The Work is Service

The Work is Service. It's the only way to consider it. I think also that there is a lot in that approach. There is a lot that is revealed through Service. I'm speculating but my sense is that these people that find themselves chewed up/spat out in cults never had that perspective. I wouldn't like to say they are motivated purely by vanity or self-will, but I do sense this lack of Service at the root of their ailing and a possible cause for them being attracted to a cult circuit in the first place. Although, one has to reserve caveats for the exceptions. I suppose the cult experience is one way in which individuals are broken down and prepared for the real Work, but again how many of those types are fit for the Work I don't know.

Considering this idea a little further it is not difficult to understand that the Service we are discussing is directly the means by which we are preserved through Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are in voluntary Service to God through faith and - what has historically been referred to as - penitence: a word I find loaded with negative association. Yet, this inner remorse (that is the meaning of penitence) for one's own wrong doings, which previously I have written about on this blog as remorse of conscience, is clearly a defining characteristic of a regenerate soul. We are all prisoners of the flesh and the world, our will in bondage and slave to a depraved heart. Unless grace saves, we are lost; it's either the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Satan. This penitent aspect of our regenerate nature unveils, if only retrospectively (and somewhat painfully), the idiocy (sickness) of the ways of the Old man. So the Old man is subdued and we seek restoration with Christ through 'holiness of heart' - a property of Service that secures a true lively faith and covenant obedience (another word that disturbs self-will and worldly pride).

Of the names of God, and there are many, perhaps the hardest to come-to and the most revealing is: Father, which is in Heaven. The direct simplicity of the name Father heralds the whole Christian mystery. When Christ said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. (Mar 14:36) he showed all that would how righteous service is done. It is the revealed Will of Our Father that we should know Him, so that we may become partakers in His nature. His is a Will that loves, and by the sacrifice of itself makes others partakers of the grace of adoption, heirs of everlasting salvation.

And through this internal call to Service one cannot mistake the operation of the Holy Spirit: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts,(2Co 4:6) and heaven opens to us here now.

The Crown Jewels (That's You!)

Without the AV 1611 the Work is but a waltz through hollow dreams with a Cheshire grin waiting to be erased. So take the Holy Bible and read it thrice, get ye oriented, Genesis through to Revelation. And, do the practises of the 1st & 2nd conscious shock. Roll up your sleeves and prepare for work.

With that grounding, you will learn to keep yourself in a Serviceable condition, which is after all, what you are here to do.

Acknowledging that Gurdjieff taught how we might make the teachings authentic in our own being through the strivings of our conscience, I'll hand it over to the Victorian Reformed preacher, Charles Spurgeon (from his Twelve Sermons on the 2nd Coming of Christ) who summed up the Work perfectly:

"You are something more than dumb, driven cattle, that must think of hay and water. You have immortal spirits. Rise to the dignity of your immortality. Begin to think of the kingdom, the kingdom so soon to come, the kingdom which your Father has given you, and which, therefore, you must certainly inherit, the kingdom which Christ has prepared for you, and for which he is making you kings and priests unto God, that you may reign with him for ever and ever. Oh, be not earth bound! Do not cast your anchor here in these troubled waters. Build not your nest on any of these trees; they are all marked for the axe, and are coming down; and your nest will come down, too, if you build it here. Set your affections on things above, up yonder, -

"Up where eternal ages roll,
Where solid pleasures never die,
And fruits eternal feast the soul;"

there project your thoughts and your anxieties, and have a care about the world to come. Be not anxious about the things that pertain to this life. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Just what the blazes is the ‘work’?

Anti-hero Nemo has delivered a response and true to his name he continues to roam the deep dark depths avoiding contact with anything touched by the light. Perhaps, like his fictional counterpart, he too thirsts for vengeance? Who's to say what personal experiences have driven him to these shores? For sure Nemo expresses some certain partiality towards an earthly, sensual - even devilish - wisdom. His confusion is the big give away. That clamshell heart steering a willful, dogmatic adherence to this absurd role as a Debriefing Agent for misguided souls unfortunate enough to have gotten snared in the Gurdjieffian mind fuck. Personal aggrandisement? No such thing. It's straight from the heart, Nemo wants to save you from the false formulations of the big black magician, but ... (oh! damn) his writings read like a string of non-sequiturs. He asks the basic question, what is the Work, but casts that aside in case the answer gets in the way of his edifying topic. And so we are informed that behind all the noise of the Work there is nothing but an undefined abstraction. Glad you checked it out mate.

