Monasticism
Reijo Elsner 2003
The Christian life is the
same for everyone independent of where one lives. 'Dying' to the world and
'remembering God' continuously are such hard labours that some people choose to
follow the way to the union with God without the distractions of the daily life
in the 'worldly' occupations. Withdrawing to a monastery or a convent does not
change any of the difficulties or make this work easier; the novices carry the
sins of their souls (thoughts and emotions) and in their body wherever they
go.
Our energy is limited and used up in many ways. One common 'leak' is
the expenditure of energy through thoughts, feelings, sensations and tensions
related to sex and the further imaginings connected with these. After all this
is all part of human nature, 'old Adam and Eve'. The 'sins of the soul' and the
body can only be purified by the Lord sitting on his throne. Our struggle is to
beat this 'legion' and prepare the way for the 'real I' or the
'Spirit'.
Going to reclusion can be seen as an attempt to lessen the
impact of the world and coming into a situation where one is reminded all the
time of 'the only thing necessary' - the remembrance of God and the union with
Him. Read more about Monasticism in an article called Orthodox Christian
Monasticism by Bishop Alexander Miloant, who writes "Orthodox monasticism has
always been associated with stillness or silence, which is seen primarily as an
internal rather than an external state. External silence is sought in order to
attain inner stillness of mind more easily". Read Bishop
Miloant's article.
Gurdjieff says in P. D. Ouspensky's In Search of
the Miraculous: "You must understand that every real religion, that is, one that
has been created by learned people for a definite aim, consists of two parts.
One part teaches what is to be done. This part becomes common knowledge and in
the course of time is distorted and departs from the original. The other part
teaches how to do what the first part teaches. This part is preserved in secret
in special schools and with its help it is always possible to rectify what has
been distorted in the first part or to restore what has been forgotten. Out of
dozens of monasteries one is a school."
Orthodox Christianity has been
called "The World's Best Kept Secret". The main reasons for this is language in
many different aspects. The writings have been available for well over a
thousand years in different languages like Syriac, Greek and Russian. Only in
the latter part of the 20th century a larger selection of this literature has
been translated into English. Some of these translations were made by E.
Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer (three works published in the early fifties),
who both had their association with P. D. Ouspensky. Another 'language
difficulty' is that it is hardly possible to approach a spiritual father, a
staretz, for instructions if he does not speak your language. Still another
reason for the difficulty is a direct result of the forms Christianity has taken
in the West - the Eastern teachings are so different, that a considerable
openness is necessary on the part of a Western person to understand what the
Eastern mystics said and thought. The language and the expressions used are the
main difficulties.
It is at this point Gurdjieff with his vision and with
the clear language he used comes to help. It is direct and is not even lost in
the translations. This applies both to theory and practice. In other words he
comes up with some keys that can open at least some of the doors to "The World's
Best Kept Secrets."
The Russian Orthodox Monasticism has jealously
guarded their communities against the sinful influences coming from the 'World'.
This clash has always been there, but a definite opening towards the rest of the
World has at least and at last become possible after the fall of the Soviet
rule. However, the outside influences need to be kept at bay simply to maintain
the special conditions in the Monasteries.
A Word about Self-Remembering and Self-Gathering
Gurdjieff defines
self-remembering as the third state of consciousness, with sleep and
waking-sleep (our normal state) as the two lower states. I can arrive at
self-remembering by deviding attention between my sense of 'I' and an object.
The object can be within me or outside me. This has an effect in Gurdjieff's
words: "everything more vivid". I do not normally remember myself and to do it I
need to make an effort. The exercise to do this is described on the site in
detail in an article by A. G. E. Blake and called 'Possible
Foundations of Inner Exercises'.
Self-gathering is the Orthodox
work. There are three elements in self-gathering. First: the gathering of the
mind in the heart, called attention. Second: to be alert in the body, called
vigilance. Third: to come to the senses, called soberness. To be self-gathered
you descend within your heart with the help of these three elements. When you
are within the work is to remain there as long as you are conscious. When you
are outside, your repeat the self-gathering and go on renewing it as it is not
something that continues without the effort. When you have gathered yourself,
you are within; missing even one of the elements puts you outside. In fact St.
Theophan writes: "...the ascetic laborer is in a minute-by-minute
struggle...Therefore he is in a state of perpetual beginning..."
For
Gurdieff work and the Orthodox work self-remembering and self-gathering are the
methods that make further work possible. It is the preparatory work that can
lead to the death of the tyrant that keeps the 'real I', 'the Spirit', in
prison. The death of this tyrant (old Adam and Eve) can eventually make the new
birth possible.
The Quest for Freedom
It is said in the Gurdjieff Work that at some
point we have to come under the will of another, someone, who we trust, 'a
teacher', even if we do not always agree. In the absence of a 'real teacher' God
is available for this, all the time. The problem is that we are not always
present, we are 'upside down'. Monasteries provide the opportunity to come under
another will, the Will of God and that of the Spiritual Father, the
Staretz.
What about my freedom then?
Gurdjieff in Ouspensky's In
Search says: "The whole thing is in being ready to sacrifice one's freedom. A
man consciously and unconsciously struggles for freedom as he imagines it and
this, more than anything else, prevents him from attaining real freedom. But a
man who is capable of attaining anything comes sooner or later to the conclusion
that his freedom is illusion and he agrees to sacrifice this illusion. He
voluntarily becomes a slave. He does what he is told, says what he is told, and
thinks what he is told. He is not afraid of losing anything because he knows
that he has nothing. And in this way he acquires everything. Everything in him
that was real in his understanding, in his sympathies, tastes, and desires, all
comes back to him accompanied by new things which he did not have and could no
have had before, together with a feeling of unity and will within him. But to
arrive at this point, a man must pass through the hard way of slavery and
obedience. And if he wants results he must obey not only outwardly but inwardly.
This requires a great determination, and determination requires a great
understanding of the fact that there is no other way, that a man can do nothing
himself, but that at the same time, something has to be done."