First Year Studies

Author unknown
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This paper was written in November 1978 "in response to

Idries Shah's 'Learning How to Learn' which marked a sea
change in material from Octagon Press and was written a
year before the activation of the Society for Sufi Studies."

First edition in this format: 19 April, 2007

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First Year Studies

The notes were made to help me clarify some of the ideas

raised at recent meetings. They are not a summary of
these meetings; even so, they may be helpful to others, as
they cover an area which seems to have been largely
ignored by the **** groups.

Because human history tends to repeat itself, the great

danger during any re-examination of the basic principles
and practices is that a group or individual will simply fixate
on the externals of some new teaching vehicle. To borrow
a technical term from the behavioural sciences, re-
motivation - the switching of the prime focus of attention -
can result in the setting up of a new credenda and authority
figure, a process which recreates the ritualistic charade that
the original examination was designed to frustrate. In the
present circumstances, Shah could well become such a
figure and study group material the new credenda.
Novelty, unfortunately, is no insurance against our
mistaking the container for the content.

To help prevent this possibility, it is necessary to realise

that Shah represents a capacity. This capacity can be used
to raise the threshold of comprehension of others, but to
achieve this the individuals concerned have to attend to
method. Concentrate on this and you will not find yourself
in the vulnerable position of one whose efforts collapse for
lack of direction when the teacher moves on to meet others
needs. We have a chance, but it will slip through our
fingers if we are unable to detach from the superficial
aspects of the current teaching projection and projector. It
is obedience to method, not externals, that matter. And it
us up to the student to distinguish between these two

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elements. Such discrimination forms one of the essential

'tests' of the Way (designed not to 'keep people out',
incidentally, but to prevent premature experience).

So these notes are concerned with method - the method of

learning. They start with the observation that we have to
be taught how to learn: that we imagine we want to learn;
and that we have assumptions about what is to be learned
which prevent us learning what we need first to absorb.

Let us start from first principles. If a child is to mature into

a sane and healthy adult, certain basic functional
requirements or appetites have to be satisfied, Thus as well
as physical needs like food and exercise, there are a range
of psychological needs which also have to be met. These
later can be divided into various categories, and
contemporary social scientists have developed numerous
sophisticated terms to describe them' There is no need to
list all these here; it is sufficient to draw attention to them
simply, in terms of everyday speech, via such general
expressions as 'emotional life', 'intellectual fulfilment',
'kinship need', 'social life', 'job satisfaction', and so forth.
These constitute far from an exhaustive catalogue,
naturally, but they are sufficient to remind us of the
existence of the categories, for it is the relevance of these
various appetites to man's spiritual evolution, not their
number or definition, which is of more interest to us. This
relevance can be introduced by first remarking on a very
general feature of human life.

Almost all the social systems known to man conduct their

business, either wittingly or unwittingly, by confusing the
various (types) of our functional requirements. They trade
by what is in effect forgery: the substitution of
satisfactions, the sublimation of one need or appetite for
another. (The technical term for this process is 'functional
displacement', by the way.) In this respect those groups
which pursue 'truth' or spiritual development differ hardly
one whit from those which like advertising agencies,

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actually make their living from such deception. I say

hardly differ because there is one difference - the
institutions concerned with 'higher learning' are more likely
than not to be unaware of the basic confusion reigning in
their house.

This tendency to confuse what are in effect entirely

separate functions is implicitly encouraged and carried out
everywhere. It is a feature of the world we live in, and,
though maybe a matter of regret, is not of concern here. It
has been amply illustrated by zoologists, anthropologists,
and sociologists, in both popular and specialist forms.
Under consideration now is the constructive conception
that only when the various psychological functions of a
human being have been separated for what they are, will
remedial action become possible. And by remedial action I
mean the specific process which can prepare for that form
of perception which he or she has a chance to gain but to
which he currently has no access. The purpose here,
therefore, is to encourage the necessary preliminary
investigations which reveal the major source of our
confusion and inability to learn in the area traditionally
referred to as 'higher knowledge'. Once exhibited, it may
be possible to move to the next stage, to sensitize a
presently unused part of our neural apparatus with that
which might be said to structure and inform the world of
appearances. (In esoteric terms, of course, the two
elements of this formulation can be substituted by such
shorthand as 'connecting essence with reality' or 'waking up
to reality', but discussion in these terms will be avoided as
such expressions can amount to jargon and do not in my
experience help us to get to the bottom of things.)

