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Chapter#01

"Glimpses
of truth"
The
<> "search
for the
miraculous".

The main ideas:

The main ideas are are toward the end of the outline points (Man is a machine, what is
art,the question of payment etc...), but what is also important is to read this chapter as
a literary work and observe Ouspensky's relization what he encounteres in Gurdjieff.

Objectives:

Find out what is Socrates' metaphor for Glimpses of Truth. What does the the
"Search" entails, and also what is subjective and objective art at least hat it means to
Gurdjieff. What about the 10th planet? 7-27-05

Outline

Original Outline Points


1. Return from India.
2. The war and the"search for the "miraculous".
3. Old thoughts.
4. The questions of schools.
5. Plans for further travels.
6. The east and Europe
7. A notice in a Moscow newspaper.

8. Lectures on India.
9. The meeting with G.
10. A "disguised man".
11. The first talk.
12. G's opinion on schools
13. G's group.
14. "Glimpses of truth".

15. Further meetings and talks.


16. The Organization of G.'s Moscow group.
17. The question of payment and of means of the work.
18. The question of secrecy and of the obligation accepted by the pupils.
19. A talk about the East.
20. "Philosophy," "theory," and "practice."
21. How was the system found.

22. G's ideas.


23. "Man is a machine" governed by external influences.
24. Everything "happens."
25. Nobody "does" anything.
26. In order to "do" it is necessary "to be."
27. A man is responsible for his actions; a machine is not responsible.
28. Is psychology necessary for the study of machines?

29. The promise of "facts."


30. Can wars be stopped?
31. A talk about the planets and the moon as living beings.
32. The "intelligence" of the sun and the earth.

33. "subjective" and "objective" art.

Notes:
Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.) Bibliography Internet Sources In his use of critical
reasoning, by his unwavering commitment to truth, and through the vivid example of
his own life, fifth-century Athenian Socrates set the standard for all subsequent
Western philosophy. Since he left no literary legacy of his own, we are dependent
upon contemporary writers like Aristophanes and Xenophon for our information
about his life and work. As a pupil of Archelaus during his youth, Socrates showed a
great deal of interest in the scientific theories of Anaxagoras, but he later abandoned
inquiries into the physical world for a dedicated investigation of the development of
moral character. Having served with some distinction as a soldier at Delium and
Amphipolis during the Peloponnesian War, Socrates dabbled in the political turmoil
that consumed Athens after the War, then retired from active life to work as a
stonemason and to raise his children with his wife, Xanthippe. After inheriting a
modest fortune from his father, the sculptor Sophroniscus, Socrates used his marginal
financial independence as an opportunity to give full-time attention to inventing the
practice of philosophical dialogue.
Plato: Born in Athens in 427 BC. Died in Athens 347 BC. Symbol of the start of
Western Systematic Philosophy. Student of Socrates -- until the death of Socrates in
399 B.C. Provider of the concept of Abstract Universals or Ideal Forms. Presenter, in
his Republic, of the concept of a utopian intentional community. Serious student of
mathematics and the ideas of Pythagorus. Traveled to Sicily to participate in a
political experiment. Twenty years with his student Aristotle. Founder of an Academy
-- which survived his death for several hundred years. Suggested that knowledge and
learning may be a matter of remembering.
Glossary:
Buddah with the safayre eyes in Sri Lanka:
The Sphinx:
The Cathedrals:

Chapter#3

Chapter#02

The way of the fakir, the way of the


monk and the way of the yogi. The
"fourth way."

General Observations for this chapter:

While this book is the faithful interpration of the teaching of Gurdjief, in this
particular chapter Ouspensky touches upon and describes Gurdjieff extraordinary
powers.

Outline:

Original Outline Points


1. Petersburg in 1915.
2. G. in Petersburg.
3. A talk about groups.
4. Reference to "esoteric" work.
5. "Prison" and "Escape from prison".
6. What is necessary for this escape?
7. Who can help and how?.

8. Beginning of meetings in Petersburg.


9. A question of reincarnation and future life.
10. How can immortality be attained.
11. Struggle between "yes" and "no".
12. Crystalization on a right, and on a wrong foundation.
13. Necessity of sacrifice.
14. Talks with G. and observations.

15. A sale of carpets and talks about carpets.


16. What G. said about himself.
17. Question about ancient knowledge and why it is hidden.
18. G's reply.
19. Knowledge is not hidden.
20. The materiality of knowledge and man's refusal of the knowledge given to him .
21. A question on immortality.

22. The "four bodies of man."


23. Example of the retort filled with metalic powders.
24. The way of the fakir, the way of the monk and the way of the yogi.
25. The "fourth way."

26. Do civilization and culture exist?


Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Petersburg in 1915.
2. G. in Petersburg.
3. A talk about groups.
4. Reference to "esoteric" work.
5. "Prison" and "Escape from prison".
6. What is necessary for this escape?
7. Who can help and how?.

8. Beginning of meetings in Petersburg.


9. A question of reincarnation and future life.
10. How can immortality be attained.
11. Struggle between "yes" and "no".
12. Crystalization on a right, and on a wrong foundation.
13. Necessity of sacrifice.
14. Talks with G. and observations.

15. A sale of carpets and talks about carpets.


16. What G. said about himself.
17. Question about ancient knowledge and why it is hidden.
18. G's reply.
19. Knowledge is not hidden.
20. The materiality of knowledge and man's refusal of the knowledge given to him .
21. A question on immortality.

22. The "four bodies of man."


23. Example of the retort filled with metalic powders.
24. The way of the fakir, the way of the monk and the way of the yogi.
25. The "fourth way."
26. Do civilization and culture exist?

