Who Gets What When

[Russell Smith]

Happy April Fools Anniversary

April 31, 2017… A student writes:

Howdy Russ and Fellow DoNuts,

Wonderful Ventrilo. Will share some musings on Squiggles at a later date. Now I wish to report on a recent doubling:

For several months I have experienced a restlessness that makes it difficult for me to focus. It manifests itself as fidgeting, compulsive eating, inability to periodically fast, inability to sleep, discomfort, agitation and tiredness. Something is going on but I am unable to see what is happening or why. Intellectually, like a tongue probing a sore tooth, I compulsively try to figure what in Hell is going on. It is vague and elusive. Then another student’s recent doubling report and a personal email from them are instrumental in my being able to see that I am in a state of reaction to some process I do not understand. I see that this internal reaction generates a judgement that “restlessness is a sign of weakness”, that “I need to calm this disturbing and painful disquiet” and that “what’s happening is bad.” I see myself resisting some strange, screechy, buzzy restlessness; it is unpleasant and difficult to bear. I want it to go away, to end. I resist it. I struggle against it. With your guidance on “self-calming” and their sharing something similar, I realize, that I need not see “why?”.

‘Forward, the Light Brigade!’
Was there a man dismay’d ?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Some one had blunder’d:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

“Why?” is irrelevant. I need not change “what is”. So I double. I charge “into the “valley of death”. But Instead of battling and fighting, I embrace “the enemy”. I say, “screechy, buzzy restlessness’ you are a wonderful gift.” “You are a blessing.” “Thank you!” As soon as I totally accept “what is”, I see a machine discomforted by some unfamiliar new, potent, high pitched energy. As I welcome it, a new sense of vibrancy, level of alertness, stillness and inner quiet arise. I also experience a state of unknowing that may be similar to what I might imagine a new-born being experiences as it leaves the womb, wordless wonder. I work to “stay in front” of this “screechy, buzzy restlessness”. What a hoot!

Sleep tight; don’t let the bed bugs bite,

Hugs and Kisses,

————————————————————-
I Wrote the Following Poem in Response:

Hello Magic Man,

The Charge of the "YOUR" Enlightening Brigade:
AKA — "The Death of He"

To awake… to die… be born again,
is scary – to most sleeping men;
that bow the west or practice Zen,

…whom hath no "scale" from one to ten.

So peek thine eye… begin to see,
illusions – ruling over thee;
how cloudy truths have claimed to be,

…the coup de gras that made you free.

But as you learn to double’ die,
and to that end will try and try;
your view is raised above the sky,

…and reason soars the by and by.

The more thou gained… the more that ye,
felt emptiness (you used to flee);
a nothingness – devoid of he,

…all hail "impartiality"!

Love,

Russ

"The more you double the less you single."

————————————————————-
The Student Responded back:

Ah So Mr. Miyagi,

Kung Fu Master and Poet! ///BOW

Stuff:

1. April Fools: I find myself in a dark room. I am led to a light switch and told to switch it on. I do so. Sun shines in Paradise. I frolic in green pastures. After a while the sun sets. I sleep. I awake in darkness but now that I know where the sunlight switch is, I switch it on. I learn that a “self-conscious-man” is someone who knows where the sunlight switch is.

2. Master: I find myself in a dark room. I am led to a light switch and told to switch it on. I do so. Starshine twinkles around me. I study the Universe. I sleep. I awake in darkness but now that I know where the sunlight switch is, I switch it on. I also know where the starlight switch is and turn it on but I do not see any stars shining. I learn that an “objectively-conscious-man” is someone who not only knows where the starlight switch is, he also knows to switch off the sunlight in order to study the universe.

3. Double or Nothing: I find myself in a dark room. I sleep lucidly. When necessary I rise to frolic or study. I can because now I know where the light switches are and what needs be done.

Other Stuff:

The more you double the less you single and the more you single the less you double.

Deeply Grateful,

Danielson

———————————————————-
My Response:

Ah, to the traveler in the dark room,

You reveal your understanding in 1, 2, 3.

Very well articulated sir.

