Welcome to a series of podcasts based upon the teachings of Russell A. Smith, a man who discovered an objective and accelerated way of awakening our innate higher consciousness, the seats of conscience, pure reason, and impartiality. Russell’s work expands upon the Fourth Way teachings of George I. Gurdjieff and deciphers much of what Gurdjieff left behind.

In this episode, Russell explores three fundamental practices - "Active Reasoning" and "Insulating Yourself" - followed by the profound "Where Am I on a Scale of 1 to 10?" exercise, each offering unique tools for personal transformation and emotional mastery.

The journey begins with Gurdjieff's concept of active reasoning, a practice that transforms potential emotional triggers into opportunities for growth and self-understanding. Through practical examples, Russell demonstrates how this mental alchemy can transmute criticism into either self-validation or valuable feedback, freeing us from the impact of others' judgments.

Moving to the "Insulating Yourself" technique, Russell shares how we can prepare ourselves for challenging recurring situations, illustrated through the relatable story of Uncle Bob at family reunions. This practice shows how anticipation and strategic response can transform traditionally difficult interactions into moments of personal power and peaceful engagement.

The episode culminates with the "Where Am I on a Scale of 1 to 10?" exercise, a remarkable exploration of our capacity to consciously elevate our state of being. Russell guides us through this practice, revealing how we can rapidly shift our consciousness through intentional focus and imagination, challenging our assumptions about the limits of our emotional and spiritual reach. The exercise builds to an extraordinary crescendo, suggesting that our potential for elevated states extends far beyond our conventional expectations, even imagining divine attention turned toward our efforts at transcendence.

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All right, I’ll cover two today. One is on active reasoning, and the other is on insulating yourself. Both are marvelous exercises.

Active reasoning is from Gurdjieff, who said we have to actively reason in our brains. If someone calls me a fool, then what do I do? This guy called me a fool—oh, I active reason. I say, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. He doesn’t know me. How could he be calling me a fool? He probably just heard somebody say that about me and is repeating what he’s heard without any knowledge, without any data. And you know, he’s really the fool for calling me a fool because he really didn’t know me. And I shouldn’t really be affected if a fool calls me a fool, and therefore I’m free from his insult.”

But Gurdjieff also says it’s necessary that I active reason by saying, “Hey, you know, he called me a fool. Hey, what if I was a fool? And what if I acted foolishly? You know, I don’t want to be a fool, and I don’t want to act foolishly. And here this guy came along and called me a fool, and thus he reminded me of what I am. And therefore, I should be thanking him for pointing that out because that’ll help me not become a fool in the future.”

So by active reasoning, either way, I can free myself from the impalements that come in from the world. That’s active reasoning. Any questions?

Number 11 on our list is called Insulate Yourself. Insulate yourself is just a great way to deal with things you know you’re going to encounter in your life—that is, things that have a certain repetitiveness in their nature. You know if you go to the store, there’s always this one person that always responds a certain way when you see them. Or you go to your aerobics class or whatever it may be, and there’s a thing there that irritates you. Then you have to insulate yourself.

You’d say, “I’m going over to the thing today, and what’s-his-face is probably going to be there. There’s probably going to be somebody sitting on the sidewalk and blocking my path, and I’m gonna have to deal.” So I insulate myself before I go. I think about how to respond. I see myself going. I see myself dealing with the person.

I always tell the story of Uncle Bob at the reunion because it’s a good story. Every year, or several times a year, we have a gathering. At the gathering are my relatives, and one of them—he always is on me, man. He’s always telling me I should have done this or done that, done this, and it irritates me. It makes me upset. I don’t look forward to that happening.

So I can overcome that if I’ll insulate myself. I can say, “Hey, wait a minute. I’m going to the reunion. You know Uncle Bob’s gonna be there, and he’s gonna tell me I didn’t invest in plastics, and I should have bought that stock, and such and such, and I should have moved to that part of town or something. And I know that. He does that every time we have a reunion. He picks on me and tells me how I did it wrong.

So now I want to insulate myself. Okay, we’re going to the reunion. I know I’m gonna see Bob. I know what Bob’s gonna say. He’s gonna say this or that or this or that. So this time, I’m prepared. When he brings up the fact that I didn’t buy that stock, I’m gonna say, ‘Hey, you know, thanks for reminding me, Bob. Is there any other good stocks that you know about that are available today that I might be able to take advantage of?’”

