Viewing Man as a Machine

This selection is from our friend Dharmesh Shah of the Ahmedabad Center, India.

By viewing ourselves as a machine, a certain level of separation from mechanicalness has already begun. Then the question arises, who is observing the mechanical tendencies of the machine? Is the observation impartial? How to begin the journey from mechanicalness to consciousness? How can we separate functions and consciousness?

In an esoteric school, mechanicalness is represented by sleep, and the struggle with sleep is a dimension of waking up from sleep. Till the time the spark to wake up from sleep is ignited, nothing can be done, nothing is possible. One’s entire life can be comfortably lived in a state of sleep and not realize the possibility of what it means to awaken or create one’s soul. The first and foremost condition in awakening is the realization of one’s position.

“For general description, man has possibility of four states of consciousness. They are sleep, waking state, self-consciousness and objective consciousness. But although he has the possibility of these four states of consciousness, man actually lives only in two states. One part of his life passes in sleep, and the other part in what is called 'waking state,' though in reality his ‘waking state’ differs very little from sleep.” – PD Ouspensky

The effort to enter the ‘self-consciousness state’ from the ‘waking state’ is what one aspires to through one’s life. The spiritual growth of a human is to try to be in the state of presence, state of consciousness, as much as possible through the day. One can begin with a simple exercise for a week of not touching both hands and not touching the face, and refrain from saying ‘Hello’ while receiving a call. These exercises are an opportunity to enter the ‘self-consciousness state’ from the ‘waking state’. Gurdjieff called these small aims – alarm clocks to wake up. The Teacher said, “If one cannot control the machine, one is the machine.”

“The center of gravity of the whole system and of all work on oneself; that now work on oneself was not only empty words but a real fact, full of significance thanks to which psychology becomes an exact and at the same time a practical science. I said that European and Western psychology in general had overlooked a fact of tremendous importance, namely, that we do not remember ourselves; that we live and act and reason in deep sleep, not metaphorically but in absolute reality. And also that, at the same time, we can remember ourselves if we make sufficient efforts, that we can awaken.” – PD Ouspensky

Please share your experiences with the suggested simple exercises mentioned in the article or something else you have worked on.