Evolution of Consciusness (34)-Conflict & Gurjeff Self-Remembering

CONFLICT & Gurdjieff's Self-Remembering

Conflict is normally perceived as a problem due to difference of opinions or views.

Conflicts can be at global, national, institutional or individual’s level.

But the common factor is disagreement over ideas, opinions etc.

Conflict resolution at global or institutional level is elaborate, complex and will persist

as long as conflict at individual level exists.

So, what is important is conflict that exists in an individual because it is the individuals

who collectively make the bigger entities.

Disagreement is inevitable.

It is obvious; no one can be right about everything every time.

But, why disagreement should create conflict.

Let us bring it down to simple form to understand its structure.

There are two kinds of opinions one come across- Objective and Subjective.

Regarding external entities (Car, House, Business, Decease etc…), one can have

Objective opinion based on one’s knowledge.

Regarding internal psychological entities (People, Religion, Culture etc…), one can have

Subjective opinion based on One’s Ego or the ‘Me’. 

In other words

One can have objective opinion in the physical plane and Subjective opinion in the Psychological plane.

Say for instance,

If one has a objective technical opinion about a Car, he is ready to change or give up the

opinion, if an expert in the field says it is not correct.

So, there is no conflict or antagonism in the mind over disagreement.

(Even here, if one has a ‘Self-Image’ (Psychological) that he is ‘Knowledgeable’, he may

accept the expert opinion, but feel down as if his ‘Ignorance’ is exposed and ‘Reputation’

is damaged.)

But generally one knows that his knowledge is limited and ready to change his Objective

opinion in the physical plane.

Now,

In the psychological plane, one’s opinion is subjective.

Opinion is based on the Ego or ‘Me’, rather created by it.

As we know,

The content of the ‘Me’ is acquired or learned from the society, and it includes everything

from background, brought up, culture, values, prejudices, past experiences etc.

All subjective opinions are dependent on this ‘Me’.

The problem is,

Though the content of the ‘Me’ or ‘Ego-Self’ is psychological ‘Knowledge’,

It manifests itself as a persona in our day to day engagements.

 (We have already seen this aspect in the earlier posts).

So,

If some one disagrees with a subjective opinion, it will be perceived as a personal challenge 

and the other will be looked upon as an antagonist.

‘Disagreement’ is not over the Opinion but with the ‘Me’ or ‘Ego’ – The Persona.

This false perception makes the ‘Disagreement’ into conflict leading to antagonism.

Say for instance,

If some one disagrees with one’s religious belief

This is perceived as a challenge to the person him self.

Religious belief is not looked upon as ‘knowledge’ but as identity of the Person.

So, the disagreement is not about an ‘opinion’ but the about the ‘identity’.

This transforms the disagreement into a conflict and to antagonism between individuals.

(This antagonism collectively leads to enmity between population groups.

The chaos we witness today has its origin here and one can also logically see that the

solution do not exist in the plane of ‘Belief’. )

How to deal with the situation (at individual level)

Now,

If one remember one self (Self-Remembering) during the episode of ‘disagreement’,

That is if one stays with the situation, without going beyond the situation

–        To the past for justification, to the future to end the conflict.

Initially the mind may stagger urging one to react and end the conflict by going beyond the present.

But, if one persists, the staggering mind will become quite and one can see the false

Personality and its motives with its roots in the ‘Belief’.

(It is false personality because a ‘Belief’ is an idea not actual or realized truth)

And also see the cause behind the attitude of antagonism.

That is,

 If ‘Disagreement’ is acknowledged,  the very existence of this false personality is at stake.

So it tries to defend itself by taking a hostile stance.

The moment one become conscious of this process, the mind stops the mechanical impulsive reaction

 and become stable and balanced.

One may not give up his belief, but hostility ceases.

Because, one can actually see that the ‘Self’ is not at stake over the issue.

By becoming conscious through Self-remembering, one is not immediately eliminating the identity, 

but  one gains control and depth in awareness.

This in turn reduces mechanical reaction and increases conscious response.

