Part IVl
Discounting/Dismissing

Once formatory mind receives enough of an impression, it assumes that it knows what it is viewing and therefore categorizes/labels the impression as 'X'. When our formatory mind assumes that it knows what the category is for the next impression, it never sees, hears nor takes in any incoming aspect of the subsequent impressions.

Illustration:
Believe it or not, you can read this.

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulacity uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the [formatory] hamun mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oderr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tnihg is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can slitl raed ervey lteter wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the hmuan mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig and I awlyas thhougt slpeling was ipmorantt.

Not only does our formatory nature transfer similar incoming impressions into its already, preordained categories, however undigested, our formatory mind becomes deaf, dumb and blind towards any incoming new impressions which may contradict the previously assumed position. As a result, the more we are convinced of our own innate intelligence, the less we become able to learn.

There is an endless false personality/personality battle between human beings. Individuals experience themselves as being awake and aware of all that is occurring around them, but because we remain asleep, we do not notice that we automatically discount or dismiss what someone else has to say. As this ego-battle rages throughout the quest for status/hierarchy, people do not observe their endless struggle to establish a fallacious sense of status for themselves.

Nothing halts the incessant ramblings of personality quite like the realization that there was more than one truth to a situation. The hubris of personality is put to the test when we realize that someone else might be just as correct, or profound and yet still manage not to agree with one's own point of view.

It is easy to distinguish between personality and Work consciousness. For the ego, it is: "If I am right, then you must be wrong," versus the Work principle that we are both right as well as being both wrong. For the ego, "If I know what I am talking about, then you make no sense," versus the Work point of view that we both know nothing and we can do even less.

Gurdjieff once stated, "Internal consider never; External consider always." Our egos inner consider automatically, but one thing the personality cannot do automatically is to externally consider. Egos do not know how to get outside of themselves. It takes a fair amount of psychological growth to approach the humble ability of externally considering another's point of view other than one's own.

[next]