Wagga Wagga Gurdjieff

04/07/2025

REMEMBER

Man is stuck in a prison within himself, he cannot escape his feeling of himself, it is only himself he suffers from, not the world or other people.

Life had become meaningless, a series of repetitions, leading no-where.

He realises he cannot do anything, he is always lying to himself, he hides things from himself, the person he wishes to escape from, is in fact his own creation.

From a new perspective, he starts to think from On High.

He reasons with himself, there is a moment of sudden clarity, a man remembers to not forget.

In the act of remembering himself, a deep truth was revealed.

He now can see how wrong he can be, in this sudden facing of himself, a revelation is experienced that touches something real in him, he is reborn.

He feels that No-thing externally can touch him, he can think from a new place , a light switches on, he finds a new meaning, he feels he has found the secret to life.

In a flash the state is gone, he is back in his old reality.

These same feelings and thoughts play out within him, but he knows now that he is something separate from these patterns, he must find his way back into this new state, it is the Meaning of his life.

He looks at teachings that he can Understand, they point to this state he briefly experienced, he knows that he must remember, he cannot forget.

As he keeps observing the negativity within Himself, he starts to change, something new is springing forth, more glimpses start to emerge, as if a new person is living through him.

A new person whom he previously remembered being is awakening, a young boy that is uncorrupted, filled with the spirit of life, in this world only the children know who God is.

No-thing is lost, no-thing is found.

If you remember anything from this, I wish you let go of all the knowledge you have acquired and you return to what you were before you put on the Mask.

02/07/2025

Where is my source of meaning?

24/06/2025

The Instinctive Center is Heavy; Real ‘I’ is Light



According to the Fourth Way, human beings are four-brained; each of us has instinctive, moving, intellectual, and emotional brains or centers. Not just one brain. And the norm for most people is, as it is for me, being dominated by the instinctive center. It looms large and heavy over the other brains. The instinctive center considers itself complete and does not value the other centers as it values itself. In other words, the instinctive center does not comprehend that three other lower centers are competing for the energy, and it is completely unaware of the possibility of even reaching Higher Centers.



This limited misreading by the instinctive center reminds me of an esoteric Aesop fable, called the Gnat on the Bull’s Horn.

A gnat settled on the curved horn of a bull. After lingering there for a moment, he said with a buzz, “If I’m weighing down your neck and bending it, I’ll go away and sit on that poplar tree yonder by the river.“ Said the bull, “It doesn’t matter to me whether you stay or go; I wasn’t aware even of your coming.”

The instinctive center is heavy, like the bull in the fable, and is grounded to the Earth; it is not interested in pursuing higher aspirations and can barely discern them, like the presence of the flying gnat. You might say that the instinctive center is unaware of anything beyond itself. It is primarily concerned with safety, security, and health.



What does this mean in practice? When I rose from bed today, I observed that my attention revolved almost exclusively around matters concerning my physical body, about the adequacy of rest, the need for coffee and food, toileting, and assessing the weather, a rainy day. It is the instinctive center that says, "just stay in bed," or "this is a yucky day," or "I will have to change my plans since it is rainy." When dominated by these impressions, I am the bull. My identity is lost in the instinctive center. I do not perceive the presence of lightness, like a gnat alighting on my horn. It takes something else to remember that the sun is shining above the clouds or that there is eternal beauty in the falling rain.



Self-remembering restores my connection to consciousness, lifts me above my lower centers.



Being lighter in all respects means, like in this fable, the bull or the instinctive center is completely insensitive to higher, more ethereal energies and possibilities. Fly above the instinctive center and discover a new world waiting for you. There you will find your Master.

