The good struggle..

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

 

after reading mikes post on his parents, and having a discussion with another

friend of mine today about the process of creation, I wrote this about 'the good

struggle'. I think the ideas apply to anyone tryint to create a life that

expresses their emerging higher self, yet they are faced with both their inner

resisatnce to the emergence of the vision of their higher self, and also with

outer resistance from an ego-identified culture..

 

" Welcome the good struggle "

 

When I go the gym or do running, I love the resistance from the weights and from

my muscles. I willingly look forward to pushing against the weights as that's

how I grow and get fitter and more powerful. Without the exercise, I couldn't

get stronger. I used to resist going to the gym, yet now it's a habit and I love

it. There is still energy to be put into the workout, yet I don't struggle; I

embrace the challenge.

 

The same idea applies to making new changes in your life. The right change to

make is one that will allow the higher self within you to emerge, to manifest

into the world, and that change begins with a vision of how you wish to be in

the world, and how you wish your world to be. From that vision, your body

becomes a vessel through which your emerging higher self is created in the

world. It may be something big like pursuing a path of enlightenment, where you

are committed to overcoming your attachment to your ego, and all its concerns

for safety, security and its resistance to change and discomfort, and you are

committed into realizing an identification with your true self and its qualities

of creativity, love and freedom. As you practice, you will be engaged in a

struggle to liberate your higher self from the ego. The struggle will bring

forth challenges and insights, and will be difficult, yet staying committed to

the struggle and seeing the path through will bring you the fruit that you

desire.

 

This same idea applies to realizing goals in other areas of life, such as

relationships, or career. You will have a vision or an idea for something that

will make your life, and the life of those around you, better, yet you may not

have the skills, resources or know how to be able to make those changes real

just yet. You will want to let your inner vision flow into the world, creating a

different world and a new reality. This may be a struggle, as you will be forced

to confront your own anxieties about change, of being good enough, the fear of

upsetting those around you, rejection, as well as your own limitations and

misunderstandings about how things are. Creating new experiences and results in

life is often a difficult birthing process as the vision of the higher self

emerges, and in the desire to feel good and avoid pain, the struggle may be

avoided.

 

Yet, if you avoid the struggle, the vision of the higher self will not go away.

You may end up feeling more pain by avoiding the struggle, than willingly

engaging in it. Essentially, the best thing you can do is to stop struggling

with struggling; the best you can do is willingly accept the challenge, in the

same way which I accept the challenge of doing weights, and I push my hardest to

get stronger.

 

When you try and create new results in life, you will find yourself often in a

place of not knowing what to do, of having to feel your way forward and

experiment and try things out, and often they will not work. It's important to

stay within the creative tension, between where you are and where you want to

be, and to wrestle with the issue or problem until you get the results you want,

because that means that you will have understood the situation. And, when you

get the results you want in the world, and you have been acting with integrity

to your highest purpose, it means that you have creatively manifested the vision

of your highest self into reality, and that's what you want.

 

There is no final resting point. The more you are grounded in Spirit, in being,

the more you will be okay with whatever is arising, including the fact that you

are struggling to create something. You will be okay with the fact that you are

pushing to give birth to a new and better world, to a new and better you. The

more you are grounded in Spirit, the more you will enjoy being a vessel for the

creative process, and the more you will enjoy staying in the creative furnace. A

spirit of being a warrior, a courageous fighter with the adversity that keeps

you from realizing your highest potential, is helpful. A willingness to fight

the good fight is the way of the creator. It's through the creative struggle

that your vision is born into the world.

[Guest guest]

Namaste

 

dear Bruce. . .after reading this once again had the same imagery that i

have with you so often. . .so thought i would share it with you. . .

 

i often see the image of G.I. Gurdjieff and his book Meetings with

Remarkable Men in my third eye when i read your writing. . .maybe you

where once Gurdjieff, or one of his Remarkable Men, or this heart a

world away holds you as a Remarkable Man. . .

 

one of the things i loved about your account of becoming is that you

have placed yourself internal process under a magnifying glass. . .and

i see such courage there. . .and as i have read thought the external

relationships with women and the internal process of the inner marriage

is one of the best i have read, very Jungian and what makes it great is

your unflinching honesty. . .

 

to the group members, Bruce offered for ones that where interested to

share his Kundalini Awakening experience, but i do not remember which

post that link was on. . .but i think Bruce said just email him and he

would send the download. . .it is a couple of hundred pages, so it truly

is a book. . .but a good read!

 

i think it would be great for any one that is interested in the K

process and the dance between projecting the internal process to the

external long enough to pull it back in and use it for the inner

transformation. . .Bruce i hope i wrote that in a way that is clear. . .

 

one more hour till the Integral internet program, and loved the one that

was presented by Ken Wilber of the three faces of God week before last.

.. .and i am like Chrism, am not overly drawn to Wilber but really liked

that one. . .

 

big hug across the ponds to my Remarkable K brother. . .

