Associations and Distractions

The meeting continued reading the second lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 22 July, 1943. A questionner, Ansi, said, in bewilderment " . . . if something wounds me, instead of being angry or offended, I am indifferent.". Gurdjieff responded: "Before, you had your own love. It is cheap, it is an ordinary thing; now you have understood it. You see that it is idiotic, a nullity, an excrement; before, you did not know it. Today you see it; you are not angry. You see the manifestations of excrement. If it is like this, I am very content. Without wanting it, without knowing it, you have already advanced objectively, mechanically advanced. Soon, you can be our estimable comrade."

L suggested here that Gurdjieff was referring to the destruction of ego, as those with a sense of self-importance are more vulnerable to criticism. Also a mind adrift in associative thought is rather like one who dreams.

M suggested the notion that while people sleep and dream, their thoughts are harvested.

L asked what Gurdjieff meant by it being important to have an aim, saying that not having one is similar to having an unfocused mind and being influenced by associative thoughts.

"R" gave the example of a soldier, who through the influence of others might find himself on foreign soil fighting in an unexpected war.

L remarked how even in an advanced country like the UK, almost at the drop of a hat, the government can become involved in a war.

T said that the phenomenon of the successful military operation is an example of an outward manifestation of the successful internal organisation of the individual, the body-mind system. In the successful military operaton the generals direct proceedings and the soldiers carry out the instructions. In the individual, if you have a clear aim, your body-mind can carry out the task set it. The operations are unsuccessful for the military or the individual if the aims are unclear or confusing or if there is dissent in the ranks.

"R" considered the possibility that in some people there may be an inbuilt destiny which may or may not be followed, and mentioned a comment by Ouspensky in The Psychology of Man's Possible Evolution that there is only a limited amount of information. It was the first book on the Work she read, and on reading that passage she thought that if the amount was indeed limited, she wanted some of that information.

L mentioned the belief in the "original instructions" of native American cultures, that everything is made with a preordained path to follow.

Discussion continued on the challenge of remaining focused. M said he has found that when he is experiencing negative thoughts he tends to substitute positive thoughts and finds this helpful as the negative thoughts are pushed from their prominent position in his mind. He said the part of the mind doing this is what Gurdjieff referred to as the "silent witness".

Reading on, Gurjieff described the flow of background thoughts as like the circulation of blood in that it is an automatic process which should not distract from an aim.

M said that he has a project to clear fifty files and so far has worked through one.

L said it important to work from a list, but that the size of the list should be limited. One way to do this is to date every task that goes on the list, and to remove every day those that have been there for more than a month.

T gave the example of life drawing. The mark making of an observational drawing is the response to the reality of the experience of seeing the human being in front of the artist. This experience informs the lines and shading. If someone looks and then spends a long time drawing, looking at the paper, one wonders what the artist is drawing. The inpact of the real life experience to the drawing reduces the longer the pause between the looking and the drawing. The mind begins to add marks it thinks should be there to express the phenomena of the model but by this time the mind is filling in with the stuff of assumptions as to what the eye is seeing. The practice is to discipline the eye to be looking more than drawing.

Continuing the reading, Gurdjieff expands on the subject, saying "Under all conditions, in all political situations, man must educate his body to be submissive to him . . . You understand what is meant by intelligent? Intelligent means he who directs his body. If the body directs , you are a nullity, a peasant - if you direct your body you are intelligent. Thus, choose what you want. Intelligent or peasant? . . . The more you want to direct your body, the more it opposes you. And in resisting you, the more strength it gives you."

L thought that an alternative view was that the mind and body form a unit, and organism. Thus if a part of the body aches, rather that ignore it, it is information leading to a habitual posture which is the result of thoughts. Changing the thoughts might help solve the pain, but ignoring the pain might lead to a problem becoming worse.

Concluding the meeting, each participant gave an example of relevant experience from the previous month:

T made a choice en route to work one morning, at the fork in the road: to arrive early or to go via the sweet shop to satisfy hunger for something sweet inside. The latter choice won, and she arrived at work late. She observed that there was a process of diversion from the intention coming from another source of feeling sorry for herself and wanting a treat, a reward; she saw there was choice and made the choice and experienced the real consequences of that choice. She chose the route to the chocolate croissant! The reality of the sweet croissant was that it was tough and dry and she threw it into the park for the birds!

M spoke of waking and getting up at the same time following intention and will rather than instinctive desire to stay in the warm and comfortable bed; seeing the two routes and taking the "getting up" route and feeling good about this. He now has developed this habit and is consciously aware that it is a choice each time.

R is visiting her mother in the nursing home and read her a lecture in German from a professor in her mother's subject. She had spoken to one of her teachers who had recommended being aware of a part of the body while doing a habitual task. She found that reading to her mother a text in German, an unfamiliar but phonetic language, enabled her to be present in her body - the foreign-ness helped her as she was unable to get involved in the content of the paper. She read for two periods of 2 hours and her mother's response was a genuine "very interesting".

L has been getting up very early to do writing, but is sometimes getting distracted by other things before sitting down to this daily task.