Objective:

1. Able to define the four bodies of man


The bodies of man The Basic Trinity of Man The most basic distinction we
can make in regards to the make-up of man is that he consists of a personality,
an individuality and a divine essence. The personality is the lower self,
consisting of the physical body and the psychic soul. It has the genetics of its
forefathers, the energy system to keep the physical body alive, and the
psychological and psychic characteristics that define us as human. He has the
abilities to express himself through thought, language, and other intellectual
capacities. The personality is a unit of incarnation, it is all those bodies and all
those characteristics you have taken on for this incarnation. As it belongs to
the world of form, it is temporary. It was created to express yourself in this
world on a temporary basis. When you die, the personality dissolves. The
experiences you have gained during your lifetime are then being absorbed by
your individuality. The individuality is the higher self. It is the unit of
evolution. It does not die but remains the same throughout the many
incarnations. It learns from all the experiences in those incarnations. While the
personality often does not know why it incarnated, as with every birth memory
of the past has been wiped out, the individuality has an overview of all
incarnations, and of the meaning of everything that happens to the person.
Eventually the personality will go back into the Divine. The divine essence is
what man always has been, at this moment is, and always will be. Each living
being is a part of the Divine. It is often compared with a star, or a light spark.
Although it seems that each living being is a separate light spark in this
universe of darkness, our divine essence links us all together, as in the Divine
there is no distinction, only unity prevails. Our divine essence does not know
duality, only unity. Our language is too limited to express the Divine, but we
try it anyway and thus we say that the Divine, and our divine essence, is
perfect, immortal, eternal, unchangeable, formless and so on. The individuality
and personality are not perfect, mortal, temporal, subjected to change, have
form and so on. The Bodies of Man There are several systems, doctrines, and
philosophies that have their own classification and names for the different
bodies of man. Aside from some minor details they all fit together in the
following basic schematic. The physical body The astral body The mental
body The spiritual body All these bodies belong to the world of creation, and
thus are temporal. They have form and each has a specific function that allows
man to express himself in the world.
1. The Physical Body The physical body allows man to express himself
in the physical world. It is built out of cells, molecules and atoms, and
it needs food to survive. It is the most crystallized of al bodies, and the
most dense. The physical body is male or female, and this polarity
plays an immense role in the life of man. The physical body is kept
alive and structured by the ethereal body. The ethereal body is often
seen as a separate body, but it is actually a template, a matrix for the
physical body. The physical atoms, molecules and cells arrange
themselves according to the structure of the ethereal body. The ethereal
matrix looks like a web of energy lines, like light fibers which attract
physical matter and arrange it into a physical body. You can say that
the physical body is a duplicate of the ethereal body. Did you know
that with children, when a piece of a finger got cut off, the entire finger
will grow back again (for some reason this ability gets lost in later
years). How do the cells know how to structure themselves in order to
grow a new finger? It is because they follow the ethereal matrix along
which they align themselves. In primitive animals, like salamanders,
this ability remains for their entire live. They will grow a new limb, or
tail, easily. The ethereal body is responsible for the pain of so-called
phantom limbs. It has been a medical mystery for a long time, that
when a limb has been amputated, the patient will feel pain in this limb
that actually is not there anymore. The pain is often long lasting. In the
light of the above we can explain this pain in phantom limbs. Although
the physical limb has gone, the ethereal counterpart is still there. The
surgical removal of that limb created an immense trauma on the body.
In normal circumstances traumas settles themselves on muscles,
creating muscle spasms which in turn creates pain. As the physical
body by itself is inert, the trauma always happens on the level of the
ethereal body, which will pass on the trauma to the physical body,
mostly to the muscles. In the case of an amputated limb, the trauma is
still in the ethereal counterpart of that limb, and thus pain is felt. It just
does not have the ability to express itself on the physical level. People
have successfully removed this ‘phantom’ pain by methods of
relaxation, hypnosis and energy work. Although the physical body can
loose parts or can be deformed during the course of a lifetime, the
ethereal body always remains the same. The only change that can
happen to the ethereal body is constriction on the energy flow through
its fibers (also called nadis). This will result in ailments and diseases in
the physical body. When the nadis are ‘cleared’, or the constriction of
them lifted, by energy healing of one kind or another, the physical
ailments or diseases will disappear. The ethereal body absorbs the solar
and lunar pranas (subtle energies) and transforms them into the
necessary life energies for the physical body. They keep the physical
body not only alive but also healthy. The ethereal body acts especially
on the muscles, and with the ethereal body we experience time. The
physical body, as it is composed of physical matter is by itself inert. It
is through the ethereal body that we feel pain, suffering, hunger, thirst
and other ‘physical’ comforts or discomforts.
2. The Astral Body The astral body is the body that allows us the
experience of emotions, lust, instincts, desires and so on. The astral
body does not have organs, although it takes on a form similar to the
physical body. It is composed of little astral particles which are in
constant movement. The astral body takes up these astral particles
from its astral environment and then ‘breathes’ them out again. The
astral can take any shape, but usually it takes the form of the physical
body of the present or last incarnation as consciousness has gotten used
to identifying itself with this form. It is called ‘astral’ body because i t
glitters like stars when observed clairvoyantly.
3. The Mental Body The mental body allows us the experience of
thoughts, thinking, and rational processes. The intellect. It still has a
form, but not necessarily a human form. Its form is abstract and
geometrical, although it can take on an apparent physical form to make
oneself recognizable on the lower levels of existence. The mental body
cannot think by itself, as it does not have a consciousness by it own. It
is more like an automatic body that stores information and transfers
what it receives. The mental body is sometimes divided into two: The
lower mental body: which is the seat of practical thinking The higher
mental body, also called the causal body: which is the level of abstract
thinking, and which contains the causes of everything that manifest in
the lower bodies and worlds. It contains the knowledge of all past and
present incarnations , and the roots of and possibilities of future
incarnations. It is the gateway to universal knowledge and spiritual
development. Although some authors make a distinction between the
causal body and the spiritual body, there are probably one and the
same.
4. . The Spiritual Body The spiritual body allows us to experience the
highest forms of human manifestation. We could call it a cosmic body
and it is close to divine realm. It is not a real body as it is not subjected
to form. On this level the ego ceases to exists. One is free of duality
and its constructs. Here is the experience of oneness of everything that
exists. The spiritual body knows all things, lives in utmost purity, and
gathers true, divine knowledge. Its energy vivifies and nourishes all the
other bodies of man.

