Work I's

Work I's

“You use the word ‘I’ a lot.” What a shocking statement! So shocking, it silenced me. Until then I’d never heard the most personal of pronouns referred to as a word. I am I, it’s me, it’s who I am and what I am, Yes?

The fact is though, we’re an amalgam of I’s. Four centers each with its own agenda, preferences, likes and dislikes - real or imaginary. So when we utter the word ‘I’ who is speaking? This dispassionate way of relating to oneself is not as easy as seems. “I’m hungry”, “I’m tired”, “I’m in love”, “I hate this or that person, place or event”. “I think….” Even more challenging are the thoughts that do not have ‘I’ attached to them. “What an interesting idea”, “This is easy”, “You know….” There are also the unspoken I’s, opinions and judgments that live in our heads, hearts and gut that we act upon, sometimes with unsatisfactory results. However the I’s manifest, this is the condition in which we live, work, play, love and so on. Even I’s that find the system interesting or otherwise are just I's. These I’s too are not self-remembering, they are not consciousness.

Of all the centers that have the ability to bring us to the shores of the third state, its the intellectual center. It is possible to bring an intentional thought to any activity. Next time you’re in the dentists chair bring the thought ‘LOOK’ and then see at what is in front of you. You might be surprised. When you sit down to your next meal be it a snack, a candy bar, a three course dinner, bring the thought ‘TASTE’ and taste what is in your mouth. Not only is there the flavor of the food, there’s the physical sensation that accompanies a bite. Is the morsel smooth and soft, crunchy, hot, lukewarm. There are at least five different flavor profiles. Can you distinguish? There are so many daily activities to which we can bring these intentional thoughts.

These thoughts or I’s are Work I’s. They are not consciousness but they stop the internal chatter and usher us towards presence. Probably the most potent of the work I’s is the work I ‘BE’. Invoke this at any time to stop imagination or identification. Especially during difficult periods, this work I can be a marvelous solvent. It does not alleviate any suffering, but it brings us to awareness almost immediately.

The accompanying image is a fragment from an earthenware vase. The fragment itself is probably no larger than the finger nail on your little finger, rather like a small single syllable word. But the outline of the hand delicately holding a star is reminiscent of a verse from the Arabian Nights "Into the darkness where we are, God sent a small but complete star” Into the darkness of imagination, third eye sent the ineffable work I “BE”.

There is a seeming contradiction or a cosmic conundrum related the word ‘I’. We’ve been discussing one syllable words to interrupt mechanical momentums. ‘I’ is a one-syllable, and no more than a one-letter word that, when uttered, possesses the ability to encompass all that we are. Small and slender externally, massively profound internally. Best used sparingly.

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Early Christian pottery fragment, Istanbul Museum