How to Work

How to work is the question. Last week we looked at why to work, but that didn’t really answer the question of how? And how does Work affect the world we live in today?

For starters, my teacher J.G. Bennett looked at the world with a long view. In eons, or at the least, hundreds of years. When we put the world in that context, the perspective of my little self doesn’t look like much. So, what can I do in today’s world?

As insignificant as I am, I can still do something important. I can Work; I can practice. I can learn to “sense,” awakening my connection to the energy of my physical self through attention. Sensation is a tool that is always there, especially in times of need. I can ground myself using sensation.

How I Work

I can also become aware of feelings connected to tensions. With attention, I can acknowledge forms of negativity. These can be very subtle, not just big reactions. Becoming aware of how subtle my negativity can be, brings me a step closer to transforming this energy. For instance, I see that I’m holding an attitude and that my jaw or the back of my neck is tight. Rather than coasting with the attitude, I switch my focus to relaxing those tight muscles. With work, that negative energy dissipates.

As for the “thinking center,” as Gurdjieff calls it, that has taken on a new significance for me. I used to believe the head was all about taking in information, studying, and learning. But in the last few years my understanding has shifted. Yes, study is important, but maybe not what the mind is all about.

More and more, I see the role of attention which is held and directed with the mind. I have come to appreciate the notion of holding a thought or question, allowing it to marinate without needing to “understand” with thoughts. Most recently, I have become aware that my brain is a muscle too. When I catch myself chattering internally, I find I can work at relaxing it, like any other muscle.

All this is to fine-tune my human self in the service of transforming energies from coarse to fine. Over time, I become a transmitter, providing the finer energetic food that feeds beings higher than myself.

In the here and now, my inner work has the possibility of touching those I encounter. It can affect how I respond to the world and live my life. But it can also be part of a larger collective of work that we may not be directly aware of. Even though how I work lends just a drop to the ocean or a grain of sand to the shore, work accumulates.

Each of us must find how to work in the way that “works” for us. When we recognize that, in ourselves and between ourselves, then we can truly serve the Work—and the world.