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Ouspensky on
Gurdjieff views on identification
Ouspensky - 'Identification' is so common a quality that for purposes
of observation it is difficult to separate it from everything else. Man is
always in a state of identification, only the object of identification
changes.
"A man identifies with a small problem which confronts him and he completely
forgets the great aims with which he began his work. He identifies with one
thought and forgets other thoughts; he is identified with one feeling, with
one mood, and forgets his own wider thoughts, emotions, and moods. In work
on themselves people are so much identified with separate aims that they
fail to see the wood for the trees. Two or three trees nearest to them
represent for them the whole wood.
"'Identifying' is one of our most terrible foes because it penetrates
everywhere and deceives a man at the moment when it seems to him that he is
struggling with it. It is especially difficult to free oneself from
identifying because a man naturally becomes more easily identified with the
things that interest him most, to which he gives his time, his work, and his
attention. In order to free himself from identifying a man must be
constantly on guard and be merciless with himself, that is, he must not be
afraid of seeing all the subtle and hidden forms which identifying takes.
"It is necessary to see and to study identifying to its very roots in
oneself. The difficulty of struggling with identifying is still further
increased by the fact that when people observe it in themselves they
consider it a very good trait and call it 'enthusiasm,' 'zeal,' 'passion,'
'spontaneity,' 'inspiration,' and names of that kind, and they consider that
only in a state of identifying can a man really produce good work, no matter
in what sphere. In reality of course this is illusion. Man cannot do
anything sensible when he is in a state of identifying. If people could see
what the state of identifying means they would alter their opinion.
A man becomes a thing, a piece of flesh; he loses even the
small semblance of a human being that he has. In the East where people smoke
hashish and other drugs it often happens that a man becomes so identified
with his pipe that he begins to consider he is a pipe himself. This is not a
joke but a fact. He actually becomes a pipe. This is identifying. And for
this, hashish or opium are entirely unnecessary. Look at people in shops, in
theaters, in restaurants; 'Identification' is so common a quality that for
purposes of observation it is difficult to separate it from everything else.
Man is always in a state of identification, only the object of
identification changes.
"A man identifies with a small problem which confronts him and he completely
forgets the great aims with which he began his work. He identifies with one
thought and forgets other thoughts; he is identified with one feeling, with
one mood, and forgets his own wider thoughts, emotions, and moods. In work
on themselves people are so much identified with separate aims that they
fail to see the wood for the trees. Two or three trees nearest to them
represent for them the whole wood.
"'Identifying' is one of our most terrible foes because it penetrates
everywhere and deceives a man at the moment when it seems to him that he is
struggling with it. It is especially difficult to free oneself from
identifying because a man naturally becomes more easily identified with the
things that interest him most, to which he gives his time, his work, and his
attention. In order to free himself from identifying a man must be
constantly on guard and be merciless with himself, that is, he must not be
afraid of seeing all the subtle and hidden forms which identifying takes.
"It is necessary to see and to study identifying to its very roots in
oneself. The difficulty of struggling with identifying is still further
increased by the fact that when people observe it in themselves they
consider it a very good trait and call it 'enthusiasm,' 'zeal,' 'passion,'
'spontaneity,' 'inspiration,' and names of that kind, and they consider that
only in a state of identifying can a man really produce good work, no matter
in what sphere. In reality of course this is illusion. Man cannot do
anything sensible when he is in a state of identifying. If people could see
what the state of identifying means they would alter their opinion.
A man becomes a thing, a piece of flesh; he loses even the
small semblance of a human being that he has. In the East where people smoke
hashish and other drugs it often happens that a man becomes so identified
with his pipe that he begins to consider he is a pipe himself. This is not a
joke but a fact. He actually becomes a pipe. This is identifying. And for
this, hashish or opium are entirely unnecessary. Look at people in shops, in
theaters, in restaurants; considering is wholly based upon 'requirements.'
A man inwardly 're-quires' that everyone should see what a
remarkable man he is and that they should constantly give expression to
their respect, esteem, and admiration for him, for his intellect, his
beauty, his cleverness, his wit, his presence of mind, his originality, and
all his other qualities. Requirements in their turn are based on a
completely fantastic notion about themselves such as very often occurs with
people of very modest appearance. Various writers, actors, musicians,
artists, and politicians, for instance, are almost without exception sick
people. And what are they suffering from? First of all from an
extraordinary' opinion of themselves, then from requirements, and then from
considering, that is, being ready and prepared beforehand to take offense at
lack of understanding and lack of appreciation.
