, sobre la multiplicidad de los «yoes».
«the chief feature of a modem man’s being which explains everything else that is lacking in him is sleep.» — G., según Ouspensky: el sueño como rasgo principal del ser moderno.
«A modern man lives in sleep, in sleep he is born and in sleep he dies.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«instead of the word ‘man,’ seven words are used, namely: man number one, man number two, man number three, man number four, man number five, man number six, and man number seven.» — G., según Ouspensky: la escala de los siete hombres.
«Man number seven means a man who has reached the full development possible to man and who possesses everything a man can possess, that is, will, consciousness, permanent and unchangeable I, individuality, immortality» — G., según Ouspensky: el término superior de la escala.
«Man number one, number two, and number three, these are people who constitute mechanical humanity on the same level on which they are born.» — G., según Ouspensky: los tres primeros números son la humanidad mecánica.
«The knowledge of man number seven is his own knowledge, which cannot be taken away from him; it is the objective and completely practiced knowledge of All.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«The chain of worlds, the links of which are the Absolute, all worlds, all suns, our sun, the planets, the earth, and the moon, forms the ‘ray of creation’ in which we find ourselves.» — G., según Ouspensky: el rayo de creación.
«According to this idea the moon is still an unborn planet, one that is, so to speak, being born.» — G., según Ouspensky: la luna como extremo creciente del rayo.
«In the economy of the universe nothing is lost, and a certain energy having finished its work on one plane goes to another.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«The seven worlds of the ray of creation represent seven orders of materiality.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«But besides ordinary chemistry there exists another, a special chemistry, or alchemy if you like, which studies matter taking into consideration its cosmic properties.» — G., según Ouspensky: la primera de las siete páginas donde el libro nombra la alquimia.
«The earth is a very bad place from the cosmic point of view—it is like the most remote part of northern Siberia, very far from everywhere, it is cold, life is very hard.» — G., según Ouspensky: la posición cósmica de la tierra.
«Do these four elements correspond to the old four alchemical elements, fire, air, water, earth?” asked one of us. “Yes, they do correspond,” said G.» — G. concede la correspondencia con los cuatro elementos alquímicos y sigue con su propia notación.
«This is why in all ancient teachings the first demand at the beginning of the way to liberation was: ‘Know thyself.’» — G., según Ouspensky.
«Try to remember yourselves when you observe yourselves and later on tell me the results. Only those results will have any value that are accompanied by self-remembering.» — G., según Ouspensky: la instrucción de la que sale el término *self-remembering*.
«Attempts at selfremembering failed to give any results except to show me that in actual fact we never remember ourselves.» — Ouspensky por sí mismo, sobre sus primeros intentos; el reflujo del EPUB une la palabra.
«If our memory really keeps alive only moments of self-remembering, it is clear why our memory is so poor.» — Ouspensky por sí mismo.
«This is an apperception.” He said to me, “Have you read Wundt’s Logic?» — un filósofo al que Ouspensky consultó no encuentra nada nuevo en el *self-remembering*; voz de un tercero, no de Ouspensky ni de G.
«In all there are four states of consciousness possible for man» — G., según Ouspensky.
«The third state of consciousness is self-remembering or self-consciousness or consciousness of one’s being.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«Our inner psychic processes (our inner alchemy) have much in common with those chemical processes in which light changes the character of the process» — G., según Ouspensky: el paréntesis que nombra el trabajo interior como alquimia.
«One is the man he calls ‘I’ and whom others call ‘Ouspensky,’ ‘Zakharov’ or ‘Petrov.’ The other is the real he, the real I» — G., según Ouspensky, usando el apellido del propio narrador como nombre de la máquina.
«There is quite enough of ‘Ouspensky’ for Ouspensky himself.» — G., según Ouspensky, en la misma operación.
«Identifying is the chief obstacle to self-remembering. A man who identifies with anything is unable to remember himself.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«if a man really remembers himself he understands that another man is a machine just as he is himself» — G., según Ouspensky: de dónde sale el «considerar externo».
«Schools of the fourth way demand understanding before anything else. Results of efforts are always proportional to understanding.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«‘Hydrogens’ 48, 24, 12, and 6 are matters unknown to physics and chemistry, matters of our psychic and spiritual life on different levels.» — G., según Ouspensky: la tabla de hidrógenos.
«This chemistry or alchemy regards matter first of all from the point of view of its functions» — G., según Ouspensky: segunda equiparación explícita de su química con la alquimia.
«‘Learn to separate the fine from the coarse’—this principle from the ‘Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismegistus’ refers to the work of the human factory» — G., según Ouspensky, cita la Tabla Esmeralda y la aplica a la fábrica humana.
«receives as raw material from the outer world, a number of coarse ‘hydrogens’ and transforms them into finer hydrogens by means of a whole series of complicated alchemical processes» — G., según Ouspensky, sobre la fábrica humana.
