Self-remembering experiences

[goodguy]

Lately Ive been reading Gurdjiefs books and applying his teachings. He calls the most important principle (along with others) self remembering, where you try to be conscious of yourself. At start its pretty hard but it gets easier with time. One day I went so deep in self remembering that it changed my consciousness a little bit, its easier for me to self remember now and I can go deeper. A couple of times I went so deep and it felt epic  You feel a sense of peace and  joy andfreedom , it feels really good, and thats probably not even 1 percent of the potential.Trust me, even the one percent glimpses of  true self remembering are profound, compare it to moments when youre really happy/excited. Eventually this can lead to enlightenment and freedom. Id like to hear your experiences with this. ( Leo talked about this topic in his video: "Understanding awareness" where he referred to the book of Ouspensky. Ouspensky was a student of Gurdjieff)

Edited February 7, 2016 by goodguy

[Spider Jerusalem]

I've also been reading Gurdjiefs books after listening to Leo's talk on the topic. I've been experimenting a bit with self-remembering, the details of which which I posted on this forum (in the default Self-Actualization section) yesterday. I'm not sure how to include that post here, so just pasting the link.  To respond to your comment, I don't think I approached it from the perspective of a sense of peace or joy - it was more of an experiment on tracking how much I actually remembered during the day (which turns out, not much!). Still a work in progress.

 

[Ramu]

I remember looking out at passing scenery in a car as a young child.  I looked at an object that had grabbed my attention.  I knew I was looking at the object and then I became aware that I was aware that I was looking at it.  My eyes just about popped out of my head when I realized this.

[goodguy]

5 minutes ago, Ramu said:

I remember looking out at passing scenery in a car as a young child.  I looked at an object that had grabbed my attention.  I knew I was looking at the object and then I became aware that I was aware that I was looking at it.  My eyes just about popped out of my head when I realized this.

Hahaha, goes to show how much were asleep most of the time..

[goodguy]

14 minutes ago, Spider Jerusalem said:

I've also been reading Gurdjiefs books after listening to Leo's talk on the topic. I've been experimenting a bit with self-remembering, the details of which which I posted on this forum (in the default Self-Actualization section) yesterday. I'm not sure how to include that post here, so just pasting the link.  To respond to your comment, I don't think I approached it from the perspective of a sense of peace or joy - it was more of an experiment on tracking how much I actually remembered during the day (which turns out, not much!). Still a work in progress.

 

I havent tried that approach. I just try to be conscious of myself during the day. If you do this long enough you enter a profound state, you feel freedom and joy and everything becomes so vivid, the colors etc. But then you get distracted and fall asleep again.

[goodguy]

1 minute ago, goodguy said:

I havent tried that approach. I just try to be conscious of myself during the day. If you do this long enough you enter a profound state, you feel freedom and joy and everything becomes so vivid, the colors etc. But then you get distracted and fall asleep again.

 

[goodguy]

Also whats amazing I remember those moments of true self remembering vividly, they leave a memory, whereas most other moments like you mentioned yourself are hard to remember.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4 minutes ago, goodguy said:

Also whats amazing I remember those moments of true self remembering vividly, they leave a memory, whereas most other moments like you mentioned yourself are hard to remember.

Agreed. I'm seriously struggling with maintaining the vividness throughout the day with some sort of consistency. I don't know I've fallen asleep until I remember to wake up at which point I realize I was asleep. The good news here is that I no longer question that I was indeed asleep, since the "asleep" to "waking" transition is very clear now (it wasn't before)

It's also not clear if I'm awake or not when performing a complex task (such as programming) that requires my full attention. Apparently, even the complex tasks can be done while "asleep." which is bad news!

Perhaps, this is just about practice and more practice. It interesting that Ouspensky mentions in one of his lectures that man needs several "threads" running simultaneously. If one or two threads go to sleep, then there's a good chance that the third thread will wake up the other threads that have gone to sleep. So I guess at least one (waking) thread needs to be up at any time.

[goodguy]

2 minutes ago, Spider Jerusalem said:

Agreed. I'm seriously struggling with maintaining the vividness throughout the day with some sort of consistency. I don't know I've fallen asleep until I remember to wake up at which point I realize I was asleep. The good news here is that I no longer question that I was indeed asleep, since the "asleep" to "waking" transition is very clear now (it wasn't before)

It's also not clear if I'm awake or not when performing a complex task (such as programming) that requires my full attention. Apparently, even the complex tasks can be done while "asleep." which is bad news!

Perhaps, this is just about practice and more practice. It interesting that Ouspensky mentions in one of his lectures that man needs several "threads" running simultaneously. If one or two threads go to sleep, then there's a good chance that the third thread will wake up the other threads that have gone to sleep. So I guess at least one (waking) thread needs to be up at any time.

