Looking for a Work Teacher in the UK

If you're living in the United Kingdom and looking for a Work teacher, this post is for you.

The UK is the country I know best, though I spent many years in the USA and also lived for a while in Israel. In the former, the various groups affiliated with the Gurdjieff Foundation in New York have only a fairly loose association with it, and are not closely supervised by the Foundation - at least, not compared with the situation in the UK. It's much easier to find a group in the USA than it is here. And Israel is the only country in the Middle East that is secure enough to protect the existence of a Work group, and there is one main group, affiliated to the Paris Foundation.

In the UK, however, the situation is very different.

Here, the Gurdjieff Society, located in London, oversees most groups, and it keeps a fairly tight rein on them. Some of the teachers are good, and some are less so. I've known teachers from the Society who frankly bullied their students and hadn't a clue how to teach anything. They might have known a lot about the Work, but they didn't understand how to teach, how to model the Work for their students, or how to create the conditions in which each student could learn for themselves. Others were completely ineffectual, and while the students may have enjoyed the social gathering they certainly didn't learn how to work on themselves.

 Each seeker must decide for herself whether a particular group and its teacher are for her. And it's a difficult process because you simply don't know what to expect.

 A Work teacher is usually quite an ordinary person who makes no claim to supernatural powers or to be able to ensure anyone else's progress in the Work. He doesn't dress outlandishly, most likely won't drive a fancy car, and won't try to impress you with his esoteric knowledge. He doesn't go around telling people he's a Work teacher. He generally keeps quiet about it in ordinary life, because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. You may or may not like him personally. If not, give him a try anyway.

Run a mile if there is any sign of bullying, any attempt to intimidate students, or to hint at "hidden powers", esoteric knowledge and so on. A boastful Work teacher is a contradiction in terms. Any boasting or bragging comes from arrogance and is part of that person's False Personality, which should play no part in the life of a Work teacher. What's more, a Work teacher must be able to generate and conduct the higher hydrogens which students need for their development. If someone is unable to do this, she will be an ineffectual teacher.

 Also beware of the teacher who seems over-eager to include you. All Work teachers have to turn away more students than they accept, and if they take you on immediately without any kind of interview you should beware of getting stuck with someone who just wants to play the numbers game. Students are not, as they might imagine, eagerly snapped up. To take on a difficult or disruptive student would hinder the progress of the existing group and waste the teacher's energy. On the other hand, a good student, someone with the necessary humility as well as Magnetic Centre, can be a help to the entire group. It's up to the teacher to decide, and to be very discriminating in their choice.

A major problem in the UK is that the groups who trace their descent directly from Gurdjieff and his personal students often give short shrift to Ouspensky, Dr Nicoll, Bennett, Rodney Collin and Beryl Pogson. They consider these teachers to be inferior to Gurdjieff, and they don't usually mention them at all. They discourage students from reading their books, and if you insist you will be asked to leave.
At least, this was the situation until a few years ago, when I had my most recent meeting with a teacher from the Foundation. They were still very rigid in this respect, and it deprives students of a huge range of really important and useful material.

On the other hand, the Ouspensky-descended groups associated with the Study Society at Colet House in London display a similar attitude towards all teachers other than Ouspensky. Some do allow Dr Nicoll's Commentaries to be read, because Nicoll was a close friend as well as a student of Ouspensky. Generally, however, Gurdjieff is anathema to them.

The Nicoll groups, who - as the name shows - trace their descent from Maurice Nicoll, are much more open to other writings. Dr Nicoll studied at the Prieure with Gurdjieff and was a student and friend of Carl Jung as well as Pyotr Ouspensky. All Nicoll groups encourage readings from the three teachers and from others who also illuminate the Work.

When my own teacher, Marian Davison, began teaching, she was encouraged and helped by Dr Bernard Courtney Myers and Dr Francis Roles, the former from the Gurdjieff Foundation and the latter from what become the Study Society. In those days - the 1960s - the situation was much more fluid and there was cooperation between all the branches of the Work. It was only later that barriers began to grow and obstacles were thrown in the way of mutual help. This, to me, was a huge step backwards.

I'm a teacher in the Nicoll line, so this is the branch which I know best, although I've also been fortunate enough to study the Work in groups in America, Israel and in London which were affiliated with the Foundation. (In regard to the latter I met Mme. de Salzmann in New York and was blessed with the experience of studying with Dr Courtney Myers in London, both of them excellent teachers: I haven't met anyone else of that calibre in either location, however). I studied in the only Work group that exists in Israel. But Marian remained my teacher throughout, and I kept in touch with her through letters, notes and phone calls.

When I was authorized to teach on my own, I was initially very reluctant to take on the responsibility. I agreed to do so when Marian gave me her blessing. She said that reluctance is a sign of humility, and it indicated that I was ready to teach. Someone who actively wants to teach is usually not ready, and is discouraged. Such a person may want to call themselves "a Work teacher," and add it their esoteric CV, as it were, but not actually to take on the hard work and inevitable suffering that results from one's labours as a teacher.

(Incidentally, this post is not an advertisement for myself! I'm not currently accepting any new students, because I want to focus on my writing. That is the main way in which I now attempt to disseminate Work teachings).

The various Nicoll groups continued after the death of Dr Nicoll, most taught by Beryl Pogson. After her death, Mrs Davison continued her work and took over Mrs Pogson's groups, while beginning new "nursery" groups in London and Brighton.

Some Nicoll groups chose to join the Foundation after Dr Nicoll died, and they have now merged with it and no longer exist in their own right.

Most, however, carried on their independent lines of work, because they believed - as did Mrs Pogson, Mrs Davison and myself - that to exclude huge areas of study, including the invaluable books by Dr Nicoll and Rodney Collin, among others, was to deprive students of a real aid to development.

We deliberately kept away from the Foundation after we realized that some of their teachers were determinedly trying to take over the independent Nicoll groups, and were shutting down the areas of study with which they disagreed. Indeed, they closed down some groups completely. We thought this was authoritarian and very short-sighted, not in the spirit of Gurdjieff or Ouspensky, and quite contrary to the teaching of Dr Nicoll.

 It's interesting to consider that the three founders of the Work each began with a concentration on a particular centre; Gurdjieff clearly favoured the Moving Centre to begin with, Ouspensky the Intellectual Centre, and Dr Nicoll the Emotional Centre, with his work in psychoanalysis. Of course, as each developed and attained a higher level of Being, they transcended the levels of Man No 1, 2 and 3, and became Balanced before going on to reach even greater heights.

 Nicoll students believe that without any one of the founders, the Work is incomplete, and therefore the Nicoll line seems to us to be the true continuation of the Work, in the sense that Gurdjieff, Ouspensky and Dr Nicoll understood it and wished it to be handed on.

Nicoll groups are known for the depth and breadth of their studies, including science, esotericism and the Work.  Some groups learned Ancient Greek and Latin so that we could study the Gospels and similar writings, as well as Old Testament Hebrew so we could understand the Kabbala and Gematria.

We all studied various arts and crafts from weaving to woodcuts, and held Work weekends so that a real community could be experienced. Mrs Davison continued with the methods that Mrs Pogson and Dr Nicoll had begun, and included her own special knowledge of astrology and Sufi teachings. She was a sheikh in the Sufi Order to which I belonged, and so was able to bring a special understanding of Sufism to the Work. Sufi poetry and teaching was an important part of our studies.

We studied the Tarot in its esoteric sense; the Renaissance scholars, including Marsilio Ficino; alchemy; the Greek philosophers; the early Christian fathers and their contemporaries; and some Gnostic writers. From this we gained a sense of the enormous influence of Work ideas on humanity, and their supreme importance to mankind's survival through past and future changes and cataclysms. We now form, we believe, a special type of Ark.

The Nicoll groups today are few and far between. The group I taught in Bournemouth has now disbanded due to the advanced age of its members. A very small, embryonic group existed for a while in West Wales, but it has now closed and there is currently no Nicoll group in Wales. Other groups I know of are located in East Anglia and the far southwest of England.

Unlike the Foundation and the Study Society, we didn't form a strict, hierarchical organization with an extensive administration. Each teacher knows of one or two others, and can ask for a Movements Teacher to visit their group when it reaches a certain size.

For the large number of Gurdjieff groups that existed all over the world, tight organization was necessary and was the only way in which they could have survived. Nevertheless, the Foundation and the Society have both suffered to some extent from this type of structure, which was inevitable.

