Page 6 - NAMAH-Oct-2023

But even those whose destiny is certain have to struggle mightily, resolutely, against
this “something” which one seems to take in with the very air one breathes: this fear,
this dread of what may happen. And this is so stupid, because, in the final analysis, the
destiny of each individual is the same: you are born, you live — more or less satisfactorily
— and you die; then you wait for a certain length of time, and again you are born, you
live — more or less satisfactorily — and again you die, and so on indefinitely, until you
feel you have had enough of it.

Fear of what? Fear of coming out of the rut? Fear of being free? Fear of no longer being a
prisoner?

And then, when you have enough courage to overcome this, when you say, “Come what
may! After all, there’s not much to lose”, then you become wary, you wonder if it is
reasonable, if it is true, if all that is not an illusion, if you are not just imagining things,
if there is really any substance to it.... And mind you, this mistrust seems stupid, but
you encounter it even in the most intelligent, even in those who have repeatedly had
conclusive experiences — it is something that you take in with the food you eat, the air
you breathe, your contacts with others; and that is why you can speak of the “tentacles
of Nature”, everywhere, in all things, like an octopus stealing in and catching you and
3
binding you.

Even when you have overcome these two obstacles, when the experiences are so strong
that you can no longer doubt, that doubt becomes impossible — like doubting one’s own
life — then there remains something awful, petty, dry, corrosive: scepticism. And this
is founded on human pride, that is why it lasts so long. You want to think that you are
above all these things, “Oh, I am not one to fall into those traps! I am a reasonable man,
I see things from a practical point of view; I’m not so easily deceived.” It is awful!... It is
sordid. But it is dangerous. Even in moments of greatest enthusiasm, even when one is
filled with an exceptional, marvellous experience — It rises from the lowest depths. It is
ugly, slimy, disgusting. And yet it rises, and spoils everything.

To conquer it, one must be a mighty warrior. One must struggle against all the obscurities
of Nature, against all her tricks, all her temptations.

Why does she do this? It is as if she were moving away from her own goal. But I have
already explained this to you many times. Nature knows very well where she is going
and what the outcome is. She wants it, but... in her own way. She does not feel that any
time is being wasted. She has all eternity before her. She wants to follow her own way as
she likes, meandering as much as she likes, going back on her tracks, straying from the

3 The translation the Mother had before her was based on a text which read "tentacles of Na-
ture" instead of "sentinels of Nature".

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