Part of the Casswiki article series Fourth Way
This is the 4th Way practice of dividing attention. Normally, one is in a state of constantly shifting identification. Self-remembering can be used to break this automation.
In its basic form, the practice involves being aware of one’s inner state, including body, emotions and thinking, while also paying attention to an external object or activity. Self-remembering can bring presence of consciousness into human activity which usually is mechanical and simply happens.
Self-remembering is a prerequisite of self-knowledge and work on the self. Self-remembering is not simply analysis of self based on past data. It is by definition an activity that takes place in the present and concerns the present. It is not for example ‘recapitulation,’ which concerns the past.
A simple exercise of self-remembering is becoming conscious of one’s body, emotion and thought and then alternatingly look at objects, while holding all these present to one’s attention. One notices that one very easily falls into identification, where attention is drawn to a single object from its divided state.
Self-remembering in the middle of emotional shocks is specially difficult but also very valuable to the Work. Repeated practice of this goes in the direction of forming a constant I which is less and less subject to being captured into identification with passing circumstance. This is essential for forming cohesive being, intent and eventually capacity to ‘do’ in the 4th Way meaning of the term.
Another aspect of the concept relates to man’s physical and psychic metabolism. Man takes in three kinds of ‘food:’ physical food, air and impressions. These three ‘substances,’ also known in the Work as ‘hydrogens’ undergo change and refinement in the human being. This goes in the direction of more refined, less coarse, more vivifying substances, ones more infused with information and intelligence, if one can say so. This process usually happens only very partially and the human ‘hydrogen factory’ is leaky and inefficient. Self-remembering, specially when done in context of shocks, assists and energizes these processes, so that finer hydrogens can be produced in greater quantity. This may have the effect of connecting one to one’s higher centers. In this sense, self-remembering goes beyond a means of intellectually knowing about the self and becomes a tool for transformation and unlocking qualitatively new possibilities.
Intense self-remembering can happen spontaneously in situations of great emotional shock or danger. One observes then an entirely different quality of perception and presence. At such moments, the organism is prompted to work in a different mode, producing a momentary flow of ‘higher hydrogens,’ which enable a different type of functioning. The Work seeks to make these states available in a predictable and systematic fashion.
See also
- Identification
- Hydrogen
- Shocks