GiG 528 April 16 2007 Ch. 42: Beelzebub in America -- FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM

[James Wyly]

GiG 528 April 16 2007 Ch. 42: Beelzebub in America -- FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM

CHAPTER 42

1st half of the chapter
-continued from:
-Beelzebub in America
-HALF BAKED

Beelzebub in America

Beelzebub's Tales

FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM

'This psycho-organic
particularity also exists
in the people of our Persia,
because, as you know, as
followers of Islam, we
have the custom of
polygamy, that is
to say, each man
is permitted by
law to have as
many as seven
wives.

"'And this psycho-organic
particularity in our Persian
people, by the way, is that
in none of the lawful wives
is there any feeling of the
husband's infidelity in regard
to his other lawful wives.

"'This feeling never appears
in any of the wives except
when the husband is unfaithful
with a strange woman.

'And it is only now, respected
Doctor, living here in Europe
and seeing all that goes on
between husbands and wives,
that I fully appreciate our
custom of polygamy, so
wisely established and
so beneficial for both
men and women.

"'Although every man among
us is permitted several wives
and not just one, as is the
case here in Europe where
the Christian religion
predominates, yet the
honesty and conscientiousness
of our men toward their wives
are beyond all comparison
with those of men here
toward their single
wife and their
family in general.

'Just look around you
and see what is going
on here.

"'If you glance around the
rooms of this Grand Café,
besides the ordinary
professional prostitutes
and "gigolos" who are
constant fixtures, you
will always see hundreds
of men and women sitting
at the little tables,
chatting gaily.

"'At first sight you
would say that these
men and women are
married couples who
are visiting Paris
or attending to
some family
business.

'But as a matter of fact
it is practically certain
that in the whole of this
Grand Café not one of
these couples chatting
so gaily and about to
go to some hotel
together are
legally man
and wife, even
though each one
of them may be the
legal husband or wife
of someone else.

"'While these men and
women are sitting here,
their "legal halves" who
have remained at home in
the provinces are probably
imagining and telling all
their acquaintances very
positively that their
"legal wife" or "legal
husband" has gone to the
world capital of Paris to
make some important purchases
for the family, or to see
somebody there, also very
important for the family,
or something else of the
same sort.

BIRDS OF PASSAGE

"'But in reality, in order
to get here, these "birds of
passage" have had to scheme
for a whole year and cook up
every kind of story to
convince their "legal halves"
of the need for their trip.
And now that they are here,
in the company of deceivers
and intriguers like themselves,
they do their utmost, to the
greater glory of the nuptial
hymn "Isaiah, Rejoice,"
aided by the fine art
attained by contemporary
civilization in this respect,
to decorate the foreheads
of their stay-at-home legal
halves with the largest
possible "artistic horns."

'In the European conditions
of family life, if you see
a man and a woman together
and, during their conversation,
notice certain lively tones in
their voices and smiles
appearing on their faces,
you can be quite sure that
very soon, if they have not
already done so, they will
most effectively present
their "legal half" with
a pair of the most
magnificent horns.

"'Hence any somewhat
cunning man here can
pass for a very honorable
man and the "patriarchal
father of a family."

"'It is of no concern to
those around him that this
"honorable" man and
"patriarchal" father
of a family has at the
same time—if of course
his means permit—as many
"mistresses" as he pleases
on the side, on the contrary,
people usually show even more
respect for such a man than
for one who is unable to
have any mistresses at all.

'Here these "honorable
husbands" who can afford
it have, in addition to
their one legal wife, not
seven but sometimes even
seven times seven "illegal
wives."

"'And those European
husbands who are unable
to support several "illegal
wives" in addition to their
one "legal wife" spend almost
the whole of their time
"drooling," that is,
they do nothing all
day long but ogle and,
as it were, "devour
with their eyes"
every woman
they meet.

"'In other words, in
their thoughts and their
feelings they betray their
one "legal wife"
innumerable times.

INNER AND OUTER

"'Although among us in
Persia a man can have as
many as seven legal wives,
all his thoughts and
feelings are occupied
day and night in
planning as best
he can both the
inner and outer
life of these wives
of his, and the latter,
in their turn, are absorbed
in him and try their utmost,
also day and night, to help
him in his life duties.

