Exploring Excellence Class Notes January 9, 2007

ADMINISTRATIVE

Daniel will be gone for the next two weeks.

The Group will continue to meet.

Patrice will moderate on the 16th and Laura on the 23rd. Come with topics for discussion. The group will continue to sit 15 minutes at the beginning and 10 minutes at the end.

HOMEWORK

Finish In Search while Daniel is gone

REVIEW

   Q: What was good last week?

   A: Discussion between knowledge and being. It is good to have a discussion of the readings because they can be a little obscure.

THEME: Work and Internal and External Considering

Gurdjieff said that the 4th Way is the way of the sly man. What he meant is someone not easily taken in. Doing the Work as a 'householder' is good because householders are functional, know they have to pay for things, are use to working vs. lunatics or tramps who don't engage in the regular ways of living in the world.

Nature wants us to procreate, live and die. Nature doesn't require anything.

Nature needs a few enlightened souls : but not very many.

STORY

The sly man goes to a caf? and sees the Devil. They have a cup of coffee and the following conversation ensues:

   Sly Man: How are you doing?

   Devil:   Poorly, there aren't any great souls anymore that I can corrupt.

   Sly Man: If you teach me how to create souls, then I will turn them back to you after I help create them. How do I make a soul?

   Devil:   They have to remember themselves : that crystallizes souls.

They make a bargain and the Sly Man then proceeds to create a few souls. One of these souls dies and goes to meet St. Peter and the Devil. He declares to St. Peter that he has a soul and the Devil claims him (because of the above bargain with the Sly Man). Subsequently this soul asked the Sly Man, 'what good is it to have a soul if the Devil then takes you?'   The Sly Man replied, 'I told you to remember yourself, I didn't tell you to talk about it.'

You can understand the story at two levels:

   1. That self-remembering is something you do for yourself

   2. Nobody wants you to do this except you.

The story itself has power : it comes from a level of being vs. knowledge. At an unconscious level the story affects your moving and emotional center : because it comes from this higher level.

Gurdjieff would talk out of his being, as a way of trying to feed your being. He would say things like, 'bury the dog deeper.' You have to work to understand what he meant : which would make it your own. To understand his meaning you would have to learn that he used the word dog because in an obscure religion it referred to a star that symbolized a dog. Daniel suggested that we should also read outside of what he gives us to read.

5000 BC in Mongolian lived the original Aryans. They would only sacrifice part of a cow and eat the rest : they were very peaceful, and their civilization lasted 1,000 years. Then they learned how to make iron, then weapons, then chariots and began raping and pillaging. They turned into the Mongol hoards, this lifestyle was not sustainable. Why did they do this?
Because it was easier to take what belonged to someone else than to grow it.

According to The 4th Way system, doing what comes easily may be the root of the Devil. To develop is hardwork

The Power of Death: You are going to die and everyone you know will die : this awareness can help soften our judgment of people. Don Juan taught that death is the best advisor : it is objective and can free one from internal considering.

Internal Considering:

EXERCISE

We went around the circle and stated something about internal considering with self-awareness. Responses included:

It is where I am more mechanical

It is where I want to please

I spend a lot of time suffering because of internal considering

The framework has been very helpful in analyzing my behavior

Daniel reminded us that we always have a choice that isn't based on conditioning. When you start to wake-up, it is easy to fall back into old emotional patterns. You can see it but aren't strong enough yet to master it.

A pattern can be appropriate for a certain time, but may need to be re-examined, e.g., opening the car door for a woman may have been appropriate in the 30s but may not be skillful now.

Internal considering  - may be more in the past/future, something you have been conditioned to do, separate from reality where one is acting out of slavery to reactive emotions vs. conscious choice, e.g., you call your mother because otherwise she will be mad at you vs. calling because you know it will make her happy.

External considering : is more in the moment/present/spacious/free of concepts.

Somatically, external considering is what will make you feel strong vs. trying to figure it out.  It makes you sensitive to the demand of the current situation.

Work with internal considering in small ways

The slavery isn't in what you do, but what you feel.

It doesn't matter if you please somebody or don't : it depends on how you feel.

EXERCISE

Sit for a moment and don't internally consider. don't think in terms of right or wrong or have to. You may find there isn't much going on.

There are no rules here, only pointers you need to find.

HINT: You don't know what it feel like to be free if you never go into your feeing areas.

ENDING EXERCISE

Wish to learn about internal considering and be free of it (a 4th Way prayer)

Let go of all anxiety and fear
