Gurdjieff Dominican Group

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JANUARY SEMINAR 2004 >>

 
THEME: IDENTIFICATION
Small group: Bethlehem
January Seminar 2004
 
Our small group worked on the theme of Identification.
 

Identification is slavery. In a state of identification we do not have the freedom to direct our attention. Identification is the key obstacle to self-remembering.  We have many possessions with which we are attached and these prevent us from remembering ourselves, for fear of loosing them.

 

 Man identifies himself with any small problem and completely forgets his great goals and objectives with which he started his work, as he devotes more time to things of small value which keep him separated from reality.

Identification is a permanent state.  We must see this state from the outside as something separate and away from us by trying to keep  the present moment (which as was said a few days ago repairs our past and prepares our future) in order to be more conscious of ourselves and  thus be able to fight against such manifestations as the identification.

 

 

Man can identify in any of his three brains.  He identifies with a thought and forgets everything else.  He identifies with an emotion, with a state and forgets his most inner feelings, with our body which we dress with known brands clothing, we fix it with make-up and try to keep a beautiful figure believing that we are pretty, handsome and beautiful.  

 

What makes it difficult to fight against identification is that it is consider as a good feature in men, an it is called:  enthusiasm, jealousy, passion, spontaneity, inspiration.  We also identify with our careers and occupations.  Saying, for instance, the success of this project lies in the fact that I have identified myself with it. 

 

To identify with people takes the form of considering.  Internal considering is when we feel that people do not give us enough, do not appreciate us, to keep accounts, to always feel disappointed.

 

Identification is responsible for negative emotions.  If one is in a good state, remembering oneself, nothing that happens outside can touch us.  On the contrary, I have known of wars which have happened only because of  a gossip between the rulers of two nations.

 

There is a story by Mr. Ouspensky in which he says that in order to remember ourselves we need a factor of remembrance.) We have to sacrifice something to which we attach a great value.  A woman told him that she had been trying desperately to do this and had not been able to achieve anything. He told her to look for something in her house that really interested her.  She felt shocked at first but then said “Well to tell you the truth I have an old china tea set very pretty which I inherited from my mother and to which I am greatly attached”.  He then said, “Break one of your Dresden cups and you will be able to remember yourself.”  A week later she arrived in a state of hysteria saying. “I have been agonizing over what you said about my cups.  I could not break one, even to save my soul.” 

Ouspensky answered:

-You see what the meaning of identification is?

 

 -Ouspensky defines identification as true disease.

 

 In our work we must try constantly not be identify in order to strengthen our aim to form the second body o Kesdjan body.

 

 
 
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Exercise for the Day:
 
When the bell rings, collect yourself.
Stop and try to see in which center are you identified.