Highfive said:
I am what Mouravieff refer to as man 5 (I guess I should pardon my lack of fake "humility", but such "humility" as expressed by man 1-4 is based on an inferiority complex. When being "bigger/better" than everyone else is no option, one can always pretend and find pleasure in being "the smallest/meekest etc."...
It's not even a matter of humility; it's one of external consideration, i.e., tact. Your lack of it suggests either that you are not "man 5", or as Laura quoted from Gurdjieff, a "man 5" who has skipped a vital part of development.
At the level of man 5 one knows with objective inner certainty that everyone is equal at the core, so the whole game falls away as irrelevant).
No. At a high level, one may see that everyone has the same source (i.e., in an abstract way as one in creation), but the picture of humanity becomes much more complex, individualized, multilevel, and multidimensional. Humanity goes from being seen as homogeneous to extremely varied, but with certain overarching categories (e.g., Gurdjieff's man 1, 2, 3, but with almost infinite variations based on inheritance, biology, education and experience).
Man 4 is not a stable and solid state of being. It's a level of transition from being in the chaos of the thousand little "i's" to starting more and more to listen to your own inner guidance/conscience and follow that no matter what.
Those may be adequate descriptions of the brackets, but what is missing is everything that goes between those brackets: i.e., Work.
Just by being conscious enough to set your long term intention on spiritual development you are already at the beginning stages of man 4.
Again, you're missing the heart of the matter: Work and suffering.
The starting point of the transition level of man 4 is when you start to care more about what your own inner guidance tell you is true, and less what other people and "the world" insist as being true.
Otherwise known as positive maladjustment, independence of thought and judgment. Important, but again, not a sign that development has progressed much beyond the 'embryos' of further growth and development. In fact, most children with developmental potential fit your description.
You have seen the craziness of the world of man 1-3 and you have a still developing and fragile inner conscience telling you there is another way, there is more to life than food, work, and sex. Even the exquisite sublimity you feel when exposed to works of art and literature of great truth/beauty is just the beginning...
You're right about that: it's just the beginning, and barely that.
In fact, you can read and know by heart all the esoteric teachings and all the world literature and still just be at the very beginning stages of man 4, if even that.
You can do the same as man 3.
The only way to develop the "magnetic center" is to follow your own inner guidance without compromise and don't let anyone or anything lead you astray. If it feels right in your whole body it is right, no matter what the mind (of the little "i's"), your friends, your family, or the rest of world says.
This is a very one-sided, one-dimensional view of development. It's missing a lot of things, e.g., consideration of others, thought and feeling for others, remorse, self-awareness, actions taken in conjunction with knowledge gained, and inner struggle. In fact, Just following your inner guidance without compromise, in opposition to the external world is an external conflict. The nature of Work is internal conflict.
Not so many have reached the level of man 5 at this time, but I think this will change a lot in our life time.
Two totally unverifiable and even unknowable propositions.
Some years ago I had what you might refer to as a peak experience. When I "came out on the other side" I noticed that my mind was no longer taking me away from the present by drifting into "daydreams" about the past and the future.
In other words, any crystallization you may have experienced was an 'accident'. Development is not an accident, it is a self-directed, conscious, emotional process.
To my astonishment I found myself to be permanently and effortlessly present in the moment. This has now lasted and matured for many years.
This is the unshakable center of the Real 'I'.
'Fraid not. And even if it was, it would not be enough to differentiate a Goebbels from a Gandhi.
The mind (feelings and thoughts) is still operating, but I perceive it lined up in front of me and "far away". I can also sit in total silence of the mind for as long as I wish, melting in and out of the blissful "oceanic oneness" of Consciousness.
A highly developed person only uses periods of rest like this to prepare for their real calling, which is
in this world. You make no mention of this in your post, which suggests to me that your 'spirituality' is of the navel-gazing variety, i.e., spiritual narcissism.
I perceive this level of man 5 as being on the borderline of what is traditionally known as Enlightenment (man 6) where one becomes permanently identified with the oceanic Consciousness that permeates everything and is beyond time/space/matter.
Another fantasy, ignoring the responsibilities required of development.
Reading esoteric work and knowing a lot of fancy esoteric words and concepts etc. is OK, but it alone will not get you very far.
True.
My suggestion is that you follow what excites you and when something even more exciting shows up you should not be afraid of letting go of the old to grab onto the new... Trust that life has a plan for your highest evolution, and it guides you by what feels good in your being. So follow that and accept and allow whatever "dust" is shaken up in the process.
First part is true enough for everyone. Second part is fraught with hazard.
I also strongly recommend finding a living teacher at level man 6 or 7, and to partake in a retreat with such a teacher. There are more than enough of them at this time no matter where you live in the world. Just check out "Buddha at the gas Pump" on youtube. He interviews new teachers on a regular basis (and many of them are at the level of man 6/7).
Says who?
A dead teacher, like Gurdjieff, is a "safe teacher" that cannot shake things up anymore. Being with a real and alive man 6/7 teacher is a whole other experience than reading dusty old books about it.
True enough. But saying it and living it are two different things entirely.
There is also the "silent transmission" of people at level 6/7 that you cannot get from books. Their vibration is so high that everyone close by is affected by it. If you are receptive you can actually get a long way pretty fast in the presence of this high vibration of the teacher at man 6/7 level.
May or may not be true. Doesn't matter. In the end it's useless if one doesn't actually Work on themselves.
back to life, reading, and growth.
