Mystics

"I am looking for him who has got down to that most unappeasable yearning in his being; to that in him which is such that, so long as everything else comes to him but this comes to him not, then everything that does come to him turns to dust in his hands and ashes in his mouth; to that life in him which is such that once he does find it and does yield himself to it utterly—then, though everything else is taken away from him, though he has to go cold and hungry and alone, though he knows no human being on this earth into whose eyes he can look and find understanding, though everything he has sweated bloody sweat for men bring to what they call failure, and his very life they bring to what they call death, he shall yet be able to go his way softly singing in his heart. To do this is to live; and to fail to do this, no matter how good the reason for the failure may be, is to do what most men do—to die without ever having really lived at all."

"Many of our most capable people are spending their powers on trying to salvage human wreckage, on all sorts of life that can never come to anything, and not even on salvaging it, but only on preserving it, on merely keeping alive by artificial means that which ought to die, and which, if left to nature, would die."

"Minorities write the law of the land. Minorities of aliens, multitudes of them, grow fat and rule, while the bulk of the people, many of them descendants of those who founded and built the country, who love it and would die for it, are turned into patient, befuddled suckers, who foot the bills to finance their own destruction."

"In these chapters Mr. Simpson sets forth in more detail the convictions that have possessed him, or, rather, that possess him now, with a backward glance now and then at those in which he formerly believed. In each of the stages by which he has come to his present convictions he seems to have been as sure as he is now that he had found the ultimate truth, only to have doubts creep in, and presently destroy the entire structure, so that he found himself once more searching for truth and, sooner or later, once more finding it. Mr. Simpson writes with simplicity and clarity of style, as far as mysticism can be clear and simple, but with a great deal of imaginative and emotional power. Doubtless he would be a deeply stirring, moving speaker. But as one reads his life and his book one wonders how it is possible for him still to believe so absolutely in his vision when it has played him false so many times, why he still thinks he can know the truth when so many times he has had to decide that what he had thought to be truth proved to be something else."

"Today men are afraid to be different—to be so is the unforgivable sin. What I am looking for is the man with long legs able to step from mountain peak to mountain peak. Life is being ground down. Men are asked to stoop to the level of the crippled."

"The sight of the ideal is like lightning flashes from the far horizon; once we have seen it, we can’t forget it. Thereafter we are just secretly waiting, hoping that that star may peep out from behind the clouds again, that seeing it, we may know it for the same star, and know it as our star, and fix our eyes upon it forever. Or again, it is like a maiden of rare beauty standing at the edge of the crowd who casts quick shy glances in our direction to see if there is any hope of our love. If once we really behold her, if once we look deep into her eyes, deep into what most deeply we are, then thereafter are we utterly damned, utterly lost to all ordinary ways of feeling, and thinking, and doing."

"But this also must be said: he who does what he sees shall see more; he who fails to do what he sees goes blind. Nothing in the universe is more inexorable than this. If he sees, and does what he sees, every day the way he must go shall become more clear to him. But he who does not give himself to his ideal becomes calloused. It is not only that his eye may grow dull— his whole optic nerve dies. It is like a plant standing in the window and yet so calloused that it cannot tell the difference between light and dark."

"What I am about to say is not intended for everybody. I warn you: it is intended only for those who have ears for it. For others, I would say something very different—possibly the direct opposite. And so, if you do not like what I say, if you find it uninteresting, or in part unintelligible, or offensive, or if, having heard my words, you are one who can forget them, then do not let yourself be overmuch disturbed by them. Do forget them. You are certainly not one of those to whom I am speaking. I am really speaking only to those who have ears for what I have to say—who have, as it seems to me, a rare kind of ear for a rare kind of music."

"Let me preface what I am about to say by declaring frankly that I am prepared to accept violence on the part of our people. The Jews' hold on our throat is not going to be relaxed until we break their grip. Hitler felt that he had to take to the streets. All normal approach to his people was barred. Today, we are confronted with much the same situation here. [...] If we are not to be destroyed, then we must fight. I am not naturally a man of violence, but there is one thing from the thought of which I shrink more than from violence or its consequences, and that is the thought that our people may not rise to throw off the death that is being clamped upon them."

