In man's speech and in his action, the seer sees designs: A straight line, a round, a crooked line, zigzag, oval, square, a triangle. For instance there is a person who speaks straight to the face all he feels; there is another person who proceeds in a roundabout way; there is a person who has a crooked way of mentioning a thing; there is a person who will touch two opposite angles before he will arrive at the desired point; there is another person who will go about in a zigzag way, you can't know whether he is going to the south or the north until he has arrived at a certain point. These figures represent the lines on the mind of man.

Man does not feel comfortable in acting differently from the lines already engraved upon his mind. Therefore a crooked person enjoys his crookedness as much as a straightforward person enjoys his straightforwardness. A most interesting study of this subject can be made by studying the art of different ages and of different nations. Every nation has its typical lines and typical forms, every period shows the peculiarity of expression of the art of that period.

So one finds in the imagery of poets and in the theme of musicians. If you study one musician and his lifelong work you will find that his whole work is developed on a certain line as the basis of his work. Also by studying the biography of great people you will find how one thing has led to the other, different but of similar kind. Therefore it is natural that a thief in time becomes a greater thief; so the righteous after some time may become a saint.

It is not difficult to slide on the line already made on one's mind, the difficult is to act contrary to the line which is engraved there, especially in the case when it happens to be an undesirable line.

Shiva, the great Lord of Yogis, has given a special teaching on the subject, which he calls Viparit Karna, "Acting contrary to one's nature," and he gives great importance to this method of working with oneself, that by this method in the end one arrives at mastery.