In Yoke

"ONE MUST LEARN TO PRAY, JUST AS ONE MUST LEARN EVERYTHING ELSE. Whoever knows how to pray and is able to concentrate in the proper way, his prayer can give results. But it must be understood that there are different prayers and that their results are different. This is known even from ordinary divine service. But when we speak of prayer or of the results of prayer we always imply only one kind of prayer—petition, or we think that petition can be united with all other kinds of prayers.… Most prayers have nothing in common with petitions. I speak of ancient prayers; many of them are much older than Christianity. These prayers are, so to speak, recapitulations; by repeating them aloud or to himself a man endeavors to experience what is in them, their whole content, with his mind and his feeling." ~G.I. Gurdjieff So, I must learn to pray continually. Like the disciples at Jesus feet--"teach us to pray, like John taught his disciples." What Gurdjieff means, I think, is...

Each of us sees the Unseen in proportion to the clarity of our heart, and that depends upon how much we have polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more - more Unseen forms become manifest. -Jalaluddin Rumi As your meditation deepens, there will still be occasions when you get upset, but you will be able to watch what goes on in the lab of your mind. It's like getting into a glass-bottomed boat, where you venture out onto the ocean and watch all the deep-sea creatures lurking beneath the surface: resentment sharks, stingrays of greed, scurrying schools of fear. You slowly gain a certain amount of detachment from your mind, so you can observe what is going on, collect data, and then set things right. Some of the chronic problems that millions of people suffer from today might be solved by gaining a little detachment from their minds and emotions, so they can stand back a little when the mind is agitated and see the ways in which it makes mountains out of mole...

Maurice Nicoll (1884-1953) was a 20th Century teacher and sage and the leading interpreter of the 4th Way--or "The Work" fo self observation, and transformation.  He is best known for his  Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky , a multi-volume collection of talks he gave to his study groups. Much of his teaching focuses on many positive and creative aspects of self observation and personal transformation. He was a teacher of the Enneagram, and of the extensive "Work" of becoming all we can become in Christ. His comment regarding the Kingdom of God/Heaven has special meaning for me. Christ in the Gospels said: "The Kingdom of God comes not with observation: neither shall they say: "Lo! Here it is!", or "Lo, there it is!", for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you." The Gospel is not something from outside, like a civic club, that if you would only join you would be liberated. When it is said that the ...

Most people live, whether physically, intellectually or morally, in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul's resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using and moving only his little finger.-William James Eswaran proposes: "We think we are very limited creatures, very small, good for maybe only fifteen minutes of love or patience before we   have to crack. Instead of identifying with our deepest Self, we are identifying with some biochemical-mental organism. But when you calm the mind in meditation every morning, you will see how far you can stretch your patience and your love   during the day. You will see for yourself how comfortable you feel with everybody, how secure you feel wherever you   go. You will find that you have a quiet sense of being equal to difficult situations.   These discoveries give a hin...

For the past weeks, I have been pondering the meaning of courage . Let me explain the process of my thinking. As an introduction to the topic I found a most meaningful quote in a script from a well known movie regarding this elusive but needed quality. “ Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got? Courage! ” (Thanks to the Cowardly Lion...) ....so, what is it? ----1 st the dictionary definition--- cour·age –n: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear ; bravery.; to have the courage of one's convictions, to act in acco...

"Thoughts of themselves have no substance; let them arise and pass away unheeded.Thoughts will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing." -Ashvaghosha Eswaran uses an analogy of actors on a stage to explain how our thoughts can be managed using the direction of our attention: "Life is a kind of play in which we are called upon to play our part with skill. But in meditation we are sometimes more like the audience, while our thoughts are the actors. If we could go backstage, we could see all the actor-thoughts getting made up. Anger is there putting on his long fangs. Fear is rattling his chains. Jealousy is admiring herself in the mirror and smearing on green mascara. Now, these thought-actors are like actors and actresses everywhere: they thrive on a responsive audience. When Jealousy comes out on stage and we sit forward on our seats, she really puts on a show. But...

One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few. -Anne Morrow Lindbergh If you are determined to stick to what is really important in life, then from day to day you will see that the unimportant pastimes, the distractions that lead you away from your purpose, will gradually weaken their hold. On the list of priorities, first and foremost is your daily prayer time[quiet time, silence, practice of presence,meditation]. This focus has the capability to reveal your True Self, the Sacred Essence within, the Holy Spirit who dwells in your heart*. The Spirit will clear your eyes and bring the detachment and discrimination that one needs in order to make wise choices. So right at the top of your list should be the resolution to Practice the Presence of Christ, aka Christian Meditation, and not to let anything come in the way. Not even the greatest of worldly achievements will satisfy us completely. Nothing fin...