Lost Coin notes (11-04-08):

-D speaks about seeing truths in the context of relationships; we often don't see obvious truths (much less less subtle truths).

-A very significant assumption that we make is that happiness is more dependent upon external circumstances than it really is.

-D went to hospital to visit someone with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which D once had. The gentleman was unhappy, and D says that the guy was not necessarily unhappy because of the disease, but was unhappy before the disease and will unhappy after as well. Again, happiness is not so circumstantial. 

-Western psychology is based on the idea that happiness depends on circumstance--you want to be happier, change your circumstances. Eastern thought would assert that unhappy hospital patients are unhappy (to continue with the above example). The Tibetan tradition talks of mind-states or bardos. Sad patients in the hospital were sad people outside the hospital; happy doctors in the hospital are happy people outside the hospital.

-We get in the habit of feelings a certain--happy, sad, etc.

-Gurdjieff refers to knowledge vs. being (consult "In Search of the Miraculous").

-Why are we in the state we're in? No one really knows, and questions of why and how are largely beside the point anyway. Furthermore, we don't know what state we're in most of the time either, but through the work of Lost Coin, we can become more conscious of the state we're in. 

-Western psychology is based on educated guesses--nothing more. There is very little hard evidence involved in the diagnosis of psychological disorders or conditions. For example, when someone is diagnosed with depression there is no test given which displays hard evidence of a chemical imbalance. Diagnoses are based on guesses. Not to say that medications can't be helpful when prescribed, but the prescription is largely based on educated guesses. There are psychologists who are particularly insightful and who can be useful to their clients, but their effectiveness is due to personal characteristics and ways a being rather than a particular mode of therapy or a particular training. D would encourage us to live a life based more on observing cause and effect, evidence, and the scientific method.

-"Being is what being is." Again, questions of why or how are largely irrelevant. Most important is consciousness or awareness.

-D was a therapist who quickly came to the conclusion that therapy doesn't work (at least as it's traditionally practiced in our Western culture). He also came to these conclusions: 1) People don't go to therapy to change. 2) Instead, people go to therapy to be listened to. 3) People don't think their problems are their own fault. 

-Another shortcoming or weakness in psychotherapy: Looking back to the past to diagnose current psychological condition. No one can really tell how one's past will influence one's present--not in a cause and effect, evidentiary way. Any conclusions based on the past are conjectural.

-The only thing that will change being is consciousness. We have to be conscious of behavior before it will change. Through a deepening of one's consciousness, one can begin to see mechanical patterns, and through this consciousness, they can be changed. We just need to watch ourselves, not make an effort to replace behavior, but just watch and observe ourselves.

-An excellent place to become more conscious of ourselves is in relationships. Relationships as we know them are based on myths.

-The biggest factor in determining quality of relationships is the state of being of the participants. A very small percentage of people actually co-exist in conscious relationships.

-This week look at how we act in our relationships. Look at mechanical patterns and ways we are being conscious or unconscious in relation to others, especially significant others.       
