When you first encounter the Cs and The Wave, it can be tempting to think in terms of what almost amounts to StarWars, or any sci-fi movie, with good buys and bad guys. But then, you realize how much more subtle these differences are in our reality. Most of all, you become more humble, because you understand that getting knowledge is only part of the equation, and we are all "STS". None of us is "immune" without a network and constant Work to clean our machine, our reading instrument, our thinking, our feelings, etc. So, best to observe (ourselves, others and the world), and network, network and network some more! Like Gurdjieff says above, real understanding is the result of knowledge and being. And that's a tall order! Just speaking from my experience, of course, but I imagine many people here can relate.
Thinking about it, how does one grow in Being? Meditate? Do good works? Volunteer? Get in touch with your creative side? Watch some Jordan Peterson videos? Gurdjieff would says it's none of these things, as all of these things can be done in a state of sleep, or can be done to
stay in a state of sleep. We often make changes in surface behaviour, but don't necessarily change our deeper character - and Gurdjieff is explicit in saying that what we call our 'self' is an accident at best, or at worst, a type of crime that we commit over and over again, meanwhile telling ourselves that we are innocent, just, righteous, and people of outstanding character. IIRC, for Gurdjieff, 'crime' is defined as immoral or unconscious acts. Crime gives way to lying, justifying oneself, and those who are entangled in it become their own punishment.
So on the topic of crime and Being, I recently re-read last few chapters of
Inside the Criminal Mind by Stanton Samenow
, and I was struck again by how it gives maybe one of the best examples of The Work in today's language. Samenow writes that there has been tons of money over many years going towards attempts to rehabilitate criminals - education initiatives like schooling in prisons, vocational training, money management courses, career counselling, relationship coaching, parenting classes, arts programs, psychotherapy, restorative justice, physical training, self-esteem programs, substance use programs - and none of it works!
That's because it doesn't get at the core of the programmed machine - the predator mind or criminal mind, which generates all kinds of thinking errors, which informs poor choices, which accumulate to bad behaviours, habits, likes and dislikes, and all the other signs of our outward personality.
He writes:
“All of the above-mentioned efforts directed toward helping juvenile and adult offenders have positive features and have the potential to facilitate change. But it is fruitless to construct a fine house on a rotten foundation. Behavior is a product of thinking. The key to habilitation is to help an offender change his thinking. That remains the focus of the next two chapters.”
He then goes on to write out extensively about what does actually work. It turns out it's similar to what Gurdjieff has written about the need for a conscious group of like-minded individuals on the same path to engage in the Work of ascent. It's also similar to the Ibn Arabi material posted above about the Scale of Law. In essence, the only way to affect a real change (or a change in Being) is to belong to a network that's specifically focused on changing thinking. So that means admitting to the mess inside their heads, and being open to discussing them at length.
Under the watchful eye of a psychiatrist who is aware of their tendency for lying and cheating, a group of criminals are mandated to monitor their thinking for any and all thoughts that are irresponsible, violent, degrading, lazy, entitled, defensive, greedy, etc. They record these thoughts, then they bring those thoughts to the regularly scheduled group meeting and talk about how they thought of stealing a car, or doing drugs, or wanted to punch someone in the face, etc. With the intense scrutiny of their peers and the psychiatrist, they are given objective feedback about what these criminal thoughts say about their underlying rotten character structure (or their lack of Being). They are given feedback on the underlying reasons behind these thoughts - such as instant gratification, inability to understand consequences, or not caring about other people. They also see the difficulty of changing them.
So there's a good deal of suffering when seeing oneself in the mirror like that, but it seems that the criminals become more and more able to see how they were basically machines, letting themselves be run by baser drives, feeling entitled to break the rules, lying to themselves and causing harm to others. And also justifying it all with thoughts like 'no one's perfect' or 'I just need to blow off some steam' or 'I deserve a break' or whatever narrative appears at the time. And then when they slip up, to come back in good faith and admit they slipped up, and then understand why it happened.
So there's a Castaneda element to it, too, in the sense that being a warrior means making strategic inventories of ourselves - to undertake a lifelong practice of subjecting oneself, and in particular one's thinking, to the most intense scrutiny, as that's where the Predator lives.
Samenow writes that this sort of process, with help of a support network, is what gives someone the opportunity to finally grow up, stop taking shortcuts, and become a decent, responsible person. So yeah, I'm realizing I didn't really think about growth in Being and what that entails in a very precise way before. Now I think I'm getting some more clarity on it - a deep change in thinking is imperative for growth of Being.
