2 Great Knowledge is necessary for DOING 2
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Shiemash51
Nov 3, 2019, 3:43:42 AM11/3/19
to Gurdjieff Sacred Antkooano
2 Great Knowledge is necessary for DOING 2
Grandiosity is one of those
inevitable involuntary manifestations
that must be guarded against if we are
to maintain ourselves as "stealthy,"
or impartial.
SO WE ROLE PLAY IT!!
"Man is a plurality. Man's name
is legion. The alternation of I's,
their continual obvious struggle
for supremacy, is controlled by
accidental external influences."
--Gurdjieff
--p 59 of In Search of the Miraculous
In those spheres where
exact definitions, by their
very nature, imply inexactitude
in meaning, there is a tendency
and a propensity in "intellectual
types" to look for logical
definitions and logical
arguments against
everything they see
and hear which does
not agree with their
cause, crusade or
agenda.
In the personal, family
and social life, in politics,
science, art, philosophy, and
religion, in everything entering
into the process of ordinary life
of these self-same intellectual-
types, everything from
beginning to end,
there is not a single one of these victims of
contemporary and
"established"
civilization that can "do"
anything but, rather,
everything does itself
in them and the proof
as well as the measure
of this is "letter of
the law" and how it
outweighs "substance."
Organizational rules and
requirements are the center
of gravity of these types.
The truth of all of this
is experimentally proved
by sitting in various
coffee shops and
restaurants around
town and harmlessly
observing this "letter
of the law" behavior of
people.
Of this psychopathy associated
with so-called "altruism" and
"philanthropy" it is necessary
to become convinced by certain
efforts upon ourselves, by efforts
of self-observation, efforts of being
honest with ourselves about our
delusions that we can really
help others when we cannot
even help ourselves, to
sense in ourselves by
divine impulse of Divine
Reason, such Reason by way
of which the divine impulse
of Objective Conscience might
remain forever an inseparable
part of our ordinary
consciousness:
"When the organization of the
first Heeshtvori Brotherhood in
the city of Djoolfapal had been
more or less regulated, and was
established in such a way that
the further work could be carried
on independently, simply under the
direction of the Reason of the
brethren present in the
brotherhood, the Very
Saintly Ashiata
Shiemash himself
then set about choosing
from among the 'all-rights-
possessing brothers' those who
had begun, consciously by their
Reason and unconsciously by their
feelings, to sense this divine impulse
in their subconscious, and who were
fully convinced that by certain
efforts upon themselves this
divine being-impulse might
become and remain forever
an inseparable part of their
ordinary consciousness. And
those who had sensed and become
aware of this divine impulse of
Conscience, and who were called
'FIRST-DEGREE INITIATES,' he set
apart, and he began to enlighten
their Reason separately concerning
'objective truths' which up till
then had been quite unknown to
the three-brained beings of
that planet."
--Gurdjieff, ch 27 Beelzebub's Tales
"It is necessary to dwell upon
this because the INTELLECTUALISM
of contemporary education imbues
people WITH A PROPENSITY AND A
TENDENCY TO LOOK FOR LOGICAL
DEFINITIONS AND FOR LOGICAL
ARGUMENTS AGAINST EVERYTHING
THEY HEAR AND, WITHOUT NOTICING
IT, PEOPLE UNCONSCIOUSLY FETTER
THEMSELVES WITH THEIR DESIRE, AS
IT WERE, FOR EXACTITUDE IN THOSE
SPHERES WHERE EXACT DEFINITIONS,
BY THEIR VERY NATURE, IMPLY
INEXACTITUDE IN MEANING."
Gurdjieff, p 284, In Search Of
Real "I" by its very nature is
stealthy and totally invisible
to all other I's.
God is Invisible . . . which is
to say He does not Lord Himself
over others in terms of life of
itself, of the world of itself.
Behind Real "I" is God.
Only what is called the
Great Knowledge can enable
a man to "do" and so it ought
to be clear to the reader at
this point what Gurdjieff
meant when he said that
all acts of "altruism"
and "philanthropy" are
psychopathy NOT BECAUSE
OF THEIR WELL-MEANING INTENT
OF HELPING OTHERS AND "THE CHILDREN"
but because all that they call "doing"
is worldly and has nothing to do with
the development of real individuality
and such worldly lines cannot
survive death as well as the
fact that over the long term
of these worldly lines such
well-meaning people only make
things worse and not better for
other people "in need."
Great Knowledge can enable
a man to "do" and so it ought
to be clear to the reader at
this point what Gurdjieff
meant when he said that
all acts of "altruism"
and "philanthropy" are
psychopathy NOT BECAUSE
OF THEIR WELL-MEANING INTENT
OF HELPING OTHERS AND "THE CHILDREN"
but because all that they call "doing"
is worldly and has nothing to do with
the development of real individuality
and such worldly lines cannot
survive death as well as the
fact that over the long term
of these worldly lines such
well-meaning people only make
things worse and not better for
other people "in need."
Ordinary man can "do" nothing
and everything does itself in
him and this corresponds with
all that is said and taught
about man in our public
education system.
and everything does itself in
him and this corresponds with
all that is said and taught
about man in our public
education system.
Even if only as a place to stand
in the face of the graveyard of
ordinary life of itself which,
of itself, yields only
hopelessness to a life
of sleep, a method such
in the face of the graveyard of
ordinary life of itself which,
of itself, yields only
hopelessness to a life
of sleep, a method such
as a fourth way method as
a form of inward occupation
and meditation is nothing less
than homeschooling by way of
one's own initiative, that is, the
inner self-reliance of Ralph
Waldo Emerson and is something
more than the beginning of a
more than the beginning of a
"radiant wind" and source of
"evil radiation" leading to
nowhere.
According to the science
that we learn from public
education, a man or woman
is a very complicated organism
which has developed by way of
what public school calls
"evolution," from the
level of the simplest
organism, and so is
capable of reacting
in a very sophisticated
manner to external impressions.
And so it seems to a naive observer,
that is to say, from the outside looking
in, that the capacity for reaction in
both men and women is spontaneous
that we learn from public
education, a man or woman
is a very complicated organism
which has developed by way of
what public school calls
"evolution," from the
level of the simplest
organism, and so is
capable of reacting
in a very sophisticated
manner to external impressions.
And so it seems to a naive observer,
that is to say, from the outside looking
in, that the capacity for reaction in
both men and women is spontaneous
and independent when, in reality, the
"answering movements" what are
called "reactions" are far
removed from the causes
which called them forth
and conditioned them.
What is not taught in
public school is that
a man or woman is not
capable at all of even
the smallest independent
or spontaneous action. He
or she is nothing but the
result of external influences
and this coincides with what
I wrote before about the law
of the animal how it is that
ALL OF OUR ACTIONS are the
result of behavior law-
conformable to the law
of the animal such as . . .
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF,
AND GOD AGAINST ALL . . .
and
THE DEVIL TAKE
"answering movements" what are
called "reactions" are far
removed from the causes
which called them forth
and conditioned them.
What is not taught in
public school is that
a man or woman is not
capable at all of even
the smallest independent
or spontaneous action. He
or she is nothing but the
result of external influences
and this coincides with what
I wrote before about the law
of the animal how it is that
ALL OF OUR ACTIONS are the
result of behavior law-
conformable to the law
of the animal such as . . .
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF,
AND GOD AGAINST ALL . . .
and
THE DEVIL TAKE
THE HINDMOST . . .
and
ON THE PATH OF
LEAST RESISTANCE . . .
. . . which is to say
that all of us men and
women are nothing but the
result of external influences.
Both men and women are processes,
that is to say, "transmitting
stations" of forces of
Cosmic Tension, it can
be said that both men
and women are transmitters
of cosmic forces and so
there is the question
asked by Gurdjieff:
"How can he [or she]
be independent of the
external influences
of great cosmic forces
when he [or she] is the
slave of everything that
surrounds him [or her]?"
and
ON THE PATH OF
LEAST RESISTANCE . . .
. . . which is to say
that all of us men and
women are nothing but the
result of external influences.
Both men and women are processes,
that is to say, "transmitting
stations" of forces of
Cosmic Tension, it can
be said that both men
and women are transmitters
of cosmic forces and so
there is the question
asked by Gurdjieff:
"How can he [or she]
be independent of the
external influences
of great cosmic forces
when he [or she] is the
slave of everything that
surrounds him [or her]?"
Quoting directly from
page 69 of Views from
the Real World:
"Man is the being
who can 'do,' says
this teaching. To do
means to act consciously
and according to one's will.
And we must recognize that we
cannot find any more complete
definition of man.
"Animals differ from plants
by their power of locomotion.
And although a mollusc attached
to a rock, and also certain seaweeds
capable of moving against the current,
seem to violate this law, yet the law
is quite true--a plant can neither
hunt for food, avoid a shock nor
hide itself from its pursuer.
"Man differs from the animal
by his capacity for conscious
action, his capacity for doing.
We cannot deny this, and we see
that this definition satisfies
all requirements. It makes it
possible to single out man
from a series of other
beings not possessing
the power of conscious
action, and at the same
time according to the degree
of consciousness in his actions.
"Without any exaggeration we can
say that all the differences which
strike us among men can be reduced
to the differences in the
consciousness of their
actions. Men seem to us
to vary so much just because
the actions of some of them are,
according to our opinion, deeply
conscious, while the actions of
others are so unconscious that
they even seem to surpass the
unconsciousness of stones,
which at least react
rightly to external
phenomena. The question
is complicated by the mere
fact that often one and the
same man shows us, side by
side with what appear to
us entirely conscious
actions of will, other
quite unconscious animal-
mechanical reactions. In
virtue of this, man appears
to us to be an extraordinarily
complicated being. This teaching
denies this complication and puts
before us a very difficult task in
connection with man. Man is he who
can 'do' but among ordinary men, as
well as among those who are considered
extraordinary, there is no one who can
'do.' In their case, everything from
beginning to end is 'done,' there is
nothing they can 'do.'"
--Gurdjieff
--p 69, views from the real world
page 69 of Views from
the Real World:
"Man is the being
who can 'do,' says
this teaching. To do
means to act consciously
and according to one's will.
And we must recognize that we
cannot find any more complete
definition of man.
"Animals differ from plants
by their power of locomotion.
And although a mollusc attached
to a rock, and also certain seaweeds
capable of moving against the current,
seem to violate this law, yet the law
is quite true--a plant can neither
hunt for food, avoid a shock nor
hide itself from its pursuer.
"Man differs from the animal
by his capacity for conscious
action, his capacity for doing.
We cannot deny this, and we see
that this definition satisfies
all requirements. It makes it
possible to single out man
from a series of other
beings not possessing
the power of conscious
action, and at the same
time according to the degree
of consciousness in his actions.
"Without any exaggeration we can
say that all the differences which
strike us among men can be reduced
to the differences in the
consciousness of their
actions. Men seem to us
to vary so much just because
the actions of some of them are,
according to our opinion, deeply
conscious, while the actions of
others are so unconscious that
they even seem to surpass the
unconsciousness of stones,
which at least react
rightly to external
phenomena. The question
is complicated by the mere
fact that often one and the
same man shows us, side by
side with what appear to
us entirely conscious
actions of will, other
quite unconscious animal-
mechanical reactions. In
virtue of this, man appears
to us to be an extraordinarily
complicated being. This teaching
denies this complication and puts
before us a very difficult task in
connection with man. Man is he who
can 'do' but among ordinary men, as
well as among those who are considered
extraordinary, there is no one who can
'do.' In their case, everything from
beginning to end is 'done,' there is
nothing they can 'do.'"
--Gurdjieff
--p 69, views from the real world
"This experimentally proved,
categorical affirmation of the
Institute for the Harmonious
Development of Man, namely,
that the ordinary man can
'do' nothing and that
everything does itself
in him, coincides with
what is said of
man by contemporary
'exact positive science.'
"Contemporary 'exact positive
science' says that a man is a
very complex organism developed
by evolution from the simplest
organisms, and now capable of
reacting in a very complex
manner to external
impressions.
"This capacity for reaction
in man is so complex, and the
reflex movements can be so far
removed from the causes evoking
and conditioning them, that to
naive observation the actions
of man, or at least some of
them, seem quite spontaneous.
"According to the ideas of
Gurdjieff, the ordinary man
is really incapable of the
slightest independent or
spontaneous action or word.
"He is entirely the result
of external influences.
"Man is a transforming machine,
a kind of transmitting station
of forces.
"Thus from the point of view of
the totality of Gurdjieff's ideas
and also according to contemporary
'exact positive science,' a man
differs from animals only in
the greater complexity both
of his reactions to external
impressions and of the
structure of his
perceptive system.
"And as for that which is
attributed to man and is
called 'will,' Gurdjieff
completely denies the
possibility of its
existence in the
common presence
of the ordinary
man.
"Will is a certain combination
obtained from the results of
definite properties specially
elaborated in themselves by
people who can 'do.'
"In the presence of ordinary
people what they call 'will'
is exclusively the resultant
of desires.
"Real will is the sign of a
very high degree of being in
comparison with the being of
the ordinary man. And only
those who possess such
being can 'do.'
"All other people are simply
automatons, machines, or mechanical
toys set in motion by external forces,
acting only insofar as the 'spring'
placed in them acts in response to
accidental surrounding conditions—-
a spring that they can neither
lengthen nor shorten, nor
change in any way on
their own initiative.
"And so, while recognizing great
possibilities in man, we deny him
any value as an independent unit
as long as he remains such as he
is today.
In order to emphasize the
absence of any will whatsoever
in the ordinary man, there can
be added here a passage from
another of Gurdjieff's talks,
in which the manifestations
of this famous will
attributed to man
are picturesquely
described.
Addressing one of the
people present,
Gurdjieff said:
"You have plenty of money,
luxurious conditions of existence,
and universal esteem and respect.
At the head of your well-
established business
concerns you have
people who are
absolutely
reliable and
devoted to you,
in a word, your
life is a bed of
roses.
"You dispose of your time
as you please, you are a patron
of the arts, you settle world
questions over a cup of
coffee, and you even take
an interest in the development
of the latent spiritual forces
of man. You are not unfamiliar
with matters of the spirit, and
you are quite at home with
philosophical questions.
You are well educated
and widely read. Having
extensive knowledge in a
variety of fields, you are
reputed to be an intelligent
man, adept at resolving any
problem whatever. You are
the very model of culture.
"All who know you regard
you as a man of great will,
and most of them even ascribe
your success to the result of
the manifestations of this
will of yours.
"In short, from every point
of view, you fully deserve
to be imitated and are a
man to be envied.
"In the morning you wake
up under the influence of
some oppressive dream.
"Your slightly depressed mood,
though rapidly dispelled on
awakening, has nevertheless
left its mark a certain
languidness and
hesitancy in your
movements.
"You go to the mirror to
brush your hair and carelessly
drop the brush, you have only
just picked it up, when you
drop it again. You then pick
it up with a shade of impatience,
and so you drop it for the third
time, you try to catch it in
the air, but . . . an unlucky
blow of your hand, and the
brush makes for the mirror,
in vain you try to grab it . . . too late!
Crack! . . .
There is a star of
cracks on that antique
mirror of which you were
so proud.
"Damn! Devil take it! You
feel a need to vent your
annoyance on someone or
other, and not finding
the newspaper beside your
morning coffee, the servant
having forgotten to put it
there, the cup of your
patience overflows and
you decide that you
cannot stand the
fellow any longer
in the house.
"It is time for you to go out.
As the weather is fine and you
haven't far to go, you decide
to walk. Behind you glides
your new automobile of the
latest model.
"The bright sunshine somewhat
calms you. A crowd that has
collected at the corner
attracts your attention.
"You go nearer, and in the
middle of the crowd you see
a man lying unconscious on
the pavement. A policeman,
with the help of some of
the 'bystanders,' puts the
man into a taxi to take him
to the hospital.
"Thanks merely to the likeness,
which has just struck you, between
the face of the taxi driver and the
face of the drunken monk you bumped
into last year when you were
returning, somewhat tipsy
yourself, from a rowdy
birthday party, you
notice that the accident
on the street corner is
unaccountably connected
in your associations
with a cake you ate
at that party.
"Ah, what a cake that was!
"That servant of yours,
forgetting your newspaper
today, spoiled your breakfast.
Why not make up for it right
now?
"Here is a fashionable Café
where you sometimes go with
your friends.
"But why did you suddenly
remember the servant? Had
you not almost entirely
forgotten the morning's
annoyances? But now . . .
how very good the
cake tastes with
the coffee.
"Look! There are two young
women at the next table.
What a charming blonde!
"You hear her whispering to
her companion, as she glances
at you 'Now that's just the
sort of man I like!'
"Do you deny that on
accidentally overhearing
these words, perhaps said
out loud for your benefit,
the whole of you, as is
said, 'inwardly
rejoices'?
"Suppose that at this moment
you were asked whether it had
been worth while getting worked
up and losing your temper over
the morning's annoyances, you
would of course answer in the
negative and promise yourself
that nothing of the kind
would ever occur again.
"Need I mention how your mood
was transformed while you were
making the acquaintance of the
blonde you were interested in
and who was interested in you,
and what your state was during
the whole time you spent with
her?
"You return home humming some
gay tune, and even the sight
of the broken mirror only
elicits a smile from you.
"But how about the business
on which you had gone out
this morning? . . . You
only now remember it.
Clever . . . well,
never mind, you
can telephone.
"You go to the phone and
the girl connects you with
the wrong number.
"You ring again, and get the
same number. Some man informs
you that you are bothering him,
you tell him it is not your fault,
and what with one word and another,
you learn to your surprise that you
are a boor and an idiot and that
if you ring him up again . . . then . . .
"A rug slipping under your feet
provokes a storm of indignation,
and you should hear the tone of
voice in which you rebuke the
servant who is handing you a
letter!
"The letter is from a man you
esteem and whose good opinion
you value highly.
"Its contents are so flattering
that, as you read, your irritation
subsides and gives way to the
'pleasant embarrassment' of a
man listening to a eulogy of
himself. You finish reading
the letter in the happiest
of moods.
"I could go on with this
picture of your day—-
you free man!
"Perhaps you think
I am exaggerating?
"No, it is a photographically
exact snapshot, taken from life."
--ch 48, from the author
The material above in
chapter 48 of Beelzebub's
Tales to His Grandson about
a day in the life of some
wealthy man who fancies
himself as a real man
with real will but, in
reality, is not a real
man with real will, can
also be found almost word
for word in Views from
the Real World in the
section of the book
entitled "WHEN SPEAKING
ON DIFFERENT SUBJECTS . . ."
and continues in views with
the following:
"This was a day in the life
of a man well known both at
home and abroad, a day reconstructed
and described by him that same evening
as a vivid example of ASSOCIATIVE
THINKING AND FEELING. Tell me
where is the freedom when
people and things possess
a man to such an extent
that he forgets his mood,
his business and himself?
In a man who is subject to
such variation can there be
any serious attitude toward
his search?
"You understand better now
that a man need not necessarily
be what he appears to be, that the
question is not one of external
circumstances and facts but of
the inner structure of a man
and of his attitude toward
these facts. But perhaps
this is only true for
his associations; with
regard to things he
'knows' about, perhaps
the situation is different."
--Gurdjieff, p 48, views
categorical affirmation of the
Institute for the Harmonious
Development of Man, namely,
that the ordinary man can
'do' nothing and that
everything does itself
in him, coincides with
what is said of
man by contemporary
'exact positive science.'
"Contemporary 'exact positive
science' says that a man is a
very complex organism developed
by evolution from the simplest
organisms, and now capable of
reacting in a very complex
manner to external
impressions.
"This capacity for reaction
in man is so complex, and the
reflex movements can be so far
removed from the causes evoking
and conditioning them, that to
naive observation the actions
of man, or at least some of
them, seem quite spontaneous.
"According to the ideas of
Gurdjieff, the ordinary man
is really incapable of the
slightest independent or
spontaneous action or word.
"He is entirely the result
of external influences.
"Man is a transforming machine,
a kind of transmitting station
of forces.
"Thus from the point of view of
the totality of Gurdjieff's ideas
and also according to contemporary
'exact positive science,' a man
differs from animals only in
the greater complexity both
of his reactions to external
impressions and of the
structure of his
perceptive system.
"And as for that which is
attributed to man and is
called 'will,' Gurdjieff
completely denies the
possibility of its
existence in the
common presence
of the ordinary
man.
"Will is a certain combination
obtained from the results of
definite properties specially
elaborated in themselves by
people who can 'do.'
"In the presence of ordinary
people what they call 'will'
is exclusively the resultant
of desires.
"Real will is the sign of a
very high degree of being in
comparison with the being of
the ordinary man. And only
those who possess such
being can 'do.'
"All other people are simply
automatons, machines, or mechanical
toys set in motion by external forces,
acting only insofar as the 'spring'
placed in them acts in response to
accidental surrounding conditions—-
a spring that they can neither
lengthen nor shorten, nor
change in any way on
their own initiative.
"And so, while recognizing great
possibilities in man, we deny him
any value as an independent unit
as long as he remains such as he
is today.
In order to emphasize the
absence of any will whatsoever
in the ordinary man, there can
be added here a passage from
another of Gurdjieff's talks,
in which the manifestations
of this famous will
attributed to man
are picturesquely
described.
Addressing one of the
people present,
Gurdjieff said:
"You have plenty of money,
luxurious conditions of existence,
and universal esteem and respect.
At the head of your well-
established business
concerns you have
people who are
absolutely
reliable and
devoted to you,
in a word, your
life is a bed of
roses.
"You dispose of your time
as you please, you are a patron
of the arts, you settle world
questions over a cup of
coffee, and you even take
an interest in the development
of the latent spiritual forces
of man. You are not unfamiliar
with matters of the spirit, and
you are quite at home with
philosophical questions.
You are well educated
and widely read. Having
extensive knowledge in a
variety of fields, you are
reputed to be an intelligent
man, adept at resolving any
problem whatever. You are
the very model of culture.
"All who know you regard
you as a man of great will,
and most of them even ascribe
your success to the result of
the manifestations of this
will of yours.
"In short, from every point
of view, you fully deserve
to be imitated and are a
man to be envied.
"In the morning you wake
up under the influence of
some oppressive dream.
"Your slightly depressed mood,
though rapidly dispelled on
awakening, has nevertheless
left its mark a certain
languidness and
hesitancy in your
movements.
"You go to the mirror to
brush your hair and carelessly
drop the brush, you have only
just picked it up, when you
drop it again. You then pick
it up with a shade of impatience,
and so you drop it for the third
time, you try to catch it in
the air, but . . . an unlucky
blow of your hand, and the
brush makes for the mirror,
in vain you try to grab it . . . too late!
Crack! . . .
There is a star of
cracks on that antique
mirror of which you were
so proud.
"Damn! Devil take it! You
feel a need to vent your
annoyance on someone or
other, and not finding
the newspaper beside your
morning coffee, the servant
having forgotten to put it
there, the cup of your
patience overflows and
you decide that you
cannot stand the
fellow any longer
in the house.
"It is time for you to go out.
As the weather is fine and you
haven't far to go, you decide
to walk. Behind you glides
your new automobile of the
latest model.
"The bright sunshine somewhat
calms you. A crowd that has
collected at the corner
attracts your attention.
"You go nearer, and in the
middle of the crowd you see
a man lying unconscious on
the pavement. A policeman,
with the help of some of
the 'bystanders,' puts the
man into a taxi to take him
to the hospital.
"Thanks merely to the likeness,
which has just struck you, between
the face of the taxi driver and the
face of the drunken monk you bumped
into last year when you were
returning, somewhat tipsy
yourself, from a rowdy
birthday party, you
notice that the accident
on the street corner is
unaccountably connected
in your associations
with a cake you ate
at that party.
"Ah, what a cake that was!
"That servant of yours,
forgetting your newspaper
today, spoiled your breakfast.
Why not make up for it right
now?
"Here is a fashionable Café
where you sometimes go with
your friends.
"But why did you suddenly
remember the servant? Had
you not almost entirely
forgotten the morning's
annoyances? But now . . .
how very good the
cake tastes with
the coffee.
"Look! There are two young
women at the next table.
What a charming blonde!
"You hear her whispering to
her companion, as she glances
at you 'Now that's just the
sort of man I like!'
"Do you deny that on
accidentally overhearing
these words, perhaps said
out loud for your benefit,
the whole of you, as is
said, 'inwardly
rejoices'?
"Suppose that at this moment
you were asked whether it had
been worth while getting worked
up and losing your temper over
the morning's annoyances, you
would of course answer in the
negative and promise yourself
that nothing of the kind
would ever occur again.
"Need I mention how your mood
was transformed while you were
making the acquaintance of the
blonde you were interested in
and who was interested in you,
and what your state was during
the whole time you spent with
her?
"You return home humming some
gay tune, and even the sight
of the broken mirror only
elicits a smile from you.
"But how about the business
on which you had gone out
this morning? . . . You
only now remember it.
Clever . . . well,
never mind, you
can telephone.
"You go to the phone and
the girl connects you with
the wrong number.
"You ring again, and get the
same number. Some man informs
you that you are bothering him,
you tell him it is not your fault,
and what with one word and another,
you learn to your surprise that you
are a boor and an idiot and that
if you ring him up again . . . then . . .
"A rug slipping under your feet
provokes a storm of indignation,
and you should hear the tone of
voice in which you rebuke the
servant who is handing you a
letter!
"The letter is from a man you
esteem and whose good opinion
you value highly.
"Its contents are so flattering
that, as you read, your irritation
subsides and gives way to the
'pleasant embarrassment' of a
man listening to a eulogy of
himself. You finish reading
the letter in the happiest
of moods.
"I could go on with this
picture of your day—-
you free man!
"Perhaps you think
I am exaggerating?
"No, it is a photographically
exact snapshot, taken from life."
--ch 48, from the author
The material above in
chapter 48 of Beelzebub's
Tales to His Grandson about
a day in the life of some
wealthy man who fancies
himself as a real man
with real will but, in
reality, is not a real
man with real will, can
also be found almost word
for word in Views from
the Real World in the
section of the book
entitled "WHEN SPEAKING
ON DIFFERENT SUBJECTS . . ."
and continues in views with
the following:
"This was a day in the life
of a man well known both at
home and abroad, a day reconstructed
and described by him that same evening
as a vivid example of ASSOCIATIVE
THINKING AND FEELING. Tell me
where is the freedom when
people and things possess
a man to such an extent
that he forgets his mood,
his business and himself?
In a man who is subject to
such variation can there be
any serious attitude toward
his search?
"You understand better now
that a man need not necessarily
be what he appears to be, that the
question is not one of external
circumstances and facts but of
the inner structure of a man
and of his attitude toward
these facts. But perhaps
this is only true for
his associations; with
regard to things he
'knows' about, perhaps
the situation is different."
--Gurdjieff, p 48, views
pages 4 and 5 of the
Prologue to the 3rd Series:
"As I had the intention of
publishing the first series
of my writings the following
year, I therefore decided,
parallel with working on the
books of the second series,
to hold frequent public
readings of the
first series.
"I decided to do this in order,
before finally sending them to
press, to review them once more
but this time in accordance with
the impressions with which different
fragments were received by people
of different typicalities and different
degrees [DIFFERENT LEVELS] of
degrees [DIFFERENT LEVELS] of
mental development.
"And in view of this aim, I began
from then on to invite to my city
apartment different persons of my
acquaintance of corresponding
individuality to hear the chapter
proposed for correction, which was
read aloud by somebody in their
presence.
"At that time, I had my principal
place of residence for my whole
family as well as for myself at
Fontainebleau, but because of my
frequent visits to Paris I was
"During these common readings,
in the presence of listeners
of many different typicalities,
while simultaneously observing
the audience and listening to
my writing, now ready for
publication, I for the first
time very definitely established
and clearly, without any doubt,
understood the following:
"The form of the exposition of
my thoughts in these writings
could be understood exclusively
by those readers who, in one
way or another, were already
acquainted with the peculiar
form of my mentation.
"But every other reader for
whom, strictly speaking, I
had goaded myself almost day
and night during this time,
would understand nearly
nothing.
"During this common reading,
by the way, I enlightened
myself for the first time
with regard to the particular
form in which it would be
necessary to write in order
that it might by accessible
to the understanding of
everyone."
--Gurdjieff, LIR
"And in view of this aim, I began
from then on to invite to my city
apartment different persons of my
acquaintance of corresponding
individuality to hear the chapter
proposed for correction, which was
read aloud by somebody in their
presence.
"At that time, I had my principal
place of residence for my whole
family as well as for myself at
Fontainebleau, but because of my
frequent visits to Paris I was
obliged also to have an
apartment there.
"During these common readings,
in the presence of listeners
of many different typicalities,
while simultaneously observing
the audience and listening to
my writing, now ready for
publication, I for the first
time very definitely established
and clearly, without any doubt,
understood the following:
"The form of the exposition of
my thoughts in these writings
could be understood exclusively
by those readers who, in one
way or another, were already
acquainted with the peculiar
form of my mentation.
"But every other reader for
whom, strictly speaking, I
had goaded myself almost day
and night during this time,
would understand nearly
nothing.
"During this common reading,
by the way, I enlightened
myself for the first time
with regard to the particular
form in which it would be
necessary to write in order
that it might by accessible
to the understanding of
everyone."
--Gurdjieff, LIR
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