The Gurdjieff Inheritance 0855001992

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THE GURDJIEFF INHERITANCE Written by a long-time student and follower of the Gurdjieff teaching, this book penetrates to the truth behind the legend, revealing the development and basic principles of his work.

THE GURDJIEFF INHERITANCE by

J. H. REYNER

TURNSTONE PRESS LIMITED Wellingborough, Northamptonshire

First published 1984

© J. H. REYNER 1984

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Reyner, J. H. The Gurdjieff inheritance. 1. Gurdjieff, George 2. Philosophers — Soviet Union — Biography I. Title 197.2 B4249.G84

ISBN 0-85500-199-2

Turnstone Press is part of the Thorsons Publishing Group Printed and bound in Great Britain

Contents

Page Preface

Chapter 1. The Coming of the Herald 2. Gurdjieff as a Youth 3. The Masters of Wisdom 4. The Beginning of the Teaching 5. The Conscious Mind 6. The Institute at Fontainebleau 7. The Early Disciples 8. The Place of Man 9. The Years of Maturity 10. The Fourth Way 11. The Resurgence of the Ideas 12. The Illusions of Activity 13. The Real Aim 14. The Awakening of the Spirit

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9 16 23 30 35 40 48 55 61 69 74

80 84 90

Appendix 1: The FundamentalLaws

95

Appendix 2: The Cosmoses

99

Appendix 3: The Food Octaves

103

Suggested Reading

107

Index

108

Preface

This book was to have been written by my friend James Watts, with whom I had many conversations about the influence of G. I. Gurdjieff, whose philosophy we had both studied for many years. Unfortunately he had only been able to complete a draft of the first two chapters when he died suddenly on holiday in Cornwall. However, it was suggested that with the assistance of his wife Mazel and other colleagues, I should try to complete the book on the lines he had envisaged and this, despite the handicap of failing eyesight, I am glad to have been able to do. It is not intended to be just another biography but rather a saga of the activities and aspirations of an extraordinary man who has left a significant imprint on the modern world. He was not concerned to found a new cult, nor did he promise any easy enlightenment. It was as if he said: 'I have ideas to put before you. What you make of them is your own concern.' Those in whom the ideas took root discovered new and more vivid meanings in the affairs of life, and by their recommendation the teaching has spread far and wide. Yet in the many accounts of his ideas few people appear to have expressed their thanks for his inspiration. I hope this book may do so in some small measure. I would like to add my personal thanks to Pamela Travers and Cyrus Ginsburgh for much helpful information; to Christopher Currant, for his frequent comments and criticisms; to my family and the happy group of readers, Mary Blears, Emma Cureton, Jenny Fowler, Marjorie Jolley and Mary King, who helped me to check and often rewrite the text as the narrative progressed; and finally to my patient secretary, Sue Dunningham, by whose hand the ideas finally emerged in coherent form. J. H. Reyner Monks Risborough, December, 1983

1. The Coming of the Herald

In the spring of 1915 a man walked with an air of suppressed excitement into The Errant Dog, a cafe in St Petersburg frequented by artists and writers, and said to a young woman who had been awaiting him: 'I have found what we have been seeking. I will tell you about it. It is a miracle.' The man was P. D. Ouspensky, a Russian writer who had spent most of his adult life in search of a genuine source of esoteric teaching and had, in the process, travelled widely throughout Europe and the East. The 'Miracle' was an encounter with an extraordinary but little known Caucasian, of mixed Greek and Armenian parentage, called George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff. Ouspensky had already published a number of books about ancient wisdom and was fascinated by the possibilities of worlds of higher dimensions; yet he had been disappointed with the pseudo-teachings which was all he had been able to discover, and now was quick to recognize that in Gurdjieff he had at last found a man with something real to say. With an intensity that was typical of him, he dropped everything else to make the Gurdjieff philosophy the centre of his life; learning about it, practising it and, later, teaching it. He was to become the most widely known exponent of the system in the West. From that time onwards, and through many subsequent vicissitudes and trials, Gurdjieff's teaching gradually unfolded from its obscure beginnings in Central Asia and found its way, through Turkey, to a Europe torn by war and hungry for meaning. There it began to have an impact: first in France, then in England and then in the United States. Today, scores of groups associated with the Gurdjieff teaching exist in many countries of the world. There are dozens of books dealing with the system, though many of them fail to discern the real truths behind the

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ideas. Nevertheless, the lives of many well-known people, and many more who are not in the least famous, have been transformed by the influence of the Gurdjieff teaching. This book is an attempt to trace the history of the Gurdjieff movement and to illustrate the many ways in which its influence has continued to spread. We shall see that, not only do groups directly connected with the Gurdjieff tradition continue to flourish, but aspects of the teaching provide continuing inspiration in the search for real understanding in the troubled conditions of today. As an example of this, an American whom I had the pleasure to meet recently, told me that after many years of personal search he had found his way to a quiet ashram high in the Himalayas, and there met a guru whom he recognized as having something of great importance to say. He valued those few days so highly that twice since then he has managed to arrange further visits. On the last occasion, as the time to leave was approaching, he was drinking in his last impressions of the snow­ capped mountains, the tranquillity of the ashram and the serenity in the faces around him. He turned to the guru and asked: 'Tell me, how can I possibly find a genuine teaching to follow when I return to the States? Everything I meet seems unreal compared with what I have found here.' The guru smiled and said: 'When you return to your country, contact the nearest Gurdjieff group. There you will find all you need. It is a genuine teaching and has everything in it. You need not travel this far to hear the Truth.'

★

★

★

Wherein lies the magic contained in Gurdjieff's ideas which has inspired such a continuing response? There is no suggestion of mystical revelation, no magical ritual which can produce an effortless flowering of the spirit. On the contrary, his teaching is uncompromisingly practical, starting with the realization that in his customary complacent conceit man is fast asleep — asleep, but does not know it. Almost since the beginning of time people have been told they are asleep and must awaken. It has been said so many times that people no longer believe it but take it as a metaphor; they fail to understand that it has to be taken literally. In this state of sleep, man's behaviour is that of a machine. By experience he learns that certain kinds of reaction are appropriate to the constantly changing situations of life and builds up in his memory an elaborate pattern of associations. These he

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uses thereafter automatically so that he always reacts in the same way; but he is quite unaware of this and believes that all his behaviour is fully conscious, whereas he is actually being driven all the time by the haphazard events of life. It is a long time before he can admit this, because it deeply offends his self-esteem. Yet in this condition of sleep he is condemning himself to live in a state of existence lower than that for which he is designed. None of his experiences belongs to him; they are simply part of the cosmic pattern of the phenomenal world and only serve the interests of nature, so that he is no more than a highly-developed animal. Gurdjieff said that man possessed within himself levels of intelligence and consciousness of an entirely superior order, and that if he can learn to respond to these his experiences become individually significant. Very occasionally in the midst of some activity, some trivial happening may break the spell for a moment, causing him briefly to 'come to himself' so that he says with some surprise, 'What is this? Who am I? What am I doing here?' But the moment passes and he falls asleep again, so that everything happens as before. These moments of heightened perception arise from accidental excursions into a realm of higher consciousness in which man has a God-given right to exist. However, this cannot be attained by mere wishing, but only by the prolonged and arduous endeavour to awaken, which Gurdjieff called 'self-remembering'. It involves a change of direction, an attempt to return to the level of one's origin which has been forgotten due to the hypnotism of life. Virgil speaks of this in the well-known stanza from the Aeneid:

Easy is the descent to Avernus. Day and night is the gate of the stark ruler open; but to retrace your steps and regain the upper air, this is the task, this is the labour.

This is indeed the task. It is not to be accomplished by abstract meditation but by the continuing effort to recognize the mechanical nature of the daily activities of the self. Gurdjieff devised ways of drawing attention to many unsuspected aspects of behaviour and showing how this could be utilized consciously. The system, in fact, quickly became known among its followers as 'the Work', for obvious reasons.

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★

★

★

There are many illusions which haunt this dark underworld in which we choose to spend our days. One of the most prevalent is the belief that our affairs are managed by a single intelligence which one calls oneself. In fact, there is a continual succession of separate and individual selves. Each plays its part for its appointed time and is then replaced by another self as the situation changes. The self which conducts a business meeting is not the same as the one that talks to the neighbours' children, and this again is different from the self that makes love, plays golf, mixes concrete, or writes a letter to one's parents. These are very broad examples but in fact there are hundreds of little selves continuing to appear briefly on the stage during the day. Yet each of these is invested with our complete authority, so that we say 'I' to them: 'I think this, I feel that, I will do this, I must remember,' etc. The trouble is that these many 'I's do not know each other. One 'I' makes a promise, but the 'I' that is on the stage next day knows nothing of this and may even repudiate the promise entirely. A good deal of the initial practical work in a group is concerned with the observation and recognition of these many 'I's. Each has its own characteristics, its way of thinking and feeling, its postures and expressions by which it can be recognized if one is alert. One has to observe these 'I's dispassionately, without judgement or criticism, making no attempt to change them until a reasonably complete picture has been formed. In time one begins to see that other people are similarly driven by their 'I's, and that their reactions are often responses to 'I's in oneself of which one is probably quite unaware. This creates a new and more compassionate relationship which Gurdjieff called 'external considering'. Only by being aware of another person in this way is it possible to exercise real love and compassion. These are virtues of which we know nothing in our state of sleep which can only recognize the meretricious feelings of self-love. This is what Gurdjieff called, by contrast, 'internal considering' with its continuing demands for self-esteem, self-justification and the hunger for affection. Because of this self-centred attitude we see nothing afresh. Everything is labelled and thereafter dismissed until wanted. A rose is a rose: we do not see it as having a being in a living world. Even more is this the case with people, whom we never see but

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only recognize the image of them conveniently stored in the memory. Gurdjieff said that we see everyone yesterday.

★

★

★

All this is excellent psychology, but it is no more than a beginning. The aim of the Work is the awakening of consciousness, and everything has to be interpreted in this context. New attitudes begin to develop, leading to the creation of 'I's of a different quality which interpret events more consciously, and these begin to supersede the long-established 'I's of habit. We begin to question afresh many of the things which we normally take entirely for granted. How are we aware of the world around us and the people in it? This is entirely due to the operations of an extraordinary mechanism called the human body. This is equipped with a variety of senses, together with a remarkably sophisticated translating mechanism called the brain which interprets all the impressions received by the senses. To this we rarely give a second thought unless it goes wrong in some particular. Many people believe that they are their body. Gurdjieff regarded it as a vehicle provided by cosmic dispensation for the accommodation of a conscious entity. Hence the study of the many details of its behaviour, both physically and psychologically, are not to be undertaken with any aim of selfaggrandizement, but in the fulfilment of the requirement of a higher level of intelligence. Life is to be regarded not as a mere accident but as a meaningful exercise in which man can play a significant part if he is prepared to do so. It is clear that the Gurdjieff philosophy is no mere system of applied psychology; it necessarily involves a detailed survey of the many forms of unconscious behaviour producing what he called 'wrong psychic functions'. This is the only way in which the barriers of complacency can be effectively penetrated. Yet it is no academic exercise, it involves a process of unlearning rather than learning, a gradual untangling of the mass of incorrect interpretations unwittingly acquired from life, and a return to the simplicity and wonder of childhood.

★

★

★

What do we know of Gurdjieff himself? There are many descriptions of him. He is said to have been tall and dark with

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a large black moustache, a notable feature being his singularly piercing eyes, which appeared to look right through one, as they undoubtedly did because he had the ability to see the real person behind the disguise of their personality. His physical appearance, however, was the least important of his characteristics. It is the man himself in whom we are interested. He was not a sombre individual but enjoyed the good things in life, good food, good wine and good company. He spoke with a marked economy of words so that one felt his statements conveyed the exact meaning intended, though, at first, differences of language caused some problems. His postures were similarly economical, often conveying more than many words. One was always aware of his inner authority, usually quietly evident but sometimes forcibly expressed in the presence of stupidity or falsehood. The development of this authority can be partially understood from the survey of his early youth and his subsequent continuing quest for truth described in succeeding chapters. One of the best accounts of his real nature is to be found in a book by Rene Zuber entitled Who Are You Monsieur Gurdjieff?, which is a first-hand account of the author's experiences with him in Paris in the early 1940s. Zuber speaks with great understanding of the remarkable ability possessed by this extraordinary man to convey meaning of great depth by glance, gesture, story, parable and — above all — by the communicative silence which is more articulate than words. The distinguished author Pamela Travers, who knew Gurdjieff personally, in a foreword to the English translation by Jenny Kovalek, suggests that it is this bardic element in Gurdjieff which gave him his air of timelessness so that any account of his doings must be more in the nature of a saga than a biography. She refers to the legend of the Gordian Knot with which Gardius, King of Phrygia had bound the wheels of his chariot. An oracle had said that whoever succeeded in untying this knot would rule the whole of Asia, but Alexander, whom Gurdjieff called 'that arch, vainglorious Greek', impatient to get on, cut through this with his sword and this has come to typify the ultimate solution of one's difficulties. 'But any old wife', she says, 'will tell you that to cut a knot is unlucky, without knowing why. Gurdjieff would have known the why. Anyone who had laid as a child among the woodshavings in his father's workshop and listened to the acory of Gilgamesh, would also certainly have learned that knots proverbially contain secrets . . . and secrets

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need to be unravelled. Cut through them and the meaning is lost.' Gurdjieff's teaching, therefore, may be regarded as a kind of unravelling, an uncovering of secret things. The truth already exists in man by his creation; but it has become so ravelled and knotted by his overweening presumption, his belief in his own cleverness, and his constant preoccupation with personal comfort that its secrets have been lost. Gurdjieff was not concerned to present to a waiting world a whole new code of secrets. He never attempted to convert anyone. He was concerned simply to show how man could, by conscious individual effort, uncover the truths buried within him.

2. Gurdjieff as a Youth

In order to understand the influence of G. I. Gurdjieff, it is necessary to know something of his past. Yet to trace his past is not easy and in this respect he seems like every other great teacher. Either, like Gurdjieff, they are born into obscurity and only burst upon the world scene when the most interesting and formative parts of their lives are over, or else their pasts get so overlaid with myth and fantasy as to become unrecognizable; often there is an element of both. Although Gurdjieff was born only a hundred years ago and a number of accounts of life with him as a teacher have been written by what might be called first generation pupils, the details and chronology of his life remain remarkably obscure. Some information is available in Gurdjieff's own book, Meetings With Remarkable Men, which to some extent is autobiographical; yet its value in this respect is very limited. Gurdjieff has selected aspects of his personal story to illustrate important ideas, often in allegorical form, and personal details are included only insofar as they are needed as a vehicle for the ideas. Nevertheless, an attempt must be made to present a coherent narrative.

★

★

★

His birthplace was the Armenian town of Alexandropol, formerly known by its Turkish name of Gumru before being annexed by Russia. On modern maps it is shown as Leninakan, just inside the Soviet Union, a few miles from the Turkish border. It is also less than one hundred miles from Iran and less than two hundred from the modern borders of both Iraq and Syria. Physically, Alexandropol lies in stark, mountainous country between the

Figure 1.

Places referred to in Gurdjieff's travels.

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Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, a hundred miles or so from Mount Ararat; a trading post on the ancient caravan route that winds down through the Caucasus Mountains via Tiflis in the north and on through Kars towards Erzerum and Lake Van in the south. The date of Gurdjieff's birth is uncertain. His passport says 1877 but, by piecing together events in Meetings With Remarkable Men and the historical facts of the Russo-Turkish wars, the date can be narrowed with reasonable certainty to between 1871 and 1873, with an earlier date being more likely. The description of Gurdjieff's early life by J. G. Bennett, one of his more scholarly early pupils, settles on 1872, which agrees with this. The exact date is, anyway, of no great importance except that a date of around 1871 makes much greater sense of his younger life than 1877, which places some events at an absurdly early age. To be definite, 1871 will be assumed here as the year of Gurdjieff's birth. Gurdjieff was born of a Greek father and an Armenian mother. His father's family — Byzantine Greeks — seem to have been quite wealthy farmers and merchants but the growing unpopularity of the Greeks in Turkey forced them to move eastwards a number of times and finally to cross into Russia, where his father settled in Alexandropol as a comparatively wealthy cattle owner. When Gurdjieff was seven years old, however, disaster struck in the form of a severe cattle plague which destroyed virtually all of his father's herds. Left with very little money, his father earned a living as best he could, first in the lumber business and, when that failed after several years, as a carpenter and general craftsman. When Gurdjieff was twelve, his father moved the family to the town of Kars, about sixty miles away, which had recently been annexed by the Russians. Many of the Turkish inhabitants had fled and the population vacuum was being filled by an influx of many different races. For his father, Kars provided an opportunity to transfer his workshop to a place where the need for rapid reconstruction ensured plenty of work. For Gurdjieff it provided an environment teeming with varieties of race, religion and culture. Russians, Turks, Tartars, Chinese, Kurds, Yezidis and many others rubbed shoulders and learned each others' languages just sufficiently to trade and to build a hotchpotch community together; everyone was too busy to be concerned with the niceties of religious or racial intolerance. Differing Christian and Moslem sects, including a number of Sufi orders, coexisted with Buddhists, Zoroastrians, so-called 'devil worshippers' and representatives of many pre-

GURDJIEFF AS A YOUTH

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Christian Sarmaung fraternities. This seething mixture struggled for survival in a climate of extremes, with harsh winters which brought all activity virtually to a halt for four months of the year. In Gurdjieff's time, houses were mostly single-roomed affairs dug into hillsides or built underground as a defence against the bitter cold, with roofs piled high with dung-pats for insulation and as a ready source of fuel. Such houses still exist in the old quarter of Kars although the modern houses are above ground. Kars today is a fortress town on the southernmost flank of NATO, once again within Turkey and because of its closeness to the Russian border, full of Turkish troops; yet it remains much as it was in Gurdjieff's day, a colourful, multi-layered mishmash of races and religions. Into this fertile ground was implanted the young Gurdjieff, already a precocious thinker and insatiably curious, fascinated by questions of religion, the meaning of life and death, the occult and apparent miracles. He was sent at first to a Greek school but soon transferred to the Russian municipal school. Whilst there he was selected to join the choir of the Russian military cathedral and was quickly recognized as a bright scholar by the dean. Dean Borsch persuaded his father to take him away from school and have him taught privately. The dean himself provided some lessons and various younger men, who were graduates of the theosophical seminary serving as deacons in the cathedral, gave him other lessons. With some of these he became close friends and often took part in the conversations and discussions of their circle of friends, which included Russian army officers, physicians and others who seated around the samovar would discuss anything and everything. He heard them discuss spiritualism, and saw a demonstration of 'table-turning' for which he sought but failed to find a ready explanation. He saw a young Yezidi boy, unable to leave a circle drawn around him on the ground, and heard a first-hand account of a Tartar dead and buried whose body reappeared, apparently being used zombie-fashion by an evil spirit. Such experiences gave rise to a deep yearning in Gurdjieff to seek explanations for such things and to understand whatever relationships might exist between the physical and supernatural worlds. Through all of these vivid, early years in Alexandropol and then in Kars, Gurdjieff's father was a profound and lasting influence. On the purely physical level he insisted, with loving firmness, on an exceptional standard of toughness. Few fathers

