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January 16th, 2017

1/16/2017

The mental/thinking body of the individual: Level 3:
Part IV

Secularists say: ‘Secularism/atheism is not a religion’. But secularism is ‘the belief’ that religion, religious bodies, the Higher, World Two should have no part in political or civic affairs or in running public institutions, especially schools’.

But secularism/atheism is a ‘belief’. Secularism, atheism, relativism is no less a religion than other beliefs’/religions.

Secularism: exclusion of religion from public affairs: the belief that religion and religious bodies should have no part in political or civic affairs or in running public institutions, especially schools
Encarta Dictionary: English (North America

The operational word in the definition of secularism is ‘belief’.

While the operational word in the definition of a ‘theist’ is also ‘belief’, it is also true no theist would suggest the consideration of God in public affairs and civic affairs be totally excluded.

The very fundamental concept of one of the most influential free governments of the world specifically states the rights of the individual are granted by their Creator and thus cannot rationally be removed by humans in society since the right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ was not granted by any physical beings.

Atheists/secularists/relative truth advocates would say: ‘It is only theists who are religious.’ Atheists would say the belief in nothing, the belief in a non-existence, is not rational. Note the word ‘belief’ used by the atheist. Atheists use a double standard. Atheist yell: ‘Prove there is a God, prove there is a Creator, and prove there is a ‘First Cause’.’

The theist then cowers and says: ‘We cannot ‘prove’ God exists.’ Rather than concede they cannot prove there is a God the theist should simply reply: ‘Prove there is not a God.’

The atheist will reply: ‘One cannot prove a negative’ and then presume they have won the debate completely ignoring the fact they began the debate with the negative statement: God does not exist.

What does this seeming digression into the discussion of non-existence have to do with level 4?

Level 4 is the first ‘location’, the first state of experiencing existence other than the physical.

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January 14th, 2017

1/14/2017

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The mental/thinking body of the individual: Level 3:
Part III

Secularists say: ‘Secularism/atheism is not a religion’. But secularism is ‘the belief’ that religion, religious bodies, the Higher, World Two should have no part in political or civic affairs or in running public institutions, especially schools’.

But secularism/atheism is a ‘belief’. Secularism, atheism, relativism is no less a religion than other beliefs’/religions.

Secularism: exclusion of religion from public affairs: the belief that religion and religious bodies should have no part in political or civic affairs or in running public institutions, especially schools
Encarta Dictionary: English (North America

The operational word in the definition of secularism is ‘belief’.

While the operational word in the definition of a ‘theist’ is also ‘belief’, it is also true no theist would suggest the consideration of God in public affairs and civic affairs be totally excluded.

The very fundamental concept of one of the most influential free governments of the world specifically states the rights of the individual are granted by their Creator and thus cannot rationally be removed by humans in society since the right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ was not granted by any physical beings.

Atheists/secularists/relative truth advocates would say: ‘It is only theists who are religious.’ Atheists would say the belief in nothing, the belief in a non-existence, is not rational. Note the word ‘belief’ used by the atheist. Atheists use a double standard. Atheist yell: ‘Prove there is a God, prove there is a Creator, and prove there is a ‘First Cause’.’

The theist then cowers and says: ‘We cannot ‘prove’ God exists.’ Rather than concede they cannot prove there is a God the theist should simply reply: ‘Prove there is not a God.’

The atheist will reply: ‘One cannot prove a negative’ and then presume they have won the debate completely ignoring the fact they began the debate with the negative statement: God does not exist.

What does this seeming digression into the discussion of non-existence have to do with level 4?

Level 4 is the first ‘location’, the first state of experiencing existence other than the physical.

In addition to finding personal peace, serenity, balance, purpose … some suggest the process of finding balance is the first step to obtaining immortality.

There are many answers to the question regarding why dedicate part of one’s life, not to mention dedicating one’s entire life, to one of the three ‘ways’ offered by both East and West to entice individuals to expend their energies upon ‘their’ way.

