Evolution of Consciousness(40)-Rational Vs Emotional Response

Gurdjieff's Self-Remembering (Rational Vs Emotional response)

In the last post, we said, in the Psychological plane,

Both Cause and Effect lie within the ‘ME’, external reasons are only triggers.

That is,

Contrary to the common notion,

The individual is entirely RESPONSIBLE for the instability, not the external  reasons.

Accepting this responsibility,

We will see how to employ self-remembering to see it for ourselves.

What is self-remembering ? In his own words

 Normal or Common nature of reaction

Normal reaction to an incident is impulsive especially in adverse situations.

Impulsive in the sense, reaction is mechanical, quick and emotional.

One can find its profound form in road rages.

In the event of minor traffic incident, emotions build up to the level of rage,

escalating a minor situation into a major confrontation.

This can happen even to people who are normally rational and balanced in their response.

Inability to avoid or change the situation and sense of failure give raise

to behavior of failure which is anger and aggression.

In other words, response is shifted from the plane of Reason to raw Emotion.

One can understand it more clearly in a simpler situation.

It is similar to a teacher disciplining a kid by talking (Reason) to him, if talks fail anger

and Aggression (Emotion) is manifested to bring about the change.

The transition from ‘Reason’ to ‘Emotion’ is spontaneous.

Normally, one is not even aware that such a transition took place.

This can also be viewed as -

If Ego fails to change the situation through organized Super-Ego, it employs

unorganized id to tackle the situation.

Generally speaking, all go through this process without being aware.

But by Self-Remembering, that is remembering one self during such an episode

one can become aware of these shifts and gain control.

Note:

Self Remembering is done during the episode, not afterwards- that is analysis, not

awareness.

Now, what happens if one remember one self?

If one remembers one self or become conscious of one self in an adverse situation,

One can ‘SEE” the following events and shifts taking place in the consciousness  

The ME/Ego

-           Finds itself unable to change the situation with reason or civility

-           Recognizes failure as hindrance or defeat

-          Shifts to ‘raw’ emotion and aggression(id!)  to avoid failure/defeat 
-         This brings confusion and instability on the plane of  Ego

-          Turbulent emotion raises with strong urge to yield (id overriding Super-Ego!)

(If one does not remember one self, it is all spontaneous – unconscious).

Now,

If one can persist and remain conscious as a witness to process without yielding to the

turbulent emotion,

The following events take place in the consciousness

-         Emotional turbulence withers out because the observing 'I' do not sustain it by yielding to it.

-         Calmness and Stability comes back  

-         Aggressive response rolls back.

It is tough but watching the struggle in itself is an experience.

If rightly done, one is freed from the frantic response on that particular Issue.

So, there is no more automated unconscious response.

One is free and stable and can take any decision consciously and intelligently. .

The Ego-Self cease to be the arbiter but will stay as a tool with vast empirical

knowledge at its disposal.

Self-Remembering may bring about such behavior modification but its real objective is

realization of the True-Self – Which involves purging the particular ‘I’  itself.

If one keep working on ‘Self-Remembering’ wherever possible.

One may begin the journey from turbulent Ego-Self to tranquil True-Self.

Evolution of Consciousness (39)- Cause & Effect

Cause and Effect in the Psychological Plane.

 It is long time since I posted.

My apologies to those, who were reading my posts, spite of its short comings.

I will do my best to post as frequently as possible.

Now,

Coming to the topic,

We are familiar with the Cause and Effect chain in the Physical plane.

They are deterministic in nature - ice heated will invariably become water and so on.

Does such a sequence exist in the psychological plane?

For instance,

Does loss of money or job bring about a deterministic effect on a person?

We know through our experience that it is not so, because we do see

Same quantum of loss has different psychological impact on different persons.

For example,

Death of dear ones may produce psychological paralysis in one person and minor

depression on another.

Looking closely, unlike in the Physical plane,

The external causes do not have any deterministic (automatic) effect on the person.

Instead,

It is the ‘ME’ that judges, qualifies and quantifies the causes and produce an effect.

The effects can be positive or negative.

The intensity could be disappointment, depression, Suicidal/Homicidal Tendencies or

Ecstasy, Joy etc.

It all depends on one’s content of Ego-Self.

What we are arriving at is,

The effect entirely depends on one’s Ego-Self and not on external causes.              

As far as psychological plane is concerned,

External causes can be considered only as Triggers or Reasons, similar to the triggers

that create allergic reactions in the body.

Let us take a broader look,

Rain can be beneficial to a farmer and detrimental to a street vendor.

Rain can be source of fun to children and source of worry to the old.

The Rain as such is mute but gains meaning only through the ‘Me’.

This is the idea behind the phrase ‘you are the World, World is you’.

It is not the physical World but the relationship one has with the world through the ‘ME”.

The world that ‘I’ interacts, is essentially the world created by the ‘I’.

Pleasant possibilities or painful realities that one DISCOVERS in the world are actually 

PROJECTIONS made by the ‘ME’.

That is,

In the psychological plane Cause and Effect are internally related (Subjectively),

Where as cause and effect are externally related (Objectively) in the Physical plane.

In other words,

Cause and Effect are two sides of the same coin – The ME or Ego-Self.

Therefore,

Though one is not responsible for the external causes, but entirely

responsible for its influence and impact.

Because, it is the Ego-Self or Me that assigns the meaning and value to the other wise

mute events.

On realization of this ‘responsibility’,

One is able looks inward into the belief-system of desires, ambitions, prejudices etc.

This can bring stability, clarity, focus and energy to handle the situations rationally and

intelligently.

But,

Normal reaction to an adverse situation is panic, confusion and instability, putting the

blame entirely on the external causes.

Therefore,

One has to stop the normal impulsive response and become conscious of reactions

arising out of adverse situations without yielding to it.

The useful tool here is ‘Self Remembering’ by Gurdjieff.

We have discussed its potential, structure and simplicity many times in the earlier posts.

But,

Self-Remembering is not passive empirical knowledge but active ‘Being’.

That is, one has to remember one self even while reading this text.

We will visit it again.