When you try to organize a spiritual association, you lose much of its original spirit. You can't nail to jelly to a wall. Boxes have to be ticked, hoops jumped through and strict criteria met. The Work loses some force with every new generation of students, because with the best will in the world teachers who never knew the founders of the Work are at a disadvantage and can't pass on the full knowledge of the Work to their students. Creating barriers between the lines of descent furthers the ossification of the remaining groups, prevents the sharing of knowledge, and is unhelpful.

The Nicoll line kept the spirit of the Work best, but by avoiding the pitfalls of over-organization we also lost some of the benefits, mainly that we have no central office to disseminate information about groups and locations.

 In order to meet a Nicoll line teacher, you need to be in the right place at the right time, and to be ready to learn; it is the Conscious Circle of Humanity who will lead you there, if you have Magnetic Centre. Someone will have heard of someone who teaches; sometimes there may be a very small, very discreet notice in a library. If there is no Nicoll teacher in your area, then this contact is impossible. In that case, it is simply not your Fate to meet a Nicoll teacher in your current lifetime. That line of Work may not be right for you; perhaps the Work itself is not for you.

Of course, you always have the option of contacting the Foundation, which I would personally choose in preference to the Study Society simply because it's more open to outside influence, although not very much. The Society people I've met are very likeable, spiritually evolved people, however, and you might find yourself more drawn to them, especially if you are interested in the Sufis, because they are home to a group of Mevlevi dervishes and practice their ceremonial whirling dance.

You'll find all sorts of groups on the internet claiming to be the bearers of the Gurdjieff Work, but there are many charalatans and wolves there, and even with Magnetic Centre it's very difficult for a beginning student to find a real Work teacher.You do need to look at the group's lineage, if it has one. If it does, you may be able to check whether it is genuine by contacting a sister group. If they trace their lineage back to someone who was known to have been excluded from the Work - and such groups do exist - they could be dangerous and harmful, and I'd shun them like the plague.

On the internet, the best contacts are, I believe, the Gurdjieff Society in London, or - if you really prefer Ouspensky - the Study Society.

James Moore, a former member of the Society, left because of the distasteful, behind-the-scenes power struggles into which he was unwillingly drawn when his own teacher, Henriette Lannes, was passed over in favour of another whom he considered inferior. Moore started his own group, in Kent. I have not been to it and I don't know whether he is still alive, but if I lived in that part of the world I would think it worth checking out. He wrote the best biography ever published of Gurdjieff, and his later gossipy memoirs are very enjoyable, if somewhat scurrilous, reading!

 Fourth Way schools surface for a while every couple of hundred years in the West, at times when civilization is in crisis, and then disappear once again. The Work makes itself more accessible at times of great change, and creates Arks wherein its invaluable teachings may be preserved. When its task is done, it disappears. The schools carry on their work in secret until the time is right for a new dissemination of the teachings. The particular form in which it manifested at one time may never recur. This may well be the fate of the Nicoll groups.  If it is, then the Nicoll line has fulfilled its mission for this period of time.

We can't deny that humanity is facing greater dangers than ever before. The atrocities committed by terrorists, whether "lone wolves" or agents of Isis, or other branches of radical Islam, threaten everyone in the world today, especially Christians, Jews, and secular Westerners. They hate mysticism and kill peace-loving Muslims. Nowhere is now safe from their terrible evil. They are hasnamusses, and spare no one who disagrees with them. Other terrorist groups exist alongside them, and all are the enemies of mankind.

Simultaneously, the earth suffers from climate change, which could now be irreversible, and from pollution on a worldwide scale that is killing off many forms of life. Every day, new species become extinct. It is more urgent than ever that each and every Work student realizes the importance of their task. We must contribute to the evolution of organic life in the way that the Work teaches, and we must be willing to form an Ark within ourselves so that this teaching is never lost. If you feel called to this tremendous task, and if it is your Fate to be part of it, then you will meet the Work.

Conscious Humanity will make it possible for you to take part.

I wish you joy and ultimate fulfillment in your search.

What is the Fourth Way, Anyway?

The  Fourth Way - sometimes called the Way of Accelerated Completion - is unique. Unlike other ways of spirituality, which require living for long periods of time in a monastery or ashram and taking vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Fourth Way is followed in the midst of ordinary life.

The circumstances in which you are living when you meet the Work are the very ones you need for your development at that time, so you should not change them. As you evolve and develop, so your circumstances will change to suit your evolving needs.

Don't leave your job, or your spouse, or your home when you begin studying the Work. Eventually you may be led to make far-reaching changes in your way of life; then again, you may not. If you do, you will understand what it is you need, and what will help your spiritual development.

 Relationships are vitally important in the Work, which encourages loving, considerate relations in your family, with your husband or wife, your friends and with those you meet in your everyday life.

Unlike Buddhism, the Work does not teach an ideal of non-attachment. Instead, it shows the student how spiritual evolution takes place in our relationships, and how we can evolve by becoming more sensitive, more intuitive, more compassionate towards others.

Of course, relationships are very important in any enclosed community, too. And undoubtedly those formed within monasteries and ashrams are based, ideally, on attentive consideration to others. But in the Fourth Way, we are to practice this type of relationship, which is called "external considering", towards everyone who crosses our path, and most of all within our families and in our friendships.

We don't take vows of poverty in the Work. Wealth is not to be a goal in itself, but a means to help others and to further the goals of the Work, if we are given the opportunity. We are advised in the Work that our goals are to be spiritual, based on our spiritual needs and those of other people, and not "life goals", such as getting rich, buying more and more goods, being admired, or grabbing a promotion. These events, should they occur, are to be used for our spiritual life, and not for feeding our worldly ambitions.

Neither do we take vows of obedience. We respect our teachers and value their instruction and example, but they are not seen as gurus or as possessing superpowers. We don't accept anything in the Work unless we can test it for ourselves, although to begin with we have to take some teaching on trust, to be verified later, when we are capable of doing so.

Unlike New Age or other self-help groups, the Work connects us directly with a higher level of Being, the circle of ascended saints, mystics and teachers whom collectively we call Conscious Humanity. They are headed by Jesus Christ, the supreme example of what a human being may become.

They ceaselessly work through the major religions on earth, and they seek to help everyone who sincerely asks for it. New Age groups and similar structures cut themselves off from help, however, because so many deny the existence of any Power greater than themselves, and claim that any ordinary human being can, without supernatural help, become enlightened. Such an attitude is based on arrogance, whereas for a spiritual seeker humility is an essential quality.

The Work tells us that to reach a level higher than life itself, we need help from an even higher level to get there.

The higher blends with the lower to actualize the middle.

That is what Gurdjieff taught, and he was referring to the need for help from a level far above that of ordinary life if we are to awaken.

The higher level - Conscious Humanity - reaches down to us, the lower level of ordinary human beings in life, and by means of special energies gives us the power to reach beyond our regular state. Our efforts attract the help we need. And the energies which we receive lift us beyond our own life level, to a level intermediate between the state we were formerly in, and that of the members of Conscious Humanity.

This lifting up must be repeated again and again, so our efforts need to be regular and unflagging.

But we cannot do it by ourselves; we cannot lift ourselves up by wishing it were so.

It is absolutely essential to attract the help we need from that higher level, and we must not make the mistake of thinking that the needed power lies within ourselves. That is just wishful thinking. Efforts must be made constantly, but alone they would not take us very far.

The Fourth Way teaches that life provides all the materials we need in order for our efforts to bear fruit. We have everything around us that we may use for our own development. We don't need special circumstances, although Work weekends and retreats can be very helpful in focusing and enhancing our efforts.

The energy we seek is to be found through the efforts we make, through our group efforts, and through our own teacher's ability to channel and conduct energies from a higher level.

To begin with, we absolutely must have a group and an authorized teacher, or we will be wasting our time, playing at spirituality instead of living it. Eventually, we will be able to work on ourselves and life will become our teacher, but even if we find ourselves without a group, as can happen, we still remain mystically linked to the chain of higher beings that leads all the way through the minor saints and unknown mystics all over the world up to the great saints, sheikhs, prophets and holy men and women who have evolved to be much closer to the Holy Sun Absolute.