"'Here, the inner relationship
between husband and wife is
the same on both sides. Just
as the inner life of the
husband is almost
entirely taken up
with being unfaithful
to his one legal wife,
so in her inner life,
from the first day of
their union, she is
always straying
outside the family.

"'As a rule, a European wife,
as soon as she is married,
considers her husband, in
her heart of hearts, as
her "own property."

"'After the first night,
believing herself thenceforth
secure in her ownership, she
begins to devote the whole
of her inner life to the
pursuit of a certain
"something," that is,
to the pursuit of an
indefinable "ideal"
which, thanks to
their famous
"education,"
is gradually
formed in every
European girl from
early childhood, and
is constantly being
embellished, with
more and more
subtlety, by
various contemporary
conscienceless writers.

'During my stay in these
European countries, I have
observed that there is no
longer formed in the being
of women here that "something"
which should constantly
maintain in her—as in
our women—what is
called "organic
shame," or at
least the disposition
to it, a feeling that
in my opinion is the
basis of what is called
"wifely duty" and that
helps her to refrain
instinctively from
those actions which
make a woman immoral.

'That is why at any
favorable opportunity
any woman here can very
easily, without suffering
and without any remorse
of conscience, betray
her legal husband.

'In my opinion, it is
the absence of this
shame in European
women that has
gradually effaced
the line dividing
the "woman-mother"
from the "woman-prostitute",
and now these two categories
of women have long since
merged into one, and
neither in their minds
nor in their feelings do
men make that distinction
between women which almost
every Persian man makes.

'Here one can distinguish
the "woman-mother" from
the "woman-female" only
if one sees all her
manifestations with
one's own eyes.

'In the European conditions
of family life, owing to the
absence of the beneficent
institution of polygamy—an
institution which in my
opinion should long ago
have been introduced here,
if only for the simple
reason that, as
statistics show,
women here far
outnumber men—there
are thousands of other
inconveniences and
controversies that
need not exist at
all.

"'And so, respected Doctor,
the fundamental cause of my
second vice was that having
been born and brought up in
traditions of morality
diametrically opposed
to those prevailing here,
I came here at an age when
the animal passions in a man
are especially strong. To my
misfortune I came to Europe
while still very young, and
was considered, according
to the notions here, very
handsome. My Persian type
attracted a great many
young women who saw in
me a new and original
variety of male, and
started up a regular
hunt after me.

"'They hunted me like
big game.

'And I was "big game"
for them not only on
account of my specific
type, but also on account
of the gentleness and courtesy
toward women which had been
instilled in me from earliest
childhood in my relationships
with our Persian "women-mothers."

'When I came here I
continued, though of
course without realizing
it, to be gentle and
courteous toward the
women I met.

'And when I met with
women here, at first
we only talked—mostly
on the subject of contemporary
civilization and of the so-called
backwardness of our Persia in
comparison. But one day, of
course under the influence
of alcohol, which I was
already consuming in
rather large quantities,
I fell for the first time,
that is to say, as a future
father of a family, I behaved
abominably.

"'Although at the time this
cost me much suffering and
remorse of conscience, the
influence of the environment,
combined with the action of
alcohol, caused me to fall
a second time. And thereafter
everything kept on going
downhill until in this
respect I am now a most
filthy animal.

'At times now, whenever
I happen to be completely
free from the influence of
alcohol, I suffer moral
anguish and loathe myself
with the whole of my being,
and at such moments I
quickly turn again to
alcohol to forget myself
and thus drown my sufferings.

"'Having lived this ugly
life in various European
countries I finally settled
down here in Paris, in just
that European city to which
women come from all parts
of Europe and other
continents with the
obvious intention of
"putting horns" on
their legal halves.

"'And here in Paris I
have become completely
addicted to both these
human vices, alcohol and
"skirt-chasing," as you
call it, and I run here,
there, and everywhere
without any discrimination.
And now the satisfaction
of these two vices has
become more necessary
to me than the
satisfaction
of my hunger.

