Conscious Work vs Mechanical "Work" : How to tell the difference?

Andrey

Andrey

Jedi
Hello.

Concerning the topic of the title, so far all I've come up with is that conscious work involves doing what "it" doesn't like, and mechanical "work" is doing something you think is real "Work" but usually very little insight is obtained and for me personally it feels like I did a 360 instead of a 180 and I'm right where I originally started and was "dreaming that I was awake" so to speak and there was little to no progress whatsoever. Usually this happens when I "follow my bliss" too much in an imbalanced way.

As far as real conscious Work is concerned, as stated above, I think it involves doing what the brain/machine doesn't like, actively going against your programs, seeing the unseen, resisting the pressures of the general law and so on.

I think I fairly understand the concept theoretically, but wanted to start this thread for the purpose of uncovering some of the more complex aspects of conscious work and some sleep prevention techniques, as well as perhaps some posts by users who ARE doing actual conscious work consistently and know with relative certainty they're doing it right for the most part. Some detailed examples of how you resisted being lulled back to sleep and pushed through it would be great as well.

I'm sure this topic is nothing new to this forum and I've also extracted lot of good info regarding this from using the search function. However, I'm sort of beginning to see how almost literally everything I do and think is mechanical, even when I'm doing something that seems "conscious."

For example, I just finished lunch. Usually while eating, I'm always absorbed in deep thought, ironically sometimes thinking of something related to the Work! Today during lunch, I realised what I'm doing (thinking about the work while eating) is actually mechanical, so I just ate the food in silence while focusing my psyche on all the sounds around me. I failed to maintain that focus many times during the meal, but kept bringing it back like a meditation practice. Afterwards realised the utter mechanicalness of what I usually do when I'm eating food. Then realised how I'm like this all the time.

I'm trying to figure out how to create temporary alarm clocks to use for becoming aware of mechanical thoughts and actions. And each new alarm clock has to look different from the previous one because the old ones served their purpose and isn't useful anymore at least at the moment.

Also somehow perception of "time" plays a role here it seems (for me at least).

Anyways, what do you think is conscious work and what do you think is mechanical "work" masquerading as conscious work?

Thanks for reading.
 
Well look, a while ago after reading your post, I was on the street doing errands for my wife and I saw a man walking...

Cowboy boots, old jeans, a chain hanging from the belt to the pocket, walking and a defiant look.

That man was pure programming or mechanical work.

Is this understood?

From there perhaps you can extrapolate.

My two cents on the matter.
 
Coincidentally I am making some images for this book by Gurdjieff , Perspectives of a Real World and in one of his many collected conversations he talks about the work. I hope this can help clear up your doubts. Here are some excerpts.

1923
PRIEURE, JANUARY 17

(...) The value of work does not lie in quantity but in quality.

