The Way of Spinoza and Gurdjieff

THE WAY OF SPINOZA AND GURDJIEFF

Lewis Almeida

Copyright © 2022 Lewis Almeida. All rights reserved.

Almeida Publications

Santa Monica, California

WayofSpinoza.com

About the case studies in this book: I have changed the names of my students out of respect for their privacy.

Cover and interior design by Philip Wyeth.

www.philipwyeth.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Knowing Oneself

Betty Case Study

Fear of Confrontation

Lying to Ourselves

The Process of Strengthening the Mind

The Voice of the Ego

Man is Asleep

Emotion of Desire

The Being of Man

Freedom from Emotions

Nature’s Laws

Jesus the Man

The Essence of Man

Improvement of the Understanding

God’s Attributes

The Nature of the Work

Spinoza’s Language

A Poem: Mysterious Path by Frederick Kettner

My Thoughts

Gregory Grover Teacher

Attracting New Students

Essay: Being a Student

Comments

Carol Case Study

Carol Factualizing

Louis C.K.

Carol Embracing Spinoza

Ted’s Poem to His Mom

Factualizing and Journaling

Definition of Pain

Being in Touch with Our Pain

Problems of Addiction

Perfection and Reality

Importance of a Teacher

Resistance to Change

The Process of Transformation

Emailing with David

Overview of David’s Interest

Gurdjieff Personality and Essence

Belief in Free Will

Gurdjieff Magnetic Center

The Mind

As Children

Free Will

Case Study: Laura Next Door

Mind and Body Connection

When the Body Says No

My Comments on the Book

Medical Field Lacks Understanding

Emotional Disconnection Causes Cancer

The Unconscious Parent

Spinoza’s Ethics

Spinoza’s God

Knowledge and Being

My Comments on Gurdjieff and Being

Poem: Wait with Rejoicing

My Comments on the Poem

Intuition is Necessary

Spinoza on the Bible

Spinoza on Jesus and Moses

Spinoza: A New Character

Improvement of Our Understanding

Regarding Gurdjieff

On Reason

My Comments on Reason and Desire

Man’s Inhumanity

The Conscious Parent

Being a Teacher

Teacher’s Essay: Solving Life’s Problems

My Comments on the Essay

A Lazy Mind

Understanding the Ethics

Understanding Spinoza

The Awakening Process

An Active State

Ego and Personality

Spinoza on Perfection

Improving Our Understanding

Boy on a Skateboard

Spinoza’s Method

My Own Growth

The Emotions

Dolores Case Study

Spinoza on Active and Passive Mind

God and the Mind

Desire is the Essence of Man

Meaningful Relationships

Letter to Students

Letter of Gratitude

Comments on Aaron’s Letter

Attraction to the Work

A Former Student

Developing the Understanding

Gregory Grover

Susan Compares Buddhism to Spinoza

Easter Sunday

The Spirit of Jesus

Jesus and Barabbas

Jack Case Study

Movie Ordinary People

Steve’s Email

Personal Story

Essay: Discriminating Between Your Intelligence and Memory

My Comments on Memory and Intelligence

Hugh Case Study

Paul Case Study

Matt Case Study

Idea of Effort

Ben Case Study

Jennifer Case Study

A Final Note

Bibliography

About the Author

INTRODUCTION

Many books have been written about Baruch Spinoza’s philosophy. University professors often find themselves overwhelmed as they hurriedly grasp bits and pieces from the various Spinoza texts. But collecting random fragments is no way to go about understanding the core teachings of such an important thinker – and thus their students also suffer.

While studying under the late Gregory Grover for many years, I internalized the complex ideas that characterize Spinoza’s language. His towering philosophy teaches us the possibility of coming to a new character. His Ethics – when digested, assimilated, and embraced – can be understood when we dedicate our entire being: mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Freedom from emotional bondage is possible when we learn to apply our understanding. It is through examining our emotions that we begin to strengthen the mind’s understanding. Eventually, as our mental strength increases, it is also possible to understand the laws and nature of God non-anthropomorphically.