In essence, the heart of the three ‘ways’ goes to the concept of finding one’s fourth level. The fourth level being the means by which one becomes the ‘master of one’s physical machine.

“In this connection certain teachings compare man to a house of four. Man lives in one room, the smallest and poorest of all …

The fourth room gives man immortality and all religious teachings strive to show the way to it…

I said last time,” he said, “that immortality is not a property with which man is born. But man can acquire immortality. All existing and generally known ways to immortality can be divided into three categories:

The way of the fakir

The way of the monk

The way of the yogi”
Gurdjieff quote, In Search of the Miraculous, P. D. Ouspensky, Harvest Books, 2001, p 44.

Level 4 is just that, the fourth level of the seven levels attainable by a human being.

Although level 4 is only the fourth level of seven, it is the level where one learns to be the master of the other six levels.

“… and until he is told of it, he does not suspect the existence of the other rooms which are full of treasures. When he does learn of this he begins to seek the keys of these rooms and especially the fourth, the most important, room. And when a man has found this way into the [fourth] room he really becomes the master of his house, for only then does the house belong to him wholly and forever.”
Gurdjieff quote, In Search of the Miraculous, P. D. Ouspensky, Harvest Books, 2001, p 44.

It is only when an individual enters the fourth level does the potential for mastering levels 1, 2 and 3 in reality one and the potential for mastering levels 5, 6 and 7 in reality two become possible.

The secularists would say: No, no, no, there is no other existence than physical existence! The atheists would say there is no other existence other than our present reality, no other existence other than the physical universe! The relative truth advocates would have you believe there is no such existence as reality two.

Secularists/relative truth advocates/ atheists[i] are steeped in their religion.

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January 13th, 2017

1/13/2017

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The mental/thinking body of the individual: Level 3:
Part II

Some level 3 individuals/thinkers have no emotional attachment:

Such individuals are characterized as ‘intelligent callous unemotional’ individuals.

There are many variations of relative imbalance which are not as radically off balance as Fig. I - 11.

Figure I - 10 as opposed to Fig. I - 12 demonstrates a level 3 person in balance, demonstrates an individual who has all aspects of physical existence, the physical body – the emotional body – the mental body in balance.

A balanced state of existence is seldom experienced by an individual.

Occasionally individuals reach for the balance of one of three levels and diminishing the influence of the remaining two levels. To reach a state of one level domination occurs through the process of completely dedicating their entire lives to attain such a state of balance.

There are three commonly recognized ‘ways’ to find such a balance. Monks (astral/emotional way through level 2), Yogis (mental/thinking way through level 3), and Fakirs (physical way through level 1) are examples of such people. This is not to say such individuals will attain a balance. Most of those dedicating their lives to attain such a balance will find themselves severely lacking in their efforts despite their sincerity.

The question becomes: Why would people dedicate their lives to the attainment of a balanced existence?

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January 12th, 2017

1/12/2017

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The mental/thinking body of the individual: Level 3:
Part I

This then leads us to the level 3 person. A level 3 person thinks, analyses, evaluates …

The level 3 person in balance would appear graphically as:

Figure I - 10 graphically depicts three levels in balance.

Most people are not true thinkers. Most people simply react to their environment.

The majority of people are too busy with simply existing in a chaotic world to think. Survival from one day to another is a full time task for the general population. A few people, however, are habitually analyzing, thinking, questioning, and seeking answers to perplexing questions. A small percentage of thinkers have time for little else other than thinking.

Level 3 people, thinkers can be out of balance just as level 1 and level 2 people can.

An example of this would be a level 3 person who is an addict, who is irrationally obsessed with a need for their next ‘fix’.

We can graphically demonstrate a level 3 person who is out of balance.

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January 11th, 2017

1/11/2017

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The emotional/astral aspect/body of the individual: Level two : Part III

A level 2 person or what in the Gurdjieff Society is more frequently referred to as a number two man, is not simply a person who exists in an emotional state. A level 2 person has physical needs and perceptions pertaining to touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing as does a level 1 individual. The difference between a level 2 and a level 1 individual is that a level 2 person can empathize, can sympathize, can experience emotional events.

