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.