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express their love by driving their sons out before others are awake in the morning, to splash themselves with icy spring water and then to run around naked to dry. Yet it was the toughness and indifference to hardship inculcated by his father's ruthless training that saved Gurdjieff's life several times in later years. Perhaps Gurdjieff's dominant memory of his father was of a man who, regardless of difficulties, crises or even calamities, remained inwardly free and always himself: important attributes, these, at the very core of Gurdjieff's own teaching. His father undoubtedly provided, in this way, a living example of detachment and wholeness bringing to life ideas with which Gurdjieff came into contact in his later searches. Honesty and inner quiet were clearly of great importance to Gurdjieff's father: not only was he unwilling to profit from others' misfortunes, a part of the reason for his lack of success in business, but he was, according to Gurdjieff, ready to reconcile himself to anything provided there was bread to eat and quiet during his established hours for meditation. He was a man of deep religious conviction and must also have had a considerable understanding of the deeper, older, roots from which our present religions have sprung, for he was that rarity even in his day, an ashokh or bard, knowing by heart many long narrative poems. Although not a professional ashokh but a gifted amateur, he was often invited to gatherings at which he would recite traditional epic poems to music of his own making. Many of the poems were of ancient origin and Gurdjieff's astonishment was profound when, in later years, he recognized the just published text of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh as agreeing closely with what he remembered of his father's recital. It could have been from another of these ancient songs that his father gleaned the idea, which he passed onto Gurdjieff, that a person may not possess as of right, and automatically, a spiritual body in which to continue to live after physical death: the finer body, he suggested, had to be individually assembled by the gradual crystallization of subtle energies provided by inner work on oneself during the earthly lifetime. This idea is undoubtedly of ancient, pre-Christian origin, although it was also transmitted through early Christian teachings and traces of it remained in the Christianity of Gurdjieff's mother, who was taught in the Armenian tradition. Exactly where Gurdjieff's father met the idea is therefore uncertain, but Gurdjieff certainly heard it from him at an early age and was thus prepared when he met it again later as a part of a more comprehensive

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teaching about the transformation of energies in man; a theme which plays an important part in his own synthesis. On a more practical level it appears that, during his years of schooling in Kars, Gurdjieff absorbed from his father considerable skill at making and mending things and in understanding how all manner of mechanical contrivances worked. These skills served him well many times during his life as a way of earning money. He paints a vivid picture of the way in which, being at that time slightly ashamed of admitting to his now rather humble background in front of his circle of intellectual friends, he would go back to Alexandropol to stay with relatives during the school holidays and earn money there with his craftsmanship. There was always, it seems, a pressing need to contribute to the family coffers as often as possible. In later years, when Gurdjieff was established in Europe, he showed great love and respect for his mother, whom he supported along with a considerable number of other members of his family. Yet he was, without doubt, most deeply influenced by his father, and was extremely saddened by his death in 1917, during a Turkish attack on Alexandropol; the gentle ashokh died defending his property there at the age of eighty-three. When Gurdjieff saw him for the last time, a year earlier, he was said to have been still full of health and strength, the few recent grey hairs in his beard were hardly noticeable. That his father was an exceptional man seems to be demonstrated by the close friendship which sprang up between him and Dean Borsch of the military cathedral in Kars. The dean would visit the father frequently during the evenings, and as the old man continued to work steadily the conversation in the workshop would range widely over matters of religion and the meaning of ancient beliefs and legends. One legend which made a particular impact on Gurdjieff told the story of a deluge before the Flood. This contained the idea that the wisdom of the ancient world has been preserved, through times of disaster such as the legendary destruction of Atlantis, by a brotherhood having a worldwide network of centres. This idea of centres of wisdom in which secret knowledge is preserved is a powerful one, still held by many to be true. It was a recurring theme that Gurdjieff met many times and which motivated his own journeys through many lands, in search of the ultimate wisdom. It can be seen that Gurdjieff encountered ideas which inspired his later teaching; the ideas of the transformation of energies in

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man and of the possibility of making a soul; the concept of detachment, of non-identification with life; the likelihood that other levels of reality exist in which things can be known which are denied to us at our ordinary levels of operation. He also became imbued with the vision that knowledge and understanding of such things is preserved in centres of wisdom for which it is possible to search. From his father and from Dean Borsch together he also received a thorough grounding in what might be called Old Testament morality; of love for one's parents, of sexual purity, of treating others as one would wish to be treated; of being content with what one has, of the patient endurance of hardship and pain; of loving work simply for work's sake and not for gain; and above all of the love of God. With these ideas in his head, physically tough, and already a skilled craftsman in his mid-teens, a firm base had been established in Gurdjieff's psyche which made the full unfolding of his potential possible during the following twenty or thirty years.

3. The Masters of Wisdom

As Gurdjieff began to emerge from his boyhood he realized that he would have to look farther afield for the enlightenment he was seeking. His life had been a mixture of practical skills and intellectual enquiry in the course of which he had witnessed many strange practices which appeared to be of a supernatural character. Telepathy and clairvoyance appeared commonplace activities while he found several examples of miraculous healing by the exercise of occult powers which some people appeared to possess. He tried in vain to find scientific explanations for these phenomena and spent some time in the library of the military hospital at Kars in search of rational explanations, but found none. Gurdjieff became convinced that there were powers and influences of a higher order beyond those which are responsible for ordinary physical behaviour and these he tried to find more about. He learned how to practice hypnotism for himself and was able to use this art on suitable occasions. He began to attend spiritualist seances in an attempt to observe objectively without succumbing to superstition and again found evidence of phenomena which were not capable of conventional explanation. He became increasingly anxious to discover the source of these occult influences, not in the pursuit of personal power but in order to gain a better understanding of the real universe. Accordingly, in 1890, when he was about 19 years old, he decided to embark on a series of journeys to see if he could locate the sources of ancient wisdom which he felt convinced must still be preserved in secret places in the East. It was a quest which was to occupy him for some twenty years during which he encountered many other instances of occult practices, but these were not what he was looking for so much as the hidden patterns behind them.

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Details of his adventures are fragmentary. There is a certain amount of information in J. G. Bennett's book Gurdjieff: Making a New World, while there is a further account in the book which Gurdjieff himself wrote some years later entitled Meetings With Remarkable Men. This, as the title implies, is concerned more with the people he met than any detailed account of his route. He had no definite goal in mind and decided to start by visiting places of historical interest where the atmosphere of legend and the ruins of former communities might provide some guidance. He never made any attempt to disclose the location of the Sufi monastery where he ultimately found what he was looking for, which in any case would be of little value because these secret schools always contrive to disguise themselves from the casual enquirer. He had of necessity to rely considerably on his native ingenuity in order to earn a living, because he had no patron or sponsor in his enterprise, and he often had to resort to quite menial occupations. At one time he was eking out a living as a shoeblack, an occupation which did not seem to hold much promise. However, he installed in the chair a gramophone which he connected through rubber tubing to earpieces so that the customer could be entertained while his shoes were being polished. This considerably increased his popularity and he was soon able to find more profitable employment. He augmented his income by acting as a carpet seller while on another occasion he purchased women's corsets which he then proceeded to modify to suit the local clientele. He practised for a while as a professional hypnotist, for he never hesitated to make use of any convenient means of financing his search. He soon found a useful occupation as a guide to the many tourists in the area for he spoke several Eastern languages fluently and could always entertain his customers with his fund of amusing anecdotes. His first real clue was the discovery that certain archaeological excavations were taking place on the Island of Crete, during which they had discovered references to the Masters of Wisdom. He had always been interested in the legend of Atlantis, which some authorities place in the neighbourhood of Crete. It was said to have been submerged beneath the waves in a catastrophic flood considerably earlier than that which is recorded in Biblical and other records. According to the legend there was on this Island a small group of wise men who had penetrated the hidden secrets

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of the universe and were known as the Masters of Wisdom. They were said to have developed many occult faculties which have been forgotten in modern times and to have sent out some of their number to different parts of the then known world in order to preserve the truth when Atlantis itself was overwhelmed by the flood. Some people regard this legend as purely allegorical, an indication of the manner in which through the ages genuine knowledge has always become submerged in the flood of self­ interest; but there is historical evidence of the existence of some such civilization, and Gurdjieff regarded these references to the Masters of Wisdom as confirming his belief that from the beginning of time there have always been havens in which small groups of conscious men could preserve the knowledge of the eternal verities. The existence of these fundamental truths is clearly indicated by their appearance as the essential background to all the religions of the world. In Crete at this time there was much unrest which was ultimately to lead to the outbreak of the Turko-Grecian war of 1895. This unrest was being fomented by the Russian government which supported a secret society known as the Ethniki Etairea which Gurdjieff was instructed to join in order to act as an intermediary and to provide secret information for the Russian government. This activity provided him with much needed money for his adventures. It was while he was in Crete that he was wounded by a sniper's bullet which rendered him senseless for a time. He appears to have been conveyed by a means of which he has no recollection to an Essene monastery near Jerusalem. The Essenes were an esoteric brotherhood which had come into existence some 1,500 years before the turn of the century and in due time Gurdjieff was initiated into their mysteries and thereby achieved a status which was ultimately to serve him as a valuable source of introduction on some of his later travels. He often made the point of the difference between a traveller being tolerated and being accepted and there is no doubt that not only this initiation but also his contacts as a secret agent considerably helped him in being accepted in some of the occult societies which he encountered. In one place he found a society concerned particularly with the development of the higher bodies of which his father had spoken during his youth, but this again is only the external aspect of a hidden mystery of much deeper significance which he had still to discover.

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It was during his sojourn in the Essene monastery that he encountered the sacred dances which he was later to stage for himself in Moscow and in modified form in the schools which he founded at Fontainebleau. In one of these he witnessed a special arrangement of music which caused plants to grow to fruition in a matter of only half an hour, and he witnessed several other magical practices.

★

★

★

Gurdjieff did not make out any specific itinerary for his journeys, which he did not undertake in any atmosphere of expectation. His approach was that of making things possible and creating situations from which the concealed reality could emerge. In one sense this could be said to summarize Gurdjieff's philosophy of life. It is not a matter of just 'waiting for something to turn up' like Mr Micawber. One has to put oneself in a place, physical and psychological, where something can happen; and this must be without expectation of result, otherwise one will find what one expects to find and it will be valueless. One can see the twenty-years sojourn as a single event at a real level. In its development there are many apparent coincidences and accidental connections. One of his early journeys was undertaken with a former colleague Pogossian, whom he had encountered at the Essene monastery. During a journey to Smyrna, Pogossian was bitten by a poisonous reptile. Gurdjieff managed to extract some of the poison and they then made their way with what haste they could towards their destination in the hope of finding some succour on the way. They arrived at the house of a priest who made them welcome and tended Pogossian's wounds. In the course of subsequent conversation it transpired that this priest had a very ancient map in his possession for which he had been offered a very considerable sum by a wealthy prince who had visited him. He refused to part with it but did agree to allow the map to be copied by the prince for the payment of a substantial amount. Gurdjieff waited until the priest was away for a few days and then contrived to steal a copy for himself and found that it appeared to be a map of Egypt in a much earlier period at the time of the building of the Pyramids and Sphinx. In due course they continued their journey to Smyrna and Alexandropol, where he parted company with Pogossian and continued alone. Some years later he was acting as a guide to

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Professor Skridlov in Egypt the Professor was hailed by a wealthy nobleman of his acquaintance, Prince Yuri Lubovedsky. In subsequent conversation Gurdjieff discovered that this was the prince who had been so anxious to obtain the map from the priest whom he had encountered many years earlier on the road to Smyrna. It seemed that this prince had lost his young bride after a very short life together and he had subsequently been studying spiritualism and occult practices in an attempt to maintain communication with her. This encounter was to be the beginning of a life-long friendship. He joined Prince Yuri in a small group which called itself the Seekers of Truth but although they discovered evidence of the Sarmaung and even earlier esoteric groups in the region around Mount Ararat, his quest for a modern conclave still eluded him. He decided to continue alone, believing that the map of early Egypt, which he had obtained by stealth some years previously on the road to Smyrna, might contain some indications of a possible source and this he finally discovered in a Sufi monastery in the Hindu Kush to which he managed to gain entry. Here at last he found what he had been seeking for so long. There was no instant revelation for although his efforts over the years had brought him to the threshold of understanding, considerable education was necessary before the real nature of the secrets could be discerned. He therefore remained several years at this monastery under the guidance of his teacher Brother Giovanni with whom he was to remain in contact for the rest of his life, even after he had returned to the world to undertake the mission with which he was to be entrusted.

★

★

★

Who are the Masters of Wisdom, and what is their function? Mankind has always believed in the existence of a Supreme Intelligence, to which different names are ascribed in the various religions. It is a remote Deity which is usually supposed to dwell in the vaguely-imagined realm beyond the confines of the created universe. Gurdjieff brought from his mountain fastness the more inspiring concept of a living and developing Universe which in all its aspects is a manifestation of the Deity itself. This structure is directed by a succession of intelligences of progressively decreasing scale, each of which is administered by spiritual beings of appropriate stature, which are often represented as angels and

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archangels. Thus one can envisage that the affairs of this planet and of mankind in general are controlled by one of these higher administrations which he called 'the Conscious Circle of Humanity'. Part of the function of this particular level of intelligence will be to irradiate the earth with a continual stream of conscious influences in an endeavour to awaken man from the state of sleep into which he has fallen by reason of his preoccupation with comfort and success. Of the few who respond to these conscious influences some develop a particular aptitude. They are accordingly steered by what appears to be accident to isolated esoteric schools wherein their stature can be developed until they are able to communicate directly with the higher levels of the universe. These are the Masters of Wisdom, whose task is to preserve havens of secret knowledge in the fulfilment of the purpose for which mankind was created. They appear throughout recorded history and even before. The earliest reference to them is in the legend of Atlantis on which there is said to have been such a school. The Masters of the time, being well aware of the future, sent selected initiates to various parts of the then known world to form their own schools so that when the Island was overtaken by catastrophe and disappeared beneath the ocean the secret knowledge was still preserved for future generations. There is a record of what is known as the Sarmaung Brotherhood, which flourished in Babylon about 2,500 BC and later in Mosul. This was succeeded about 1,500 BC by the Essene school which was located near Jerusalem and was attended for a while by Gurdjieff during his travels. Similar schools exist today though for obvious reasons they are not publicized. It is important for the development of this part of the universe that there shall be a sufficient awakening of consciousness. Hence periodically the Conscious Circle has to arrange for the appearance of spiritual leaders who can provide a fresh impetus in the language and customs of the time. These are what the French philosopher Edouard Schure called 'the Great Initiates'. In a book of this title published in 1912 he traces the development of the great religions of the world from the time of Rama, Krishna and Hermes through the later interpretations of Moses, Pythagoras and the Delphic Mysteries, followed by Plato and the Eleusinian Mysteries to the present-day teachings of Christ. There are some who believe that Gurdjieff is the latest addition to this select

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company. Certainly it seems that, perhaps contrary to his original inclination, he was told by his teacher to go back into life and begin to talk about real ideas. In this he was to prove remarkably successful, for he was able to communicate the concept of a living and supremely ordered universe in language which is acceptable to the scientifically oriented thinking of the twentieth century. He was, moreover, able to convey the idea of man's place and purpose in this universe in practical and immediate terms in marked contrast to the idle dreaming in the state of sleep with its comfortable belief in a future state of bliss. How his ideas developed we shall see in the chapters which follow.