"'That is how it has
gone with me up to the
present, and what will
come next I do not know
or care to know.

'Moreover, I always try
to struggle with myself
not to think about it.'

"With these last words,
he sighed deeply and
hung his head in
dejection I then
asked him:

"'But tell me, please,
are you really not afraid
of becoming infected by
those terrible diseases
carried by most of the
women that "skirt-chasers"
like you run after?'

"At this question he
again sighed deeply,
and after a short
pause he said:

" 'Ekh! . . . my dear
and esteemed Doctor!

"'In recent years I have
thought about this question
a great deal. It has even
become a subject of such
interest to me that, in
spite of everything, it
has been in a certain
sense the means whereby
my miserable inner life
has flowed more or less
endurably.

"'As a physician, you will
I think be greatly interested
to know how and why this
question interested me
so much a few years
ago, and what
conclusions I
came to after
seriously observing
and studying it whenever
I was in a relatively
normal state.

DEPRESSION

"'About five years ago
I had such a spell of
depression that even
alcohol had scarcely
any effect on me and
no longer relieved my
psychic state.

'During this period I
often happened to meet
certain friends and
acquaintances who
talked a great deal
about these shameful
diseases and how easily
one could be infected
by them.

'These conversations
started me thinking about
myself, and little by little
I began fretting about my
health almost like a
hysterical woman.

'It often ran through my
mind that as I was almost
always drunk and was
constantly having
affairs with these
infected women, then
even if for some reason
I had, so far, no obvious
symptom of these diseases,
in all probability I was
already infected by one
of them.

'So I decided to consult
various specialists, in
order to find out what
would be the early
symptoms of any of
the diseases I might
have caught.

'Although none of the
local specialists found
anything wrong with me,
I continued to worry
because my fear of
these diseases, as
well as my own common
sense, supported my
conviction that I
must certainly
already be
infected.

"'All this brought me
to the point at which
I decided to have a
consultation here in
Paris, regardless of
cost, with the leading
specialists in the whole
of Europe I could afford
this expense because owing
to the World War,
transportation had
broken down everywhere
and the price of commodities
had gone sky high, and our
firm, having very large
stocks of dried fruit
in all our warehouses,
had made considerable
profits that year, a
good share of which
fell to me.

'These European celebrities,
after all kinds of highly
"detailed" investigations
and what are called
"chemical analyses"
of their own invention,
unanimously pronounced
that there was not the
slightest trace of
venereal disease in
my organism.

IDEE FIXE

'This conclusion of theirs
put an end to my chronic
worry about my health,
on the other hand, it
implanted in me such
a strong desire and
curiosity to clear
up this question that
from then on it became
a sort of mama with me,
a kind of "idée fixe."

"'From that time on, my
serious observation and
study of everything concerning
these diseases animated and
justified what I called my
"wretched life," and gave
it meaning.

'During this period of
my life I made these
observations and
studies always
with my whole
inner real "I"—-
whether in a drunk,
half-drunk, or sober
state.

'Among other things I also
read with avidity literature
of all kinds dealing with
these diseases, including
most of the books written
on this question in French
and German.

'This was easy for me
because, as you see, I
have such a command of
French that you could
hardly guess that I am
not a real French intellectual,
and I get along very well in
German, too, because I lived
a fairly long time in Germany,
and for want of something to
do, I studied their language
and literature in my spare
time.

'So, when I became interested
in this question, I was able
to acquaint myself with all
the information existing in
contemporary civilization
on the subject of venereal
disease.

"'In these books, hundreds
of theories and hundreds of
hypotheses were given about
the causes of venereal
infection, but I could
not discover one convincing
explanation of why some
people are infected with
these diseases and others
not. I soon became convinced
that I would not be able to
learn this from the knowledge
existing at the present time
here in Europe.

'However, from all this
literature—of course putting
aside a multitude of thick
"scientific" books, whose
contents prove at first
glance to every more or
less normal person that
they were written by
"complete ignoramuses"
regarding these questions,
that is to say, people
knowing nothing at all
about human disease—-I
got the definite impression
that people become infected
by venereal disease owing
exclusively to their
uncleanliness.

