There is always the talk about violations against women by physical force,
much underrepresented are the third of more abstract violations against men,
but I would like to address a much more subtle aspect of aggression we all have to endure:
The violations insensitive people cause by simply not being aware of the more subtle realm of the psyche, nature, or spirituality. Active examples, which can explain social phobias, are:
- The constant noise all kinds of traffic and machines force us to endure,
- The bawling of hooligans, alcoholics, party goers or sometimes demonstrators,
- The blaming street-pressure to conform to social norms;
- and of course any criminal who steals, forcing locks and rules on anyone.
But then there also are the destructive passive-agressions,
such as the deniers who endanger everyone on board
- The deniers of climate change who want to continue to rape the planet for as long as they can squeeze an inch of money of pleasure out of it and then leave it up to others to rescue our only sinking ship.
- People who lack the intelligence to abstract that one in a quarter million coronavirus-infections still means that covid-19 exists, and that they can multiply logarithmically at any time; ignoring it, and thereby potentially contaminating others;
- Or the people who lack the maturity to share out of a goodness of their heart, thereby forcing cold capitalism onto all of us.
The worst is that you can’t do anything about it, because as soon as you try to convey your suffering; they aggressively shout you down in order to deflect their own feelings of guilt.
I guess the most constructive way to deal with it is to withdraw and vote with our feet by not behaving like them, buying from causes which fit our ethics, and setting a good example to open a door of inspiration to other receptive people of our kind(ness).
Sodarshan Chakra Kriya 
Interesting that you refer to outer phenomenons as a cause to violence. Usually, people don’t see that climate change can affect their emotions and their ability to handle their brutal reactions.
I guess that in all fields, we treat the symptom and not the cause.
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So true,
we do run around in circles looking to change the cinema screen instead of the movie itself.
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True!
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I think it’s not that most people don’t care, it’s that there is so much calling for their attention , they decide to concentrate on that which is either immediately within their sphere of influence or that which progresses their other interests . Maybe, it would serve best if consideration is given to these constraints .
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Your comment made me think about: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
I totally agree with you that most don’t intend to do harm, but wanted to point out that still harm is done out of ignorance – like for example driving over frogs at night.
Still the excuse of ignorance does neither help the frogs, nor the harmed people,
Vice versa: I think often people choose to stay ignorant out of laziness, in order not to have to change their environmently unfriendly lifestyle which supports unethical firms.
However, what you say can help tremendously to alleviate own hurt,
knowing that the suffering one experienced was not necessarily intended.
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I agree with you on the cause being ignorance . I like to remind myself of a quote by Gurdjieff,which to paraphrase, stated, ” most humans are simply robots, and a robot cannot be conscious, attributing good or evil to them misses the point, for good can only come from conscious acts and if we accept that evil is unconscious, then we realise they are not even in control of their response much like any other automaton ” .
The reason why I think this perspective is important, is that it keeps one from becoming bitter, by acknowledging the real nature of the problem . We like to think that there is such a thing as universal human values, but most “humans” don’t abide by it, and the one’s who do are taken advantage of by those who don’t, but we pursue moral values for personal growth, not to be approved of by society .
I think it’s important one does not harbour any illusions as regards reality . Just looking at anger or lust, you realise how automatically these things function, very few are able to ever get to a point where they are in control . It’s like the Buddha said about how he would never have attained enlightenment if there was an obstacle greater than lust, but hidden in that analogy I think is a reference to the subconscious promptings which stir all to action .
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Thank you for getting me aquainted with Gurdjieff – I never heared of him before!
Initially I also was hoping for a better world in which all people share high values, but I recently realised that this is only possible if people understand that different paths do go very different ways.
For example: I saw a lot of people getting angry when someone does not contribute to the national gross income by working hard. Then I read in Yogananda’s autobiography of a Yogi that one Yogi was happy to have received disability benefit in so that he then could dedicate his life now fully to his practice.
This taught me that what is important for some or even most may not even be an wanted by others, and I am not talking about evil people, who just do what they please, but in that case of the yogi his purpose of lie simply was of another kind – not meant to help our materialistic society but to evolve spiritually as much as possible in this life.
And this is exactly the reason why I do believe that we all should evolve as much as possible, because this way we become more sensitive to the needs of others whilst also gain more understanding into the different realities of humans.
I think to live as ethical as possible is commendable, but better even if one matures as much as possible.
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Always a pleasure to share Gurdjieff’s teachings, he is one of those masters, whose teachings resonate most with my views .
You are right about the need to mature, yet I wonder if that would be possible in a situation where reverie is all one is exposed to ? I mean, it’s essentially through the pain of disillusion born from pursuit of pleasure, that one realises the need to pursue the good rather than the pleasant .
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That is a great question, I already also asked myself:
How in this world of ever increasing deceit and flood of misinformation one can still evolve.
