Zigzag Idiot

@tsuki I'm so glad you're reading Meditations on the Tarot. With your focus and intellect, whatever you share will most likely be a benefit for a particular few if not at times for all.

Altough I consider manirfetations of sexual fetishes an ordinary occurrence, possibly coinciding with elements of conditioning and development of the personality. The obcessiveness which drives these can be consciously worked with to remove the compulsiveness of them. I mean what's the great harm if two people want to takes turns peeing on one another. Ive never really been one who's much into that or ass play, though. When I was about 10-11 I developed anal polyps which had to be cut out and being at that awkward age I carried a lot of shame about it. Maybe that's why I'm so anal retentive. I see a lot of people who seem to really go for the ass play business but I don't have any judgements about it because I have my own fetish to deal with. Im against sexual fetishes which are violent or involves children, violence, small animals or others who participation is somehow forced. I think that sexual fetishes are sometimes just riddles to be worked through regarding psychological integration. In the post above I quote, you may have been just making a joke. So I'm not accusing you or suggesting that you have anal fetishes at all. Butt, if you did, no judgements. We should all be allowed our privacy and personal space which is crucial for psychological integration. Im just being a certain kind of Idiot.

If I have no aim, I become an unguided projectile. If I'm propelled by the emotions found in unnecessary suffering, I become an unguided Golum.

In Gurdjieff's writings he stressed the importance of Intentional suffering. John Bennett, a student and friend of Gurdjieff gave some commentary on this subject. In Talks on Beelzebub's Tales, Bennett distinguishes four types of suffering - Unnecessary Suffering, Unavoidable Suffering, Voluntary Suffering and Intentional Suffering. The first is Unnecessary Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that we incur because of our unreasonable attitudes and expectations towards others, from our ill-will, hatred and rejection of others, from doubt, possessiveness, arrogance and self pity. In other words, suffering arising from our self-importance. The second is Unavoidable Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that comes to us by accident or from events beyond our control, such as interpersonal conflicts, war, disaster, disease or death. Third, we have Voluntary Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that we take upon ourselves in order to accomplish a personal aim, such as an athlete who disciplines himself to win a race, or a student who labours to get good grades. And finally we have Intentional Suffering. According to Bennett, this would be the kind of suffering that we take upon ourselves in order to accomplish an impersonal or altruistic goal, one that is directed more towards service to others or to the Work, and not for any personal gain. Bennett assumes that this is what Gurdjieff meant by Intentional Suffering. The quotes here were taken from this web page which expounds more around this. https://www.endlesssearch.co.uk/philo_is_talk_ae2005.htm

@Zweistein I agree. It's an extremely relevant topic. I liked the video and appreciated the guys groundedness and sense of humor. ? Like a moth to a flame, most of us, before we do significant work on ourselves, are drawn to negativity of different forms. Observe the entertainment industry and news media. In his Psychological Commentaries, Maurice Nicoll makes some interesting assertions. A fully Conscious/Awake person is incapable of committing violence. All negativity and expressions of negative emotion, if followed, lead to violence. 'What makes the world go around' isn't sex, rather, it's the unconscious feeding on negativity. Such as egoic 'pecking at others', scapegoating and Schadenfreude. A person who has been purified of negative emotions and reactivity possess a curious power others don't have which makes them invulnerable in a sense.

I don't recommend it. It's a horrible thing to get through with any understanding. ? I read it in 2004 just trying to infer the meaning of all of Gurdjieff's specially invented words and didn't get a lot out of it. With all the different websites that give definitions and Concordance, it's now a different situation and much more do-able. Especially with all of it on You tube where one can read along while it's being narrated. He begins the book with an over the top bombastic, grandiose style which will turn many off. He also mixes in pure bullshit with profound truths. He also writes contradictory statements throughout. Whatever one's worldview is, there will be something included in the book to offer offense. Gurdjieff admitted writing it to where it would be a difficult read which he refers to as " burying the bone deep". I spent more than 10 years reading books by advanced students about the Fourth Way in general as well as books that gave interpretations of Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson. This last year with a small online group I read it again but with much more study as I went along. At the beginning of the book he writes his intention -- "To destroy, mercilessly, without any compromises whatsoever, in the mentation and feelings of the reader, the beliefs and views, by centuries rooted in him, about everything existing in the world." My takeaway is that Kundalini is actually mankinds worst problem by the fact that most people don't have what he calls Fulasnitamnian awareness or what modern students refer to as 3 Centered Awareness, to ground it. So I boiled down my takeaway to the following: Chi = Kundalini = Prana = Kundabuffer = imagination Chi = Kundalini + 3 Centered Awareness = Holy Prana Only Holy Prana will be beneficial for those who go through a Kundalini Awakening. or rather only a Kundalini Awakening utilizing Holy Prana is beneficial.

