Welcome to a series of talks about objective consciousness, an objective universe, and an objective way to awaken, expanding upon the works of George I. Gurdjieff and Russell A. Smith.

Continuing our talks on Work questions and answers, in this podcast we will narrate a dialogue between Russell and several of his students, covering topics such as: how can we know others, the fear of enlightenment, sleeping little without regret, impartiality, the Lines of Supervision in an Enneagram, and the role of meaning.

Let’s begin.

Student:  Hello Russell.  Lately, I have been contemplating, on knowing somebody else, other people, and my question is, is it even possible to know somebody else?  Because what I have come to is that I can only know somebody else to the point that I know myself; because one thing I have observed is that I have so many ideas about other people, that I realized, I don’t really know anybody at all, so what can you tell me about that?

Russell:  That is actually a pretty good observation.  We live in illusion.  We think for other people; we don’t allow them to think for themselves. We see their postures, their gestures, and contrive what they mean. That they are standing in that posture because of this, and said those things because of that, but in truth, we don’t know why they stood in that posture or why they said those things. 

However, it is possible to become familiar with someone else’s patterns, like the guys who play sports together. They develop a kind of a tacit agreement; an unwritten, unspoken agreement. That is, after playing with each other for some time, they know, based on past experience, that the other player is going to read the defence the same way that they read the defence, and as such, will cut to the left, so they throw the ball to the left.  And, in a sense, I guess that is knowing someone else; knowing what the other person is going to do. But they can only do that with a lot of contact over a long period of time.  

Student:  Okay, but is there a good way to get to know other people?

Russell: Well, if you know yourself, then you may know what is going on in their inner worlds as well. 

Someone once told me, “We don’t think the same, but we feel the same.” He said, “If we stood on the freeway, stood in the middle of the road, and let the cars come at us at 70-miles-an-hour, five seconds before they hit us, you might sound different than I do, but you and I will feel exactly the same.”  

So, I know others have fears, forebodings, uncertainties, accounts, grievances, addictions, and identifications; I know those things, and as such, I can empathize with them. And maybe, since I know what I had to do to free myself from similar things, I might be able to give them some good advice on how they can do so as well.

Student:  That is a great answer.  Thank you.

Student:  I have a question. When I get very peaceful, feel content, and love everything around me, I have a fear that I am going to be so content that I will cease working on myself; that I am not going to get anything done … and will fall into poverty, because I won’t have the will to go out and work. I think I have a fear of enlightenment; a fear of raising my consciousness to a state where it will cause me to suffer financially, which seems sort of irrational.

Russell:  That is a logical thing. I think everybody goes through that. I however, can tell you this, after I awoke, I made a lot more sales than I ever made before I awoke … because I was clean inside myself; I was at peace inside myself, and could function without clutter, without interference, and without fear. I told my story, and people were receptive to it, they trusted me, they liked my confidence, and as a result, they bought my product.  So, actually I got richer, after I became conscious, not poorer.

Student: Thank you.

Student:  Hi Russell. I haven’t really shared with the group the freedom I have been feeling. When I got to the airport, after spending ten days with you, there was about an hour where I ceased being very calm, and I thought, okay, my old self is back, it’s over; but I was wrong … it is still going.

So, my question is about contradictions. The dictionary says this about ‘contradictory’: “A proposition so related to another that if either of the two is true, the other one must be false, and if either of the two is false, the other one must be true”.  

I thought that was pretty remarkable, because what I am experiencing is a state that is neither false, nor true; it is a little bit of both. 

I think what freedom means to me now is different than what it used to mean. I used to think that freedom meant mental freedom, but what I am experiencing now is that freedom is the whole shtick; it is whole, from the head, down to the toes. There is energy going through my body without any leaks, without any stops, it is just flowing. And now that I am in that state, I don’t think it will ever leave. 

I thought it had for a while, at the airport, but it came back, and has been constant ever since. 

So, I am relating to other people from a very conscious place. It doesn’t matter who they are. I am not judgmental or subjective, it is like, I am with that person on a higher level than I have ever been at before. There is no fear, there is no judgement, and there are no obstacles in the way. 

