Tuesday, January 11

Get Keyed Up Said The Witch And Gurdjieff Agrees

Witch in fairy landA witch once said to me words along the lines of, "This advice that people give about how you should be yourself and just relax is absolute rubbish. It's the surest route to nowhere. Don't relax - do the absolute opposite, get yourself all keyed up. The keyed up, emotionally turned on individual is the best the world will see. Too many people are so relaxed they never accomplish anything they want to do. They spend their lives wandering around in the equivalent of hair curlers. Ugly!" She was a female witch!

And there's some truth in what she said as we can easily turn ourselves into bundles of habits, performing the usual routine without thinking or questioning.

George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff taught along similar lines: that we are asleep and have to wake up. Most of us, he claimed, fall into an habitual way of life, which means our day-to-day activities become so repetitious that our subconscious can almost go off duty.

George Ivanovitch GurdjieffGurdjieff went even further saying that most of us hardly have any meaningful existence as we are only a mass of impulses and emotions, which change from hour to hour. We wander about in an almost hypnotised state for most of the time with only flashes of what we could possibly become.

I also wonder about some forms of meditation and how this could turn people into almost zombies - if they don't, that is, wake themselves up properly and fully re-join this world once their session is finished.

Going back to Gurdjieff's thinking, we automatically grow and develop physically and inwardly for about 18 to 21 years. Then we stop and are on our own whereby we need to put effort into our continued development and awakeness.

We need constant stimulation, new experiences are necessary. Look how we can wake up and feel alive when we travel to new, exciting places for instance or maybe meet someone special.

It's so easy though to soon fall back into habit and routine, when time - as we know it - flies past so very quickly. Life once again becomes robotic.

What I suppose I'm saying is that perhaps we should check occasionally to make sure that we aren't simply a bundle of habits and routines acting on impulse without a second thought.

The choice is always ours. Habits can be broken or made. I remember reading how Paul McKenna suggested we should smile at least twenty times a day, even if we didn't feel like it or there is no one else about. The very act of doing so over a period can make us happier.

Life should be exciting, meaningful, a learning adventure. It's up to us to make it so, or whatever else we wish it to be. Alternatively we could simply sleep our way through our allotted years - zzzz zzzz zzzz ...

Further Reading:
Puritans Diary And The Devil Woman
How Rituals Combined With Action Can Cure Illness
The Magic Of Our Ancestors Can Bring Us Success

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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous09:55

    I have so often felt that people live in daily trances, and found myself waking up in brief flashes of awakeness from my own. Do I fall back asleep? Usually. But I fight always to wake up again.

    Your themes are truly close to my heart, Mike. Great post. Inspiring.



    --www.taicarmen.wordpress.com
    (Latest post on Parallax: The Art of Madness

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  2. I'm all for stimulation! I agree with what you write. I know that sometimes myself I'm like a robot doing things without thinking and other times I think I can conquer the world. The state of mind does seem to be important.

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  3. never met a witch but what she says is okay. the times ive been driving and dont realise where i am for a minute or two as ive been driving automatically

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  4. Good post! I think most of us have areas of our lives where we become robotic. This is a good reminder.

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  5. What a timely post. I too am looking at what I am doing with my life with my writing. Trying to figure out where I go from here. Do I shoot for the stars or step into these shoes I have found myself in with teaching others. I have been procrastinating and it is time to make a decision. Thank you for this.....

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  6. Anonymous17:42

    This is what I strive to achieve, being fully present with purpose in the moment.

    I've known many who feel they need to endure the routines and structures until the day they get to a place of balance or something elusive, where they just know they will be happy. The other trap of stagnation is being so involved with the mysteries of life, and life changing experiences, they forget the whole purpose is the living of life.

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  7. Thanks for the reminder Mike. I have always found comfort in routine...but it gets boring after a while. I like what Terripatrick commented too.

    Good post! Thanks.

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  8. oh, how true how true!!! here's to all that jazz, mike! that gotcha' movin' groovin' jumpin' mad passionate jazz of life!! cheers!

    very neat post!

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