Gurdjieff's 5 Being Strivings

Gurdjieff mentioned in "Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson" five "being-obligolnian" strivings which were practiced to arouse objective conscience in man. Here is the relevant excerpt

[quote author=Beelzebub's Tales]
"All the beings of that planet then began to work in order to have in their consciousness this divine function of genuine Conscience, and for this purpose, as everywhere in the Universe, they transubstantiated in themselves what are called the 'being-obligolnian strivings' of which there are five, namely.

"The first striving to have in one's ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for the planetary body.

"The second striving to have a constant and unflagging instinctive need to perfect oneself in the sense of Being.

"The third the conscious striving to know ever more and more about the laws of world-creation and world-maintenance.

"The fourth the striving, from the beginning of one's existence, to pay as quickly as possible for one's arising and individuality, in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father.

"And the fifth the striving always to assist the most rapid perfecting of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of the sacred 'Mart-fotai,' that is, up to the degree of self-individuality.
[/quote]

The intended purpose of this thread is to reflect on these strivings and discuss from a practical perspective.

Taking the first striving:

[quote author=BT]
"The first striving to have in one's ordinary being-existence everything satisfying and really necessary for the planetary body.
[/quote]

The key words here seem to be "satisfying" and "really necessary". Those familiar with G's writings would recall that in many places G stressed on the need to oppose the body. Here is one excerpt from the Transcripts of Gurdjieff's Meetings 1941-46

[quote author=G]
You must educate your body with your head, consciously. It is very simple. Never allow it to do what it wants. You make it do everything contrary to that which it loves. It likes sugar; you do not give it any. One must inure it to struggle, you are always right when you resist your body. It is simple. Everything contrary; it is ,so that God created your body and your intellect. It is a very simple thing. For this it is not necessary to read. The program is very simple. Under all conditions, in all political situations, man must educate his body to be submissive to him. Your personality can educate your body. He in which the body is strong and has the initiative over him, this one is null. He who has his body enslaved is intelligent. You understand what is meant by intelligent? Intelligent means he who directs his body. If the body directs , you are a nullity, a peasant - if you direct your body you are intelligent. Thus, choose what you
want. Intelligent or peasant? If you want to be a peasant, let your body direct you. If you want to be intelligent, let your consciousness direct your body.
[/quote]

So how to reconcile this opposition to the body to providing the body with all that is "really necessary" and "satisfactory" ?

My current understanding can be expressed in the form of an analogy. The relationship of a man with his body is akin to the relationship between man and an intelligent pet animal who works for him. The animal must always obey the master - for this discipline is necessary. Indulging a pet animal without discipline results in a bad situation where the animal may act like it is the boss or develop severe problems. If anyone has watched any Caesar Milan (dog whisperer) shows, the results of bad handling of dogs is quite apparent. The discipline however has to be intelligent. The needs of different animals are somewhat different.

Coming to the body, then how to determine what is "really necessary" ? A general understanding of the hierarchical structure of the brain and nervous system is useful. Peter Levine's "In An Unspoken Voice" has a a very readable simple overview along with Steven Porges' "Polyvagal Theory" which is discussed in a number of places in the forum. To keep it simple here, food and rest are a couple of basic necessities. Topics of proper diet and sleep have been covered quite extensively in the forum -so not much to add there. Only suggestion is to go about making changes in an intelligent way. Both senseless indulgence and senseless deprivation of the body are to be avoided as both are forms of abuse. Controlled periodic fasting and cold water showers are a couple of examples of activities that the body "does not like" but is generally good for health.

Another need of the body is social connection. Social needs belong to the "planetary body" in my opinion as such needs are shared with higher mammals and has specific physiology associated with it. Discussion in the affective neuroscience thread is relevant in this context. In short, humans (and other higher mammals but not reptiles) have CARE and PLAY systems hardwired in their bodies. Due regard needs to be paid to these systems as a part of the "striving to have everything really necessary and satisfactory" for the body. These needs are social in nature - so having appropriate connections/relationships where the relevant systems can be exercised is a necessary part of the striving.

For human beings, home and material possessions form an important aspect of life. This also is a need of the body. However in this regard, the general tendency is to over-indulge. Especially in relatively affluent western societies, excess consumption and accumulation is rampant. There is research data to show that beyond a certain point, material possessions lead to decreased satisfaction.We usually accumulate a ton of stuff that is not needed and suffer in various ways from being needlessly identified with them. So in this regard, for most cases, the need is to shed excess baggage and strip things down to what is needed and reduce emotional identification with one's possessions. At the same time, striving to maintain a well organized, clean living space and surroundings gets its legitimate place in one's life. There is also a lot of scope for being intelligently creative in this regard, making the most out of less stuff.

