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November 2009
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MINDFULNESS AND THE GURDJIEFF TEACHING
Mindfulness is being mindful; in particular, being mindful of oneself, or being aware of oneself or 'being in the present'. In Gurdjieff terminology we would say putting (or having) attention on oneself.
We have, no doubt, heard these terms before and we all more or less think we know what they mean - but do we really?
It's like a fisherman, standing on a wind-swept rock, watching his bright red float. When the fish takes the bait the float will dip and he must strike at just the right moment. So he pays great attention to that float in spite of it bobbing around in the waves and in spite of the cold spray constantly wetting him. Or it might be like a mother doing chores in the kitchen and listening intently for her new baby to awaken in the nursery.
Mindfulness is paying attention like this to oneself, being aware of myself and perhaps also being aware of my passing life - moment by moment.
But mostly we spend large parts of our lives thinking or regretting our past; perhaps thinking lots of 'if onlys': if only my parents had done this or that, if only I had studied harder/been more adventurous/less adventurous, married him or her etc etc. Without our being fully aware of it, our mind plays back the recordings of my life, filtered and coloured by linked associations, pleasant or unpleasant memories, recriminations and regrets. We can leap decades in an instant segued by some personal pain or particular negativity.
And then, taking all that baggage on board, we hurdle the present and go straight to the future with all its imaginings and speculations, with all its supposedly just and deserved rewards finally being bestowed upon me.
And most of the time I am so immersed in this personal pantomime that I don't see it happening - I simply accept it as my life with its unpredictable ups and downs, its good and bad feelings, its 'top of the world's and its 'down in the dumps'. And thus I interact with others; bouncing off their own particular memories and imaginings and their own mood swings. This is what I call "my life".
But what is missing in all this is the one thing that is real; the one and only thing that I can be certain of: and that is the present, with this body inhabiting this place, this unique, never-to-be-repeated moment in time. This is the true miracle of life: me, in this body, experiencing this moment.
The body is the one part of me that I can be sure is not in the past and not in the future. It must, by definition, be in the present moment. Thus it is my great help, my great anchor to the reality of 'now'.
Mindfulness, too, doesn't have a past; and it doesn't have a future. It glories in the present.
And herein lies my great help; this is the first step in the teaching that Gurdjieff brought from his extensive travels and seekings throughout the Middle East and Asia. He taught that to be mindful, or as he would put it, to 'remember myself' one needs to bring these two parts of myself, the mind and the body, together. The mind watches over the body and observes its functionings and the body is rooted in this present moment, in this present life. Then instead of these two parts going their separate unconnected ways, they can combine and have a relationship, working together towards a common good.
And just perhaps….it may be possible……that these two can be joined by a third; it may transpire that a call is heard within me to complete a minor trinity and my emotional part, with all its energy and force, joins the others. And so briefly, harmony is restored. I am as I was created.
In this moment there is mindfulness, attention, awareness, presentness, aliveness; the sensations of the body, the miracle of the next breath, the unknown and unthanked regularity of the heartbeat; the richness of taste, smell, touch and hearing and all the cornucopia and richness of the impressions of life. My life then unfolds in an instant-by-instant, common-place, natural glory.
Gurdjieff sought to help us in the West work towards this harmony. The school that he set up in France in the 1920's was called by the title: "The Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man", and here he taught the steps on the path of an ancient teaching, that can be as true today as has been throughout the ages. An oral teaching, passed from teacher to pupil, like a flickering candle flame, but true and alive.
And this teaching continues today in different forms. Various parts of this ancient knowledge surface from time to time and currently one aspect that has become topical is based on this word 'mindfulness'. It is just one small part of a whole of that practical and focused teaching brought by Gurdjieff.
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News
Public discussion in Sydney
Mindfulness and the Gurdjieff Teaching
26 November 2009
8.00-9.30pm
Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre
16-18 Fitzroy Street
Kirribilli
For information: Email
Sydney: A new group is open for people who wish to participate in practical work.
For information: Email
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