Separate and Balance

"Listen, you have now found the conditions in which the desire of your heart can become the reality of your being. Stay here, until you acquire a force in you that nothing can destroy. Then you'll need to go back into life, and there you will measure yourself constantly with forces which will show you your place."

Oh Berkeley Rep, I miss you.

No,,it's not enough.

mantra

"if the elevator tries to break down,,,go crazy,,,,,Punch a higher floor!"

-Prince & the Revolution from "Let's Go Crazy"

In order to walk one must crawl, For work on all universally etc...

Without self knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave.

For exact understanding exact language is needed.

A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake.
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Upadana means clinging and who among us does not know clinging
intimately? A child clings to its mother when it feels afraid. Some couples
cling to each other because they are afraid of being alone. In psychological
jargon, this is called codependency. Clinging is craving intensified. When
the road that began with avijja ends at the ninth nidana, another round of

Addiction is another word for clinging and clinging is another word
for addiction. From addiction to food, pot or pornography, the child in us
clings to a self-soothing object. Strangely enough, we even cling to objects
or people that we despise. Many people are trapped in a perpetual state of
anger years after their lover betrayed them or their parents failed them.
How many people are caught in a visceral hatred for an opposing political
belief? This is total clinging. Craving puts the object within close reach but
clinging is the grasp, the absolute conviction that “this is mine. I am this.”
It is what Gurdjieff calls crystallization. Through the unconscious process
of identification, the ego mirrors and then becomes the object: “I am my
body” is clinging. “I am a victim” is clinging. “I hate her; I need him” are
both examples of clinging. The seer has become the seen.

Joseph Goldstein reminds us that the very foundation of our
mindfulness practice is to acknowledge this is suffering or dissatisfaction
and identify what it is that we cling to, moment by moment. Then, let it go.
That moment of letting it go is a moment of freedom.
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In light of this, with a helpful guide, not proclaimed teacher, slowly letting go of everything. Personally I cling to the "past" what was and is no longer. It's amazing how beautiful it is to "let go" of all of those things.

No Projection, preaching, identification, expectations all these things must be let go of...

This is the difficult way. "Work work work work work work work work work work, don't whine" as an old professor recently said.

A wise man once said, " To be truly free from fear, one must become self-less.  Through thinking of others and not oneself, you become free from fearfulness and help the ones around you prosper."

from "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda

"As the power of a radio-broadcasting station is regulated by the amount of electrical current it can utilize, so the effectiveness of  a human radio depends on the degree of will power possessed by each person.

All thoughts vibrate eternally in the cosmos.  By deep concentration a master is able to detect the thoughts of any man, living or dead.  Thoughts are universally and not individually rooted; a truth cannot be created, but only perceived.  Any erroneous thought of man is a result of an imperfection, large or small, in his discernment.  The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may hear the infallible counsel of the Inner Voice."

-page 178

Remembering

"'Here there is not one but a number of questions,' said G. 'In the first place sexual abstinence is necessary for transmutation [i.e., formation of the astral body] only in certain cases, that is, for certain types of people. For others it is not at all necessary. And with yet others it comes by itself when transmutation begins. I will explain this more clearly.

i) For certain types a long and complete sexual abstinence is necessary for transmutation In to begin; this means in other words that without a long and complete sexual abstinence transmutation will not begin. But once it has begun abstinence is no longer necessary.

ii) In other cases, that is, with other types, transmutation can begin in a normal sexual life -- and on the contrary, can begin sooner and proceed better with a very great outward expenditure of sex energy.

iii) In the third case the beginning of transmutation does not require abstinence, but, having begun, transmutation takes the whole of sexual energy and puts an end to normal sexual life or the outward expenditure of sex energy.'" [...]

"Then the other question—'Is sexual abstinence useful for the work or not?'

"It is useful if there is abstinence in all centers. If there is abstinence in one center and full liberty of imagination in the others, then there could be nothing worse. And still more, abstinence can be useful if a man knows what to do with the energy which he saves in this way. If he does not know what to do with it, nothing whatever can be gained by abstinence."

"Speaking in general, what is the most correct form of life in this connection from the point of view of the work?"

"It is impossible to say. I repeat that while a man does not know it is better for him not to attempt anything. Until he has new and exact knowledge it will be quite enough if his life is guided by the usual rules and principles. If a man begins to theorize and invent in this sphere, it will lead to nothing except psychopathy.


Gurdjieff