What then is our situation? Why is our perception

fragmented and partially intelligible, not panoramic,
complete and harmonious? Why do we find it so difficult
to learn and, more importantly, to change? The beginnings
of an answer to these related questions can best be
conveyed by starting with an analogy. Imagine the human

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mind as a nest, with its various needs represented by two

fledglings. One of these is the legitimate offspring of the
birds that built the nest, the other is a baby cuckoo, inserted
there by it parasitic parents. The cuckoo's demands
represent those various categories or aspects which together
make up the personality, the secondary self. In terms of the
actions through which we continually express ourselves,
these are the intellectual, social, emotional, vocational, and
amusement habits introduced earlier. These 'cuckoo' habits
we acquire from an early age and, again, the process has
been extensively documented by the relevant specialists,
the developmental psychologists. Taking the other nestling
as that part of our mind which has the potential to connect
with the world intuitively and directly (and these terms are
used for want of any better), we have a working analogy of
how our learning capacity develops. The cuckoo's needs
are so demanding, so strident, that they immediately
monopolise all stimuli - to the extent of starving or
stunting the growth of the other nestling. Fairly swiftly, the
cuckoo becomes the sole occupier; nothing else remains.
And so with our development. The needs of the secondary
self become so pressing that they rule out any cohabitant,
or at least suppress it with such effectiveness that it might
as well not be there at all. Henceforward we grow
lopsidedly.

How does this analogy help explain our experiences of

everyday life? Obviously, a complete answer to this cannot
be attempted here, but two stands can be unravelled fairly
easily. One I will deal with here, the other in section six.

The satisfaction of our noisy personality is something

entirely legitimate and necessary. However, in the course
of this process it is assumed that the 'missing' higher
perceptual part has also been fulfilled. I suspect that this
assumption goes largely unchallenged because we are very
ignorant of how we work (and hence the stress put on
knowing oneself by many esoteric teachers). From our
point of view, though, the significant part of this process

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lies not so much in the fact of the undeveloped (because

unfed) organ of direct cognition, but in the confusion,
fostered by an ignorance of nutritional needs, that the
capacity for direct perception is being developed. In reality,
other needs are being satisfied. It is this consistent
misinterpretation which constrains learning. Furthermore,
so widespread and compelling is the illusion of spiritual
development that we find it difficult to credit an alternative
way of looking at our psychic requirements. We are like
the mystified greengrocer who when challenged about
whey he put up his prices at week-ends, can only reply;
"You don't understand. I lower my prices during the
week."

To give a couple of examples of this disabling condition,

consider first the reactions of the emotionally unsatisfied
spiritual seeker. Like people everywhere, they tend to
assume (almost by the very fact of their participation in
such 'selfless' actions as lending a hand, helping someone
in trouble, giving charity, visiting the sick, doing thinks
they don't want to do, etc) that their experiences are taking
them towards their goal. Where they differ is in their
assumption that the feeling engendered by these deeds are
evidence that their metaphysical life has somehow been
increased. In reality, it is their emotional life which has
been stimulated, for this is the strongest claimant for
incoming stimuli. In point of fact, such behaviour as noted
above (termed 'external considering' in PDC) (Philosophy
of Developmental Change) forms only some of the
minimum duties of a person worthy of the term
considerate, leave alone enlightened. What is in fact an
ordinary human response has become confused by the
'emotionally starved' with spiritual progress.
Humanitarianism, to paraphrase Shah, may be one
requirement for higher consciousness, but it is a far cry
from the only one. It is a condition for starting, not for
ensuring arrival. To think otherwise is to labour under a
delusion, and any delusion, even a socially useful one
remains a barrier to learning.

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Another instance of the same type of confusion of needs is

evident in students who maintain a strong preference for
objective, no-nonsense, scientific type approaches to higher
consciousness - the intellectual truth seekers. These folk
are attracted to those systems which stress such principles
as 'the need to work things out for yourself', and so sanctify
cerebral behaviour. In fact, the motivation of this student is
not 'truth' at all. It results quite simply from an
insufficiently challenging intellectual life, and this in turn
results in a search to satisfy this need wherever possible.
The spiritual path is used as an exercise machine for
flexing the under-used intellect and the satisfactions
derived from this activity are mislabelled spiritual 'work'.
As with the emotionally under-satisfied student, esoteric
study has become a substitute, with intellectual relief
masquerading as spiritual experience.

