An episode of The Morning Five, as recorded today. It will re-publish later in the month according to the usual schedule; but I recorded it before I re-read the Zen, Yoga Gurdjieff post for today (which I wrote back in September and had of course by now forgotten the gist of) and it seems to dovetail quite neatly into the post.
Coincidence being of general interest—is it really coincidental?— I’m publishing it here as a supplement to the written piece.
A note about The Morning Five, for readers who may not be familiar with it.
This effort came about because of what was perceived as a need for folks to have a little bit of stimulating thinking at the beginning (or, for that matter, anytime) of their day that brings the consideration of life and being into a somewhat different focus. A little bit of orange juice, so to speak, to nourish a part of ourselves that we too often don't pay attention to for enough of the day.
To remind folks at the very beginning of what they’re doing that there are questions in life other than the usual ones about whether we have enough money, or will survive the day and so on. (Actually, that last thought is quite useful, and if always present raises many other important thoughts, but never mind.)
Each one of these podcasts is an offering drawn directly from my own work and my own questions, as I begin each day. They are more or less representative of what I think about not just in the morning, but all day long, because once the note is struck it tends to reverberate.
In the spirit of sharing effort in our work together, it's intended as a kind of food for people to keep them moving forward in their search for a path through life. And above all, a reminder of one’s molecular, organic, and cosmological nature.
As such the effort is highly experimental, and one can expect some unevenness. For this, I take full responsibility and apologize in advance in case you are somehow disappointed with the perhaps-even-feeble nature of my efforts. There are times when your disappointment will be wholly justified—and then there are the other times where you’ll need to take a look at your negativity, which is a task we all have to confront on a daily basis. Not everything any of us do, after all, is ever entirely good or bad. Things do however tend to tilt in one direction or another; and as the inimitable Skiritch of Gabrielle’s Tales says, “that which tilts may fall over.”
100% of the podcasts in this series are spoken entirely in the moment, and I never know what I am going to say, when I begin—always very early in the morning—to record a podcast. This requires a good deal of presence of mind, if I do say so myself (or even have any), and the manner in which I speak reflects that: I’m in the conscious process of allowing thought to arise, to form, and to follow itself into the next thought in each moment. There’s a demand that it be coherent, rational and connected, and that it arise as naturally as possible from the moment, into the moment.
So I’m not reading from a script. If I sound a little odd, that may be why. Mea culpa.
A new impression of what thinking actually is may become available through this effort. That is of course a question and not an assertion, nor a guarantee. You might want to see for yourself; and if so, allow me to mention that this in itself is an interesting experiment and if you’ve never tried it, you might want to give it a shot. We rarely follow our thought closely with intention and attention as it arises, and if we do it may turn out we know much less about its nature than (ha ha ha) we think we do.
At least that’s the case for me.
Occasionally, I do a little bit of editing cleanup, when external noises have interfered, but not much. One may therefore hear the sound of the train that passes every morning in the distance, or some creaking of chairs or stairs.
The recordings are, therefore, not crystalline perfection. Theyre a bit rough around the edges, and I may slur a word, or not get something out so smoothly on occasion.
There are times when I fix that, and times when I just let life be what it is and leave it in.
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