4. The Beginning of the Teaching

In 1910 Gurdjieff, then some thirty-nine years old, completed his wanderings and began to consider how best to promulgate the ideas which he had been commissioned to impart by the Masters of Wisdom. He decided that he might find fertile ground in St Petersburg, then at the height of her power as the capital of Russia. Despite the vicissitudes of his journeys, he was no vagabond but a man of culture who was readily accepted in court circles. Here he met several people who were to be of considerable assistance to him later, notably the distinguished musicians Thomas and Olga de Hartmann and the brilliant stage designer Alexander de Salzmann and his wife Jeanne. He also found a kindred spirit, a certain Dr Stjoernval whose advanced ideas on medicine interested him. He began to establish himself in society and obtained a position as a lecturer at a branch of the university in St Petersburg and later in Tashkent. During this period he met and married the beautiful and talented Countess Ostrowska, widow of a Polish nobleman, who with her two children was to provide him with the family life for which, from his early upbringing, he felt an essential need. Meanwhile, he had to decide how best to present the ideas which he wished to convey. They cannot be comprehended by the intellectual mind alone because they are derived from a higher level of intelligence, but they can be recognized by that sixth sense called intuition, which is defined as, 'immediate apprehension by the mind without reasoning'. It is a faculty which is regarded with great mistrust by the ordinary mind and is usually only vestigially present today. This appears to have been so for many generations, for in the Old Testament Book of Samuel it is said that, 'the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There

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31

was no open vision'. (1 Samuel 3:1). Gurdjieff decided that in this materialistic age the only approach to this 'open vision' would have to be through the intellect. Hence, he began to arrange a series of psychological lectures entitled Glimpses of the Truth'. In these he showed that all ordinary reactions are those of a machine, programmed by education and experience and operating almost entirely automatically. However, he showed that this was not a mechanism to be despised. On the contrary it was extremely sophisticated and had many possibilities which were normally quite unused. He showed that man does not exercise a permanent will but that his reactions are driven by the kaleidoscopic events of life to which he always reacts in the same way. He showed that man possesses a directing intelligence called the mind which provides programmes for these reactions. This can operate at different levels, and it was with the development of more conscious levels of the mind that his teaching was basically concerned. In particular he showed that man is not just his body but is a spiritual entity inhabiting the body which he should use for an important cosmic purpose, but in practice he does so in a very indifferent manner. These are some aspects of his teaching but they do not in themselves provide the keys to enlightenment. They serve as a preparation for an increased awareness of the real situation of existence which can ultimately begin to provide flashes of understanding. This is not to be achieved all at once, for Gurdjieff himself took over thirty years before arriving at the true state. Yet it is a philosophy which can be followed and even appreciated by the present materialistic way of thinking, and Gurdjieff used to say that his aim was to combine the wisdom of the East with the knowledge of the West. In addition to the lectures, he decided to arouse the interest of the artistic community, for which purpose he presented in a Moscow theatre an esoteric ballet entitled The Struggle of the Magicians, based on certain sacred dances which he had witnessed during his travels. This was reported in the press and came to the notice of P. D. Ouspensky, a mathematician with a philosophical turn of mind who had himself travelled in the East in search of occult knowledge and was at that time giving lectures to large audiences about his travels. He was not very interested in these dances for he had seen many such exhibitions which he felt did not contain anything of real value, but a friend who had witnessed the performance was so impressed by the quality of

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this strange mystic that he pressed Ouspensky to meet him. This was arranged in a small and unpretentious cafe where, to his surprise, he immediately recognized a man of unusual stature. He describes him as of Caucasian appearance, dark with a black moustache, and having piercing eyes. The meeting was the first of many, during which it became increasingly evident that Gurdjieff had indeed penetrated the secrets of ancient wisdom, with which in some way he was in active communication. He attended a number of meetings of one of Gurdjieff's groups and was rather surprised at what he felt to be the excessive fees being charged. Gurdjieff insisted that anything of value had to be paid for, and later when they were both struggling with the adverse conditions following the Russian revolution, Gurdjieff reminded Ouspensky of this, saying that if they had not accumulated some resources while it was possible they would not still be able to continue their work under the changed conditions. Despite these reservations, the meetings in Moscow led to a relationship which was to prove of considerable value to the development of the teaching. Ouspensky was a particularly able exponent of ideas and had attracted the acclaim of the scientific fraternity some years earlier while he was still in his youth by his discourses on the concept of worlds of higher dimensions. His natural inclination was to bring a similarly reasoned approach to these new ideas, but Gurdjieff insisted that logical formulations could be no more than aids to the development of true understanding and for a long time he discouraged any taking of notes at his meetings. Intellectual attention is almost inevitably accompanied by judgement and rationalizing. Understanding is not an intellectual process, and if one can simply listen to what is being said the truth penetrates the deeper levels of the mind. It was agreed therefore that Ouspensky would make no attempt to publish anything he learned without permission but he did make notes of the ideas which he was able to use subsequently with his own groups in England. Events in Russia, however, were becoming increasingly disturbed and when the revolution broke out in 1917 all meetings and lectures had to be entirely suspended. Ouspensky had to collect his wife Sophie Grigorevna and her two children by a former marriage, and make suitable arrangements with the publishers of his books. They then managed with some difficulty to make their way to the south and escaped into Turkestan where

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33

he eked out a precarious existence until he was able to establish himself as a teacher in the suburbs of Constantinople. Meanwhile Gurdjieff made his way out of Russia independently with his family, arriving in Turkey some time later where he was able to find work as a representative. His situation was undoubtedly assisted by his contacts with the Russian secret service so that he still possessed certain freedom of action and he began to establish a small coterie of similar emigres including the de Salzmanns and the de Hartmanns. During this period Gurdjieff spent some time at Tuapse, in the north-eastern part of Turkey where as an experiment, he set up a school. He always said that for a proper understanding it was necessary to become part of a group where under the direction of a teacher, people could learn to become free from the tyranny of their habitual reactions. This was an experiment he maintained under strict discipline for several weeks, but then he abandoned it, having discovered the extent to which people would submit to arduous disciplines, and he used this experience in his later activities at the Institute which he set up at Fontainebleau (see Chapter 6). He was joined for a time by J. G. Bennett, who was connected with British intelligence in the area and had also recognized the importance of the system which was being developed and much later established his own groups in England. Meanwhile Ouspensky, having managed to establish a working regime, began to hold meetings in Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, under the auspices of a Mrs Beaumont, who had also taken an interest in the system. However, all this was to change again. The war in Europe came to an end in 1918 and conditions became easier. Moreover, Ouspensky's classic book A New Model of the Universe which had been published in Russia in 1917 despite the tumultuous conditions, had now been translated into English and had attracted the attention of some influential people, notably Lady Rothermere, the wife of the celebrated newspaper proprietor, and Ralph Philipson, a wealthy North country mine owner. As a result of their patronage he was able to travel to England where he began to lecture on Gurdjieff's ideas and started a small group which used to meet regularly in Kensington and was attended by several well known people. Meanwhile, Gurdjieff had been able to make his way into Europe where he arranged lectures in France and Germany and later made a brief visit to Ouspensky's group in London. All this

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was necessarily purely exploratory, partly to find how best to organize groups and, even more importantly, to consider how to raise the necessary funds which was always a problem in the early days. He was also seeking a possibility of establishing some central location on a permanent basis. This he ultimately found at Fontainebleau, near Paris, where he was able to establish what he called the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. This operated successfully for some years and provided a centre from which his teaching was subsequently to spread world-wide.

5. The Conscious Mind

By 1920 Gurdjieff's ideas were establishing a kind of yeast which could grow in the minds of thinking people, who were beginning to mistrust the developments of material progress. Like the prodigal son in the well-known parable, they felt the need to return to more real values, and were prepared at least to examine Gurdjieff's blunt assertion that in his ordinary state man is virtually unconscious. At first sight this seems a ridiculous idea. We walk and talk, think and feel — in fact, our waking hours are fully occupied with a wide variety of activities, all directed by established programmes of reasoning. Think again, says Gurdjieff: by long usage, all this behaviour has become completely automatic. It may be intelligent, but this does not necessarily mean that it is consciously directed. 'Consciousness' is a word which is used with little understanding of its real meaning. Literally, it means 'knowing altogether', but this is a very superficial interpretation because it involves far more than mere knowledge. Consciousness is better defined as a state of simultaneous awareness, and this can clearly exist at different levels. It is not an exercise of thinking nor can it be achieved by taking thought. It involves the exercise of the emotional faculty which can recognize the overall pattern in any situation and this can clearly operate at different levels. In the ordinary way we are aware only of the interplay of personal demands; things and people are recognized only as part of this very limited pattern. We do not see the many connections and relationships between people and events in the infinitely greater variety of patterns in the real world. Many years ago I saw a television programme depicting the activities of a microscopic organism called a water flea, the pulsations of its heart clearly visible as it darted about the screen, and I realized that in the many ponds in my

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neighbourhood there were hundreds of these organisms pursuing their appointed lives, but I was completely unaware of them. I mentioned this to my teacher, Maurice Nicoll, who retorted, 'Yes, you make a very poor God, don't you?' Actually, we are given many moments of increased perception in which everything becomes intensely vivid and awakens a sense of wonder. The moment passes, but if it has been acknowledged the memory persists. Yet to be aware of everything that is happening in detail would involve a stupendous store of knowledge. It is sufficient to be aware of what is relevant to the present requirements. Yet one can envisage a consciousness of a superior order which can be simultaneously aware of the whole pattern. As a simple example, an observer in a balloon will be aware of the whole of the terrain beneath him, and will recognize connections between objects and events which at ground level will appear entirely separate and unrelated. The observer in the balloon will clearly possess a consciousness of a higher order. He will not be concerned with the detailed happenings on the ground which will develop in accordance with the ordinary laws of cause and effect, but he will be aware of the overall pattern to which these events conform. On a much larger scale there are higher intelligences which are aware of the unseen patterns that control the behaviour of the whole of the familiar world. In speaking about this to his disciples, Christ says: 'Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing; and not one of them shall fall on the ground without (the awareness of) your Father' (Matthew 10.29). This is often taken to imply the existence of an omniscient Deity that is continually monitoring the behaviour of the phenomenal world in every detail, but this is too trivial an interpretation. The real awareness is concerned with the interplay of the unseen patterns from which the events of life are derived. Gurdjieff said that man's true development involved the acknowledgement of these higher levels of intelligence and consciousness, and the recognition of their presence within himself. In pursuance of this approach he said that a man or a woman was in two parts, a real part which he called Essence and an artificial part called Personality which is entirely acquired from life. One's awareness of the world is derived from random impressions received by the senses. These are initially meaningless, but by education and experience they gradually become co­ ordinated by the brain to form patterns of association, from which meaningful interpretations and actions can result. This constitutes

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the Personality, which is clearly artificial and disappears when the body ceases to function at death. These innumerable interpretations are performed virtually instantaneously by that extremely sophisticated mechanism called the brain; but any mechanism can only do what it has been told to do. Hence the brain has to be instructed by a higher order of intelligence, and this is the function of the mind. This again is a word used without proper understanding. It is usually associated with the processes of reasoning, but it is really a directing intelligence which provides the programmes for the brain. It is not a part of the physical body but is an attribute of the real part of a man and by that very fact it can operate at several different levels of consciousness, so that it is a faculty of great potentiality. At its lowest level, it is concerned simply with programmes dealing with the every day affairs of life. These have to be created by trial and error, but once established they quickly become automatic and require only a perfunctory direction. This is the condition of psychological sleep but it is clear that there can be many more and increasingly intelligent programmes, which can be provided by the more conscious levels of the mind, and these enable the same event to be interpreted quite differently. It was with the awakening of the more conscious levels of the mind that Gurdjieff was primarily concerned. It is an idea that is frequently mentioned in the Christian gospels which continually emphasize the need for repentance. This is a word which has become degraded in meaning to imply being regretful for one's misdeeds, but which literally means rethinking. In the original Greek the word is metanoia, which means expansion of the mind, the prefix meta having the implication of beyond the ordinary and this is the basic theme of the Work. The recognition of the many mechanical aspects of behaviour begins to dispel the illusion of the self in which one places such unquestioning credence. For a long time we believe that we are in control of our behaviour and that apart from occasional lapses we are guided by considerations of honour, generosity, love and similar ideals. To a small extent this is true, because as children we respond to influences of beauty and wonder and begin to create conscious programmes for the brain, but these become drowned by the exigencies of life. Thereafter we are driven almost entirely by the mechanical associations of the Personality, and even our idealistic responses become equally automatic. The early stages of the Work are much concerned with the verification of this

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unpleasant fact by sincere self-observation. We find that the ordinary patterns of association are rarely pure but are contaminated by considerations of self-love, ambition, being properly treated, or even by spurious feelings of envy, jealousy or malice and hatred. These Gurdjieff called 'negative emotions', which he said have no right to exist and only poison our lives.

★

★

★

Gurdjieff's teaching was always practical, and since the idea of the mind is at first rather abstract, he brought it into the realm of everyday experience by introducing the concept of Centres. He said that the mind was itself a multiple structure containing subdivisions that control specific functions. The three principal ones are the Intellectual, Emotional and Moving Centres. The Intellectual Centre is concerned with the processes of thought and reasoning. A quite different mind is involved in the exercise of emotions which are often loosely associated with feelings. However, these are only the unsuspected result of an assessment of relationships, and it is with relationships that the Emotional Centre is concerned. It can operate at different levels. The sense of beauty or wonder is clearly different from trivial like or dislike. The emotional mind is of great potentiality because when fully developed it can communicate with higher levels of intelligence in the universe, which Gurdjieff called Higher Centres. The third subdivision is the Moving Centre which controls the voluntary movements of the body, most of which we take entirely for granted. All three Centres can operate at differing levels of awareness, and they should all work together in harmony. In practice this does not happen, because they all work with an almost negligible direction of consciousness so that they are vulnerable to the whims of the moment. We think when we should feel and vice versa. In moments of anger we allow the Emotional Centre to direct our movements, which it does very badly, often with disastrous results. All too often our behaviour is governed by a kind of putrefying enlargement of the Emotional Centre which breeds the host of negative emotions referred to earlier. At first the presence of these Centres can only be recognized by observing their functions, and a considerable part of group work is concerned with observing which of the Centres is involved in the flood of mechanical reactions during the day. Gradually

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the slumbering Centres begin to exert their proper authority and one's behaviour begins to become consciously directed. It is these three Centres which are mainly concerned with everyday activities. There are two other Centres, less well understood. One of these is the Instinctive Centre which is responsible for all the involuntary movements in the body. It controls such functions as breathing, circulation of the blood, digestion of food and the supply of the necessary energies to the brain or other parts of the body that are required for its continued existence. This is usually associated with Moving Centre, but it is not really an individual mind; it is more correctly interpreted as an individual allocation of a Cosmic Intelligence which controls the whole of organic life. It should not be lightly interfered with, and the good physician always regards it with great respect. Finally, there is the Sex Centre, which is again an intelligence of a high order. It is a unifying intelligence, only minimally concerned with physical sex, its main function being the co­ ordination of all the individual activities in the fulfillment of the overall design. Its energy is very often stolen by the Emotional Centre in the satisfaction of desire, which results in the undue fervour so characteristic of the activities of today. These two last-named Centres do not have to be awakened. They are already fully operational as part of the equipment provided for the sojourn on earth. It is the three ordinary Centres which have to be developed, and particularly the Emotional Centre which has to be freed from the canker of negative emotions. As this begins to be achieved one catches glimpses of the reality behind the illusions of the senses.

6. The Institute at Fontainebleau

Gurdjieff had always maintained that mere attendance at meetings was insufficient. It was necessary for them to be accompanied by practical work on one's self. Otherwise the teaching would quickly degenerate into dogma, a kind of applied psychology, which indeed some newcomers thought it was. Hence he was delighted to hear of what appeared to be a very suitable place at Fontainebleau some forty miles from Paris, where appropriate activities could be arranged. This was an old house called the Prieure which had formerly been a Carmelite monastery and had later been occupied for a time by Madame de Maintenon. It was now in the possession of the widow of Maitre Labori, the advocate in the celebrated Dreyfus case. By the generosity of a number of interested patrons, including substantial contributions which Ouspensky had been able to raise in England, the necessary money was raised and the purchase was duly completed. Early in 1922 Gurdjieff moved in with his wife and family, together with a small band of close associates. It was a commodious property standing in extensive and attractive grounds, which afforded opportunities for a variety of activities. The house was made ready for an expected influx of thirty to forty people, including the equipment of the kitchens. There was a need, however, for a large room suitable for the holding of meetings or for the staging of dances and plays. For this purpose the group was able to acquire a surplus aircraft hangar from the French Government. This was delivered in sections and one of the first activities of the group was the erection of this meeting room which was fairly large occupying an area of some seventy by forty metres. It was by no means luxurious, since its floor was of bare earth, covered by a variety of carpets and rugs. Crude,

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but effective seating arrangements were devised, and the meeting room began to serve its appointed purpose. People began to arrive in increasing numbers, as they made the necessary adjustments to their normal activities, either temporarily or permanently, and they were immediately allocated appropriate duties. The property had a number of out-buildings which had been utilized in connection with a small home farm, and these were gradually brought into use, together with the cultivation of suitable parts of the land. A variety of livestock was purchased which began to make a useful contribution to the housekeeping. All this was initially very strange since many people had no knowledge of husbandry but, with the assistance of those who had a little experience, the activities were developed to a reasonable degree of proficiency. In these surroundings Gurdjieff was able to organize an esoteric school in which opportunities could be provided for people to recognize their state of sleep. It was not an academic exercise but a constant endeavour to do whatever had to be done, consciously. He would pass among the pupils at their various tasks with brusque and often harsh comments to disturb their complacency. There was, indeed, little opportunity for self-satisfaction, since at any time Gurdjieff might call a meeting at which, though one might be physically tired, one had to fight to maintain the attention to what one knew intuitively to be of great value. There were some who could not tolerate this treatment, particularly those who came later expecting to find an inflation of their ego. They were all people who had made their mark in the world and were unable to accept these repeated offences to their self-esteem, so that they soon left and often indulged in recriminations and vituperation. Those who had acquired a little true insight accepted these many buffets with understanding, though the initial impact could easily arouse temporary resentment. Gurdjieff, in fact, was operating a school, which he called the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. Its sole purpose was the provision of opportunities for the awakening of real consciousness, instead of the perfunctory egocentric awareness which passes for consciousness in ordinary life. It was not, specifically not, an academy for the dispensation of instant enlightenment, but was concerned to provide opportunities for individual application of the basic ideas of his teaching. Situations were contrived which could illustrate the entirely mechanical nature of one's ordinary reactions. These are not limited to

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physical action, but include all one's thoughts and feelings, which are derived from the long established patterns of association which constitute the Personality. One begins to realize the extent to which this Personality is continually objecting, resenting what one has to do as unjust or possibly beneath one's dignity, particularly in some unpleasant task like cleaning out a pigsty. Often a person was set to work with someone they disliked, which they might tolerate with a spurious magnaminity until they asked what it was in themselves that was objecting, and possibly realized that the other person might be experiencing a similar or even greater dislike. It was often said that we had to have the corners knocked off, and around the walls of the meeting room there were later erected a number of aphorisms, one of which was:

Always remember that you are here having realized the necessity of contending only with yourself; thank everyone who affords you the opportunity. Actually this is an injunction which should be remembered in everyday experience, because life itself is a kind of school and we should be continually thankful for the presence of other people on the journey.

