First Year Studies

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This paper was written in November 1978 "in response toIdries Shah's 'Learning How to Learn' which marked a seachange in material from Octagon Press and was written ayear before the activation of the Society for Sufi Studies."

First edition in this format: 19 April, 2007


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First Year Studies

The notes were made to help me clarify some of the ideasraised at recent meetings. They are not a summary ofthese meetings; even so, they may be helpful to others, asthey cover an area which seems to have been largelyignored by the **** groups.

Because human history tends to repeat itself, the greatdanger during any re-examination of the basic principlesand practices is that a group or individual will simply fixateon the externals of some new teaching vehicle. To borrowa technical term from the behavioural sciences, re-motivation - the switching of the prime focus of attention -can result in the setting up of a new credenda and authorityfigure, a process which recreates the ritualistic charade thatthe original examination was designed to frustrate. In thepresent circumstances, Shah could well become such afigure and study group material the new credenda.Novelty, unfortunately, is no insurance against ourmistaking the container for the content.

To help prevent this possibility, it is necessary to realisethat Shah represents a capacity. This capacity can be usedto raise the threshold of comprehension of others, but toachieve this the individuals concerned have to attend tomethod. Concentrate on this and you will not find yourselfin the vulnerable position of one whose efforts collapse forlack of direction when the teacher moves on to meet othersneeds. We have a chance, but it will slip through ourfingers if we are unable to detach from the superficialaspects of the current teaching projection and projector. Itis obedience to method, not externals, that matter. And itus up to the student to distinguish between these two


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elements. Such discrimination forms one of the essential'tests' of the Way (designed not to 'keep people out',incidentally, but to prevent premature experience).

So these notes are concerned with method - the method oflearning. They start with the observation that we have tobe taught how to learn: that we imagine we want to learn;and that we have assumptions about what is to be learnedwhich prevent us learning what we need first to absorb.

Let us start from first principles. If a child is to mature intoa sane and healthy adult, certain basic functionalrequirements or appetites have to be satisfied, Thus as wellas physical needs like food and exercise, there are a rangeof psychological needs which also have to be met. Theselater can be divided into various categories, andcontemporary social scientists have developed numeroussophisticated terms to describe them' There is no need tolist all these here; it is sufficient to draw attention to themsimply, in terms of everyday speech, via such generalexpressions as 'emotional life', 'intellectual fulfilment','kinship need', 'social life', 'job satisfaction', and so forth.These constitute far from an exhaustive catalogue,naturally, but they are sufficient to remind us of theexistence of the categories, for it is the relevance of thesevarious appetites to man's spiritual evolution, not theirnumber or definition, which is of more interest to us. Thisrelevance can be introduced by first remarking on a verygeneral feature of human life.

Almost all the social systems known to man conduct theirbusiness, either wittingly or unwittingly, by confusing thevarious (types) of our functional requirements. They tradeby what is in effect forgery: the substitution ofsatisfactions, the sublimation of one need or appetite foranother. (The technical term for this process is 'functionaldisplacement', by the way.) In this respect those groupswhich pursue 'truth' or spiritual development differ hardlyone whit from those which like advertising agencies,


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actually make their living from such deception. I sayhardly differ because there is one difference - theinstitutions concerned with 'higher learning' are more likelythan not to be unaware of the basic confusion reigning intheir house.

This tendency to confuse what are in effect entirelyseparate functions is implicitly encouraged and carried outeverywhere. It is a feature of the world we live in, and,though maybe a matter of regret, is not of concern here. Ithas been amply illustrated by zoologists, anthropologists,and sociologists, in both popular and specialist forms.Under consideration now is the constructive conceptionthat only when the various psychological functions of ahuman being have been separated for what they are, willremedial action become possible. And by remedial action Imean the specific process which can prepare for that formof perception which he or she has a chance to gain but towhich he currently has no access. The purpose here,therefore, is to encourage the necessary preliminaryinvestigations which reveal the major source of ourconfusion and inability to learn in the area traditionallyreferred to as 'higher knowledge'. Once exhibited, it maybe possible to move to the next stage, to sensitize apresently unused part of our neural apparatus with thatwhich might be said to structure and inform the world ofappearances. (In esoteric terms, of course, the twoelements of this formulation can be substituted by suchshorthand as 'connecting essence with reality' or 'waking upto reality', but discussion in these terms will be avoided assuch expressions can amount to jargon and do not in myexperience help us to get to the bottom of things.)