What I am seeing with this freedom is that, since it is so new, I am still learning how to manage it. That is, it is a management thing, and I wanted to ask you about that, because there is so much energy flowing through me, that I don’t need to sleep, and yet, there is, in the background, a sense of physical exhaustion, but since it is in the background, it is almost like I’ll never need to sleep again.  

So, I need some advice on what to do … because I don’t think this state is going to go away, and I don’t want to drive everybody crazy. 

Russell:  Yes, sir. I recognize the taste of that state. You could read the chapter in Views, on Energy – sleep, maybe that will help. 

Or just realize that is what happens when you don’t leak. You have more energy than you ever imagined. That is, when you are conscious, not cluttered, and don’t have a 1,000 voices going on inside your head … and are not pretending that you are something that you are not, or trying to persuade someone else to accept your beliefs, and have become honorable and free, you will maintain a very high level of energy; energy without leaks, and without the negativity, and as such, it will be easy to stay awake for many, many hours, and thus, “sleep little without regret.”

Student:  That is a great answer, Russell. In this new place, it is not like it was before, “Here today and gone tomorrow,” but it is now a matter of managing things, and as such, I am sleeping little without regret!

Student:  I have a question about impartiality. It seems that the moment I confirm that something is good or bad, I cease to be impartial. 

Russell:  Yes, that is so true. Affixing labels to things, like good or bad, prevents us from seeing the things as they actually are, and as such, we only see our labels.

It is like the parable of the old man who had a white horse. 

In the parable, an old man had a beautiful white horse. 

If he sold it, he would amass a large fortune.

But instead, the old man chose to keep it in a stable and never sell it. His neighbors thought he was crazy, telling him that there will come a day when the horse is stolen, and the man will have nothing.

That day came. Waking up one morning, the horse was not in its stable and was nowhere to be found.

The man’s neighbors were right all along, and they rushed over to tell the old man that he was now cursed because he had lost everything.

The old man’s response was profound: “Don’t speak too quickly” he said, “say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know; the rest is judgment. If I’ve been cursed or not, how can you know? How can you judge?”

The people were offended by what the old man had said. “How can you say that” they asked, “it is clear that you are cursed no matter what your perspective might be.”

The old man then spoke again. “All I know is that the stable is empty, and that the horse is gone. The rest I don’t know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can’t say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?”

What a fool the neighbors thought.

After several days, the horse returned, he’d not been stolen, but ran away. On his return, he brought with him a dozen wild horses.

Now the neighbors had to come out to tell the old man that he was right all along, and in fact, he’s a blessed man because now he has a whole herd of horses.

The old man responded again: “Once again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses returned with him, but don’t judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? You read only one page of a book. Can you judge the whole book? You read only one word of one phrase. Can you understand the entire phrase?”

The man’s neighbors found it hard to argue with this. “Maybe he’s right,” they said. But deep down they knew the old man was wrong. He had one horse now he has thirteen — how could he say he isn’t blessed?

The old man had a son — his only child. The son went to breaking these wild horses when one of them flung him off, landing he broke both of his legs.

The neighbors were awestruck at the man’s wisdom. “He was right, we were wrong,” they thought. 

However, the old man, being too old to do much on the farm, no longer had his son available to work the land. With no one tending the farm, he would likely lose his income.

So, yet again, the neighbors said to the old man that he was cursed, and the old man rebutted, saying, “In truth, I do not know if what has happened is a blessing or a curse. Who can say what is good or bad?”

Not long after this, a war broke out in the old man’s country. All young men were called up to serve in the army where most would perish, leaving many fathers without their sons.

This was true for the old man’s neighbors who had sons that were to never return home. They went to the old man weeping, “you were right, we were wrong.”

“Your son’s accident is a blessing and while his legs are broken you will have many more years with him,” they said, “We will not, our sons are gone. You are blessed, we are cursed.” 