@Natasha Agree @ajasatya Me too Gurdjieffs -"Kundabuffer" = Unrecognized pollution from one's own imagination = Bullshit

Get out of your head Most who are reading this will be primarily in their head, if not actually stuck there and clueless to what I'm even saying. That sounds arrogant but it is what it is. If you're sitting, sense the physicality of knees to feet and also the whole chest area. If you're standing, sense the physicality of your feet, with all its nerve endings. Primarily the sensation of pressure and also sense the Hara at the same time, if standing. Observe you're own Schadenfreude in a brutally honest way. Then forgive yourself. Have a good day,,,

6-23-2019 29. The Abyss/Danger. Lines 2,3, and 4 31. Influence

I did and she makes a very good point. I've seen this not only in others but myself as well in the past. I guess my point is that with enough Inquiry and work on ones mechanicalness in emotional reactions, ultimately, we have a choice. While it will eventually result in pathology to repress feeling negative emotions, the expression of negative emotions is harmful to us essentially and serves no purpose in that it never accomplishes anything objectively. Besides being a relief valve for our egoic pressure, it only degrades the real in us, the essence of being. It's a tall order, no doubt but it's evidenced in the Saints and other near-Saints who don't take things in a negative way. Even things that are plainly horrible in the context of even extraordinary life situations. Associated with this is the idea of inner spaciousness. This is a main component and at the heart of the Fourth Way practice. Feel everything and don't repress the feelings. But keep reactivity and loss of finer energies in check by not giving verbal expressions to negative emotions. Anyway, I feel like I've expressed it as best as I can. Thank you for allowing me space to express. It's a great Journal and topic!

The situation you give above describes well the phenomena of scha·den·freu·de /ˈSHädənˌfroidə/ noun pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune. Schadenfreude is a complex emotion, where rather than feeling sympathy towards someone's misfortune, schadenfreude evokes joyful feelings that take pleasure from watching someone fail. This emotion is displayed more in children than adults; however, adults also experience schadenfreude, but they are just better at concealing their expressions.[1] from - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude This psychological phenomenon which only has a German word as it's label, I have only been aware of for a year or two. Seems like it's turning up more and more though,,, You probably have heard of it but others here may not have. It's both interesting and disturbing in what it suggests,,,

I agree with the spirit of everything expressed here, but the way you worded the last sentence I feel deserves some debate. Especially since we've communicated some and I have faith that you won't take this as me just being argumentative or trying start a pissing contest. What if our inner truth could be something that to the other person may be taken negatively, but also it was something which had validity to it and we could express it with a pure heart. In other words, we could express it without negative emotion? The basis for me bringing this up is my inner truth that - We have a right not to be negative. We have a right not to be negative which is a very different thing than - we have no right to be negative. Am I making any sense in attempting to clarify this point of view?