In general,

Not only beliefs but also images such as ‘Wife’ or ‘Husband’ can give rise to conflict,

If a ‘Woman’ or ‘Man’ do not fit into the ‘Image’ – which is a social construct.

If one becomes conscious of Images or Identities and their potential for mischief, one can

handle them rationally, without bias and avoid escalating a ‘disagreement’ in to a ‘Conflict’.

Now the larger picture,

If this is applied to all identities and images of one-self and others,

One can approach life not as a ‘conflict’ but as a journey (Pleasant or Otherwise)

 towards the True-Self.

Evolution of Consciusness (33)-Passion of Pain and Insightt

Passion

Normally passion is considered as strong desire towards something.

Passion is more than Desire.

If one desires music, he would enjoy spending  time listening to music,

but if passionate about music , he would take even pain to deepen his experience with

respect to music and would like to learn about music(Form, Structure, History etc.).

Similarly, if one is passionate about a person, he would like know EVERYTHING about

the person.

One can find young people very passionate about fashion, good looks or celebrities and

take lot of pain, spend money, energy and time to get to the bottom of things.

Athletes, out of passion for the sport take lot of pain to excel. 

So passion is more about going through something wholly and get to the bottom of the

thing, than simple enjoyment..

Here by ‘Whole’, we don’t mean ‘more’, but going through comprehensively without

Any prejudice, preference or reservation even taking lot of pain.

Normally, people are passionate about positive things, which gives them happiness, joy or

recognition.

But, when it comes to negative things like pain, suffering, disappointments, anger and

resentment etc.

One would like to escape, end them quickly or avoid them altogether.

Now, Can one be passionate about negative things?

So that, one can have comprehensively understand it and go beyond it.

Let us take psychological hurt.

Is it possible for one to stay with the ‘Hurt’ without escaping from it by reacting or

Retaliating?

Is it possible for one to go through the ‘Hurt’ wholly without any prejudice or

reservation?

Because

When one escapes from the hurt by impulsive mechanical reaction (Anger)

or retaliation (Hitting Back), understanding remains partial, prejudiced.

 So, one never get to the bottom of the 'Hurt' - what is hurt ?, why it is hurt? and so on..

By becoming passionate about ‘Hurt’,

one can go through it wholly and also get to the bottom.

It does not mean inviting pain or suffering more.

By being passionate, we mean looking at the ‘Hurt’ in its entirety without trying to

escape or do something about it.

Let us see step by step.

Firstly,

By being passionate about ‘Hurt’,

One stops the tendency to escape through anger or Retaliation.

So one stays wiht the 'Hurt',

This weakens the mechanical nature of the mind and consequently increasing the awareness or

wakefulness of the person.

Secondly,

As one stays with the ‘Hurt’, one can remember one self ( Self-Remembering/Pure Reflection).

That reverses the perception (We have already discussed this in the earlier posts) and

One is able to identify the particular ‘I’ or Personality or the Self-Image that is hurt.

(It is always a Self-Image that gets hurt or being insulted or flattered.)

This gives clarity about one self, identifying the features of the multiple ‘I’s or false

personalities and over time to do away with them.

Thirdly,

As one stays with the 'Hurt',

One can patiently look at the personal Hurt from the perspective of the other who caused

the hurt.

This enable one to empathize with the other’s situation and bring stability and balance in

one's approach instead of impulsive emotional outburst.

And, one can also look at one-self (particular 'I')  critically without like or dislike. 

Further down,

Since all personalities are derived from the society and as every one has more or less similar

Pesrsonalities.

One finds out that there is actually nothing personal in the ‘personal’ hurt;

In fact everone goes through it one time or another.(E.g. Being insulted, loss of job, money or dear ones etc)

Individual Hurt or Suffering is only a reflection of ‘Suffering’ of mankind.

An individual only shares the common human suffering.

This perception over time open the door to the understanding that

Ego-self is not the actual True-Self but simply an individual expression of collective

social conditioning,

Depending upon the intensity of passion, one can accelerate the work towards the 'True-Self'.