★

★

★

Much practical work was concerned with the recognition of the minds or centres which direct our activities. As said in the previous chapter, there are three principal Centres, concerned respectively with the functions of thought, feeling and action. Each of these can operate at several levels of consciousness. The lowest levels are concerned with the mechanical and largely unconscious activities of everyday life. The higher levels, most of which are hardly ever used, provide increasingly conscious interpretations of events. Moreover, in the ordinary way, these Centres are very unevenly employed, most of our activities being dominated by one Centre in particular. Gurdjieff said that people were of different types, characterized not so much by distinctions of race or creed but by the Centre which is principally involved in their activities. What he called 'Number 1 Man' is directed principally by the Moving Centre. This includes people whose activities are predominantly physical,

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both in their normal work or their recreational activities; they use their other Centres but to a lesser degree. 'Number 2 Man' derives his meaning through his Emotional Centre. He responds to feelings of beauty and harmony in nature, art or music and will often make these his principal occupation. Thought and action occupy a secondary place in his philosophy. 'Number 3 Man' is directed mainly by his Intellectual Centre. All his judgements are based on reasoning and his main interest lies in the pursuit and application of knowledge. He tends to decry his feelings but may like to use his physical faculties as a recreation. Gurdjieff said that because of this predominance of one Centre the different types could not understand one another, as is illustrated in the legend of the Tower of Babel, which failed because the builders could not communicate with each other; and the troubles of the world today arise from the same cause. He said that we had to try to become 'Number 4 Man', which he called 'Balanced Man' who uses all three Centres together. Only when this has been achieved is it possible to develop to the level of 'Conscious Man'. In the pursuit of this objective he introduced many activities which were designed to awaken the proper use of the unused faculties. Intellectual types were encouraged to indulge in artistic pursuits such as painting or music. Many activities involve several Centres. Pottery for example involves both the Emotional and Moving Centres, while acting involves all three Centres, and both acting and dancing were utilized to encourage the development of a balanced system. The first reaction was often one of dismay at being told to act a part utterly foreign to one's ordinary supposedly dignified behaviour, or to learn to play a musical instrument for which one is convinced one has no possible aptitude. People have to try, disregarding the conviction that they are going to make complete fools of themselves, which Gurdjieff might say was a very good thing. An even more significant application of this technique was in the development of certain physical exercises which were generally known as the 'Movements'. These consisted of elaborate movements of the body, which were performed in time with music specially composed by Gurdjieff from his recollection of sacred music and dances encountered on his travels. This music, relatively simple, had a profound emotional impact and when combined with the physical movements it provides a strong stimulation of the Emotional Centre. At the same time consider-

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able attention was required in the Moving Centre in order to perform the prescribed movements which were often not of a conventional nature, while a similar attention was required in the Intellectual Centre in order to remember the sequence of movements. It is clear that such an exercise, properly performed, involves the co-operation of all three Centres and in practice has a remarkably uplifting effect. The preliminary exercises were often quite elaborate, involving movements of feet, arms and body in an apparently uncoordinated manner quite different from the natural rhythms induced by habit. These would then be followed by exercises using simpler movements but conveying a specific interpretation of some emotional idea. There is no need to give more than a brief indication of this type of activity, but it produces a lightness of spirit which is quite remarkable and these movements and their music have been preserved and are still practised in many groups today. ★

★

★

These exercises are not performed for result but in submission to a higher authority of which one is intuitively aware. From time to time Gurdjieff would speak of these higher levels in a particularly practical manner, introducing the cosmological aspects of the teaching. He spoke of a living and evolving universe containing a succession of levels of intelligence and consciousness. Within this structure, man is created as a special self-developing organism designed to make a significant contribution to this cosmic evolution, but in his usual state of sleep he is quite unaware of this obligation. All the work at the Institute was performed with the unspoken acknowledgement of these higher influences, and to provide constant reminders the walls of the meeting room were decorated with a number of banners containing the aphorisms mentioned earlier. These were written in a curious Armenian script which people managed to interpret in their own tongue. They were said to be derived from a conscious civilization many thousands of years ago. They were not just clever sayings but laconic statements which held considerable meaning. If they were pondered individually one was able to discern the truth behind the words. One has already been cited, the others were not in any particular sequence and in the main dealt with various aspects of behaviour.

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However, there were three specifically concerned with different levels of interpretation of the three fundamental virtues. These were: Faith conscious is freedom. Faith instinctive is slavery. Faith mechanical is foolishness.

Hope conscious is strength. Hope emotional is cowardice. Hope mechanical is disease. Love conscious calls forth the same in response. Love emotional calls forth its opposite. Love physical depends on polarity and type. Practice on animals first. They are more sensitive.

Others were concerned with right attitudes. A few could be interpreted literally but the majority had to be thought about many times before their real meaning could be discerned. They were:

Remember that work here is not for reward but as a means. The energy consumed by an act in the internal world is converted for fresh use. That consumed by passive work is lost for ever. If you have not critical mind by nature, your staying here is useless.

Only he who can look after what belongs to others can have his own.

The worse life conditions the better the possibilities for conscious work. He can be just who learns to enter into the position of others.

Love him who loves work. Judge everybody by yourself and you will rarely be mistaken in people.

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Here one can only direct and create conditions — not help. Remember that this house can only be useful to those who have recognized their nothingness and believe it possible to alter.

The chief implement for living felicitously in life is to have the ability to consider externally always, internally never. Man is given a definite number of experiences; economizing these he prolongs his life.

Love all art with your feelings.

Take the understanding of the East and the knowledge of the West, and then seek. He who has overcome the illness T will do it tomorrow' has a chance of achieving what he is here for. The highest limit of man's achievement is to be able to do. Judge man not according to others' tales.

Only help him who strives not to be an idler.

Respect every religion. It is a sign of a good man that he loves his father and mother.

If you already know it is bad and still do it you commit a sin difficult to redress. Like what 'it' does not like.

★

★

★

The community was of a cosmopolitan nature including a considerable number of Russians and Caucasians who had been drawn to Gurdjieff during his travels in Turkestan. There was a group of French people who had been attracted by the publicity of this new experiment which was being carried out by what became known as 'the forest philosophers', and there was a

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staunch contingent of British adherents, some of whom were later to form their own groups. The work at the Institute was hard and demanding. Gurdjieff had trained himself to a spartan code of behaviour and would often hold meetings which continued far into the night. Yet on Saturdays there was a day of relaxation. A special dinner was prepared in the evening, accompanied by choice wines, and to these meetings various people could be invited, some by Gurdjieff himself, others by members of the group. These were often enlivened by special demonstrations of the Movements, or short plays, for despite the severity of the discipline it was always emphasized that work was to be taken lightly. He often quoted Plato's saying that serious things cannot be understood without laughable things. Contrary to the expectation of many people the Institute at Fontainebleau only lasted a very short time. In July, 1924 Gurdjieff had a very serious motor accident which caused an abrupt break in the routine. When he began to recover after several anxious months, he appears to have decided that the Institute had served its purpose and it was closed in December of that year. He had been able to impart his ideas to a sufficient number of pupils to ensure their continuance. It was not the end of his mission but from that time onwards his progress was to follow a different path which will be discussed more fully in Chapter 9.

7. The Early Disciples

To meet the growing interest in the Gurdjieff teaching a number of the more advanced pupils were authorized to form their own groups in order to make the ideas more widely available. The first and probably most celebrated of these was P. D. Ouspensky, who was later to become the foremost exponent of the teaching in the West. He had first met Gurdjieff in Moscow in 1915 when (as explained in Chapter 4), he had had many discussions and began to take part in the activities of the group. The outbreak of revolution in 1917 disrupted these activities, and both men had to make their escape with their families into Turkestan. Ouspensky came to rest in the island of Prinkipo in the Sea of Marmara, where he eked out an existence as a teacher. Later he established contact with a Mrs Beaumont in Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, and gave several talks there. His fortunes were to change dramatically because shortly afterwards he received an unexpected invitation from Lady Rothermere. She had read his now classic book A New Model of the Universe which had just been translated into English and this had so impressed her that she offered to pay all his expenses if he would come to London. This he gladly agreed to do, and early in 1919 he gave a lecture to the Quest Society on the ideas of the Gurdjieff system. The lecture received immediate acclaim from the intellectual society of London at that time, and from this he began to hold meetings of small groups at his house in Warwick Gardens in Kensington. These were held in some secrecy, partly to avoid attracting attention but mainly to prevent careless discussion of the ideas of the Work, which could easily degrade them and lead to quite incorrect understanding. It was forbidden to talk about the ideas outside the meeting room even with other people in the group, and although this condition was relaxed to some extent

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later, the necessity for avoiding careless discussion has always been emphasized. A number of well-known people joined the group, including Maurice Nicoll, Kenneth Walker and J. G. Bennett. It grew in strength and they were encouraged by a visit from Gurdjieff himself in the spring of 1922. The audience regarded him with a natural awe and were mostly silent though one member asked rather timidly, 'Mr Gurdjieff, what would it be like to be conscious in essence?' to which he replied laconically, 'Everything more vivid'. Shortly after this, Gurdjieff found the property at Fontainebleau and was able to establish the headquarters for which he had so long wished. Ouspensky's group contributed generously to the purchase, and several of the members managed to rearrange their affairs in order to take up residence there. They were followed in due course by Ouspensky and his wife, but he himself only remained for a short time out of loyalty to the remainder of his group which he did not wish to leave indefinitely without a teacher. This was much appreciated and the group continued to flourish. However, in January 1924 he suddenly announced that he had parted company with Gurdjieff. The group was astounded because they had previously considered the two men to be inseparable in their devotion to the system; but Ouspensky said that while he remained convinced of the truth of the ideas he could no longer tolerate Gurdjieff's autocratic methods which he felt were not only insensitive but required people to accept blindly ideas which they had not fully understood. This was anathema to him since he believed that ideas could only develop if they were questioned and examined for oneself. He had therefore decided to continue alone and from then on all reference to Gurdjieff was forbidden. In response to a question from one member, he said that he believed Gurdjieff to be approaching a crisis point in his life at which his spiritual stature would either be dramatically increased or would collapse into insignificance. This was a strangely prophetic remark in view of the fact that in July of that year Gurdjieff had a serious accident and although he later recovered, the Institute was closed down in the following December, (see Chapter 9). Madame Ouspensky thereafter rejoined her husband in London which afforded him much needed assistance in the difficult period following his break with Gurdjieff. In retrospect one can suggest that this break was deliberately contrived by

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Gurdjieff who realized that Ouspensky could not learn any more from him until he developed the higher levels of his emotional mind, which he could only do for himself. Madame Ouspensky's return introduced new life into the group. In particular, she felt the holding of weekly meetings was insufficient and that efforts should be made to find some suitable country house where other than mental activities could be exercised. This was eventually found at a house called Gadsden, in Hythe, Kent. This suited Ouspensky very well because he had begun to feel the need to assemble in more coherent form the many notes which he had made of the system since his first meeting with Gurdjieff in Moscow. He had no intention of breaking his agreement not to publish anything without permission, but he felt that the time would arise and that the material ought to be prepared in readiness. It also provided him with material for discussion at the meetings in which many points could be clarified both in the mind of the audience and in his own presentation. Actually the necessary permission was given many years later and resulted in the now well known book In Search of the Miraculous published in 1949. The group grew in strength and after a few years it had to look for larger premises. In 1935 it found a suitable house and grounds at Lyne Place near Sevenoaks, to which the activities were transferred. As at Gadsden, the day-to-day running and organization was undertaken by Madame Ouspensky who came to be regarded by many as the real leader of the group. Her personal contact with Gurdjieff at the Prieure had given her an authority which she used very effectively to increase the practical understanding of the pupils, as Robert de Ropp mentions in his book Warrior's Way. Ouspensky himself became still more withdrawn and usually spent most of the week in London. He had had to dispense with the assistance of Maurice Nicoll whom he felt had reached that point in his development where he had to make his own way, and he felt the loss of this companionship very much. Nicoll had been able to reawaken in him that lightness of spirit which he had known as a youth, and he said once that Nicoll was the only man who had been able to make him laugh. However, with the outbreak of hostilities in 1939 it was no longer possible to continue with the activities. Conditions appeared to be better in America which had not yet become

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involved in the war so that Madame Ouspensky left for America in the autumn and was followed shortly afterwards by Ouspensky himself. By this time he was a spent force and although he gave several lectures in New York, he was not able to establish any real contact with the groups operating at that time. He did establish a group in Mendham, New Jersey which was again administered by Madame but this didn't meet with the success of his English groups and it was, in general, a bleak period for him. After the end of the war he returned to England and assembled the remnants of his former group who made him welcome. He told them that he was abandoning the system, which caused no little confusion and dismay: but he went on to emphasize that the Work was only a means of developing that conscious interpretation of the experiences of life which was the whole object of the teaching. Hence it was necessary to continue to teach the ideas with the understanding that they were not an end in themselves but only a preparation for individual effort. Arrangements were made for the resumption of activities but he was by now a very ill man and he retired to Lyne Place where he died on 2 October 1947. The night before his death he got up and called together all the people who were staying there at the time and gave an inspired address in which he was clearly already inhabiting a higher level of existence and had at last attained the state of enlightenment which Gurdjieff had envisaged for him. Despite his limitations he had laid a firm foundation for the continuance of the ideas.

★

★

★

Another disciple of distinction was Maurice Nicoll, a Harley Street specialist who had studied psychology with Jung in Vienna, and had already established a reputation in this field. He had first met the ideas of the Work at the meeting of the Quest Society referred to earlier, from which he returned home in a state of great elation, saying to his wife Katherine that he had at last met a man who had real knowledge to impart. He joined Ouspensky's group and became one of his most staunch supporters. When the Institute at Fontainebleau was opened in 1922 he immediately sold his practice and most of his possessions in order to take up residence there with his wife and daughter, expecting to remain there for the rest of his life. When the Institute was closed in 1924 he had to return to London and set to work to revive his former

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connections. He became even closer to Ouspensky and, with his wife Katherine, held conversations far into the night both at Warwick Gardens and during weekends at Nicoll's seaside cottage at Sidlesham, Sussex. He began to act as Ouspensky's deputy on occasions, though it is worth noting that the first time he was asked to do this he arrived, having spent many days in anxious preparation, only to be told that he would not be required after all. This is typical of the kind of test often contrived in schools to find whether the pupil can surmount what in life would be a natural resentment. By 1931 Ouspensky realized that Nicoll had reached the point from which he had to make his own progress and he was therefore told to leave and start his own group. This he did with some trepidation but gradually assembled a nucleus of pupils who attended meetings several times a week in St John's Wood. In 1934 with the help of a friend he acquired Lakes Farm at Rayne near Braintree in Essex as a weekend home. Later he was given money to buy the field behind it and in 1935 the group commenced work on the construction of larger premises in which Work activities could be carried out. The whole of the work was undertaken by group members with the exception of the chimneys and thatched roof for which professionals were employed. This house was called Tyeponds. Stair carpets and curtains were woven on three large looms and gradually other activities were developed including painting, wood carving, music, guitar practice, etc. All this had to be abandoned on the outbreak of war in 1939. The farm was requisitioned by the authorities and the activities had to be rearranged. Nicoll and his household moved to premises in Birdlip in Gloucestershire which became the war time headquarters of the group. In due course a further house was rented nearby in which accommodation was arranged for other members of the group who managed to get away from their duties for brief periods. At the same time a number of small subgroups were organized in London which met in the houses of some of the senior pupils in an endeavour to keep the ideas alive. After a few months Nicoll began to write weekly commentaries which were not only read at Birdlip but were circulated to the group leaders in London and elsewhere. These proved invaluable in sustaining the continuity of the group as a whole throughout the war years. When the war ended these groups were able to reunite at a country house in Hertfordshire (see Chapter 11), and

THE EARLY DISCIPLES

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here Nicoll continued to operate a rapidly growing school until his death in 1953.

★

★

★

Simultaneously with the introduction of the ideas in England there had been a similar development in America. This was provided by another of the members of the Institute, namely A. R. Orage, who had been a leading literary figure in England in the 1920s. He had founded and edited a weekly publication called The New Age which had a wide and distinguished circulation among the intellectual society of the time. He had been attracted by the ideas of the Work and when he heard of the foundation of the Institute at Fontainebleau he abandoned his literary activities and took up residence at the Prieure. Here he met Gurdjieff and other distinguished members of the community and began to develop a practical understanding of the system. In 1923 he decided to leave the Institute and go to America with a view to arranging suitable groups in New York and elsewhere. With his literary connections, Orage had no difficulty in gaining entry into appropriate circles in New York and founded several groups meeting in different places, and soon established a thriving esoteric community. There had been no break in his relations with Gurdjieff and early in 1924 Gurdjieff made a brief visit to New York himself partly to reinforce Orage's work and partly to raise much-needed funds. Shortly after Gurdjieff's return from America he had the serious motor accident which resulted in the closing of the Institute. This was regarded as a challenge by Orage who held his group together until the time when he hoped communication could be resumed with Gurdjieff. Happily this did occur, and when Gurdjieff began to write his strange book All and Everything he sent drafts of the early chapters to New York in order to receive comments from the members of the group. Shortly afterwards, however, Orage's intellectual enthusiasms began to assert themselves and he became interested in the Douglas system of social credit, which was becoming very much talked about in Canada at that time. His interest in the Work activities declined, but fortunately there was a nucleus of experienced pupils who could maintain the continuity. Gurdjieff made a second visit to New York in 1930 when he had to repudiate Orage and told the group to continue without him. In November of that year he attended a dinner in his honour

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which had been arranged by the group in Carnegie Hall. This was patronized by a large number of influential people to whom he explained with his typical sly humour that his Institute at Fontainebleau had not been financed by black magic or other occult means but had to rely on the generosity of intelligent men and women who understood the urgent necessity for awakening the more conscious levels of behaviour. He treated them to a resume of his early life and upbringing with many anecdotes calculated to appeal to their love of the unusual, and as a result he collected very substantial contributions which were sufficient to pay off some heavy debts which had accumulated at the Prieure. Orage, meanwhile, returned to London where he took on the editorship of a newly established periodical called the English Weekly. He had intended to get in touch again with Gurdjieff, but in 1931 he died suddenly from a heart attack shortly after completing a BBC broadcast. Gurdjieff is said to have been disappointed by this turn of events because he felt that Orage had come to realize his error and in retracing his steps he could have developed a real authority. He had made many friends and established a firm foundation for the teaching in the Western hemisphere.

8. The Place of Man

One of the most inspiring aspects of Gurdjieff's philosophy is the idea that man is a creation in a living and purposeful universe. The ordinary mind often finds it difficult to discern any coherent meaning in the apparently arbitrary and sometimes cruel events of life. Many people, indeed, think that all existence is entirely accidental, but a majority of people acknowledge the innate belief in the existence of a Superior Intelligence which directs the affairs of men for some inscrutable purpose. Life is regarded as an experience which has to be undergone in preparation for a future and supposedly more congenial state of existence. Gurdjieff's interpretation of this belief was more immediately practical. He formulated a cosmology which portrays the universe as an ordered structure in which man is a special creation designed to fulfil a significant cosmic purpose. He said that the astronomical universe, which in all its impressive majesty we usually regard as the whole of creation, is no more than the physical appearance of a vastly greater but unmanifest structure. This did not happen just by accident, but is continuously brought into being by the direction of the Supreme or Absolute Intelligence. This is a dynamic process in which the design is implemented in a succession of world orders of gradually increasing complexity and correspondingly more restricted intelligence. This is the way any development must proceed: as a simple example, consider the production of an aircraft. It will originate as an idea in the mind of the designer, this will then have to be interpreted in a succession of more detailed plans, followed by the design and assembly of thousands of individual components until the finished product finally emerges. Each stage will be directed by an appropriate intelligence, but this will be subservient to that of its immediate superior which will have a greater awareness of

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the situation, and none of these intelligences is comparable in depth of vision with that of the original designer. We can thus envisage a hierarchy of world orders which Gurdjieff formulated in what he called the Ray of Creation. The successive levels do not develop in an arbitrary sequence but conform to a curious pattern of harmony called the Law of Seven, one of two fundamental laws which are discussed more fully in Appendix 1. The first world order is a realm of all possibilities, the first created level of manifestation, so that it can be called 'All Possible Worlds'. It is essentially a level of intelligence rather than form, but part of its function could be regarded as embracing the physical manifestations of the 10,000 million galaxies in the astronomical universe. If this is to develop further a subordinate intelligence is required which will be responsible for individual galaxies in the system. This will constitute the second world order, which for us could be represented by our particular galaxy, the Milky Way. This has then to create a more detailed intelligence concerned with the direction of the 1,000 million suns in the galaxy, and it is sometimes spoken of as the Sun Intelligence. It is evidently a level of intelligence and consciousness incomparably greater than that of the ordinary intellect, but awakened man can communicate with it. There are then three further world orders which are concerned in turn with planetary systems, then our particular planet, earth, and finally the moon, as illustrated below: Absolute

All Possible Worlds

Galaxy Sun

Planetary System Earth

\ ? )

Organic Life

Moon

Figure 2: The system of world orders according to Gurdjieff.

