Bureau of weights and measures

Universal standards

November 9th 2023

Many years ago an International Bureau of Weights and Measures was established in Sevres. Why is this bureau necessary? Because people realized that if there were no standards to refer to, weights and measures would be purely arbitrary and vary from one person to the next. But when it comes to the inner world of thoughts and opinions, human beings never wonder whether their system of weights and measures is valid. Day and night, they weigh, measure, calculate and pronounce judgement, and it never occurs to them that they might do well to have their instruments checked by a spiritual bureau of weights and measures; that is to say, by an Initiate. Instead of asking, ‘What about my heart? my will? my brain? What about my tastes and preferences? Are they in order?’ everyone believes themselves to be perfect, and they express their opinions about anything and everything: about love, politics, the existence of God, the meaning of life, and so on and so forth. But what are these opinions worth?*

* Related reading: