All a man’s qualities are completely open in his subconscious in the form of a complete satisfaction. That’s why he subconsciously knows what satisfaction is. However, he does not understand these qualities, because they are not open in his consciousness; hence, the man lacks complete satisfaction in his consciousness. The difference between what a man feels subconsciously within him and what he really has in his consciousness takes the form of feelings of dissatisfaction and emptiness, like what he feels when he cannot breathe with his full lungs but knows this only subconsciously.
When does the thirst for relations appear in man? When he lacks complete satisfaction within. Then the man begins to need to relate to the same feeling in another man, thus compensating for his own lack of it. This is the second way of getting power (see chapter 18 “What accumulates and disperses a man’s power”).
This way of relation is a forced one and exists only on the surface level. The portion of power (satisfaction) obtained from it does not deepen the man’s understanding of this quality; so when this portion is processed, he begins again to feel internal dissatisfaction, and his thirst for relation increases.
There is some danger in this, as follows. Since the ultimate goal of relation is to gain the power (in the form of satisfaction) that a man lacks, some people try to get it by infiltrating somebody else’s mental territory: that is, they try to get satisfaction not from contact with the object but from the object itself. On the psychological level, this infiltration is disguised as love, friendship, ideology, education, art, and the like. (For the third way of getting power, see chapter 18 “What accumulates and disperses a man’s power”).
There is also another type of relation. When a man begins to look for the reason for his internal dissatisfaction, then, after a while, he begins to understand this quality or notion of his fully, thus developing its full power, complete satisfaction in his consciousness. This is the first way of getting power (see again chapter 18 “What accumulates and disperses a man’s power”). Therefore, a man, having once understood this essence, knows it always, even when he is thinking about something else, and feels a spiritual satisfaction in this field of his psyche in connection with this. When a man comes to a complete understanding of his qualities and opens his complete satisfaction within himself, then externally he stops being tied to the surrounding world and becomes free. How does a relation look on this level? If in the first place a relation was forced one, now it becomes a matter of free choice. Only with such a relation do people not need to step on each other’s mental territory and begin to communicate as persons of full value.
When a man communicates due to his subconscious need, then his consciousness plays a secondary role, because it only “catches up” with its subconscious thirst for relation and tries to satisfy it. Since this consciousness follows events, its thought is behind life: that is, it is a “backward” thought, dispersing power. When a man communicates because of his thirst, he always tries to satisfy his own dissatisfaction: that is, this relation is egoistic at its root. Therefore, his acts will not deeply penetrate surrounding people’s souls; they will always be usual, everyday life acts that will not change life and will bring nothing new to this world.
How can one make one’s consciousness paramount in its meaning, and what will it then do? To transfer the consciousness to the energy level, one must understand the essence of the qualities and notions that fuel his thirst. Usually a man can understand the “layout” of his thirst by himself. He must think over the essence of his intended acts and of the situation in which they are going to be used. Comparing them, he must understand how they correspond with each other, how important they are for this situation. There may be two variants. In the first, the man will see that his thirst is not well grounded and he will get rid of it. In the second, he will see also the natural necessity of his act. Then he will also free himself from his subconscious thirst and undertake his act not because of it but because of his understanding of its necessity. Now the man does something in life not because he cannot help it but because he understands the natural necessity of this act (that is, that it is due to his power). Thus the consciousness gradually defines for itself what to do: that is, it anticipates events because such thought is the “forward-driving,” accumulating power. Since such clean non-egoistic acts happen on the level of internal relations, they touch people’s souls and make life more interesting and better, giving it meaning. When he appreciates the necessity of a certain act in a certain situation, a man gets a full satisfaction from his acts. This fullness of life strengthens both his mental and physical health, and the man lives a life of full value and forgets about depressions.
Sometimes, however, a man cannot decide whether he wants to do something due to his thirst or his complete logical understanding of the deed. If he thinks over this question, that means he has only reached the first stage, because
when he clearly understands the necessity of his act, then he does not think about it. This resembles how the presence or absence of an object is obvious in a brightly lit room and there is no need to think about it. When a man moves his consciousness deep into the situations (toward their foreground), then he begins to feel them as living objects. This is the beginning of a full energy understanding.
46. AFFECTIONS
People and societies possess all positive things that exist in life in their subconscious. However, they can only possess them fully on the level of the consciousness when they are not tied to them and have no subconscious thirst. When a man is tied to an object, then he depends on it. When he depends on it, he cannot fully possess it. Apart from this object, he becomes vulnerable to it. For the same reason, a man cannot have interrelationships of full value with this object and will never be able to satisfy his need in his relation with it. Through his vulnerability, not only this object but also other objects internally related with it may negatively influence him. Sometimes a man deliberately strengthens and maintains his attachment to an object because he mistakenly understands it as a manifestation of his culture, friendship, love, respect, or duty. In these situations it seems to the man that his relation with somebody relies only on their attachment to one another. What is the reason for this misunderstanding? When a man does not fully understand the essence of an object, then the absent part of understanding (power) exists in the form of balancing elements – desires, suspicions, fears, jealousy, egoism, etc. In this case this balancing element is a feeling of affection. On this level of development of intellect, relations between objects are made
possible only by this balancing element, because the natural internal relation between them does not fully function. Therefore, when this affection is lacking, the objects cease to behold each other, nothing unites them, and they break up. When one’s understanding of a situation becomes complete, it opens the internal natural relation between the objects. Corresponding through this relationship, objects do not need to create an external, artificial relationship in the form of affection. Getting rid of the artificial relationship, people become free and can communicate up to a full value, feel a complete satisfaction from the relation, penetrating deeper and deeper into the endless power (that is, into the satisfaction) that lies in this relation.
The subconscious is the non-sensible part of man. Its main principle is that of increase of its power. This principle manifests itself in the consciousness in a disguised form. When a man ties somebody to him, he attempts to make that person dependent on him, so that he can more easily get an influx of power from that person. In this situation, it is easier to attain one’s life interests. What a man is afraid to ask of a stranger, he usually easily demands from the object of his affection.
How can one discover one man’s real internal attitude toward another under his external attitude? Let us suppose B is drawn to A. The fact of affection indicates an average development of intellect in both B and A. Two kinds of relationship are possible on this level.
On the one hand, A may not understand B’s situation of dependence and may not use that dependence for his own mercenary purposes. Later, A may come
to understand that B’s affection is to his advantage. Then their relationship may develop in one of two directions. If A really respects B, he will not use him for his mercenary purposes. If so, A is a person with a high intellect. Alternatively, A may begin to exploit B’s weakness.
On the other hand, A may be really inventive and play remarkable scenes of resentment, jealousy, bravery, eloquence, and so on; but all these will represent artificial, external attempts to tie B more strongly to himself and make him even more dependent, to feed on B’s power. Here all the man’s psychological tricks develop fully. However, all these cunning acts develop on one plane of a low intellect, because they all come from the same low-intellectual thought – to exploit B. There is no need to study these cunning acts in detail. It is enough to see that they exist to understand A’s internal essence. One can also understand the internal essence of A’s acts based on B’s mental discomfort (loss of power) from this relation. This discomfort may be felt in both its pure and its disguised from, in the form of low esteem, a feeling of subconscious guilt toward A developed from his increased dependency, worsened health, and leakage of life power.