Page 384
Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2024 2:44 pm
And do you know how the devil lies? I might ask someone:
– Have you been meditating?
– Yes, – they say.
And you know what I do? I understand that the devil is in everyone right now. I ask:
– Tell me honestly, looking me in the eyes, did you do it for an hour?
–No.
– Half an hour?
–No.
– How long?
– Ten minutes.
Ten minutes! Look how clever this is. It turns out that you can honestly lie to someone every day and say that you’ve read my book. But if you get into the details and corner them, and ask, “How much?” it turns out you’ve been reading one page a day. But you hope that foolish people won’t ask you about it, and you manipulate them, throwing dust in their eyes, saying, “Of course, I read it.” And every day, you say, “I sincerely swear, I read it.” But if you check, you’ll find out that you’ve only read one page a day. Can you imagine how cunning the devil in you is? And you all do this. Everyone on the other side – this dirt is in you. It manifests itself in some more and in others less. It’s there, this cleverness of yours. I must destroy it all, break it down, so it doesn’t exist at all. That’s my only goal and task. You all still fall for these manipulations, provocations, and the devil still has you. And you always have some “justifications.” Always these manipulations.
And you don’t even notice when the devil possesses you. Recently, someone said to me, “Alexandr, you see...” about teas. I was just amazed. This person starts trying to sell me some kind of tea, not Chinese, and insists that I should be interested. And he does it so persuasively and skillfully, as if I were a fool. He says to me, “Well, Alexandr, you love tea, don’t you?” So he’s offering me mass-market tea and emphasizing that “since you love tea, you should definitely agree.” That’s how he speaks to me. I respond, “Am I the biggest
– Have you been meditating?
– Yes, – they say.
And you know what I do? I understand that the devil is in everyone right now. I ask:
– Tell me honestly, looking me in the eyes, did you do it for an hour?
–No.
– Half an hour?
–No.
– How long?
– Ten minutes.
Ten minutes! Look how clever this is. It turns out that you can honestly lie to someone every day and say that you’ve read my book. But if you get into the details and corner them, and ask, “How much?” it turns out you’ve been reading one page a day. But you hope that foolish people won’t ask you about it, and you manipulate them, throwing dust in their eyes, saying, “Of course, I read it.” And every day, you say, “I sincerely swear, I read it.” But if you check, you’ll find out that you’ve only read one page a day. Can you imagine how cunning the devil in you is? And you all do this. Everyone on the other side – this dirt is in you. It manifests itself in some more and in others less. It’s there, this cleverness of yours. I must destroy it all, break it down, so it doesn’t exist at all. That’s my only goal and task. You all still fall for these manipulations, provocations, and the devil still has you. And you always have some “justifications.” Always these manipulations.
And you don’t even notice when the devil possesses you. Recently, someone said to me, “Alexandr, you see...” about teas. I was just amazed. This person starts trying to sell me some kind of tea, not Chinese, and insists that I should be interested. And he does it so persuasively and skillfully, as if I were a fool. He says to me, “Well, Alexandr, you love tea, don’t you?” So he’s offering me mass-market tea and emphasizing that “since you love tea, you should definitely agree.” That’s how he speaks to me. I respond, “Am I the biggest