2. Able to define the 4th way and other systems


The idea of the fourth way is strongly associated with Gurdjieff, who appears
to have been the first to use this phrase. The bulk of his discussion of this idea
is to be found in Ouspensky's record of his teaching in Russia, In Search of the
Miraculous. In his own writings, the idea is implicit but never mentioned as
such (this is similar to his teaching on the enneagram). In Russia, he referred
to three traditional ways: 1. Way of the Fakir, involving effort in the body 2.
Way of the Monk, involving devotion and concentration of feeling 3. Way of
the Yogi, involving largely mental attention. In the fourth way, effort is made
in all three: body, feeling and mind. This is harmonious development, as in
Gurdjieff's Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man. To some
degree, his series of movements or 'sacred gymnastics' epitomised this
approach (in the learning of them rather than their performance). His inner
exercises, insofar as these are reported, usually involved an act of mental
concentration combined with physical effort; the feelings are also involved but
spontaneously in the 'I am' state. ith the other ways, the fourth requires its own
kind of social organisation. How this has been interpreted has varied from
group to group. However, in contrast with the traditional ways, the fourth does
not require separation from conditions of ordinary life. Indeed, Gurdjieff often
indicated that these conditions were ideal, especially in times of turmoil, for
the 'awakening' process that he so strongly advocated and which is integral to
the effectiveness of the fourth way. At the same time, work with others of like
mind is essential. Some of the reasons for this are: (a) Different types of
people see the same thing differently and thus a group working together can
get an all round understanding (this is only valid if the 'work group' contains
enough diversity, which is often not the case). (b) Differences between people
can lead to useful 'friction' providing energy for inner work. It should be noted
here that the latter consideration has led to considerable indulgence in
negativity amongst Gurdjieff groups, and it must be remembered that such
friction, to be useful, must be entirely voluntarily entertained and intelligent.
Gurdjieff also said: 'In the fourth way there are many teachers'. This belongs to
the same requirement for diversity of vision. In the fourth way here should not
be adherence to ritual, blind obedience or pursuit of a single idea, but
understanding. The fourth way is also the way of the sly man. Of him,
Gurdjieff said that if he needs to obtain an inner result, he simply 'takes a pill'.
To obtain the same results the traditional ways would take days, weeks,
months. The pill in question is probably not a psychotropic drug but a capsule
of 'intentional suffering'. Why would the fourth way be introduced in this time
and, is it something new? To answer the last question first, it is probably not;
but, every time it is introduced it has to take a new expression. To a large
extent, Idries Shah claimed that Sufism incorporated Gurdjieff's idea of the
fourth way; but it is common to find explanations for the sources of Gurdjieff's
ideas from whatever tradition one upholds. However, the Sufi idea of 'being in
the world but not of it' strikes a resonance with the fourth way. To answer why
it was introduced at this time is not easy. There are suggestions that, in this
time of rapid transition and exceeding turmoil, new impulses need to enter
humanity and these cannot be transmitted fast enough through the traditional
ways. This is problematic. There are no clear cut indications from Gurdjieff
about the relation between 'fourth way people' and the rest of humanity. At the
same time, we assume that Gurdjieff being an intelligent man did not believe
that his ideas were the sole source of fourth way initiative in the world. One of
the models for Gurdjieff's own endeavour is provided by Arnold Toynbee's
concept of 'creative groups' that withdraw and concentrate and then re-enter
their civilisations with new ideas and impulses. The practice of the fourth way
seems to require a special very adaptable know-how and cannot be followed
by adherence to any set of standard procedures. Needless to say, the form of
the fourth way has become ossified in many groups which have settled into a
pattern of working together that has its roots in previous experience. But, if
understanding is crucial to this way, then it must be creative and find ways of
challenging itself. Understanding requires conditions of uncertainty, change,
diversity and challenge. We believe that this understanding is not at all the
same as seeking to understand what Mr Gurdjieff meant. In the literature,
reference is made to the critical transformative step called the 'second
conscious shock'. It is said that this must always and in every case be unique.
This leads us to suppose that there is a whole class of approaches similar to the
fourth way which exhibit various degrees of uniqueness and specificity. In this
context, we need to develop our own way in every moment. The fourth way is
associated with the term 'work', which had great appeal in terms of the
Protestant ethic. This term refers to conscious efforts by an individual to
change herself and also the whole 'enabling means' that makes this possible,
sometimes called 'The Work'. The 'work' divides into three aspects: (1) work
for oneself; (2) work for the group; (3) work for the greater whole (the 'world',
the 'Work', even 'God'). These three should be in balance. This scheme leaves
itself open to a variety of interpretations, of various degrees of spiritual
orientation. For example, John Bennett came close to identifying The Work
with God. In this respect, one might easily find intense resonances with
Gnostic teachings. Bennett also gave rise to another scheme of the seven lines
of work. Some of these were 'active' (effort) and others 'receptive'. Over the
years since Gurdjieff's death there had been a tendency to bring in more
passive lines of work such as is loosely called 'meditation'; but, perhaps more
importantly, some began to suspect the critical importance of being able to
learn, which is a receptive act. There was also one line neither active nor
receptive, but 'reconciling'. In this line, it is the Work that manifests through
us. Finally, what is the fourth way and/or the Work to achieve? In brief, to
cease to be a slave of external and internal influences and be able to contribute
consciously towards the working of the whole.