So, by being passionate about negative things, one is able to handle  the negative situations better and also

has an opportunity to deepen one's level of consciousness or awareness.

 

Let us look at a popular illustration to see How Empathy generates Intelligence.

A ring master in a circus controls the big cats by shouting commands and making

loud noises with the whip.

Big cats are trained to obey the commands under these conditions.

Supposing, the lights goes off and it becomes dark.

Then the situation becomes dangerous and unpredictable.

  

Big cats can see in the dark but the ring master is blind.

Normal reaction is shock and fear and mind tends to think about the escape.

This normal reaction may prove deadly, because once the ring masters stops issuing

Commands, the big cats would attack.

But an enlightened ring master would do the following.

Firstly,

He won’t think of escape and remain stable.

Secondly,

He would perceive the situation from the position of big cats (Empathy).

That is, cats can see clearly but cats do not know that he can’t see.

Thirdly,

This perception is intelligence and it will enable him to resolve the deadly situation.

He will keep issuing commands and making noises with the whip in the dark as if he can

see and cats will continue to obey the commands.

So, empathy leads to intelligence- which liberates one from the situation.

 In a general negative situation,

This is possible only if one has passion.

Because,

If one is not passionate about the negative situation, he will escape through reaction or retaliation.

If one escapes, he can not empathize

If one can not empathize, one can not have that intelligence.

So, if one has passion towards negative events,

Ultimately, passion leads to empathy and to intelligence of higher order.

In all this, Ego-Self is not dominating, which generates space for innate essence and true-self to emerge.

 

* passion of Christ refers to taking over the sins of others by Jesus Christ out of compassion.

There are many references in the mystical books about saints taking over the sins of others to relieve  them

from pain or illness.

Evolution of Consciousness(32)-Happiness, Joy & Bliss

Gurdjieff's Evolution Of Consciousness - Happiness, Joy and Bliss

In the last post we dealt with pleasure and its negativity,

Now, we will see Happiness, which has no negativity in its structure.

To understand happiness, one can recollect an incident and look into its features.

One can easily figure out that one is not aware that he is happy throughout the episode.

In other words,

One is conscious of happiness but not conscious that one is happy.

Only after the event one can reflect and say ‘I was happy’.

Unlike pleasure, the episode of happiness is consummated or ended but not terminated

with residue of guilt or any negativity.

And also Happiness can not be sought like pleasure with well defined means and objects.

One might choose certain activities (Theater, Sports, and Celebration etc) to be happy.

But, it is only the state of mind that will bring it about.

Because,

 If the mind is gloomy, disturbed or down, the same activities that brought Happiness

earlier can not create it in the present.

So, it is more to do with the state of mind or consciousness than the activities alone.

More generally,

It is not external state of the world but the internal state of mind that bring about Happiness or joy.

we will have to see what state of mind makes it possible.

We already know,

one is not aware that he is happy during the episode but later on, can say He was Happy.

Now, let us consider a closer situation,

One is happy and he reflects during the episode of happiness itself (not afterwards)

And says ‘I am happy now’.

Now, we will have to find out the features of the ‘I’ which says ‘I am happy now’.

In the earlier posts we have said, ego-self is repository of multiple ‘I’s or Personalities.

By ‘Self-Remembering’ CORRECTLY one can find out which ‘I’ in the Ego-Self says

‘I am happy now’.

(We have already discussed what is ‘Self-Remembering’ and what is not).

One can see that the happy ‘I’ is not any of the ‘Personalities’ present in the ‘Ego-Self’.

And moreover,

The state of happiness is not yet recognized and named as such by the ‘Me’, that is there

is no appeal of any kind made to ‘Me’ to qualify the present.

In fact, if done correctly reflection only reveals the laughter or joyful faces or mood of

the situation, the ‘Me’ or Ego-Self or The Past is not found anywhere in the reflection.

That is reflection is only within the current activity and nothing beyond or behind.

This is the major difference in the structure of Happiness and Pleasure.

In Happiness, there is no goal or aim beyond the act or activity (No Becoming).

In Pleasure, there is a goal or aim beyond the act or activity (Becoming).