Spinoza’s ideas should be approached not as mere written words, but as a living reality which offers us the tools of reason and intuition. With Spinoza’s philosophy communicated by the right teacher as a guide, our lives can be changed for the better.

A new character is born, a character that is free from the negative emotions of fear, hate, and anger. A knowledge that we are part of the wholeness of Nature or God.

In this work of improving our understanding, we develop our own authority to gain a sense of self and self-approval. When we are less concerned about the opinions of others, it is also possible to become a master of one’s emotions.

Desire to understand and loving our efforts in wanting to improve the clarity of our thinking is possible. The mind knows and tastes its clarity and its connection with the Divine. Therefore, true happiness is knowing oneself through reason and intuition and having a direct commune with Her Divinity.

This book examines real case studies to give insights into the process of learning, understanding, and awakening the mind. It is for the individual who aspires to something beyond the ordinary, who seeks happiness, a purpose, and a meaningful life.

Now, let us begin the journey together as students of Spinoza’s great works...

-Lewis Almeida

Santa Monica, CA

January 2022

KNOWING ONESELF

Over two thousand years ago, Socrates proclaimed, To know oneself is the highest level of knowledge. Likewise, Spinoza’s Ethics expresses the importance of awakening our intelligence. The process of acknowledging and understanding our emotions by using the tools of reason and intuition can lead us to freedom, peace, and fulfillment.

However, to understand Spinoza’s philosophy, an emotion of genuine desire to understand and the love of our efforts is necessary. We must learn how to apply his knowledge to improve our nature that is resistant to change. Applying Spinoza’s methods with an open heart and pure intention has the potential to transform your life.

The goal and purpose of Spinoza’s work was to comprehend the union that exists between the human mind and the whole of nature. My role as teacher is to guide seekers through this process of coming to see and understand that great union, and in turn connect with the wholeness of Nature.

An important part of grasping this knowledge begins by examining our nature. We must ask, how are we affected emotionally by the daily challenges and events that trigger us? It is in this examination; we begin to learn how to see our nature without judgments. Our emotions tell a story about how we see life’s challenges and disappointments. This process is learning how to see objectively with an open mind.

The question often arises: Why does God allow suffering? Why is there so much suffering in the world?

Spinoza explains that once we understand the nature of suffering itself, our own suffering ceases.

Consider this sequence: Suffering is pain. It is a feeling of powerlessness, helplessness, emptiness, and not knowing what to do. This painful condition is a weak state of being which causes an inability to act decisively or face one’s problems. When life’s challenges demand more from us than we can give, we may brood angrily, run away, or simply procrastinate.

Man can only free himself after he understands the true nature of his pain and suffering. This is achieved through the process of strengthening his intelligence.

The following case study is an example of how to work through our pain and confusion to gain understanding as well as more control over our lives.

BETTY CASE STUDY

Betty came to me wanting to know more about Spinoza; thinking that his ideas were clear and promising. Betty wanted to come to a deeper sense of self with more clarity and truth.

I explained that to begin to understand Spinoza’s language, we must start with where we are. In reality, we are egocentric; meaning that we live in an ego state. This is our identity; we have a personality that expresses the ego. The ego uses the memory for its knowledge. The knowledge that we acquired since infancy.

George Gurdjieff, an early twentieth century Russian philosopher and mystic, explains that man is asleep and the goal is to awaken the greater part of our mind that is seldom used.

Our true intelligence operates in the reality of the now. The daily problems we face are opportunities for us to grow as our intelligence improves and strengthens its understanding. The goal and purpose are to live from this intelligence in an enlightened state of being. However, it takes time, patience, and dissatisfaction with where you are, and the desire for something that will give a deeper meaning and purpose.

Betty’s problem was she did not understand why she was so angry. On one occasion, while she and her boyfriend Rick were at a restaurant, Betty saw that he was flirting with other women while they were having dinner.

