In 1920, a Russian philosopher Gurdjieff propounded philosophy of multiple "I" living in our consciousness.
Our morning "I" may resolve to do something. Our evening "I" may refuse to keep it.
Imagine a big house having several servants. When telephone bell rings, any of the servant can lift the phone. Since there is no master present in house, every servant behaves as if he is the boss and he answers phone as per his wishes.
This is the condition of our mind. Hundreds of "I" live there. At different times, different "I" dominates our behaviour with the outer world.
The Challenge
The big challenge is to appoint a Deputy Servant who can order all other servant to work harmoniously.
This requires training to bring harmony among all our "I" living in our consciousness.
How does this knowledge help?
Sometimes, we are surprised at our own behaviour. Sometimes we act like a wise person. Sometimes we act like a foolish person.
This brings up a feeling of guilt in our mind. We feel sorry that we acted inconsistently. We feel sorry that we could not keep our our resolves.
The knowledge of multiple "I" liberates us. Once we realise that there can be many "I" living in our mind, we can understand why we are behaving inconsistently.
This brings peace to our mind.
Once we are peaceful we can try to bring harmony among our conflicting "I".
Haresh Raichura
10/9/14
