“This process of self-discovery is scientific and the invariable rule of science has to be applied - experiment and observe. The experiment is to ask the question; the observation is to look at yourself and see what happens. Being a science the law cannot vary. Any apparent variation is in you: you will have stepped off the way of facts into conclusions. The sun is either shining or it is not. You do not have to conclude; you just look.”

—  Barry Long

Knowing Yourself: The True in the False (1996)

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Barry Long 86
Australian spiritual teacher and writer 1926–2003

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same passage in transcript: video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2NnquxdWFk&t=16m46s
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Variant: In general we look for a new law by the following process. First we guess it. Then we compute the consequences of the guess to see what would be implied if this law that we guessed is right. Then we compare the result of the computation to nature, with experiment or experience, compare it directly with observation, to see if it works. If it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. In that simple statement is the key to science. It does not make any difference how beautiful your guess is. It does not make any difference how smart you are, who made the guess, or what his name is – if it disagrees with experiment it is wrong. That is all there is to it.

“You are either ready to discover yourself or you are not. Ready means you have been knowingly or unknowingly practicing self-observation.”

Barry Long (1926–2003) Australian spiritual teacher and writer

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