Without that living chain, our efforts would be far less potent. We could, it is true, live out our lives by following a traditional, spiritual path in one of the major religions, as a Good Householder. But our evolution would be much slower and it would take us many lifetimes to achieve the higher state of Being we seek.

Fourth Way schools appear for a time, carry out their work secretly and in silence, and then disappear.  But the efforts that students make whilst part of such a school can live on forever, and help the evolution of the entire universe.

The Work is certainly not for everyone, and the Fourth Way is not the only way to enlightenment. But it is certainly the quickest, and I remain eternally grateful that in this lifetime I was able to find and become part of such a school.

New Age Bullying - A Subtle Form Of Abuse

"You create your own reality".

"Illness is the result of faulty mental patterns".

"There are no accidents".

"There are no mistakes".

"You chose that lesson".

These statements all sound good, don't they? And so they are, when we apply them to ourselves in order to understand our own situation.  Looked at in the context of our own lives they can be very helpful. Nevertheless, they can't be applied in a general way to everybody. If we force these beliefs on other people, we risk becoming New Age bullies.  And unfortunately, many people, in a mistaken attempt to be "helpful", do just that.

The spread of New Age thinking, as popularized in "The Secret", in books by Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, and many, many other best-selling authors, can be both deceptive and harmful when applied in a blanket way to people suffering from various illnesses or forms of abuse. It can be a form of abuse in itself, because it blames the victim and can make a bad situation even worse. There is a kernel of truth in all these beliefs, but the error comes when we try to interpret situations that other people are facing by assuming they caused their own problems.

Perhaps they did; perhaps not. We have no right to assume that they did, just because we ourselves are attempting to live more consciously and have some insight into our own circumstances. Most people are not sufficiently awake to be able to live by such truths, and to apply them across the board to everyone is unfair and hurtful.

Let's take a closer look.

First, the idea that "You create your own reality" is, indeed, true in so far as it applies to our own mental state. We know from the Work - and from other traditions - that we have the power to transform our thinking and to let go of negative emotions. If used in this context and applied to ourselves, as spiritual pilgrims, the statement is perfectly true. We have a right not to be negative, and we may all exercise that right whenever we choose, whatever the circumstance.

Unfortunately, it's also often applied to victims of disasters, to those suffering from abuse of various kinds, and to poor and oppressed peoples around the world.

I've even seen it used in connection with the Boxing Day Tsunami that claimed the lives of 250,000 people. How on earth did those innocent victims "create" that reality? Of course, they didn't. It was a natural disaster that was most likely the result of the Earth's response to a lack of higher hydrogens, as we say in the Work.

Nature will from time to time bring about such disasters when more fine energies are needed for the work of evolution, and people caught up in them have nothing to do with causing it. Some may have chosen such a way to perish, of their own free will, before they were born. It is hard to understand why, but it is not impossible. Perhaps they chose to do so in order to become more compassionate in their future lives. But they would have to be highly evolved in order to choose such a situation, and the vast majority were simply people who happened to be in the wrong place when Nature caused this convulsion. And none of them, not even the most spiritually advanced, caused such a catastrophe.

Nor do we have the right to blame victims of abuse. Once, in a terrible distortion of New Thought principles, it was even said about a ten-year-old victim of sexual abuse. She "chose this reality", the therapist insisted to the child's appalled mother. Clearly, this is not only insulting and untrue, it is a form of bullying. If we all create our own reality, nobody is to blame for harming anyone else. Suck it up. You chose it. Even if you're a child raped by her grandfather, as this young victim had been.

How dreadful that anyone should think this way.

Similarly, I once met a self-styled New Age counsellor who told a friend, who suffered from ovarian cancer, that "she had caused her illness through negative thinking".

What arrogant nonsense!

We know from the Work that we live in a fallen creation, and that we are subject to the Law of Accident. Our genes play a part in illness, as does our mental state, but a relatively minor one in many cases. My friend contracted ovarian cancer because she came from a family where there were several such cases in each generation, and at that time nobody had heard of gene therapy, or even knew which genes were faulty.

In a way, we do choose our lives. Before we are born, we each decide which type of life will be most helpful to our own development. This teaching has been a platform of esoteric thought ever since the time of Plato, whose magnificent poem "The Story of Er" illustrates this situation in a very clear way.

But we are also subject to accidents, which can occur at any time. Perhaps the cancer was part of my friend's choice; many people of evolved spirituality have suffered in this way. It may have been what my friend wanted her present life to contain. Equally, however, it may have been the result of an accidental exposure to toxins in the environment or in her food that switched on the genes which  precipitated the disease - things over which she had no control.

The Work tells us that our Being attracts our life. When we reach a certain level, we come under the Law of Fate rather than, as is the case for most people most of the time, the Law of Accident. But we have no way of telling which is which in the life of another person; the most we can do is offer comfort and support, and be compassionate in our approach to the sick and suffering.

And living under the Law of Fate will not necessarily mean living in luxury - far from it.

My friend with ovarian cancer died of her illness. It was, in the end, a way for her to come to terms with negative thought patterns which pervaded her family, and to forgive them, and let them go.  I saw her grow in consciousness throughout the year before she died. So it was, very possibly, part of her chosen life; but it was not necessarily that, and we must not make this assumption, because it's so hurtful to those who are ill. They may come to this realization themselves, but to force your beliefs on them is a subtle but very harmful form of bullying.

Similarly with the statements that there no accidents, no mistakes, no coincidences. Of course there are! For the more awake among us, these happenings may be used for our own spiritual growth, and I hope that is how all Work students - and teachers - take them. Many events which seem like accidents are in fact part of our Fate, but we can't always be sure when it concerns the life of another person.

Gurdjieff pointed out that the Law of Accident is the way most people live, and that we are under a great many restrictive laws down here on Planet Earth, so that bad things can and do happen to good people, as another book puts it. Most people do not create their own reality.

And again, when that phrase is used to blame people for their own poverty and oppression, it becomes bullying. It is exactly like Reaganomics, or Thatcherism! They blamed the poor for their own state. It's a central tenet of American belief that nobody need be poor, that everyone can better themselves, create prosperity, live abundantly. It's preached all day, every day, by tele-evangelists.

Americans love it, because it absolves society of the need to help the poor and sick among them. They don't need to pay higher taxes to provide help to the poor. Why should they, if the poor and sick are themselves to blame for their plight? But could there be anything more unChristian, more harsh, more judgmental than this belief?

It is certainly not what Christianity or the Work teaches.

In our lives, we need to examine our circumstances very carefully to see what negativity we ourselves may have caused by our harmful I's. We can do this, because everyone reading this blog is to some extent spiritually awakened, and able to take responsibility for their own lives.

But the great majority of people are simply unable to do this, and to blame them for their suffering is unfair and inhumane.

And when it comes to teaching "prosperity spirituality", that you can get a lot of "stuff" if you just wish hard enough, this is a stage that most people have outgrown by their early twenties.

Suffering has its place; so does health. We need to examine our own lives in the light of our understanding, but what we cannot, must not, do is to decide for another person that their suffering is "part of their chosen reality", and is therefore somehow their fault.

We may offer help, guidance, support. We can suggest different ways of living, encourage better education, show people who've actually made poor choices that there is a better way to live. But if they had been capable of so thinking without our help, they would have done so before they ended up in difficult situations!

We do not create ourselves, we are created. We can, if we are sufficiently awake, attract the circumstances which are best for our own development. But that will probably not lead to a life of comfort and ease, with wealth and good health in plenty! Then, we would simply stagnate.

So, please don't blame the victim. If they could have chosen otherwise, they would.

Your Higher Power

In AA, as in other Twelve-Step programmes, it's vitally important that we come to believe in a power greater than ourselves, a power that is loving and compassionate, that will restore order into our unmanageable lives.

In the Work, we have the plethora of diagrams, from the Step Diagram to the Ray of Creation, to illustrate the teachings of all mystical religions - that there is a Higher Power, called the Most Holy Sun Absolute in the Work, and by the names for God used by different, valid religious paths.

The Twelve Steps teach alcoholics and addicts how to begin to live a normal life, called in the Work the way of the Good Householder.

Mystical traditions and Fourth Way schools begin with this level of being, and teach those who are willing and able to follow their instructions how to live in such a way that we may ultimately be used by something higher, by God or Conscious Humanity, for transforming consciousness. In working on ourselves, it's not simply our own Being that is raised. Our eventual aim is to become useful in the great work of transformation and evolution throughout the universe.