(...) Every animal, as has already been said, works according to the kind of animal it is.
A certain animal - say, a worm - works only mechanically; nothing more can be expected of it. It has no other brain than the mechanical one. Another animal works and moves only by feeling; such is the structure of its brain. A third perceives motion, which is called work, only through the intellect and nothing more can be demanded of it, since it has no other brain; nothing more can be expected, since nature created it with this kind of brain.
Thus, the quality of the work depends on the brain in it. When we consider the different kinds of animals, we find that there are unicerebral, bicerebral and tricerebral animals. Man is a tricerebral animal. But it often happens that he who has three brains must work, say, five times as hard as he who has two brains. Man has been created in such a way that more work is demanded of him than he can produce according to his constitution. This is not man's fault, but nature's fault. Labor will have value only when a man gives to the limit of his ability. Normally, in man's work the participation of feeling and thought is necessary. If one of these functions is missing, the quality of his work will be on the same level as one who works with two brains.
If a man wants to work as a man, he must learn to work as a man.
It is easy to pinpoint this - as easy as distinguishing between an animal and a man - and we will soon learn to see it. Until then, you have to take my word for it. All you need to do is to discern with your mind.
I say that up to now you have not been working like men; but there is a possibility of learning to work like men. To work like a man means that a man feels what he is doing, and thinks why and what he is doing it for, how he is doing it now, how he should have done it yesterday and how today, how he should do it tomorrow and how in general it is better to do it and if there is a better way. If a man works correctly he will succeed in doing his work better and better.
But when a two-brained creature works, there is no difference between his work yesterday, today and tomorrow.
While we were working, not a single man worked as a man. But for the Institute it is essential to work in a different way. Everyone must work for himself, for others can do nothing for him. If one can make, say, a tobacco like a man, one already knows how to make a carpet. To man is given all the apparatus necessary to do anything. Every man can do anything that others can do. If one can, everyone can. Genius, talent, all that is nonsense. The secret is simple; do things like a man.
(...)
As I said, the essence of a man's correct work consists in the unison work of the three centers: motor, emotional and intellectual. When all three work together and produce an action, this is the work of a man. There is a thousand times more value even in polishing the floor as it should be done than in writing twenty-five books. But before beginning to work with the three centers and to concentrate them in the work, it is necessary to prepare each center separately, so that each can concentrate.
It is necessary to train the motor center to work with the others. And one has to remember that each center consists of three parts. Our motor center is more or less adapted.
The second center, as far as difficulties are concerned, is the intellectual center and the most difficult is the emotional center.
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Andrey said:
For example, I just finished lunch. Usually while eating, I'm always absorbed in deep thought, ironically sometimes thinking of something related to the Work! Today during lunch, I realised what I'm doing (thinking about the work while eating) is actually mechanical, so I just ate the food in silence while focusing my psyche on all the sounds around me. I failed to maintain that focus many times during the meal, but kept bringing it back like a meditation practice. Afterwards realised the utter mechanicalness of what I usually do when I'm eating food. Then realised how I'm like this all the time.
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It is indeed difficult to stay present or in a state of self-remembering throughout the day. It seems to come down to really only two things:

1) Choice or intention .Choose or intend to stay present throughout the day, do it again and again. It is simple, but powerful. The mind usually wants something complex, but many of the most powerful things you can do are really quite simple (though not necessarily easy).

2) Focus on going deep into self-presence in meditation, the "I am" in the here and now. This will give a reference point to come back to throughout the day, making it easier to stay present.
 
Andrey said:
Today during lunch, I realised what I'm doing (thinking about the work while eating) is actually mechanical, so I just ate the food in silence while focusing my psyche on all the sounds around me. I failed to maintain that focus many times during the meal, but kept bringing it back like a meditation practice. Afterwards realised the utter mechanicalness of what I usually do when I'm eating food. Then realised how I'm like this all the time.
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Why not focusing on what you're doing in the moment, like being receptive to the multiple experiences you're getting while having your meal.

I'd say that focusing on the sounds around us while eating isn't favouring a healthy digestion, only the awareness during all the eating process will do. Except I'd want to train my awareness and chose practicing being conscious of two different things simultaneously, :grad:.
 
Conscious work can be, and often is what “it doesn’t like” but I think there is more to it. Like when what “it does like and is ideally suited for and it aligns with a purposeful conscious aim” gets put on the back burner due to a self-defeating program. Then you almost have to force yourself to do what you love in order to overcome the negative programming.
 
I think that first of all, there needs to be a goal or an aim, I think that doing the Work for its own sake can be unconscious.

I think before one recruits all the resources of attention and will to Work, one has a need to channel them in a specific direction. In that sense, the general principles of working on oneself, become very particular and unique to the specific trait or aspect that one is looking to become more conscious of.

So, I think the main ingredient to the Work is an aim, and this aim sometimes is only attained after self-awareness leads one to feel bankrupt, as in with no resources to escape the admission of one's mechanicalness.
 