Notes: Aristotle (384-322 B.C) was born in Stagira in north Greece, the son of
Nichomachus, the court physician to the Macedonian royal family. He was trained
first in medicine, and then in 367 he was sent to Athens to study philosophy with
Plato. He stayed at Plato's Academy until about 347 After leaving Athens, Aristotle
spent some time traveling, and possibly studying biology, in Asia Minor (now Turkey)
and its islands. He returned to Macedonia in 338 to tutor Alexander the Great; after
Alexander conquered Athens, Aristotle returned to Athens and set up a school of his
own, known as the Lyceum. After Alexander's death, Athens rebelled against
Macedonian rule, and Aristotle's political situation
became precarious. To avoid being put to death, he fled to
the island of Euboea, where he died soon after.

Plotonius wrote of being lifted out of his body on many


occasions,
Additional Notes:

Return Chapter#2 Chapter#4

Chapter#03

G’s fundamental ideas concerning man:


Absence of individuality and will in man.
Absence of a permanent I. Absence of unity and
Multiplicity of I’s, and the Role of small I’s.

General Observations for this chapter:


Original Outline Points
1. G’s fundamental ideas concerning man.
2. Absence of unity.
3. Multiplicity of I’s.
4. Construction of the human machine.
5. Psychic centers.
6. G's method of exposition of the ideas of the system.
7. Repetation unavoidable.

8. What the evolution of man means.


9. Mechanical progress impossibble.
10. Europian idea of man’s evolution.
11. Connectedness of everything in nature.
12. Humanity and the moon.
13. Advantige of individual man over masses.
14. Necessity of knowing the human machine.

15. Absence of permanent I in man.


16. Role of small I’s.
17. Absence of individuality and will in man.
18. Eastern allegory of the house and it’s servants.
19. The “deputy steward”.

20. Talks about a fakir on nails and Budhist magic.

Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. G’s fundamental ideas concerning man. Very strange ideas, but his basic idea is that man is a ma
of us in a hypnotic dream.
2. Absence of unity.
3. Multiplicity of I’s.
4. Construction of the human machine.
5. Psychic centers.
6. G's method of exposition of the ideas of the system.
7. Repetation unavoidable.

8. What the evolution of man means.


9. Mechanical progress impossibble.
10. Europian idea of man’s evolution.
11. Connectedness of everything in nature.
12. Humanity and the moon.
13. Advantige of individual man over masses.
14. Necessity of knowing the human machine.

15. Absence of permanent I in man.


16. Role of small I’s.
17. Absence of individuality and will in man.
18. Eastern allegory of the house and it’s servants.
19. The “deputy steward”.

20. Talks about a fakir on nails and Budhist magic.


Notes:There's some resemblance of Gurdjieff and Stalin. To be aware of time is to be
aware of the Univers. to be aware of the Universe is to be aware of time. Eolution is
creating the cup it's up to me to feel th cup. Nobody cares about your evoution, i's up
to you to figure aout the way out of the net.
Phylosophor Glossary:

• Benares=
• hypnosis=
• rupies=
• dagoba=
• Buddhist neckles=
• astral body=
• lymphatic glands=
• apathetic=
• fakirs' miracle=
• miracle=
• individuality=
• evolution= Evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness and as such
it can not evolve involunterly. We must participate in this involvement
consciously.

< Chapter#04

General impressions of G.'s system.


Seven gradation of the concept "man".
Objectives: 2 pages of morning writing. Walk 2 miles. 10 minutes of guided
meditation. Half hour of self aware reading.

General Observations for this chapter:

Original Outline Points


Outline

1. General impressions of G.'s system.


2. Looking backwards.
3. One of the fundemental proposations.
4. The line of knowledge and the line of being.
5. Being on different levels.
6. Divergence of the line of knowledge from the line of being.
7. What a development of knowledge gives without a corresponding change of being
and a change of being without an increase in knowledge.

8. What "understanding" means.


9. Understanding as the resultant of knowledge and being.
10. The difference between understanding and knowledge.
11. Understanding as the function of three centers.
12. Why people try to find names for things they do not understand.
13. Our language.
14. Why people do not understand one another.

15. The word "man" and its different meanings.


16. The language accepted in the system.
17. Seven gradations of the concept "man."
18. The principle of relativity in the system.
19. Gradations parallel to the gradations of man.
20. The word "world".
21. Variety of its meanings.

22. Examination of the word "world" from the point of view of the principle of relativity.
23. Tha fundemental law of the universe.
24. The law of three principles or three forces.
25. Necessity of three forces for the appearance of a phenomenon.
26. The third force.
27. Why we do not see the third force.
28. Three forces in ancient teachings.

29. The creation of worlds by the will of the Absolute.


30. A chain of worlds or the "ray of creation".

31. The number of laws in each world.


Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. General impressions of G.'s system.


2. Looking backwards.
3. One of the fundemental proposations.
4. The line of knowledge and the line of being.
5. Being on different levels.
6. Divergence of the line of knowledge from the line of being.
7. What a development of knowledge gives without a corresponding change of being and a
change of being without an increase in knowledge.

8. What "understanding" means.


9. Understanding as the resultant of knowledge and being.
10. The difference between understanding and knowledge.
11. Understanding as the function of three centers.
12. Why people try to find names for things they do not understand.
13. Our language.
14. Why people do not understand one another.

15. The word "man" and its different meanings.


16. The language accepted in the system.
17. Seven gradations of the concept "man."
18. The principle of relativity in the system.
19. Gradations parallel to the gradations of man.
20. The word "world".
21. Variety of its meanings.

