Zigzag Idiot

My being attracts my life. Maurice Nicoll said it and I continue to observe it. He also said: The essence of the idea of Karma-Yoga is to meet with unpleasant things equally with pleasant things. That is, in practicing Karma-Yoga, one does not seek always to avoid unpleasant things, as people ordinarily do. Life is to be met with non-identifying. When this is possible, life becomes one's teacher; in no other sense can life become a teacher, for life taken as itself is meaningless, but taken as an exercise it becomes a teacher. It is not life that is a teacher, but one's relation through non-identifying makes it become a teacher. Nothing can change being so much as this practice - namely, to take the unpleasant things in life as an exercise. (Maurice Nicoll, Commentaries, Vol. 1) This is worth watching just for the guy answering his phone @ 1:42 while working on a Statue.

I agree very much. Passion is being identified with something so much we forget ourselves. Anger, lust, blind ambition,,,,,

From a Gurdjieffian perspective. For whatever it's worth,,,, In Talks on Beelzebub's Tales, J. G. Bennett distinguishes four types of suffering - Unnecessary Suffering, Unavoidable Suffering, Voluntary Suffering and Intentional Suffering: The first is Unnecessary Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that we incur because of our unreasonable attitudes and expectations towards others, from our ill-will, hatred and rejection of others, from doubt, possessiveness, arrogance and self pity. In other words, suffering arising from our self-importance. The second is Unavoidable Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that comes to us by accident or from events beyond our control, such as interpersonal conflicts, war, disaster, disease or death. Third, we have Voluntary Suffering. This would be the type of suffering that we take upon ourselves in order to accomplish a personal aim, such as an athlete who disciplines himself to win a race, or a student who labours to get good grades. And finally we have Intentional Suffering. According to Bennett, this would be the kind of suffering that we take upon ourselves in order to accomplish an impersonal or altruistic goal, one that is directed more towards service to others or to the Work, and not for any personal gain. Bennett assumes that this is what Gurdjieff meant by Intentional Suffering.

In the spirit of Gurdjieff's Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson and "feeding hot peppers" I like the symbolism @ 2:30 with the Flag over the Bible and the Bombers dropping ordinance.

I approach actualization as a 3 centered being. The 'Hara' is a part of my Instinctual Center. The feeling center is concentrated in the heart area and the front side of the physical body. The Intellectual center is in the head brain of my Automaton. When my 3 centers are out of balance, I'm spiritually asleep, disconnected from Being. A common condition is when I just have 1 or 2 centers online. Usually for me it has meant being stuck in my head. Neurotic,,, non-stop internal dialogue. No inner quiet. Disconnected from the groundedness in my Instinctive (Belly) Center. Making my Automaton do Centering Prayer twice a day is key for me to stay balanced. Cynthia Bourgeault gives the best instruction for Centering Prayer, IMO.

http://www.ichingoracle.com/ This is their Website. There is quite a difference between this and the original I CHING. Everyone needs to decide for themselves about the value of what Carol and Hanna have done in their reworking of the IChing. Hope this helps,,,, I got the book from Amazon a couple years ago. Doing a google search just now l noticed that there are free PDF downloads available.

I welcome comments and easy-to-answer questions. This is a simple overview of where the Idiots are stationed on ladder of Being and some connections with my inner world development. By the way, no one is being mean spirited here. I've seen where a lot of time, people who are solid in the green worldview will get offended over this stuff. This can be brutal on one's self importance, though. But this is what makes it effective work on self. One can only work on oneself. I can work WITH other people but I can only work ON myself. And so this is an articulation of part of my actualization process. I return to Ordinary Idiot frequently and as needed to rest in 'beginners mind'. We all the same here,,,, no one is better. 1 - The Ordinary idiot - Ordinary Idiot is always with me in my Belly Center (hara). 2 - The Super idiot 3 - The Arch idiot - I spent 10 years looking at the World as a Scientologist which helped me fulfill some requirements and resolve disparities connected with this Station. 4 - The Hopeless idiot - There are 2 kinds of Hopeless Idiot. Will eloborate later. 5 - The Compassionate idiot This is a sticking point for a lot of Green as well as those who have a 'spiritual ego'. I've paid my dues. I was a Compassionate Idiot for a long time. 6 - The Squirming idiot 7 -The Square idiot 8 -The Round idiot - When I spent time as Round Idiot, I saw and understood how my negativity was hooked into and propelled my reactive self. 9 -The Zigzag idiot - Experiences of self reflective and narrative consciousness dominate up to here. This is where the path of Knowledge ends and the path of Being begins. 10 - The Enlightened idiot - Experiences Witness Consciousness 11 - The Doubting idiot 12 - The Swaggering idiot. People are often bothered at first that Swaggering Idiot is so high on the ladder of Being. I was. But that's the way it is. Swaggering Idiot sees the interconnectedness of things,,,,, Many call it good here and go no further. 13 - The Born idiot 14 -The Patented idiot - aka Authentic Idiot 15 -The Genial idiot 16 -The Polyhedral idiot 17 - The Master idiot 18 - The Perfect idiot - aka The Realized Idiot This is as far as human beings can go. 19 - The Holy idiot 20 - The Cosmic idiot 21 - The Unique idiot God is Unique Idiot

Hi Paul, I appreciate your sincerity and goodwill. My name is David. I grew up on a farm too. Actually a cattle ranch.

I really appreciate Leo Gura and his initiative. I've been a part time student of Spiral Dynamics for years in part by following Ken Wilbur off and on. My Self actualization is ongoing and includes 20 minute Centering Prayer meditation twice a day for the past two years. To get clued in to my own egotism on a daily basis, for the past 3 1/2 years I've consulted the I CHING every morning. Ive made peace with my evangelical Christian roots in embracing the mystical Contemplative side of Christianity as well studying A Course In Miracles. Not really knowing anything about A Course In Miracles for years I stayed prejudiced against it because I wrote it off as just flaky new age stuff. ACIM is about Helen Schucman, a non-practicing Jewish secular psychologist who suddenly began channeling Jesus in the late 1960's. She did this with great reservation but was encouraged by an associate, Bill Thetford. This is a Jesus I can relate to. A friend and brother who uses the term 'ego' extensively in pointing out the twist in us which results in the separation from 'having our being'. In my own pondering on this, who could better channel through someone other than Jesus,,,,? I don't want to proselytize though. Its one thing I like about Gurdjieff as well. He uses the term ego and refers to it as a part of our seeing reality upside down because it divorces one from the reality of Being. The version of the ICHING I use is Carol Anthony and Hanna Moog's ORACLE OF THE COSMIC WAY. It is a revised version removing all the old patriarchality. They too use the term ego extensively in this work.