"The point is to reveal organized Jewry as a world power entrenched in every country of the White man’s world, operating freely across every nation’s frontiers, and engaged in a ruthless war for the destruction of them all. The point is to uncover the animus that must be expected to drive and to direct every lever of Jewish power, whether it be propaganda or, greatest of them all, its money system."

"Again I must caution anyone who sets out to follow his deepest life against being too sure that it can be kept within the limits of conventional morality. Let him not take it for granted that men will think him a saint, or even consider him respectable."

"Yet with just a handful of sticks one can sometimes start quite a fire. It has already so happened on this earth more than once. But where is the handful of sticks? Where are those few who are willing to burn, and to be burnt up, in order that there may be light in this night, and warmth in this coldness? Where is the fuel which at last has made itself dry and hard, fuel which the flame ever loveth, ever longeth to lick with its love, and to make one with itself? Where is the handful of sticks?"

"It must never be forgotten that the primary test that every people must face is whether it is strong enough to survive. Its fate may well be decided by war, and the issue of a war may hinge simply on how many men it can mass on its side of the struggle. In this light, birth control is seen to be the knife by which civilized White man is cutting his own throat."

"But it can hardly be denied that the White man today is in a desperate plight. Catastrophe hangs over us."

"If you truly love the life of solitude, you should desire purity of heart more than anything else, and direct to it all your aim and your course. Enquire, learn, read and understand what is this purity of heart, and whence it is acquired, and which passions engender which passions, and by what labours and exertions a man is able to overcome them in the length of the time of his solitude."

"So far as a Brother who desires solitude is concerned, his aim and the advantages which he should strive to gain from his solitude are the following:"

"Pure, undisturbed and quiet prayer is accomplished, performed, constituted and kept by four virtues, and is diminished, tarnished, destroyed and hindered by four passions."

"From my practice as a psychiatrist and my experience and observations in general, I have become familiar with the common errors related to the failure to think well. One, of course, is simply not thinking. Another is making assumptions in thinking, through the use of one-dimensional logic, stereotypes, and labelling. Another problem is the belief that thinking and communication don’t require much effort. Another is assuming that thinking is a waste of time, which is a particular factor in the quiet rage we experience around the failure to solve many social problems."

"If all the energy required to think seems troublesome, the lack of thinking causes far more trouble and conflict for ourselves as individuals and for the society in which we live."

"Who in the hell is Satan? I don't know."

"This is a dangerous book."

"The spirit of evil is one of unreality, but it itself is real. To think otherwise is to be misled."

"It would, I believe, be quite appropriate to classify evil people as constituting a specific variant of the narcisstic personality disorder."

"There are a number of different theological models of evil ... This book will concern itself solely with the subject of human evil, and its primary focus will be on 'bad people'."

"The time is right, I believe, for psychiatry to recognize a distinct new type of personality disorder to encompass those I have named evil. In addition to the abrogation of responsibility that characterizes all personality disorders, this one would specifically be distinguished by: (a) consistent destructive, scapegoating behaviour, which may often be quite subtle. (b) excessive, albeit usually covert, intolerance to criticism and other forms of narcissistic injury. (c) pronounced concern with a public image and self-image of respectability, contributing to a stability of life-style but also to pretentiousness and denial of hateful feelings or vengeful motives. d) intellectual deviousness, with an increased likelihood of a mild schizophreniclike disturbance of thinking at times of stress."

"If we attempt te deal with (human) evil by destroying it, we will also end up destroying ourselves, spiritually if not physcially. And we are likely to take some innocent people with us as well."

"Laymen tend to associate sadism and masochism with purely sexual activity, thinking of them as the sexual enjoyment derived from inflicting or receiving physical pain. Actually, true sexual sadomasochism is a relatively uncommon form of psychopathology. Much, much more common, and ultimately more serious, is the phenomenon of social sadomasochism, in which people unconsciously desire to hurt and be hurt by each other through their nonsexual interpersonal relations."