'When I reached this
categorical conclusion,
there was nothing left
for me but to concentrate
all my attention upon
finding out what there
was in my personal
cleanliness that
had so far
protected
me against
infection.

"'I began to
deliberate
as follows:

'I do not dress any more
cleanly than anyone else
living here in Europe, I
wash my hands and face
every morning like
everyone else, once
a week I make a point
of going to a Turkish
bath, also, it seems,
like everyone. In short,
I turned over many things
in my mind, and found
nothing in which I was
exceptional in this
respect. And yet the
fact remained that with
my loathsome life I ran
every risk of infection.

"'From then on my thoughts
were guided by two impartial
convictions already fully
rooted in me. The first,
that sooner or later
anyone having relations
with these women must
inevitably be infected,
and the second, that only
cleanliness protects one
from such infection.

ABDAST

'I continued to reflect
in this manner for a
whole week, until
suddenly I remembered
a certain habit of mine
which I have always
scrupulously concealed
from my European
acquaintances, the
habit which we in
Persia call "abdast."

ABLUTION

"'The practice of "abdast"
or, as it might be called,
"ablution," is one of the
principal customs among
us in Persia.

"'Strictly speaking,
every follower of Islam
must conform to this
practice, but it is
followed scrupulously
only by Muslims of the
Shi'ite sect, and as
almost the whole of
Persia is composed
of Shi'ites, the
custom is nowhere
so widely spread
as among us.

WATER CLOSET

"'The custom of abdast
consists, for every
adherent of the
Shi'ite sect,
male as well
as female, in
never failing
to wash the sex
organs after each
visit to the "water
closet." For this purpose,
each family has certain
appurtenances considered
indispensable among us,
consisting of a special
vessel, a particular
kind of jug, called
"ibrik." And the
richer the family,
the more of these
jugs they must have,
since one of them must
be put at the disposal
of every newly arrived
guest.

'I myself was also
accustomed to this
habit from early childhood,
and it gradually so entered
into my daily life that even
when I came to Europe, where
this custom does not exist,
I could not live a single
day without making these
"ablutions."

"'In fact, it is much easier
for me to go without washing
my face, even when I have a
hangover, than not to wash
certain parts of my body
with cold water after
going to the "water closet."

"'Since I have been living
here in Europe, I have to
put up with a great many
inconveniences on account
of this habit of mine,
and even have to forgo
all the modern comforts
which I could easily
afford.

"'For instance, here in
Paris, I could easily
afford to live at the
best hotel with every
modern convenience, but
thanks to this habit of
mine, I am obliged to
live in some dingy hotel
far from the center and
from all the places where
I need to go every day.

'In the hotel where I live
at the moment, the only
comfort is the one that
is essential for me.
Since the building
is of old construction,
it still has "old-
fashioned" water
closets instead
of these new
American inventions,
and it is just that
old system which is
the most convenient
and suitable for this
habit of mine.

"'Who knows? Perhaps I
even half-consciously
chose France as my chief
dwelling place because
it is still possible to
find everywhere, especially
in the provinces, water
closets of the old
system such as we
have in Persia.

"'In the other countries of
Europe this "Asian system,"
as they call it, scarcely
exists any more. It has
been almost entirely
supplanted by the
American system
with its "comfortable,
well-polished easy chairs"
upon which I, personally,
could only loll and read
their famous book entitled
The Decameron.

"'And so, my honorable Doctor,
on suddenly remembering this
habit of mine, I understood
at once, without any further
doubt, that if I had hitherto
escaped infection by some
nasty disease, it was
solely because I
frequently wash
my sex organs
with cold water.'

"After these words, this
congenial young Persian
raised his arms and
exclaimed with his
whole being:

'Blessed forever be the
memory of those who created
for us that beneficial custom!'

"For a long while he said
nothing further, but looked
pensively at a party of
Americans sitting nearby
who were arguing about
whether women dress
better in England
or America."

--first half of chapter
--ch 42, America
--Gurdjieff