The old man responded once again: “It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. No one knows. Say only this. Your sons had to go to war, and mine did not. No one knows if it is a blessing or a curse. No one is wise enough to know. Only the future knows.”

Student:  That is a great story. I now see the moment I affix a judgement; I am no longer free. Thank you for that.

Okay, I have another question. If the higher emotional center is evaluating FA, and the emotional center is at FA, it came to us that we should be trying to figure out the role that the Emotional Center plays in our work. It seems to be an incredibly important pursuit; it almost seems that our work should be primarily on our Emotional Center.  Are we not too far off in our reasoning?

Russell:  No, not at all. 

Student:  So, the emotional center is where meaning resides, and as such, we need to work real hard on it if we are going to be higher beings, that is true, right?

Russell:  Yes.

Student:  We were trying to apply the centers to the points on the Enneagram, so presuming that LA is the Higher Emotional Center, then looking at FA, which is the Emotional Center, my question is, how do we do that? That is, when we are looking at the Emotional Center, apparently, we are in Purgatory, and as such, can see different aspects that are going on in the Emotional Center. So, thinking again, along the lines of what the Enneagram shows, what does it mean then, for RE to anticipate FA, or for FA to be feasibly looking back to MI?

Russell:  That is a great question. To answer it, it would behoove us to revisit all the Lines of Supervision in an Enneagram, which you, yourselves, discovered in Chapter 7 of The Blueprint of Consciousness. 

So, get out the diagram called, “Diatonic Enneagram with the Lines of Supervision Labeled,” and we shall review it. It is also shown on the website with this podcast episode.

Line 1, LA to FA, is the Line of Evaluation. Nothing happens until someone declares something as being undesirable. Before that moment, the thing was not a denying force; then suddenly it was. Will sees Being. The third force sees the second force, or one force sees another force, and determines it to be an unwanted force; then it tries to reconcile the situation. Thus, the Reconciling force and the Denying force are revealed, identified, and labeled.

Line 2, FA to the top DO, is the Line of Creation. Interestingly, FA looks to the top DO, to the result it seeks to attain, which sparks a function, a bottom DO, intended to achieve that end. We say, “I am hungry, I need to eat.” We do not say, “I am hungry, I need to cook.” Deciding on an ending DO generates a specific beginning DO designed to take us to our aim. Needing to eat, initiates cooking, not digging a hole. So once something is deemed a denying force, man will try to eliminate it. Since denying forces tend to recur, he will need to create a repeatable function, to either halt or alter their recurrence. 

The first two Lines of Supervision reveal the three forces (LA, FA, DO) (2/3, to 1/3, to 1). We start with a Reconciling force, evaluate a Denying force, and create an Affirming force. 

Line 3, from the top DO to TI, is the Line of Experience. The cyclical nature of a repeatable function provides a vast amount of experience to those who attempt to repeat the function. Because of this, the note TI is accessible from two directions. That is, the Line of Experience allows the top DO to look down and see TI, which stimulates the bottom DO to work its way up through RE, MI, FA, SO, and LA until it too can see TI. Thus, the top DO, by keeping its eye on the prize, allows the bottom DO to reach TI the long way around.

Line 4, TI to SO, is the Line of Confidence. Once you have successfully reached TI, you are confident that you can reach it again. Enough said.

Line 5, from SO to RE of the next event, is the Line of Skills. This line is obvious, but sometimes overlooked. Who should we choose as the worker for the task at hand? The guy who has successfully completed the task before. “Hey, bad guys are coming, let’s get Rambo.” If you have a brain tumor, who is the best brain surgeon? If your car won’t start, do you take it to your neighbor, do you take it to the nearest service station, or do you take it to a skilled mechanic that you have used before? And if you do not know a skilled mechanic, perhaps your neighbor does, or you search for mechanics online, and read the reviews. Remember when we were kids and played in pick-up games of baseball? If we were captain, who did we pick? Our friends. That is, we did not necessarily pick the most skilled players, and we probably lost. Even grown men will say, “Honey, I can fix it!” Then they end up calling a plumber. Thus, the Line of Skills identifies who the best soufflé chef is, which informs the Master Chef who should make dessert. The Line of Skills also identifies who the best murder investigator is, which informs the District Attorney who should be assigned to that double homicide. If you do not consider the Line of Skills, you may die on the operating table. We hope you have good life insurance.

