The practice of keeping your word is not about morality or ethics or character-building. It is a practice to be undertaken, if you wish, in the direction of self-observation and self-remembering. 

The theme we are working with is observation of the working of polarities in the emotional center -- like and dislike. The emotions are either attracted or repelled, depending on whether "I like" or "I dislike" the object at hand. As a result our lives follow a narrow and predictable track guided by automatic attractions and aversions to objects, experiences, ideas, influences, people, situations, etc. 

Gurdjieff introduced a simple rubrik, distinguishing 'inner' consideration from 'outer' consideration. With inner considering our perception of others is a projection of our own self-picture, based on how they make us feel, and how we evaluate them on the basis of our preconceived ideas. With outer considering we begin to see beyond the screen of our own self-projection and with this comes the possibility of seeing what others really need, and the possibility of being of service. 

There are many ways or paths for the development of the nascent potential of a human being. Each focuses on developing different aspects of our instrument.  The Fourth Way concentrates on developing consciousness -- the capacity to "know all at once", which is to say to be and stay present, in the multi-leveled domains of the body, emotions and mind. 

We work to transform the material that is the media of a finer world and serve as an instrument for the intelligence of that domain. 

As it enters existence, is born, and matures, the child enters into worlds of greater and greater conditioning.

Each world is a whole in itself and transforms energies for the preceding and succeeding worlds within a living universe. This connects to our psychological work in the sense that a human being is (potentially) a complete world, in the words of Gurdjieff, "a similitude of the whole". 

The principle idea is that humans are variable beings with the capacity to evolve, not in the conventional sense of mechanical adaptation, but in the sense of refining the work of the living alchemical instrument toward greater harmony, intelligence, and inner strength. Plants and animals have a fixed nature -- a tree is always a tree and a horse is always a horse. Human beings may live at the level of a worm or at a vibration greater than what we might call angels. 

Our theme for the week is a continuation of work with observation and transformation of negative emotions. The specific suggestion is to concentrate study on the impulse of criticism. Can I work to leave off criticising others and myself, either explicitly or implicitly? 

We are continuing work with the theme of observing and transforming unpleasant emotions. To be present with observation and see the arising of reactions requires steady and vigilant work. As the character of Hamlet declares, "the readiness is all!" 

In our meeting we spoke about transforming knowledge into understanding through practice. Understanding is a depth of knowing that comes from experience. This comes through work at testing and applying the ideas and models of inner work. Once knowledge has been transformed it becomes part of our being and informs how we are and the quality of what we do. We 'stand under' what we have come to understand.

Feeling a strong connection with myself and the group with our pause together at noon. Going through the seven steps of sensing the limbs and 'brains' a force of attention begins to coalesce and gains force within my being. I try to divide the attention between the action of inner work and at the same time to be aware of what's going on in my immediate environment. The effect is amplified when I find an equilibrium of attention between inner and outer.   

We had a strong meeting on Thursday and spoke about levels of consciousness. Ordinarily, when we move from sleep to waking the dreams continue though the contents change. During the day we dream about the past and future, our worries and concerns, what others think of us or our judgments of others. 

We have begun our study of energies as we may observe and develop them within our living alchemical instrument. The energy or vibrational aspect is present in everything in the observable, objective sphere, as well as within our own subjective nature. 

We are continuing our exploration of Gurdjieff's psychological idea of many I's. As a lens for self-observation we are invited to notice what partial impulse is claiming to represent the whole of ourselves.

Gurdjieff was clear in his description of the need to strive to bring the parts of our inner life -- the intelligences of body, emotions, and mind -- into balance. "To perceive with one center is delusion; to perceive with two is hallucination. Only when presence in the three centers is balanced do we perceive the real world."

In our last meeting we spoke about a model of a human as a three-centered being. We make use of this model to observe and study our inner life. An aim of our work is to come to know directly, to understand our own nature and design for ourselves. Do I see three centers each with a unique intelligence, perception, associations?

In our last meeting we explored the concept of essence and personality. In short, essence is our being, the design and nature with which we are born. Personality is what is acquired--all our skills, and learned behavior. 

In our Harmonious Development meeting last Thursday we spoke about attention as a capacity of Being. Attention is a powerful force that can lead to suggestibility and obsession, or serve as a catalyst of inner work and transformation. 

In our meeting we talked about the practice of self-observation. This is the first step in our process of inner work, and a practice that continues and deepens over time. With self-observation we study ourselves directly, both the general design of our human instrument, and the features and patterns of our particular nature and personality.