Cleansing Our Psyche From Mental Clutter

When we reach the mid-to-late Autumn season in the Earth's journey around the Sun, we can't avoid seeing the increase in darkness that occurs now.

Psychologically and spiritually, this increase affects us at unconscious levels. Every Northern Hemisphere culture has rituals to mark this enormously important change, when we clear out the old and prepare to receive the new in every centre.

We don't know exactly how and when all these rituals developed. Some are very practical, and must have been handed down by early groups of hunter-gatherers, who needed to know the changes occurring now in order to prepare for winter. There would be a lack of fresh meat and vegetation, and a consequent need to kill and preserve whatever was available now to see the families over the winter shortages.

But, more urgently today, this season affects us mentally and emotionally, too, and brings with it spiritual implications. From the earliest times when homo sapiens began to create art and ritual, conscious beings have taught the need for special festivals, and have created rituals that would bring out the inner meanings of these times.

Right now, the increasing darkness unconsciously reminds us f the inevitability of death. To those of us in later years, the fact of our own death becomes very real as we enter the seventh and eighth decades of our lives, and in late Autumn we see our own existence reflected in the changes occurring in Nature at this time.

Gurdjieff taught - as do all major religions - that we should constantly bear in mind our own death, and that it could happen at any time. We don't even know whether we'll live to see the next hour, let alone the next day, or month, or year. We could stand up from our computer and keel over with a heart attack or a stroke.

This realization is not far-fetched or alarmist; the great mythological researcher and Work teacher Joseph Campbell met his own death in just such a way. He stood up from his desk after writing the last line of his final book, and was felled with a massive stroke. He suffered no pain, and it was in every respect an honourable, much-to-be-desired death, a suitable end to a life given to spreading Knowledge and Understanding.

In the Western hemisphere, to mark the change in the year, we have "Halloween", a time when the veil between the worlds of life and death was thought to be lifted, and spirits of the dead could roam throughout the material world.

Special prayers are said for the dead throughout the month of November, in every Catholic church, to remind us of the transience of life and the need to ponder the afterlife.

In England, we also celebrate "Bonfire Night", which ostensibly marks the occasion of the discovery of a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, but as Mrs Pogson pointed out, it must be a ritual far older than a mere four hundred years. She suggested the etymology of the word "Bonfire" was actually "bone fire", when human and animal remains were cremated.

It's traditional to burn a "guy" on the bonfire, a replica of a human being complete with mask and clothing. A deeper and older tradition, which we have always celebrated in the Nicoll line of Work, encourages us to create our own masks, embodying a particular set of I's from which we wish to be free. In the ritual of mask-burning, often accompanied by fireworks, we celebrate freedom from the old habits and attitudes, and welcome the new possibility in which we wish to live, that of coming under fewer laws, of being reborn.

We need rituals, because they present the Higher Emotional Centre with an unforgettable picture of what is desired, what is to be sought. As we know, this centre does not think in words, but is visual, which is why such rituals and traditions affect us so deeply. Simply thinking about these matters is not sufficient. Practical, visible rituals must be carried out so that we are imbued with their meaning at every level. This is not magic, but a reflection of our psychological reality and a seeking of new beginnings.

In all the Christian and Jewish cultures with which I'm familiar, rituals with this underlying import exist, and encourage followers to cast off the old and outworn in their spiritual lives in order to welcome a new possibility.

Immediately after this time of cleansing, we enter the month of November, when Christians are exhorted to think of the Four Last Things: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell.

Again, the importance of keeping our own death constantly before us is paramount.

We are going to die, that is certain. After death, what will remain of us? The Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, although they have different ideas of what life after death will be like, all assert that it exists and that our physical death is not the end of our existence. Afterwards we will continue in a different form, receiving the appropriate reward or punishment for what we've done (or failed to do) on Earth.