«We come again to the old alchemical law: ‘In order to make gold, it is first of all necessary to have a certain quantity of real gold.’» — G., según Ouspensky, invoca el axioma alquímico como ley de la respiración.
«The whole of alchemy is nothing but an allegorical description of the human factory and its work of transforming base metals (coarse substances) into precious ones.» — G., según Ouspensky: la lectura de la alquimia entera como alegoría.
«The idea of this transmutation was known to many ancient teachings as well as to some comparatively recent ones, such as the alchemy of the Middle Ages.» — G., según Ouspensky, sitúa la alquimia medieval en su genealogía.
«A man must create this ‘shock’ by his own personal efforts if he desires to increase the output of the fine hydrogens in his organism.» — G., según Ouspensky: el segundo choque, que la naturaleza no dio.
«All mystical and occult systems recognize the existence of higher forces and capacities in man although, in many cases, they admit the existence of these forces and capacities only in a small number of chosen individuals.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«The way begins on another, much higher, level.» — G., según Ouspensky: la vía no arranca al nivel de la vida.
«The second kind are influences created outside this life, influences of the inner circle, or esoteric influences» — G., según Ouspensky: las dos clases de influencias.
«On the fourth way there is not one teacher. Whoever is the elder, he is the teacher.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«The teaching of the two cosmoses is known from the Cabala and other more ancient systems. But this teaching is incomplete» — G., según Ouspensky: reconoce la fuente cabalística del microcosmos y la declara fragmento.
«“As above, so below,” is an expression which refers to cosmoses.» — G., según Ouspensky, lee la fórmula hermética en clave de los siete cosmos.
«What personally interests me most in this system of cosmoses is that I see in them the full ‘period of dimensions,’ of my New Model of the Universe.» — Ouspensky por sí mismo, y remite a su propio libro anterior.
«man number seven becomes immortal within the limits of the solar system.» — G., según Ouspensky: el límite cósmico de la inmortalidad.
«the sleep in which man exists is not normal but hypnotic sleep. Man is hypnotized and this hypnotic state is continually maintained and strengthened in him.» — G., según Ouspensky, antes de contar el cuento del mago y las ovejas.
«There is an Eastern tale which speaks about a very rich magician who had a great many sheep.» — G., según Ouspensky: la parábola del mago, que cierra con «This tale is a very good illustration of man’s position».
«In so-called ‘occult’ literature you have probably met with the expression ‘Kundalini,’ ‘the fire of Kundalini,’ or the ‘serpent of Kundalini.’» — G., según Ouspensky, antes de romper con el uso corriente del término.
«none of the known theories gives the right explanation of the force of Kundalini» — G., según Ouspensky, y añade que ligarla al sexo «is entirely wrong».
«Only a man who can be silent when it is necessary can be master of himself.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«there are many things worse than ‘black magic.’ Such are various ‘occult’ and theosophical societies and groups.» — G., según Ouspensky: el deslinde más duro del libro frente al ocultismo organizado.
«Black magic does not in any way mean magic of evil.» — G., según Ouspensky, redefine el término.
«what can be called black magic has always one definite characteristic. This characteristic is the tendency to use people for some, even the best of aims, without their knowledge and understanding» — G., según Ouspensky: la definición operativa de magia negra.
«In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while» — G., según Ouspensky, frente a las sociedades que piden creencia.
«The struggle against the ‘false I,’ against one’s chief feature or chief fault, is the most important part of the work, and it must proceed in deeds, not in words.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«If he is an occultist he should be disappointed in occultism» — G., según Ouspensky, dentro de la serie de desengaños que exige al candidato.
«To be disappointed in occultism does not mean losing faith in the miraculous» — G., según Ouspensky, acota el desengaño.
«I see that today one Ouspensky has come here, whereas yesterday there was another.» — G., según Ouspensky, aplicándole al narrador la doctrina de los muchos «yoes».
«‘Hydrogen’ si 12 is the ‘hydrogen’ which represents the final product of the transformation of food in the human organism. This is the matter with which sex works» — G., según Ouspensky.
«The transition of matter si 12 into emanations and the gradual saturation of the whole organism by it is what alchemy calls ‘transmutation’ or transformation.» — G., según Ouspensky: nombra su proceso con la palabra de la alquimia.
«then a man can consider himself as his chief feature just as I could call my chief feature “Ouspensky” or, as G. always called it, “Piotr Demianovich.”» — Ouspensky por sí mismo: consigna cómo lo llamaba G.
«From this point of view another formula. Know thyself, is full of particularly deep meaning and is one of the symbols leading to the knowledge of truth.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«Among the formulas giving a summary of the content of many symbols there was one which had a particular significance, namely the formula ‘As above, so below,’ from the ‘Emerald Tablets of Hermes Trismegistus.’» — G., según Ouspensky: segunda cita de la Tabla Esmeralda, aquí como formula cardinal de la simbología.
