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January 11th, 2017

1/11/2017

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

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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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Reality 1: The physical continued ...

1/3/2017

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Wake Up!!

"A fundamental idea is that in our ordinary state everything takes place in sleep. And in sleep we can see nothing. We cannot direct our lives by our own will. We are entirely dependent on influences from outside and enslaved by the automatic reactions of our functioning. It is complete slavery. There is no higher principle, no conscious principle."
The Reality of Being, The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, Jeanne De Salzmann, Shambhala, 2010, p22.

‘Do not mistake your bodies [levels] for yourself –
Neither the physical body [Level 1],
Nor the astral [Level 2],
Nor the mental [Level 3].
Each one of them will pretend to be the Self,
In order to gain what it wants.
But you must know them all,
And
Know yourself [level 4] as their master.’
At the Feet of the Master and Towards Discipleship, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Quest books, Theosophical Publishing House, Wheaton Illinois, 2001, p. 30-31

The quest, the point of those seeking is to recognize, know, understand, to observe one’s false personalities in preparation for knowing one’s true self as the master of one’s false personalities.

The point is to shed the shackles, break the chains and throw off the yoke of being a confused slave to life.

Again: Who is to make the journey?

Only those who wish to know are to make the arduous trek towards knowledge and understanding

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Reality 1: The Physical continued

1/2/2017

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The point is to discover and understand what is on the other side but to understand what is on the other side one must begin by understanding the physical.

The left column containing L1, L2 and L3 is found within the physical.
The right column lies outside the physical.
The middle column lies between the two, lies between the physical and what lies outside the physical, is a special realm all to itself.

One's journey along the fourth way path involves all three columns.
One can explore the three blindly through trial and error not knowing specifically what it is one is seeking or one can speed up one's journey along the fourth way by listening to what it is travelers who have made the journey have to say.

This blog is a source of information, a source of knowledge shared by one such individual who has made the journey and as such shares the knowledge in the tradition of an H1. (In Search of the Miraculous, Figure: 40)

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Reality 1: The Physical

1/1/2017

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Who is to make the journey?

Part I

The Physical Body

For the initiate
Preparation for the journey
The stairway upward is a precarious journey
Many fail, few succeed reaching the top

Knowledge first
One cannot understand
If
There is no knowledge
If
There is nothing to understand

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Why explore the 'fourth way'?

12/31/2016

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Why explore the fourth way?

Humanity is on the cusp of stepping into space and dispersing throughout the heavens. It is time for our species to learn of their true nature, know how to find one’s true essence, understand the relationship of the individual to the Higher, understand the relationship of the physical to the divine and the divine to the physical, understand the interrelationship of time to timelessness, understand the relationship of mortality to immortality …

With such an understanding we will be able to step into the heavens as a peaceful species.

Without the understanding we will step into the heavens as we are, a species at war with itself. Without this understanding we as individuals and as a species will step into the heavens divided and intent upon dominating those we come across. Without this understanding we will bring our historically violent nature and war oriented behavior with us as we disperse throughout the heavens.

We who have made the journey into and through the silence have a choice before us. We can keep the knowledge to ourselves and expect others to make the journey on their own, make the journey without our help or we can disperse our knowledge and share.

Either way, those who have successfully made the journey must keep in mind the words of De Salzmann who states: “… , individual who comes to the edifice is responsible for the stone they DO NOT [my emphasis] bring to the edifice.”

Knowledge and understanding are not meant to be sealed away from the masses.

It may be correct that knowledge and understanding cannot be understood by the masses but what is overlooked is that those capable of knowing and understanding are immersed within the masses and until we present this knowledge and understanding to the masses, those capable of understanding but who are drowning in the sea of humanity’s ignorance will remain as they are, lost and we who know are responsible for their death gasps if we ignore them and hoard the esoteric knowledge they so desperately seek.

We who have made the journey have a responsibility to make the esoteric knowledge and understanding exoteric knowledge and understanding. We have a responsibility for the stone we do not bring to the edifice, do not bring to humanity, do not bring to our fellow humans.

We, the explorers of the divine, hold a life preserver in our hands and stand on the shore watching the few drown in the sea of humanity. If we do not throw the life preserver, if we do not share because we ‘believe’ the information is ‘suppose’ to be hidden or because we fear being ridiculed by our peers or because we do not want to appear to be arrogant, than we are no less guilty for drowning the victim than if we had pushed the drowning victim under the water and held them there until they died.

Neutral and passive actions are after all as potent as active action.

The action or inaction now to be taken is:

Your choice

My choice

Our choice

djs - author

www.panentheism.com

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primer_for_the_fourth_way_minus_most_of_gs_quotes.pdf
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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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