22. Examination of the word "world" from the point of view of the principle of relativity.
23. Tha fundemental law of the universe.
24. The law of three principles or three forces.
25. Necessity of three forces for the appearance of a phenomenon.
26. The third force.
27. Why we do not see the third force.
28. Three forces in ancient teachings.

29. The creation of worlds by the will of the Absolute.


30. A chain of worlds or the "ray of creation".

31. The number of laws in each world.


pages 64-81 31 points no diagrams
Questions:
Notes: Seven gradation of the concept "man". The first three we're born with and all
three is on the same level. #4 has a center of garavity, #5 has unity with self-
consciouness, #6 has objective consciounes, and #7 has a permanent I.
(Understanding this concept we can understand humanity better.)
What is the difference between Understanding and Knowing:
Where there is no understanding, the people will perish! One thing I know for sure is
that I don't trully understand all what Ouspensky is saying, but it doesn't matter. I'm
only going to get what I want to get anyway. As Richard used to say:"Don't worry
you'll get it all. More over you are only going to get what your Spirit wants you to get.
So we can play the Divine Fool and go on and on and on about who knows what and
in the end, maybe all we'll have done is to provide some food for our mental,
emotional and spiritual bodies. Food that our Spiritsrequested and Ouspensky
delivered. Nothing of any eternal significance can be spoken in this language anyway.
So it doesn't matter. The real work being done is in the Heart it isn't in the words. It is
in the synergy that we all form together when we meet on Monday nights. The words
just stimulate insights in us and we discover things that we already knew but we didn't
know that we knew it. If we are lucky, you'll share with us the insights that were
stimulated in you so that we can have new insights stimulated in us and we can all
share them back and forth That is why we work in groups. Everything that is being
said leads to that. We are all trying to wake up!
Once more: I'm absolutely certain that I understand very little what Ouspensky is
saying. But I speak anyway, because that is what I need to do. That is the paradox. We
are all holy beings on a holy mission.
Additional Notes:
Benedict (Baruch) Spinoza (1632-1677) was the son of a Jewish merchant from
Amsterdam. His father and grandfather were originally Portuguese crypto-Jews -- that
is, Jews who were forced to adopt Christianity in Portugal, but secretly remained
Jewish. He was educated in a traditional Jewish Curriculum. His father died when he
was 21, after which he was embroiled in a lawsuit with his stepsister over his father's
estate. Spinoza won the suit, but nevertheless handed virtually all of it over to his
stepsister. Shortly after, Spinoza's budding theological speculations prompted conflict
with Jewish leaders. Spinoza publicly contended that the scriptures do not maintain
that God has no body, that angels exist, or that the soul is immortal. After failed
attempts to silence him, he was excommunicated in 1656. For a time Spinoza was
associated with a former Jesuit who ran a school for children. Spinoza used this as an
opportunity to further his own education and to supplement his income by teaching in
the school. At this time he also learned the trade of lens grinding for glasses and
telescopes.
Glossary:

Chapter#05

A "lecture on the mechanics of the universe." The four bodies of man


and their relationship to different worlds.

General Observations for this chapter:

The current scientific understanding (in 2005) is that the Univers was born in an
enormous explosion, called the Big Bang, about 15 billion years ago. This is when
time space matter and energy are born. This is a scientific theory. Scientific theory is a
model. This is the current (model) of the universe with a set of rules, (it only exist in
our mind). Gurdjieff's model gives a different picture of the Universe. Who can tell
which is right? or What are we to make of this.
Original Outline Points
1. A "lecture on the mechanics of the universe."
2. The ray of creation and its growth from the Absolute.
3. A contradiction of scientific views.
4. The moon as the end of the ray of creation.
5. The will of the Absolute.
6. The idea of miracle.
7. Our place in the world.

8. The moon feeds on organic life.


9. The influence of the moon and liberation from the moon.
10. Different "materiality" of different worlds.
11. The world as a world of "viabrations."
12. Viabrations slow down proportionately to the distance from the Absolute.
13. Seven kinds of matter.
14. The four bodies of man and their relationship to different worlds.

15. Where the earth is.


16. The three forces and the cosmic properties of matter.
17. Atoms of complex substances.
18. Definition of matter according to the forces manifested through it.
19. "Carbon", oxigen", "nitrogen", and "hydrogen".
20. The three forces and the four matters.
21. Is man immortal or not?

22. What does immortality mean?


23. A man having the fourth body.
24. The story of the seminarist and the omnipotence of God.
25. Talks about the moon.
26. The moon as the weight of a clock.
27. Talk about universal language.

28. Explonation of the Last Supper.

Notes: Bacon, Francis 1561–1626, English philosopher, essayist, and statesman, b.


