The need to change one’s outlook on the world

I asked Anastasia about the woman over whom she had a disagreement with her grandfather. I asked her why she had been unable to establish a connection with her and why she thought this contact was necessary

“You see,” Anastasia began her story “it is very important, when two people join their lives together, that they have a spiritual attraction to each other. Unfortunately, everything basically starts with the carnal. For example, you see a beautiful girl and desire to be close to her. You still have not seen the individual — the Man —■ or her soul. Very often people join their destinies together only on the basis of carnal attraction. Either that quickly passes or it is transferred to someone else. What then keeps people together?

“To find a kindred spirit with whom one can attain true happiness is not all that complicated. Your technocratic world, however, puts up massive interference. The woman I am trying to reach lives in a large city, and regularly travels to the same place each day — probably to her work. Either there or on the way she finds or meets up with a man who is very close to her spirit, one with whom she could be really happy and, most importantly, one with whom she could bear a child capable of bringing so much good into the world. Because they would create this child with the same impulsion as we did.

But there is no way this man can bring himself to tell this woman that he loves her, and she herself is partly to blame for this. Just think: he looks into her face and sees, as it were, his heart's desire, the apple of his eye, while she, as soon as she feels someone's gaze upon her, perks up right away, and “unwittingly” tries to lift her skirt higher. And so on. This man is at once carnally aroused, but he does not know her well, and so he then goes to someone he is better acquainted with, someone he feels is more accessible, but still led on by these same carnal desires.

aI want to suggest to this woman what she should do, but I cannot break through to her. Her brain will not open to the awareness of new information, even for a second. It is constantly pre-occu- pied with issues of day-to-day living. Can you imagine, one time I followed her for a whole twenty-four hours! What a terrible sight! Grandfather then got upset with me for not working enough with the dachniks and for spreading myself too thin, and sticking my nose in where it does not belong.

“When this woman wakes in the morning, her first thought is not to delight in the coming day but how to prepare something to eat. She gets upset over some missing food item, and then gets upset over something you smear on your face in the morning, like face-cream or rouge. She spends her whole time thinking how she is going to get it. She is always late and is constantly on the run, trying not to miss first one form of transport and then the next.

“At her regular destination her brain is overloaded with — how shall I put it — all sorts of nonsense, at least from my point of view. On the other hand it is supposed to give her face a business-like expression and fulfil the job tasks she is assigned. All this while she is thinking about one of her girlfriends or acquaintances and getting angry at them. At the same time she is listening to everything going on around her. And, can you imagine, the same routine is repeated day after day like clockwork.

“On her way home, when people notice her, she can put on the ap-pearance of an almost happy woman. But she is continually thinking about problems, or her make-up, or looking at clothes in shop windows — above all, clothes that will expose her alluring charms, supposing that this will result in some kind of miracle, except in her case everything happens the wrong way around. She gets home and starts house-cleaning. She thinks she is relaxing when she watches her television and prepares her meals, but the main thing is, she thinks about good things only for a split second. Even when she goes to bed, she is still mulling over her daily cares and stays in the same mental rut.

“If only she could turn away from her thoughts even just for a moment during the day and think of...”

“Wait, Anastasia! Explain specifically howyou see her, her outward appearance and clothing, and tell me what she should be thinking about at the moment when this man is with her. What should she do to make him at least attempt to tell her he loves her?”

Anastasia explained everything in the minutest detail. I shall only mention here what I consider to be the most important points.

“Her dress should come to just below the knee. It should be green with a white collar and no cleavage. She should wear hardly any make-up, and listen with interest to the person talking to her.”

‘And that’s it?” I remarked upon hearing such a simple explanation. To which Anastasia remarked:

“There is so much underlying these simple instructions. In order for her to choose that particular dress, change her make-up and look at that person with genuine interest, she will have to change her whole outlook on the world.”

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