The Work puts it a little differently. We are told that our Essence is immortal, but if it has learned nothing, if it has not developed, then there is no place for it to continue to evolve. We have to bring with us after death something that we have learned, something that we have achieved, if we are to continue our individual existence. This is the price exacted by the Sun in order for us to have the chance of evolution during our time on Earth.

We know that Jesus Christ is the leader of Conscious Humanity, and we are told that we will be judged by Him after our death, but this is not to be thought of as some sort of magistrate's court in the sky, when we will be fined or imprisoned for our misdemeanors!

On the contrary, if we have developed at all then we will be assigned to the place and the situation most appropriate for our next stage of existence. We might call this Purgatory, which is best conceived of as a school for self-perfecting, a place, or rather a state, where we will see exactly what we are like, what we have done, and what we need to do so that we may evolve further. It may be a time of great remorse, of suffering for our shortcomings, but it will be a cleansing, a preparation that is entirely necessary for us, and so we will not resent it but welcome it.

If we have not developed, however, the spark of Essence within us will be assigned to the melting pot from which new individuals are born, and the Personality and False Personality will perish. It must be so.  In the Gospels, the Parable of the Talents puts this reality very clearly.

That is why this time of year is a very important stage in our annual pilgrimage around the Sun. We are given it so that we may turn within, assess where we are and what we need to do next, and then prepare ourselves for the new life that may be born within us at Christmas.

It's time to ask ourselves what we wish to become, what we would desire to take with us into our existence after death - and to cast off the old while we still have the time to do so.

The Uniqueness of the Work

The Work is not remotely like any other way to understanding. It has much in common with the world's major religions, because all its teachings can be found in them, but unlike religions, it does not demand any outward form of worship or the acceptance of any particular theology.

It has something in common with counselling, since it is a way to understand oneself. Counselling, however, aims to help clients function normally in everyday life. While some counselling theories include a spiritual component, this is not the basic aim of the counselling process.

The Work takes over where counselling leaves off. It assumes the Work student is competent to function at the level of life, can support himself or herself, is not a scrounger or an idler, and has reasonably good relationships with family and friends.

It then helps the student to get to know his own psychology at a much deeper level than counselling can - or should - attempt. (Of course, I'm using masculine pronouns to include both men and women here).

The Work is not part of the occult world, although it is esoteric: as Gurdjieff described it, it is "esoteric Christianity".

The Work encourages the study of various esoteric systems such as the tarot, the I Ching, astrology and so on, but it does not seek to use them for fortune telling, or divination.

Why not? Because one of the greatest obstacles to spiritual progress is the student's False Personality, which is ruled by an Imaginary I - and to practice occult systems for monetary gain, or to win admiration from other people, artificially boosts this undesirable aspect of the student's psychological makeup.

The student becomes identified with his imagined prowess in such practices, and his Pride and Vanity are increased to an alarming extent. So much so, in some cases, that it becomes quite impossible for the truths of the Work to penetrate the thick crust which Pride and Vanity form around the False Personality. This crust shuts out the light of the Work and the student will make no progress in the Work - indeed, will become a drain on the energy of the teacher and the group.

The Work is not just such another system, as some students imagine.

It can't simply be added on to the knowledge a student may already have about such subjects.

This fact was best expressed by the Head of Conscious Humanity, known as Jesus in the Gospels, when He said that you can't pour new wine into old wine skins. The new wine is strong and potent, and will burst the old vessels so that all will be lost.

Likewise, He said, you can't patch up an older garment by sewing on a piece of brand new material. Again, the old can't take the strain of bearing with the new. The whole cloth will fall apart.

The Work must be seen and appreciated for what it is - a radically different, thoroughgoing approach to self-knowledge and knowledge of the cosmos, which can't be understood with the old I's that we use to study other systems.

We have to allow the Work to gradually penetrate us, to gently shine its searching light on the dark places of our Personality and False Personality so that we see those proud and vain I's for what they are; a useless, conceited attempt to aggrandize ourselves in the eyes of others.

We cannot use the Work to build up our Personality or False Personality, as those other systems may be used (or, rather, misused).