The percentage of emotional experiencing compared to physical experiencing a person undergoes can vary from hour to hour, day to day, month to month. The percentage of physical experiencing occupying a person’s conscious awareness likewise varies.

The point: Emotional experiencing adds to an individual’s entire sum of perceptions generated through the means of the individual’s physical machine.

We are now beginning to understand the significance of the individual’s physical machine.

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January 10th, 2017

1/10/2017

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The emotional/astral aspect/body of the individual: Level two : Part II

There is more to level 2 individuals than what is demonstrated in figure 1-6. Level 2 individuals also have a physical body.

Sometimes the Level 2 aspect of the individual is out of balance with the level 1 aspect, for example: a person grieving.

Such a person is out of balance. Their grief supersedes almost everything else. Beauty becomes meaningless. The desire for food evaporates. Joy seems forever unattainable. Smells, pleasure, happiness, sexual desires … all lose their importance.

Figure I - 8 demonstrates an out of balance state for an individual.

A level 2 in balance individual person would appear as:

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January 08th, 2017

1/8/2017

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The emotional/astral aspect/body of the individual: Level two : Part I

Most people have another aspect to their physical machine. These individuals have the ability to empathize, love, hate, fear. They desire justice, long to see and experience different geographical locations, read poetic epics, listen to music, socialize with others …

Being conscious of experiencing non-physical events, desiring to experience non-physical happenings is called emotional experiencing. In some circles experiencing or desiring to experience emotional events is called ‘the astral body’ of an individual human as opposed to the physical body.

The sense of sadness, lack of worth, joy, love, jealousy, identification with a sport team … are emotional draws.

The emotional/astral aspect of the individual human or animal is referred to as Level 2.

Vertebrates are the most common life form encompassing a level 2 aspect as a part of their existence.

Dogs may love their owners (level 2) but they do not know or understand they love their owners, they simply love.

Antelope fear lions. As far as we are aware, antelope do not analysis why they fear a lion, they just do.

Antelope react accordingly. Antelope do not say to themselves: ‘There is a lion and she might eat me. I do not want to be eaten so I think I will run away.’

Vertebrates, be they human or non-human, can be graphically represented as:

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January 07th, 2017

1/7/2017

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The physical aspect/sensory body of the individual: Level one: Part II

In short: the physical body deals with the nervous system of the individual and the most numerous animals found with simply a level 1 body are invertebrates.

All vertebrates, experience reality one through their nervous system, through the use of their sensory systems.

All humans have a physical aspect, physical ability to experience the physical, have some form of level 1 existence or level 1 ego. An individual has thousands of different physical desires and physical needs or egos vying for the individual’s attention. These egos intermix one with another and strive for domination of one’s life.

Fig. I - 3 demonstrates the physical body’s various senses being in balance one with another.

Sometimes one sensory aspect overpowers the other four as shown in Fig. I - 4.

An example of a person or animal with a vastly exaggerated sense of touch over the other senses is a person or animal in the sexual act. A person or animal in this state is out of balance. Being out of balance is not a judgmental issue rather it is simply an objective observation regarding what it is: A state wherein one of the senses dominates the other four.

We will examine the out of balance issue in more detail as we proceed with our understanding of one’s self.

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January 06th, 2017

1/6/2017

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The physical aspect/sensory body of the individual: Level one: Part I

As was stated previously, we now begin to understand the first level of the individual. All individuals are born with some form of physical abilities. This is what is known as the physical aspect of our physical machine.

In the Gurdjieff Society this is known as level one man.

We can depict the concept of a simple physical being three dimensionally as:

Most invertebrates have some degree of physical experiencing. A few individual humans have no other aspect to them than this level of existence.

