Science of the Spirit
However, this move carries dangers since it threatens to steer the gaze inwards a little too much. Thus, Goethe rightly remarked that "Know thyself" is often no good advice: rather, he argued, we urgently need to look into the mirror that other people hold up to us. The trick here is to distinguish between those individuals who are well-disposed toward us and who themselves are far along in their development, and those who are pursuing their own destructive agenda and threaten to draw us into their downward spiral.
No, withdrawing into our own minds is not a solution and quickly leads to irrationality and subjectivism.
The mystic at least has the advantage here of acknowledging a divine or spiritual world and thereby presupposing an external truth to which he has access through introspection. Indeed, if this access is genuine, contact with the higher world prevents the arbitrariness of pure subjectivism. However, there is a risk of self-deception: then the mystical access to the higher world becomes a merely theoretical argument for rejecting the inconvenient truth as it is reflected to us from the outside.
A better path is to recognize the material world as vital and to take it seriously. At the same time, however, we must see it in light of the Higher that appears to us in it and through it. The key to the mystical thus lies in the experience given to us by the material world. What points beyond it is our gaze, the reading of our experiences, our vision behind the appearances through the appearances. It follows inevitably that an exact understanding of the material world is also and especially necessary: it is here that science, common sense, and the mystical converge.
However, this vision, this view of the material that transcends the material, does not depend only on the intellect, but is located, so to speak, at the intersection of thought, subtle emotions, and the body. To use a crude but helpful image: our entire body is like an antenna that is receptive to higher impressions. These higher impressions can inform our emotions and thinking in a sensitive way — adding an extra layer to our perception of the material world, a layer that points beyond the material.
In this image, we participate comprehensively in the processes of the living cosmos — from our particular perspective and position. It is therefore necessary to improve our ability to perceive the higher via our material existence. It follows: working on the emotional fabric, on the body, and on knowledge and understanding, all are important to strengthen the transcending view. In this way, we also avoid desecrating the material world by devaluing its meaning in favor of an exclusively symbolic interpretation, of which Nietzsche so forcefully warned.
Reader Comments
Well done Luc. Your essay needs no explanation or justification. It speaks for itself.
"Know thyself"First, know Self through union, aka Yoga. Then, see how it fits in the particular manifestation of personal inner world (subjective self?) and plural outer world (objective self?).
Following the precept "know thyself" requires understanding the doctrine of "no other." What other is there to serve? What can be taken from Whole cannot diminish Whole. There is no other. "Tat tvam asi."
Consider the ten Zen oxherding pictures (abbreviated):
1. search
2. discover clues that the search is bearing fruit
3. perceive that which is sought
4. capture and...
5. master that which is sought
6. utilize it
7. transcend the bull as other
8. transcend self as other
9. recognize no-other as source
10. abide as no-other - this picture shows the Master "entering the marketplace with helping hands"
Once the tenth is reached, then no problem...
to recognize the material world as vital and to take it seriously.That's because, by following the first nine we are able to...
see it in light of the Higher that appears to us in it and through it.However, I don't think it's a linear process. More trial and error. Sometimes we get it right, mostly we don't, and my experience is that the mostly is due to overemphasizing the material, which is, or course, natural in this age. In the mystical pursuits, it's kinda the opposite, where people get infatuated with transcendent states and ignore everything else. I have a close friend like that: "Too much space," per Guruji, which is unbalanced absorption in Anandamaya Kosha, the bliss body - not good. I think that's the wisdom in authentic critiques of gnosticism and buddhism - they are misunderstood to be about getting out as opposed to being optimally in.
This is an important subject, the material world that we live in. Regarding Luc’s view that “knowing one’s self” is not enough, he quotes Goethe, “ we urgently need to look into the mirror that other people hold up to us ”. What does it mean? Luc suggests there is discernment involved, that you select those who are beneficial to your development. In Gurdjieff’s system, all people we interact with are a mirror to seeing oneself. Why? Because all people we interact with evoke some reaction in our self. The reaction of anger or irritation or disgust or admiration or inspiration all reveal our inner being. Therefore by selecting only those people who are “like us” we eliminate seeing other parts of ourselves. On many occasions, I said, “I never get angry”, but when a person cut me off on the road one time I experienced road rage.
Regarding impressions and the human being as an antenna. We all eat food including “junk” food. We have an idea of what that means, that junk food is not beneficial, but we eat it. We rarely think of music, nature, art, reading, sports viewing, movies, social media as food for our emotional and intellectual life. What is junk food in this regard? What “food” feeds higher parts of ourselves? How would you know?
I am sure we all remember “I am a material girl living in a material world” by Madonna. Catchy tune.
When Gurdjieff talked of self-deception, he was talking about each person’s individual narrative that they have built up over time to explain their life and behavior. They wear it like a mask. This is what Gurdjieff called false personality. If the image of this “false person” was threatened by someone they would react with strong emotions like fear or anger, which would act as a “buffer” to prevent this image from being revealed to themselves. Thus the driving force of this self-image-protection is fear; the fear that you do not exist.
Nice, short article, made some sense.
I am rather amazed how little attention other animals (not human) give to technology and the constant 'upgrade' and 'buzz' and 'impact' technology brings to 'life'.
Surely, they are stupid?
For they don't seem to get 'jazzed' by it. They don't automatically 'buy into it', so to speak. You kinda have to force them to pay attention to and to heed this greatest 'gift of the gods'. You really have to threaten them with it, almost. Ever noticed?
I wonder what this implies.
Yes, I do.
ned,
out
How many 'ages of man' have there been already? How many more to come?
There are many old cultures around the world that can answer that but because they don't fit in with our damnable society, we think them too stupid to have anything important to say.
We are the stupid one. Stupid in our belief that we are the pinnacle of life.