@Sartanion Some quotes from Maurice Nicoll They may or may not apply. That's for you to decide. I try to only 'work' on myself. THE LAW OF THE PENDULUM “Our moods are all hung on to pendulums. We should not trust them. Unfortunately, we identify with them. We take them as ourselves. We say: ‘I feel,’ ‘I think,’ and so on. We forget that ‘Real I’ is in the centre of the pendulum-swing, and we allow ourselves to swing between ex- citement and dejection, between enthusiasm and depression, between over-valuation and under-valuation, between conceit and humility, and so on, endlessly. In all this there is no centre of gravity.” V. 1, pp. 328-9 THE LAW OF THE PENDULUM II “Our whole lives, ordinarily, are governed by the Law of the Pendu- lum. We all swing to and fro. When you are in one opposite you are unconscious of the other, and vice versa. You may have idle dreams of rising and rising, of progressing and progressing, of getting better and better, but all these are indeed idle dreams...What do you think self-knowledge means? It means knowledge of all sides of yourself... If you can see both sides of yourself, what you call your good side and your bad, then you begin to be conscious in opposites at the same time.” V. 1, p. 325 THE FEELING OF NOTHINGNESS “When the Work says that a man must come to realize his own nothingness before he can be re-born, it does not mean that he must humble himself and so on, but that he must by long self-observation actually begin to realize that he is nothing and that there is no such person as himself. The object of this is to get into a position, psycho- logically speaking, between the opposites...Why is it so important to get somewhere into the centre of the pendulum and not swing to and fro? Because here, between the opposites, lie all the possibilities of growth. Here influences from higher levels can reach us. Here, in this place where one can feel one’s own nothingness (and where one is therefore free from contradictions), influences and meanings com- ing from higher centres, which have no contradictions, can be felt. Not regarding yourself as good or bad, not priding yourself on being just or otherwise, not thinking you are well-treated or badly-treated, not being caught by either movement through identifying, you come into this mid-position. This is not easy! With personality active, it is impossible.” V. 1, p. 329

"Where is God just now?" "God is just now in Sari Kamish." "What is God doing there?" "God is making double ladders and on top of them, he is fixing happiness." "And why is God doing that?" "So that people, as well as nations, could go up and down."

Trump Approves Strikes on Iran, but Then Abruptly Pulls Back To get started, the above headline has the smell of Mercury in retrograde.

As a lazy student of Astrology, I've been observing Mercury retrogrades off and on for years. Associated with them is mechanical breakdowns in travel and problems in communications. We could observe if it seems a higher rate of these problems occur in the next few weeks. Let's see what happens in the next few weeks. Maybe nothing but then again who knows? How to Use the 2019 Mercury Retrograde Calendar This calendar indicates the main phases of Mercury Retrograde using a color code. The Mercury Retrograde Pre-Shadow The Mercury Retrograde Pre-Shadow phase is indicated in blue and corresponds to the time during which Mercury traces the path in the sky that it will later return to as it moves backward, during the Mercury Retrograde Phase. Often it is during this time that the conditions are set up for the Retrograde phase that follows. As Mercury slows down, just prior its retrograde motion, the contributing factors and the experiences of the cycle are strengthened, and this is indicated in the calendar by a violet color. The Mercury Retrograde Phase The Mercury Retrograde Phase is in light red. The actual Mercury Retrograde Station, as Mercury appears to have stopped and is about to go backward is shown in red. Near the beginning and the end of the retrograde phase, Mercury seems to slow down in the sky, and its effect tends to stronger. This is shown with a darker color. The retrograde phase is famous for revealing the consequences of inattention to detail, wrong assumptions as well as errors in communication and transportation. Many of these are often set up in the pre-shadow phase. The actual moment when Mercury appears to be stationary and is about to move forwards is the Mercury Direct Station. This is shown in dark brown. As Mercury is still moving slowly before it speeds up the effect tends to be stronger, indicated with a darker shade of brown. The Mercury Retrograde Post-Shadow The Mercury Retrograde Post-Shadow phase is indicated in brown. Mercury is now moving forward, and this phase refers to the time during which Mercury is retracing the path in the sky where it had formerly moved backward during the retrograde period. Often, the Mercury Retrograde Post-Shadow can reveal the errors in communication and travel that may have occurred during the pre-shadow and retrograde phases. Mercury Retrograde at the Personal Level One way of looking at Mercury Retrograde is that it reveals the shadow or disowned component in our awareness, communication, and interaction with others and with the world around us. Mercury rules the signs Gemini and Virgo. With Gemini, Mercury expresses the way that we reach out into our neighborhood, interact and discriminate. The shadow of Gemini is Sagittarius. When Mercury is retrograde, it often expresses the negative or disowned nature of Sagittarius. When this happens, the tendency is to generalize, anticipate, gloss over, judge or assume, without reality checking. The other expression of Mercury Retrograde is through the shadow of the sign Virgo. With Virgo, Mercury expresses the way that we integrate what we experience and how we make sense of the world around us through our mind. The shadow of Virgo is Pisces. When Mercury is retrograde, often the negative or disowned nature of Pisces is expressed. We may think that someone else will do it, or we may imagine that things will turn out for ‘the best’ or we may imagine or hope instead of doing something for ourselves. Often the disowned nature of Pisces is revealed in our disconnection to our core and in seeking that connection outside of ourselves instead. Clearing Your Shadow You may want to look at each Mercury Retrograde cycle as a small wake up call and an opportunity to notice when you are caught up in the patterns of your shadow. It is then that we tend to be less conscious, and not as aware as we could be. Moreover, when we act from this place, we set ourselves up. The Mercury Retrograde cycle is a good time for introspection and to become more aware of your own patterns. If you wish to take advantage of this time, you may find this book is very helpful in revealing the ways we become unconscious in our actions, and it gives clear practical steps to regain our integrity with our core. It comes highly recommended: Being Centered. ............................. This extra stuff above, I left in for the convenience of those who are interested Generally for this topic it be about the observation and discussion of mechanical breakdowns in travel and problems in communications, which will center around a lower or higher rate of occurrences.