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These various designations must not be taken too literally. They are simply indications in terms of the familiar physical universe of a series of intelligences of progressively decreasing scale. Thus the level of earth does not relate only to the physical earth but includes the whole of the phenomenal world in both its physical and psychological aspects. It is clearly not the centre of the universe and actually occupies a very lowly position in the overall structure. The moon level represents the maximum multiplicity of ordered detail after which the system degenerates into chaos.

★

★

★

This arrangement must not be thought of as a rigid structure created at the beginning of time to last forever. It is a living creation which is continuously enlivened by forces emanating from the Absolute. At each level the force is used to create an appropriate range of material, for the fulfilment of its purpose, after which the force is transmitted at reduced intensity to the level immediately below. The process continues through the successive levels until it becomes exhausted in the condition of chaos. At first this seems to imply an endless dissipation of force from some inexhaustible source but this is not so, the system is made self-sustaining by an ingenious process of transformation which creates a return flow. At each level the energy required for its necessary activities is obtained by feeding on the materials with which it has been provided. This is a familiar process in everyday life though we rarely give it much thought. We eat food of various kinds which are miraculously transformed by the digestive processes into substances of increasingly fine texture which are used to replace the wastage in the tissues resulting from the activities of the day. Further refinements follow which create the range of psychic energies required by the Centres to enable them to direct the various intangible activities, such as thought and feeling. The process is one of normally unsuspected potentialities which Gurdjieff often discussed in considerable detail. (This is referred to briefly in Appendix 3.) Similar transformations of coarse material to finer substances take place in their appropriate context in each of the levels of the hierarchy. They not only provide the energies necessary for the appropriate operations but also create a quantity of still finer energy which nourishes the level immediately above. It is sometimes said that we live in a universe of transformation in

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which each level is endeavouring in its own vast time, to return to the Source. Thus there is a rhythmic flow and return of force which Hindu philosophy calls 'the breath of Brahma'.

★

★

★

It will be seen that man does not appear in this structure. Actually he is part of the pattern in a very significant way. Owing to the operation of the Law of Seven, there is a certain hiatus in the passage of force down the ray immediately above the level of earth. To overcome this difficulty a special bridging structure is provided through which the force can flow more freely. It is again a pattern of intelligences, but it has a physical manifestation in the thin film of organic life which covers the surface of the earth, and is known scientifically to serve as a vast transforming mechanism. Man is a special creation within this structure capable of transforming the coarse material of earthly experience into energy of a finer quality. This is done by the conscious interpretation of the events of life, thereby creating a refined energy which contributes to the evolution of this part of the universe. In the state of sleep this does not happen but man awakening begins to fulfil this obligation. This is possible because higher levels of consciousness are already available to him as we see represented in the well-known dream of Jacob wherein he saw a ladder between earth and heaven, with angels ascending and descending thereon (Genesis 28:12).

★

★

★

This concept of a hierarchy of intelligences is a unique and essential part of Gurdjieff's teaching. Many people find it difficult to understand and tend to regard it as no more than an intellectual exercise that is of interest if one wishes to stretch the imagination, but which need not be taken too seriously. Yet it should not be dismissed so lightly, because it has an emotional content which creates the feeling of participating in a living universe in which everything has its place and purpose. In particular, one can envisage that the apparently arbitrary and even unjust experiences of life may be only a manifestation in passing time of a coherent pattern in a world of a higher order; and at this higher level the real pattern is known and understood. Within the range of these vast patterns one is compelled to echo

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the psalmist's cry, 'What is man that Thou art mindful of him?' Gurdjieff said that man is a special creation equipped with the faculty of consciousness; but this is dormant and has to be awakened in order for him to perform the transformations of experience for which he is created. However, for this to be effective it has to be entirely voluntary and the greater part of humanity is either unaware of the requirement or unwilling to be bothered. Nevertheless, there must be a sufficiency of conscious endeavour if the development of the universe is to proceed satisfactorily. According to legend, if this requirement is not fulfilled the experiment will be abandoned and humanity will be reduced in scale to be replaced by a fresh experiment. Insect colonies like ants may be the relic of a former experiment which went wrong. They have developed a very high degree of civilization but have sacrificed all possibility of development because they became completely satisfied with their own intelligence. There are some who think that humanity today is following the same road.

★

★

★

Gurdjieff's cosmology provides a practical interpretation of the innate belief in a purpose beyond the gratifications of personal desires and ambitions. These are attributes of the Personality, but the real part of a man is a spiritual entity which has its being in realms of a superior order which serve higher levels of intelligence. However, we usually do not realize that this immortal soul is itself a living and developing organism. Gurdjieff said that Essence was created incomplete so that it is like a small child which has to be nourished in order to grow to its full stature; hence it inhabits a physical body through which to collect the raw materials of life experience. If these are then to be used they have to be 'cooked' by being interpreted consciously. This provides acceptable food for Essence which can begin to develop and thereby serve its purpose in the universe. The conscious interpretation of impressions transforms the coarse material of everyday experience into substances of a finer quality. If the effort is sustained these finer substances begin to crystallize to form a second body. This is of psychological material and coexists with the first (physical) body, and because of its higher level it can begin to exercise a degree of conscious control over the ordinary activities. It is not necessary for man asleep who can exist quite comfortably without it, but it is essential to

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any sustained awakening. If the effort is continued, further transformations are possible, leading to the production of still finer substances which may coalesce to form the third body; and this may ultimately be followed by the fourth body, which is composed of the highest materials available to man. This will have full control over all the lower levels and will for the first time be able to display the functions of real 'I' and exercise real will. These are the higher bodies spoken of earlier. The idea is found in many theologies. In Christian terminology the bodies are called the carnal, astral, spiritual and divine bodies respectively. Other systems use slightly different names, but they all convey the concept of a sequence of increasing intelligences. The subject is discussed in detail in the literature, often with the allocation of specific functions to the different bodies, but the idea cannot be understood in purely intellectual terms and many formulations become confusing because they fail to interpret the true emotional relationships. The most important aspect of the higher bodies is that they are structures which, once they have been formed, actually belong to a man and have a certain permanence, they survive the death of the physical body; and because of their higher level they provide a measure of individual immortality as distinct from the impersonal immortality of the soul, which is a cosmic creation.

9. The Years of Maturity

In the summer of 1924 the pattern of Gurdjieff's life was to be changed dramatically. On 5 July of that year he was driving back to Fontainebleau from Paris when, as he said later, he collided with a stationary tree at sixty miles an hour. He appears to have been thrown clear of the wreckage and was discovered a short distance away suffering from very serious injuries from which at first he was not expected to recover. The incident caused consternation at the Prieure. He had always been known to be a fast driver, often taking hair-raising risks from which he seemed to emerge miraculously, and he had always lived dangerously. It seemed incredible that his mission should be thus abruptly terminated, particularly as he had just returned from a very successful visit to America. Some people left in dismay. Others remained for a while, trying to use the situation as an opportunity for the even more diligent application of all that they had been taught. After several anxious months, however, he began to make a substantial recovery. His physical condition continued to improve but there was a significant change in his mental attitude. He became more than usually unpredictable and there were many who believed that he had become disoriented. It was clear that he felt that the Institute had served its purpose and it was therefore closed in December of that year. The remaining members of the group were told to disperse, leaving only a small number of people to minister to his personal requirements. His behaviour still gave them cause for anxiety but it seems likely that he was adjusting himself to a higher level of consciousness to which he had been raised by the accident. It is indeed questionable whether his encounter with the tree was an accident in the ordinary sense of the word. He used to say

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that sleeping humanity was under what he called the Law of Accident, which does not refer to the impact of the random events of life but means that in the ordinary way what happens to a person is not under his own control. His thoughts are continually occupied with the intentions of the future rather than the awareness of the present, so that, as Gurdjieff used to say, he is never at home. As a consequence he is vulnerable to the influence of other people's karma and becomes involved in a variety of situations which do not really belong to him. By contrast, a more conscious person will begin to come under the Law of Fate. This does not imply some grim predestination, but simply means that what happens to him is individually significant. Being aware of the realities of the developing situations he may avoid certain events altogether. Alternatively, he may recognize them as a necessary part of his own pattern and endeavour to interpret them consciously. To a man of Gurdjieff's calibre accidents do not happen but they can be permitted or even arranged by the direction of conscious influences. It is said that after the accident Gurdjieff was found to be fully conscious despite his multiple injuries, and that even in the hospital he refused to allow any anaesthetics to be used in order to retain his consciousness throughout the event. Whether one believes this or not, it is significant that on this occasion there were no passengers in the car. This was unusual, for he was always accompanied by one or more members of the group during his excursions to Paris, so one can surmise that the accident was at any rate foreseen; and there were certainly incidents in his earlier life, particularly during his travels, where he had remarkable escapes. Whatever the cause, the event produced a significant change in his level of consciousness. He appears to have felt that, although hitherto he had forbidden any publication of his ideas, the time had come for him to try to put on record what he regarded as the real basis of his understanding. Hence despite his lack of experience or expertise in writing, he set himself the task of compiling a long and comprehensive treatise which he commenced with great enthusiasm. He was not concerned with a reiteration of the psychological teaching of his earlier years but tried to convey an understanding of the real universe as a living and evolving structure administered by conscious beings. His approach had of necessity to be allegorical and took the form of a series of tales told by Beelzebub to his grandson, Hassan. In Christian theology,

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Beelzebub is usually regarded as the prince of evil, but Gurdjieff suggests that he was a member of the Cosmic Council by whom he was appointed to visit the planet earth and report on the conditions which he found there. He tells Hassan of his observations during his several visits and the curious 'slugs', as he calls them, which appeared to inhabit its surface. He says that their unfortunate condition is the result of an accident which occurred during the evolution of the solar system, the effects of which have not yet been fully corrected. This hypothesis makes possible the introduction of a number of interesting ideas. At first he dictated the text to one of the small group who were still remaining at the Prieure, who subsequently translated it into English. However, he soon abandoned this because arrangements were being made to sell the Prieure and he moved with his entourage to Paris. Here he continued his narrative in his native Armenian on scraps of paper, written in the more congenial atmosphere of his favourite cafes. These jottings were suitably collated and again translated into English. Copies were sent to Orage for discussion by his groups in America. They proved to be quite incomprehensible even to people who had some knowledge of the Work ideas, and they had to be returned for revision. It was evident that the presentation would have to be drastically modified if the ideas were to be understood. Gurdjieff realized that he would have to start again and decided to put the matter aside for a while and await fresh inspiration. He devoted himself for a time to musical composition, recording, with the assistance of Thomas and Olga de Hartmann, a number of melodies developed from some of the sacred music which he had encountered in various monasteries on his travels. These relatively simple compositions had a profoundly moving effect on those who heard them, awakening the emotional parts of the mind, and they have fortunately been preserved, sometimes in connection with the exercises or 'movements' which had been developed at the Institute. Refreshed by this break, Gurdjieff once again took up the writing of his allegory and this time with much greater success. A further selection of chapters was sent to Orage who was able to send back a more favourable report. Accordingly, Gurdjieff continued with the writing and spent the next few years in completing the book. It was not a continuous activity for by this time he had made a substantial recovery and was once more able

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to drive a car, which he did with the same recklessness as before, to the constant apprehension of his passengers. (Some even preferred to follow him in another car, which always caused him amusement.) Nevertheless this greater freedom of action enabled him to visit many places locally and reinvigorate himself with fresh impressions. He had always taught that impressions were the third and richest food which the body needs, in addition to the physical food and the air which is breathed. (This idea is discussed more fully in Appendix 3.) He made occasional trips to Switzerland, and by 1930 he had achieved what amounted to a complete recovery. In November of that year Gurdjieff paid a visit to America and addressed a meeting in the Carnegie Hall in New York, which enabled him to raise some much needed funds. In the spring of the following year he had a meeting in London with Paul Anderson, who was acting as treasurer, and it was decided that they had just sufficient money to prepare a limited number of mimeographed copies of Beelzebub's Tales, though in an unbound condition. With the assistance of his wife, Naome, Paul arranged for 102 copies to be produced and these were distributed to various groups on the continent and America, including one copy which was sent to Ouspensky in London for use of his now considerable group. The circulation of these copies resulted in a number of comments which enabled Gurdjieff to amend some of the chapters later, but the book was never printed in its complete form until after his death in 1949.

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Beelzebub's Tales was intended to be one of a trilogy, to be entitled All and Everything, but this did not develop for many years. However this title was used when the book was finally published. It is an extraordinary book, by no means easy to follow. One has the impression that Gurdjieff deliberately made it difficult to read so that considerable attention is required if the real meaning is to be grasped. Gurdjieff said that it should be read at least three times, obviously at intervals. It is full of strange names and designations which appear to be a mixture of Greek and Armenian, it contains a number of subtle ideas embroidered with details which often seemed unnecessarily long-winded or even irrelevant. Many of the ideas appear mere fantasy, or may even be repugnant, but if one is prepared to be patient one begins to discern the thread of reality.

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Beelzebub tells Hassan that the conditions on earth are the result of a collision with the comet Kondoor, which knocked off two fragments which became satellites. The larger of these is the familiar moon, while the second is a more remote moon called Annoolios, not known to science, but known to the inhabitants of Atlantis who called it Kimespai, meaning never allowing one to sleep in peace'. It was then necessary for the earth to feed these moons with energy until such time as they could make their own atmosphere. Man had already been created on the earth and it was therefore arranged that the residual energies of his activities could be used to supply this nourishment and this sufficed for a time. However, the Controllers of the Universe felt that as man began to develop objective consciousness he might no longer be willing to continue to inhabit the earth with its conditions of slavery. Hence they provided man with a special organ called 'kundabuffer' which caused him to see everything topsy-turvy and caused every incoming impression to be taken entirely subjectively and directed towards pleasure and comfort. This was successful but its effects had become so crystallized that they persisted long after the original object had been achieved. Hence it became necessary to send messengers to the earth from time to time to instruct mankind in self-remembering, the acknowledgement of the real self operating at a level of consciousness higher than the routine interpretations of the senses. He said that there had once been conditions when this state of self-remembering had been achieved for a period. This was during the time of an individual whom he calls 'the saintly Ashiata Shiemash', who had become concerned with the way mankind had misinterpreted the three fundamental virtues, namely faith, hope and love. These had become replaced by counterfeits having the same names but related entirely to personal desires. Under his influence the true values were re-enlivened and people began to understand one another. Wars and strife disappeared, and humanity lived for many years in peace. However, after his death the system was destroyed by evil-minded people whom Gurdjieff calls 'Hasnamuss' who reject any moral authority and derive their greatest pleasure from the discomfiture of others. This depravity may be acquired from undesirable companions, though it is often an inherited tendency resulting from a taint in Essence which has to be expiated. This destructive influence has never been eradicated and is kept alive by the avidity with which people feast on unpleasant happenings.

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In the upheaval most of the writings of Ashiata Shiemash were destroyed, though a few were preserved and some of the aphorisms around the meeting room at the Prieure were taken from these records. These and similar themes are developed in detail for the benefit of the young Hassan, together with a large number of auxiliary ideas which have to be pondered a little at a time. He says in one place that a peculiar kind of energy, which he calls 'the Sacred Askokin', is released to the universe on the death of the body but the quality and amount of this substance depends upon the state of consciousness of the individual concerned. As mankind has progressively lapsed into the state of sleep there is an insufficient supply of this precious material both in quality and quantity. Hence an increasing number of deaths had to be contrived partly by disastrous wars and catastrophes and partly by shortening the normal life-span of people in general. Later he refers to the ancient idea of the purification of what he calls the 'perfected Being body', or soul. It seems that the soul is not invulnerable and that it may acquire undesirable characteristics. Hence it is required to inhabit what he called 'the Holy Planet Purgatory' until it is clean enough to return to its proper home. By implication, it seems that one should consider it a privilege to inhabit the earth, which has been described as the most beautiful planet in the galaxy.

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After the completion of the first draft of Beelzebub's Tales, it seems that Gurdjieff decided to come down from the upper airs of allegory and revert to a more orthodox style. He wrote what amounted to a long essay on the opportunities for development which were being provided by the conscious influences which were falling on mankind. This he called The Herald of Coming Good, which was published in a limited edition in 1933. However, he was not satisfied with this, feeling that it was inopportune and he recalled it after a year, expressing the hope that anyone who had a copy would destroy it. He felt that it would be of interest to write a detailed account of his journeys in search of the Masters of Wisdom and this he did in a much more readable book entitled Meetings with Remarkable Men. It was by no means a complete record, nor did it contain a coherent itinerary, being concerned more with the interesting people whom he had encountered on his travels.

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It seems to have been written mainly for his own amusement, because no attempt was made to publish it and in fact it was not released until 1959, ten years after the appearance of Beelzebub's Tales. This writing seems to have occupied him until the end of the decade after which, except for one final book which appeared much later, he abandoned his writing activities. He had begun to receive an increasing number of visitors, from many parts of the world who had heard of his complete recovery and with them he held many individual talks. Some account of his activities during this period can be found in the book Who are you Monsieur Gurdjieff?, mentioned earlier. For a time he had ideas of reviving the Institute but decided against this on the advice, it is thought, of his teachers at the monastery in the Hindu Kush with whom he had always maintained contact. He said that everyone must keep in touch with his teacher, though this may not be possible physically. The quieter reaches of the mind are not subject to the limitations of time and space, so it is possible to retain contact with people whom one has met; but this communication will not be in words but in understanding. Gurdjieff kept in touch with his teacher, Father Giovanni, despite the turbulent conditions of the time. For the remainder of his life he appears to have been virtually in retreat. He had been disturbed by the death of his greatly loved wife who was suffering from cancer, and it is said that he had tried with some success to prolong her life to give her time to develop a well-formed spiritual body. However, towards the end of his life he wrote his third and final book with the strange title Life Is Real Only Then, When ‘I Am'. This, in a way, is a summary of the essential feature of his teaching which was concerned with the development of being rather than knowledge. It is written in the laconic style so familiar to those who met him and it reminds the reader that life in general is nothing but an illusion, an interpretation through long established mechanical associations of the kaleidoscopic succession of events. Only when one has discovered by long and sometimes painful experiment the secret of self-remembering does it become real. Gurdjieff often spoke of the four states of consciousness available to man which he illustrated by the following diagram. The lowest is physical sleep, a relatively harmless state containing many dream experiences but no action. Above this is the so-called waking state, which is still a state of psychological sleep, but in which the reactions are entirely mechanical and can develop all

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4. 3.