Line 6, SO to LA, is the Line of Action. The most important thing to know about the Line of Action is that it is the only line that is in lockstep with the line of time. It is also where the lines of Function, Being, and Will coincide.

Line 7, from LA to MI of the next event, is the Line of Invention. It shows how, after completing an event, new tools get invented. That is, when Ernesto Miranda told the judge, “I didn’t know that what I said to the police was going to be used against me, I thought I was protected by the Fifth Amendment from self-incrimination,” the Judge said, “You are correct. Case dismissed.” Then, a new tool was invented by the lawyers and sent to MI, called the Miranda rights, “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you by the court.” Solves that. Thus, crooks can no longer use the I-did-not-know-what-I-said-could-be-used-against-me defense. In addition, we usually ask ourselves before we begin an event, “What tools do we need?” Then we look to the past, to events that are the same or similar to the task at hand, and we either borrow, rent, buy, or build the tools that are going to be needed. Got it? No Line of 7, no Miranda rights.

Line 8, from LA to RE of the next event, is the Line of Decision. Enneagrams always go back through the past events before they go forward and begin new events. Example: I want to transform some unwanted force. In the past, I have transformed similar unwanted forces. Thus, I have both the confidence and the experience to transform this one as well. In addition, since I have done this many times before, I not only have the necessary skills, but I also have the appropriate tools. Thus, the decision is made, “I am going to transform this one too.” Then at RE, I become the worker, and the event begins.

Line 9, RE to MI, is the Line of Means, and line 10, from RE to FA, is the Line of Anticipation. We listed lines 9 and 10 together because they function at the same time. That is, RE has dual vision; it follows the Line of Means and the Line of Anticipation. That is, it simultaneously sees the thing that it wants to transform and the tools that are necessary to transform it. For example, before we make a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, we check to make sure we have everything that is needed: Bacon? Check; Lettuce? Check; Tomato? Check; Bread? Check; Frying pan? Check; Burner? Check; Toaster? Check; Sharp knife? Check; Toothpick? Check; Olive? Check; Plate? Check: Butter knife? Check; Mayonnaise? Wait, what the heck! We do not have any mayonnaise. Forget it! Question: Why do we do this? Answer: no one wants to run to the store half-way through an event and acquire “what they should have made sure they had before they started the event.” Therefore at RE, our focus is on two things: on what we want to transform, and on the tools that are needed to transform it. Thus, before we begin an event, we check to see if the task at hand is both possible and feasible.

Line 11, FA to MI, is the Line of Feasibility. Hold on to the bottom of your chair, as this could get exciting. Firstly, FA and MI were held in focus by the RE. Secondly, FA to MI becomes the Line of Feasibility. Thirdly, we find a blue line from FA (FA-DO) pointing to the top DO, and a green line from MI (MI-DO) pointing to the bottom DO. This means that the Line of Feasibility, FA-MI, sees both the ending and the beginning. Wow! MI serves the bottom DO, and it directs things toward the beginning. Whereas FA anticipates the top DO and directs things toward the end. Thus, the Line of Feasibility, simultaneously, monitors both the beginning and the end. It is truly remarkable. RE, by splitting its focus on FA and MI, sees it all.

Line 12, from MI to the bottom DO, is the Line of Preparation. This part of the octave is preparation: the skillet is heating, tomatoes are slicing, lettuce is shredding, and mayonnaise is spreading; or the cops are watching, wiretaps are listening, detectives are investigating, and evidence is gathering. Thus, along the Line of Preparation, the kitchen and the police department move toward the bottom DO. In addition, MI has dual vision, which also makes it a very important note. In fact, it is the only way to get to SO. The Enneagram does not go: MI-FA-SO. It goes from MI to the bottom DO to SO, or from MI to TI to SO. Thus from MI, there are two trails to SO: two trails to the point of most tension. Okay, now that we have identified the two trails that go to SO, let us talk a bit more about the second trail, the trail from MI to TI to SO, that is, MI’s second vision. Which is….

