Resist Resistance in the Machine

Resist Resistance in the Machine

Our teacher recommends trying to be out of patterns as much as possible. We naturally fall into mechanical daily patterns, many of which promote sleep. So, to make this suggestion practical let us look at this in another way – think about this struggle of being out of patterns from the perspective of doing what the machine does not want to do. Do not absurdly take this idea. It is much simpler.

To wake ourselves up—to disturb the patterns of our lower functions—we need to observe ourselves to find places to apply this idea. For me, someone who is centered in the lower part of the Emotional Center of the machine (Jack of Hearts), I am challenged to raise my state to higher parts of Centers because the machine is content with staying in the lower parts, the basement of the machine.

When you observe any type of resistance or internal opposition, it is a good clue that there is an opportunity for work of this kind. Take tonight, for instance, after dinner, my wife had to attend an online class and needed to prepare for it in advance. I had fixed dinner and now had to clean up by myself. All alone is not my preference. When I looked at the pile of dishes, the machine immediately produced ‘I’s about not doing it now. “I can do these later. I can let the dishes soak for a while.”

When these types of ‘I’s emerge, whether they are small like this example or larger, such as indignation, judgment, or injustice, there is an opportunity standing before you. Do what the machine does not want to do. Resist the pull of sleep. This is the time to engage the Work ‘I’s – the part in us that values the moment, can make a renewed effort on a line of work, and sees through the facade of lethargy and inertia of, in my case, an emotionally centered machine who would rather delay the dishes until there is someone to keep me company in the kitchen. Pick being present to your Self more than anything else.

When you resist the natural pull of your mechanics, you will find that you generate energy and may even find it “easier” to self-remember. Remembering yourself requires special energy and to garner that energy we need to cultivate skills at doing what the machine does not want to do. Doing what the machine does not want to do is no more complicated than this.

Returning to the dishes, never believe the ‘I’s that tell you “later,” or it does not matter, or I am more important than this. This is illusory relativity about the importance of “your time” versus some other use, like being present. This is the tiny opening for becoming more than a machine. Every instance that I resist the mechanical tendencies of my machine and choose the simplicity of the moment, like doing dishes with divided attention, raises my state. I am closer to Higher Worlds, right in my kitchen.

Trade your unnecessary resistance, imaginary deadlines, trumped-up priorities, and ego preoccupations the machine presents on a daily, hourly basis if not every three seconds. Resisting sleep with effort and self-remembering always works.

The Tasks of Heracles is a study in this topic. Do you think Heracles wanted to spin yarn and work at Omphales loom? Esoterically, Heracles is doing what the machine does not want to do. The demi-God is applying this powerful tool and raising himself. You might argue he had no choice—nor do you and me.

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Heracles at the Feet of Omphale, Edouard Joseph Dantan