Making A Difference.

FROM WIKIPEDIA
"By its very nature, the Fourth Way is not for everyone. Gurdjieff said that the so-called "secret knowledge" of his transformational system is not "hidden", but that most people are simply not interested. Gurdjieff referred to those capable of receiving the work as "five of twenty of twenty" - only twenty per cent of all people ever think seriously about higher realities. Of these, only twenty per cent ever decide to do anything about it. And of these, only five per cent ever actually get anywhere, or one in five hundred"

Is it wrong to give money to the homeless?

How do you know the person is homeless? What are you giving them the money for? Are you paying them for being homeless? To make yourself feel better for having "made a difference"? Or simply to help another human being?



It is really important to be brutally honest with yourself when you go out into the world fighting evil. It is real easy to do more harm than good - to feed the rot instead of removing or weakening it. It comes back to that Gurdief quote about the one in five hundred. I myself feel driven to be the one in five hundred. I don't wish to settle for one of the intermediary steps. I am not making any claims to great success in this endeavour, but that does not discourage me from continuing to strive for it.

To be a one-in-five-hundred requires discipline and mindfulness (hard to have one without the other). Before you can hope to change what you do, you have to accept it. Before you can accept it you must understand it. Before you can understand what you do you need to know just what it is you are doing / have done! Often what we think we are doing is not what we are actually doing. Being mindful is to observe yourself. It is surprizing how much we can learn from merely objectively observing ourselves. Easier said than done...

As for helping out the homeless. I really like Matt's comments about opening a door. I a will not argue against impulse donations. I will say that over all they contribute more to the problem than the solution. The money (and the time and effort it represents) could be used so much more effectively.

If you really want to make a difference in the world - help to make it a better place than when you found it - then you need to focus on the solition and stay there. Random donations - while I am sure they are greatly appreciated and keep doing it if you can afford it - are just a reaction to (and almost an endorsement of) the problem.

Reflect and meditate on what you can do to be a part of the solution. Ideas will come to you if you are serious. I am at a point in my life where money has lost a lot of it's value to me. My time, my effort and my attention are my most valuable assets. Contributing some of those much more precious resources to worthy endeavours is for me a much more effective method for making a difference.

If you are a highly paid professional, than making significant financial contributions to various causes may make more sense. Giving cash to individuals becomes a solution-oriented behaviour when it is done consistently and deliberately with forethought and premeditation. Budget for it. Put some thought into it and choose your recipients wisely.

I'm not saying you can't still be spontaneous, just not every time. Too much spontaneity combined with a  lack of forethought often results in more unforeseen problems, or exacerbates existing ones.

Of course you can always continue to just do whatever you wish, thinking only of yourself (or easier yet - not thinking at all) and what makes you feel best. It's what everybody else does - the other 499.


An interesting little coincidental  note. I was going to put a picture of a panhandler or homeless person on this essay, but after an hour downtown (running errands) I've yet to see a single one. Which is unheard of - it never happens. With the best weather in Canada (over the whole year I mean) Vancouver attracts the marginalized from across the entire country, so we've got a pretty bad poverty and homeless situations. Add to that the fact that we are also the most expensive (gotta pay for quality) and you have a lot of hurting people. I will take this to mean I am not meant to put someone's picture on this essay.

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