The Master understands without leaving, sees clearly without looking, accomplishes much without doing anything. ─ Lao-Tzu

21/06/2025

17/06/2025

[ Intellectual Center ]

Location: Head
• Thinking
• Reasoning
• Planning
• Inner talking

⸻

[ Emotional Center ]

Location: Chest / Solar Plexus
• Emotions
• Mood
• Reactions
• Aesthetic sense

⸻

[ Moving Center ]

Location: Spine / Muscles
• Physical movement
• Posture
• Sports
• Handwriting

⸻

[ Instinctive Center ]

Location: Gut / Internal Organs
• Breathing
• Digestion
• Reflexes
• Survival responses

Notice Center Mixing or Misuse

Examples:
• Thinking through emotional problems = intellectual center misusing emotional material.
• Getting emotional during physical stress = emotional center interfering with instinctive.
• Overthinking a movement (e.g., dancing) = intellectual center interfering with moving.

17/06/2025

Harnessing the Instinctive Center

Of the four lower centers, the instinctive center is most opposed to conscious evolution because the concept of self-awareness challenges its belief that it is already conscious. The instinctive center, which has the vital duty of keeping the human machine – our bodies – safe, healthy, protected, and alive, uses sleep to its advantage. It functions invisibly and distributes energy to parts of the body to keep the physical organism functioning smoothly, which is a positive aspect to its job. However, it exists for itself and unobserved it makes decisions and governs the lower centers and does not wish to allow its cherished energy to be used for creating a soul. Awareness reminds the instinctive center that it is mortal, and sleep keeps us sufficiently in imagination to buffer the inevitable death of our physical bodies.

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires. — Marcus Aurelius

Aurelius aspires toward ideas higher than himself, while the lower self – a vulgar man – ambitiously uses lower ideas to promote itself. These two “men” exist inside of me, and it reminds me of the parable of “Two Wolves,” which is sometimes attributed to the folklore of the Native Americans. A brief summary of the story is a black wolf (the lower self), and a white wolf (the higher self) are fighting for superiority. A young child asks the Teacher, “Which wolf will win?” The Teacher answers, “The one you feed.”

Somewhere in the middle of this dichotomy is a place where higher centers can be nurtured and exist while keeping the lower centers reasonably contented or at least undisturbed by the pursuit of higher aspirational ideas, that is, conscious evolution. It is important to give the instinctive center its appropriate due and respect because until we live beyond this world of matter, it is the vessel that carries us and filters the world through the five senses.

The Higher Self is like a light and the lower self like a shadow. — The Upanishads

It is a matter of balance and priorities, finding common ground in circumstances that produce higher states, while at the same time coupling these experiences with a little something that appeases the instinctive center. Refinement has been useful to me in this regard. For instance, rather than the instinctive center’s functional version of “eating,” make dining an intentional event with a beautiful table setting, a centerpiece of flowers, using the fine china and wine glasses, eating slowly and being aware and present to the instinctive center through the sense of taste. These efforts feed the white wolf while throwing a bone to the black wolf. After all, the Fourth Way is also called the “Way of the Sly Man” - a path of self-remembering and conscious effort within daily life.

I am trying to teach my own instinctive center to eat more slowly. Try not to be the first to finish. — The Teacher

When I make an effort to be present in an uncomfortable situation, the instinctive center desperately tries to remove itself from the circumstance which makes it feel out of control and uncomfortable. The inner struggle begins, and the lower self tries to avoid using up energy that it thinks needs to be used for survival in a threatening situation. This can be as simple as public speaking where the body feels vulnerable in front of an audience. Overcoming the lower self takes courage and the experience of living in Higher Centers – even for a few moments – is where this courage can be found.

When the believer has mastered his lower self, so that it serves as a riding mount beneath him, the deeds of his heart will shine forth upon his face. — Al-Jilani

10/06/2025

Ashiata Shiemash is most directly quoted and described in:
• Chapter 26 – Direct speech, foundational message, and analysis of humanity.
• Chapter 27 – Implementation of his teaching and community.
• Chapters 28–29 – Exposition of his method and historical consequences.

These chapters are found in the second book of the trilogy within Beelzebub’s Tales, and they are considered by many readers to contain the core spiritual message of the entire work.