That is the reason for activity of Happiness is consummated or ended, where as activity of

Pleasure is terminated and repeated.

Since the happy 'I' is not associated with any 'I' or Personality in the Ego-Self, 

One can infer that happy ‘I’ is totally independent or free from the ‘Me’.

In other words,

The ‘Me’ or the Past stands isolated like an ancient relic or monument without any potential to

Influence the present.

So, we can say

The state of mind that is present during the episode of happiness is such that,

It is totally relieved from the Past with absolute presence in the present without any

sort of appeal to the ‘Me’ or “Ego-Self’ or The Past.

This is evident among children; they are happy and joyful irrespective of the ‘Past’ and

The Environment (Rich or Poor) because their Ego-Self is least developed.

But, grown ups can not become children.

Also our objective is not only ‘innocent’ unconditioned mind but also intelligence and

total awareness.

We can also find,

Similar state of mind prevails in Joy, Fascination, Wonder and Delight etc.

But, in these cases, we don’t prepare anything; they come uninvited dislodging the ‘Me’.

This state of mind is also behind Intuition, Creativity etc.

In short,

Happiness or Joy or Creativity is when the Me or Ego-Self is not.

One must be very clear about one point here,

Though Ego or Ego-Self is absent in the episode of Happiness, 

still essence of Happiness is related to the particular ego centric elements.

It is relative to the individual Ego-Self, what is happiness to one may not be so for another.

Now, we will move from relative to the absolute,

 If Ego-Self is negated in the relative EPISODIC Happiness or Joy in our day to day life,

for absolute ETERNAL Bliss, Ego-Self has to be purged.

So,

Happiness belongs to the Ego-Self and Bliss belongs to the True-Self.

One has to transcend the Ego-Self to move from Happiness to Bliss.

For the believers of Grace, one has to be in a position to receive it.

To drink water, even if offered, one has to be thirsty.

Evolution of Consciusness (31)-Demand for Pleasure

Pleasure Principle and Demand for Pleasure

In the last post it was about Sorrow or Suffering, Now we will look at positive feelings of

Pleasure, Happiness and Joy.

First we will take up Pleasure,

Because among the three,

Pleasure is the dominating one and one’s life is primarily driven by Pleasure Principle

according to psychologists.

Pleasure is sought in every human act – Eating, Possession, Relationships etc.

Pursuit of Pleasure is a common endeavor in the world; it is also a nation’s goal.

It is highly diversified, industrialized and commercialized.

New forms or objects are invented everyday to give us pleasure and sustain the industry.

It has almost become an addiction with potential to erode one’s capacity to find

Happiness or Joy.

Unfortunately, pleasure can also be negative – sadistic pleasures.

One can derive pleasure by hurting others or indulging in violence (Rape, Mass killing etc.) 

As it is dominating the societies all over the world, one finds more and more avenues for

Pleasure and this in turn gradually erodes the capacity of an individual and society to

distinguish  between Pleasure and Happiness.

It has come to a such a state now that common man hardly distinguish between Pleasure,

Happiness and Joy.

And, mostly takes the Pleasure for the other two.

A nation or society can do very little about it, except putting restrictions, passing

resolutions and clamping down and so on with little outcome.

So, it is for the individual to do something about it, if willing.

One can not demand Happiness because it can only happen,

but one can demand Pleasure because it comes from the Past ( Where, How, What etc)

Here, we are not concerned about ‘innocent’ fun and pleasure one goes through.

But, it is the urge and constant demand for pleasure; one has to be concerned with.

Because, behind the demand,

There is a mind which is in pain (Emptiness, Boredom, Frustration etc).

Otherwise one won’t make such a demand.

So,

 Demand for pleasure is to escape from the pain,

In most of the occasions, normally one is not even aware that he is avoiding pain by

choosing pleasure.

Let us consider a simple situations,

In the physical plane, if one is thirsty, he won't eat solid food but drink liquid.

It is very obvious here, but not so in the psychological plane.  

If one is in debt or in troubled relationship, he might choose to go to bar to drink.

