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Chapter 3: Psychological Rebellion

It is necessary to remind our readers that a mathematical point exists within us. Unquestionably, that point is never found in the past nor in the future.

​Whoever wants to discover that mysterious point must look for it here and now within himself, at this exact moment, not a second earlier, not a second later.

The two timbers, horizontal and vertical, of the Holy Cross meet at this very point.

Therefore, from moment to moment, we find ourselves before two paths: the horizontal and the vertical. 

The horizontal way is very ordinary and is traveled by “every Tom, Dick, and Harry,” “everyman and his dog,” “one and all.”

It is evident that the vertical is different; it is the path of intelligent rebels, of revolutionaries.

When one remembers oneself and works on oneself, when  one does not become identified with all the problems and sorrows of life, in fact one is traveling along the vertical path.

Certainly, it is never an easy task to eliminate negative emotions, to lose all identification with our own train of life, with all types of problems, with business, debts, loan payments, mortgages, telephone, water and power payments, etc.

The unemployed, those who have lost their position or job for one reason or another, clearly suffer because of a lack of money, and for them to forget their situation and not worry or identify themselves with their own problem is, in fact, terribly difficult.

Those who suffer and those who cry, those who have been victims of some betrayal or injustice, victims of ingratitude, calumny, fraud, really do forget themselves, they forget their inner real Being; they identify themselves totally with their moral tragedy.

The work on oneself is the fundamental characteristic of the vertical path. Nobody would tread the path of the Great Rebellion if he never worked on himself. The work to which we are referring is of a psychological nature; it deals with a certain transformation of the present moment in which we find ourselves. We need to learn to live from moment to moment.

For example, a person who is desperate about some sentimental, economic, or political problem has obviously forgotten himself. If that person would stop for a moment, observe the situation, try to remember himself, and then try to comprehend the reason for his attitude. If that person would reflect a little, and think that everything passes, that life is fleeting, illusory, and that death reduces all the vanities of the world to ashes. If he would comprehend that his problem, in reality, is nothing more than a flash in the pan, a fatuous flame that soon dies, then the person would suddenly see with great surprise that everything has changed.

It is possible to transform mechanical reactions through logical confrontation and the intimate self-reflection of the Being.

It is clear that people react mechanically when faced with the diverse circumstances of life. Poor people! They usually turn themselves into victims. When flattered they smile, when humiliated they suffer. They insult if insulted, they hurt if they are hurt; they are never free. Their fellowmen have the power to drive them from happiness to sadness, from hope to despair. Each of these persons traveling along the horizontal path is similar to a musical instrument on which each of his fellowmen can play the tune he desires.

Whoever learns how to transform mechanical reactions is, in fact, entering the vertical path. This represents a fundamental change in the level of being, an extraordinary result of psychological rebellion.

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