 

love and light

ordinary sparrow

 

 

 

Right around the turn of the 20th century, G.I. Gurdjieff initiated a

group of spiritual adventurers called the " Seekers of Truth. " These

intrepid intellectuals of every stripe crisscrossed Africa and Asia in

search of the hidden mysteries of antiquity. In Meetings with Remarkable

Men, Gurdjieff narrates their exploits while drawing portraits of these

extraordinary figures (including one woman and a dog). Half travel

journal, half autobiography, Meetings with Remarkable Men begins with

Gurdieff's childhood, when he finds his book learning at odds with

paranormal events that were self-evident but inexplicable through modern

science. Later he discovers a map of " pre-sands Egypt " and evidence of

the Sarmound Brotherhood, alleged keepers of ancient wisdom dating back

four and a half millennia. He climbs the Himalayas, follows the Nile,

and is led blindfolded to a mysterious monastery. In his encounters with

dervishes, monks, and fakirs, Gurdjieff recovers the wisdom he seeks; by

comparison, European understanding, he says, is backwards and barbaric.

A controversial figure in his time, Gurdjieff inspired deep love and

loyalty in his pupils and ridicule from skeptics. At the bookends of

Meetings with Remarkable Men, Gurdjieff suggests the value of blurring

the line between allegory and straight reporting. But then what exactly

is Meetings with Remarkable Men? You be the judge. --Brian Bruya

 

Product Description

The Armenian-Greek spiritual teacher, G.I. Gurdjieff's autobiographical

account of his youth and early travels has become something of a legend

since it was first published in 1963. A compulsive read in the tradition

of adventure narratives, but suffused with Gurdjieff's unique

perspective on life, it is organized around portraits of remarkable men

and women who aided Gurdjieff's search for hidden knowledge or

accompanied him on his journeys in remote parts of the Near East and

Central Asia. A classic work, suffused with a haunting sense of what it

means to live fully - with conscience, with purpose and with heart.

 

 

, " bruce_oom "

<bruce_oom wrote:

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> after reading mikes post on his parents, and having a discussion with

another friend of mine today about the process of creation, I wrote this

about 'the good struggle'. I think the ideas apply to anyone tryint to

create a life that expresses their emerging higher self, yet they are

faced with both their inner resisatnce to the emergence of the vision

of their higher self, and also with outer resistance from an

ego-identified culture..

>

> " Welcome the good struggle "

>

> When I go the gym or do running, I love the resistance from the

weights and from my muscles. I willingly look forward to pushing against

the weights as that's how I grow and get fitter and more powerful.

Without the exercise, I couldn't get stronger. I used to resist going to

the gym, yet now it's a habit and I love it. There is still energy to be

put into the workout, yet I don't struggle; I embrace the challenge.

>

> The same idea applies to making new changes in your life. The right

change to make is one that will allow the higher self within you to

emerge, to manifest into the world, and that change begins with a vision

of how you wish to be in the world, and how you wish your world to be.

From that vision, your body becomes a vessel through which your emerging

higher self is created in the world. It may be something big like

pursuing a path of enlightenment, where you are committed to overcoming

your attachment to your ego, and all its concerns for safety, security

and its resistance to change and discomfort, and you are committed into

realizing an identification with your true self and its qualities of

creativity, love and freedom. As you practice, you will be engaged in a

struggle to liberate your higher self from the ego. The struggle will

bring forth challenges and insights, and will be difficult, yet staying

committed to the struggle and seeing the path through will bring you the

fruit that you desire.

>

> This same idea applies to realizing goals in other areas of life, such

as relationships, or career. You will have a vision or an idea for

something that will make your life, and the life of those around you,

better, yet you may not have the skills, resources or know how to be

able to make those changes real just yet. You will want to let your

inner vision flow into the world, creating a different world and a new

reality. This may be a struggle, as you will be forced to confront your

own anxieties about change, of being good enough, the fear of upsetting

those around you, rejection, as well as your own limitations and

misunderstandings about how things are. Creating new experiences and

results in life is often a difficult birthing process as the vision of

the higher self emerges, and in the desire to feel good and avoid pain,

the struggle may be avoided.

>

> Yet, if you avoid the struggle, the vision of the higher self will not

go away. You may end up feeling more pain by avoiding the struggle, than

willingly engaging in it. Essentially, the best thing you can do is to

stop struggling with struggling; the best you can do is willingly accept

the challenge, in the same way which I accept the challenge of doing

weights, and I push my hardest to get stronger.

>

> When you try and create new results in life, you will find yourself

often in a place of not knowing what to do, of having to feel your way

forward and experiment and try things out, and often they will not work.

It's important to stay within the creative tension, between where you

are and where you want to be, and to wrestle with the issue or problem

until you get the results you want, because that means that you will

have understood the situation. And, when you get the results you want in

the world, and you have been acting with integrity to your highest

purpose, it means that you have creatively manifested the vision of your

highest self into reality, and that's what you want.

>

> There is no final resting point. The more you are grounded in Spirit,

in being, the more you will be okay with whatever is arising, including

the fact that you are struggling to create something. You will be okay

with the fact that you are pushing to give birth to a new and better

world, to a new and better you. The more you are grounded in Spirit, the

more you will enjoy being a vessel for the creative process, and the

more you will enjoy staying in the creative furnace. A spirit of being a

warrior, a courageous fighter with the adversity that keeps you from

realizing your highest potential, is helpful. A willingness to fight the

good fight is the way of the creator. It's through the creative struggle

that your vision is born into the world.

>

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Wow.

Thank you Bruce.

Carla

 

2009/7/11 bruce_oom <bruce_oom

 

>

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> after reading mikes post on his parents, and having a discussion with

> another friend of mine today about the process of creation, I wrote this

> about 'the good struggle'. I think the ideas apply to anyone tryint to

> create a life that expresses their emerg

>