Keep the Inner Work Simple

Keep the Inner Work Simple

The Third Eye is genuinely simple, while the lower self is artificially complicated. − The Teacher

We humans are in a funny spot. We are animals but we also possess latent possibilities of living consciously. Like any other creepy crawly creature of the Earth, we are occupied, and psychologically identified, with surviving in a complex human ecosystem, in which we neglect (or veil) the simpler, child-like part of our nature. Most people do not encounter wild animals, just people and imaginary beasts, but we act like we do.

If we are honest about our observations, it does not take much effort to observe our disproportionate or complicated responses, and I am no different than anyone else. I am designed to be loud, large, and ostentatious at times like any animal. I am a hunter, and I am hunted. The curious thing is that our animalistic part—in the Fourth Way we might sum it up as the “Lower Self”—remains active even when it does not need to be. The animal in us is automatic.

In psychological sleep, I change the tone of my voice when answering the telephone or when I am confronted by someone, making me sound more formidable in both scenarios. In group settings, I put my hands on my hips like a rooster or behind my head and look big. I lie about my achievements and capacities to appear superior. I inflate like a pufferfish. This is what we are up against. However, the journey to the simple and small is rewarded with unimaginable bounty.

We are always brought back to something infinitely small, which is infinitely more than everything. − Simone Weil

The Work is about waking up from these delusions. We try to become smaller, not bigger. The external world is unnecessarily complicated and complex. The inner world is necessarily simple and pure. I sense that every reader knows what I am talking about even if this is a new idea. Your inner child knows that we must become smaller and simpler.

We have to become as simple and as wordless as the growing corn or the falling rain. We must just be. − Etty Hillesum

When we work at being smaller, we find that there are no mundane moments. Every moment is an opportunity for Higher Centers to appear. I can arise from or remain in the ashes of my daily routines or random encounters. Choose simplicity. Nothing can be denied to those whose inner path is simple and unpretentious. Self-remembering is always available to the sincere, simple seeker.

The strength of the system is its simplicity. − The Teacher

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Portrait of Miss Julia Peel, Sir Lawrence Thomas (detail)