Positive & Negative Emotions

[Guest guest]

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

by Stuart Goodnick

 

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The notion of " Avoiding the Expression of Negative Emotions " has

been

misconstrued in many expositions of the work and in many people's

practice. The problem comes about with the semantics of the

term " Negative Emotion. " What is a " Negative Emotion? " Most people

who read about this Work idea assume that a negative emotion is

a " bad " emotion such as anger or hurt or sadness. They assume that a

negative emotion is any emotion that seems to make one lose control,

one that might make a person appear weak and reactionary.

 

When someone interprets negative emotions in this way, they very

quickly set up a conceptual hierarchy of " good " feelings

versus " bad "

feelings. They tend to suppress the " bad " feelings and associate

right conduct with the expression of " good " feelings. Their idea of

proper work with the emotional center is only to express " approved "

emotions. " Approved " emotions are only the ones that express a so-

called proper relationship between oneself and the Work. When groups

engage in the practice of this particular interpretation

of " negative

emotions, " the results are the often comical if sad manifestations

of

4th Way groupies: self-seriousness, the fierce need to set people

straight about the correct interpretation of the words of Gurdjieff

or Ouspensky, the tendency to see Types rather than people, a work-

ethic verging on self-flagellation, etc. These manifestations are

all

examples of wrong work on the emotional center. They are best

understood as " Emotional Constipation. "

 

A clearer understanding of the idea of not expressing negative

emotions begins with the distinction between negative emotions and

positive emotions. A positive emotion is a feeling or emotion that

arises spontaneously in response to the immediate moment. The

emotional center responds to the Universe with feelings. Whatever

the

particular feeling, if it arises genuinely in response to the

immediate state of the Universe, it is positive. A negative emotion

is a feeling or emotion that arises in response to a thought, a

memory, an analysis of past events. It is a feeling that arises in

response to the activity of False Personality, (or as referred to in

our own school, the Android). It has no genuine connection with what

is happening in the moment; it is a reflected emotion, generated by

automatic or mechanical, as opposed to natural, organic processes;

it

is an artificial emotion. Hence the term, " negative. " Gurdjieff has

described the mis-wiring of centers, how the energy of one center

can

interfere with the activity of another center, etc. Negative

emotions

are the means by which the Android, or False Personality, is able to

use the intellectual center to manipulate the energy of the

emotional

center.

 

Now this can understandably be confusing to an inexperienced student

encountering this idea. For example, suppose you are engaged in a

business deal. You might be satisfied with the negotiations at the

moment and even pleased with the deal. Later on, as you begin to

think about what happened, you may decide that you " left money on

the

table. " You may start to feel manipulated and angry at the

situation.

In this case, the sense of satisfaction could well have been a

positive emotion, while the anger later on is definitely negative.

In

another example, you may be in an emotional argument with your

significant other. Your significant other might say something

hurtful. Rather than show this hurt, you start telling yourself that

the other person didn't really mean it. Eventually you calm yourself

down to the point that you think the comment was even a little

amusing. In this case, the feeling of hurt is the positive emotion

and the feeling of calm amusement is the negative emotion.

 

Positive emotions are the domain of Essence and negative emotions

are

the domain of the Android. It takes a great deal of practice and a

heightened sense of discernment to recognize in one's self the

distinction between positive and negative emotions. So many of our

buffers exist to shield our awareness from our own positive

emotions.

Most of us begin this work awash in negative emotions. We do not

know

how we really feel. Our feelings are entirely mediated by the

Android. In a school setting, the practice of not expressing

negative

emotions is intended to break this cycle and permit us to begin to

gather data on our positive emotions through Self-Observation. As

generally formulated, however, this practice is incomplete. A better

formulation would be: " make efforts to express positive emotions and

not to express negative emotions. "

 

Let us first examine the notion of not expressing negative emotions.

Emotions and feelings are sources of energy in our organism. The

expression of emotion represents the channeling of this energy

throughout our organism. The part of ourselves that is responsible

for channeling this energy gets turned on or brought to the fore.

Any

broadcasting of emotions from our organism engenders a reciprocal

response from the Universe in the form of feedback. This feedback,

whether from another person or from life situations themselves, is

received by that part of ourselves that has been brought to the fore

in our manifestation. This feedback then forms an impression that

feeds the part of ourselves that was responsible for the

manifestation. When we express a negative emotion, the energy we

broadcast to the Universe is directed by the Android. The reciprocal

impression that we receive back from the Universe becomes food for

the Android and allows it to grow. Growth of the Android means the

creation of more I's and the deepening of mechanical behavior.

 

When we express a positive emotion, we bring Essence to the fore,

and

the energy we broadcast to the Universe is directed by our Essence.

The reciprocal impression that we receive back from the Universe in

this instance becomes food for the Essence and allows it to grow.

Growth of Essence means the maturing of our true Selves and the

deepening of Being. The challenge we face in a school environment

with the expression of positive emotions is that this process will

always seem to the Android as if we are losing control. It was to

deal with this very danger of emotional vulnerability that we

originally created the Android. The Android can be very crafty in

coming up with ways to prevent us from expressing positive emotions.

The misunderstanding of the practice of non-expression of negative

emotions described in the beginning of this article is perhaps one

of

the craftiest. In a school situation, real results come only when

one

is willing to " stick one's neck out. " Sticking one's neck out means

expressing positive emotions. As Gurdjieff said, " essence learns by

demonstration. " Even in a school, we can only learn by being willing

to expose our young, immature Essence, through the expression of

positive emotions, to the demonstrations of mature Essence that a

only a genuine teacher can provide.

 

The practice of non-expression of negative emotions is very

different

from simply repressing negative emotions. To the best of one's

ability, one attempts to observe fully the flow of such mechanical

emotion in relation to the inner dialog of the Android. One attempts

to observe and acknowledge the proceeding internal manifestation

without giving any outward indication of this process. The benefit

of

this practice is that the emotional energy that would ordinarily

have

served only to feed the Android can now be used to feed one's

efforts

at Self-Observation. In this transformation, one's Observer is

strengthened and one's capacity for discernment deepened. When one

merely supresses negative emotions, not only do they not go away,

the

energy required to maintain this suppression strengthens and makes

more persistent these aspects of the Android. The negative emotion

also then generally leaks out in other ways of which one may be

completely unaware. Similarly, when one represses positive emotions,

one also does so through the agency of the Android. The energy of

these emotions becomes " stuck " and as mentioned above, one becomes

emotionally constipated. The emotional center becomes distorted and

dull.

 

To summarize, proper work with emotions involves the effort not only

to practice the non-expression of negative emotions but also to

express genuine positive emotions. Both are necessary for proper

Essence transformation. These are extremely powerful methods that

are

best conducted in the context of a school with a guide(s) who can

help one cultivate one's ability to discern the difference between

positive versus negative emotion. The superficial treatment that

the " non-expression of negative emotions " gets in most public

material on the Work is the worst form of wiseacring. It can easily

lead to a severe distortion of the emotional center. If by some

miracle one manages to still retain some wherewithal to continue in

the Work after having practiced this pseudo-technique, then one will

require a correspondingly larger kick in the pants to move forward

than will someone lucky enough to be starting their Work uncluttered

by such a history.

 

 

 

from metthewfiles

 

" All there is is LOVE,

Love is all there IS "