We can see that the Fourth Way and the mystical path begin where AA and its offshoots leave off.

What both have in common - what is absolutely vital if any progress is to be made in either of these methods of raising our level of Being - is the concept of God, a Higher Power.

And this is where these ways differ from so much of what is taught in New Age thinking.

The appeal of a great deal of the New Age, whether it be casting candle spells, fortune-telling, rune magic and so on, is that the New Age follower is invited to become his or her own higher power. And this, of course, is impossible! We can't lift ourselves spiritually by our own bootstraps. We need help.

Exactly the same methods may be used by the mystic as by the New Age devotee; casting horoscopes, for example, which is used by Sufis and by New Agers alike, or carrying out rituals to impress truths upon the Higher Emotional Centre.

Yet the difference is in the Third Force, that which motivates them.

In the Work, we want to become more conscious not only for our own sake but for that of the rest of the Ray of Creation. We want to help God, as it were. Conscious Humanity, whom we may picture at the level of the Sun in our solar system, has given mankind huge possibilities, but wants something in return - our efforts.

Working for purely selfish ends, for life reasons, might be possible to begin with, but the student who continues to work just for themselves soon realizes that progress depends on a higher level, not solely on themselves and their own actions. We need help. We cannot "do", and we must acknowledge this fact before we can transcend the mi-fa gap and receive the help that is vital if we are to continue the octave of ascent.

In the Twelve-Step programmes, too, a newcomer may wish simply to stop drinking for his or own personal benefit, and although this can be enough to keep them going to meetings, it does not go very far. It is simply Step One, which says that we admitted we were powerless over alcohol, and that our lives had become unmanageable.

Immediately after Step One, however, come Steps Two and Three, which encourage us to seek the help of God as we understand Him.

Later, we learn from AA and the Big Book that the real purpose of becoming sober is so that we may be of maximum service to others and to God. This comes as a real - and salutary - shock to many.

Inevitably, alcoholics and addicts have already made more than one attempt to sober up before they ever enter the world of AA.  They tried doing it themselves, or with the help of family members or friends, and they failed.

They could not do it because they were trying to work on their drinking or drugging problem at a purely life level. But addiction is not simply a mental or physical illness; it is primary a spiritual illness. To succeed in the heroic task of achieving sobriety, help from a higher level - the level that most of us call God - is absolutely vital. We simply cannot do it by purely human means.

I want to draw your attention to the need for a Higher Power in both the Work and in AA because it is what differentiates them from so many New Age teachings which strive to make the follower the sole authority over his or her life.

Granted, there may be vague references to some greater power that can be invoked to help in the devotee's progress, but it is often very fuzzy, and written about as though it were within the follower's power to control; as if God Almighty could become the servant of the New Age practitioner.

This is one of the ways that we can know a false teaching from a true.

True religions, like the Twelve Step programmes, require that we conceive of a power infinitely greater than ourselves. That power is not simply strong. It is a loving, compassionate, merciful and just Power which asks that we live according to certain moral and ethical standards, that we do battle with our uncooperative I's (the real meaning of "jihad" in Islam, by the way); that we become willing to bend the knee, as it were, and surrender control to that God who alone can bring order out of chaos.

Without the help of God, we are bound to fail. With it, there are no limits to our progress except those that we ourselves create,

As AA says, we find that trying to do our own will always leads to failure and even death, whereas striving to do the Will of God is the gateway to life.

A Daily Reprieve

I've just been given a piece of good news from my diabetes specialist - she says I am officially no longer diabetic!

Having kept to a very strict diet for the last five years, I've managed to get my blood sugar levels down to those of a normal, non-diabetic person, and have kept them there for the last four. So I'm now merely suffering from "impaired glucose tolerance". I'll still continue to be monitored regularly for blood sugars, kidney and liver function, cholesterol and so on, but it does seem as though my current regime has effected a cure.

It is not, however, a complete, everlasting cure. If I don't keep to my diet, if I don't constantly monitor my food intake, if I put on weight, then I will at some point become diabetic again.

 To me, this is just like my alcoholism - I don't have a permanent cure, because there isn't one. I do have what the AA Big Book calls "a daily reprieve", and my continuing good physical health is dependent on my maintaining a "fit spiritual condition".

Our spiritual health, of course, depends on our relationship with God, with our Higher Power; on receiving help from Conscious Humanity.

The Work talks of Real I, and Buried Conscience. These are the means by which we may contact God in our daily lives, whatever name we choose to give this wholly beneficent and loving higher power.
We're told, moreover, that God will also speak to us through our Higher Centres, whether in images (as in dreams) or in thoughts, but the problem is that our minds are filled with so much low-level chatter for so much of the time that we simply can't hear what those centres are saying to us.

Marian Davison, my Work Teacher, explained it thus: We don't have to create or develop our Higher Emotional or Higher Intellectual Centres. They are already there within us. They constantly try to communicate with us, but we fail to listen, or mistake the voices of various I's in our lower centres for those coming from a higher level.

This is an easy mistake to make. On a minor level, we may all be tempted to think that giving in to this or that petty I is the "Will of God". On a major level, such errors bring about terrible destruction. Think of the "holy" war now being waged by radical Islamists in the Middle East and increasingly in the West. The homicidal bomber thinks he is doing the will of his god, as though any good, loving God would will the destruction of human beings, his precious creatures.

For an historical example, we may look at the dreadful, tyrannical way in which Henry VIII forced his will on his subjects, destroying churches and monasteries, putting innocent people to death and forcing the kingdom to break away from the Catholic church in the mistaken belief that his lust for a particular woman was a manifestation of the will of God.

Such mistakes can easily happen to us. If we don't make the Work our priority every day, we will soon lose the ability to hear our Higher Centres. This is why we must always begin the day with the Morning Exercise.

 No matter how busy our schedule may be, no matter what exciting - or boring! - events we may be planning, the Morning Exercise will ensure that we start out in our right mind. Then, during the day, we have a touchstone to which we may return, an experience of self-remembering that will remind of us of the state in which we ought to live each day.

It was explained to me early on in the Work that we are given a certain amount of higher hydrogens overnight, in sleep. By remembering ourselves at the very start of the day, and by returning to moments of greater consciousness during the daily round, we build on and increase this store so that we can - if we are diligent - end the day in a state of peace and equanimity. Gradually, this process enables us to create our Higher Being Bodies, which we must have if we are to progress further after this limited Earthly life.

It takes a long time before we are able to do this. And one of the main problems we all face is that we leak energy so easily! Someone says something which offends us, a motorist cuts in in front of us, we drop a favourite plate and break it - any small incident can lead to the loss of the entire day's store of higher hydrogens, and leave us depleted, with no energy at all.

Unless we learn to observe ourselves continually throughout the day we cannot avoid losing force in this way. But, after perhaps years of patient observation, we gradually come to know ourselves better and learn what takes energy from us, and how to avoid such situations; if, nevertheless, they do occur, we learn how to disidentify with the negative thoughts and emotions they elicit, stand back, and refuse to let our force be stolen by those I's.

It is, just like addiction and like diabetes, a daily reprieve. We are not "cured" of being negative, or of having various harmful I's. We always need to be on our guard against letting them take over. But eventually, just like the alcoholic or addict who makes each day an occasion for recovery, the new way of life can become a reality which brings about a deep change within us.

It takes many years. But it is, just like an addiction, a matter of living "one day at a time". We cannot have tomorrow's energy today; we have just enough help, just enough higher hydrogens, for this day. And living this day well, we are more likely to do so tomorrow, and tomorrow, and the day after that.

Second Force And How we Survived It

We've just moved house, and it has involved the strongest Second Force I have ever encountered.

From the moment we put our old house on the market, the problems began. We found a buyer soon enough, but she made a ludicrously low offer, which we refused. She said she loved the house but wanted to carry out some expensive building works! We politely pointed out, via our estate agent (realtor in America), that her offer was far too low, and that we could not take into account what she might wish to do after the house was sold! 

She then made a sensible offer, which we accepted, and we thought our problems were over. Unfortunately, the buyer turned out to be a truly tricky customer. She had a secret agenda. House-buying in England involves locking most people into a chain, where one person's sale is the means by which they buy their next property, and chains can comprise as many as eight buyers and sellers. It is an incredibly silly and ungainly way of buying and selling. We decided to remove ourselves from such a complex web by renting our next property, so that our own sale did not involve our next purchase. It should have made the sale an easy process.

