As Written by Nicholas Roerich in May 1935

(Before I quote from this article, I just want to state that now having read from works that previous individuals in my past life history have written, I can see where some of my present thinking comes, even though I find some of their ways of expression somewhat tedious.)

On the physical plane, everything can be exhausted, but on the spiritual plane—at the base of everything—lies inexhaustibility. And according to this measure, the two planes are primarily divided. When we are told that something has become exhausted, we know that this pertains to purely physical conditions. A creator imagines that his creativeness is at an end, and this is, of course, untrue. Simply, there are, or there have arisen, some reasons that impeded creativeness. Perhaps something has taken place that harmed the free flow of creativeness. But, in itself, creativeness, when once called forth into action, is inexhaustible. Likewise, psychic energy, as such, is ever flowing and cannot be impeded.

In the confused life of today, this simple fact must constantly be remembered. People insist that they have become tired, and they suggest to themselves that their creative ability is at an end. Repeating in various terms about difficulties, they actually wrap themselves into a veritable cobweb. Space is really filled with a multitude of harmful crosscurrents. They can influence the physical side of manifestation. But to people who are accustomed to building everything within physical bounds, it always seems that these outer intrusions kill the very essence of their psychic energy. Yet even this very expression will often seem as something indefinite because people, up until now, seldom ponder over this fundamental blessed energy, which is inexhaustible and ever-present when realized.

In general, the question concerning tangibility is very unclear to human consciousness. One repeatedly hears how a person may give, at times, quite definite data, but the listeners with their uneducated attention are unable to grasp them and then assure that they were given something abstract that cannot be applied. I have often witnessed how people gave precise information founded on facts, and yet they were told: “Can’t we have something more to the point, more practical, and definite?” Such questions only show that the interlocutor had no intention to accept everything that had been said to him, but he wanted to hear only that which he, for some reason, expected. And under this self-suggestion, he often was unable to appreciate all the precise facts that were told to him. How often do people desire to hear not that which is, but that which they want to hear? “Verily, he is deaf who does not want to hear!”

The nondesire to listen and to see gives rise not only to great injustice but often it is as if a spiritual suicide. A person will hypnotize himself to such an extent that he is unable to do something; and to such an extent, he will suppress his basic energy so that he really falls under the sway of all outer physical, as well as psychic, intrusions.

Everyone has heard how often persons with so-called nervous diseases cannot cross a street nor approach a window, or, again, they become subject to the horror of suspicion. If one investigates how these fatal symptoms began, one can always find an insignificant, often hardly perceptible, suppression of psychic energy. At times it will be caused indirectly and may begin from something quite unexpected.

Precisely such accidents could have been easily avoided if attentiveness to everything that takes place around us would have been developed. This attentiveness would help us to notice that the basic energy is inexhaustible. This simple and clear realization would save many from the abyss of despair and disillusion. Thus, a person who suffers from insomnia will often find the cause of it in the most real, external conditions. Likewise, man will understand why it has been repeated from antiquity that “it is difficult to make oneself think; it is still more difficult to abstain from thinking.”

When man extinguishes his enthusiasm, he does so because of some purely external conditions. If with all attentiveness he would realize how accidental and ephemeral are these circumstances, he would chase them away like an annoying fly. But children are not taught attentiveness, neither at school nor in the family; and yet, later on, one is surprised why one cannot see a forest on account of the bushes. But, then, does one often speak in the family circle about the fire of the heart, about inspiration, and enthusiasm? Too often the family gathering is confined only to mutual condemnation and malicious criticisms. Nevertheless, from ancient times, from everywhere, the calls and commands reach us to preserve, in purity, the wells of inspiration and creativeness—as in thought, so in action.

“Raj-Agni, thus, was called that Fire, which you call enthusiasm. Truly, this is a beautiful and powerful Fire that purifies all the surrounding space. The constructive thought is nurtured upon this Fire. The thought of magnanimity grows in the silvery light of the Fire Raj-Agni. Help to the near ones flows from the same source. There are no limitations, no bounds to the wings radiant with Raj-Agni. Do not think that this Fire will be kindled in an evil heart. One must develop in oneself the ability to call forth the source of such transport. At first, you must develop in yourself the assurance that you offer your heart to the Great Service. Then one ought to think that the glory of the works is not yours but belongs to the Hierarchy of Light. Then one may become uplifted by the infiniteness of Hierarchy and affirm oneself in the heroic achievement needed for all worlds. Thus, not for oneself but in the Great Service, Raj-Agni is kindled. Understand that the Fiery World cannot exist without this Fire.”

[Roerich, Nicholas. Diary Leaves (pp. 79-81). Nicholas Roerich Museum. Kindle Edition.]