Objective consciousness Self-remembering or self-awareness

2. 1.

So-called waking state Sleep with dreams

Figure 3. The four states of consciousness available to mankind.

kinds of physical and emotional violence. The third state is that of self-remembering, in which one is aware of what is happening and reacts consciously to situations. The fourth state is objective consciousness, in which this real self is aware of everything as it actually is and understands the position of man in the developing universe. It will be seen that there is a line between the second and third states indicating that there is here a change of level. The state of self-remembering is a condition of a higher level of consciousness so that it is not just a development of the ordinary state. There is a discontinuity and it was with the bridging of this gap that Gurdjieff's teaching was concerned. This, in fact, was his legacy to humanity.

10. The Fourth Way

The practical nature of Gurdjieff's teaching is apt to create the illusion that it is an end in itself. In fact, it is no more than a preparation for the effort to participate in the more conscious state of existence which is our birthright. As children we have an unspoken awareness of this state without having to name it. It just is — a kind of memory of our real origin. Plato speaks of this memory in The Myth of Er, a Pamphyllian soldier who was slain on the field of battle but after several days was found not to be dead. He describes how during this period he had been taken to a place between the mouths of heaven and hell where he saw purified souls being presented to their judges. Here they were allowed to choose a fresh life of a quality determined by the use which they had made of their previous one. They were then taken down to earth by their guide but on the way they were required to drink of the waters of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, but the prudent only drank sparingly so that they retained a trace of memory of their origin and responsibilities. In practice this small residual memory quickly becomes submerged in the flood of life activities. With some people it remains forever buried, so that they have no awareness of any higher state and believe that life is complete in itself. Most people, however, retain some vestige of this memory which prompts them to try to re-establish contact with the higher realms from which they have come. There are many ways in which this can be attempted. They all require the awakening of the mind but the approach will depend upon which aspects of the mind are principally involved. There are three conventional techniques which Gurdjieff designated the way of fakir,monk and yogi. These are simply broad terms indicating the different kinds of approach. The way

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of fakir is the way of the ascetic, whose aim is to attain complete mastery of the physical body. All his sensations, feelings and thoughts are subjugated to this aim with the object of developing full consciousness in the Moving Centre. The second way, that of monk, is concerned with the development of the Emotional Centre. This is attempted through prayer and worship, with long periods of meditation in the search for spiritual guidance. The third way is devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and the attempt to attain understanding by the development of the higher levels of the Intellectual Centre. It is sometimes called the way of yogi, though it actually involves only one of the several disciplines of yoga. These are the conventional approaches, and it is clear that to follow any one of them fully requires complete dedication and a virtual withdrawal from life. There are some who are prepared to submit to this discipline, but the majority see no need for such extreme measures. They believe that it is sufficient to acknowledge in their hearts the existence of higher levels of intelligence with which they endeavour to communicate through religious or metaphysical observances at convenient times. This is a partial exercise of the second or third way, which still involves what are in effect intermittent withdrawals from life. The ideals which are being contemplated are recognized as being of a different order from life, which is therefore regarded as something to be tolerated as some kind of penance. There is a Fourth Way which adopts a radically different approach. It does not regard spiritual progress as involving an escape from life; on the contrary, it sees all events as opportunities, as part of a necessary pattern which has to be interpreted consciously. This is the way which Gurdjieff taught. If the conscious mind can be awakened, the quality of all experience is transformed, which not only raises the level of individual being but makes the significant contribution to the universe which is the purpose for which man is created. The various ways are similarly interpreted in the disciplines of yoga. In recent years this has received much attention in the Western world, but it is no popular cult. Yoga is an ancient Indian system of preparation for the perception of secret wisdom. The word is derived from the same root as the English word yoke, which implies subjugation or submission to an authority beyond oneself. There are several types of yoga. The first is hatha yoga, which is concerned with the control of the body and the development

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of postures and exercises which can increase the consciousness in movement. Next there is bhakti yoga which is the religious way. It is concerned with the right use of prayer and the true exercise of belief. Thus it is an emotional way and is said to have the merit of bringing together people who feel together but do not necessarily think together. Raja yoga is concerned with the development of consciousness and the technique of the placing of consciousness, so that it involves both emotional and intellectual faculties. A purely intellectual system is jnana yoga which is devoted to the pursuit of knowledge and abstract reasoning. Finally, there is karma yoga which is the yoga of activity and hence concerned with right living, so that it is akin to the Fourth Way. Ouspensky says that it is a supplementary discipline without which all the other yogas are liable to miss the mark and degenerate into imagination or good works, and the striving for personal salvation. Karma yoga is concerned with right attitude and the practice of non-attachment. Everyone is surrounded from birth by a certain karma, partly innate, partly influenced by people and events, from which according to his nature, education and circumstances, he develops certain attitudes towards people, things and events. If his attitudes remain unchanged he attracts the same people and events, according to his karma. Only if there is a change in his inner attitudes can there be any change in his life. In the ordinary way, the chief aim in life is to avoid all unpleasantness and discomfort as far as possible. A man pursuing the way of karma yoga will regard all experiences as opportunities for inner work, and may even create additional difficulties for the purpose. Hence there is no attempt to withdraw from life. He realizes that in all the events it is not he himself who is involved but an actor playing a part. This is non-attachment, which is clearly not indifference, but is a conscious exercise. It is pre­ eminently the way for those who are tied to life either by circumstances or profession who have to perform an allotted role, but in so doing they still retain an inner freedom.

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The Fourth Way is direct and practical, yet it is the most difficult because it requires a peculiar and persistent effort. It is not for people whom Gurdjieff called 'tramps', who are constantly

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seeking new teachings which they think will sustain them spiritually without any effort on their part. He said contemptuously that this was like continually buying tickets for China without ever using any of them. The Fourth Way demands a more positive approach involving the cultivation of an alert state which can be aware of the possibility of conscious interpretations of the experiences of the day. The effectiveness of the endeavour will depend upon the quality of the experiences, and this is a matter over which we have some control. We have to be competent in life and not assume the world owes us a living. Gurdjieff used to say 'I have leather to sell. Show me a man who can make good shoes and I can talk to him.' However, this is only a beginning. One has to know a little about everything in the natural world, to learn to appreciate art and music, to be aware of the ancient myths and legends and to savour the aspirations of the poets and the magical phrases of the Scriptures. This creates an enrichment of experience and hence provides a wide range of opportunities which would otherwise not be available. It is then necessary to learn how to make use of these opportunities, for which purpose a second education is required. This is not concerned with ordinary knowledge but with the awakening of the mind which is essential if there is to be any development of consciousness. Both educations can proceed together and are never completed but occupy the whole of one's life. The customary expectation of result begins to give way to a feeling of fulfillment which creates a new sense of meaning and delight in everything one has to do.

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The Fourth Way is essentially an individual exercise. It does not depend upon external rituals or mechanical observances, though these may be used as reminders; it is subject only to the internal discipline of that higher level of awareness called self­ remembering. Paradoxically, this is quite impersonal because at this higher level the ordinary self has no place. Hence the first part of the adventure is very largely concerned with the discovery of this higher state within oneself. Many people fail to realize this, and believe that they have to try to raise their own stature. Without the constant acknowledgement of this impersonal higher authority the effort only produces self-gratification which is anathema. The Fourth Way is not a discipline of selfish

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introspection. If properly practised it creates a real awareness of everyone with whom one is in contact. One result of this prevalent misconception is the development of a spurious earnestness. Because one recognizes that the ideas are of a superior quality it is assumed that they can only be understood with a kind of grim seriousness. This is like analysing the constituents of a raindrop and ignoring its potential value to the earth. Truth is simple and must be allowed to fall cleanly on a quiet mind. As Christ said in a similar context, 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light' (Matthew 11:30). One needs frequently to be reminded of this and other aspects of the adventure, for which purpose one should find a teacher because the road is difficult to follow alone. There is no mystical figurehead in whom to confide one's troubles, yet one begins to become aware of the presence of higher intelligences in the familiar surroundings, and from these help is always available. Man by his special creation holds within himself the seeds of his own inner evolution, but in the ordinary way these cannot germinate because the conscious influences from higher levels of the universe cannot penetrate the heavy atmosphere of his state of sleep. This is illustrated in many legends, notably in the seventeenth-century Liber Mutus, a series of stories without words. One of these depicts a man asleep on a shore with angels blowing trumpets in an attempt to arouse him. There is a Spanish proverb which says, 'Put your hand in the hand of God'; but to do this one must put oneself psychologically in a place where God is.

11. The Resurgence of the Ideas

Gurdjieff died on 9 October, 1949. This was a new beginning both for him and for his teaching which received a substantial additional impetus. Initially the ideas had only been communicated by personal instruction, either from himself or his immediate disciples. He had refused to permit the ideas to be written down, partly to avoid incorrect interpretation, but mainly because once they were on record people would no longer feel the necessity for preserving them in themselves by individual effort. However, as he became aware of his approaching death, he felt that the time had come for the teaching to be made more widely available, and he permitted arrangements to be put in hand for the publication of his allegory All and Everything. Work was also started on the detailed manuscript which Ouspensky had completed before his death two years earlier. This had been given the title In Search of the Miraculous and both books were released together after Gurdjieff's death. Brief details of All and Everything were given in Chapter 9. Ouspensky's book is a remarkably lucid treatise which has become accepted as the authentic presentation of the system. It is partly narrative, containing some account of his meeting with Gurdjieff and his many subsequent conversations. Within this framework he introduces detailed expositions of the basic aspects of the Work which he records without elaboration. He was indeed careful to preserve the accuracy of Gurdjieff's formulations, which is very valuable. When the manuscript was virtually completed Ouspensky sent a copy to Gurdjieff, who is reported to have been delighted, saying, 'This very good. This exactly what I say'. Later in the book Ouspensky includes some chapters on the cosmoses, an idea of great depth which says that the successive levels in the universe each have their own time-scale. Thus, while

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for a man a day lasts for twenty-four hours, the corresponding period for the Solar Intelligence may last several thousand million years. One finds this idea in the well-known hymn 'A Thousand Ages in Thy Sight are but an Evening Gone'. Gurdjieff regarded it as an idea of considerable importance. Ouspensky developed it in detail, and it is discussed briefly in Appendix 2. Actually the book had been virtually completed ten years earlier before his departure for America in 1939. When this happened his group became fragmented owing to the disturbed conditions of the time. Later, an attempt was made to restore some cohesion by J. G. Bennett, who had been present in Turkestan as an agent of British Intelligence during the latter part of the First World War. During that time he had met both Gurdjieff and Ouspensky and taken part in some of the meetings in Constantinople. When he returned to England he joined Ouspensky's group and spent a brief period with Gurdjieff at the Prieure. In 1943 he started a group of his own at a house called Coombe Springs, near Kingston, Surrey, and some time later acquired a property near Sherborne in Dorset, where he set up what he called The Institute for the Comparative Study of Man. To achieve publicity he wrote several books about the Work, but his interpretations are suspect because he believed himself to be superior, and many of the group became dissatisfied, particularly when he abandoned the pure practice of the system and introduced the ideas of Subud, an Eastern philosophy akin to raja yoga. In 1973 he published a book entitled Gurdjieff: Making a New World, which is a useful historical record of Gurdjieff's adventures from his youth up to the time of the founding of the Institute at Fontainebleau. When Bennett died in 1979 the group dispersed.

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The continuity of the teaching had been more effectively preserved by Maurice Nicoll who had been told by Ouspensky to form his own group as far back as 1931. When the war broke out in 1939, the group had to be reorganized into a series of sub-groups which Nicoll continued to direct by weekly papers issued from his temporary headquarters in Birdlip (see Chapter 7). On the cessation of hostilities he moved back to London and ultimately located a commodious property in spacious grounds, known as Great Amwell House, near Ware in Hertfordshire. Here a

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flourishing school was established, which included a number of Ouspensky's former pupils and it was decided to collate and publish the talks which had been written during the war. This was undertaken by a member of the group, Vincent Stuart, who was setting up his own publishing business, and the material was issued in 1949 under the title Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching ofG. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky. It was initially issued as a limited edition of three volumes circulated privately among the members of the group, but the publication was subsequently taken over by Watkins and released for general circulation. Later, two further volumes were issued covering the talks which had been given by Nicoll after the return to London up to the time of his death in 1953. These five volumes have proved of great assistance in the dissemination of the Work ideas. They have a certain emotional content since the various talks were addressed to the particular sub-groups, and this provides a valuable reinforcement of the more coldly intellectual formulations of Ouspensky's writings. Nicoll wrote several books of an ancillary nature, notably The New Man and The Mark, both of which were concerned with more conscious interpretations of many of the Christian scriptures. He also completed his classic work Living Time, on which he had been occupied for some ten years, and while none of these books was specifically concerned with the Work they do arouse slumbering levels of consciousness in the mind of the reader. The relaxation of the ban on publication resulted in a spate of literature on the subject. The name Gurdjieff had acquired a magic in the publishing world and almost anything to do with him was received with open arms. As a result, a number of books began to appear which led to a certain confusion. Many of them were concerned with reminiscences of Gurdjieff accompanied by interpretations of his ideas which were not always valid. Reference to some of the more genuine ones is included in the list of reading at the end of this book. The background of the teaching is adequately covered by the three books already mentioned, namely by Gurdjieff himself, Ouspensky and Nicoll. The real truths which Gurdjieff was endeavouring to impart are not to be found in the words alone, since these can be no more than indicators to levels of consciousness which already exist within oneself and have to be awakened by individual effort.

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The appearance of these books provided a renewed initiative in the various groups existing in different parts of the world. In Europe the informal meetings which had taken place from time to time in Paris coalesced into the organization of the Societe d'Etudes pour la Connaissance de 1'Homme. This was concerned with the preservation of the pure Gurdjieff teaching in a properly organized manner including the Movements and appropriate practical activities. This was inspired by Madame de Salzmann who had been Gurdjieff's close companion for many years. She had met him with her husband in the early days in Moscow and they had accompanied him through his subsequent adventures in Turkestan, culminating in the establishment of the Institute at Fontainebleau in which they had taken a considerable part. Her husband died shortly afterwards in Geneva but she remained a faithful member of Gurdjieff's entourage and became effectively his second-in-command up to the time of his death. She began to select more advanced pupils to transmit the teaching farther afield, forming a group in Geneva and another in Germany where there was beginning to be a resurgence of the ideas which had been forced to go underground during the period of the Nazi regime. In due time she sent other pupils to form a corresponding foundation in London, called the Gurdjieff Centre. After Nicoll's death in 1953 many of the members joined this group in London. Others preferred to continue independently in an endeavour to maintain allegiance to Nicoll's interpretations. One of these was a group organized by Beryl Pogson who had been his secretary for twelve years, and formed a group at a country house near Hailsham in Sussex. Another group was organized by Lawrence Goodman near Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, and there are various other groups operating in England by former pupils of Ouspensky. There was a similar upsurge of interest in America. The Work had been well established by Orage in the 1920s, and had been useful in providing comments on the early versions of Beelzebub s Tales. When he later allowed his attention to drift away from the pure Work and he was repudiated by Gurdjieff, there was a sufficient nucleus of experienced people to maintain a continuity. The preoccupation with the war, however, had caused interest to wane, and when Madame de Salzmann visited New York after Gurdjieff's death she found only a mild enthusiasm. With the

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assistance of Lord Pentland, who had been associated with the Work since Gurdjieff's visit in 1948, a coherent and active organization was built up, receiving useful help from Olga de Hartmann, Pamela Travers, the well-known writer and author of the Mary Poppins books, and later Robert de Ropp who had spent some time with Ouspensky in England. It was felt desirable to institute some central authority. Hence in 1954 Lord Pentland inaugurated the Gurdjieff Foundation in New York, wherein to preserve all the records available and from which to issue suitable directives to the growing number of groups throughout the country. This was to advise on the proper presentation of the various aspects of the teaching, including both cosmological and psychological ideas and the organization of school work including the practice of the Movements, when appropriate. This was followed in 1955 by the formation of the Gurdjieff Foundation of California which was set up in San Francisco, largely by the efforts of de Ropp who had moved to the west coast, and this was augmented shortly afterwards by the formation of a branch in Los Angeles. The ideas spread still farther afield with the foundation of a similar centre in Caracas. In the ensuing years there has been a steady development. Olga de Hartmann founded a group in New Mexico while Frank Lloyd Wright formed a group called the Taliesin Fellowship in Wisconsin. There are groups in Chicago and Miami and in all the major cities in America, though these are not publicized to discourage idle interest. An active group has been established in Toronto, which runs its own publishing house and has produced several esoteric books written by authors of repute. Lord Pentland continued as head of the organization in America until his death from a heart attack in February 1984. In 1975 a new quarterly journal called Parabola made its appearance under the aegis of the Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition. The founding editor, Mrs D. M. Dooling, knew Gurdjieff in the Paris era, and the magazine has achieved world­ wide circulation in esoteric circles. Shortly afterwards a film was directed by Peter Brook which portrayed with remarkable fidelity Gurdjieff's adventures as described in his book Meetings with Remarkable Men, which was used as the title of the film. It has been shown widely in both America and Europe and a further film dealing with the Movements is contemplated.

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As the Gurdjieff influence spread even more widely new groups continued to appear throughout the world. In Geneva, in addition to the group directed by Madame de Salzmann, a new group has been developed by Lizelle Raymond who lived for some years in a Brahmin household before meeting the Work. Further afield there have been developments in Australia with the formation of groups in Sydney and Perth. Although there are now only a few people still living who knew Gurdjieff personally, they have been able to transmit the inspiration to second-generation pupils who are able to preserve the essential truths of his ideas. It is necessarily some time before a real understanding can develop. Some groups flourish in expectation of personal salvation but these wither and die like the seed which fell among thorns in the parable of the Sower. With a right attitude, leaders eventually emerge who can respond to conscious influences and begin to communicate them effectively: but this involves a continual acknowledgement of one's own ignorance. As Aristotle is reported to have said, I have an advantage over other mortals because I know that I do not know'.