And I’m gonna take the wind out of his sails. It’s not gonna be his moment to make me feel like I did wrong in my life. It’s gonna be changing the model of, “I’m okay with what I didn’t do, and now I’m looking to use his advice.”

And then he’ll start talking about, “Oh yeah, there’s this one...” but he’s not gonna bother me anymore. So I go to the reunion, and sure enough, there’s Bob. He comes by the group I’m in and introduces himself to somebody, and there’s a little conversation, but he didn’t say anything to me, and he walks away. But I know it’s coming later. I kind of smile. It didn’t come now, but I’m ready for it.

Then later on, sure enough, I meet up with Bob over in this group over here, and Bob says, “Hey, you never did buy that such-and-such back when I told you. You’d have a lot of money.”

And I’m ready for him. I say, “Hey, thanks for reminding me, Bob. You know, do you know of any other good investments that I can take advantage of now?”

And the whole moment has changed. I’m not influenced by Bob anymore. It’s just a wonderful thing to be able to anticipate something that is repetitive in nature and insulate yourself before you get there. Because then, when it happens, you won’t be affected.

 The next exercise in this podcast is where Russell teaches Where Am I on a Scale of 1 to 10? 

 Okay, the exercise for the week is: "Where am I on a scale from one to ten?" As I said, this is one of my favorite exercises. To be able to stop and ask yourself that—where am I, and where am I at on a scale from one to ten?

I mean, what’s the one? That’s my worst moment, my worst state that I can remember. Oh yeah, I remember that one. And what’s a ten? What’s the best state of collectiveness? Oh wow, that moment there was incredible.

Okay, then I have a scale. I have a one, and I have a ten. Where am I? Where am I right now, as I sit right here on that scale?

And really, the number doesn’t matter. All the number gives us is a place to start from. So don’t be ashamed if I own it as a two or a four. Don’t just say, “I’m at a nine,” because nine sounds good. You have to be honest—where am I? You know, we’re on a scale from one to ten. Where am I?

And then, once you establish the number (again, the number is meaningless), the next question is what’s important. Can I change my state? Can I think of something? Can I conjure up an idea? Can I adjust my posture? Can I create a different smile? Can I do something that will cause that scale to go up?

If I’m at a three, can I think of something that will take me to a four or a five? And it’s amazing—when I do this for students that come here, they start off maybe at a five, and I say, “Okay, do something to get to a six.”

And usually, within twenty seconds, they go, “Okay, I’m at a six.” And I look at them and go, “You changed your state from a five to a six in twenty seconds. Why would you ever live at a five again if it was that easy to change your state?”

And then, once we change our state, the next question is the big question: okay, do you stop there? I mean, now that you did something to get from a five to a six, and it took you twenty seconds, now what? Are you satisfied with a six? How long will it take you to get to a seven?

Can you get to a seven? Is there a thought that will get you to a seven? Is there something you can remember that will get you to a seven? Is there a posture? Is there something?

And I’ll say, “Get to a seven.” And usually, within thirty or forty seconds, they’ll go, “I’m at a seven.” And I go, “Oh my god, five to six to seven in less than a minute. Why would you ever live at a five again? Wow, that’s incredible! You made it to a seven. Congratulations.”

But now the big question is: do you stop at a seven? Are you good? Could you make an eight? Do you think it’s possible? Can you have a thought that will make you get to an eight, that will change your state on your scale from one to ten to higher than a seven?

“I don’t know, I never look.” Well, see what you can find. Remember a moment. Remember this. Think of some of your objective fair moments. Think of something. See if you can do it. And they’ll try, and sure enough, usually in not very long, they’ll go, “I’m at an eight.”

And we look at each other like, “Wow! Look how quick you changed your state—five to six to seven to eight. Why stop there? What can we do to get to a nine? And then what can we do to get to a ten? Can we go beyond ten? Can we make this moment on our scale from one to ten the new ten? The higher moment that we visit to make it an eleven, to make it a twelve, to go beyond?”

And sometimes I’ve done this exercise, and I just thought I was going to die because the state I got into was so high. It was like my brain was going to melt. There were boring holes in my head with this realization. My state was going to kill me. But I kept trying to keep going and keep going.