The reason some individuals are only able to experience the physical is not the subject of this work but most of us understand that purely physical individuals, though few in number, do exists. Such individuals have no remorse, no sense of love, no empathy for others, and no objective in life other than the desire to fulfill their physical wants and physical needs.

Animals capable of only physical awareness can be graphically depicted as:

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January 04th, 2017

1/4/2017

1 Comment

Why strive to know one’s self: Knowledge is power

People pass through life asleep yet many sense a haunting connection to something beyond their ability to connect.

The point of this site is to show ‘a’ way to make the connection.

"For those who seek to understand the meaning of human life in the universe, he [Gurdjieff] said, the aim of the search is to break through to this stream, to find it. Then there remains only “to know” in order “to be.

But in order to know he taught, it is necessary to find out “how to know.”
The Reality of Being, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann, Shambhala, 2010, p xiii.

The physical aspect/sensory body of the individual: Level one

To understand one’s true self one must begin by understanding the machine, understanding the physical aspect of one’s self.

We all occupy a physical machine. Some would say that is all there is to us. Others would say there is a deeper more significant part to us. Religions speak of the soul, the spirit, the essence, the consciousness, the knowing, the …

Regardless of one’s ‘belief’, the physical machine of the individual, the body of the individual is almost never questioned as an essential part of our physical being.

What composes the physical aspect of the individual?

We are all familiar with the external parts, with the hands, feet, head, neck, arms, legs, fingers …

Most of us are familiar with the internal parts such as the heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, kidneys, brain …

These parts are vital to the functioning of the sensory part of our physical machine. The sensory aspect of our machine allows us to experience physical reality.

Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching are means by which we experience sights, sounds, smells, flavors, heat and pressure.

"… notably of those organs whose specific character is transmitted by heredity – is called the “inner world” of man."
Live Is Real Only Then, When ‘I Am’, G. I. Gurdjieff, All and Everything, Third Series, Penguin Arkana, 1978, p.171.

The importance of these sensory experiences can be appreciated best if one imagines what it would be like to be blind, to be unable to see or to every have seen colors, trees, loved ones, lakes, rivers, dogs, cats, clouds …, what it would be like to only have seen an all-encompassing shroud of blackness.

Then imagine adding to the lack of sight the lack of hearing. Imagine never having had hearing, never having heard conversations, music, the wind in the trees, waves lapping on a seashore, rain dripping from the leaves, your children’s voices, the voice of your mother, father, brothers, sisters, an owl hooting … only having silence as your companion.

Now add the lack of taste and smell. Not only would you be shrouded in an all-encompassing shroud of darkness and embraced by an ever present silence but one would now be completely lacking of a conscious awareness of all tastes and smells. No smell of apple pie, no taste of chicken soup, no … all gone.

Thankfully one would still have the sensory experience of touch. One could feel a lover’s caress, could feel a reassuring pat of companionship, could feel the cooling brush of the summer’s breeze, could feel the warmth of the sun’s rays …

But take away the sense of touch when the other four sensory abilities are already gone and what is left? If one removes all five sensory abilities from the point of one’s conception, what is left is the stark knowledge of total sensory deprivation. Take away all conscious memories of sensory input of our physical senses and as physical beings we would have nothing left but absolute nothingness.

We now begin to understand the first level of the individual. All individuals are born with some form of physical abilities. This is what is known as the physical aspect of our physical machine.

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Part I: For the novice
Intro & General Comments
10/16/16 - 12/31/16
The work begins:
Reality 1: World One: The physical
1/1/17 - 2/6/17
The Silence: The Void
2/7/17 - 2/23/17
Preparation: Conquering the Physical Machine
2/24/17 - 3/11/17
Taking a Peek: Viewing the void
3/12/17 - 3/17/17
Stepping into the silence:
Walking over the abyss of fear
3/2o/17
The silence: The region between two worlds
3/21/17
The void is not a reality: The void is nothingness
3/22/17 - 3/26/17
Entering the void: A regionless region
3/27/17 - ...

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