Evolution of Consciusness(Post 23)- Self Remembering (2)

Self-Rememberence & Jean Paul Sartre's Pure & Impure Reflection

In the last post we saw about Gurdjieff ‘s ‘self-remembering’ method in some detail.

In this post we will see some theoretical aspects of ‘Self Remembering’ through Jean Paul Sartre.

 

Jean Paul Sartre.

According to Sartre , becoming aware of one’s act ( he calls it Reflective Consciousness)

has two types.

Namely,

’Impure Reflection’ and ‘Pure Reflection’.

Let us revisit the example of a man watching a movie to understand the two types

Man is absorbed in the movie, experiencing it with a particular point of view.

He can not ‘see’ the experiencing ‘Me’  because his attention is occupied by the

‘Movie’, But he is perfectly aware of the ‘Me’ all the time, throughout the movie.

It is something like Eyes that see, but one do not see the Eyes.

Now,

 if the man becomes aware that ‘I am watching the Movie’.

Then,

his attention is occupied by the ‘Me’ instead of the ’Movie’.

Sartre call this ‘Reflective Consciousness’ where as the earlier one is ‘Non-Reflective Consciousness’.

Our concern is,

when the man ‘reflects’ or ‘becomes aware’, what kind of  ‘Me’ occupies his attention.

Impure Reflection

He can apprehend the ‘Me’ as an object, outside his consciousness of watching the movie , just like 

observing other man’s ego.

He can make judgments about the experience according to his ego (knowledge)

This is called Impure Reflection.

Pure Reflection

Otherwise,

He can apprehend the ‘Me’ as quasi object, within his consciousness of watching the movie

That is, the ‘Me’ is operating but not as part of his ego object , not yet associated with ‘Ego’,

And, as the ‘Me’ is not outside his consciousness of watching the movie as a part of his 'Ego'.

He can not make any judgment about the experience and also

He can not have any point of view about the ‘Me’ (That is why it is quasi object)

Perception of the quasi ‘Me’ is nether related to nor altered by the ego,

It is like experience is completely neither ‘Mine’ nor ‘Other’s’, it is a simple presence .

This is called Pure Reflection.

The ‘Impure Reflection’ is reflecting on the ‘Me’ as an object –Past

The ‘Pure Reflection’ is reflecting on the ‘Me’ spontaneously – Presence

Impure Reflection is what we commonly call as ‘Remembering’

But, what Gurdjieff refers in ‘Self Remembering’ is Pure Reflection.

This explanation may enable us to see the difference and do the right thing.

Technically, Pure Reflection is the foundation on which Impure Reflection appears.

If lucky enough, one can experience it without will or effort.

When we wake up from sleep, immediate perception is ‘Pure’ because it takes little time

for the ego to appear and color the perception.

In those instances one can practically experience ‘Pure Reflection’ or ‘Self

Remembering’.