Nottingham, Theodore J.
The Wheel of Transformation: Karlfried Graf Durckheim's method of spiritual awakening
Note to the reader: This article is presented to persons interested in the Fourth Way in an effort to make clear the links between the great teachings on spiritual evolution. Surely, the parallels between what Durckheim calls "critical watchfulness" and Gurdjieff's "self-observation" will be obvious. The teachings presented here are from a master teacher of authentic, experiential transformation and, in that capacity, Durckheim and Gurdjieff share in common a special contribution to humanity.
"The first and most vital practice in everyday life is to learn effectively to value those moments in which we are touched by something hitherto undreamt of." (1)
The German psychotherapist and spiritual master, Karlfried Graf
Durckheim died in the winter of 1988 at the age of ninety-two. The
inner practice which he developed over his many years of study, travel
and experience offers to contemporary seekers a way of radical
transformation.
Combining the insights and practices of Zen Buddhism with depth
psychology and Christian mysticism, he has created a potent, practical
way of inner work which thousands have undertaken. Durckheim begins his
teaching by focusing on our rare moments of higher consciousness, those
numinous experiences which he names "privileged moments" and "life's
starry hours." These are unforgettable times when something greater
than our usual awareness breaks through and floods us with
unaccountable serenity, joy, or certainty. Such experiences call us
toward a new way of living and initiate us into a different view of
reality. Mystics, philosophers, saints, and esotericists of all times
have pointed to these radiant moments as proof that we are meant to be
more than we seem to be. These events have opened our eyes to the
higher influences present in our world.
Many teachings have attempted to bring us to a near continual
experience of this higher consciousness, but they all seem to suffer a
similar fate. Almost as soon as these teachings have been transmitted,
they become rigid and dogmatic, and the spirit gives way to the letter.
Durckheim's method begins and ends with the individual on his or her
unique path. He offers no theory, no cosmology, no religious
philosophy. He merely tells us in the magnificent simplicity of eastern
sages that each moment is the best of opportunities for working on
oneself, and he provides us with a process for the expansion of
consciousness which he calls the Wheel of Metamorphosis. These are
inner disciplines which each must apply to himself or herself.
Verification and understanding come out of lived experience.
Durckheim warns us that this practice must be done continuously with
concentrated awareness or it will lead nowhere. The Wheel of
Metamorphosis consists of three stages and five steps:
Stage 1-- all that is contrary to essential being must be relinquished.
step 1: the practice of critical watchfulness
step 2: the letting go of all that stands in the way of new becoming
Stage 2-- that which has been relinquished must be dissolved in transcendent Being which absorbs and recreates us.
step 3: union with transcendent Being
step 4: new becoming in accordance with the inner image which has arisen from transcendent Being
Stage 3-- the newly formed core must be recognized and personal responsibility taken for its growth.
step 5: practising this new form on a daily basis through critical watchfulness which leads us back to step one of the process
In this linear expression of the wheel, it may appear difficult to
capture the holistic context in which these changes occur. But the key
to this process lies in the fact that each step contains all the others
and only has meaning within the context of the continuous revolution of
the wheel. We are dealing with the cyclic movement of a spiral:
critical watchfulness--letting go--union--new becoming generate
ceaseless transformation.
Durckheim names this inner practice "self-becoming." The term suggests
a dynamic, natural movement which rises out of who we are, just as the
image of the flower is contained in its seed. Clearly, intense effort
remains a vital part of the journey, but Durckheim's teaching is
grounded in natural processes rooted in our earth center, the place
within where we are constantly created by cosmic life-forces and which
the Japanese call "hara."
For Durckheim, higher consciousness --which he names transcendent or
divine Being-- seeks to manifest itself through our bodily presence.
This life-force actively seeks to become conscious of itself through
our awakening to our essential nature. All of the exercises, practices
and insights which Durckheim offers us are meant to render us
"transparent to transcendent Being." A conscious being is one through
whom the divine life radiates. The personality has been made entirely
permeable and obedient to essence, the subconscious has been cleansed
and liberated, and the way is cleared for our higher centers to express
themselves through our state of openness, receptivity, and presence in
the moment.
This work on oneself is not centered on self for the sake of self.