Our buyer, however, wanted to delay completion as long as possible. In April, when we agreed to accept her more realistic offer, she said she herself would also like to complete the transaction as quickly as she could; she said she already had a mortgage offer in place, and was ready to move in a very few weeks. 

This was untrue. Her first pseudo-problem arose when she said she had lost a vital building certificate and had to order a replacement. Then she said her own buyer had a similar problem. These two alleged losses cost us all two months' delay, but this was not the end. She complained that her boiler had broken down and that she had to get it fixed before she sold her own house, and when this was fixed, that she had lost yet another vital document which would take time to replace.

One problem after another meant that we were no closer to completion at ten weeks into the deal. A normal house sale takes 6 to 8 weeks. In despair, our solicitor and estate agent both advised us to put the house back on the market, which we did.

The next day, our buyer rang up in tears, complaining that we were "scaremongering". We took no notice. And then, miraculously, she "found" her lost certificates, her own buyer also "found" hers, and all their problems evaporated into thin air! The sale was completed one week later!

It emerged that both she and her own buyer were in collusion. They had school age children, and wanted to time their move with the beginning of the school holidays, at the end of July. Rather than take out bridging loans, which would have been the obvious solution, they both chose to delay and delay, prevaricating and obscuring the truth until our patience was exhausted. At that point, they realized they had to act if they were to secure the houses that both wanted. And so the sale went through, at last.

The next part of Second Force concerned our rented bungalow, where we're now living. So many delays, legal knots and miscommunications held up our agreement to the point that we were not actually sure whether we had anywhere to go at all! Eventually all this, too, was solved at the last moment and through apparently miraculous events. 

But it has been the most difficult sale we have ever made, and our next house purchase will, we hope, be our last. 

We've found the house where we want to spend the rest of our lives. It's in a beautiful seaside resort on the northwest coast of England, a cosy, Tudor-style house on a quiet street, with a large garden. This time, our purchase is proceeding at top speed. There are no obstacles, only the time-consuming legal form-filling and searches which accompany all property transactions in the United Kingdom. We are not in a chain, and neither is our seller, so all may be completed in four to six weeks.

Second Force seems at last to have been lifted. Thank God!

What have we learned from this? That the strength of Second Force can be extremely powerful, and tests our resolve to the limit. Had we not wished with all our hearts to move to the northwest, we might well have given up the struggle, at least for this year.

We carried on, however. Why? Because our desire to move house, our First Force, was motivated by a Third Force of a spiritual nature. And this fact gave us the necessary impetus to continue our battle and not to give in. 

Had it been merely a Life motive - wanting a larger or smaller home, perhaps; moving to a more desirable neighbourhood; or simply wishing to free up money by downsizing, as so many older people do - we would probably have abandoned the project, at least for the foreseeable future.

Our Third Force stemmed from our Essence wishes, however, and carried us through the tidal wave of lies, manipulation and obstruction that we had to battle.

We wanted to live in a home that satisfied our Essence needs for peace, harmony and beauty. A safe and cosy place in which our spiritual lives could find maximum expression. Where we could be closer to our families, be there to help them out with their problems, and in our turn be helped by them when necessary. And in times of peace and plenty to enjoy one another's company, to deepen our relationships with the people we love most on Earth, to strengthen the ties which bind us all together.

We had found living in an isolated, rural area very limiting to our ability to participate in the Twelve Step Programmes which have played a huge part in both our lives. In our chosen home town, we will be able to sponsor new members, volunteer for group offices, and support the local recovery community.  We'll also be able to take a more active role in our Catholic church community, since our  new church will be much closer to our home than was our former church in the Fens.

We plan to join the North West Friends of Israel, an important and influential lobbying group which combats media inaccuracies and lies, and promotes peace education and informative programmes about the reality of Israeli life in local schools and religious organizations. My cousin is already a keen and active member of the movement, and the group includes Christians, Jews, agnostics and atheists, all in support of peace and against the terrible anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism which are now the scourge of Europe and particularly in the UK. There are, it is rumoured, even one or two Muslim members, though they have to keep a very low profile for fear of recriminations from their own communities.

For many years I've supported Israel and the Middle East peace movement in my own way, through my writing and lobbying efforts, but to be part of a united, ecumenical group will help tremendously to reinforce my own efforts, and I'll be able to use my communication skills to help this vital cause.

And our new house will give me my very own quiet office, a luxury I've never enjoyed before, so that I can continue blogging about the Work, and can write at least two more books on spirituality that I've been planning over the past year, but lacked the time and a peaceful space in which to complete them.

These motives are the Third Force for both my husband and me. Our Essences are united in these aims, and since we are both convinced of the benefits of our new house in this regard, we have been steadfast in sticking to the plan. Our Third Force is truly a Work motive, truly a reconciling force in so many ways, and we have felt the love and support of Conscious Humanity throughout our trials.

We're still in the tiny, rented bungalow - but hope in a couple of months to be gradually moving ourselves, our remaining books (still in the hundreds, if not thousands!) and our goods and chattels, not forgetting our beautiful, loyal Maine Coon cat companion, Tolstoy, into our new and permanent home.

God willing.

Summer and Harvest Rituals

Last week we looked at the significance of the Summer Solstice, the Full Moon which took place then, and the northern hemisphere festival of Midsummer (St John's Tide), on June 24th.

The entire season traditionally lasted for one month, although celebrations were not held continuously because of the need to bring in the harvest. Fruits, vegetables, and the first grain harvest are all ripening now, and the predominant feeling at this time is one of gratitude.

From the middle of July until the beginning of September the harvest will be gathered in and eventually celebrated in ancient church rituals, which have a pagan origin.

In earlier times, if the weather had been bad and the harvest a poor one, the tribe's king might be sacrificed and his blood used to moisten the earth, in a grisly foreshadowing of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Such rituals show that even from prehistoric times men and women understood that the Earth was a living being, ruled by powers they did not understand but which might well need propitiation. The tribe could plant, could sow, could weed and nurture, but ultimately the results were not within their control.

Today, we in the Work - and many other Good Householders all over the world - know that there is  one God, one Spirit, the most Holy Sun Absolute, who created all that exists. We also know that there are Beings of unimaginably high existence, far above all that we can see, Archangels, Cherubim and Seraphim, who guide the conditions for growth on all planets and help the evolution of the universe.

And the Work teaches that sacrifice is indeed necessary for evolution to continue, and for Nature to be able to work as she should. We make this sacrifice voluntarily - by Conscious Labour and Intentional Suffering - or involuntarily, when large numbers of people are killed in disasters or wars around the world. Nature demands a certain substance that is produced only by the Sacred Rascooarno, and if we do not work on ourselves and make this substance of our free will it must be taken from humanity involuntarily.

So our early forebears, who dimly apprehended that sacrifice was necessary in order for the natural world to continue to bear fruit and support the population, were actually not far off the mark.

Today, we are beginning to reclaim the idea of Earth - Gaia - as a sacred, living Being. More and more people are working to cleanse, support and nourish the planet, but at the same time, unless there are more conscious people working on themselves to produce the very fine substances needed by Nature, these efforts will not eliminate the need for large numbers of human "sacrifices".

It is more urgent than ever that we should make these sacrifices voluntarily, psychologically, to avert even greater disasters.

And by doing so we ensure the continuation of life, with all its possibilities for evolution, especially for those of us three-brained beings who understand why we are here and who embrace our duties with joy and gratitude.
                     
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FYI: In accordance with the needs of my Essence, and that of my husband, we are moving next week to live close to the sea and close to our families.

This blog will therefore take a month's break, while we are in the process of moving house. There has been much Second Force surrounding this move, but the Solstice and the Full Moon brought about a miraculous breakthrough and we are now finalizing all the arrangements.

It is really important for everyone that - as far as we are able - we live in surroundings that nourish our Essence. It's not always possible to choose exactly where we live, but in our own case, now that we are both retired, we are free to fulfill a long-held dream: to return to the seaside and to spend much more time with family.

See you in a month!

Summer Solstice and Full Moon - A Rare Combination

Today, June 20th, sees the conjunction of a Full Moon with the Summer Solstice, a rare event which last occurred in 1967, just before the famous - or notorious - "Summer of Love".

