Theos-Talk Archives (February 2001 Message tt00129)

Dear Tony,
> What a strange idea? 

Not so strange really, and since it is from the "suck it and see" 
school, it is eminently testable.

>Where do such thoughts originate from, or where did
> Gurdjieff get them from?

Student to teacher having stood the test of time.


> To focus on one's gums and teeth when cleaning them, seems to very
> conveniently take thought away from focussing on the ONE LIFE, for 
example.

It is better to be more conscious than not. Consciousness can be 
painful therefore an intensifying of it cannot at all be said to 
be "convenient". It is an _exercise_. It requires_effort_.

One's whole day does not have to be taken up with exercises.

Once Gurdjieff gave an exercise to Ouspensky of keeping an eye on the 
second hand of his watch while keeping conscious of his "I". This 
proveed to be a difficult exercise. When Ouspensky achieved it, he 
went into the local villiage and found to his dismay that they all 
appeared to him to be asleep!

All occult exercises can have adverse reactions. To prevent this 
there are special exercises one can do. Such exercises are of the 
will, thinking etc.

> Women are particularly adept at doing several different things at 
the same
> time, especially when bringing up children.


That is not the point. You are never conscious of all the workings of 
your internal organs either. In order to learn the piano to begin 
with your have to be conscious of your fingers and where they go- 
this later becomes automatic.

"Containment is necessary to and part of incarnation. The spirit form 
may
spread out in space to the point of that "it may not differentiate 
between
another being and itself, particularly if there are respondent 
sympathies."

Why one does these things:
1. For the benefits of body of soul.
2. To strengthen the consciousnes so that one doesn't live one's life 
in a dreamm.


> And with breathing, there was a case where someone ended up by 
having to
> positively think about taking a breath in, and then think about 
breathing
> out. 

This a different matter. This is not to be practised with breathing.

"Without rest, reflection and containment we would be 
continually "going with
the flow" to the point where we would no longer differentiate our 
being."

Warm Regards,
Bruce