Endymion said:
Gurdjieff's Five Strivings sum up the approach quite succinctly, and could, I think, be said to be the basics of learning how to be useful to the universe.
Gurdjieff said:
The first striving is to have in our ordinary being existence everything satisfying and really necessary for our planetary body.
The second striving is to have a constant and unflagging need for self-perfection in the sense of being.
The third is the conscious striving to know ever more and more concerning the laws of World-Creation and World-Maintenance.
The fourth is the striving from the beginning of our existence to pay for our arising and our individuality as quickly as possible, in order afterwards to be free to lighten as much as possible the SORROW OF OUR COMMON FATHER.
The fifth striving is always to assist the most rapid perfectioning of other beings, both those similar to oneself and those of other forms, up to the degree of the sacred Martfotai, that is, up to the degree of self-individuality.
And as the Cs said, what is important is:
Cs said:
It's not where you are, it's who you are and what you see.
Thank you Endymion for this. I'd just like to dwell on this particular segment of your quote form Mr Gurdjieff.
The fourth is the striving from the beginning of our existence to pay for our arising and our individuality as quickly as possible, in order afterwards to be free to lighten as much as possible the SORROW OF OUR COMMON FATHER.
One:
pay for our arising.
Eye am not aware of any contract to pay for my arising. To my mind, any arising that has and is occurring to me, is due to the loving guidance of an infinite current which i do not comprehend, but of which i am now aware, that i have made my choice to align with the creative names of DCM.
Two:
Sorrow.
Sorrow belongs to the same vibratory construct as joy. They are opposites on a continuous scale of sensation. Perhaps Mr Gurdjieff was referring to the state of a limited point of DCM's awareness (which we each are) aligning itself to the illusion of ego and worship of physicality. That is, service to self - as opposed to the infinite joy of preparing oneself and channeling the creative forces that currently project us into 3rd density. That is, service to others.
Three.
Our common father.
That we share a common creator there is no doubt. But to infer that our creator is male is mere patriarchal thinking. What of our common mother? To ascribe gender to the Absolute Void is misleading to say the least. We know that Absolute is intelligent (mind), is self congruent (love), and embodies identity (self). We know that each of us is a unit of its awareness, and that in that sense limited. We also know that these points of limit are infinite in terms of themselves, as a microcosmic models of the macrocosm – As above, so below.
To me, making oneself useful to the Universe can be following STS or STO. It is our choice when that choice becomes recognisable. Until it does become recognisable, there is no choice – merely automatism.
To my mind, making oneself useful to the Universe is preparing our consciousness units to embody alignment in which ever leaning we choose. Creation is a balance of light and darkness, good and evil, STO and STS. That the STS forces may be banished from this sector of the Universe does not mean that it will not exist in another. At all levels of creation there is an unerring balance – we who have evolved to the point of making a choice in free will - that is, become individuated selves, now choose worship of physicality and devolution, or allowance of the creative force of love (self congruence) and evolution.
Absolute allows all. Even my ignorance and misunderstanding. :)