London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at Gray's Inn. He was the son of
Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Queen Elizabeth I. Francis Bacon was a member
of Parliament in 1584 and his opposition to Elizabeth's tax program retarded his
political advancement; only the efforts of the earl of Essex led Elizabeth to accept him
as an unofficial member of her Learned Council. At Essex's trial in 1601, Bacon,
putting duty to the state above friendship, assumed an active part in the prosecution—
a course for which many have condemned him. With the succession of James I,
Bacon's fortunes improved. He was knighted in 1603, became attorney general in
1613, lord keeper in 1617, and lord chancellor in 1618; he was created Baron Verulam
in 1618 and Viscount St. Albans in 1621. In 1621, accused of accepting bribes as lord
chancellor, he pleaded guilty and was fined £40,000, banished from the court,
disqualified from holding office, and sentenced to the Tower of London. The
banishment, fine, and imprisonment were remitted. Nevertheless, his career as a
public servant was ended. He spent the rest of his life writing in retirement. Bacon
belongs to both philosophy and literature. He projected a large philosophical work,
the Instauratio Magna, but completed only two parts, The Advancement of Learning
(1605), later expanded in Latin as De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623), and the Novum
Organum (1620). Bacon's contribution to philosophy was his application of the
inductive method of modern science. He urged full investigation in all cases, avoiding
theories based on insufficient data. He has been widely censured for being too
mechanical, failing to carry his investigations to their logical ends, and not staying
abreast of the scientific knowledge of his own day. In the 19th cent., Macaulay
initiated a movement to restore Bacon's prestige as a scientist. Today his contributions
are regarded with considerable respect. In The New Atlantis (1627) he describes a
scientific utopia that found partial realization with the organization of the Royal
Society in 1660. His Essays (1597–1625), largely aphoristic, are his best-known
writings. They are noted for their style and for their striking observations about life.
Derrida:Jacques Derrida[zhak´ der´´Eda´] Pronunciation Key, 1930–2004, French
philosopher, b. Algeria. A professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences
Sociales in Paris, he has attempted to take apart, or "deconstruct," the edifice of
Western metaphysics and reveal its incoherent foundations. In Of Grammatology
(1967, tr. 1976), for example, Derrida contends that Western metaphysics has judged
writing to be inferior to speech, not comprehending that the features of writing that
supposedly render it inferior to speech are actually essential features of both. He
argues that language only refers to other language, therefore negating the idea of a
single, valid "meaning" of a text as intended by the author. Rather, the author's
intentions are subverted by the free play of language, giving rise to many meanings
the author never intended. Derrida has had a major influence on literary critics,
especially those of the "Yale school," including Paul de Man, Geoffrey Hartman, J.
Hillis Miller, and Harold Bloom. These deconstructionists, along with Derrida,
dominated the field of literary criticism in the 1970s and early 1980s. Derrida's
writings include Writing and Difference (1967, tr. 1978), Margins of Philosophy
(1972, tr. 1982), Limited Inc. (1977), The Post Card (1980, tr. 1987), Aporias (tr.
1993), and The Gift of Death (tr. 1995).
Additional Notes: When it comes to God. At one point our mind is just trashing as
Ludwig Wittgenstein said we are verbaly idling.

Suggestions by Gurdjieff: (1)Formulate aims. (2)Do not express unpleasant and


negative emotions. (3)Do not identify. (4)Do not internally consider, externally
consider always. (5)Do not lie. (6)Minimize unnecessary talking. (7)Work against
imagination. (8)Observe yourself. (9)Learn to suffer. (10)Remember yourself.
(11)And most importantly---Verify everything for yourself. Return Chapter#5
Chapter#7

Chapter#06
Talk about AIMS, PERSONAL AIMS

Exercises: 5 minutes of meditation , 2 mile-walk and reading the


chapter
Objectives: What questions this chapter to answer: You can not have an
aim unless you name it.
The purpose of this chapter:What is my aim? Our aim is to awaken and
to stay awake to be done via intentional effort which is none other than
transformation on all centers.

Original Outline Points


1. Talk about aims.
2. Can the teaching pursue a definite aim?
3. The aim of existence.
4. Personal aims.
5. To know the future.
6. To exist after death.
7. To be a master of oneself.

8. To be a Christian.
9. To help humanity.
10. To stop wars.
11. G's explanations.
12. Fate, accident and will.
13. "Mad machines".
14. Esoteric Christianity.

15. What ought man's aim to be?


16. The cause of inner slavery.
17. With what the way of liberation begins.
18. "Know thyself"
19. Different understanding of this idea.
20. Self sudy.
21. How to study?

22. Self-observation.
23. Recording and analysis.
24. A fundamental principle of the working of the human machine
25. The four centers:Thinking, emotional, moving, instinctive.
26. Distinguishing between the work of the centers.
27. Making changes in the working of the machine.
28. Upsetting the balance.

29. How does the machine restore its balance?


30. Incidental changes.
31. Wrong work of centers.
32. Imagination.
33. Daydreaming.
34. Habits.
35. Opposing habits for the purpose of self-observation.

36. The struggle against expressing negative emotions.


37. Registering mechanicalness.
38. Changes resulting from right self observation.
39. The idea of moving center.
40. The usual classification of man's actions.
41. Classification based upon the division of centers.
42. Automatism.

43. Instinctive actions.


44. The difference between the instinctive and moving functions
45. Division of the emotions.

46. Different levels of the centers.


Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only
1. Talk about aims.
2. Can the teaching pursue a definite aim?
3. The aim of existence.
4. Personal aims.
5. To know the future.
6. To exist after death.
7. To be a master of oneself.

8. To be a Christian.
9. To help humanity.
10. To stop wars.
11. G's explanations.
12. Fate, accident and will.
13. "Mad machines".
14. Esoteric Christianity.

15. What ought man's aim to be?


16. The cause of inner slavery.
17. With what the way of liberation begins.
18. "Know thyself"
19. Different understanding of this idea.
20. Self sudy.
21. How to study?

22. Self-observation.
23. Recording and analysis.
24. A fundamental principle of the working of the human machine
25. The four centers:Thinking, emotional, moving, instinctive.
26. Distinguishing between the work of the centers.
27. Making changes in the working of the machine.
28. Upsetting the balance.

29. How does the machine restore its balance?


30. Incidental changes.
31. Wrong work of centers.
32. Imagination.
33. Daydreaming.
34. Habits.
35. Opposing habits for the purpose of self-observation.

36. The struggle against expressing negative emotions.


37. Registering mechanicalness.
38. Changes resulting from right self observation.
39. The idea of moving center.
40. The usual classification of man's actions.
41. Classification based upon the division of centers.
42. Automatism.

