The Inner Culture Activity
The Metaphysical Side
Now coming to the metaphysical side of the subject, what is it that the soul wishes to seek in the inner culture? When a person begins to realize the limitations of life, the realization which comes at the moment when the soul feels sober, free from the intoxication of worldly life, then it begins to wonder, wonder as to life. To one person, perhaps, this moment of sobriety comes once in the year, to another person once in a month, to another person once in the day, to another person it is a craving going on continually in the heart.
There is one person, after he has gone through his busy life in the world, in his last days of age he begins to waken it; there is another person, perhaps he has suffered in his middle age; there is another person who begins to wonder quite young, like Buddha. This appetite cannot be wakened in someone in whom it is not wakening yet. Many people feel anxious about their dear ones, about those near to them, if they will not waken. But they do not know that it is not something that you can give or teach; it is something that must come by itself. It is not, therefore, necessary to worry about one's dear ones, those near to us, that they must waken to this realization. If their time is not come, it is better for them not to waken. For in the East there is a belief that it is a great fault to waken a person who is fast asleep. The reason is that the very fact that he is sleeping fast shows that he needs sleep; he is not to be pitied, one must be glad that he is sleeping. Therefore, those who show impatience to waken their friend, their dear one in life, they must have patience, they must know that the time has not yet arrived, it would not be the right thing to waken him.
