Being for others

 As I said in the last post, it's not enough for me to just be for myself. 

When I say, I wish to be from my ordinary parts, in a more or less ordinary (though possibly heartfelt and sincere) way, I'm more or less wishing for myself... and this action, while it may seem important (especially from my selfish point of view) isn’t enough. It hasn’t been carefully examined; and its consequences in terms of the direction my inner work takes are perhaps not properly understood.

 I don’t, in the end, wish to be for myself at all. That isn't the real point of Being. There are two essential points of Being that are forgotten on this end of the prayer, this wish for myself. That is that the wish for myself is only a beginning place, that leads me to the two much greater wishes.

The first greater wish is the wish to be on behalf of others.

 The second greater wish, which is the greatest wish, is the wish to be on behalf of God.

 If I wish to be for myself, and I keep chanting this like a mantra, deflecting back to the self-referential struggles of my own—and how this, that, and the other thing aren’t working properly in me—I may miss these other two actions, which are essential in terms of inner development.

 The idea of intentional suffering is specifically meant to help us understand the second greater wish, the wish to be on behalf of others. In particular, this wish to be on behalf of others must be an emotional wish — not just a material one, in which I want to support others materially, which is the least of the kinds of support other human beings need in the end — it is a wish to support them as other beings emotionally. And let’s face it, almost all of our efforts to support others materially run up on the rocks of the simple fact that we're rather poor at this. 

It's not enough to just feed the body; one must also feed the soul.

 Yet we find ourselves today in a society that thinks more, and harder, about feeding the body (whatever kind of food it is, whether it's bread to eat or internet pornography) than it thinks about anything else. We spend very little time considering how to feed the soul; and technological materialism is making all of mankind forget what it means to have Being for others, rather than just myself.

 The whole point of developing a wholeness of Being is that this particular understanding grows stronger legs as a result of it. I slowly learn to support others more through love than ego; more through care than self interest. This is an interesting and difficult task, because my overall responsibilities require that I maintain both ego and self interest in the process; with one important difference. 

That difference is that ego and self interest must be put into the service of myself in order that I may better serve others.

This piece of the inner landscape is complex and multidimensional. It is inhabited out of sight, and best not to talk about it with others; yet those who understand what I speak of here will equally understand how important it is to take an active, intelligent, and compassionate attitude that extends from this seed-of-a-beginning in myself into my relationship with others...

and then into the realm of a relationship with God.

Oh, my goodness. If I truly see myself, what a pauper I am in this action. I don’t perform my tasks or services well at all. 

It reminds me well of brother Lawrence, who saw continual deficiencies and understood that only God could rectify them.

Warmly,


Lee

Announcing the publication of 

The Reconstruction of the Soul

The Reconstruction of the Soul is a wide-ranging investigation of symbolism in High and Late Medieval art. It includes detailed analyses of the Unicorn Tapestries at the Cluny Museum and the Cloisters in New York, as well as detailed examinations of the mysterious, erotic and bizarre symbolism in The Cathedral of St. Lazare in Autun.

Along the way, it traces the roots of Western esoteric art from Babylon to ancient Greece, revealing traditions that are still alive today, some 3000 or more years later.

The material is illustrated with photographs taken by the author on location in France and New York, as well as source material from various museums.

It will appeal to anyone interested in the symbolic transmission of the world's Western esoteric heritage.

All funds from your purchase of this book will go to support the translation of important historical documents related to the Gurdjieff tradition.

The author is currently at work on a second volume which will explore even earlier (!) influences on esoteric art and practice. Anticipated publication of this follow-up work will be late 2019.

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.