Can we expect a similar configuration of energies in the summer of 2016?

Yes and no. That a large, somewhat unfocussed, outpouring of energy is taking place now is evident.  We have already seen a series of violent events take place across the globe, from the mass shootings of homosexuals in a Florida club to the assassination of a Labour MP in England; everything taking place against what has sadly become a familiar backdrop of atrocities committed by Islamic State and other terrorist groups in the Middle East.

They are assassinating Christians, Sufis, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Jews and anyone who does not share Isis's horrific and literally diabolical world view. For I am quite certain that this movement comes straight from the depths of hell. It has so much in common with Hitler and the Nazis, and we should remember that the Nazis and the leaders of various hate-filled Muslim groups at that time were great friends and allies in their aim to exterminate Jews and Christians.

 I'm reminded of Gurdjieff's comments about war, that wars occur when men are stimulated by cosmic tensions, especially when Mars is involved. And Mars has been retrograde in Scorpio for some time now, and will turn direct only on June 29th.

But the cosmic energy itself is neither good nor evil. It depends on how we assimilate it. Cosmic tensions can be used for our own spiritual growth if we are aware of them, and of the I's which they stir up in us. The effort not to identify, to go against the crowd of negative I's in the emotional and intellectual centres which various planetary aspects are now stimulating, can give us a powerful boost on our spiritual path.

Let's look at the significance of the Solstice, and then consider the effect of the Full Moon and the various planetary aspects at work right now. And remember that the cosmic events themselves, though lasting only for a short while in linear time, exert their influence for months, possibly years, to come.

Anthroposophists believe that influences absorbed at the Solstice reach their fruition in nine months' time, just like a human pregnancy. And nine months from today culminates in the March Equinox.

There is much truth in Anthroposophy, which is basically an esoteric form of Christianity, as of course is the Work itself. Theosophy, one of the chief influences on the anthroposophy movement, contains a number of esoteric truths, though unfortunately it became somewhat muddled and ineffectual as the movement spread and was watered down. Ouspensky was a strong supporter of Theosophy in its earlier years, but abandoned it later because he thought it had lost its way.

Anthroposophy, however, reclaimed much of the Theosophical teachings on astrology and solar cycles, and related it to the Christian festivals in a coherent and enlightening manner.

According to this viewpoint - which was espoused by Beryl Pogson, and later by my own teacher, Marian Davison, from whom I learned much invaluable astrological knowledge - the Summer Solstice is the point when the Earth reaches the culmination of its out-breath, so to speak. Immediately afterwards, the Earth begins once more to breathe in, and will reach this maximum point at Christmas.

The solar year is divided into two clear parts; the Winter Solstice, when the Earth begins to breathe out, and the Summer Solstice, when once more the Earth takes an in-breath. The whole cycle is therefore one "breath" of the Earth, each with different emphases and effects.

At each solstice there is a pause between the breaths. At the Winter Solstice, which takes place on December 21st, the pause lasts through to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In the intervening days the sun appears to stand still from the viewpoint of the Earth.

At the Summer Solstice, occuring on June 21st, the sun again appears to stand still until St. John's Tide, or Midsummer Day, on June 24th.

And at this point, the Summer Solstice, "the soul of the earth rises in longing towards the heights, seeking communion with the universe, with the light and warmth of the sun and his companions, the stars .... her long outbreathing is completed, and her whole soul (the collective soul of humanity) has gone forth in devotion ... Matter seeks Spirit, returning to its origin" (from The Christian Year by Evelyn Frances Capel).

In a confused way, not knowing or understanding the real origins of their longing, crowds gather at significant planetary points such as Stonehenge for the celebration of the Solstice. They seem to realize there is a special energy available now, that of the collective human soul and the telluric energies of the Earth itself, which reaches out towards the sun during these special days. This energy can help the individual to become more aware of her deepest spiritual longings, and to see where she is on her individual journey. It increases her power to wish, in the Work sense, from which can come much fruit.

At the Summer Solstice, if you are sensitive to these energies - as most people in the Work surely are - you may experience a real inrush of spiritual growth and insight. If you are wise enough to ask a question now, you will surely receive an answer. You will be shown what you need to do in order to take the next step in your spiritual ascent.

The conjunction of this event with a rare Full Moon gives the whole Solstice a very special coloration.

This Full Moon is the second to occur in Sagittarius - the last one took place in May this year - which is, in itself, a rare event. The archer is reaching forth to shoot her arrows of insight and change into the areas of our lives where we most need this impetus. Each soul must determine for itself what those areas are, and a careful and thorough reading of your own birthchart will show you precisely what you need to change. Everyone interested in cosmic astrology should own an ephemeris, should know the sensitive points in their own birthchart, and be able to relate the heavenly events to their own horoscope. This is real astrology.

I can, however, offer some general remarks. First, the planets are now forming a Grand Cross, though somewhat loosely, which reflects the scattered nature of the energies now. Change is in the air for everyone, and along with this we will all be experiencing some degree of tension, possibly anxiety, concerning major events in our lives. For some, the temptation to identify with worrying I's will be almost impossible to overcome. Yet, it must be done, for otherwise a great opportunity for transformation will be wasted in petty anxieties.

The Sun is conjunct Venus, and this means that, even though change may come more rapidly than we would like, it will be overall positive for all who can take advantage of it. Venus is always beneficent, and if there are stresses in relationships she will help us to find harmony and peace with people who may have been a source of tension.

At the same time, Mars is still retrograde in Scorpio, and will continue to be retrograde until June 29th. This adds to the stirring up of tensions, and means that we need to re-examine some of our past actions and attitudes. Where we ourselves have made mistakes and caused problems for others, we will find we want to resolve them now, even though this may involve some deep psychological and spiritual searching. The process will be painful for some, but it must be undergone, otherwise the tensions will remain and the beneficial effects of Venus will be blocked.

After June 29th, transformation will be rapid - if we have worked for it. We will experience a real breakthrough in situations we had thought impervious to change.

And the Solstice, which is always a gateway for cosmic energies to pour forth upon the Earth, will facilitate these changes in a very positive way.

Mercury in Gemini is opposing Saturn in Sagittarius now, further emphasizing the need for detailed analysis to be accompanied by far-reaching willingness to change. Jupiter is also conjunct the Earth's North Node, showing that all efforts to work on ourselves are under very beneficial influences.

Putting all this together, there could not be a better time for personal work on oneself.

We are now able to offer all that we have learned in the previous year to the heavens, to Conscious Humanity, as embodied in the Sun and the planets. Our offering is joined with those of everyone on a spiritual path who is able to make this offering consciously. And this offering, this festival, is symbolized by the figure of St John, or John the Baptist.

Why this particular saint? Because it is he, the Baptist, who awakens the buried conscience which shows us the way to God.

Lament for a Brilliant, Lost Alcoholic

Last month I wrote a eulogy in praise of my uncle, a Good Householder. Today, however, I have a much sadder task - to write about the tragic, completely unnecessary death of a young alcoholic, in the hope it may warn others about the dangers of ignoring this illness.

Julio (not his real name, of course) was only 40 when he died. An autopsy disclosed that he had cirrhosis of the liver and a large tumour in his stomach. We don't know which of these conditions actually brought about his death, but we do know that they were both caused by his chronic alcoholic drinking.

His death was unnecessary, because both problems were treatable if only he had sought medical help. And what makes his death all the more tragic is the fact that this young man was himself a brilliant doctor, and must have understood only too well what his symptoms meant.

Yet he was unable to stop drinking, even so.

Julio was a friend of my daughter. They lived in different States, but met because they had both been "talent spotted" by an Ivy League American university, in a special programme which scrutinized teens in the talented and gifted classes of high schools to identify the most all-round, gifted students. Their university mentors then sponsored the select few into summer programmes and early university admissions.

These students were the "creme de la creme" of their age group. They all had dazzling careers before them, and the university wanted to make sure their gifts would not be wasted.

Julio and my daughter attended summer school together, at a well-known and highly respected University, and later both went on to receive scholarship funding for their degree programmes. They became good friends, and often visited one another during holidays, keeping in touch by phone and email throughout the years.

The death of this young man was a shocking event. It came completely out of the blue.

What could have made him ignore the many warning signals he must have noticed? The concerns of his friends and family, who saw him drinking his life away? His repeated depressions, his dysfunctional relationships, his lost opportunities?

