Liking what "it" doesn't like

Liking what "it" doesn't like

Gurdjieff has this idea, a harsh and amazingly
liberating one:
"Like what 'it' doesn't like"

where 'it' is the
automatic
programmed
robot
stuck
part of us

and what does liking what this 'it'
doesn't like
come to be

it comes to be loving our enemies
because when people do something
our 'it' doesn't like
(snarl at us, disrespect us, treat us like an object,
lie to us, ignore us, scold us)
we become wrapped up
in our pain,
in the me me me world of suffering

this is where the Work of Byron Katie
can come in handy
(plenty of links to that,
click on the labels below is you wish)

the deal is: when
we are busy believing the 'it'
in us
and fighting the way someone treated us,
we are not free

not free to love
not free to be happy
not free to see what is behind their suffering which is always behind their "bad" behavior
not free to be spontaneous and useful to them

so,
how to like what 'it'
doesn't like

1.notice when we are not liking reality

2.come back to something higher:
the present
God
Jesus
inner silence
remembering who we are without the story

3. see if that gives us freedom
to like
the thing 'it' doesn't like,
if nothing else,
for waking us up

Christmas Day, Christmas Songs

As part of Joy to the World,
the happy Christmas Carol,
these words end one verse:

"Let heaven and nature sing,
let heaven and nature sing,
let heeeeeeeven and nature sing."

I like the singing of nature,
and of heaven,
a nice gift of the world,
the universe,
God,
to us,
eh?



Another carol, It came upon a midnight clear,
has this advice
for getting closer
to the divine spark
of it all:

"Oh hush the noise
and cease your strife,
and hear the angels sing"

Only in our silence
and calming from the usual
"I am right/ you are wrong" wars,
can the angels sing to us.

A good day for hearing that,
today,
perhaps.

Bench again, Working and Waking

I made a couple of benches
a while ago,
one was good,
one got torn
down,
all that's left is
the pictures

(For these pics,
see blog entry: Fun and Unimportant,
which actually
wasn't "true".
Anything done with love
and attention
is "important.")

One bench is for an amazing man,
amazing musician,
Sukhawat,
and as Sukhawat is back in
town
yesterday was the day
to finish the one above.

Working for its own sake
is great
and
working as a practice in
waking is
really sweet.

So much of the "spiritual" life
is avoiding of work, and "the world,"
and all that,
meanwhile, often rushing off to "spiritual" places
in a car,
and then
rushing away to go back to sleep
in the ongoing rush.

Is that true?

Who knows?

Sometimes.

Anyway
sweet reunion yesterday
with a fellow who loves/ enjoys/ follows
the Gurdjieff work
where I first learned
of ongoing physical work,
like gardening, carpentry, painting
as the real meditation.

Met people who were cab drivers,
carpenters, painters, gardeners,
computer programmers, writers, nurses,
all sort of things
and the practice was:
go to work
be in the world
and keep huge amounts of attention
on arms and legs, sensing,
ears, hearing,
eyes, noticing reflected light.

Ah, this is still a sweet,
sweet practice:
this "doing" not in the do-do head
way of conditioned life,
but "doing" as a chance to develop
"being"
while out and about in the "world."

Love


A ways back
and good
luck
with any efforts you might
enjoy in this direction:

Chris