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.
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.
RSS Feed