SF Lost Coin Class Notes 01/10/11

Next Monday will be the last class meeting before Doen goes to Europe.  He will spend 4 days in London giving a workshop, a few days in northern Netherlands for a teacher’s meeting with his lineage, and a couple days in Amsterdam.  Doen will be gone for two weeks.  The invitation is open for Lost Coin students who would like to go.  While away, Caryn will lead the SF Lost Coin meetings.  A couple films might supplement the class time including "Meetings with Remarkable Men", on Gurdjieff, and Maezumi Roshi’s funeral that includes teaching segments.

Dave Daniels was a teacher in the Gurdjieff-Rumi tradition.  Doen relayed this story that he learned from Dave Daniels.  Gurjieff had a teaching institution in Prieure, France at Fontainebleau-Avon where he had bought land.  Fritz Peters was a second generation Fourth Way teacher who was studying with his parents at The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at Fontainebleau when he was 9 or 10 years old.  One day he had a meeting with Gurjieff, who asked him why he had come.  Fritz responded that his parents had brought him.  Gurdjieff then asked Fritz what he would like to learn.  Fritz replied, “About the world and people.”   Gurdjieff instructed him to mow the lawns on the grounds within three days.  However, Gurdjieff was adamant about this task being done even if a bomb falls, even if he’s dying, even if everyone is trying to stop him.  Three days later Gurdjieff went on a trip, though this time he didn’t take his personal assistant who usually accompanied him on his travels.  Gurdjieff was in a very serious car accident and brought back to the institute in a coma.  When he emerged, everyone was walking on tip toes as to not disturb his recovery.  When Gurdjieff woke up, there was a roar of mowers outside his window.  Everyone at the institute was trying to stop Fritz from mowing, because they believed the noise was a disturbance to Gurdjieff, but to no avail.  Instead of being annoyed, Gurdjieff broke into a smile and waved at Fritz. 
Gurdjieff called a meeting with Fritz where he said that since Fritz wanted to know the meaning of life, that he should mow all the lawns at the institute in a single day.  Fritz agreed.  Doen thinks this is a good way to teach; to develop spirit and tenacity. 
 
Part II
 
In the Fourth Way; the phrase is 'to remember the self' whereas in Zen, one is instructed to 'forget the self'.  It’s the same thing.  In Buddhism, it’s the conditioned self; in the Fourth Way, the unconditioned self.  The self can be thought of anecdotally, as when the lights come on in a movie theater and there is a moment of displacement.  We come to our surroundings and remember, “I am such and such, with so and so at the movies.”  Who we remember in this instance is not who we are.  Instead, that moment of being free is the mind we seek to remember.  Stop your mind and you’ve remembered yourself.  This is what Gurdjieff was talking about; doing to become.  Like in dreams where we transform our being, remembering yourself is the moment of not-identifying with “you”.  We know it isn’t “us” fundamentally, anyway. 
Don Juan spoke of the same thing.  This thing in Buddhism is called emptiness.  In Fourth Way, it is known as “I Am”, like in the Old Testament, “I am that I am”.  When we say “wake up” or “remember yourself” it’s the same thing.  When you remember yourself, you are free from the self’s habits.  You have a choice to choose to be free.  Buddhists talk about sangha; a group does two things.  First, the group has to agree that humanity is asleep.  Then, the group has to recognize there are procedures and a way to wake up.  The group is an alliance to wake up.  You use a certain method.  The second thing one must do is have a teacher.  This is like the most effective way to dig out of a jail.  Every day you get closer to being free. 
The story of the rats and the salt water:
Dave Peters held groups in Radcliffe, MA in a beautiful home.  He lived very large.  There was a room like a bazaar with 80 people smoking in it.  He thought his students were really stuck in the hippie thing.  They misread the works, their philosophy was ineffective.  He told this story of the rats and the salt water. 
A woman is walking to Bagdad in the 13th Century.  This region was a hub of culture, knowledge, science and art; like the San Francisco of its time.  As the woman is walking, she realizes she has 10 miles to go before she reaches Bagdad but night is falling and she seeks a tent for shelter in the desert.  It was customary for people to offer hospitality to travelers at this time.  She finds a family who offers her a place to stay and tells them she’s going to Bagdad.  The hosts feed her a desert rat and salt water.  The moral of the story is, make sure you’re not just 10 miles away from Bagdad and living on rats and salt water. 
Everything takes effort, especially things we like, being happy is a good example.  The choice is to make an effort, or be content on rats and salt water.  Once you get to Bagdad, find a new Bagdad.  Or, always mow the lawn. 
 
Exercise:

Say and feel “I Am” as you’re walking throughout your day.