Exploring Excellence 12-19-06

Homework:

Spend 10 minutes a day doing something you don't normally do, and do it alone.

Spend 10 minutes a day telling yourself the absolute truth.

Continue to read 10 pages a week from In Search of the Miraculous.

Business:

We will have a holiday party in February when Daniel returns from Europe.  There will be an administrative meeting Friday at (tentatively) 11 a.m.  We try to have the meeting as a kind of meditation - slow - remembering ourselves, -- not be enchanted or lost in our ideas - retaining a sense of consciousness.

Notes:

We discussed the reading of In search of the Miraculous.  The question was asked about the different versions of "understanding."  Gurdjieff talks about knowledge which is different from our psychology in the West.  Almost all religion comes from the East (excluding the LDS, or Christian Science).  Knowledge was understood differently there; it was not explained by words.  If you say, "I understand a higher power" that doesn't really say anything.

Gurdjieff made contact with Sufis who wanted understanding to go to all centers.  All knowledge can come out of one person.  A teacher can teach you how to find knowledge.  You must know if for yourself, but a teacher helps you from going astray.

What you find when you take away all the ideas, words, etc., is the truth.

We lie because we don't really know the truth, not because we set out to tell lies.

The world can be seen as separate and can also be seen as one. They are all the same thing.  Everything is the "absolute" or God.

The other thing about lying: another reason we lie so much is that there is always some kind of bias, or "considering."  We say things not according to the truth, but how it will be seen by others.  The Japanese say a person has three faces: one they show to the world, one to family, and one to oneself.

Don't lie automatically - know that you are lying.  Think of the consequences.  You should be completely honest internally and "consider" externally.  Does this involve projection?  Daniel gave the example of being too nice to someone who is infatuated with you.  Don't lie, but don't be too blunt.  He gave the example of his father who shot off his mouth about Marxism and ended up in a gulag.  It's not about lying. It's about knowing the truth inside and knowing when/how to speak it. Consider the cause and effect.

Arlene gave the example that in Tibet, even if you are on fire inside, you don't let the smoke out.

Daniel discussed the three kinds of Buddhism:

Hinayana is the oldest form, where every precept is taken literally. For example the vow not to kill includes not even stepping on a worm.

Mahayana adjusts according to position, place, and degree.  For example the vow not to kill would be broken if someone were about to kill others.

Buddhayana is that everything is one thing, so there is no killer, no victim.  Everything is intermingled.

On the topic of what feeds us: food, air, and impressions.  What impressions make us grow?  If you have an hour and spend it doing something you don't normally do, the quality of that hour will be great.

Just being with someone inspiring can feed us.  This is "social intelligence."

You can be something different, not just think something different.

Think more about our chief feature.  What is our dominant landscape - is it fear, or lacking self esteem, or feeling that you're not special?

Sit for a few moments with no fear.
