Day 1: Identification: Our Natural State

We are accustomed to calling each of our impulses ‘I’. This tendency to identify with our functions—to literally give them our entire identity—limits our ability to observe them, because we cannot see something in which we are so wholly engrossed. The first step in studying identification is learning to recognize when we are in this state and then to create a moment of separation through self-remembering. Without this recognition, we remain permanently trapped in mechanical reactions, taking our thoughts and emotions to be ourselves rather than merely passing states. We will end this first session by introducing the ‘Looking Exercise,’ a practical method designed to highlight identification and create the inner space necessary to dissolve it. Participants will join a dedicated teamwork platform where they can share their observations and receive prompts to remind them of the exercise throughout the day.

We will explore how identification is presented in Esoteric Christianity, specifically in the Temptation of Adam and Eve. When the serpent offers Eve the tempting fruit of knowledge, she doesn’t see that it is offered by a serpent, representing one set of ‘I’s’ from her functions. Instead, she thinks it is her own choice, her own idea from the whole of herself—her own ‘I’. This myth illustrates the principle of identification: the inability to separate between our fleeting impulses and our true selves.

Annunciation, detail of Mary | Fra Angelico | 1425 – 1426 C.E.

Day 3: Non-Identification

We will begin our final session by sharing observations from the ‘Looking Exercise’ with the additional physical element introduced in the previous session. Most participants will note how anchoring our efforts to our breathing is challenging, but creates a stable foundation for prolonging self-remembering. This type of effort requires a lot of our inner resources. We cannot maintain this effort internally while being engaged with externally demanding tasks. We will therefore consider other ways to introduce the same consistent separation into the more active parts of our day—during conversations, stressful work scenarios, or moments that demand intellectual concentration.

We will conclude this 3-day workshop with a general presentation of our teaching. The consequence of Adam and Eve’s temptation is losing the Garden of Eden and having to farm the earth in order to earn their daily bread. This lays the ground for the structure of our teaching, called The Old New Method, where twelve symbolic labors of inner work are assigned, one per month. Through these monthly practices, practitioners develop the capacity to participate fully in life without losing their sense of self so easily; liberation from identification through conscious labor.