It doesn't work.

In the supportive, encouraging setting of the Work group, under the guidance of an understanding teacher, the student is gradually shown the futility of his False Personality, with its useless, harmful I's and its opposition to real truth. He is shown how to escape from its imprisonment and to begin to taste real freedom.

He is given his first, bitter-sweet taste of remorse of conscience as he begins to see his own mistakes, his own lies, his own ill-will. The Work does not condemn him for these things. The Work shows him that they are simply unreal, not-him, not part of his Essence, and definitely not part of his Real I.

To see the truth of how we have lived, how we've behaved, can be very painful. But it is a cleansing pain, akin to the probing of a surgeon's scalpel as it cuts away dead and decaying flesh. It hurts, yes, but this is necessary for us to heal.

Some people, however, can't bear the pain of real insight and immediately turn away. It may happen after a few months or after many years in the Work. The moment will come for each persevering student when he is given the chance to see himself, to really see and understand how he has been the slave of I's that seek his and other people's ill being. These I's lie to us and deform our relationships, bringing only accidents, misunderstandings and disasters. Such a realization cannot be pleasant, by its very nature.

The teacher's role here is to help the student undergo this cleansing process - called in Christianity the Way of Purgation - without jumping in to condemn or deny the reality he is being shown. As the Bible tells us not to judge, so does the Work. Such judging is quite useless - it is merely one set of mechanical I's opposing another - and leaves the student no better off. Instead, we simply allow ourselves to see the truths we are shown, without flinching or denying their existence.

As Dr Nicoll puts it, there are many processes which can only take place in the dark, and when a light is shone upon them, they stop. So it is with the ill will stirred up in us and other people by our own negative emotional I's, our own destructive thought patterns, our own unacknowledged pride, vanity, deceitfulness and arrogance.

The light of the Work will heal and cure, if only we endure it without turning away. And we will find that, as we continue to see ourselves in its healing rays, we are given a taste of real freedom that is quite unforgettable, and quite unlike anything else.

There are two ways in which people may escape the feeling of powerlessness and impotence so many find unpalatable and seek to deny.

One is to add on other "assets", including occult skills, to make other people see the student as someone powerful, to be noticed, to be admired. Of course, this is merely building the hot air pie of the False Personality ever taller.

The other is to allow those vain, conceited, impotent I's to be gradually deprived of their power over us, so that enlightment may come, and we may see ourselves - and the world around us - as they truly are.

Only then may we understand the great, hidden truths of the cosmos which the Work wishes to show us.

Eventually, this is goal of all true religions, and this is why we may compare their teachings to those of the Work. Whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or Hindu, all lead the sincere disciple to see the truths of themselves, and through this insight to reach liberation from False Personality.

Eventually, through admitting our powerlessness, we may become truly able to "do".

It may, however, take many lifetimes for the religious seeker to reach such understanding. Many will never make it.

The Work offers a short cut, which is why it's sometimes called "The Way of Accelerated Completion". If you deeply long for freedom and understanding, the Work will show you how to reach them and will offer you the conditions to achieve them in this lifetime. The rest is up to you.

The Power of Admitting When We're Wrong .... And Need Help

To Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, there are four important sentences which lead to wisdom. He insists that all new recruits to his department in the Quebec Surete learn them and use them often. They are:-

"I was wrong."

"I made a mistake."

"I don't know."

"I need help."

Of course, Gamache is a fictional creation, the brainchild of Louise Penny, whose insightful crime novels are written with much heart.

But the above lines are worth memorizing, because we all need to use them, and even more so if we're in the Work or working the Steps, or both.

Without honesty, without admitting when we're wrong and when we need help, we can never see the truth about ourselves. And if we can't see that, we can't change. We stay stuck at a particular note in the octave, a certain level in the Steps, and we can make no further progress.

We've all known people in the Work who are quite unable to see themselves, incapable of honesty about themselves. They may glimpse the truth for a moment, but they find it so frightening that they quickly turn away and let a whole crowd of self-important I's take centre stage to distract them and us from the truth.

