The Feeling-Basis of Existence— Notes on The Kingdom of Heaven, Part III

Photograph May 11 a.m., Piermont, NY

 Hence this expression, the feeling-basis of existence.

You may think that existence is composed of matter, of things, of concrete stuff that we manipulate. Or that it is formed of our sensation of it, the mechanical perceptions. Or that it’s formed of our thoughts alone. 

There are philosophical schools formed around each of these ideas, and variations on them. But all of them are essentially incorrect, because reciprocal relationship and feeling, which is that indefinable substance called love, are the basis of everything — not matter, not electromagnetism, not stuff. Love can’t be measured with machines or poured into bottles. It can’t be harvested and stored for later. It always has to manifest and act now, because it exists within and emanates from eternity.

Eternity is outside of time. So already, love comes from a place inaccessible to us. Yet it already exists, before we do; it creates us. 

 We can think that we exist. I think, therefore I am. Or we can sense that we exist: a permanent sensation of being. But it isn’t until we feel that we exist through the inward flow of impressions, from the love that is created into the center of the love that we are capable of receiving, that we actually exist. Thinking and sensing are preparations for what would, by Gurdjieff practitioners, be called “real” feeling.

 This use of the word real is interesting, because I hear it quite often in the Gurdjieff work. It’s a dangerous word, because its use automatically devalues everything it is attempting to distinguish the phenomenon it describes from. The word, ironically, originally had the meaning of something material, a thing, or matter, and it’s Latin form reālis. We can infer that the original intention behind the word was that which is actual, which can be verified. But the sensory overtones, the coarse material associations, are the opposite of the way we use it when we describe things as being “real” in a spiritual sense. We mean it as though to say that things that are not “real” are inferior, somehow less valuable — and this devaluing of what takes place is, as I said, dangerous.

I think I would rather say spiritual feeling than ”real” feeling. This helps us to distinguish between the spiritual center of our life, that which is sacred and at a higher rate of vibration, and the natural center of life, which is equally necessary within its own sphere of influence. The feeling-basis of existence centers around our spiritual nature, which, if it is properly developed, is uncompromisingly compassionate. The feeling-basis of existence does not have an alternate mode. We can distinguish between an understanding of this question and the lack of it by the very nature of how compassionate an individual is in their manifestation. As Christ put it, “Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:16 – 20)  The good fruit is compassion and love, which every tree — spiritual truth that grows within being — should put forth. “A corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” 

 I’ve said before that a spiritual search must aim for the discovery of the good; and this good is the spiritual basis of life, the feeling-basis of existence. While there are many technical ways of explaining this, some of which are completely congruent with the Gurdjieff teaching, the teachings — all of them — merely point towards what is necessary. Every human being must embody the action, not think it over and weigh it against other possibilities. The truth of spiritual being needs to be known organically as an absolute truth, not subject to the relativity mankind inflicts on almost everything he encounters and thinks about. This is what Gurdjieff was alluding to when he spoke about objective knowledge.

Wishing the best for you on this day,

Lee

Lee van Laer is a Senior Editor at Parabola Magazine.