Ohhh thank you i needed this read :)

i've really been drifting back to sleep really bad. You just tend to forget that most excuses are just that. excuses! Its been a difficult summer and when life gets difficult you always find excuses to just relax and allow yourself a lot of off time and not do the work.

When going gets tough the tough gets going!

Thanks, obyvatel!

I found the cold showers quite a good example. I have to argue with myself everyday to take the cold shower (which is icy cold where I live at the moment). At some point the only thing I can do is to ignore the little voice pleading "not today" or "why not a hot shower" - and just stoically do it!

It's actually quite illuminating how the body tries to keep the upper hand over the mind.

I also think that the word "satisfying" might be used by G. in a slightly different way than most people would nowadays understand it, namely to "satisfy a need of the body" like food, water, rest etc, and not to "satisfy" our pleasure centers.

Thank you, obyvatel. Very good points you bring up in your comments about the first striving. The one that in my case strikes me as difficult to understand clearly (especially how to make it happen) is the fourth striving.
Second, third and fifth are almost self explanatory, IMHO, which anyway does not take away the challenge.

nicklebleu said:

Thanks, obyvatel!

I found the cold showers quite a good example. I have to argue with myself everyday to take the cold shower (which is icy cold where I live at the moment). At some point the only thing I can do is to ignore the little voice pleading "not today" or "why not a hot shower" - and just stoically do it!

It's actually quite illuminating how the body tries to keep the upper hand over the mind.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is indeed an interesting experience. The resistance to cold showers is of one type, the "discomfort" being of an intense nature but of short duration while fasting provokes another type of experience. I have not tried anything extreme - just going without food for one day periodically for some time. This was after going low carb.

nicklebleu] I also think that the word "satisfying" might be used by G. in a slightly different way than most people would nowadays understand it said:

Thank you, obyvatel. Very good points you bring up in your comments about the first striving. The one that in my case strikes me as difficult to understand clearly (especially how to make it happen) is the fourth striving.
Second, third and fifth are almost self explanatory, IMHO, which anyway does not take away the challenge.

Click to expand...

Yes, the fourth striving is challenging to understand. We will come to it in due time. My experience has been that with even those which seem self-explanatory, there are nuances that come up especially when we try to actually implement practices in daily life. So discussing about them will hopefully lead to practical insights.

obyvatel said:

Going back to analogy, should we treat our body like a car or should we treat it like an intelligent animal like a horse? A car would run ok with proper maintenance and can be treated as an object. A horse needs more than food, water and rest. The so-called pleasure centers (dopamine release sites) do affect the well-being of humans and other higher mammals. So that needs to be taken into account if we are to get maximum mileage out of our bodies. The key is to be intelligent and not indulgent while going about it - osit.

Click to expand...

It reminded me of Caesar's words:

Q: (Atriedes) Did you have any vices?

A: None that controlled me.

Click to expand...

And I would also appreciate more clarification on the 4th striving. Does "paying" means having a petty tyrant or working on karmic lessons, or "becoming free" is working on cleaning the film of one's life, etc.? Or maybe something else?

obyvatel said:

nicklebleu said:

Thanks, obyvatel!

I found the cold showers quite a good example. I have to argue with myself everyday to take the cold shower (which is icy cold where I live at the moment). At some point the only thing I can do is to ignore the little voice pleading "not today" or "why not a hot shower" - and just stoically do it!

It's actually quite illuminating how the body tries to keep the upper hand over the mind.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is indeed an interesting experience. The resistance to cold showers is of one type, the "discomfort" being of an intense nature but of short duration while fasting provokes another type of experience. I have not tried anything extreme - just going without food for one day periodically for some time. This was after going low carb.

Click to expand...

Yes, the intense internal dialogues before cold showers or baths are a very good example. It has been a real struggle against my body. And the various intellectual excuses 'it' comes up with are quite interesting and telling at the same time. But since 3 weeks, I've not had a single day without either a full cold shower or a 15-20 °C bath.

