Faith, Love, and Hope

Faith of consciousness is freedom

Faith of feeling is weakness

Faith of body is stupidity.

Love of consciousness evokes the same in response

Love of feeling evokes the opposite

Love of body depends on type and polarity.

Hope of consciousness is strength

Hope of feeling is slavery

Hope of body is disease.

Quoted from "All and Everything" by G. Gurdjieff

page 361

ISBN: 0-89756-022-1

Awakening to One's Real Self - The Gurdjieff Approach

See you at the seminar!

Shifting Levels of Abstraction Disingenuously

I've been reading Steve McConnell's Code Complete 2nd edition. This is a book that I've had on my shelf for at least 13 years (1st edition). I should have read it in detail a long time ago.  In chapter 6 he talks about designing classes.  He explains the value to effective programming of having the class's interface present a consistent [level of ] abstraction.

He summarizes with this checklist:
Abstraction

    * Does the class have a central purpose?
    * Is the class well named, and does its name describe its central purpose?
    * Does the class's interface present a consistent abstraction?
    * Does the class's interface make obvious how you should use the class?
    * Is the class's interface abstract enough that you don't have to think about how its services are implemented? Can you treat the class as a black box?
    * Are the class's services complete enough that other classes don't have to meddle with its internal data?
    * Has unrelated information been moved out of the class?
    * Have you thought about subdividing the class into component classes, and have you subdivided it as much as you can?
    * Are you preserving the integrity of the class's interface as you modify the class?

This concept of class design has parallels in design of organizations, and in the structure of a conversation or document meant to educate or persuade.

The profound personal insight that came to me from pondering the larger implications of class design, keeping in mind the principles of Objectivist Epistemology, was how I deliberately shift level of abstraction in a conversation by asking about details that appear to contradict the principles that the speaker is talking about.  My ostensible purpose is to give the speaker a chance to anchor their concepts in reality, in sensation, but many times I pick an example that I know can't be explained by the principles I'm hearing discussed.

The result is to confuse the speaker and derail the conversation.

Example: I ask what is more valuable (to whom!); the individual or the collective (society)?
I hear the reply "Well that depends on the situation. What if the individual breaks a law that was passed because we (society) just says so?"

This is a sudden drop in the level of abstraction, introducing undefined terms, that cloud the discussion: What is the purpose of law? Is it an objective law? Is it just? What is the definition of justice?  Is "...we just say so..." really a reason for anything? These terms are derivative from the concepts of individuality, and the conditions for life. If they are used as floating abstractions, logically broken from their conceptual derivation then they have no meaning. They fog the discussion. We need to take a detour to define them properly.

Epistemology

You my anticipate that the point I'm leading up to is that the difference, if there is one, is a matter of "what is the basis of knowledge." Ayn Rand and Gurdjieff both had a lot to say about this. I intend to explore the record on this as we continue.

As a good philosopher you probably recognize that the basis of knowledge is sensation followed by perception, organized by conception. So what are the essential differences between Objectivist Epistemology and Gurdjieff's knowledge? What are the Mystical Parallels. Perhaps Mystical is a misnomer?

First of all Gurdjieff insists on a wider scope of sensation that Ayn Rand acknowledges....

In The Beginning, the Body.

"Howard Roark laughed.
...
He felt his shoulder blades drawn tight together, the curve of is neck, and the weight of the blood in his hands." ("The Fountainhead", first page.)

Then the other descriptions: lying on the grass after a day in the quarry, the drink of cold water, floating in the sea close to Gail Wynand's yacht.

"The Fountainhead" is rooted in the embodied experience!

Then we have "In Search of the Miraculous" page 146, 2nd paragraph: "mental photographs" that include sensations, postures, tones of voice, facial expressions. All the elements of the embodied experience, self-remembering.

I'm torn between listing more examples and posting this as is. For a Gurdjieffian nothing more is needed, but an Objectivist would want more clues.

Initial Setup

For a long time, maybe 15 years or so, I've wanted to write a book about the parallels between the writings of Ayn Rand and the writings of G.I. Gurdjieff as found in his books and as reported by Ouspenski.

I will probably never write the book, but I want to get the ideas of these parallels out to interested people, hence this blog.

I'll try to document my ideas with references but I won't let the lack of easily accessible reference material stop me from writing from my memory of what I read, perhaps 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

Comments are welcome. I'll refrain from wiseacreing in this blog and if I catch myself I'll clean it up. If I don't, the wise will be warned.

Spiritual Survival in a Radically Changing World-Time

William Patrick Patterson's book is incredibly valuable to a sincere seeker. It is the most concise formulation of basic transformational experiences that I have ever read! The book is a powerful, compelling invitation to the Fourth Way! He probes deeply into behaviors that I had never noticed or always taken for granted -- cuts me to my heart! The Gurdjieffian view provided by Patterson of current issues evokes a deep re-evaluation of my own opinions and values!