The Work begins with an act of self-observation, seeing oneself as one is, seeing what you are like as a person. No one can do this for you. Definitely not Nemo nor Gurdjieff, definitely not anyone else. You will have a picture of yourself, the kind of person you imagine you are. You may be aware of that picture but most likely not. So observe yourself, your thoughts, feelings, moods and how they motivate and influence your actions and the things you say and do. You cannot be parted from the illusion of what you are until you are able to see yourself as you are. Exposing this inner disorder is uncomfortable, sometimes difficult and emotionally unpleasant. It has to be by necessity. When you can see the contradiction between the imaginary picture you have of yourself and the picture of yourself as you are, then you begin to lay down a new memory of yourself. You are not what you imagine and as you observe more of yourself amidst the clamour and noise of personality, truth emerges. At this stage you can receive help from above. The difficulty is that until this stage is complete a person still believes they are 'awake' - what the practise of the Work verifies is that you are buried beneath accumulated layers of self-satisfaction and vanity. And that, at least in part, is what we call 'sleep'. As for self-observation, it never really ends, it only grows as the Work deepens.

Nemo's drawn his line in the sand, his position obviously something of a non-aim. He likes what he knows and he knows what he likes: the Work never was for that type so it shouldn't surprise us to find him coughing and spluttering in the cold wind that blows through time. There is no malice, for the course of true love never did run smooth, and Nemo protests a little too much.

2Th 3:5
And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

The Fourth Way

I have been reading some anti Work declamations, of various degrees, recently. All in all, the uniting theme appears to be a willful lack of understanding. What is interesting is that for the greater part what they find so repugnant in the Work appears mostly to be the cult element of group culture. To that end a lot of the criticism is targeted at the Fellowship of Friends, G Foundation and other G groups generally or else at personalities such as Burton, Ouspensky and Gurdjieff. School is spoken of almost interchangeably (see the essay: Thinking Of Leaving School) with group - so it needs to be said now: you cannot afford to conflate these. And what is it that is most detestable to one truly engaged in the Work? Exactly that: false teachers and the pursuit of the cult of personality. Interesting. Of course, these critical writings don't miss an opportunity to pull down some Work teachings too. Nor is it difficult. Gurdjieff had a penchant for ridiculous sounding terminology and few of the teachings can mean anything without having verified their meaning. What is especially interesting is that in almost every instance they dodge the key teachings around the foundational practise of the first conscious shock. Only in one instance have I read a criticism of self-remembering, which summarises O's description (ISOTM, Chapter 7) as being what modern clinicians describe as a type of disassociative fugue/amnesia. Clearly, most certainly, the author of that critique really hasn't understood what he read because he hasn't bothered to verify the teaching for himself but has elected to rely on the authority of (his own self choosen) modern spooks to substantiate his dismissive. Although, in anycase, the Work is hardly meant as a teaching of universal appeal. Only a small number of people are ever going to be drawn towards the Work. For some it will be meaningful and lead to something more than desultory efforts, for others looking for somewhere to camp it will be a doorway to a group and for others it will be little more than a passing interest. When Charles Manson called his gang of miscreants The Family he revealed to the whole world what it is that lost souls seek.

Of those that do engage, to whatever extent, in the teaching of the 4th Way only a few will internalise those teachings, not as a healing panacea but rather, as a tool to facilitate escape from the bindings of the mechanical. The Work is difficult, often painful, generally uncomfortable and really from a worldly perspective quite unrewarding. Yet, as with other things it can always be abused to gain more 'power and sluts' - which is my general expression for all crass, gross or infinitely subtle allurements that we encounter. Naturally such pitfalls have always existed, being quite necessary tests. Sincere, conscience-oriented Work is a direct line to the source of one's being. And this gets at another point that these critiques appear to miss: the Work does not exist within a vacuum but is especially connected to the New Testament and runs deeply into Christian theology. Yes, it shares ideas with other religious and spiritual disciplines too - as it would, they being part of General Revelation too - which I note some of the critiques attempt to use as evidence that G created some mish-mash stew to befuddle his followers. The point here is that the Work has a long history and is not merely the gobbledegook of a 20th century self-styled guru. Though I can certainly agree that G did his utmost to mask himself with all manner of obscene antics. But why are we talking about him?

The truth is that anyone in contact with the living tradition of the Work doesn't need to join or participate in a G group, doesn't need to go to Church or have anything to do with any other false types - and yet, may find such things of interest or necessary to experience. That hardly matters. Life is not without danger and spiritual warfare is a life of danger. So be it. We are here to experience the desolation of separation - we have it within us, yet also the ability to penetrate and know once again our essential self. Or, like drunken fools we may continue to play absurd roles and never know the truth of our condition. Yes, anyone can witness slum conditions but the reality of our condition is that we are designed as self developing organisms. We are nowhere near our rightful place as heirs of Royalty, nor shall anyone ever be so long as they cling to conditions of their fallen state. Level of being is entirely connected to these ideas. Spiritual truths are revealed by the Spirit, spiritual guidance is given by the Spirit. That's why blind fools write about things beyond their understanding.

1Co 2:13 - 14
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The Con
Another Black Magician