«This same meaning was contained in the analogy drawn between the microcosm—man, and the macrocosm— the universe.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«In Western systems of occultism there is a method known by the name of ‘theosophical addition,’ that is, the definition of numbers consisting of two or more digits by the sum of those digits.» — G., según Ouspensky, recoge el procedimiento y lo declara con sentido para quien tiene la clave.
«In the Cabala a symbology of letters is also used and in combination with the symbology of letters a symbology of words.» — G., según Ouspensky: sitúa la cábala entre los sistemas de símbolos.
«Then there exists also a symbology of magic, a symbology of alchemy, and a symbology of astrology as well as the system of the symbols of the Tarot which unites them into one whole.» — G., según Ouspensky: la enumeración con que sitúa el Tarot como sistema unificador.
«But in the hands of the incompetent and the ignorant, however full of good intentions, the same symbol becomes an ‘instrument of delusion.’» — G., según Ouspensky.
«Each completed whole, each cosmos, each organism, each plant, is an enneagram.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«only what a man is able to put into the enneagram does he actually know, that is, understand.» — G., según Ouspensky: el eneagrama como criterio de comprensión.
«For the man who is able to make use of it, the enneagram makes books and libraries entirely unnecessary.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«The enneagram is the fundamental hieroglyph of a universal language which has as many different meanings as there are levels of men.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«It is perpetual motion and it is also the philosopher’s stone of the alchemists.» — G., según Ouspensky: la única página del libro donde aparece la piedra filosofal, y la adjudica al eneagrama.
«exercises of moving according to the enneagram would occupy an important place in his ballet the “Struggle of the Magicians.”» — Ouspensky consigna el destino práctico que G. daba al eneagrama.
«The inner circle is called the ‘esoteric’; this circle consists of people who have attai» — G., según Ouspensky: la doctrina de los círculos de la humanidad; la frase se corta en el reflujo y sigue en la página siguiente.
«The third circle is called the ‘exoteric,’ that is, the outer, because it is the outer circle of the inner part of humanity.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«But when we look back on history it is almost impossible for us to distinguish where the real ends and where the imitation begins.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«Strictly speaking almost everything we know about various kinds of occult, masonic, and alchemical schools refers to such imitation.» — G., según Ouspensky: la única página del libro donde aparece la palabra *masonic*, y la adjudica a la imitación.
«But such pseudo-esoteric systems also play their part in the work and activities of esoteric circles. Namely, they are the intermediaries» — G., según Ouspensky: la imitación no queda descartada, queda situada.
«Besides these three ways yet a fourth way exists by which can go those who cannot go by any of the first three ways.» — G., según Ouspensky, en la reexposición tardía del sistema.
«A man cannot do all this by himself. In life everything is always arranged far too comfortably for man to work.» — G., según Ouspensky: por qué hace falta la escuela.
«The fourth way is still more difficult. In order to give the fourth way a right valuation a man must have thought and felt and been disappointed in many things.» — G., según Ouspensky.
«My attention was particularly attracted by the enneagram. The explanation of the enneagram had clearly not been finished» — Ouspensky por sí mismo, sobre sus notas conservadas de San Petersburgo.
«bringing into it the dances of various dervishes and Sufis and recalling by memory the music he had listened to in Asia many years before» — Ouspensky sobre el trabajo de G. en Tiflis; añade que las danzas derviches «were reproduced in Europe undoubtedly for the first time».
About the work
5 entries — what the apparatus and scholarship say about it«In Search of the Miraculous by P. D. Ouspensky First published in 1947» — colofón de la edición procesada; es la única página donde el libro se atribuye a sí mismo, y no es del cuerpo de la obra.
«This ebook edition was created and published by Global Grey on the 25th March 2023» — la edición digital que se procesó, con su fecha.
«The artwork for the cover is By the Sea painted by Piet Mondrian.» — la cubierta es del editor digital, no de la obra.
«Contents Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III» — el índice no trae títulos de capítulo: los dieciocho van solo numerados.
«Sodroojestvo: approximately “Union of friends for common aim.”» — última línea del volumen: una nota de traducción del término ruso.
Concepts treated
Microcosmos (el hombre-mundo) — La analogía microcosmos-macrocosmos se reconoce como herencia de la Cábala, se declara fragmento incompleto de una enseñanza mayor, y se reemplaza por un sistema de siete cosmos
Piedra filosofal (lapis philosophorum) — Única aparición en el libro: se adjudica al eneagrama, «perpetual motion and ... the philosopher's stone of the alchemists»
Ocultismo (occultisme) — Se lo trata como territorio del que hay que desengañarse sin perder la fe en lo milagroso, y sus sociedades se declaran peores que la magia negra
Gnosis (conocimiento salvífico) — El conocimiento se gradúa por el número de hombre que lo recibe; el de hombre número siete es «objective and completely practiced knowledge of All»
Cuatro elementos (fuego, aire, agua, tierra) — G. concede que sus C, O, N, H corresponden a los cuatro elementos alquímicos, y adopta igual su propia notación