Keit said:

obyvatel said:

Going back to analogy, should we treat our body like a car or should we treat it like an intelligent animal like a horse? A car would run ok with proper maintenance and can be treated as an object. A horse needs more than food, water and rest. The so-called pleasure centers (dopamine release sites) do affect the well-being of humans and other higher mammals. So that needs to be taken into account if we are to get maximum mileage out of our bodies. The key is to be intelligent and not indulgent while going about it - osit.

Click to expand...

It reminded me of Caesar's words:

Q: (Atriedes) Did you have any vices?

A: None that controlled me.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

One thing I have noticed about the idea of conserving energy by reducing vices relates to the idea of having to work on all the strivings as much as possible. It's fine to save energy and discipline the body, but without the aim supplied by the other four strivings, it's just an exercise in futility. It's the fakir that has developed will but has no knowledge of how to use it properly or on what. I think this also goes back to the fourth way principle of not doing anything you do not understand.

(This was a roadblock for me in my earlier days of the forum-- asceticism that was not understood or used properly. When I was subjected to heavy work through a shock at my job, th notion of conserving energy and minimizing my body's frivolous demands made a lot more sense. I surprised myself with what I was able to endure when I just kept my eye on my purpose.)

And I would also appreciate more clarification on the 4th striving. Does "paying" means having a petty tyrant or working on karmic lessons, or "becoming free" is working on cleaning the film of one's life, etc.? Or maybe something else?

Click to expand...

Gurdjieff' speech The Last Hour of Life talks a LOT about the fourth striving in many subtle ways. It's available here: _http://www.searchwithin.org/download/last_hour_life.pdf

What I get from the fourth striving and BT's in general is that we are an investment by the universe, which is paid off by our waking up and conscious evolution. This transforms not only us, but all those who are influenced or affected by our activity. :)

Per my current understanding, the ordering of the 5 strivings is significant. The word "striving" conveys a sense of being a journey or process rather than an end point. The striving is continuous. However, they build on one another. The first striving paves the way for the second and so on.

The second striving
[quote author=BT]
"The second striving to have a constant and unflagging instinctive need to perfect oneself in the sense of Being.
[/quote]

Considering the word "Being", we see that it is different from the planetary body in the sense that we cannot describe Being as concretely. Being is more of a felt experience rather than a material system - so it cannot be treated the same way as the planetary body. Our sciences stop with the planetary body and have little to nothing to say about Being.

Being has been described in words as " I am-ness", "togetherness of experience", "capacity to bear" etc. It is different from the activity of the centers (moving/instinctive, feeling and thinking). To use an analogy, the centers are the implements that are to be used to transform the raw material of Being. This analogy is a starting point but cannot capture the fact that as the Being gets transformed, it affects the functioning of the centers as well. This dynamic is captured in the "Knowledge and Being" discourse in ISOTM.

The second striving is a struggle against what is described as sleep in 4th Way terms. The need to work on our Being is to become instinctive. We may start with a small urge to seek something beyond what is "really necessary and satisfying for the planetary body". This seeking can bring us to the topic of self-observation. Through self-observation we see that we spend almost the whole of our so called awake time as a sophisticated machine reacting blindly to external input. Our inner state is composed of a multitude of "i's". We have no sense of "I am". The shock of the experience coming from this observation can provide the impetus to work on ourselves.

Such work is far from becoming instinctive in the beginning. The only way I know of to make it instinctive or natural is to form new habits. Habits are formed through repetition. We can start with some exercises performed regularly for a fixed time set aside for such activity. Attention to breath and sensing the body are good starting points to get a sense of "I am". The EE meditation program can serve this purpose.

After some time of doing this, if we set our aim to become more awake in regular life, we will likely find that we have fleeting moments of relative wakefulness in the midst of being lost in activities or daydreams. We need to catch these moments and do something right then. Personally, I use slow pipe breathing with increased pause between exhalation and inhalation (holding empty), focusing on listening to the sounds outside, sensing the ground under my feet, short silent prayers synchronized with the breath etc. We can be creative with these activities and fill up more and more of the time where there are gaps in regular life activities. At first this takes more effort; it gets easier with practice. In my experience, it increases the sense of presence or "I Am" in the middle of daily activities.

When bad programs get triggered, we can fall back on such short good programs already prepared, practiced and made into a habit. It not only reduces the intensity and duration of the dissociative response triggered by the bad program, but also paves the way for fresh practical insights into the issue at hand.