12. The Illusions of Activity

The proliferation of literature about Gurdjieff in the decades following his death found a ready response in the troubled conditions of the West. The years of war had solved nothing and the cessation of hostilities had not ushered in an era of peace and tranquillity. There was strife among the victors, fomented by rival ideologies. Amidst the terrifying growth of armaments many people felt that it was imperative to discover more real values and it seemed as if Gurdjieff's ideas contained a more hopeful message. Unfortunately, few people are able to understand the practical application of these ideas. The hypnotism of materialism creates the illusion that the troubles of society can be remedied by taking thought. History has repeatedly proved that this does not work, since every remedy only generates further problems. This was expressed centuries ago by Horace in the well-known tag Naturam furca expellas tamen usque recurret (Though you drive nature out with a pitchfork she will soon find her way back). It is a familiar saying in the Work that 'man cannot do'. In his state of sleep all his actions, his designs, his plans for the future are derived from stereotyped interpretations of external events so that he can do nothing real. The only thing he can change is himself, and even this is not an active process but results from a willingness to listen to conscious influences which can alter the whole situation. This he cannot accept: it is too simple. Even if he begins to recognize his usual mechanicalness he cannot understand how this could possibly change the course of events. Yet there are instances where this has been achieved and many legends testify to the power of consciousness. One, attributed to Gotama Buddha, says that in a situation of some crisis involving hundreds of people, if just one person can remember

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the conscious levels of their origin they will all be saved from catastrophe. Many people find this too passive a philosophy. They feel they need something demanding more positive action; hence they are encouraged to seek additional or alternative teachings which offer the prospect of more tangible results. This had led to the appearance of a variety of alternative approaches. Some purport to be based on Gurdjieff's ideas but omit those parts of the teaching which they regard as academic or distasteful. Others believe that there are more significant secrets still to be discovered, or concern themselves with the development of magical practices through which higher consciousness can be commanded at will. Most of these systems fail to emphasize the necessity for individual effort. There are, indeed, many people whom Rene Cutforth described in a broadcast interview as 'the Dawnies' who live in the comfortable anticipation of a new dawn just about to break in which all difficulties will be resolved, but it is clear that this is sheer daydreaming. We live in a stern universe in which nothing is available without payment and this we have to learn how to make if there is to be any change in the situation.

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Some people think that Gurdjieff had not fully interpreted the ancient secrets and several books have appeared which claim to complete the picture. A French philosopher, Boris Mouravieff, published a book called Gnosis which he believed to provide a more complete revelation. There are also books dealing with the ancient mysteries of the Kaballah but the pursuit of hidden secrets is a diversion because the real secrets can only be understood at a higher level of consciousness and this should be the real endeavour. Apart from these intellectual excursions many groups have developed which attempt to interpret Gurdjieff's ideas in a more acceptable form. Though their implied aim is the achievement of a more conscious state, such an attempt can only too easily cause the original ideas to become distorted into a philosophy of self-aggrandizement. Some groups are concerned with the development of the unused faculties in the human psyche, while others attempt to cultivate attitudes of mind beyond those of conventional habit. These are valid objectives as long as they are not regarded as an end in themselves.

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Several groups have emerged in recent years which attempt to combine what may be called New-Age psychology with ideas of Indian mysticism, usually under the guidance of or in association with a self-styled guru. This is liable to cause confusion because the Indian mentality is quite different from that of the West and one may easily find oneself falling between two stools. There are many societies which exploit the hunger for spiritual enlightenment, some claiming to be developments of Gurdjieff's ideas. Others are individual philosophies claiming to be systems of advanced psychology, often including tapes for personal instruction. There are numerous groups both in America and England which are concerned with the practices of meditation. Others involve the exercise of some of the systems of yoga. All these systems could have their value as long as they are undertaken in the acknowledgement of one's obligation to the higher levels of one's creation, but all too often this is lacking. People have a readiness to follow self-styled leaders by whom they can be told what to do. They are prepared to submit to considerable hardship and inconvenience in the hope that this will automatically raise their level of consciousness. This is illusion because the disciplines are all external. Only internal disciplines imposed by individual endeavour can create any change in the level of being. In addition there are cults which blatantly exploit, for commercial gain, the need which so many people feel for a different scale of values. One should be wary of any system which promises easy enlightenment.

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It is important to realize that the value of any teaching is not contained in any ritual or form of words. The real ideas can only germinate if there has already been prepared a suitable soil and this can only be provided by individual effort. Esoteric ideas must be recognized as a stimulus to awakening and not just as a study in philosophy. This is particularly emphasized by the Indian mystic Krishnamurti, who was brought to the notice of the world by the late Mrs Annie Besant, the founder of the Theosophical Society. He has on several occasions made contact with the Masters of Wisdom in a state of self-induced trance, as is referred to by Mary Lutyens in her book The Years of Awakening. For many years he refused to form any school or even to address

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meetings but in recent years he has given talks in various parts of the world. His talks are refreshing because they follow no set routine or syllabus. They are concerned with awakening the minds of his audience by causing them to question the many things which they believe that they know. In one of these he spoke of truth, which he says exists without thought, and is the basis of all religions which are then interpreted by adepts in language appropriate to the circumstances. Thought, he says, is the result of accumulated experience and must not be allowed to crystallize. It has to be questioned, and in the process it is not the answer that is important, but the question itself, as was taught by Aristotle in the fourth century BC. True meditation can only develop in the absence of thought which has to be diverted into a kind of siding so that the mind can be quiet. Such ideas stimulate the imagination, yet if one is content merely to listen to the words the ideas only have a transient impact. Only if they are pondered individually can they find a permanent lodging and begin to awaken the more conscious levels of the mind.

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The mushroom growth of alternative cults is brought about by the hypnotism of life, which keeps man asleep by creating the illusion that he can raise his own level of being. This can only be produced by the influence of higher levels of consciousness to which one has to learn to submit without any expectation of personal satisfaction. Gurdjieff used to say that it was necessary to acknowledge one's own nothingness in order to hear these higher influences, which alone can create any change in the level of being. Hence true esoteric schools tend not to advertise and preserve a certain secrecy so that they are difficult to find. Their function is to maintain centres of understanding for the benefit of the genuine seeker who may, perhaps after several false starts, have reached a suitably receptive state. It is said that when one has reached this stage one is guided, apparently by accident, to a suitable school.

13. The Real Aim

There is in the Apocryphal New Testament a legend called 'The Hymn of the Soul' which describes the adventures of a prince who is sent by the king, his father, to seek for a pearl of great price which has been lost in a far and desolate country. He finds it inhabited by hostile tribesmen so that for protection he disguises himself as one of them. He begins to enjoy the experience and forgets what he has come for. Hence his father sends messengers to him in the guise of eagles which he says 'alighted by me and became all speech'. He remembers his aim, finds the pearl and returns with it to his father's house where he is received with great honour. This simple allegory is a remarkably succinct representation of our situation on earth. The real part of ourselves, which Gurdjieff called Essence, is compelled to adapt itself to its strange surroundings by the creation of patterns of association which begin to form the Personality. Initially this is concerned simply with finding one's way around but we soon begin to encounter an atmosphere of hostility and to combat this we build up protective attitudes with which to disguise ourselves. The word personality is derived from the Latin persona which means a mask, and this we wear unconsciously in all our dealings. This provides a comfortable sense of security and causes us to forget what we are here for. The eagles in the allegory represent the influences from higher levels which are continually falling upon mankind. If these are acknowledged, they remind us that we are living in a hostile territory to which we do not belong, but are only visiting for the purpose of rediscovering the real values which have been lost among the debris of materialism. To achieve this the varied experiences of life have to be interpreted consciously and this

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is the object of the exercise. It is a continuing process; but it is also cumulative because by its very action it generates higher qualities of psychic energies which provide an increasing understanding. Paradoxically, this cannot be contrived by taking thought. Life endeavours for its own purposes to keep mankind asleep, and one of its most powerful weapons is the hypnotism of expectation. This normally governs our lives completely. Our activities involve a continual succession of aims, some trivial, others more important, all of which are made in the expectation of some desired result. If this is not immediately forthcoming we are frustrated, while if the aim proves to be impossible of achievement we can be utterly dejected. This miasma of anticipation creates a constant state of unrest which Zen Buddhism says is the result of a disease called Tanha, the thirst for becoming. It is a disease with which we are infected from our earliest youth by our parents and teachers by whom we are taught to expect reward for everything we do. In moderation this is correct but it is soon allowed to develop aggressively selfish demands which cause considerable trouble. Occasionally we act from purely altruistic motives, from a genuine desire to help a fellow creature, but this is easily contaminated by feelings of personal satisfaction. Actually the expectation of result is one of the laws of the physical level of existence. All the activities of the natural world, both physical and psychological, are conditioned by the laws of cause and effect in time. Man does not belong to this state but only inhabits it so that we have to contemplate what the situation may be like in the real world which is not subject to the tyranny of expectation. The idea that the real part of a man belongs to a higher state of existence is the very basis of a proper understanding. We speak of ourselves as human beings without ever questioning what we mean by the word or making more than a vague distinction between man and any other kind of being. Gurdjieff said that the word had a special significance and that everything had its own quality of being. This is determined not by its characteristics alone but by its place and purpose in the universe. It exists at many levels, at each of which there can be different degrees of usefulness. For example, a lump of stone has a certain being as part of the earth's crust but if it is shaped and trimmed to form part of a building its usefulness is increased; and if in the hands of a craftsman it is carved and polished into a statue it will be

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impregnated with the emotions and aspirations of the sculptor and its quality of being will be greatly increased. Everything in the familiar world, whether it be animate or inanimate, will have its appropriate being. Yet it will still be part of the overall structure of the phenomenal world which in all its aspects is subject to the overriding laws of cause and effect in time. Hence the world of the senses, as a whole, possesses a certain quality of being, represented in the Ray of Creation by the level of Earth. Man asleep identifies himself completely with this state. He does not regard himself as merely inhabiting it but considers himself to be an integral part of it — no doubt in his opinion a superior part. Hence his level of being is the same as that of the world which he inhabits and is subject to all the laws and restrictions of the phenomenal world. However, this is only one level in the hierarchy and we can envisage that all the appearances and activities of the physical world are brought into play by the transit of time through a pattern existing in a world of a higher order. This possesses an additional dimension of consciousness which is aware of the patterns as a whole and hence recognizes the causes of the physical appearances and the real relationships between the succession of separate events of life. This is the realm represented in the Ray of Creation by the Planetary level which clearly occupies a higher place in the hierarchy of intelligences in the universe and so possesses an incomparably higher level of being. Man is designed to inhabit this higher state of existence and is equipped to communicate with still higher levels. If he can awaken from his sleep and begin to respond to conscious influences from these higher levels he is able to operate briefly at the real level to which his Essence belongs. This provides a momentary increase in his level of being and if the effort is maintained, these moments become of longer duration so that ultimately he may become permanently aware of his true state and his life affairs will begin to be directed by this more conscious intelligence. He will not be 'out of this world'. His physical body will continue to exist since it is the only mechanism available for experiencing the events of life which are the material on which he has to work; but because of the more coherent direction he is able to interpret these experiences consciously and this transforms their quality. It is not the external events which are

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significant but the interpretation of them which creates a series of internal events, and if the interpretations are consciously directed the quality of the internal events is completely changed. There is a saying in the Work that one's being attracts one's life. A change in level will not alter the external circumstances but the much more important internal events will be of a gradually increasing quality. Nevertheless, a higher level of being cannot be contrived by taking thought. It can only be provided by the action of higher intelligences once this has been made possible by the development of more conscious attitudes. This idea of an already existing higher level for which one has to prepare oneself to be admitted is expressed in many ancient writings, notably in the Old Testament passage in Isaiah which runs, 'I dwell in the high and holy place with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit' (Isaiah 57:15).

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One begins to perceive what it could be like to work without expectation. The consciousness of a higher level is not concerned with progress in time but is aware of the situation as a whole. One begins to develop a feeling of participation in a coherent pattern which does not have to be changed but has to be fulfilled consciously. Sleeping humanity is unwilling to accept this and is continually trying to alter the rules, yet everything else in nature is content to be what it is. A daffodil does not want to become a rose or some exotic Eastern flower. It is content to fulfil its purpose without expectation of reward. Equally selfless service is provided by the cells of the body to which we rarely give any thought. In the main they die and are replaced every few days but during this brief lifetime they serve unquestioningly what is for them the higher cosmos of the body. Sometimes they are attacked by inimical forces in which case we feel ill and usually complain. Yet if one is aware of them they can often be greatly assisted in their battle. Conversely, if we are in a prolonged negative state we ourselves provide a hostile influence, causing them to endure what is for them a lifetime of hell. Only occasionally do we find rogue cells which seek to grow beyond their allotted role, causing diseases like cancer. We have a similar obligation to the higher levels of our origin, but this can only be exercised in a state of self-remembering. We have to remind ourselves that we are in disguise and begin to

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place our feeling of 'I' in the real part of ourselves, called Essence, which is inhabiting the ordinary body for the express purpose of using the experiences which it provides. It is a game in which the interest lies in the player rather than in the movement of the pieces. As we begin to be people rather than persons, the whole pattern of our relationships alters dramatically. We can see other people as they really are behind the facade of their Personality and establish real communication with them. This ability of Essence to talk to Essence has an indescribable quality which one must not try to label. It is always accompanied by a feeling of intense gratitude as if one had unexpectedly met a fellow traveller in the desert. Nor is it only people with whom our relationships change. Everything in the world around us becomes alive in a new way. Familiar objects all have their own purpose and experiences and can talk to us if they are permitted to do so. One can understand why Gurdjieff said that if one is conscious in Essence everything is more vivid. At first these moments of real experience are brief and infrequent, but if the effort to remember oneself is sustained they become of longer duration. The affairs of the day become subject to a different kind of direction, concerned not with expectation but with a willing participation in the pattern of the life. Initially, this is only dimly apprehended, but it gradually becomes more coherent. It is not necessarily confined to the affairs of the present life, since the soul may require to inhabit a succession of lives in the course of its development; yet it is the immediate situation with which one is primarily concerned, and one experiences a curious exhilaration in becoming aware of the unfolding pattern. This is the rebirth that so many religions speak of, usually held to imply a new beginning to be hoped for in the future but it is really a practical exercise which can only be undertaken in the present and is a continuing endeavour. It is the awakening of this feeling of participation which constitutes the real aim in life. It is an aim that has to be continually restated, because it is easily forgotten among the incessant demands of life; it has to be constantly nourished so that one can be twisted and turned by life in any direction and still be mindful of it. There is a cautionary tale of a man who heard of a monastery in a far country where the eternal secrets were preserved. After years of privation he finally located it and staggered in an exhausted state to its door, which was opened by an attendant who roughly demanded what he wanted. 'For

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God's sake give me a drink' the man gasped, so they gave him a drink and the door was closed — for ever. In practice there is mercy, for we are given further chances, but not indefinitely. Gurdjieff always said that if we squander the opportunities provided they will be diverted to someone else who may make better use of them.

14. The Awakening of the Spirit

How are we to assess the influence of Gurdjieff's ideas in the world today? His psychological teaching contains many new interpretations of man's behaviour which are of considerable practical value. Yet this is no more than a beginning because one finds similar ideas in other teachings and in the writings of the philosophers of ancient times. Gurdjieff's more complete philosophy is concerned with the understanding of the real purpose of man's existence. It is based on the recognition of man as a conscious creation participating in a living universe of a splendour incomparably greater than the arrogance of his personal conceit. This involves an understanding of a higher order operating at the superior level of consciousness to which his real part belongs but with which he is not in contact in his customary state of sleep. This higher level of consciousness is aware of the patterns behind all the manifestations of the phenomenal world and recognizes both the actual and possible situation of individual man in the real world. Hence by stretching the mind we can begin to discern something of the pattern of the world in which we live. One of its characteristics is that it is in a state of ceaseless change not only on a small scale but over long periods of time. It is clear that the world today is in a peculiar condition where everything appears to be developing beyond control. The population of the world is increasing at an accelerating rate. From an estimated total population of about ten million at the time of the birth of Christ it rose to about 1,000 million at the beginning of this century, increasing to 3,000 million in 1960 with a forecast 6,000 million by the year 2000. It is not only population which is increasing in this way. There has been a prodigious growth of material knowledge accompanied

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by books and periodicals beyond number. There has been a similar rapid development in machines of various kinds all devised to save effort and the modern computer can far outstrip man's natural faculties. If used consciously these devices can be useful servants but they are rapidly becoming our masters. All this appears to be the culmination of a process which started about the beginning of the present millenium, as if it were part of some great cycle which controls the development of humanity as a whole. There is support for this idea in the ancient astrological teaching that history repeats itself in a succession of ages of about 2,000 years' duration. This is based on the fact that the Solar System is not fixed in space but is said to move round another star in an orbit lasting 25,800 years, called the Great Year. In the transit the earth passes in succession through each of the signs of the zodiac, coming under progressively different influences so that the conditions slowly change. Each age lasts for 2,150 years, and we are said to be approaching the end of the Age of Pisces, which commenced in the year AD 0 and is due to pass into the Age of Aquarius by the year AD 2150. According to legend the transitions have sometimes been abrupt as in the case of Atlantis or the biblical Flood many years later for which there is some geological evidence. These are said to have been contrived by the Conscious Circle of Humanity because mankind had gone astray and was no longer adequately fulfilling the purpose for which it is created and it had to be set on course again; and there are some who think that the present transition may be similarly catastrophic if the present headlong rush to destruction continues. It remains to be seen whether events will reach such a dramatic climax or whether the developments will take some less violent form. One is aware intuitively that some major change is impending and there are prophecies which suggest that this is ’already beginning. It must be remembered, however, that these possibilities are all concerned with external changes in a world to which we do not belong but are only inhabiting for a cosmic purpose. Thus, the important consideration is the use which is made of the experiences. Hence, one can regard the present period as one which contains unusual opportunities which can be used in preparation for the transition to a new and possibly more conscious age. One can surmise that this preparation was the real purpose of Gurdjieff's mission. He was not concerned to found a new

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religion but to expose the complacency which prevents people from recognizing the truths already contained in the great religions of the world. Because of the hypnotism of life these have all become interpreted in terms of expectation, which causes man to lose his sense of direction. All religions speak of a higher state of existence which man is designed to inhabit, but whereas this is usually regarded as a future prospect, Gurdjieff taught that it is obtainable here and now by listening to the influences from higher levels in the universe which are continually present. We have a certain instinctive response to these influences, which can create a feeling of tranquillity and happiness but this is usually only of brief duration and is quickly overshadowed by the demands of life. Gurdjieff's object was to awaken the conscious levels of the mind which can produce a more continuous response to these influences, and this can gradually raise the level of being to that higher state of existence to which man really belongs. It is not an instant process but lasts throughout life, during which the level of understanding can steadily increase. Inevitably, there will be many who are unable to respond to these higher influences, either because they are too satisfied with their own prowess, or because their time has not yet come. They have a different destiny, being required only to serve the mechanical requirements of life, and this they must be allowed to do. Man awakening has a more serious obligation involving the cultivation of conscious attitudes whereby the experiences of life can be transformed in quality and become of use to higher levels of existence. If this obligation is not met the opportunities will be taken away and given to somebody else.

