20/08/2026
Taming and Training
This post is from our friend Lindsey V. of the New York Center.
Spiritual work has a progression that can be divided roughly into two phases: first, taming the machine so that higher states can be experienced and recognized, and then learning how to sustain these states once they have arisen. I am calling this second phase training. Both are necessary for awakening. Flashes of higher states can arise at any time; the aim is to sustain them.
The lower self requires education, so it will become fit for useful work. ─ Al-Jilani
The Fourth Way initially emphasizes making conscious, intentional efforts to create moments of self-remembering. Our four lower centers operate mostly through habit and imitation, often pulling in different directions. As G.I. Gurdjieff remarked, “If you want to work on yourself, do what ‘it’ does not like.” Here “it” refers to the mechanical manifestations of our machine.
You must stop automatic personality gestures. ─ Gurdjieff
Schools set exercises designed to interrupt this mechanical momentum, conserve energy, and create conditions for self-remembering. Setting small aims helps to observe identification, negativity, and imagination. I can intentionally choose not to rush down the steps as the subway train enters the station, refrain from using hand gestures while speaking, resist expressing irritation or not interrupt another while they are speaking. These types of small aims create moments of presence in my day when I remember to use them.
Always do one thing at a time: that of the present moment; but do it well, be in it entirely. ─ Gurdjieff
These exercises and the presence they produce are not awakening itself. They tame the machine and create moments of presence. This distinction is important because, as Ouspensky emphasized, full consciousness is not a function. We cannot produce consciousness simply by perfecting any of our functions.
There is a well-known Zen story about Mazu, an eighth-century Zen master, that nicely illustrates this. As a young monk, Mazu practiced meditation extremely rigorously. One day his teacher sat beside him and began polishing a tile. Mazu asked what he was doing.
He replied, “I am polishing it to make a mirror.”
Mazu asked, “How can polishing a tile make a mirror?”
His teacher replied, “If polishing a tile cannot make a mirror, how can sitting in meditation make you a Buddha?”
This story points to the more mysterious aspect of awakening: how to use our machines to produce something that is not the machine. We can’t abandon effort but need to recognize when the quality of effort needs to change. Efforts may prepare us for presence, but once presence appears, those efforts can actually disturb it.
Do not stain with meditation a mind that is already pure. ─ Buddha
The effort of sustaining presence is, in part, becoming familiar with these new states of consciousness. Initially, the machine will want to buffer these unfamiliar experiences and their fine energy. Learning not to interfere and remaining receptive is the new “effort.” There is a quality of resting or relaxation. When I notice the impulse to congratulate myself, "This is going well" or “I am present," these ‘I’s usually herald a quick return to personality.
The aim of this state is to prolong its presence once it appears. It does this without words. ─ The Teacher
Tuning in to flashes of presence many times a day increases the duration, frequency, and depth of presence. The effort becomes lighter, more open, and joyful. We train ourselves not to interfere with the state when it arises. Staying with the state strengthens it.
Recognize what is before you and what is hidden shall be revealed to you. ─ Gospel of Thomas
Taming prepares the machine. We make intentional efforts to awaken, but when the door opens, another kind of “effort” is required: to relax and let go.
The uncreated light can be seen only by the vision of the heart. ─ St. Basil the Great
