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Gurdjieff ??? Avoiding the Expression of Negative Emotions

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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 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.

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