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It is easy to speak of influences from higher levels and assume that they will automatically raise the level of consciousness. This is an idle fancy because the influences can have no effect until they are properly received and interpreted. As an illustration, consider the equally invisible radio waves which are continually passing through the atmosphere today. These can neither be detected nor utilized until some suitable receiving equipment has been provided. Similarly, to be aware of the much more refined conscious influences it is necessary to provide response patterns in the mind through which the influences can be recognized and interpreted. These already exist in man from the memory of

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his origin but they are quickly submerged in the host of artificial response patterns created by the requirements of life. All religious teaching is concerned to reawaken these real responses and show how they can be developed to create enduring conscious attitudes. This is an entirely individual exercise which many people today are trying to bring into their lives. The significant aspect of the exercise, however, is that it is the effort to awaken which is important, rather than any result. This begins to create an atmosphere of renewed awareness which gradually permeates the whole of humanity. In this 'upper air' conscious influences are able to develop free from the contamination of self-interest, and this generates a wealth of spiritual opportunity. It reinforces the endeavours of those who are already trying to awaken the more conscious levels of the mind, but it also encourages many others in various walks of life who are beginning to question their customary attitudes. Disillusioned with the outworn shibboleths of conventional religions and the usages of society, and finding little pleasure in the vapid outpourings of popular entertainment, they discover a more real delight through trying to communicate with, and help, other people, particularly the old or handicapped. They respond to the simpler values of beauty and truth, which they recognized in their childhood when the memory of their origin was still fresh. They begin to look for the real meanings behind the words used to express their established beliefs and come to recognize the presence of higher influences in their daily lives without feeling the need to name them. This is the awakening of the spirit which Gurdjieff was concerned to encourage. It is sustained by the influence of a limited number of adepts throughout the world who have attained a state of objective consciousness through work on themselves. These have arrived by different routes — some philosophical or mystical, others by way of one or other of the great religions — but all are united in a common understanding. They form a community of conscious beings in the real world who are in constant communication with each other at that level. Their function is to maintain a continuing supply of conscious influences in a form which can evoke a response in the minds of men and women who realize that life does not hold all the answers. They do not attempt to control the behaviour of mankind, because this can only be modified by voluntary individual effort; but they can create trends. At the present time there is a reawakening of

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the belief in the power of good: people are beginning to feel, without knowing why, that by endeavouring to be more conscious in their daily activities they are creating a power of quite impersonal quality which can influence the lives of unknown people. The future of humanity may well depend upon the extent to which these influences can be acknowledged and utilized during this difficult period of transition to the forthcoming Aquarian Age.

Appendix 1:

The Fundamental Laws

Gurdjieff said that the universe was brought into being by the interplay of two fundamental laws which operate in a progressively more detailed manner throughout the structure. The first is the Law of Three which says that any manifestation can only result from an appropriate conjunction of three distinct forces. There is first an Active force, or force of intention. This immediately calls into play an opposing or passive force so that no action can result without the presence of a third force which can bring the other two forces into a useful relationship. Hence this third force is usually called the Relating or Neutralizing Force. The necessity for this third force is not generally recognized but without it, in the familiar adage, action and reaction are equal and opposite, and nothing happens. As a practical example consider a windmill. The wind will conduct Active force which will be resisted by the structure conducting Passive force so that there is a condition of equilibrium. Yet if the sails are permitted to move this provides a third force which enables them to yield to the pressure of the wind, resulting in useful action. Every manifestation requires an appropriate relationship of three forces which is called a triad. The forces are not necessarily physical. Merely to communicate with someone involves an appropriate triad. The intention may be conveyed in words, which will then conduct Active force. They will be received by the other person who will thereby conduct Passive force but there will be no response unless there is a common language or understanding through which the meaning of the words can be interpreted. This is an obvious example but there are many triads in life which do not produce the expected result because the nature of the relating force is not recognized. Gurdjieff said that in the ordinary way we are third force blind'.

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On a macroscopic scale the hierarchy of levels in the Ray of Creation (discussed in Chapter 8) is a succession of triads. The first World Order is brought into being by the interplay of the three primeval forces of intention, opposition and reconciliation. These will operate in a variety of ways incomprehensible to the human intellect, but it is a manifestation subject only to these three laws and hence is sometimes called 'World 3'. Reference to these three basic laws is found in various religions. In Hindu theology they are represented by three separate gods, Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer and Vishnu the preserver. The Christian ethic represents them as the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. World 3 creates a subordinate intelligence which directs the requirements in more detail. This again is subject to the three basic laws, but these will operate at a reduced scale because they are still subservient to the three laws of its parent. Hence it is under six orders of laws and is designated World 6. This in turn creates a third more detailed world order which is under twice as many laws, namely three of its own plus nine from its two progenitors so that it is designated World 12. Similarly throughout the progression which was outlined in Chapter 8, forming a succession of world orders each under twice as many laws as its predecessor. The system terminates with World 96 which represents the maximum possible ordered detail after which the organization breaks down into chaos.

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The progression of the world orders is not haphazard. The activities of each level can be represented as involving a pattern of vibrations ranging from the finest and most rapid at the top to the slowest and heaviest at the bottom. However, the transition is not smooth but has to proceed in a succession of discrete jumps, a pattern which is well known to the quantum physics of today. In the present context the intervals between the successive levels are so arranged that their vibration rates bear a simple harmonic relationship to each other in a manner which is controlled by the second of the two fundamental laws, the Law of Seven. This can be represented by the notes of a major musical octave, which is said to have been devised by an ancient esoteric school for the purpose. Musical tones are created by air vibrations, and the more rapid the vibrations the higher the note. If the vibration

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rate is doubled it creates a note of the same quality but of higher pitch, and the musical scale provides a transition in a series of seven distinct steps which with the final note of twice the original rate provides a series of eight called an octave. The successive notes are given designations according to what is called the Tonic Sol-Fa Scale, said to have been devised by a medieval monk from the initial letters of the hymn 'Sanctus lohannes', and this with the relative vibration rates and the intervals between them is illustrated in the table below. Note Ratio of vibrations

Do

Re

Mi

Fa

Sol

La

Si

Do

1

9/8

5/4

4/3

3/2

5/3

15/8

2

12.5

11.1

6.5

12.5

11.1

12.5

6.5

Percentage increase

Figure 4: Musical Octave.

It will be seen that the vibration rates increase by precise and simple ratios which provide a harmonious pattern. Moreover, the intervals between the notes are roughly equal except in two places, between Mi and Fa and between Si and Do. At these points the interval is only about half the normal, being only a semitone instead of a full tone and this is characteristic of the progression in any octave pattern where the progress is impeded and has to be reinforced by some additional means. The Ray of Creation has to conform to this octave pattern but in a descending order so that the will of the Absolute constitutes the upper Do and the World Number 1 3 6 Do 12 Si 24 J

Designation Absolute All Worlds The Galaxy Sun Planets

Note Do Si La Sol Fa

— ORGANIC Lire ■

Fa

Mi Re

Mi Re

Figure 5: The Ray of Creation.

Sol

Earth Moon

La

48 96

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successive stages then progress towards the lower Do representing increasingly coarse manifestations. The interval between Do and Si is overcome by the will of the creator. That between Fa and Mi is overcome by the provision of a side octave from the Sun to the Moon, the middle three notes of which coincide with the place of the missing semitone and are manifest physically by the phenomenon of organic life as explained in Chapter 8. The requirements of the Law of Seven are not confined to the macroscopic operations of the Ray of Creation. They apply in their appropriate form at every level of the universe and have an unsuspected influence on the behaviour of the phenomenal world. Any progressive development has to conform to these requirements if it is to be successfully accomplished. Two kinds of octave are involved. One is the creative or descending octave which starts with what is called an active Do expressing an intention of some kind which is to be implemented in practical form. This has to take place in a series of stages which must conform to the Law of Seven, though one may not realize it. In particular there will be a point in the development at which the impetus slows down or is diverted and it has to be reinforced by some external factor if the project is to be successful. In physical projects it is usually easy to see where the hold-up lies, but this may not be so with psychological activities. One often finds that a project has lost its impetus, but it can often be refreshed by setting it aside for a time and attending to some other activity. Ascending octaves, on the other hand, are concerned with the progress from the lower to a higher level. This is a psychological or spiritual exercise which can only start from a passive Do which contains an implicit allegiance to a higher authority. Here the point of shock occurs quite early in the progress and one has to find reinforcement from some other activity having a similar quality. If this is not provided the octave will fail to develop or may even diverge from its proper course. The classic example of this is the Spanish Inquisition which started with the ideal of love of God but at the point of shock they tried to force people to accept allegiance to God by taking active measures of cruelty and torture. There are many octaves in life which go astray because they do not receive the necessary reinforcement of the idea at the appropriate point.

Appendix 2:

The Cosmoses

Each of the successive levels of intelligence in the universe creates an ordered structure through which to exercise its appropriate functions. Gurdjieff called these structures cosmoses and said that although they were separate and distinct they each had to conform to the same basic rules, though on a progressively smaller scale. Ouspensky and others have developed the idea in detail but its principal value is emotional, permitting an appreciation of the universe as a living structure. Gurdjieff postulated a sequence of seven cosmoses of which the first five have a correspondence with the world orders in the Ray of Creation. Their nature is necessarily a matter of abstract speculation since their structure and activities are not manifest to the ordinary senses. Below this point, however, which is the place of shock in the octave structure in the Ray of Creation which is sometimes called the Great Octave the succeeding cosmoses are physical and of increasingly detailed character. The first of these is the cosmos of organic life as a whole. Below this will be the cosmos of man, concerned with the behaviour of his physical body, followed by the vastly smaller cosmos of the cells of which all living matter is composed. The sequence can be developed still further by postulating cosmoses of the atom, the electron and even sub-atomic particles, but this is academic and a satisfactory and more practical understanding can be derived from a consideration of the three cosmoses just discussed. Gurdjieff said that in every cosmos there are four characteristic times. These are the time of quickest perception, the time of breath, the time of waking and sleeping and the time of life. In man the time of quickest perception is of the order of one ten thousandth of a second. The senses do not respond to anything appreciably quicker than this. (This is not the reaction time, which

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is much longer.) His time of breath is approximately three seconds. His natural rhythm of waking and sleeping is twenty-four hours while his average time of life is eighty years. It will be seen that these times are related by a factor of 30,000. This is a symbolic figure which is involved not only in the ratio between the significant times but also in the relationship between successive cosmoses. The timescale of organic life is much longer. For example, plants absorb oxygen by day and exhale carbon dioxide by night so that their time of breath is twenty-four hours, which is 30,000 times longer than for man. The cosmos of organic life, in fact, has a time scale 30,000 times longer than that of man, a more leisurely progress of which every gardener is well aware. Conversely the time scale of the cellular cosmos is 30,000 times shorter. Tissue cells die and are replaced roughly once a day so that their time of life is twenty-four hours, while their time of waking and sleeping is roughly three seconds. This can be recognized by the fact that we blink frequently in order to allow the cells of the eye to rest. The difference of time scale is evident in the remarkable rapidity with which damage to the tissues can be repaired. This difference of time scale is an essential feature of the whole system of cosmoses, though at the higher levels the figure of 30,000 involves more than a mere numerical change. A higher cosmos operates in a realm having an additional dimension, so that its activities are not just an extension of a lower cosmos but contain entirely different and incommensurable potentialities. These three cosmoses are illustrated in the table below. They constitute a complete unit in which the various times fall within the range of ordinary comprehension though their significance may not be fully appreciated. Quickest impression

Breath

Waking and sleeping

Organic life

3 seconds

24 hours

80 years

2.4 million years

Man

1/10,000 second 1/300 microsecond

3 seconds 1/10,000 second

24 hours

80 years

3 seconds

24 hours

Cells

Life

Figure 6: Relative times taken for certain regular activities within the three principal cosmoses connected with human functioning.

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101

Note here that these times are necessarily referred to the time scale of man. The cell does not live for only twenty-four hours of its own time but lives its full span of what is, to it, eighty years; and similarly but conversely for organic life. This pattern of three adjacent cosmoses provides a new appreciation of man's situation in the physical world. He begins to be more aware of the independent cosmos of the cells of his body, and at the same time to realize that he is also a cell in the very much larger cosmos of organic life. Moreover he can envisage that this is only the lowest part of a much greater but unmanifest structure of cosmoses of ascending order, each obeying at its level the same basic rules. There is a Hermetic aphorism which says, 'As above, so below', an idea which has many applications throughout this remarkable universe.

Appendix 3:

The Food Octaves

We are familiar with the need to eat in order to sustain the physical body. We do not always appreciate that this is a process involving a succession of internal transformations of coarse material into substances of a finer quality. It is a process which the body performs for the most part completely automatically so that we are normally quite unaware of its intricacies. Gurdjieff said that the successive stages were part of a pattern of ascending octaves derived from three essential foods. One is the ordinary food which we consume each day. The second is the air which we breathe roughly twenty times a minute. We do not usually think of this as a food, yet it is essential for survival and we can only last for a few minutes without it. The third source of nourishment is the food of impressions. Every moment the body receives hundreds of impressions from the external world through the physical senses and there are further internal impressions derived from thoughts and feelings. If the body is starved of impressions it becomes moribund, but if it receives a generous supply all its activities are enlivened, particularly if the impressions are of superior quality. (Mi) (Sol) Si (Re) (Fa) La

IMPRESSIONS

AIR FOOD

Do

Mi Re Do

Will Emotion

/ ?

)

Sol

Thought

Fa

Vital energy

Mi Re

Plasma Chyme

Do

Figure 7: Diagram of the three food octaves.

PSYCHIC ENERGIES

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Figure 7 shows the pattern of transformations. In man asleep the process is entirely mechanical without conscious direction and is only partially completed. The physical food is transformed by the action of ferments already existing within the stomach, into a liquid material which is called chyme. The process continues to a further stage in which the material is converted into a gaseous form known as plasma. These three stages constitute the first three notes of an ascending octave. The food being the note Do, the notes Re and Mi corresponding with chyme and plasma as shown in the figure. Beyond this there is a place of constriction or missing semi-tone so that some reinforcement is necessary if the process is to continue. This is provided by the intake of air into the lungs where it has two effects. In the first place it reinforces the note Mi of the Food Octave which is thereby enabled to continue and creates a succession of extra-physical materials. The first of these is what may be called vital energy. In the old days it used to be called animal magnetism which is merely a name for that intangible energy which keeps the body alive. Some people possess this energy in abundance and are able to impart it to others. There are other people who have an insufficient supply and are constantly stealing it from others. These are the vampires of legend who do not feed on physical blood but on this psychological vital energy, and we all know people whose presence leaves us depleted. The octave then proceeds with the creation of three psychic energies which operate the intangible functions of thought, feeling and will. Secondly the air has started its own octave beginning with a further Do. The note Re creates a superior quality of the vital energy, which augments that already created in the Food Octave. The third note, Mi, is a psychic energy which reinforces the ordinary thinking processes, more particularly in the interpretation of the impressions which enter the organism at this level. However, here the process stops because the Air Octave having reached the note Mi is at the point of shock where some reinforcement is necessary. This is provided by the intake of impressions but in mechanical man these are only interpreted in a perfunctory manner which is insufficient to supply the necessary reinforcement. Hence although the impressions are the richest and most valuable food they are not properly digested. In the other two octaves this digestion is already provided in the body itself. Physical food is received into the stomach where it can be acted upon by the

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105

ferments which start the process of digestion. Air is received into the lungs which are already prepared to receive it so that the Air Octave can proceed similarly. No such mechanism is available automatically for the digestion of impressions. It has to be prepared by conscious effort which can create a kind of psychological stomach in which the impressions can be received and interpreted consciously. This is an exercise directed by the awakening mind and is customarily called 'first conscious shock'. If this can be provided it permits the commencement of the Impressions Octave which then proceeds to create a further supply of psychic energies of a superior quality. These are represented by the notes Re and Mi in this third octave in Figure 7, these notes being shown in brackets to indicate that they are not produced automatically. At the same time this provides the necessary reinforcement for the continuation of the Air Octave which then proceeds to create still further psychic energies represented in Figure 7 by the notes Fa and Sol of their octave which are again shown in brackets to indicate that they are not produced automatically. In this way is created a whole range of these energies of an entirely superior quality. This is the situation with man awake and it will be clear that he contains vastly greater potentialities than are available at the mechanical level of existence. In particular these new energies are themselves of progressively higher quality. For example the emotional energy can operate at three distinct levels. The first is the mechanical level concerned only with personal desires and is usually called love of self. This is all that is available in the state of sleep but in the awakened state a second level becomes available, which is concerned with the recognition of and communication with the real parts of other people and is therefore referred to as love of neighbour. The third level is concerned with communication with the highest levels of consciousness available to man and is customarily called love of God. This is no more than an introduction to a concept of considerable depth of meaning of which Gurdjieff often spoke in great detail. A significant aspect of the concept is that no transformation of level can take place without the influence of a still higher level already existing. Thus in the physical stomach the ferments which transform the quality of the food already exist in the body and similarly with the subsequent transformations. The clear implication is that there already exists within man the

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higher levels of consciousness which can create the psychological transformations necessary for his full development; but in his state of sleep he neither uses these, nor is aware of them.

Suggested Reading

Anderson, Margaret, The Unknowable Gurdjieff (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973). Bennett, J. G., Gurdjieff: Making a New World (Turnstone Books, 1973). Gurdjieff, G. I., All and Everything (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1949); Meetings with Remarkable Men (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959). de Hartmann, Thomas and Olga, Our Life with Mr Gurdjieff (Cooper Square, 1964). Hulme, Kathryn, Undiscovered Country (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1972). James, M. R., The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford University Press, 1924). Levy, Gertrude, The Myths of Plato (Centaur Press, 1970). Lutyens, Mary, The Years of Awakening (John Murray Ltd., 1975). Nicoll, Maurice, Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky (Watkins, 1949). Nott, C. S., Further Teachings of Gurdjieff (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969). Ouspensky, P. D., A New Model of The Universe (Kegan Paul, 1931); In Search of the Miraculous (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1949); The Fourth Way (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1957). Reyner, J. H., Ouspensky: The Unsung Genius (Allen & Unwin, 1982). de Ropp, Robert, Warriors Way (Allen & Unwin, 1982). Schure, Edouard, The Great Initiates (Harper and Row Inc., 1912). Webb, James, The Harmonious Circle (Thames and Hudson, 1980).