Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation homepage > Notebooks of Paul Brunton

---

The Long Path, so far as it is also a painful untangling of knots, is useful in the sense that surgical operations and castor oil are useful. But were a man to live only to be operated on, or only to drink castor oil, we would regard him as crazy. Yet, there is a type of aspirant who wants to live only in preoccupation with his knots! He is everlastingly preoccupied with shaking off his shortcomings, is unable to get away from them, and ends by becoming obsessed with them. His life, which should flow naturally and serenely, moves instead artificially and jerkily. His self-discipline, which should be rooted in hygiene, becomes rooted in hysteria.

-- Notebooks Category 2: Overview of Practices Involved > Chapter 1 : Ant's Long Path > # 190