43. Instinctive actions.


44. The difference between the instinctive and moving functions
45. Division of the emotions.

46. Different levels of the centers.

notes
This piece probably will be moved to some other place The five "being-obligolnian-
strivings"
From: Gurdjieff, «Beelzebub tales to his grandson» (ed.3 vol.) v.1, Chapter 27, p. 386:
"The organization for man's existence created by the Very Saintly Ashiata Shiemash.
All the beings of this planet then began to work in order to have in their consciousness
this Divine function of genuine conscience, and for this purpose, as everywhere in the
Universe, they transubstantiated in themselves what are called the "being-obligolnian-
strivings" which consist of the following five, namely:

1. The first striving: to have in their ordinary being-existence everything


satisfying and really necessary for their planetary body.
2. The second striving: to have a constant and unflagging instinctive need for
self-perfection in the sense of being.
3. The third: the conscious striving to know ever more and more concerning the
laws of World-creation and World-maintenance.
4. The fourth: the striving from the beginning of their existence to pay for their
arising and their individuality as quickly as possible, in order afterwards to be
free to

Return Chapter#6 Chapter#8

Chapter#07
What is consciousness?
In order to DO it is
neccessary to be able to
control “additional
shocks”.

Main ideas:Deviding attention, different kinds of consciousness, What does it mean


to remember onself Laws of the Univers...etc.
Exercise: 10 min guided meditation on the body every morning, 15 minutes of self-
aware reading every evening, walk at least 4 times a week,

Objectives(Celok):

To know is good, but to DO is better ....etc.


Quote from the chapter:"The people who belonged to our group understood that we
had come into conntact with a "miracle" I susequently became convinced that this
idea (deviding attention) was hidden by an impenetrable veil for many otherwise very
intelligent people and still later on I saw why.
Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. What is consciousness? The state of being conscious; knowledge of one's own


existence, condition, sensations, mental operations, acts, etc. "Consciousness is thus,
on the one hand, the recognition by the mind or "ego" of its acts and affections; -- in
other words, the self-affirmation that certain modifications are known by me, and that
these modifications are mine." Sir W. Hamilton. (1) Immediate knowledge or
perception of the presence of any object, state, or sensation. See the Note under
Attention. "Annihilate the consciousness of the object, you annihilate the
consciousness of the operation." Sir W. Hamilton. "And, when the steam Which
overflowed the soul had passed away, A consciousness remained that it had left. . . .
images and precious thoughts That shall not die, and can not be destroyed."
Wordsworth. "The consciousness of wrong brought with it the consciousness of
weakness." (Froude.) (2) Feeling, persuasion, or expectation; esp., inward sense of
guilt or innocence. [R.] "An honest mind is not in the power of a dishonest: to break
its peace there must be some guilt or consciousness. Is it possible that everything that
one is, does, and experiences is a function of the brain? that one is who one is because
of what one's brain is? that becoming something different means changing the brain?
And, if so, what are the implications of this? Do we lose something, or is the brain
actually big enough, as Dickinson suggested, to contain everything? If so, what might
we be able to do that has never before been possible? What are the risks, the gains, the
new landscapes which would be opened to explore? " Pope.
2. Is “cosmic consciousness” attainable? No it is not possible
3. Sleep in a waking state and awakening.
4. G’s. questions about what we notice during self-observation.
5. Our replies.
6. G.’s remark that we had missed the most important thing.
7. Why do We do not notice that we do not remember ourselves. Self observation is a
part of deviding attention, of course there's more to it. It suppose to lead to subjective
or the 3rd kind of consciousness.
Additional Notes: Feb 7, 1999 More SAYINGS of Gurdjieff...The following quotes
are from GI GURDJIEFF (via Kenneth Walker...copied from Gurdjieff International
Review):
1. Mr Self Love and Madame Vanity are the two chief agents of the devil.
2. Do not be affected by externals. In themselves they are harmless; it is we who
allow ourselves to be hurt by them.
3. We never reach the limits of our strength.
4. If we do what we like doing, we are immediately rewarded by the pleasure of
doing it. If we do what we don't like doing the reward must come later.
5. It is a mathematical law and all life is mathematics.
6. Man is a symbol of the laws of creation; in him there is evolution, involution,
struggle, progress and retrogression, struggle between positive and negative,
active and passive, yes and no, good and evil.
7. Think what you feel and feel what you think. Fusion of the two produces
another force.
8. For some people religion is useful but for others it is only a policeman.
9. We are sheep kept to provide wool for our masters who feed us and keep us as
slaves of illusion. But we have a chance of escape and our masters are anxious
to help us, but we like being sheep. It is comfortable.
10. He who can love can *be*; he who can *be* can do; he who can do *is*.
11. Sincerity is the key to self knowledge and to be sincere with oneself brings
great suffering.
12. Sleep is very comfortable, but waking is very bitter.
13. Free will is the function of the Master within us. Our 'will' is the supremacy of
one desire over another.
14. An ordinary man has no 'Master'. He is ruled now by the mind, now by the
feelings and now by the body. Often the order comes from the automatic
apparatus and still more often he is ordered about by the sex center. Real will
can only be when one 'I' rules, when there is a 'master' in the house.

8. “It observs”, “It thinks”, “It speaks”.