In the Steps, it's necessary to be honest so that we can make a personal inventory; first, we work the first three Steps so that we have enough emotional and spiritual support to be able to stand seeing the truth, and only then do we go on to list our defects and assets.

In the Work, we must be honest if we are to attain any spiritual insight. If we believe we are always in the right, why do we want to work on ourselves? Obviously, at a deep level we know that all is not right within us, and that we need to learn, to change. But superficially we may be too frightened to admit that truth into our consciousness, let alone to our teacher or to others in the group. And when this happens, we end up leaving the Work before we have achieved any real progress.

Either we leave of our own accord, because we realize that we are not getting anywhere, even though we don't understand why; or we are told to leave, because our unwillingness to make real efforts is a drain on the energy of the group and the teacher.

We've all come across the Work student who is so bright they seem to make great progress - and then it all suddenly stops. Why? Because never have they seen themselves as they are. Never have they seen their own real character defects, in the language of the Steps; in the Work, they are asleep, and so blind to the reality of themselves.

They cannot feel remorse. Therefore, they cannot change. We see in such a student's life the evidence of willed blindness in the broken relationships that litter their past. Everything would change in an instant if they could only take a long, clearsighted look at themselves, but this is precisely what they refuse to do. They lack the courage to allow themselves to feel remorse.

This theme is particularly relevant now because Autumn is the time of year when remorse and spiritual change are inextricably linked. On Tuesday evening Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement - begins, when Jews all over the world fast, pray, and seek forgiveness from God for the sins they've committed against Him in the previous year.

But - and this is what makes this fast so unique - they do not seek God's forgiveness for sins committed against other people. God cannot forgive them the harm they have caused another person. Therefore, in the ten days which are called the High Holy Days in Judaism, the period leading up to the most sacred day of the year, they are obliged to seek out everyone they have wronged in the preceding year, and sometimes even people they've harmed years ago, if the need comes into their consciousness.

Recently, I read how one Jewish woman was greatly surprised to receive a telephone call from someone she hadn't seen since High School, many years ago. That person was now dying of cancer, and had called to ask for her to forgive him for bullying her in school. Needless to say, she did so, and it was a very moving conversation in which both were healed of old wounds.

Jesus tells us that if we have a grudge or resentment against someone we need to deal with it before we approach God.  We need to forgive whoever has harmed us, just as we ourselves need forgiveness from others.

Without honesty, we stay at a low level in the Work Octave. We've all known students who, each meeting, tell the group solemnly how they've carried out the task perfectly - even when we know quite well that they didn't, because nobody could.

Or they missed doing the task that week, but it was all right, because they learned something ..... and they justify their omission on the grounds that they understood better than the teacher or their fellow group members what it was they needed to learn. They are never, ever wrong. Their sleep is never disturbed.

In AA, we come across the same reactions countless times. The alcoholic who's still basically a "dry drunk" continues to whitewash his own misdeeds, or blames other people for them. It was his parents' fault for the way they brought him up ..... or his girlfriend's, for being late to a date .... or their best friend's, for allowing him to carry on drinking when he was way over the top.

Only when someone admits, at last, that there is nobody else to blame - that he alone is responsible for his mistakes, that he was wrong, and needs help - can they begin to recover from addiction.

And only when a Work student sees clearly how they've messed up their task, forgotten to remember themselves, caused harm to others in the group and have failed to pull their weight - for whatever reason - can she start, for the first time, to really work.

Our contemporary culture encourages everyone to believe they're right, that they must never apologize, that their insecurities must always be indulged and soothed. That serves to calm and justify, but not to increase consciousness. Such attitudes put us to sleep, and sleep is what so many people want.

If we are to wake up, we need to ask for the gift of insight; insight into ourselves, and to how we fall short. It is painful, but it is the pain of the surgeon's knife, which must be wielded before healing may take place.