How are negative emotions transformed into creative deeds?

[Etevarran]

Hello, I recently finished reading Life Is Real..., Meetings with Remarkable Men, and ISOTM back-to-back, and while I still have a lot to think and read about these works, I would like to start with this question.

I read the Glossary article "Emotional Energy, Proper Use of." (http://glossary.cassiopaea.com/glossary.php?id=277) and I just don't understand how to channel negative emotional states into positive creative activities in everyday life. The article mentions "non-expression of negative emotions", but I couldn't grasp the difference between that and repression of emotions (which it also mentions is not the objective).

I did a search for negative emotions in the forum and I couldn't find anything concrete or practical per se, except something Pierre said about a Gurdjeff video in this thread http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,10338.msg74454.html#msg74454:

But some parts seem missing particularly how negative emotions are transformed into creative deeds in service to others.

THIS is exactly what I would like to learn more about, and how to apply it to typical situations with people in everyday life. I fear I may have missed one of the most important lessons in Gurdjeff's teachings and I would certainly like to rectify that.

If someone could point me in the right direction with regards to the subject I would be very thankful to you.

 

[riclapaz]

Hi Cesar, this thread is about the expression of negative emotions, so you see can take a look at.

https://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,2832.0.html

 

[Joe]

I don't think it's about transforming negative energy into creative deeds in a literal sense, but the freeing up of energy for creative deeds is possible when that energy is no longer wasted so much on negative emotions. So as G taught, mastery over oneself, our machine - which includes negative emotions that just "come upon us" and control us - and connection to a "higher" energy source is the goal, at which pont your whole life becomes a creative deed.

 

[Meg]

Hi Cesar,

The threads Self-Observation, Inner Talking & Work Instrument and The Usefulness of the Negative Half of the Emotional Center are good threads for learning more about negative emotions.

 

[edgitarra]

The hardest thing for me is to really do something creative when I am deeply emersed into those negative emotions. I feel stuck and have no courage to do anything creative, no motivation and I tend to leave everything apart.

 

[Joe]

The hardest thing for me is to really do something creative when I am deeply emersed into those negative emotions. I feel stuck and have no courage to do anything creative, no motivation and I tend to leave everything apart.

That's where the work on yourself comes in. Using the techniques specified, you come to understand the source of the negative emotions and thereby gain freedom from them. Not that you don't experience them, but they do not control you in the way you describe here. There is no magic trick, it's about applying the theoretical and practical aspects of the Work.

 

[edgitarra]

Thanks for the info Perceval. Many times I cried because I simply realized it is so hard. I could even scream that word. In the same time I realize that all the blockage comes from the false I's, selfishness, because i can simply clench my jaws and just DO IT!

 

[Etevarran]

Thanks for the replies everyone. From what I've read now, I can tell that handling negative emotions in general is connected to proper observation of the self, and awareness of where these emotions emerge from and what their nature is exactly. Being able to actually transform these negative emotions into positive energy across different centers is the tricky part of it as I see it, and it comes down to establishing a connection between the lower centers and the higher centers, in particular the lower and higher emotional centers, which of course is not an easy task.

Still, I can't say I now know how to go handling typical situations where negative emotions arise. However, I want to say I have a better understanding of how to work on the subject. Of course expecting easy answers is not what this is all about :P

 

[Joe]

Thanks for the info Perceval. Many times I cried because I simply realized it is so hard. I could even scream that word. In the same time I realize that all the blockage comes from the false I's, selfishness, because i can simply clench my jaws and just DO IT!

Yep, just "doing it" can be a way, but some programs etc. are so pervasive that help is needed to explore the issue, and by explore I mean talk to someone about it, someone who understands and has gone through the process to some extent. That's partly what this forum is for, for members to share with others what they are going through and receive feedback.

 

[Joe]

Thanks for the replies everyone. From what I've read now, I can tell that handling negative emotions in general is connected to proper observation of the self, and awareness of where these emotions emerge from and what their nature is exactly. Being able to actually transform these negative emotions into positive energy across different centers is the tricky part of it as I see it, and it comes down to establishing a connection between the lower centers and the higher centers, in particular the lower and higher emotional centers, which of course is not an easy task.

Still, I can't say I now know how to go handling typical situations where negative emotions arise. However, I want to say I have a better understanding of how to work on the subject. Of course expecting easy answers is not what this is all about :P

Yep, and also, I don't think there is any way we can directly "transform negative emotions into positive energy across the centers". I mean, can you access your "centers" directly? That's where the explanations by G of the mechanical nature of human beings and the more modern confirmation of that idea is most useful, and the fairly simple (at least to understand it) process of self-observation etc. has been provided to achieve that "transformation". I suppose it's about faith to some extent, faith in the process and getting on with the job of applying the concepts in our daily lives.

 

[Kisito]

Hi Cesar, before answering your question, I think we must understand that emotions are information and programs.
Next our programming emotions will be perceived either as negative or as positive.
Negative emotions are those related to anger and have a tendency to paralysis and destruction.
Positive emotions are related to Joy and satisfaction and propensity to evolution and creation. These two families of emotions, anger and joy are energy and equal power. They each contain 7 main emotions exponential forces along their numbering.

