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Last weekend, I gathered together a group of readers from this mailing list who live in the vicinity of Mexico City. Their acquaintance with The Old New Method permitted us to jump right into a focused discussion.

Older people who meet this work often wonder whether it is worthwhile starting. The journey seems so long and there is so much to learn. They fear their habits are ingrained and doubt whether they have enough time and stamina to alter them.

I once attended a gathering where many of the people there had been involved in this work for decades. Most of them were in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The host asked whether anyone had recently made a noteworthy observation they wanted to share. The question wasn’t trivial; familiarity dampens the spirit of discovery so crucial for motivating daily efforts. The longer one remains involved in this work, the more challenging it becomes to keep the ideas fresh.

In my case, bumping into the idea of self-remembering was like bumping into an old friend with whom one had lost contact for decades…

There is a particular type of ungratifying waiting unique to the terminally ill. In most other kinds of waiting, the burden of having to wait is at least lightened by the expectation of a worthwhile future reward, or at least a resolution. But for the terminally ill, waiting represents just another installment towards the infinitely greater price of dying.

Only people dissatisfied with Life embark on a search for truth. But even for those who seek truth, the search proves difficult because what they find rarely corresponds to their initial expectations. This is why the first step of the spiritual staircase is considered the hardest.

Escaping from any prison is a complex and risky endeavor. But until we bruise our heads against the bars and realize we are imprisoned, it is not even an option. Therefore, critique between practitioners in this work cannot be avoided. The pain our criticism might cause our friends is that very bruise that opens new possibilities for them.

When BePeriod was established, I was aware that we could not simply repeat the teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky verbatim without them becoming an empty ritual. We had to find a fresh way of approaching and breathing new life into them. The Old New Method was the perfect solution. One of the first places I took my students to visit was Chartres Cathedral. I showed them how we would take our cue from the cathedral’s Window of the Zodiac. We would assign twelve fundamental topics of practical work to the twelve months of our year and call them the Labors of the Month. Each month would focus on one of these topics, and December would tie them all together.

If we can maintain an average progress of two steps forward one step back, we are doing well. More often, we find ourselves taking two steps back with every step forward. This is because our progression on the path of self-knowledge is not linear, but cyclical.