We need the cooperation of the body to engage substantially in the second striving. Thus efforts in the first striving facilitates the second striving. The second striving leads to an expansion of the container of being into which more knowledge can be poured in - which leads to the third striving, the acquisition of knowledge about the "laws of world creation and world maintenance".

In the context of the second striving, with a basic grounding in "I am" in the middle of life activities, we move on to the proper use of the faculty of discrimination. Discrimination involves distinguishing the higher from the lower, the useful from the harmful. The higher-lower distinction is to be understood not only in terms of qualities but also in terms of levels. Cheating is lower, being fair is higher; harming is lower, caring is higher. As Being grows, it utilizes the feeling function to evaluate and discriminate between impulses that drive us. Growth in this area takes on a multilevel character which is described in Dabrowski's Multilevelness of Emotional and Instinctive Functions .

Having an aim and remembering it as often as possible is necessary for the work on Being. Like G said, we need to make small, practical aims and work consistently and resolutely towards realizing the aim. We should focus on that which is in our control. If we are able to develop an instinctive feel for what is in our control, a lot of unnecessary mechanical suffering in daily life can be eliminated or at least reduced. So along with working towards groundedness in "I Am" to strengthen self-remembering,, asking "what is in my control" and acting on it helps sustain the second striving.

It seems smoking is a good opportunity to work with this discipline.

Can you stop without any problems?

I have been working with this for a while now. In 2000 I was trying to quit smoking and it was quite a struggle. It wasn't until I resolved to stop that the craving stopped and the objective became simple. Since then I have started and quit smoking several times to test this new found will power. It works quite well with a bit of self discipline applied to the craving part.

Once the resolve can be called on, the cravings stop. The bonus part is starting smoking again after a few days or even a month. People think you have no will power but it seems like your will is more focused and directed by you and not your body.

Smoking with intent?

The fourth striving

[quote author=BT]
"from the beginning of one's existence, to pay as quickly as possible for one's arising and individuality, in order afterward to be free to lighten as much as possible the sorrow of our Common Father.
[/quote]

From the fundamental laws of world creation and maintenance (law of three and law of seven), we are made aware that organic life of this reality falls under the control of Absolute III (Mouravieff's term used in Gnosis, Book 2). So we are by default born under the General Law . It is this General Law that extracts its pound of flesh if we try to act contrary to its dictates and escape into the Law of Exception. So, apparently, there is a debt that we need to pay off.

Our "arising" is dependent on our parents from the earthly perspective. There is a debt incurred to our parents which needs to be addressed. Here is an excerpt from Gurdjieff relevant to this context.

[quote author=G in Transcripts of Meetings]

P: I have taken it as a task to play a role with my parents. I have taken it very seriously and for a long time. What I found out brought me a feeling of sadness which now hinders me from working. It is a weight which will trouble me all my future, unless I can overcome it.

G: You might say you have remorse of conscience concerning your past relations with your parents.

P: No. I cannot say this, because I have seen that I am not responsible for what has happened.

G: The past - you must forget it. You are a responsible man and you must begin to pay for your existence . The first cause of your existence are your parents, father and mother. They are for you like God. As long as your parents live, there is no God. God only appears when your parents have died. God loves him who loves his father and mother. Why? Because he prepares a place for God.

Now, without manipulation, if you begin to understand that it is necessary to pay, don't think any longer about the past. If it is bad, that's bad luck. But father and mother remain God for you. Be now a source of rest for them, that they may live peacefully. For twenty years they have been sufficiently worried and nervous through you. They have a right to rest. You are obliged to become for them a source of rest. From one side, do everything to not make them nervous, and from another side everything that would make them happy. Make it as a task that your parents should love you with a real love. They can only love you if you incarnate their ideal. If your father likes stealing to be done well, you must learn to steal and to be a good thief.

P: But sir, this brings up very serious questions. What if to please her, I had to become something horrible, abominable?

G: Inwardly, one would have to hate her for that, but outwardly, one would have to do it.

P: Outwardly, in front of her, but not in reality?

G: Of course. It is a criminal advice to create such things in a child.

P: How to love parents if one must hate them?

G: You are obliged. It is your duty. Your individuality must do it.

P: Because it is stupid to wish to correct one's parents - it is impossible.

G: It is possible when you are very strong. But you must only do your own duty. It is idiocy always to wish to change others when you can't change yourself. Inwardly, from one side, do your duty, from another sude repair your past and prepare for a better future.