She felt pain, hate, and anger. I suggested that she keep a journal and write about what drew her to be involved with Rick. Because first, she needed to acknowledge and articulate her desire – what was it that she wanted?

Betty revealed that she wanted to be loved and appreciated. I suggested that she accept she was in pain, to be with it and surrender to the feeling rather than run from it.

Facing our emotions in this direct way can trigger and awaken our true intelligence. This intelligence is different from our normal ego-intellect which addresses commonplace situations while we go about our daily lives.

This intelligence, when awakened, wants to improve its understanding through truth and clarity. It is the active part of the mind that wants to understand, and it is in the understanding that we gain a new sense of self through the power of clarity.

There are two aspects to the mind, active and passive. The active part expresses clear ideas and endeavors to understand. The passive part is comprised of confused and fragmentary information; it depends on memory and an unconscious automatic response state.

Your background and the environment you grew up in automatically conditioned you to accept so many things about the world without ever questioning them. The memory contains set patterns of how to behave and handle problems. If our childhood was spent in a fearful environment, it’s logical that we would constantly be worried, envious, have feelings of inferiority, and always compare ourselves to others.

And yet, despite this lingering childhood trauma, we still believe we have free will and dictate our own desires, actions, and reactions.

When Betty believes that Rick is the cause of her pain, she begins to hate him. Hate is pain directed at an external cause. What follows hate is anger. Anger is the manifestation of hatred which induces us to remove or destroy the perceived source of our pain.

Are you beginning to see why I say that no one willfully feels hate or anger?

I suggested to Betty that she put in the effort to journal her experiences, even if she didn’t quite understand why she was being asked to do so. This is the role of the teacher – to safely guide the student, who in turn must have faith and trust in the purpose of their assignments.

The work is difficult because it often requires us to understand a new language, the knowledge expressed in Spinoza and Gurdjieff’s teachings and philosophy.

This wisdom will come to you over time with effort – it will become a part of you. All you have to do is make the commitment. As we get more comfortable living within the reality of increased active intelligence, we can examine our true nature honestly and without defensive reactions.

The goal is to see how the ego-self is really in a sleep state of being, and relies upon memory while operating like a programmed machine.

No one has demonstrated to you that you have an intelligence that is different from the passive ego-intellect. We all are born into an environment that only wants to know how to function and exist in society; however, it is a passive sleep state, a semiconscious state of being and depends solely on memory.

This ego state basically lives through the reality constructed by our cumulative memory stored in the brain. Only our awakened intelligence can break out of the pattern by actively seeking knowledge and striving to understand it.

This clarity enables us to assess when we are feeling confident and accept when we are confused. This is a powerful balance between power and humility.

FEAR OF CONFRONTATION

Ken has been working with me as a student for eight months. He is a highly intellectual type, loves philosophy, and spends a lot of his time reading scientific material. He fears emotional confrontation and is unable to say no to other people. Instead he turns off his phone and will not answer emails. Although he is successful as a corporate attorney, he wants to change careers because it is too stressful.

Ken brought up a situation he wanted to study. He was having lunch with an old friend named Charles and told him that he was planning to attend a mutual friend’s wedding. It turns out that Charles wasn’t invited, but he wanted to go because he had nothing to do, was lonely, wanted to meet women, and get a free dinner.

Ken did not know what to say. He felt pressured to say yes, but was also in fear that the groom would disapprove. Ken felt stress, pain, discomfort, and didn’t know what to do. While he wanted to say no, he could only reply with, That is an odd request.

Ken could not be direct and simply say no to Charles. He did not want to cause his friend pain and was afraid of any emotional unknowns. Ken fears emotional confrontation, so he just avoids the issue and hopes that it will go away.

For Ken to improve and come to a higher level of being and change his character, he must force himself to get in touch with his emotions and feelings. This will take time, effort, patience, and trusting me as his teacher to walk him through the process of factualizing the events that stress him out and making the effort to be in