At first, we are identified with the machine, and on that level, changing the machine’s behavior seems like the work. But from one angle, all this does is make the prison more pleasant, which, if anything, only increases the denying force to escaping.
What is Freedom?
The work is upside down and backwards to life. To most people in life, “freedom” means being able to follow whatever ‘I’s the machine happens to have, and “will” is seen as the ability to actualize any desire that comes into the machine. In reality, however, freedom and will begin from being able to separate from the machine, and this separation begins with the ability to do what it does not want to do.
If we work on ourselves, we can create something higher. At first it is something higher within the machine, but eventually we transcend the lower centers and reach something that is beyond time.
Presence as a Unifying State
The machine wants to know what unity is and how it can become more unified. We cannot be unified on the level of the machine, and so we try to be present instead. Then, by being present, it turns out that we create an “observer” that is at least more consistent.
With difficulty, we come to understand that the way to be more unified is simply to be present and observe ourselves in the moment. It does not involve “doing” on the level of the lower centers at all.
Of course, if we can really observe in the moment, then consciousness becomes a major stimulus for the machine. Since it is a stimulus-response machine, it does begin to act differently. But that only comes later.
Girard Haven has been a Fourth Way author and teacher since 1974. His books are available on http://robertearlburton.org/bibliography and Amazon.com. He has written other articles for the FourthWayToday, including https://fourthwaytoday.org/will-consciousness-and-being/ and https://fourthwaytoday.org/awakening-as-the-third-state-of-consciousness/.
For more of Girard’s essays published in this magazine: