Even though I have ornaments in my own pond and like them, I dislike other people's lawn ornaments. But now, because I am in the Work [the Gurdjieff method], when I drive by other people's yards, I try to put my dislike aside and think of what affection was active in the person who put the lawn ornaments there. What is it that they are trying to share? They obviously like the ornaments and are trying to share that love with me. If I am busy disliking the ornaments, I can't appreciate what the person is trying to share with me . . .
Our subjective orientation is both personal and cultural or social. On the personal side are selfish loves and a self-serving point of view. Selfish loves stand between our experience of things as they are and our likes and dislikes. A thick cloud of selfish love and love of the world often hangs between us and other people.
— Peter Rhodes, Observing Spirit