[/quote]

The advice given by G above flies right in the face of what is recommended in more current psychological literature (like Narcissistic Family). So how to reconcile?

In general cases where the differences with parents is largely ideological, due effort can perhaps be made to provide/arrange for a degree of physical and emotional comfort by playing a role as suggested by G. In cases where the relationship is so abusive and damaging so as to be beyond approach, perhaps the obligatory duties can be transferred to surrogate parent-like figures and carried out with diligence.

In my opinion, the key point is to have a sense of obligation and duty. In today's world, there is in general too much entitlement and too little obligation. Knowledge of narcissism and ponerology should not be used as an excuse to shun one's duties if one is serious about the Work. Ignoring the due payment, however unpleasant it may be, can perhaps result in staying stuck in the sense of development of being.

Our "individuality", which is to be paid for as well, is a result of conditioning. This conditioning is both environmental and genetic. Paying for one's environmental conditioning involves conscious suffering of the results of one's own programming as well as what is imposed from outside - like putting up with a job, pay off student loans etc.

Genetic conditioning can also exact a heavy price in some situations. This is paying for the "sins of the father".

[quote author=G in Transcripts]

G: You know "Justice" is a big word - it' is a big thing in the world. Objective things are not small things like microbes, they go according to law, as the law has accustomed them to go. Remember as you sow, so you will reap. Not only people reap, but also families and nations. It often happens that, that which happens on earth comes from something which was done by a father or a grandfather. The results converge on you, the son or grandson it is you who have to regulate them. This is not an injustice, it is a very great honor for you; it will be a means which will allow to regulate the past of your father, grandfather, great-grandfather. If misfortunes come to you in your youth, it means that someone brought them - for this you must reap. He is dead, it is another on earth who reaps. You must not look at yourself egotistically. You are a link in the chain of your blood. Be proud of it, it is an honor to be this link. The more you are obliged to repair the past, the more you will have remorse of conscience. You will succeed in remembering all that which you have not done as you should in the past. Those things which you have done contrary to Justice have mortified your grandfather. Thus you can have ten times more remorse of conscience and your worth will augment in proportion.

You are not tail of a donkey, You have responsibil­ities, a family. All your family, past and future, depend on you, your entire family depends an the way you repair the past, If you repair for everyone, it is good. If you do not repair for everyone, it is bad. You see your situation, Logically, do you see what Justice is? Justice is not occupied with your little affairs, unredeemed pledges, it is occupied with big things. It Is idiotic to believe God thinks of small things. It is the same with Justice. Justice does not touch all that and at the same time, nothing is done on earth without it. Search for the reasons You are obliged to have a position of responsibility in the line of your blood; you must work more to repair the past. It is difficult to understand all at once.
[/quote]

WIN 52 said:

It seems smoking is a good opportunity to work with this discipline.

Can you stop without any problems?

Click to expand...

Why smoking, when there are plenty of other bodily challenges like cold showers? Because it seems counterproductive, especially when stopping does cause problems.

Been waiting a long time for you to come out, obyvatel.


Keep going, it does not fall on deaf ears.

Keit said:

WIN 52 said:

It seems smoking is a good opportunity to work with this discipline.

Can you stop without any problems?

Click to expand...

Why smoking, when there are plenty of other bodily challenges like cold showers? Because it seems counterproductive, especially when stopping does cause problems.

Click to expand...

A different challenge (only to be considered by those already on the ketogenic diet!), for those who have trouble with dietary cravings, etc., could be to do what for some is nearly effortless: try living on a zero carb diet, where you eat nothing at all except, say, ground meat and ground fat and salt (and in addition there can be salted bone broth), and drink nothing but water and tea. No spices, no snacks, and no variation in ingredients whatsoever except what was already listed. I've eaten like this, on and off, for stretches of months. For many others it might be more of a challenge, while for me there are other things that are much more difficult.

A challenge for me - probably as hard as, or harder than, the above would be for most - would be regular exercise. The resistance to it is persistent (and many times greater than the resistance to cold showers) and there is, much of the time, simply a complete lack of willingness; and it can be as if part of the self even prevents efforts by making me physically listless when focusing on the very idea of making real exertions.

EDIT: Regarding cold showers, I have (personally) found that the resistance is almost purely emotional. In moving awareness to the body and its sensations and detaching from the emotional response to the idea of bringing the showerhead over me, it becomes much easier. This for me is a new "trick", and also to be tried with exercise, where again the resistance seems mainly emotional in nature.