Line 13, MI to TI, the Line of Envisionment. As such, the Master Chef and the District Attorney also have dual vision. Their first vision was along the Line of Preparation, where the Master Chef saw the food being prepared, and the District Attorney saw the crook being investigated. Their second vision is along the Line of Envisionment, where the Master Chef sees the food being eaten, and the District Attorney sees the crook being convicted. Then, when everything is prepared and gathered, and the Master Chef and District Attorney can see completion, it is ‘point of tension’ time. Geronimo!

Line 14, from the bottom DO to SO, is the Line of Commencement. When the kitchen is prepared, the chef arrives, and the cooking starts. When the officers are prepared, equipped with guns and body armor, the warrant arrives, and the arrest is made. 

After which, the first and second Enneagram lines, the Lines of Evaluation and the Line of Creation, cycle again. Here, the Master Chef asks, “Did I cook it right?” “Will they eat it?” And the District Attorney queries, “Did I make my case?” “Will I get a conviction?”

Okay. That explains the fourteen Lines of Supervision in an Enneagram. 

However, we could say that the Enneagram has seventeen lines, because the SO to RE line, the LA to RE line, and the LA to MI line, appear twice. That is, they bring knowledge from the past event into the current event, and then send knowledge from the current event into the next event. 

In order to achieve success, you must consider all the lines in an Enneagram. If you forget one, that is, if you do not hire the right worker, do not find the right doctor, do not invent the right tool, do not have the right shovel, do not have the right experience, or do not have any mayonnaise, you will be lucky to make yourself a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.

Does that help answer your question?

Student:  Oh yes, indeed it does. In fact it answered many other questions as well, some of which I did not know I even had. What an amazing diagram, and an amazing recantation of the Lines of Supervision. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Russell:  I am very glad you are able to see the great truth which is contained therein. Well done.

Student:  Earlier, we were talking about the LA to FA line, and about the idea of evaluating a denying force, and how the Higher Emotional Center evaluates the Emotional Center. 

It appears, when we are asleep and are machines, that there are no real emotions, and as such, it is our instinctive center that is either repelled or attracted to things. Do I understand that right?

Russell:  Yes, you do; you most certainly do. A lot of our work describes how people don’t know the difference between emotions and sensations.   

What are emotions? 

What are sensations?

What are feelings?   

The best way I was able to find answers to those questions was by looking for the meaning in things. When I looked for the meaning in things, I found emotions. Whereas the sensing of things was hard to do without touching them or seeing them. However, finding the meaning of things took me out of sensation. That is, when I started finding the meaning of things, I was not just sensing them, I was feeling them. And as such, I was using the world of my mind, the world of constructed data, which conveyed meaning, and revealed what feelings are.  

I often say, if you want to experiment what feelings are, go to your house, to your dresser, or to where you keep your favorite stuff, and pick up each piece of stuff, and decide whether or not to throw it away. Maybe you will find the emotion that is attached to it, rather than just the sensation of it being an old baseball.  

Does that help?

Student:  Yes, sir. It most certainly does. I will do that. I can already see in my mind some of those emotions. Thank you.

That ends the question and answer session for this episode.

Thank you for listening.

If you have any questions that you would like answered, please send them to [email protected], and we will endeavour to answer them and include them in future podcasts.  

And, if you would like to know more about the subjects and exercises we have been exploring, including the book and guide that underpins it all, which is also available for PDF download, you can do so, by going to thedogteachings.com.

That’s T H E D O G teachings DOT COM.

There, you will be able to obtain Mr. Smith’s diagrams, models, videos and listen to other talks, as well as learn all the mathematics that supports them, and much, much more.

But, most importantly, you will have real time access to the material we are discussing.

That’s thedogteachings.com

Goodbye until next time.