And when I finally got to, let’s say, a twenty-one—which was beyond beyond—it was like, “I can’t go any further. I’ll die, certainly. Another number is not possible.” And there I am.

And then I had one more thought. I think, “Can I make twenty-two?” And then I just imagine God or the absolute or whatever we call it—that external being that can’t participate. And since he can’t participate, here’s that some guy on this forbidden planet called Earth, out at the edges of the universe, is going to try to make it twenty-two.

And he stops what he’s doing and turns his head and looks towards the Earth just to see if the guy will make it. And when I entertain that thought, I make the twenty-two.

So whether we’ve got a guy out there or not, imagining him, that he’s looking in my direction to see if I’m going to make the next number usually takes me to the next number. And then I say, “I think I’ll stop there before I die.”

So it’s a great exercise. We have the right to change our state. We have the right to change our state with a thought. And that’s the greatest realization a man can have: that just with a thought alone, he can change his state.

He’ll never want to live at a five again if he realizes that, in twenty seconds, he can make a six, and make a seven, and make an eight, and make a nine, and make a twenty-two.

So, where are you at on a scale from one to ten? Attempt that this week. You know, it’s okay to look and say, “Oh, where am I? I’m already at a nine.” That’s okay. Let’s go up. Let’s make a ten. Think of an objective prayer moment. Think of something. Think of a best moment from your life.   

You can probably change your state faster than you imagine. And so, give that an attempt this week, guys. Alright, that’s the exercise for the class.

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Summary 

The three exercises presented - Active Reasoning, Insulating Yourself, and Where Am I on a Scale of 1 to 10?  - form a comprehensive toolkit for emotional mastery and conscious transformation. Each practice approaches the challenge of personal development from a different angle, offering practical methods for navigating life's challenges while expanding our awareness of our own capabilities.

Active Reasoning demonstrates how we can transmute potentially triggering situations through conscious mental engagement. By examining both positive and negative interpretations of criticism, we learn to free ourselves from emotional reactivity. This dual approach - either recognizing the critic's limitations or finding value in their feedback - creates a powerful framework for maintaining emotional equilibrium in the face of judgment.

The Insulating Yourself practice builds upon this foundation by teaching us to prepare for known challenges proactively. Through anticipation and conscious preparation, we can transform recurring difficult situations from sources of stress into opportunities for growth. The Uncle Bob story perfectly illustrates how this preparation can shift the dynamic of challenging interactions, moving us from reactivity to conscious response.

The Where Am I on a Scale of 1 to 10? exercise culminates these teachings by revealing our extraordinary capacity for state transformation. Beginning with honest self-assessment, it demonstrates how we can consciously elevate our state through intentional focus and imagination. The exercise challenges our assumptions about the limits of consciousness, suggesting that our capacity for elevated states extends far beyond conventional expectations - even to the point where we might imagine catching the attention of the divine. Through regular practice, we discover that significant shifts in consciousness can occur in mere moments, raising the question: why would we ever choose to remain in a lower state when elevation is so readily available?

Together, these practices offer a practical path to expanded awareness and emotional freedom, demonstrating that through conscious engagement, we can transform our experience of life from one of reactivity to one of conscious choice and elevated being. The power lies not in perfect execution but in sincere engagement and regular application, allowing each attempt to deepen our understanding while maintaining an attitude of curious exploration.

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Thank you for listening.

If you would like to learn more about Russell’s work on how you can attain to objective consciousness with a proven and reliable method of awakening based upon simple rules and laws that govern this universe, then visit our website thedogteachings.com and acquire Russell Smith’s book, The Blueprint of Consciousness - An Accelerated Path to Awakening, which is also available as a PDF download.

There, you will also be able to listen to other talks, access transcripts of these podcasts, diagrams, animations, supporting videos, and much more.

But most importantly, you may fulfill your true potential, which is your right, and it no longer takes a lifetime to achieve.

As a reminder, we have two free ZOOM classes every Sunday to assist you; one is for purchasers of Mr. Smith’s book, and the other is for those who have additionally obtained the Master Exercises and the Double or Nothing Exercises to awaken the Higher Mental Center. See under Resources/Zoom Classes for more details.

At the thedogteachings.com. 

That’s T H E D O G  T E A C H I N G S  Dot Com.

Goodbye, until next time.