"I’ll leave a light on for you"

Sincerely

Tom Bodett

———————————————————–
He Added More:

Happiest of March 31sts to you Oh Mightiest Light Saber Wielder,

Remembering Verse 22 from The Gospel of Thomas:

Yeshua saw some infants being nursed at the breast.
He said to his disciples:
These nursing infants are like those who enter the Kingdom.
The disciples ask him:
Then shall we become as infants to enter into the Kingdom?
Yeshua answered them:
When you make the two into One,
when you make the inner like the outer
and the high like the low;
when you make male and female into a single One,
so that the male is not male and the female is not female;
when you have eyes in your eyes,
a hand in your hand,
a foot in your foot,
and an icon in your icon,
then you will enter into the Kingdom.

May the Joy of countless beneficiaries of the FORCE forever nurture you,

Hugs,

Luke

————————————————————-
I Wrote Back:

Holy Yeshua Batman,

Someone knew some shit back then.

And better yet, you knew they knew it.

And you did it with just over 2 hours to spare (my time).

The sacred day is almost upon us.

And in 2 hours from now I will be singing – in the immortal words of the Beatles, "It was twenty seven years ago today that somebody found an objective way…"

Happy April Fools!

Love,

Russ

————————————————————–
The Next Morning, Saturday, April 1, 2017 6:23 AM, the Same Student Writes:

Happy Anniversary to thedog, AKA, Hannibal Smith, and to his legion of puppies,

This morning I awake.
I look at my body.
I see a universe,
spinning,
turned into one.
I look at the universe.
I see a universe of universes.
Spinning around,
I look at my calendar.
I laugh.

Love,
Howling Mad Murdock, AKA MadDog

PS: This is bat shit insane! It’s perfect!

————————————————————-
Another Student Responded (a tad envious of the first student’s great strides).

Hi, Everyone,

Wow. Lots to respond to. I didn’t email earlier because I was caught in my reactions, as I’ll explain below. But having successfully doubled, thanks to the many fine examples given,given by other students, I’m now able to respond, rather than react.

I was too embarrassed to write earlier. Even though part of me was very happy for the students success and insights, another part was simply filled with Envy, the green-eyed monster. In an old Gurdjieff group, various of its members, who are are now your students, and I were members for some 22 years, Chief Feature was described in terms of the 7 Deadly Sins. Gurdjieff would undoubtedly have been labeled a Greed; our teacher was a Pride (as doubtless John Bennett would have been labeled), and I was an Envy. Even though I’ve put these labels into the dumpster now for later review, I have found, in reviewing my observations of myself over the past 40 years, that there was a good deal of truth in this label of my Chief Feature. (The positive aspect was said to be ‘Appreciation of Fine Things’. France was said to have envy, and if you are familiar with the French, you have a taste of this description of the feature. Oooh, la, la!) At any rate, on receiving various emails of other students great strides and Russ’s subsequent response, it was clear to me that I was deep in the grip of Envy. And it was SO embarrassing and unpleasant! I love the other student, and have been close friends with him for some 46 years. And here part of myself was just green with jealousy! UGH! Talk about noticing ‘something very undesirable in one’s presence’! I didn’t want to tell anybody about it. If I’d had time to be by myself with my computer, I’d have called Russ for help on ventrilo! I was in a State!

I tried doubling, with one story after another, to no avail. So last night, before sleeping, I put forth a most sincere request to my higher intellectual center for a more effective doubling story. Nothing came with the morning. But on my way to meet with some students this morning (we were taking out to breakfast Abraham, a good friend from Subud who had been concerned about our leaving), it came. What I got came partially from Gurdieff’s discussion of God casting out his own beloved son ‘the devil’ to become a self-reminding factor, and Russ’s interpretation of that as Gurdjieff’s separating himself from the manifestations of his own False Personality. (In his case, fantasies of power, such as the ability to kill a yak at 10 miles.) And partially, it came from other student’s descriptions of doubling by embracing what was making them uncomfortable.

I saw that this envy was clearly a manifestation of my false personality, and therefore ‘Not I’. And that it could be honored and separated from as an ever-present ‘reminding factor’. (Creating ‘moon’, if you will.) Suddenly I was free! I could experience the envy and know it was not me and thank it for being there to remind me that it and ‘I’ are separate. And not try to eliminate it from my presence or find it as embarrassing, but as a necessary and most useful part of myself. (As long as it was not in charge!) As one student described that ‘feeling bad about myself’ no longer had any power. In fact, it was useful!

