A Decision to Work
Our theme this week is to set intentional work tasks for ourselves each day. We are following the formulation of the task given by Jane Heap in the attached chapter from a book of her notes.
The key thing is that, for our inner work to follow an ascending octave, it must be intentional. Following the intention we then strive to bring our intended work to completion.
There are innumerable descending octaves in life, processes relating to the needs and pleasures of the body and carrying out personal and professional responsibilities. To these we bring a general accompanying work of watchfulness and presence.
Inner work is different. It is an evolutionary act beginning with a creative impulse of intention and resulting in realized completion. The process of making and carrying out a decision to work is a microcosm of life, which we aim to fulfill and complete. These are decisions that arise from our wish and aim, that are not required by or are a reaction to any demand arising from life. They come from ourselves, from our wish to Be. These decisions are a choice we make for ourselves.
The task is to preview the schedule for the day, first thing in the morning, and plan a time for intensive effort. It could be a meeting with someone that irritates me, or a task that I find onerous and want to get out of the way. It could be a meal that I will eat quietly and consciously, or a car-ride in which I would otherwise zone out and listen to a podcast. To do this well requires a careful inventory of both our weaknesses and our capacity for work; and a clear view of our activities to see where our intentional effort to struggle with ourselves is most fruitfully applied.
By the way Jane Heap was a member of Gurdjieff's group called "the rope", a group of brilliant women writers who worked together during the 1930s in Paris. Many interesting books came out of this period including The Unknowable Gurdjieff and The Fiery Fountains by Margaret Anderson, The Undiscovered Country by Katherine Hulme, and transcripts of meetings assembled brilliantly in Gurdjieff and the Women of the Rope. Ms. Heap was the only member of that group that went on to teach others and from whom a lineage of work proceeded.