The answer, of course, is the nature of his illness - alcoholism. It's the only disease which tells you that you don't have it. Denial is part of it, and it keeps millions of alcoholics in subjection to its relentless ravages until one day time runs out, and they die.

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. In other words, it's a downer - it brings about a state of depression even in those not usually prone to it. And if you are already depressed, as it seems Julio was, then alcohol, far from offering relief, makes that depression a thousand times worse.

Alcoholics die from their illness, and that death comes via many routes. It may be that the alcoholic's organs simply give out, exhausted, so that the body can no longer sustain itself. Sometimes alcoholics die through choking, alone, with nobody to help them. Many alcoholics commit suicide, unable to face the terrible situations their illness has brought about - the broken relationships, the alienated children, the failed career, the utter and desperate loneliness.

Sooner or later, an alcoholic who continues to drink will die from it.

When you try to warn them, it's amazing how persuasive the alcoholic can be! Nothing much wrong with me, they assure you, nothing I can't deal with. Yes, I'll stop drinking. Tomorrow. Just one last party, one last night out .....I can handle it. Don't worry about me.

And their families accept their assurances because they love them and fear for them. They hope against hope that this time the alcoholic means it, and is really going to get help.

Sometimes spouses or parents make appointments for the alcoholic to get counselling. Of course, the alcoholic doesn't show up, or makes it for only one or two appointments, and then drops out. Why? Because it's too hard to keep denying the truth, that it's the drinking that's causing the problems, and they leave before they actually have to admit it, even to themselves.

The only way an alcoholic can survive is to stop drinking. And the best way to ensure recovery is for them to start going to Alcoholics Anonymous, find a sponsor, and keep working the programme.

Very, very few alcoholics actually do recover. The statistics are depressing in themselves, but one key fact emerges again and again, all over the world - AA is the best and safest route to sobriety.

Julio never took that route. He said he was too scared to get help, that if he did, he might lose his medical licence. In fact, that was simply another excuse to keep drinking. AA respects the anonymity of all who seek help, as millions of recovering alcoholics - including me - can confirm.

In AA, I've met recovering doctors, lawyers, teachers, airline pilots, religious ministers and priests, counsellors and psychologists. Everyone is supportive towards everyone else, and the newcomer is always given a warm, sincere welcome. It is a safe place: everyone knows how much is at stake - their lives, their careers, their families, their very existence - and nobody betrays their fellow alcoholics.

I write this because if you, dear reader, have an alcoholic friend or relative, or if you yourself suspect you may suffer from this terrible disease, I hope you will be spurred on to get help.

And if you are struggling to cope with an alcoholic in your own family, please, please make the effort to go to Alanon. Alanon is an anonymous organization which supports people living with, or affected by, an alcoholic. Like AA, Alanon respects your own anonymity. And also like AA, it offers a wholehearted welcome and ongoing support, because it is entirely run by fellow sufferers, people who - like you - have the problem of how to live with, or stay close to, an alcoholic loved one, how best to help the alcoholic without losing their own sanity.

Alcoholism is one of the worst scourges of our times. I hope and pray that anyone reading this who recognizes themselves or someone they love in this situation will get help at once. There really is no time to lose. The clock started ticking when the alcoholic took his first drink.

Why Love Matters

Why does love matter?

Because without it, life would not be worth living. Without it, we would be less than human. And without its irreplaceable influence in our earliest years, our brains would not develop to their full potential. We could not become fully functioning three-brained beings if we had not been loved as infants.

Psychologist Sue Gerhardt's book, "Why Love Matters," now in its second edition, is of the greatest interest to anyone who cares about human development, personal psychology, abnormal psychology and personality theory. This surely includes everyone reading this blog, and I can't recommend it too highly.

We all know now that the personality of the baby is formed by a complex and delicate process of interaction between the genetic endowment of the child - in Work terms, the Essence with which she is born - and the environment in which she lives. In the world of the tiny baby, the influence of the mother is paramount, and that intimate relationship has the greatest effect of all on what kind of person her baby will become.

Will the child grow to be a secure, well-loved adult, someone capable of loving and empathizing with others? Or will she become an addict, a narcissist, an anxious, obsessive-compulsive sufferer or even a psychopath?

We bring our own special and unique DNA into the world. This is most often a less-than-perfect inheritance; for example, you may have genes that could predispose you to alcohol or opiate addiction, to overeating, or to aggression. But whether or not those genes eventually hold sway over your adult personality depends to a very great extent on the type of mothering you received in the first two years of your life.

Nothing new, you may think. After all, John Bowlby, Melanie Klein, Erich Fromm and many others have written on the various stages of child development and described how the family influences the type of personality, and of course to us in the Work, the false personality, that the child will eventually acquire.

You would be wrong, however, for in this book what Gerhardt does is to actually describe - with diagrams - the effects that different types of mother-baby relationships have on the brain's formation. And this is something new and infinitely valuable for our understanding of how personalities - and, of course, false personalities - come into existence.

As an example, if a loving, empathic relationship is not present for the baby at the very earliest age, that child's orbitofrontal complex does not develop as it should. This part of the brain is responsible for the ability to delay gratification, to manage feelings and to participate in relationships. Early deprivation means that the baby may never fully achieve these abilities. If the opportunity is missed in infancy, the growing child, even if adopted into a loving family, may forever be robbed of his full potential.

Even in pregnancy, stress experienced by the mother can shape the developing brain of her unborn child, influencing the volume of the hippocampus or the amygdala. Some babies are born already stressed, and the mother may experience the baby's crying and refusal to feed as a rejection of her, and then may emotionally withdraw further from her child.

It is the quality and strength of the parents' love, particularly that of the mother, which enables the brain to develop normally. Mothers who are under stress, whether through being a single parent without the support of a partner or family, or through low income or poor housing, or in an abusive relationship, are often unable to show their baby the quality of love that is necessary for proper development. There is good news, however, for with professional help, especially if this help is given at a very early stage, the mother and baby bond may be repaired sufficiently so that the child can develop normally.

Much depends on the ability of the mother (or the primary caregiver, if this is not the biological mother) to understand and manage her own feelings, and in particular to be able to tolerate uncomfortable feelings and relationships without letting them affect her behaviour towards her child.

The ways that children develop will follow certain patterns, which are of course also dependent on the genetic makeup of the child.

Some children may respond to their mother's discomfort by learning to hold back their own feelings, denying them sufficiently that the adults around them may see them as calm, unconcerned children with whom all is well. Underneath, however, many children are a filled with alarming, painful feelings which they know will only distress their caregivers; such children put on a false mask of "OK-ness" which does not reflect their true states. To those of us in the Work, we may see this as one basic characteristic of what will become that child's false personality. It seems that the beginnings of false personality, though not its full-blown manifestations, can arise at a much earlier age than was previously believed.

Some children may become hyper-sensitive to the state of their parents' emotions, so that they learn to read them with an almost psychic attunement. In reality, they have learned very early on to pick up signals from the adults which show when they are most likely to be attentive to the child. The child then times their own demands so that they will get maximum attention, but at the cost of repressing the child's pain. Such behaviour has been observed in many adult children of alcoholics, though this is not the only environment which can elicit it. Any disorganized pattern of parental care may be the trigger for this type of psychological hyper-awareness. It may even seem to be an asset - "What a wonderfully sensitive child!", people may exclaim - yet it is not, because it eventually traps the adult into a pattern of codependence.

Yet other children become extremely emotional, over-vocalizing and over-dramatizing constantly, because they have learned that unless they do so their needs will be overlooked. Quite often these children grow up to be "borderline" patients, who have enormous difficulty in regulating their own feelings. Internally, they feel as though they are on a constant roller-coaster of emotions which threaten to overwhelm their already very fragile sense of self. They can no longer distinguish between "real" hurt and artificially exaggerated feelings, and they may be known as the drama queens (or kings!) of their families.

Psychotherapy later in life can help enormously in bringing calm and stability, as we all know. But such therapy is painful. To learn to re-programme our feelings, we have to re-experience them in all their complexity, so that we can then "do differently". Such therapy is vital if adults who have experienced very difficult childhoods are to be able to lead organized, fruitful lives, or as we say in the Work, to become Good Householders.

