Gurdjieff ??? Avoiding the Expression of Negative Emotions

[Guest guest]

It is ok, maybe you are interested in this, the way it is written.

As I seem to be the one that brought the Gurdjieff stuff forth - at least

as long as I am in the list, I would be more comfortable to say that

I read G in a very, very selective way. Throughout the years, since

I have first found one of his books in a shelf, I have learned to choose

just a few " issues " from his work to " study " - this after having seen almost

all that there is about the matter. People invent and build fantasies allot

about the Fourth Way and forget the absolutely most important stuff

of all in it: " remember yourself " . People make all kind of weird efforts

in all kind of directions just to try to escape the more important.

This " remember yourself " is the equivalent of " stand as awareness " , and

without it all becomes just stories.

 

The second most important stuff in the whole thing is the " human factory " ,

the fascinating map of the dynamics of the inner human energies, how it is

affected,

related to the ability to " stand as awareness " . This is avoided as the devil

in forth

way circles because it is the easiest way to check whether one is awake or

imagining

to be awake. To say " all is awareness " can be a realization or just a

mantra, something

repeated ad nauseum, as a knowledge, without actually " being it " .

 

-geo-

 

 

 

 

I don't mean to bomb the list with this long article but in case the page

disappears I'd like to keep it in the archives.

 

http://www.tayu.org/~tayu/wayfourth/sgood27.html

 

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

by Stuart Goodnick

-------------------------

 

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 emotiona l 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 e nergy 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 negati ve 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. " Sti cking 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 represse s 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.