Yes, it takes a lot of work to stay awake. But I guess practice makes perfect.

[Galyna]

 

Hello.

Thank you so much for this topic, guys  . I was about to ask the same question.  Do not want to seem a smart butt, but at this point of my life, it is weird not to remember myself any more. I am self aware quite often, not sure in terms of percentage. However when I am under the effect of strong emotions, it is easy for me to "forget" myself. The more you practice it, the more you discover that this state of your mind comes and goes without your control. You can not actually force it. Yes, you can hold it on some level, but then you will "forget" yourself again, then will remember again. It comes and goes in spurts. 

Would be so nice, if Leo made a video about the methods that could trigger self-awareness. I guess a sticky notes could help, but what if you are not at home/work all the time, where would you put a sticky? 

Thank you.

 

[goodguy]

17 hours ago, Galyna said:

 

Hello.

Thank you so much for this topic, guys  . I was about to ask the same question.  Do not want to seem a smart butt, but at this point of my life, it is weird not to remember myself any more. I am self aware quite often, not sure in terms of percentage. However when I am under the effect of strong emotions, it is easy for me to "forget" myself. The more you practice it, the more you discover that this state of your mind comes and goes without your control. You can not actually force it. Yes, you can hold it on some level, but then you will "forget" yourself again, then will remember again. It comes and goes in spurts. 

Would be so nice, if Leo made a video about the methods that could trigger self-awareness. I guess a sticky notes could help, but what if you are not at home/work all the time, where would you put a sticky? 

Thank you.

 

So how long did you practice self awareness for it to become somewhat an automatic thing?

[Guest]

17 hours ago, Galyna said:

The more you practice it, the more you discover that this state of your mind comes and goes without your control.

It is a de-conditioning process.  We have years of personal conditioning and on top of that there is cultural conditioning and on top of that millennia of conditioning of the collective consciousness of humanity.  We are programmed robots in that sense, and this is what we are seeking liberation from.  Freedom is our basic nature, but we cannot realize this freedom, who we really are, because of all the layers of conditioning/programming.

Over the centuries wise people have discovered the road to "recovery" one might say.  And now we pursue this freedom, liberation.  We want the truth.  We seek enlightenment.  So we practise avowed methods of uncovering our true nature.  Some find the road easy to travel, others it seems, are impeded by great "personal" difficulties.   Mooji once stated the following significant point about personal problems:

Quote

There is no such thing as a personal problem.  The PERSON IS THE PROBLEM!

If we can understand that it is the "person" who we 'think' we are that is the source of all our difficulties then we are on the road to freedom.

The person - originated from 'persona' - the mask used in Greek theatre.  The  person can then be understood as a mask, or a personality, or a character that we are playing on the stage of life called "this world".   It can perhaps be called a dream world of experiencing.  If we believe that we are the character that we play then we are attached to that personality and feel that we are a person.  This person is consequently "trapped" in an imaginary world that he or she takes to be real, not knowing that it is only an apparent reality.

How shall we practise, to turn our attention from the person or 'self' that we think we are to the awareness that we actually are?

Any practice will have its difficulties if we do not prepare ourselves properly.  One has to be qualified in certain areas to be able to partake of practices in the first place.  What is such qualification?

Look at yourself seriously.  Are you prepared to let go of your favourite beliefs?  Are you ready to admit that you really know nothing about life? Do you have a strong desire for truth?  Are you ready to honour and respect others as manifestations of the same life principle that affords your personal existence?  There are other qualifications in the same strain which you naturally discover as you "grow" - these you must discover on your own, because even if someone told you, you would not really understand.   When you are ready, the next step becomes available.  "When the student is ready the teacher appears." - and vice versa - "When the teacher is ready the students will appear".

joy

 

 

[Galyna]

 

 I am not an expert, it is just my personal vision.

To be honest, it was a gradual process for me. I was thirsty for the knowledge since I was little, I loved to read about UFO and poltergeist.

In 2009 I discovered Osho “Love Freedom Aloneness” and that book has changed me forever. I guess from that point I started to observe myself on a frequent basis. Again, the process was slow, but what helped me “not to forget” myself are my books that I used to read. I could read 3 books at time. But then it was a period when I was mentally exhausted, did not read anything at all. I practiced meditation very rarely though.  Then again, something within me wanted to come from the prison and I stared my search again. I would say constant reading and of course practicing. Reading without a practice is nothing really, it is a hobby.

 

Also I try to be very very very honest with myself. It is hard. 

Edited February 9, 2016 by Galyna