Introspections

Eduardo del Buey

Jul 06, 2024

Introspections by Bettina Clark and Eduardo del Buey

Introspection

Introspection

Jul 06, 2024

Open Sesame

“When the student is ready, the master appears”

Buddha

Hello readers,

This project – Introspection – was born out of an initial conversation between Eduardo del Buey and Bettina Clark when we realized that we shared a common spiritual base and a wish to share accumulated knowledge and experience to offer others a variety of options on how to find and explore their own paths of self discovery.

We will share our vision as a means of introduction and invite you not only to subscribe but also to share your questions and experiences so that we can all learn from each other.

Bettina writes “A Spark of Musing - Why co-creating with Eduardo”?

What matters is how quickly you do what your soul directs. ~ Rumi

I am ready for a change – or rather the next level of my work. It is a rite of passage well intended, from focusing on my clients who ultimately want to get to their core and calling, to shedding light back onto myself in sharing how my coaching-journey was unfolding about 40 years ago.

To meet Eduardo del Buey, and his invitation to co-produce the blog “INTROSPECTION”, came as if it was meant to happen. And it was the quickest and most effortless decision I ever made. And one week later- here we are!!

This “Substack” blog is revealing Eduardo’s and my very own journey of Self-Discovery, of what we have encountered and what we are ready and able to hold and share in authentic presence! With these articles we are becoming the witness for one another in telling personal and somewhat vulnerable truths.

The wish to publish what I have acquired after years and years of inner work and thousands of coaching-hours I facilitated with amazing human beings - emerged from a deep desire to leave a spark of musing behind.

And - I will hit 70 in a couple of years. Good enough? I believe so!

I love to see these pearls of wisdom published in “INTROSPECTION”, to be accessible to everybody – especially to those who are on the quest of finding their own truth.

And now, let us go to work – with you:

Eduardo writes: I began to explore my questioning of the universe in depth in 1976 when I arrived at my first diplomatic posting in Teheran.

One of the reasons why I sought that assignment was because the Ambassador, James George, and his wife Carol were considered by many in External Affairs to be quite eccentric, as students of oriental metaphysics who meditated and associated with remarkable men and women.

I was lucky that when I met Ambassador George, he took a liking to me and invited me on the trip of a lifetime – a trek with him and Carol in their Land Rover to Afghanistan, and an opportunity to explore one of the most fascinating countries on earth at a time when such a visit was still possible.

Our objective was the Minaret of Jam – a minaret in a gorge at the confluence of two rivers – a mystical place to begin a mystical journey.

It was there than I asked Jim about his beliefs and how he had acquired them. He told me about his mentor, Russian mystic George Gurdjieff, a Russian mystic who taught, among other things, that people are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and serve our purpose as human beings.

Jim said that people are not aware of the power that they have because most have been tied down by organized religion.

Jim compared spiritual life to a wheel – at the circumference, the spokes are set far apart, like organized religions that struggle and fight amongst each other to keep their flocks together through theology and man-made rituals where a few rule over the many.

As you head down, from the circumference the spokes get closer together and finally reach the hub where they converge – the consciousness of the spirit where beliefs come together as feelings where differences are none and universal union simply is.

All religions have their mysticism that relinquishes set theology and encourages one too explore one’s spiritual dimension free of the pressures from others. This is a solitary task as Christian mystics, Jewish Kabbalists, Islamic Sufis, Hindu adepts, Buddhist gurus, and others use similar techniques to contact their intuition and find the truth within.

As Gurdjieff –Jim’s mentor -- himself said at a meeting held in his Paris flat during the Second World War: "Our aim is to have constantly a sensation of oneself, of one's individuality: this sensation cannot be expressed intellectually, because it is organic. It is something which makes you independent, when you are with other people.

Gurdjieff taught people how to strengthen and focus their attention and energy in various ways to minimize daydreaming and absentmindedness.

According to his teaching, this inner development of oneself is the beginning of a possible further process of change, the aim of which is to transform people into what Gurdjieff believed they ought to be.

A few weeks after our visit to Afghanistan, I attended one of Jim and Carol’s East-West evenings at their official residence, where I had the opportunity to meet Gurdjieff’s successor in the movement, Mme. Jean de Saltzman, who spoke about the most essential component of a spiritual search – the ability to awaken by paying attention.

Paying attention not only to life around one, but to the essence of your being – your intuition that guides you and connects you to your spiritual potential.

Like many schools of esoteric thought, I found Gurdjieff’s teachings did not satisfy my lone wolf approach to spiritual development.

But I did take away that fundamental lesson to pay attention to my inner voice and follow its dictates. That has provided me with a constant source of peace that allows me to be happy while I deal with the turbulent outer world of my previous diplomatic career, and now in my columns and many of my podcasts.

One can meld the outer and inner worlds by using the strength of your inner life to manage the turbulence of your outer life and survive in a world that seemingly is bound to hell in a handbasket.

Carl Jung once observed that who looks outside, dream, who looks inside, awakes.

Some may think that what I am achieving is some form of inner wisdom, others may think it is self-delusion. I leave that up to readers and listeners.

But what I want to say is that I have found a solution to dealing with the world and all its violence and deceptions while maintaining a sense of inner peace.

This has been my “open sesame” experience, one that I cannot fully explain.

But everyone can have their “open sesame” experience if they just follow their intuition and find the wisdom that they already possess.

It is a challenging and solitary road to be sure, but one that leaves you with a sense of being that nothing else can achieve.

When I was ready, my intuition led me in what proved to be the right direction for me.

In my view, this is the way for everyone – trust your intuition and learn from all sources. The solution will come!

And if Bettina and I can help you by sharing our perspectives, we shall have attained our objective.

Enjoy!

In the Crosshairs by Eduardo del Buey

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