"By masochism I do not mean that they (masochists) get their sexual jollies out of physical pain, but simply that in some strange way they are chronically self-destructive. Masochists are people who perpetually attempt to destroy themselves. They are always, in one way or another, trying to kill themselves. In the long run they almost always succeed. Our task in therapy is to help them empty themselves of their masochism so that life may fill them instead. The problem of masochism is intimately tied up with the problem of responsibility. Masochists are people who, because they hate themselves, believe that they are worthless and deserve only punishment. They are self-destructive because they lack the capacity to assume responsibility for their own lives. Instead of taking care of themselves, they neglect themselves, abuse themselves, and in the end destroy themselves. The genuinely disciplined person, on the other hand, is one who takes responsibility for his or her own life and well-being. Discipline is self-caring. Masochism is not. Discipline is love translated into action; masochism is love turned against the self."

"Most people who seek psychotherapy are suffering from a sense of personal inadequacy. Yet there are always a few whose problem is just the opposite: they suffer because they cannot accept their greatness. Perhaps ten percent of my patients have had to come to terms not with their inferiority but with their superiority. To accept one's legitimate talents without guilt or fear is as much a responsibility as to accept one's faults."

"Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them? Do we want to teach our children to solve them?"

"Mental health is an ongoing process of dedication to reality at all costs."

"Although the act of nurturing another's spiritual growth has the effect of nurturing one's own, a major characteristic of genuine love is that the distinction between oneself and the other is always maintained and preserved."

"It is through the pain of confronting and resolving problems that we learn."

"Evil can be thought of as the exercise of political power — that is, the imposition of one’s will upon others by overt or covert coercion in order to avoid extending oneself for the purpose of nurturing spiritual growth."

"I have come to suspect that many cases of schizophrenia may in fact be the result of evil being passed from parents to children ... it is possible that some children, faced with the choice of either becoming evil themselves or utterly losing their minds, choose the latter. Evil is contagious. The children of the evil are often damaged for life."

"My favorite definition of evil is that it is militant ignorance."

"... As (Malachi) Martin points out, it is terribly important to understand that Satan is a spirit. I have said I have met Satan, and this is true. But it is not tangible in the way that matter is tangible. It no more has horns, hooves, and a forked tail than God has a long white beard. Even the name, Satan, is just a name we have given to something bascially nameless... It is spirit."

"... For the most part, we tend to label for the wrong reasons. When we use labelling to make assumptions and unjustly discriminate against others - or to make excuses for ourselves - we infer broader qualities about a person or a situation without the information necessary to support our conclusions. Sometimes, the consequences can be destructive not only to others but to ourselves."

"The only real route to peace is through self-purification. We must purge ourselves of our own pride, our need to control, and our unwillingness to suffer for the sake of others. Peacemaking begins inside each of us."

"Paraphrase: Hannah Arendt has written of the ‘banality of evil.’ She was speaking of the Nazi bureaucrats who performed their monstrous duties with the same bland efficiency as they would any other job. It is a fitting phrase. Evil is banal. It is utterly unoriginal. It is simply the absence of love."

"Paraphrase: In theological language evil is not just a defect but a real spirit of unreality. It is that which refuses to acknowledge reality, to acknowledge truth; it is, therefore, a form of unconsciousness."

"Paraphrase: Many people, because they have not successfully resolved the Oedipal stage, remain emotionally children; they are afraid to grow up, afraid to risk independence, afraid to risk real love."

"Paraphrase: The successful resolution of the Oedipal situation permits the growth of love beyond the family; failure to resolve it results in dependency, narcissism, and immaturity in one’s capacity to love."

"Paraphrase: Evil may be thought of as a failure to complete the Oedipal process."

"Paraphrase: Evil is the complete absence of self-development. It is the refusal to undergo the suffering required for growth. Ordinary laziness is a passive failure to love. Evil, however, is an active failure to love. It is not merely a sin of omission but of commission. The evil are people who refuse to acknowledge their own failures, who instead place the burden of their sins upon others and thereby destroy others in order to preserve their own self-image of perfection. Evil originates not in the absence of guilt but in the effort to escape it."

"Paraphrase: Evil originates in failure to acknowledge one’s own pain and sin."

"Paraphrase: Evil is actively opposed to love. It is not laziness but militant refusal. It is anti-love."

"Paraphrase: I actually think that most people are consciously evil and unconsciously good. I can kind of explain why people are consciously evil, but find it much harder to explain why they are unconsciously good."

"Paraphrase: Evil has no depth. It is not creative. It is not even in the least bit interesting. It is boring. It is banal."

"The mystery of goodness is greater than that of evil."