And babies do not have to be subjected to cruelty to undergo the sort of brain changes which Gerhardt describes. Sometimes, the mother is simply unavailable, even when physically present, because she is not at ease with the baby's feelings and does not know how to soothe them. Some mothers have to leave the baby with caregivers to go out to work, and they may not be aware of the way those caregivers actually treat the baby when she herself is not there. Perhaps the caregivers are simply interested in earning money and care little for the child's needs.  Gerhardt points out, however, that a patient, loving caregiver can be just as good as, if not better than, the mother herself; what matters is the quality of the care that is given, rather than who is giving it, a fact which should reassure many working mothers.

Fortunately, as stated above, much damage can be repaired if the adult is able to go into therapy. Without such help, however, the outlook can be bleak. Later, in an attempt to lull emotional pain, the adult who was an unhappy, emotionally neglected baby may take to alcohol or opiates. Again, the genetic predisposition will influence which escape route seems easiest or most effective.

Of particular interest to Work students is the new understanding that the brain works best when both emotions and instincts are operating harmoniously together. The ability to achieve this harmony depends wholly on our early life experiences. When this state is present, the rational faculty is also able to function at its best.

"The brain constructs representations of internal bodily states," Gerhardt says, "links them to other stored representations, and then signals back to the body in a process of internal feedback, which may then trigger off further bodily feelings in a cyclical process".

We may call these "stored representations" different I's. This is why, in the Work, we strive to be conscious in all centres, for many I's are stored in each centre, and will influence us without our awareness unless we are trained to observe ourselves. We cannot truly understand ourselves and observe our various I's unless we are conscious in our moving/instinctive centre, our emotional centre and our intellectual centre.

 All three centres may either work together productively, as is our aim, or may, as is often the reality, hinder each other because of repressed and unconscious I's that interfere with the centres' efficiency.

Gerhardt's book is too long and too complex to be easily summarized, but I hope I have given you a sufficient taste of it to make you interested in reading her work for yourself. Many counsellors and psychologists have read the first edition as part of their coursework, but in 2015 a new edition was published which incorporates new research in genetics and mental development.

The book is: "Why Love Matters" by Sue Gerhardt - ISBN 978-0-415-87053-5
Publisher: Routledge
2nd edition 2015

Supposing We Lived From Essence .....

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!

Living Under Fewer Laws

We're often told in the Work that as we become more conscious, we will be able to live under fewer laws.

In my early days as a Work student I wasn't at all sure what that meant. Mathematics was never my strong point, and I puzzled over the different levels of laws, trying to see what it could mean for my own personal evolution and that of others.

The greatest help to my understanding was Dr Nicoll's "Commentaries", where he explains the concept very clearly and gives examples of each level.

Firstly, we know that different parts of the Ray of Creation are under appropriate numbers of laws. The Moon is said to be governed by 96 orders of laws, the Earth by 48, the Planets by 24, and so on. The Sun itself is under only 12 orders of laws. All these levels are possible for us to contain within ourselves, but the higher levels come only when we work on ourselves. They are not found naturally in mankind.

Beyond the Sun comes the level of the galaxy, the Milky Way, at 6 orders of laws; then the sum of all galaxies, at 3 orders; and finally, the Absolute itself, which we cannot comprehend with our limited intellect, under only One law.

 As we are, without working on ourselves, we may collectively live under the 48 laws that are proper to life on Earth. And most of us, without such work, actually live under 96 laws, because of the compulsions of False Personality.

To live at a higher level, we must be able to come under fewer laws.

 We know that the level of the Sun corresponds to Conscious Humanity; I think of Jesus Christ in this connection, as He is at the level of the Sun for us. And the Work says that we may have the Sun within ourselves, that we can become a Sun to our own individual microcosmic solar system.

 So, according to our degree of evolution, we may be living under 96, 48, 24 or 12 orders of laws.

What does this mean in practical terms?

Think of False Personality. That is the part of us which restricts and confines us, which distorts our Personality and compels us to behave in ways that are incompatible with our highest understanding. If I am living under the laws of False Personality, it means that, for example, when someone treads on my toe I don't simply feel the pain and then let it go. I nurse it and encourage it; it sparks anger in me and that anger turns into long-standing resentment.

I then feel a great dislike towards the person who stepped on my foot - "Who do they think they are, to step on me! Don't they know how important I am?" - and a sense of outrage that is fed by pride and arrogance.  I may seem to accept their apology, but deep down I see them as my foe, and a wish to similarly harm them may arise in my False Personality without my awareness.

In all of the above I'm governed by 96 orders of laws. I am under a compulsion to retaliate, a law which arises from my negative emotional centre, which should not exist amongst three-brained beings, but which does because I, like everyone else, have been raised by people who themselves were compelled to act in certain ways by their own negative emotional centres.  I am unable to control my own manifestations and must arouse antagonism in everyone around me.

All in all, this is a psychological prison.

If, however, I live at the level of Good Householder, that of a "normal" life on Earth, I will come under half the number of laws. This level corresponds to Personality, and if my Personality is developed, and if I'm living according to my Real Conscience, I know that over-reaction to an accidental injury is quite unnecessary and will damage me and the person who caused me pain.

I accept their apology, and if they are quite unaware of having stepped on me I choose not to draw their attention to it, but simply let it be.

I feel the physical pain, let it go, and remain unaffected by it. I may choose to avoid getting close to a particularly clumsy person, but I won't hold any anger or resentment towards them. I go on my way, and give the matter no further thought. I'm not imprisoned by my False Personality.

Such a level of life will be under only 48 orders of law, and you can see how much more freedom it brings me.

This level - 48 laws - is that at which all of us three-brained beings are meant to live, at the very least. Good Householder should be the "default setting" for all of us, but because, as I have mentioned, we have all been raised by people with False Personalities we find that, without a good emotional education such as that which one of the great religions or the Work can give us, we fall back on our own False Personality at the slightest provocation, and live under far more laws than is necessary.

Disidentifying with False Personality I's gives us a real taste of freedom. We have more room within ourselves, and we give other people more room. These conditions can lead to an increase in consciousness.

If we have worked on ourselves, either by a traditional religious discipline or through the Work itself, we may eventually reach the level of Essence, the level of the planets. Then, our Essence directs our entire life. This is freedom indeed! We live by the values of Essence, which among other things include love of truth, justice, harmony, compassion, beauty, and peace. At this level, we are not imprisoned by the habits of Personality and we have left False Personality far behind.

After many years, perhaps many lifetimes, of work, we may one day reach the level of the Sun, with only 12 laws governing us. This is the level of the man or woman with good will. It is the level of Conscious Humanity.

Ouspensky puts it this way, "A growth of what belongs to a man means a growth of Essence. A growth of what does not really belong to a man means a growth of Personality". As that which does not belong to us gradually falls away, only the real, the Essence, is left. This is a huge increase in freedom.

Someone living at the level of Essence knows what she needs, and what other people need, in each situation, and is motivated by love, compassion, the search for harmony, and the desire for truth. She controls her manifestations so that these values are furthered, and not those of Personality or False Personality. If we are in the presence of such a person, we may know intuitively that they are living at a higher level, and we are aware of a different quality in their Being, a quality which - if we are able to receive it - helps our own transformation to take place.

This is the secret behind the Eastern practice of darshan, seeking out the presence of "saints", "mystics", "gurus", and evolved spiritual beings of all religious persuasions. We feel their difference from us, and we long to become more like them. These people may be quite unknown to others, may never have achieved fame or recognition beyond their own sphere, but we know when we are in the presence of someone higher than us, and we are grateful.

For any transformation to occur in us, for any change in Being which will allow us to come under fewer laws and live in greater freedom, we all need to let ourselves be transformed by higher energies, the energies of the Work.

What would it mean to live at the level of the Sun? Although it's difficult to imagine, for most of us are far below it, we know of the many verified accounts of conscious beings, or saints, that they can perform seeming miracles, may appear in two places at once, may appear to others after their own physical death. Such people are not bound by the 48, or even 24, laws which govern the rest of us. They seem to make nature obey them.

 Jesus manifested this power when he stilled the winds and waves of the Sea of Galilee. In recent times, saints such as Padre Pio have shown similar powers, appearing before other people at a great distance, performing miracles of healing and prophesying the future.

One day, if we work for it, we may reach the same state. It may take many lifetimes. But it is not impossible; it is within our reach some day, and it is the condition of which St. Paul speaks when he says that service to God is perfect freedom.