Express YourSelf!
Express YourSelf!
There is a worm in you that wants to express itself. Then, when it expresses itself you feel relief, but in this way it becomes stronger and has more and more control over you. ─ P.D. Ouspensky
A common remark from people who read or hear about the Fourth Way idea of not expressing negative emotions is that constraining expression is unhealthy, including negative emotions. An immediate response to dismiss this discipline is understandable; I think I might have had the same reaction when I first read it. Negative emotions derive from identification and imagination, however; they are not the kinds of personal expression that are real and true to a person. Trying not to express them is the start of discovering your real Self. The part of us that warrants expression: our true Self.
The three pillars of awakening are self-remembering, divided attention, and the non-expression of negative emotions. ─ The Teacher
I have a lower self and a Higher Self. The lower self is based on learned habits, falsehoods, and mechanical tendencies to paint a picture of the world that is ego-centered and illusory. My Teacher stresses that “Negative emotions buffer people’s nonexistence.” That is, expressions of anger, frustration, complaints, self-doubt, boredom, to name a few, provide a veil for living a life without Higher States of consciousness.
It's time you realized that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet. ─ Marcus Aurelius
When I express negative emotions, I am expressing the lower self, the lowest parts of myself. Why live in the basement when there is a mansion overhead? Let me clarify: I’m not a bad person if I express negative emotions. But if my aim is not to express negative emotions because I want to live in the upper stories, then I need to study my machine and lead my life in a manner that is consistent with that aim of non-expression.
I realize that we live in an age of expressiveness. It is natural and expected by society for you and me to interact with the world and to express ourselves. So, I offer an alternative to the reaction to this unpopular idea of not expressing negative emotions. Instead of expressing your lower self, live a life where you can express your Higher Self. Celebrate self-remembering, actively work with the non-expression of negative emotions, and you will find yourSelf transforming your daily trials, frictions, and sufferings. You will transcend yourself and find another Higher World where Presence, Love, and Beauty freely flow from you. Express that Self, with no restraints.
O admirable necessity! O powerful action! What mind can penetrate your nature? What language can express this marvel? None, to be sure. This is where human discourse turns toward the contemplation of the divine. ─ Leonardo da Vinci
Head of a Girl, Leonardo da Vinci
Comments