In the bar, though he is drinking, in his mind he is not ‘DRINKING’ but forgetting his

problems.

As he is not 'DRINKING",  he can not stop drinking at his level (Consummate Level) but willl keep on

drinking till he can’t drink anymore.

Here, drinking is not consummated or fulfilled but terminated.

After becoming sober, he will find himself in the same position as before, nothing has

changed.

This position makes him feel guilty of what he has done - desire of drinking not consummated and 

also troubles are not resolved.

Even if he drinks again and again to attain the illusory consummate level to feel fulfilled.

It will never be, because he is not ‘DRINKING’ but forgetting troubles.

 Any Demand for Pleasure is of this nature, doing something for something else.

That is the origin of guilt consciousness associated with pleasure after termination.

(Topic of Pleasure and Guilt is wide and deep, here we touch only the surface)    

Now,

 if one reflects upon or remember one self  (Self Remembering), when there is a urge or

demand for pleasure,

He can find the particular personality which is in trouble without the urge to escape from

it through pleasure.

And, he can pay attention to problem to resolve it.

So, it is very important to remember one self, not only during suffering but also when one

seeks pleasure.

Because

demand for pleasure is not a sign of healthy mind but symptom of a mind which is down

or sick.

One can clearly see the difference by comparing it with Happiness or Joy.

 Happiness or Joy are consummated or ended with a positive feeling without leaving any

sense of guilt as residue.

Of course, if one wants the event of Happiness or Joy to recur again, it will become

Pleasure with all it features.

Again, it is not resistance or denial of pleasure but understanding its underlying features

through Self-Remembering and going beyond it.

Martian Flower or Quartz ?

Martian Flower captured by Curiosity !

 

  

NASA spokesman Guy Webster: ‘I would guess that the 'flower' was someone's descriptive term for its appearance, not meant as an interpretation that flowers exist on Mars.’

Evolution of Consciusness (30)- Suffering- Aid to insight

SUFFERING –  Aid to  INSIGHT

It is difficult to see suffering as an aid for anything, because that is what one tries to

avoid throughout the life.

When we say suffering that includes Disappointment, Sadness, Hurt and Sorrow etc.

It is about psychological suffering, not physical pain, though the way one suffers

Physical pain is psychological.

If the loss is heavy, the suffering is heavy and distorts the mind that strongly.

In those situations,

One may not be able to practice ‘Self Remembering’ or reflect upon the situation as one

expect it to be.

Therefore,

one has to begin with little disappointments or hurts before moving to heavier feelings.

Let us start with getting hurt,

when one gets hurt (Ignored or Insulted), it is a kind of suffering,

Normally one wants/attempts to get rid of the Hurt or its external causes.

But, 

Remembering one self while being hurt is staying with it, without trying to escape or do

something about it.

As we have seen already, remembering one self or pure reflection alters the perception.

If applied to Hurt,

When one remembers one self, one’s consciousness is arrested at feeling of 'hurt’, it is

not yet appealing for remedy or trying to do something about the hurt.

If one really remember one self, then one's presence would be completely in the present.

One can feel, one's attention is qualitatively different compared to normal situations.

He can see, hear and feel more of the present, it is unlike concentration which excludes.

Then the perception is

It is the feeling of  'hurt’ that gives significance to the cause (Ignored or Insulted).

Where as the normal perception was ‘I am hurt because…’.

Now,

As one is not looking for external cause or remedy,

One is able to look for the internal source which is responsible for the hurt.

Invariably, one will find the ‘I’ or the personality with a self-image, which is hurt.

So, the cause of hurt is the personality that has a particular Self-Image and not the insult

or remark made.

It is that particular ‘I’ or the personality that causes the hurt and also sustains it.

In the absence of that Personality or the Self-Image, one can not be hurt.

On realization of this aspect, the Hurt simply vanishes.

We are not eliminating the Personality, but become aware that it is an image meant for

certain purpose and not the Self itself.

So, one continue to perform the role without getting hurt.

If one can extrapolate this to bigger issues, it can be deduced that it is always the

Personalities with particular features or Self-Images that causes psychological

hurt or sorrow or suffering.

