• October 10, 2016

    I still do not understand what you mean about neither expressing nor suppressing. What’s the alternative?

    This seems to be the single most difficult part of work on self to understand and the problem probably started with G’s famous dictum about not expressing what he called negative emotions.

    Let’s go step by step. You observe in real time that anger is arising in you. The observation begins with noting the sensations of anger and then perhaps moves on to labeling it, or perhaps not. It doesn’t matter at this point. The observing remains objective…that is, you do not judge/criticize yourself for the anger nor do you justify it by blaming circumstances or other people. It is simply an experience of anger. You decide not to express it. There is no psychological dimension, no identification, no body-based habitual compulsion to express. The anger is energy, that’s all. Unlike in suppressing, this energy does not need to go anywhere else; it does not drive other unconscious reactions and thought loops such as self-pity, self-loathing, hatred or the desire for violence.

    This is a very elegant maneuver, in my opinion requiring years of observing self to accomplish. And even then, do not assume it is always within your capacity to accomplish it.

    Do you undertake this maneuver for the sake of the work?

    This is an interesting question. Do you need a reason? It is possible for any reason to become a subtle form of suppression. If you want to restrain expression in order to excel at the work, you may be adopting a standard of performance that requires you to suppress. The same could be said for withholding expression for the benefit of other people.

    Then why aim for non-expression?

    Observation of self takes you there, intending it or not. Expression of so-called negative emotion is objectively a waste of energy which is observably injurious to the machine and an insult to your being. After much objective observing, it becomes an unnecessary extravagance.

    What happens to the energy of the negative emotion?

    Remember that the term negative emotion is not a judgment about tone or content but simply a reference to the fact that it results in an energetic discharge. That’s what emotions do. By not discharging, the energy becomes available for use.  It may help you to wake up. It may attract your presence which easily becomes absent when negative emotions are active along with their identifications.

    The question that arises is this: can you take everything as data?

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