"There is still another form of considering which can take a great deal of
energy from a man. This form starts with a man beginning to think that he is
not considering another person enough, that this other person is offended
with him for not considering him sufficiently. And he begins to think
himself that perhaps he does not think enough about this other, does not pay
him enough attention, does not give way to him enough. All this is simply
weakness. People are afraid of one another. But this can lead very far. I
have seen many such cases. In this way a man can finally lose his balance,
if at any time he had any, and begin to perform entirely senseless actions.
He gets angry with himself and feels that it is stupid, and he cannot stop,
whereas in such cases the whole point is precisely 'not to consider.'
"It is the same case, only perhaps worse, when a man
considers that in his opinion he 'ought' to do something when as a matter of
fact he ought not to do so at all. 'Ought' and 'ought not' is also a
difficult subject, that is, difficult to understand when a man really
'ought' and when he 'ought not.' This can be approached only from the point
of view of 'aim.' When a man has an aim he 'ought' to do only what leads
towards his aim and he 'ought not' to do anything that hinders him from
going towards his aim.
"As I have already said, people very often think that if they begin to
struggle with considering within themselves it will make them 'insincere'
and they are afraid of this because they think that in this event they will
be losing something, losing a part of themselves. In this case the same
thing takes place as in attempts to struggle against the outward expression
of unpleasant emotions. The sole difference is that in one case a man
struggles with the outward expression of emotions and in the other case with
an inner manifestation of perhaps the same emotions.
"This fear of losing sincerity is of course
self-deception, one of those formulas of lying upon which human weaknesses
are based. Man cannot help identifying and considering inwardly and he
cannot help expressing his unpleasant emotions, simply because he is weak.
Identifying, considering, the expressing of unpleasant emotions, are
manifestations of his weakness, his impotence, his inability to control
himself. But not wishing to acknowledge this weakness to himself, he calls
it 'sincerity' or 'honesty' and he tells himself that he does not want to
struggle against sincerity, whereas in fact he is unable to struggle against
his weaknesses.
"Sincerity and honesty are in reality something quite different. What a man
calls 'sincerity' in this case is in reality simply being unwilling to
restrain himself. And deep down inside him a man is aware of this. But he
lies to himself when he says that he does not want to lose sincerity.
"So far I have spoken of internal considering. It would be possible to bring
forward many more examples. But you must do this yourselves, that is, you
must seek these examples in your observations of yourselves and of others.
"The opposite of internal considering and what is in part a means of
fighting against it is external considering. External considering is based
upon an entirely different relationship towards people than internal
considering. It is adaptation towards people, to their understanding, to
their requirements. By considering externally a man does that which makes
life easy for other people and for himself. External considering requires a
knowledge of men, an understanding of their tastes, habits, and prejudices.
At the same time external considering requires a great power over oneself, a
great control over oneself.
Very often a man desires sincerely to express or somehow
or other show to another man what he really thinks of him or feels about
him. And if he is a weak man he will of course give way to this desire and
afterwards justify himself and say that he did not want to lie, did not want
to pretend, he wanted to be sincere. Then he convinces himself that it was
the other man's fault. He really wanted to consider him, even to give way to
him, not to quarrel, and so on. But the other man did not at all want to
consider him so that nothing could be done with him.
It very often happens that a man begins with a blessing
and ends with a curse. He begins by deciding not to consider and afterwards
blames other people for not considering him. This is an example of how
external considering passes into internal considering. But if a man really
remembers himself he understands that another man is a machine just as he is
himself. And then he will enter into his position, he will put himself in
his place, and he will be really able to understand and feel what another
man thinks and feels. If he can do this his work becomes easier for him. But
if he approaches a man with his own requirements nothing except new internal
considering can ever be obtained from it.
"Right external considering is very important in the work.
It often happens that people who understand very well the necessity of
external considering in life do not understand the necessity of external
consider ing in the work; they decide that just because they are in the work
they have the right not to consider. Whereas in reality, in the work, that
is, for a man's own successful work, ten times more external considering is
necessary than in life, because only external considering on his part shows
his valuation of the work and his understanding of the work; and success in
the work is always proportional to the valuation and understanding of it.
Remember that work cannot begin and cannot proceed on a
level lower than that of the obyvatel,1 that is, on a level lower than
ordinary life. This is a very important principle which, for some reason or
other, is very easily forgotten. But we will speak about this separately
afterwards."
Source - from
Ouspensky Book "In Search of Miraculous"
Note - Above article is taken from Ouspensky book where he is narrating
Gurdjieff views in his own words.
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