And on the realization that they are images meant for certain purposes, one will never be

hurt psychologically.

Looking at the bigger picture,

All the roles one plays are images (Father, Son, Businessman, Friend and Enemy etc).

They are ‘biological’, ‘societal’ and their combination.

These images are the source of psychological sufferings.

It may seem odd to say being a Father or Daughter is mere roles or images.

They are roles with respect to the True-Self and real and actual to the Ego-Self.

As long as ego-self prevails, images are real and actual; one should not imagine them to

be Images and become less sensitive to the roles.

Now, to put it in nutshell,

By understanding suffering by remembering one self,

one observes the False-Personalities( very observation weakens them),

enabling one to move towards the True-Personality based on innate Essence.

This movement won’t make anybody uncaring or callous with respect to the roles, but

Holistically responsible and caring.

This could be the reason why,

Some religious traditions considered suffering as an ennobling experience and in some

Traditions, it is also self-inflicted.

All this meant to deny the ego-self and its instrument the body.

Some could have succeeded in transcending the ego-self through this method.

But, in 4^th way, through Self-Remembering,

one moves towards the True-Self  without denying or renouncing the worldly obligations.  

 

Evolution of Consciusness(Post 29)-Gurdjieff Self-Remembering & Suppression ...

Gurdjieff's Self-Remembering and Suppression.

For the last few posts, we are looking at the False Personalities and Self Remembering.

The reason for calling them false personalities is that they are not expression of one’s

internal essence but external empirical desires or ambitions.

.False Personality is from the world and for the world.

As long as False Personalities dominates, personality of essence will remain a theory.

Ending the domination of False Personalities alone will bring about Real Personality

based on one’s innate essence.

Back to Self Remembering

What is important along with remembering one self is,

One should also try to make efforts against the false personality.

It is not controlling or suppressing but becoming aware of the resistance produced by the

False Personality.

It is like in the physical plane, change of state produces inertia.

The very observation or awareness of the resistance or inertia will bring one closer to

Correct Self-Remembering or Pure-Reflection.

That in turn will weaken the dominance of the False Personality.

 For instance,

When one is thirsty,

one should not only recognize ‘Water’ is the real need and ‘Other Drinks’

are imaginary need of a False Personality, but also try to break the ‘Habit’ of drinking

‘Other Drinks’.

The very awareness of the resistance posed by the False Personality, when one refuses to

drink anything other than water will weaken the False Personality.

It is not about austerity in the sense of suppressing desirable drinking and eating habits.

It is about becoming aware of the mechanical nature of such desires.

One should always remember, Gurdjieff’s Work or 4^th Way is about remembering oneself

and becoming more and more conscious or aware about one’s habitual mechanical ness

of thought and action.

It is not about suppressing a habit or desire.

Basically because, if one suppresses a desire, it is only at the conscious level, the motive

and desire will remain intact in the unconscious, waiting for an opportunity.

We have seen many Indian gurus of meditation have become popular for wrong reasons

and many who took celibacy as oath for religious reasons have failed.

All because of suppressing at the conscious level and keeping it intact in the unconscious

level.

This is not meant to be judgmental about others but to highlight the risk of suppression.

At individual or institutional level it causes some disturbance but collectively it can be

catastrophic.

In the recent history,

we have seen ‘Ethnic Cleansing’, genocide of one Tribe by another when the state

apparatus collapsed.

Because, for the fear of State’s Ideology or system, people suppressed their Ethnicity

Or Tribal Identities, not resolved them and it came out with vengeance when the state

control weakened.

The point is,

Realization of True-Self does not come about by suppressing the Ego-Self.

But only by observing the false personalities through sustained self-remembering,

And understanding its internal features and motives (not the external causes

Of disappointment.), one can bring out the unconscious motives to conscious level

 and resolve it.

One can start with simple ‘I’s  to become  aware (Self-Remembering)  of the resistance

and should try to go beyond it.

Though difficult, even personal suffering (Psychological) can be an aid to understand the

false personalities.