Tonights CCMC 6:30pm Esoteric Studies were on Degrees of Attention We go through our day in varying degrees of attention. Most of our daily tasks call for minimal attention, such as dressing ourselves, eating or interacting with friends and family. Some tasks require more attention; such as reading a book, drafting an email or attending a job interview. We can perform the first group of actions while simultaneously performing others: dress ourselves while speaking on the phone, eat while chatting with our friends or interact socially while sending and receiving text messages. However, we cannot perform tasks that require attention alongside other tasks without harming our performance. We cannot read a book while speaking on the phone, draft an email while chatting with our friends, or attend a job interview while texting. We function in varying degrees of attention Attention and Will Our attention is subject to our will. If we desire, we can perform any task more attentively. We can bring attention to dressing, sensing the fabric of our clothes, matching the colors of our shirt to our slacks and shoes, etc. We can dine intentionally, tasting each bite, each sip, etc. But we needn’t be professionals in any field to verify that we can bring more or less attention to the simplest actions, and this demonstrates that: Our attention is subject to our will Dressing inattentively is effortless; dressing intentionally requires effort. Eating inattentively is effortless; tasting the food requires effort. Directing attention through will requires effort. This explains why Gurdjieff called his methods of self-development The Work. Awareness and Consciousness Directing attention is not the end of the Work; it is a means by which, we become conscious. Few teachings make the distinction between consciousness and attention, and this is where the Fourth Way differs from most other systems. The Work is not only about being attentive; it is about being conscious, and consciousness is self-awareness. George Gurdjieff called this self-remembering. Peter Ouspensky called it divided attention. More recently, it has become popularly known as being present. Call it as we may, without the distinction between awareness and consciousness, our efforts to be conscious can only yield partial results. There is an idea in this work that man, as he is, is incomplete. Nature only develops us to a certain point and we simply passively reflect the impressions that our environment has impressed on us. All this has simply `happened as a consequence of our journey through life and quite automatically and mechanically and unconsciously, as if we were asleep. For man to become a completed being he must begin on the path to awaken from his sleep, to consciously form a certain something within himself. Our situation in life is akin to being asleep in a house that is ablaze---tragic and quite hopeless unless with a certain amount of luck and with certain efforts we can begin to awaken. `Man (in quotation marks), the incomplete man, will be consumed by the blaze leaving no trace, never even aware of the dire peril he was in. But man does have the chance, as taught by the great religions and traditions of awakening. For this three things are required: Firstly, nothing can be done unless he has the realization of the terror of the situation. Secondly, that he has enough time left to him to make the efforts and required preparation for escape. Time is counted. Thirdly, he needs to find a means of escape, a path that will enable him to escape this inferno. Identification Identifying is a very interesting idea. There are two stages in the process of identifying. The first stage denotes the process of becoming identified, the second a state when identification is complete. If the first attracts too much attention and occupies too much time, it leads to the second. Being in the grip of things is an extreme case. There are many small identifications which are very difficult to observe, and these are the most important because they keep us mechanical. You must realise that we always pass from one identification to another. You cannot identify and be aware of yourself: the presence of one means the absence of the other. All things are connected; not a single manifestation is separate; they are all connected with a certain order of things. Identification is a very difficult thing to describe, because no definitions are possible. You have to find a moment of identification, catch it, and then compare things with that moment. Identification is everywhere, at every moment of ordinary life. We do not notice it because we are in it. Identification happens when you are repelled or attracted by something. Study or observation does not necessarily produce identification, but attraction and repulsion always do. Also, we use too strong a language, and this automatically produces identification. When one is identified, one does not exist; only the thing exists with which one is identified. Likes and dislikes all mean identification, especially dislikes. They cannot exist without identification and generally they are nothing but identification. Usually, people imagine they have many more dislikes than they actually have. If they investigate and analyse them, they will probably find that they dislike only one or two things. When I studied it, there was only one real dislike that I could find in myself. But you must find your own examples; identification must be verified by personal experience. If at a moment of strong identification you try to stop it, you will see the idea. Let us try from the intellectual side. You realise that you do not remember yourself? Try to see why you cannot and you will find that identification prevents you. Then you will see what it is. All these things are connected. We do not notice the temperature of our body except when it becomes a little higher or a little lower than normal. In the same way we can notice identification when it is stronger or weaker than usual. By comparing these degrees we can see what it is. One is identified not for any particular reason or purpose, but in all cases because one cannot help it. You may not know why you identify. But you must know why you struggle against it. This is the thing. If you do not forget the reason why, you will be ten times more successful. Very often we begin struggling and then forget why. If we could stop identification, we would have many moments like those we had in childhood: but we do not know how to begin to stop identification. If we could destroy negative emotions, if we could remember ourselves, then those things would be under our control, not accidental. When negative emotion appears, self-remembering becomes impossible. You may think you are identified with one thing when in reality you are identified with quite a different thing. This does not matter at all; what does matter is the state of identification. Identification can be combated only by putting something against it. You must learn to distinguish the important from the less important. If you turn your attention to more important things you become less identified with unimportant things. People think that to be identified helps them; they do not see that it only makes things more difficult. It has no useful energy at all, only destructive energy.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 00:44:54 +0000
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