Or in other words I asked myself how I could evolve despite the internet having been created and the political climate becoming ever more aggressive.
I came to the conclusion that I only could do it by reducing to consume valueless information,
and instead listening more to my own inner consciousness.
So the solution seems to be that there actually is a highest ethical instance right inside each of us,
and in order to find that we have to find acess to ourselves.
I found that the most effective way to do that is to meditate
(even more effective in combination with contemplative tantric or yoga methods).
The more I do this, the less concerned I become about the low main standard of ethics.
(but I am inspired by valuable content, so I bookmarked 3 long audios from Gurdjieff in order to get to know him ;-))
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I also am quite involved in contemplative practices . As a matter of fact, it was during a search to improve my sordashan practice that I came across your blog; I saw it as a sign, as I have been procrastinating about starting a blog for a while, and the only way I could read your material was by starting one . Sometimes the promptings of one’s consciousness are not so subtle .
If I am not being presumptuous, I would suggest reading his books also, it has a lot of material you might find useful; Beelzebubs tales to his grandson, meetings with remarkable men, and also the fourth way by P D Oupensky . I think they are all in the public domain but if you are unable to get access to them, I would be happy to send them to you, as I have electronic copies .
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Those are great recomendations, thank you and I will first search for them as audiobooks, because I love to listen most. If I don’t find them I will get back to you on the pdfs.
What do you mean that you only could read my blog by starting one ?
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Ok, so that you see how serious I did take your recommendations, Niger thinker,
I did spend an hour searching for all your recommendations as audiobooks which as you said all are publically available now here, for the both of us to bookmark:
First a movie about G.I Gurdieff:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079542/?ref_=tt_rt
Than P.D. Ourspensky’s “Fourth way” (unfortunately read by a computer voice but therefore in US&UK accents)
US 1.) https://youtu.be/PnxbZSByxJc UK1.) https://youtu.be/adMCI409S74
US 2.) https://youtu.be/6oKoS_S_lys UK2.) https://youtu.be/XmL–T69C7A
US 3.) https://youtu.be/8KyhRDCBaLM UK3.) https://youtu.be/rYbFal3qKV0
G.I. Gurdieff (entire books):
“Belzebub’s Tales to his grandson”:
“Meetings with remarkable men”:
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Ok, peo Hunyon or however you are called
Finally, after having worked myself through a bunch of other recommended stuff,
I got around to get to listen to your recommended wisdoms of G.I. Gurdjeff.
My first impression (after having listened to a few of his works for at least an hour) is
that he was intelligent and wise – yet energetically still very much entangled in the emotionality of for example indulging intoxications etc.
If I were harsh to speak I would even say that I knew some very intelligent guy who at times could make people cling to his words – yet he was manic, meaning that there was a residue of his ego which did not want to let go.
In the same way I would not be surprised if Gurdjeff did have manic trades and I personally would not take him as an inspiration to follow.
My doubts actually started straight away when he long windedly did explain how concise he will be soon.
Having said that – I do apprecciate if you found some wisdom through his words and am happy if they do benefit you.
I would – however – at one stage recommend to you to open yourself up for saturnic principles of duty towards what your inner voice tells you – even if it should be an act of having to sacrifice some aspects of your life which you considered to be pleasant.
I don’t say this to all people – just the ones who are inclined to subscribe to a manic spirituality as often proclaimed by consumers of drugs, such as Ayahuasca for example.
I hope that you aren’t offended.
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Because your silence made me think that you may have been offended, I just wanted to let you know 5 1/2 months later, that I now subscribed to a few Gurdjieff Podcasts and will give him a second chance.
Whilst I do think that my last impression may not have been all wrong, it was dished out in haste and only did reflect part of the truth, so I want to give his teachings a more thorough chance again.
Like you, are on the constant search to improve my Sodarshan Practice.
Here are 2 podcasts, I just started to listen to:
https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/fourth-way-today/id1444829766?l=en
https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/gurdjieff-cosmic-secrets-teaching-guide-blueprint-to/id1482178730?l=en
In case you have a non-apple podcatcher, their title is in the url.
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In other words (and this is actually the main reason for me, adding something to this conversation after half a year:
To me it is always more constructive to politely disagree, rather than to refrain from replying in silence,
because that leaves behind a sulky note of either feeling better, or having been hurt.
Plus it gives the other party a chance to learn and grow.
Stagnant silence creates dis-ease and in the long run disease;
Re-solving issues strenghthens Re-solution.
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The post I read had a survey asking about those who had read the article and appreciated the content to give a like and I did so, from there it directed me to opening a blog .
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I just thought about it.
You could copy my reply to you above your comment (with all video & audio sources)
and paste it into your new blog as a first article.
After all, those were your recommendations – I just checked for available sources.
This way you attract followers of your spiritual kind.
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