Durckheim has a much wider panorama in view. Our efforts are meant to
prepare us to reach a state where life in the service of transcendent
Being becomes second nature. In discovering our own essential self, we
participate in the manifestation of what can only be described as
divine, the source of mercy, compassion, and conscious love. Such a
possibility requires work on all parts of our nature. But Durckheim is
especially insistent on the body as a key to breaking through to a
greater consciousness. "Whenever a wrong posture has become deeply
ingrained it blocks the redeeming, renewing and preserving forces that
arise from the depths of Being." (2)
Durckheim respects it as an expression of transcendent Being in a
particular form and calls upon us to seek our right center of gravity
within it. This requires work on posture, tension, and breathing. The
primary practice to achieve such centering is meditation. This
fundamental exercise, however, is not to be confused with the various
methods used in our New Age culture. Durckheim tells us that "the
purpose of correct practice is not to bring man to a state of
tranquility but to keep him in a condition of constant watchfulness and
prevent him from coming to a standstill on the Way." (3)
The energy of attention becomes a vital resource for transformation.
Moreover, the fundamental effort of divided attention found in the
teachings of the Fourth Way and of eastern Christianity is central to
Durckheim's inner practice: "Without the attention that collects the
whole person--so that he is at the same time focused within himself and
turned towards the object--no meditation is possible." (4). This
continuous awareness is maintained outside of meditation as well, and
is focused on our usual behavior so as to dissolve that which blocks
the possibility of radiating a vaster consciousness. Durckheim names it
"critical watchfulness" which means continual inner awareness of our
behavior, in other words, self-observation.
This relentless effort is meant to lead to a growth of consciousness
that provides us with a new sensitivity enabling us to perceive all
deviations from our correct center. Durckheim identifies this center as
a state wherein a person moves continuously toward his innermost
nature. It is not a place but our driving force calling us home. From
this center we are able to acquire a clear sense of inner direction,
and above all, a "self-confidence that is independent of the world's
praise or blame." (5) Without this center, we are the plaything of
inner and outer forces.
"Practice on ourselves, in the physical and spiritual sense, is always of two kinds. It involves both the pulling-down of everything that stands in the way of our contact with Divine Being, and the building-up of a 'form' which, by remaining accessible to its inner life, preserves this contact and affirms it in every activity in the world." (6)
Durckheim insists that if we have become conscious of our essence, we
have become conscious of our union with transcendence. But to achieve
this, we need to have the courage to meet the unknown, and to "endure
the mystery that cannot be conceptually comprehended--in short, to
pause and inwardly dwell in that to which we are all too unaccustomed,
the radiance of Divine Being." (7). Durckheim calls upon us to risk
over and over again all that we think we have understood, all that we
hold onto as security.
Durckheim deals with the dominance of our artificial personality
through the psycho-physical process of "letting go." His long years of
study in Zen Buddhism, including eight years with Zen masters in Japan,
resulted in his discovery of the unquestionable link between
psychological attitudes and bodily tensions. To be released from our
misconceptions and buffers is not merely a mental effort but requires
dissolving the physical knots and distorted postures which express
these attitudes. Clenched jaws, cramped stomachs, raised shoulders all
keep us outside of the realm of essence which is the only threshold to
our true becoming. Letting go also means "forsaking the brilliance of
the rational mind and entering the semi-darkness of another form of
consciousness" (8). The tyranny of the intellectual center and of a
cultural worldview reduced to the surface of the five senses can be a
powerful barrier to the reception of divine inspiration.
"By letting go in the right way, we learn to 'let in' and 'let happen' that which, in spite of all our ideas, projections, desires and prejudices, meets us directly in the shape of the world and comes from the constantly stirring essential being within." (9)
Durckheim sought to awaken people to their higher selves and to the
deeper dimensions of reality. As a masterful teacher, he only present a
partial picture of a state of being that cannot be expressed in words.
His ultimate purpose is to serve as a signpost pointing in the
direction of that which is within every one of us and which we must
each discover for ourselves.
*The best introduction to the teachings of Karlfried Graf Durckheim is
Dialogue on the Path of Initiation: The Life and Thought of Karlfried
Graf Durckheim. The English version is available exclusively on the web
site of Nottingham Publishing, as is also Becoming Real: Essays on the
Teaching of a Master, which gathers the insights of Durckheim's top
students and links them to psychology, mysticism, and other key themes.
Further information on obtaining these books electronically can be
found under the category Current Titles.
NOTES:
1. Karlfried Graf Durckheim, The Way of Transformation: Daily Life as
Spiritual Exercise (London: Allen & Unwin, 1988) p. 27.
2. Ibid., p. 37
3. Ibid., p. 51
4. Ibid., p. 44
5. Ibid., p. 65
6. Ibid., p. 25
7. Ibid., p. 81
8. Ibid., p. 70
9.Ibid.