Re: The Celibate State of Mind

The topic of celibacy can get very personal. Readers who wish to leave comments have three choices, based on where their contribution falls on the continuum of public vs. private ...

1) This comments form, as I am doing now;
2) The members-only section of the Forum, where threads are open for discussion on celibacy;
3) The "contact author" form on the right side of this page.

Thank you for exercising discernment.

Re: The Celibate State of Mind

Gurdjieff talks about centers and parts of centers. Thought is governed by associations; associations occur in chains, one triggering the next. Chains of associations occur in all centers.

Thoughts as images (symbols or representations) have negative aspects and positive aspects. When the mind is in a funk the chain of associations goes downhill; i.e., the negative aspect or association of the thought is triggered. The path of least resistance is downhill in this case.

If a chain of associations is taking place inside a person's machine and leading in a direction he doesn't want to go, this means he has no will and is in effect making decisions which are contrary to his higher aim, sometimes even contrary to what he knows to be true.

If one is attempting to awaken (say by self-remembering), the triggering of the chain of associations can lead to a higher perspective; the mechanism is still beyond one's control but the extra element of daylight which is present when the chemical reaction takes place is enough to create a higher quality of energy rather than a lower. In this state the direction is higher.

As an analogy, if an athlete is out of shape he may not want to work out; but if the muscles are in fine tone, then exercise just makes him feel stronger.

When distilling spirits, other molecules besides alcohol, which are called aldehydes, are also created. You might call these incomplete alcohols. Too much of these and the person who drinks gets a headache. In Gurdjieff's terminology you might call these impure hydrogens.

The presence of an "erotic" impression causes unstable energy to be created (like an aldehyde). If one wants to generate stable energy (energy which is more pure and which can be used for study or meditation) - then the unstable energy needs to be avoided and not allowed to mix with the pure energy, or to be created at all in the first place. If it mixes with the pure energy you risk that the higher will be brought down, rather than the lower being brought up.

Either stable energy or unstable energy or both can be accumulated in the system (body and mind). Just as with static electricity, when a charge reaches a certain strength it will tend to spark. The lower the quality of the capacitor the lower level at which the spark will occur. (By spark I mean that an involuntary chain of associations will take over.)

Spark or no spark, if a direct connection between the accumulated charge and ground is made, it will cause the charge to be drained. Having sex is like grounding the charge. Once a pattern of grounding the charge is established, it "strengthens" as being the path of least resistance. You could say that a weak spot is engraved into the capacitor.

I hope this doesn't sounds too much like gibberish. There are several ideas I'm struggling with; maybe I can find a way to express them more clearly.