What then is our situation? Why is our perceptionfragmented and partially intelligible, not panoramic,complete and harmonious? Why do we find it so difficultto learn and, more importantly, to change? The beginningsof an answer to these related questions can best beconveyed by starting with an analogy. Imagine the human


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mind as a nest, with its various needs represented by twofledglings. One of these is the legitimate offspring of thebirds that built the nest, the other is a baby cuckoo, insertedthere by it parasitic parents. The cuckoo's demandsrepresent those various categories or aspects which togethermake up the personality, the secondary self. In terms of theactions through which we continually express ourselves,these are the intellectual, social, emotional, vocational, andamusement habits introduced earlier. These 'cuckoo' habitswe acquire from an early age and, again, the process hasbeen extensively documented by the relevant specialists,the developmental psychologists. Taking the other nestlingas that part of our mind which has the potential to connectwith the world intuitively and directly (and these terms areused for want of any better), we have a working analogy ofhow our learning capacity develops. The cuckoo's needsare so demanding, so strident, that they immediatelymonopolise all stimuli - to the extent of starving orstunting the growth of the other nestling. Fairly swiftly, thecuckoo becomes the sole occupier; nothing else remains.And so with our development. The needs of the secondaryself become so pressing that they rule out any cohabitant,or at least suppress it with such effectiveness that it mightas well not be there at all. Henceforward we growlopsidedly.

How does this analogy help explain our experiences ofeveryday life? Obviously, a complete answer to this cannotbe attempted here, but two stands can be unravelled fairlyeasily. One I will deal with here, the other in section six.

The satisfaction of our noisy personality is somethingentirely legitimate and necessary. However, in the courseof this process it is assumed that the 'missing' higherperceptual part has also been fulfilled. I suspect that thisassumption goes largely unchallenged because we are veryignorant of how we work (and hence the stress put onknowing oneself by many esoteric teachers). From ourpoint of view, though, the significant part of this process


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lies not so much in the fact of the undeveloped (becauseunfed) organ of direct cognition, but in the confusion,fostered by an ignorance of nutritional needs, that thecapacity for direct perception is being developed. In reality,other needs are being satisfied. It is this consistentmisinterpretation which constrains learning. Furthermore,so widespread and compelling is the illusion of spiritualdevelopment that we find it difficult to credit an alternativeway of looking at our psychic requirements. We are likethe mystified greengrocer who when challenged aboutwhey he put up his prices at week-ends, can only reply;"You don't understand. I lower my prices during theweek."

To give a couple of examples of this disabling condition,consider first the reactions of the emotionally unsatisfiedspiritual seeker. Like people everywhere, they tend toassume (almost by the very fact of their participation insuch 'selfless' actions as lending a hand, helping someonein trouble, giving charity, visiting the sick, doing thinksthey don't want to do, etc) that their experiences are takingthem towards their goal. Where they differ is in theirassumption that the feeling engendered by these deeds areevidence that their metaphysical life has somehow beenincreased. In reality, it is their emotional life which hasbeen stimulated, for this is the strongest claimant forincoming stimuli. In point of fact, such behaviour as notedabove (termed 'external considering' in PDC) (Philosophyof Developmental Change) forms only some of theminimum duties of a person worthy of the termconsiderate, leave alone enlightened. What is in fact anordinary human response has become confused by the'emotionally starved' with spiritual progress.Humanitarianism, to paraphrase Shah, may be onerequirement for higher consciousness, but it is a far cryfrom the only one. It is a condition for starting, not forensuring arrival. To think otherwise is to labour under adelusion, and any delusion, even a socially useful oneremains a barrier to learning.


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Another instance of the same type of confusion of needs isevident in students who maintain a strong preference forobjective, no-nonsense, scientific type approaches to higherconsciousness - the intellectual truth seekers. These folkare attracted to those systems which stress such principlesas 'the need to work things out for yourself', and so sanctifycerebral behaviour. In fact, the motivation of this student isnot 'truth' at all. It results quite simply from aninsufficiently challenging intellectual life, and this in turnresults in a search to satisfy this need wherever possible.The spiritual path is used as an exercise machine forflexing the under-used intellect and the satisfactionsderived from this activity are mislabelled spiritual 'work'.As with the emotionally under-satisfied student, esotericstudy has become a substitute, with intellectual reliefmasquerading as spiritual experience.