Andrey said:
For example, I just finished lunch. Usually while eating, I'm always absorbed in deep thought, ironically sometimes thinking of something related to the Work! Today during lunch, I realised what I'm doing (thinking about the work while eating) is actually mechanical, so I just ate the food in silence while focusing my psyche on all the sounds around me. I failed to maintain that focus many times during the meal, but kept bringing it back like a meditation practice. Afterwards realised the utter mechanicalness of what I usually do when I'm eating food. Then realised how I'm like this all the time.
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I wouldn’t say that consciousness and mechanicalness is not so black and white. Going off your example…

There was a time when you ate that you didn’t think of The Work as you were not born knowing about the work thus it has to be discovered . Then you found The Work and consciously thought of The Work during lunch this then became routine and may tip the scale to mechanical thought. For example you can do something good with bad intentions and you can do something bad with good intentions meaning thinking about The Work can be conscious or not conscious the subject doesn’t matter it’s the INTENT. You can think about The Work everyday at lunch exploring different topics and or different situations in life and how it relates to The Work… Just thinking about the same topic without intent if it’s The Work, art, sports if it’s just a thought loop that pops up because you are doing something that triggers it then yes mechanical if you are doing something that triggers a topic you like to think about and there is nuance, intent, specificity within this topic that is closer to conscious thought…

Have you ever drive down a street and then “came to” a realization that you have no recollection of the last mile you just drove? Thats strictly mechanical.

Intent, observation, all or most senses involved, focus, analyzing, closer to conscious energy.

Your thought/feeling during your lunch about its mechanical to just think about the work is a conscious thought as you were analyzing and focusing on your lunch thought routine and is it beneficial regarding concousness/vs mechanical.

I would have to say good job you are doing it. Keep working on creating more order in your life and analyze your choices and habits and the result of these things and then consciously course correct towards the life you want build it brick by brick. It’s rare to be consciousness all the time we need mechanical to be conscious and we need conscious to be mechanical it’s a dance and we need to be able to recognize be aware/present (The Work) to know when to employ which one…if I’m tying nots and it’s my job to tie 50 nots every hour I want to be mechanical… if I am making an important choice regarding a relationship or business or health I want to be conscious

One is not bad and one is not good the situation matters but it sounds like you have a grasp on this stuff keep reading networking and learning and making all this “stuff” practical in your life in your 4th way reality that you chose to participate in

A shock I like is when I notice mechanical thought I like to feel my feet on the ground or my butt in a seat and take a deep breath…its like a reset…but the act of noticing the mechanical thought should be enough of a shock in and of itself and then the ability to notice your thoughts and not be driven by them is a whole nother topic within “The Work” that is very rare considering the amount of ppl on earth and very important.
 
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Si la joie d'être est absente c'est que le travail est mécanique.
Pour moi la meilleure façon c'est de réussir à prendre des moments régulier dans la journée pour demeurer immobile et à l'écoute, comme de lancer la prochaine pierre pour traverser la rivière d'absence de soi.
Et de méditer longuement le soir et au réveil.

Pour l'étude et la réflexion c'est comme dis dans les précédents post de savoir à quoi ça me sert, quel but poursuis je en lisant ou pensant à tel sujet.

Pour la vie quotidienne et les relations ce sentiment de présence du Soi est le signe que le travail est en cours.

Le travail de toute une vie pour sûr.

If the joy of being is absent, it's because the work is mechanical.
For me, the best way is to manage to take regular moments during the day to remain still and attentive, like throwing the next stone to cross the river of absence from oneself.
And to meditate longer in the evening and when you wake up.

As for study and reflection, as I said in previous posts, it's a matter of knowing what purpose I'm pursuing by reading or thinking about such and such a subject.

For daily life and relationships, this feeling of the Self's presence is a sign that the work is in progress.

The work of a lifetime for sure.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
 
Alejo said:
Sometimes it's not a discovery, sometimes it's a crafting.
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Any crafting by a 3D entity in a 3D STS environment is going to tend to be tainted if not totally saturated with STS. I tend to think the true deepest aim is buried in the subconscious, so an indirect access is required to sidestep the mental gatekeeper machine which is hardwired for STS. At least that’s the case for me.
 
BHelmet said:
Any crafting by a 3D entity in a 3D STS environment is going to tend to be tainted if not totally saturated with STS. I tend to think the true deepest aim is buried in the subconscious, so an indirect access is required to sidestep the mental gatekeeper machine which is hardwired for STS. At least that’s the case for me.
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"The Golden Child" is a 1986 film in which a child who is genuinely good is kept with evil around him at all times, so that he cannot develop his powers.

Luck of the existence of the subconscious.:-)
 
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