Fair, Kind, and True

Fair, Kind, and True

P.D. Ouspensky said that you have to learn to move in a certain way with cats, or you will scare them away, and in a certain way with bees or they will sting you. Human beings are startled in much the same way as cats and bees, particularly if you have unveiled something that they themselves have not seen. Communicating in ordinary language so that we can understand each other is a part of second line work. Listening carefully with presence to the needs of others is at the heart of inviting them into a higher state. Second Line work is reaching out beyond self-interest and adapting and caring enough for another person’s conscious development to find common ground and the language of their hearts. Gradually in this way – through external consideration – a bridge can be built to broaden our understanding of our place in relation to one another and in the cosmos, a mutual journey of discovery of myself through the reflection of others.

Desire to help others grow by seeing their need. When we really see their need, then we cannot but long to help. We must work to be attuned to others. If we rest in other people's words we can help them. —Rodney Collin

When I was a new student in the Fourth Way, I misinterpreted second line work – like many others – that highlighted the failures of others rather than encouragement toward higher possibilities. Seeing the weaknesses of others, correcting mechanical behavior, pointing out when another student forgot to do a school exercise, etc., are often mechanical responses of my own cast out onto those around me. This can interrupt the growth of trust between students and prevent a deeper connection by scaring them away like a cat.

That which we transform with love we can project to others and so help them without criticism. —Rodney Collin

Regardless of the controversy of whether the following quote is from Buddha, Socrates, or Gandhi, it is a useful line of questioning for engaging in second line work: "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?" The presumption is that in order to proceed, I would need to answer “yes” to all three questions, not just one or two. To consider these questions when interacting with others requires intentionality and attention – characteristics of self-remembering. Shakespeare poetically expressed the same idea at the end of Sonnet 105:

Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords. ‘Fair, kind, and true,’ have often lived alone, Which three till now never kept seat in one.

Take for example a long-time student who is expressing negativity in my presence and I respond by telling them that the non-expression of negative emotions is a school exercise because it depletes our energy and it is an indication that you are identified and asleep. My intervention is true. My intervention may have been offered kindly and in the interest of helping. However, my intervention was likely not necessary because a long-time student could see this situation clearly without me pointing it out. Silence – helping with a gentle touch – while holding on to my own work and remembering myself is a more powerful experience for both of us and has more potential to evoke a higher state.

Probably when we can think of nothing to say, when we feel most helpless, we are helping most ….The divine in us realizes itself in wanting to help others, and this is love. —Rodney Collin

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Veiled Circassian Beauty, Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1876