A discourse on organic gratitude, part II

June 9— Shanghai, China

The second faculty that needs to be awakened in the context of the organic integration of Being is an intelligence that emerges from silence.

Now, one might think that the ordinary intelligence actually has to be silent in order for this to happen; and although that sounds logical, it’s categorically untrue. The silent intelligence that receives the impression of the organic awakening of sensation is added to ordinary thought and Being, not a replacement for it; so it forms a core within Being that does not have a great interest in doing this, that, or the other thing. The only thing it has an interest in—and that interest is once again quite foundational and direct—is Being in relationship with the molecular sensation of Being.

That is to say, it is a partner in the enterprise of sensation; and these two parts form a pair that quietly receives life, even as all of the regular nonsense goes on.

By the time this takes place, one has inside a marriage of these two parts that is strong enough to resist what the outside world is up to.

In a strange and I suppose relatively inexplicable way, this does not guarantee immunity from the influences of the outside world, although at times it can. One may find, for example, that the ordinary parts get angry about something and react while the other parts are quietly observing it. Of course this whole phenomenon has something to do with what Gurdjieff called  “self observation;” yet the effect of it is sublime relative to the observation that generally takes place within the ordinary parts as they observe each other (and thereby presume a fantasy that they are engaged in self observation of the kind that Gurdjieff was talking about.)

In point of fact, until this “real” — that is, integrated and organic — part that can truly receive life is formed, all of the self observation that takes place takes place on the surface of the self, and not in its depths, where true vibrational integration takes place.

So this intelligence that emerges from silence is always there, and it withdraws from the agitation, allowing it to take place; but it sees.

And it sees without interfering. Not only that, it isn’t touched, damaged, altered, influenced, or compromised by what takes place outside, because like the molecular and cellular sense of integrated Being, or organic Being, it has an integrity that is founded in a center of gravity that belongs to itself.

This is true both of the awakened sensation and the awakened intelligence.

Be very careful here when you hear me use the word “awakened.” In most teachings, this implies some kind of magical transformation of Being in which one is supposedly “superior” to life or to other Beings, or “free.” Or what have you. As my wife and I so often say, “blah, blah, blah.”

Yet I mean nothing of the “blah, blah, blah” kind here. There’s a certain freedom; but it is only a freedom from myself, not from life. It is part of the formation of what I would call the self – in – self. This is a new term I have been using lately; and it seems to accurately describe the situation as I experience it today.

Hosanna.

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.