As I sat by the lake today, suddenly a solitary fish was presented. Only by concentrating attention was I able to observe its movements, which were easily obscured by the waves on the surface. Watching this fish for a time showed all things: a recurrent swimming around a familiar circle; occasional excursions beyond the familiar, followed by quick returns; even the rare ascension to the surface, followed by a return to the bottom and a flurry of nervous flitting about. A few moments' observation from above shows the whole of its life, but for the fish itself the distorted reflection of the wavy surface gives a confused view of the world above.

"Sitting in your room you will not see anything: you should observe in life. In your room you cannot develop the master." Views 147

We must walk "in our room," or take the mountain with us, so to speak. When the work life becomes established, each place we visit quickly is transformed into a shrine; those about us are magnetized, acting even mechanically as guides for us, bending the universe back in on itself.
One way to envision work life is as analogous to higher bodies; it is in ordinary life, although finer and extending beyond in all dimensions. It has no wish to separate from ordinary life or its conditions; on the contrary, work life seeks even deeper penetration into the trivialities of ordinary life, extracting as it were ever more potent elixirs from a seemingly sterile artificial construction. This ability extends more favorable conditions, which are no longer taken for granted. Current abilities must be outdone continuously, for any stagnation pulls one into the stream of involution, whose current is inexhaustible.
Being in the world but not of the world is another way of describing the work life. One may quickly sense these values in conversation. Talk, continuous and automatic, will always center around money, sex, and power in the world. The work life does not follow this flow of associations but is reflective and looks for the great knowledge, or simply self-knowledge, and generally has little to say. Most speech is designed to impress others and oneself, to set people straight, and is motivated by a temporary knowing and not by real understanding. The work life seeks understanding not for others but for oneself. (This will seem selfish until you realize that understanding cannot be transmitted.)
One thing I have noted about the work life is that it does not include writing such things as this. (Even as I write this there is a distaste and a sense of shallowness.) Perhaps this is because writing is generally an attempt to squash conflicts, to affect a crystallization when resolution is not at hand, or, worse, to sink back into ego after a brief realization. This can be seen by our language: tension is the state of conflict that drives writing; attention, or "not tension," is part of work life. Indeed, writing without identification is impossible in ordinary life and not generally desirable for someone with a degree of consciousness. Even for a guru, the writing of scripture is a very far aim.
Jesus spoke of the hypocrites who do alms in public and suggested to hide when praying so that others not be affected by one's practice. This is another important aspect that the last two paragraphs point toward. Not proclaiming our discoveries is perhaps one of the most difficult and misunderstood conditions of the work life. Even when asked for help, one must still discern the level of being of another, often assisting in a very limited way that will match the level of understanding of the other. As Karapet teaches us, "letting out steam" is a dangerous occupation and not to be taken lightly.
Ultimately we are measured by results, both in ordinary and work life. The difference is again in the subtlety of matter. Ordinary results, which are accidental for the most part, are gross in nature, are material things Very few can measure the results of work life quickly, as they are a fine vibration, like a sparkle in the eyes or a certain energy or glow. Often the only clues come when passing through what is ordinarily called a "stressful" situation in a relaxed manner, much to the astonishment of those still "in the world." To one in the work life, these outward results pale in comparison with the change in the inner functioning of themselves.
The work life literally is bodybuilding for higher being-bodies. Just as physical training may build the physical body, inner work builds the astral body and later, reconciling the inner and outer worlds, builds mental body. While to the fish the higher world seems dreamy and ephemeral, to one on the way, one in the work life, it becomes as simple and exact as 2 + 2 =4.

KSR 6/20/00