Immediate Response to Reasoning

2015-01-27

I just happened on this section from page 188 of Beelzebub’s Tales.

“Soon after we were on ‘good terms’ with each other, I discovered that in the Being of this priest Abdil—owing to very many external circumstances, among which were also heredity and the conditions under which he had been prepared for a responsible being—the function called ’conscience’ which ought to be present in every three centered being, had not yet been quite atrophied in him, so that after he had cognized with his Reason certain cosmic truths I had explained to him, he immediately acquired in his presence towards the beings around him, similar to him, almost that attitude which should be in all normal three-brained beings of the whole Universe, that is to say, he became, as it is also said there, ‘compassionate,’ and ‘sensitive’ towards the beings surrounding him.  -- (emphasis added)

This short description speaks to one of the most powerful characteristics of the reasoning process, once we’ve brought the skill of reasoning up to a sufficient level of development. Namely, as a consequence of Reasoning, an immediate transformation takes place in us.

If we require many repetitions of a specific reasoning process, and a long time for the seed of reasoning to germinate, we can still be grateful that it’s having an effect. But it also tells us that we can improve the reasoning process itself, over and above the outcome of any specific reasoning process.

Even then, some things still take time…

Page 190:
“From our earliest meetings, whenever we chanced to speak about other beings similar to himself, his responsiveness and experiencings about them always touched me deeply. And when my Reason made it quite clear to me that the function of conscience, fundamental for three centered beings, which had been transmitted to his presence by heredity, had not yet become quite atrophied in him, then there gradually began from that moment to arise in my presence and as a result to be crystallized, a ’really-functioning-needful-striving’ towards him as towards a kinsman of my own nature.