So that’s my latest doubling story, and a great relief it has been. I talked about it with with the student I was envious of, and he said: "write it up!", so here it is. And his comments about the "starlight light switch" were now very clear to me. After this doubling appeared, there was a long period of calm, in which could taste that sense of impartiality that comes with a successful doubling. The dawn of the possibility of Reason….So thank you, Russ! Thank you all!

Persistence furthers….

Or as Kermit said, "It ain’t easy being Green." But it’s not so bad either. Everybody’s got Something! It’s all good.

Love to you all,

Kermit

PS: Happy Anniversary, Dog! Many glorious returns of the day!!

————————————————————-
I responded to him:

Thanks for the April Fools anniversary wish.

What a great day to receive your illuminating discourse.

I rejoice at your embarrassment. I am encouraged to hear about your following inner calm. And your weave of reasoning woven in between, well… my inner word is glowing like the sun.

Envy, rots the soul… and can be a tough monkey to get off one’s back.

But, you did it.

You did not cave in… you kept at it, until you defeated it.

"Where am I, on a scale from one to tenacity".

Great job, sir.

Good on ya.

The good news is, you are gaining momentum… and momentum, often, trumps skill.

And to your luck, you have also acquired a lifetime of skill… and skill – coupled with tenacity – is hard to defeat even without momentum.

I could go on and on, but the heck with that. Enough of the flowery stuff…. He is a big boy, he can take it. Just lay it on him… just spit it out…

OK, I will:

"You, sir…. Envy? Give me a break. That would be like me saying, "I am envious of paint!"

"You, of all people, need never feel envious of anyone. For if you decide to apply yourself — whether it be making a 3D model; eliminating rats in the attic; taking on repairs of a house; organizing/leading a work group; or doing THEDOG training exercises, Master exercises, or Doubling your dislike of mowing grass… with the force that I know you are capable of (the force you probably conjured up most of your life) — you will zoom past everyone and create a vacuum in your wake, which is so powerful, it will help pull everyone along with you.

So buck up… and, "Run Forrest. Run".

The student with whom you were envious, had the initial advantage, for he is like me… an emotional man. When he found April Fools, it was a done deal. It wasn’t up for questions or debate. There was nothing more important for him to do. He knew he had found, "the pearl of great value". He said, "Get thee behind me Satan, because I am climbing that mountain and I’m climbing it NOW! … You, are either going to see me waving from the top or dead on the side… because I ain’t coming back".

Now, when a man says, "I am going to climb the mountain or die"… time, fate, and circumstance call a hasty conference and readily agree, "We have to let him do it… he says he is going to do it or die."

G said, "Man is third force blind", i.e., lacked a strong purpose.

Disraeli said, "Nothing can resist a human will which will stake even it’s existence on the extent of it’s purpose."

Applied, together, they provide an unbeatable formula for success.

Thus, our only quest should be to find something worthy of their application.

For a man, who wishes to complete himself… I believe that Cosmic Secrets, April Fools, the Master Exercises, and Double or Nothing I and II are most important endeavors that he could ever pursue.

Emotional guys, who come here and wake up, understand that right away. They instinctively FEEL it… and since, "The power is in the horse", it does not take them long to start running, full gallop, towards the finish.

Intellectual guys, who come here and wake up, take longer… because they have the propensity to label it all, first, before they start. They need it explained again and again and confirmed over and over before their driver "gets it", and causes them to finally let loose the brake, grab the reins, and charge forward towards the aim with reckless abandon. Instead, they delay the journey, by leisurely driving around town to frequent their favorite hangouts, while thoroughly reviewing the map that they were given, until they are certain that they have memorized all of the various routes available, as well as, the precise number of left turns, which they must make, where and when.

Moving guys, who come here and wake up, take even longer because they have to practice the exercises over and over until the exercises work there way into their everyday postures, after which they need the driver to recognize their result… and then and only then will they become emotional enough to start flicking and cracking the reins… however, their advantage is, when they do, their passenger will have the physical strength to help pull the horse and push the carriage through any difficult moments.

In parting, I will refer you, again, to page 56 in Views:

"The more a man studies…"

"…And now you can set out on the way".

I like that.

Love,

Russ

PS: "let loose the brake, grab the reins, and charge forward towards the aim…"

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