In the extreme cases of the falsely pious or holier - than -thou character, spiritual study moves from being asubstitute to actually becoming a vice. In such exaggeratedforms, of course, this confusion is easy to detect. Likewise,it is very evident that group meetings are sometimes usedfor social ends - because, say members have a need to getout of their everyday environment, or because they enjoylive entertainment, or because they seek a substitute forregular social intercourse. However, in its milder, butequally disabling forms, the confusion is less easy torecognise, even though it runs through the whole range ofhuman functional requirements.

Many symptoms of self - indulgent and sanctimoniouspseudo spirituality result from feeding of vanity, pride andconceit, and false modesty under the guise of religious oresoteric 'work'. Nevertheless, though these symptoms maybe obvious, the very opposite is true of the causes. Theseare difficult to detect in oneself as deep-seatedpsychological desires like the need for an authority/fatherfigure or repression of certain feelings. Inter alia, theextract describing the behaviour of the first group of


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students in 'Third Year Studies' draws attention to thedifficulty we experience here in recognising our state ('AVeiled Gazelle', p.25). A person in this confused situationis difficult to help. Duped by his seemingly 'spiritual'needs he is unaware that he is actually crippled as far alearning goes, and his confusion is so comprehensive andsystematic that he will find it very hard to take seriouslyany diagnosis. He doesn't see the problem.

A fellow traveller of this confusion of functions justoutlined, and who can do much to explain the mechanics ofdegeneration in 'work' activity, is the proclivity to consumeon the easiest or pleasantest level. If a subtle or unfamiliarstudy pattern is in operation, its recipients, because of theirneeds, will tend to extract not the developmental nutritionwhich is available, but will prefer to exploit the lesseremotional, intellectual, social, or entertainment gains. Thishas its parallel in the physical world, when peoplesubstitute a higher goal for a lower one. The original aimof discovering truth, say, fades, and is displaced by thelesser one of feeding the various (unsatisfied) parts of thesecondary self. No longer desirous of achieving theoriginal goal, success or progress is now measured simplyin terms of attendance, obsessive dedication to the workethic, conforming, being familiar with the ways of thegroup and so on. The various lower level satisfactionsevoked by these actions become themselves the reward. Itis partly for this reason that Sufi teachers interrupt studiesfrom time to time, mix disciples, or distance themselvesfrom them - to give students a chance to check both whatthey are working for and how they are working. Withoutsuch checks and balances, 'study' can become a 'narcotic.To sum up. There is nothing wrong with meeting withvarious functional needs of the organism. These are vital tohealthy growth and there is a deleterious effect ondevelopment if any are denied or insufficiently met.Balanced and integrated development is the modusoperandi and only cranks and zealots will fail to realisethis. The barrier to higher development lies in mistaking


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the categories, in thinking that progress is occurring whenall that is happening is emotional arousal, a sense ofcommitment, a feeling of belonging, or a delight in beingentertained. And it is our unreflective assumptionscombined with the ignorance of our own mechanics whichcreates and enforces this confusion. These combine totransform work in a spiritual realm into emotional solace,social service, personal amusement, family or friendsubstitute, or authority dependence. The result is that oneneed is met, but not the one fondly imagined. Man'sspiritual evolution is thwarted and development takes placein what is in fact the worldly sphere of the personality. Thesecret thus protects itself from misuse by those who are notyet fully aware of the behaviour of their secondary selves,for, whatever the practitioners may fervently believe, theenterprise has been transformed into (at best) a socialtherapeutic one.

Until such time as it becomes possible to detect where andwhen an individual is fulfilling which secondary selfappetites, no amount of esoteric material or techniques willbe of avail. The student will effectively remainunregenerate as far as teaching goes. To defeat this kind ofconfusion requires the skilful application of the correctmaterials by a living teacher. But awareness of theproblem of learning is the essential first step for thestudent. The prescription can be stated easily enough,however:

Read the basic psychological literature

Seek out a wide variety of experiences

Attend carefully to your reactions,

These form the elementary first steps. Until they have beenmade, we are in the same situation as the man who combshis hair to cure his headache - very close to the problem,but a hell of a way from the solution. It is the condition of


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the student and his relationship to the study which are thevital factors. A Sufi teacher will ensure the rightrelationship but it is up to the student to put him or herselfinto a condition to benefit from the transformationalcontent of the teaching projection. Only when thedisabling tendencies described here have beensystematically resolved will learning beyond theelementary level take place

17/11/1978

First Year Studies

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