In the extreme cases of the falsely pious or holier - than -

thou character, spiritual study moves from being a
substitute to actually becoming a vice. In such exaggerated
forms, of course, this confusion is easy to detect. Likewise,
it is very evident that group meetings are sometimes used
for social ends - because, say members have a need to get
out of their everyday environment, or because they enjoy
live entertainment, or because they seek a substitute for
regular social intercourse. However, in its milder, but
equally disabling forms, the confusion is less easy to
recognise, even though it runs through the whole range of
human functional requirements.

Many symptoms of self - indulgent and sanctimonious

pseudo spirituality result from feeding of vanity, pride and
conceit, and false modesty under the guise of religious or
esoteric 'work'. Nevertheless, though these symptoms may
be obvious, the very opposite is true of the causes. These
are difficult to detect in oneself as deep-seated
psychological desires like the need for an authority/father
figure or repression of certain feelings. Inter alia, the
extract describing the behaviour of the first group of

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students in 'Third Year Studies' draws attention to the

difficulty we experience here in recognising our state ('A
Veiled Gazelle', p.25). A person in this confused situation
is difficult to help. Duped by his seemingly 'spiritual'
needs he is unaware that he is actually crippled as far a
learning goes, and his confusion is so comprehensive and
systematic that he will find it very hard to take seriously
any diagnosis. He doesn't see the problem.

A fellow traveller of this confusion of functions just

outlined, and who can do much to explain the mechanics of
degeneration in 'work' activity, is the proclivity to consume
on the easiest or pleasantest level. If a subtle or unfamiliar
study pattern is in operation, its recipients, because of their
needs, will tend to extract not the developmental nutrition
which is available, but will prefer to exploit the lesser
emotional, intellectual, social, or entertainment gains. This
has its parallel in the physical world, when people
substitute a higher goal for a lower one. The original aim
of discovering truth, say, fades, and is displaced by the
lesser one of feeding the various (unsatisfied) parts of the
secondary self. No longer desirous of achieving the
original goal, success or progress is now measured simply
in terms of attendance, obsessive dedication to the work
ethic, conforming, being familiar with the ways of the
group and so on. The various lower level satisfactions
evoked by these actions become themselves the reward. It
is partly for this reason that Sufi teachers interrupt studies
from time to time, mix disciples, or distance themselves
from them - to give students a chance to check both what
they are working for and how they are working. Without
such checks and balances, 'study' can become a 'narcotic.
To sum up. There is nothing wrong with meeting with
various functional needs of the organism. These are vital to
healthy growth and there is a deleterious effect on
development if any are denied or insufficiently met.
Balanced and integrated development is the modus
operandi and only cranks and zealots will fail to realise
this. The barrier to higher development lies in mistaking

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the categories, in thinking that progress is occurring when

all that is happening is emotional arousal, a sense of
commitment, a feeling of belonging, or a delight in being
entertained. And it is our unreflective assumptions
combined with the ignorance of our own mechanics which
creates and enforces this confusion. These combine to
transform work in a spiritual realm into emotional solace,
social service, personal amusement, family or friend
substitute, or authority dependence. The result is that one
need is met, but not the one fondly imagined. Man's
spiritual evolution is thwarted and development takes place
in what is in fact the worldly sphere of the personality. The
secret thus protects itself from misuse by those who are not
yet fully aware of the behaviour of their secondary selves,
for, whatever the practitioners may fervently believe, the
enterprise has been transformed into (at best) a social
therapeutic one.

Until such time as it becomes possible to detect where and

when an individual is fulfilling which secondary self
appetites, no amount of esoteric material or techniques will
be of avail. The student will effectively remain
unregenerate as far as teaching goes. To defeat this kind of
confusion requires the skilful application of the correct
materials by a living teacher. But awareness of the
problem of learning is the essential first step for the
student. The prescription can be stated easily enough,
however:

Read the basic psychological literature

Seek out a wide variety of experiences

Attend carefully to your reactions,

These form the elementary first steps. Until they have been
made, we are in the same situation as the man who combs
his hair to cure his headache - very close to the problem,
but a hell of a way from the solution. It is the condition of

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the student and his relationship to the study which are the
vital factors. A Sufi teacher will ensure the right
relationship but it is up to the student to put him or herself
into a condition to benefit from the transformational
content of the teaching projection. Only when the
disabling tendencies described here have been
systematically resolved will learning beyond the
elementary level take place

17/11/1978

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