Emotion is a temporal shock of conflicting information.

It is the result of a collision between two contradictory information.
Each emotion is a surprise due to the contradictory collision. This shock is the next power the temporal spacing.

The information that was first, are strengthened belief persuasion time.
The longer the time space will be, the more the emotion will temperamental and powerful.

The information generated by collisions are a mother emotion. This primordial emotion is "Astonishment".
The mother emotion is divided into two families of emotions: Anger and Joy. Emotional Trinity (the Astonishment, Joy and Anger). Each of the two families will then form into 14 distinct emotions (emotions 7 each).
The two families of emotions ASTONISHMENT

ANGER JOY

1. Underestimating - 2. Overstated
3. Shyness - 4. Trust
5. Shame - 6. Pride
7. Jealousy - 8. Friendship
9. Hate - 10. Passion
11. Depression - 12. Reproduction
13. Anger Fanaticism - 14. joy of Fanaticism



Google translate
All knowledge is information and knowledge. However, all the emotions are illusions.

It is by knowing all illusions through our lives

karmic that the truth appears. More illusions

accumulate, the veil of lies grave.

The emotional experience is the encounter of lies and illusion, but this is also part of reality. The illusion and emotion are distortions of the truth and the light.



To answer your question Cesar, to neutralize the negative emotions, it is also neutralize the positive emotions. This possibility is by learning karma.
However, as the thought Gurdjieff, that karma can accelerate. This karmic acceleration is the work of natural body and mind by linking the endocrine system and the chakras.
It is primarily a working deprogramming. This will get rid of illusions and beliefs and be less prone to emotion mother the "Amazement" and then not penetrate as far as possible in the Anger and Joy.
3 large tracks were practiced in ancient times to speed up the karma and get rid of emotions and illusions. The monk, the fakir and the Buddha.
Gurdjieff claimed to know the 4th track. This is all the work that Laura is trying to restore. It is a discipline, a healthy lifestyle. But first you have to find the way, this can be and research every day.
For my part and this is only my opinion, I refer to the "degree of persuasion."
To remove the beliefs must start in what seems possible or as close to reality. Not that things are not possible, but some of our beliefs are too entrenched to uproot. "For verily if you had faith as a grain of mustard, you would move mountains" Matthew 17:20

 

[Alada]

I think it's a complex question, lots of things that can change according to the context / circumstances. But to give an example...

Say you have an encounter with someone at work, or member of the family who really winds you up, they often make you upset and angry, frustrated, expasperated, maybe they even do it on purpose because they know it is so easy to bait a response (we having no control over our emotions).

At that moment there is a choice, if we can catch the moment, not to express the negative emotion. Remembering that the context here is being baited into responding, and besides the person at work is our boss, or the family member is on the lookout for further ammunition, so in this context letting fly is not the optimum strategy! So, the choice is there to not express the emotion, to keep control and 'keep it below the neck'.

But inside we are seething, hurting, or whatever else it is that comes up (remember, to repress emotions is to blot out and not even acknowledge them, so we still we still acknowledge them and have them but not waste them), so what to do with that energy?

One option might be to channel it into thought, to go back through the event in our mind to examine what happened and why. What buttons in us were pushed, what are the origins of those buttons and so on. After that, there might be material to create a post on the forum, discuss the thoughts, share and receive feedback, maybe even help others in the process. Thus, we save the energy and consciously turn it into something creative for growth, not waste it mechanically for others to drain is when we are asleep.

 

[RflctnOfU]

I think it boils down to not identifying with the emotion - so-called 'positive' or 'negative'. As Gurdjieff said "every stick has two ends". All emotions have value, in terms of them being a release of energy, even the 'negative' emotions. This energy can be released through behavior automatically (as a result of identifying with it), or it can be used consciously (ie stored in the 'battery' for later use, or by 'doing what "it" doesn't want to do', which also has an effect of 'storage'). Anger in and of itself isn't bad, or negative (though it quite often is 'negative' when the "I" becomes it). It is a 'stick' just like any other 'stick'. All emotions are 'sticks'. Besides, there are times when expressing a 'negative' emotion, such as anger, is Just (providing it is conscious and not automatic). Though, especially when beginning, non-expression of 'negative' emotions is very good practice/workout of a 'set of muscles' that must be developed on the way to Consciousness, in the Gurdjieffian sense.

Kris

 

[Dave_P]

something that apparently works (at least to me) is, for example, when I feel angry or depressed, ask myself "why?" if I really feel upset by that situation, either a comment or a reaction of another person it is surprising since most of the time is a program that acts to defend something that really did not cause damage. usually when I feel a negative emotion, i take a deep breath and I take a few minutes to "analyze me" maybe work. I think that way you change a negative emotion to something more positive, such as identifying a program (I keep surprising me the number of programs that we have installed). that way the next time you'll see things happen differently. an example would fire, probably at some point in your life you've burned, you know how it feels, but also with the knowledge that you got the fire can apply to glass, which can create a work of art. all depends on how things look.