We know that eventually, one of the goals of personal work is to be able to live from our Essence. For many people, that seems quite impossible. Modern life emphasizes the importance of the Personality, and we really do need to have a well developed, thoroughly rounded Personality in order to function in life. And this is right, for one day, the riches in Personality will be useful in feeding Essence, helping it to become strong enough to direct our life.
Unfortunately, the world facilitates to an even greater extent the growth of False Personality. You know how much global capitalism deliberately exacerbates anxiety, fear, anger, greed, lust and so on. Advertising leads us to believe that by satisfying these traits we will achieve happiness. But they are insatiable! As someone wise has said, our needs can always be satisfied; our wants, never.
The False Personality I's can so easily direct our lives. For many people this is exactly how they live. You have only to watch any soap opera to see how this is so. And the media themselves, through those very soaps, dramas, films, and so on portray this lower form of living as the norm, so unless people are living as Good Householders and no longer believe in life they easily succumb to this propaganda.
But suppose we disidentified from our False Personality? We saw in the previous post how much more freedom we would enjoy if we lived under 48 laws rather than the 96 that False Personality imposes.
Suppose we used our Personality just as much as is necessary for life, and then allowed it to feed our Essence?
Essence would then be able to express itself, and ultimately to guide our entire life. We would live under 24 laws, with much greater freedom.
Gurdjieff remarked that very often you find people who've lived all their lives in the country are closer to Essence than are city people. The disadvantage they face is that their Personalities are less developed and so are unable to feed their Essence. Their Essence cannot then grow.
Today, this is less common. Mass media reach everywhere, and the growth of the internet and computer technology means that many people are now influenced by them, even those living in the depths of the countryside.
But generally, older people from rural areas really can be closer to their Essence. What they are like will depend a great deal on their culture and national character. In England, much of the population is under the influence of Saturn, and in many areas of the countryside people do tend to be slower to speak, are suspicious of strangers, are extremely clannish and slow to change. This is also true of Scotland, whereas in Ireland and to a lesser extent in Wales much of the population are more mercurial in their Essence, more voluble, eager to strike up conversations with strangers, and willing to look beyond their own village for inspiration. This is all part of their Essence.
It's quite common in the Irish countryside to see older men and women sitting outside their houses, hoping to hold a conversation with stray passers-by. This satisfies an Essence need for them. You rarely see this in England.
But to take your own Essence - what does it long for?
We know that every Essence carries a longing for the heavenly realms whence it came. That within us is a nostalgia for that beauty, that love, that true perception of reality, that peace and fellowship with other Essences.
No matter how covered up our Essence may be, the closer we come to living from it, the more these desires will manifest.
But those desires will express themselves in very different ways, and with different emphases. For one person, a longing for beauty means craving for art; another prefers the beauty of nature; for some, it is music that most satisfies that craving; while for yet another it is the loving fellowship with family and friends that is most important.
In the Work, we observe ourselves to see what is real and what is unreal; what is from Essence, and what is from Personality and even False Personality.
When you feel a longing for the peace and quiet of the countryside, or for the beauty of the sea-shore, this may well be your Essence expressing its wishes. If you can, try to satisfy them. Seek out the surroundings that bring joy and gratitude to your Essence; you will discover from observation what they are.
For me, it is the seaside that is one of my preferred environments, rivaled only by the beauty of hilly countryside with woods and running water in rural settings. When I am in any of these surroundings, my Essence is filled with joy. It feels at home.
Another Work student prefers the countryside, especially woodland areas, and likes to live in a caravan or some other small shelter so that she may be closer to nature, not hemmed in by four walls.
Buildings which express sacred architecture are also very vivifying to Essence. Whether it's a Gothic cathedral, such as Chartres or Salisbury; an exquisite mosque, in Samarkand or Bokhara; or a Zen temple and surrounding garden in Kyoto, all these spaces were created by conscious men and women to elevate our perceptions and delight the Essence. They can lift us to the heavenly dimension that is the true home of Essence.
If you lived according to your Essence, you would seek out such settings and enjoy them as often as possible. Your Personality has a part to play here, for you may need to make travel arrangements in order to satisfy this longing. You might even want to move house to live closer to a setting your Essence loves.
As well as choosing your surroundings, if you lived according to your Essence you would seek to create a peaceful atmosphere wherever you happen to be. You would avoid quarrelsome, angry people like the plague they are. You would refrain from watching violent films, dramas, or television programmes, or listening to the deadening vibrations from much popular music.
Living according to your Essence would mean that you paid close attention to everything you did, because no detail of your life is too insignificant to form part of your spiritual evolution. The Kabbala tells us that every action should be carried out with the intenton of liberating the sparks of holiness that reside in each particle of matter, in every human soul, in every animal. In Essence, we offer love and gratitude to all that nourishes us, to everyone who crosses who our path. Essence delights in creating order and beauty in our surroundings, and cleaning a room can be satisfying and holy work.
To find out more about your Essence, think back to your childhood. What did you enjoy doing? What absorbed you and brought you joy? For me, it was painting, writing, exploring, and enjoying the beauty of nature. Even as a very young child I loved to pick flowers and chase butterflies, and later tried to draw them and write about them. Music, too, was a very early delight. The day I found an old piano in a barn and sat down to play it was the start of a lifelong love affair. What sparked your own childhood joy and delight? What happy pursuit do you remember most vividly?
You know you are not living according to your Essence when you feel vaguely that something is wrong, that all is not well. That you need something, but you don't quite know what. When you experience the "great nostalgia", that is your Essence clamouring to be heard. Your task is to listen. You may not be able to give Essence what it wants right at that moment, but by remembering yourself and observing the I's that are trying to express themselves you give Essence the honour and relief of being heard.
If we all lived according to our Essence, there would be no wars. No disputes between neighbours, no misunderstandings between friends. The lion would lie down with the lamb, as the Bible puts it. Of course, this means our inner lion, our inner lamb; all our instincts and positive emotions would exist comfortably together, and be governed by Real I.
If only we lived according to Essence!
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