One of the aspects of reasoning that we’ve mentioned, but which should be highlighted is that the reasoning process is personal. Two people with virtually identical external circumstances could come to two entirely different ‘destinations’ through the process of reasoning. There are several reasons for this...
The men’s group met here today… ok, we have one woman in the group too, and we spent nearly four hours going through a process of taking seriously the possibility of living in three worlds. Gurdjieff mentions this possibility in the last chapter of ‘Life is Real Only Then, When “A Am”’ where he says,
‘And thus, every man, if he is just an ordinary man, that is, one who has never consciously "worked on himself," has two worlds; and if he has worked on himself, and has become a so to say "candidate for another life," he has even three worlds.’
The developed skill of reasoning is quite rare in most of the people that we meet, and this probably includes ourselves. But that doesn’t by any means suggest that we don’t use reasoning. In fact we use it all the time, but usually in a very unskilled way.
One of the participants in the online group gave an excellent observation yesterday about dealing with deeply felt negativity, anger and rage. The negativity was caused by noticing a connection between a newspaper story and the unexpected death of his daughter’s 5 year old bulldog. The connection was about dog treats from China being sold in the US, dog treats that were and are known to cause kidney failure and death in dogs.
The clarity of this participants report allowed me to make the following response which gives an example of how and why we need to develop the skill of reasoning:
Reasoning is a skill. It's not a natural ability for most of us. In fact most of us have never learned to reason. One of the components of reasoning is the ability to think, and most of us can't even do that consistently and effectively. Nevertheless, we can, occasionally do both. We just have to be aware that a special effort and a special development of this skill is necessary. And as with most skills, the more we practice it the better we get.
Reasoning is most useful when we want to change or transform some habit, attitude, conditioning or way of thinking that we've had for a very long time. Consequently we can expect considerable resistance from our physical, mental or emotional centers that have a vested interest in maintaining the old ways.
Reason is the capacity for consciously making sense of things, applying logic, establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information.[1] It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, mathematics, and art, and is normally considered[by whom?] to be a definitive characteristic of human nature.[2] The concept of reason is sometimes referred to as rationality and sometimes as discursive reason, in opposition to intuitive reason.[3]
Reason or "reasoning" is associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect. Reason, like habit or intuition, is one of the ways by which thinking comes from one idea to a related idea. For example, it is the means by which rational beings understand themselves to think about cause and effect, truth and falsehood, and what is good or bad. It is also closely identified with the ability to self-consciously change beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and institutions, and therefore with the capacity for freedom and self-determination.[4]
Probably the most obvious place where we need to reason with ourselves is about death in general, and our own death in particular. In Beelzebub’s Tales, Gurdjieff says that in order to counteract the consequences of the malevolent organ kundabuffer, a new organ needs to be implanted in man that would constantly remind him of his own death and the death of everyone around him.
We can intentionally implant something very much like this organ in ourselves simply through reasoning. I say ‘simply’ because it is simple, but that’s not the same thing as saying it’s easy.
Real reasoning with ourselves to the point of transformation is not easy. Generally we have to give up long standing but unexamined ways of understanding our thoughts, feelings and actions. To follow where real reasoning leads requires a ruthless intensity, courage, honesty with oneself, and a single minded determination to not stop until the end.
That said, here is a ‘relatively’ easy place to start. We can reason with ourselves toward understanding the unity of all being.
One line of reasoning toward this proceeds as follows…
In the online group we are beginning to work with a method of self-development that can fairly be called "reasoning with oneself". In presenting it I wrote:
“...I propose that we take “Reasoning” as our first line of enquiry. Can we reason with ourselves to the point of ‘inescapable clarity’ about our relationship to the Work and to ourselves? Can we reason with ourselves to the point of real transformation with that method alone?”
For over 40 years I’ve tried to understand, apply, and embody the results, of what we call “work on oneself” in the context of spiritual development in general and Gurdjieff’s 4th Way in particular. It’s been a long 40 years, full of many teachers, companions, and experiences along the way.
I can report that many things have changed in me over those years and my gratitude to the 4th Way, to my many teachers, to my fellow seekers, to those who have occasionally found it personally useful to listen to what I had to say, and to innumerable other sources of help grows daily. I can also report that I have a long way to go.
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