Has to be in the top 10 for all time most mellow albums.

That's wisdom in and of itself!

We have commonalities. I have zero hours of university education. An interest in psychology. I enjoy listening to Sheldrake. Welcome to the forum!

Gurdjieff's description of humans as 3 brained beings was validated more with Dr. Paul Maclains triune brain theory from back in the 50's or 1960's with work in tandem with intellect, emotion and instinct.

@Rilles Great topic! I get burned out in reading Inquiry or inner work material. Books like Michael Murphy's novel Golf in the Kingdom, mix a fictional narrative to spiritual truths and helps me to get recharged. Or maybe I'll read just a pure fictional novel or biography by a favored Author.

This is a strange book. A 700 page monster labyrinth that I found impossible to read front to back but provided some interesting picking around in and spot reading. (Disclaimer)- My memory of the takeaway from years ago could be way off from what it actually says,,,,, By some, it would be a very heretical notion to say the least. Here it goes: The result of the historical Jesus produced the actual antichrist! Not in absolute terms but in the upside down manifestation of today's fundamentalist believers in Christ. "Dualistic Christians" of today's Christianity who in their imaginations (belief) cling to a dualistic fairytale version instead of a Teaching pointing to the transformation which results in the capacity for Christ Consciousness. Which he also associates with the second coming. How heretical is that notion?!? Especially on the surface of the statement.

He's referring to Inquiry. Specifically Fourth Way Inquiry called by some, esoteric Christianity.

Development and Actualization of a State is what is Needed to go Beyond It The process of development is the same thing as the process of unveiling or shedding at the same time. The development and the actualization of a state is what is needed to go beyond it. They are not two separate things. You cannot go beyond self until you actualize self. For instance, when finally you know your true self, you are it, you realize in the same instant that you’ve gone beyond it. You do not need it any more because you’ve got it. That is the hierarchy of needs—when you do not have it, you need it. You must look for it, but the moment you get it, get it completely, you do not need it any longer. It is not exactly that you do not need it any longer; you realize that it is not important. You realize that it is an idea in your mind anyway. But you do not know that it is just an idea in your mind until you get it. The process of the satisfaction of the needs, the totality of the hierarchy, is the same process as the process of unveiling or shedding. So it looks paradoxical but it is really not a paradox; it is the same thing. When I say you need to let go of your desires, how do you do that? You do not let go by saying you are going to let go; you let go by actualizing them, by understanding them completely. In my opinion, there is no other way than by completely experiencing them. Complete understanding and actualization opens the door for transcendence, for Being to take consciousness further. You cannot let go of self until you completely have self. You cannot let go of your own will until you completely have your will. You cannot let go of love until you have love. That is the natural process of penetrating, of unveiling. If we remember that this is a process, that the actualization is at the same time a loss, a going beyond, that will help us to not get so frustrated and suffer so much. Diamond Heart Book Four, pg. 154