9. Attempts to remember oneself.
10. G’s explanations.
11. The significance of the new problem.
12. Science and philosophy.
13. Our experiences.
14. Attempts to devide attention. Wundt's revolutionary approach to psychological
experimentation moved psychological study from the domain of philosophy and the
natural sciences and began to utilize physiological experimental techniques in the
laboratory. To Wundt, the essence of all total adjustments of the organism was a
psychophysical process, an organic response mediated by both the physiological and
the psychological. He pioneered the concept of stating mental events in relation to
objectively knowable and measurable stimuli and reactions. Wundt perceived
psychology as part of an elaborate philosophy where mind is seen as an activity, not a
substance. The basic mental activity was designated by Wundt as 'apperception'.
Physiological psychology was concerned with the process of excitations from
stimulation of the sense organs, through sensory neurons to the lower and higher brain
centers, and from these centers to the muscles. Parallel with this process ran the
events of mental life, known through introspection. Introspection became, for Wundt,
the primary tool of experimental psychology. In Wundt's 1893 edition of
Physiological Psychology, he published thetridimensional theory of feeling': feelings
were classified as pleasant or unpleasant, tense or relaxed,excited or depressed. A
given feeling might be at the same time a combination of oneof each of the categories.
Wundt's method of introspection did not remain a fundamental tool of psychological
experimentation past the early 1920's. His greatest contribution was to showthat
psychology could be a valid experimental science. His influence in promoting
psychology as a science was enormous. Despite poor eyesight, Wundt, it has been
estimated, published 53,000 pages, enough to stock a complete library. As noted
above, a primary preoccupation of many early psychologists, such as Wundt and
Fechner, was with the measurement of powers of sensory discrimination, resulting in
the theory and methodology of psychophysics, the science of quantitative relations
between physical magnitudes and sensations. This interest with measurements led
Wundt to develop what would be the foundation for Binet's scale of intelligence.
Binet had developed a scale where specific tasks were directly correlated to different
levels of abilities or a mental age. However, Binet was not suggesting that each task
would correspond exactly and reliably to a particular mental level. As the scale
developed, Binet found it necessary to use a number of tasks at each level to
determine mental age. At this point, the task of determining a person's mental age was
reminiscent of one of the psychophysical methods developed by Wundt to determine
the level of a person's sensitivity to faint stimuli or to small physical differences in
stimuli.
15. First sensation of voluntery self-remembering. A very painful and eery memory. I
was on Olympic Blvd and Figuroa in Los Angeles

16. What we recollect of the past.


17. Further experiences.
18. < has psychology Europian>
19. Differences in the understanding of the idea consciousness.
20. The study of man is parallel to the study of the world.
21. Following upon the law of three comes the fundemental law of the universe: the
law of seven or the law of octaves.
22. The role of organic life in changing the earth’s surface

23. The absence of continuity in vibrations.


24. Octaves.
25. The seven tone scale.
26. The law of “intervals”.
27. Necessity for additional shocks.
28. What occurs in the absence of additional shocks.
29. In order to do it is neccessary to be able to control “additional shocks”.

30. Subordinate octaves.


31. Inner octaves.
32. Organic life in the place of an “interval”.
33. Planetary influences.
34. The lateral octave sol-do.
35. The meaning of the notes la, sol, fa.
36. The meaning of the notes do, si.

37. The meaning of the notes mi, re.


pp:116-140.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) "The universe is corporeal; all that is real is material,
and what is not material is not real." --The Leviathan The philosophy of Thomas
Hobbes is perhaps the most complete materialist philosophy of the 17th century.
Hobbes rejects Cartesian dualism and believes in the mortality of the soul. He rejects
free will in favor of determinism, a determinism which treats freedom as being able to
do what one desires. He rejects Aristotelian and scholastic philosophy in favor of the
"new" philosophy of Galileo and Gassendi, which largely treats the world as matter in
motion. Hobbes is perhaps most famous for his political philosophy. Men in a state of
nature, that is a state without civil government, are in a war of all against all in which
life is hardly worth living. The way out of this desperate state is to make a social
contract and establish the state to keep peace and order. Because of his view of how
nasty life is without the state, Hobbes subscribes to a very authoritarian version of the
social contract.
René Descartes (1596-1650) is one of the most important Western philosophers of
the past few centuries. During his lifetime, Descartes was just as famous as an original
physicist, physiologist and mathematician. But it is as a highly original philosopher
that he is most frequently read today. He attempted to restart philosophy in a fresh
direction. For example, his philosophy refused to accept the Aristotelian and
Scholastic traditions that had dominated philosophical thought throughout the
Medieval period; it attempted to fully integrate philosophy with the 'new' sciences;
and Descartes changed the relationship between philosophy and theology. Such new
directions for philosophy made Descartes into a revolutionary figure.
The two most widely known of Descartes' philosophical ideas are those of a method
of hyperbolic doubt, and the argument that, though he may doubt, he cannot doubt
that he exists. The first of these comprises a key aspect of Descartes' philosophical
method. As noted above, he refused to accept the authority of previous philosophers -
but he also refused to accept the obviousness of his own senses. In the search for a
foundation for philosophy, whatever could be doubted must be rejected. He resolves
to trust only that which is clearly and distinctly seen to be beyond any doubt. In this
manner, Descartes peels away the layers of beliefs and opinions that clouded his view
of the truth. But, very little remains, only the simple fact of doubting itself, and the
inescapable inference that something exists doubting, namely Descartes himself. Rene
Decart - is a great French philosopher facinated by crosseted woman. Decart was the
first to connect the ideas of the greatest Italian physicist and German astronomer.
Galilei law about inertia and constructed the mechanism of Universe, where all the
solids are made more by pushing. Decart system was the first attempt to describe the
origin of Universe without miracles and divinely wonders, he scientifically explained
the planets turning to one side and in one plane and its coordinated rotation. Young
Newton was meditating over Decart's ideas and Newton pointed out the planets as the
celestial bodies, which "wandered" near the Sun in any directions. He returned the
Space to the hollowness again, which Decart drove out from the Universe.
Questions for this chapter developed by Richard Liebow:

1. What is G.s opinion of those who wish to acquire cosmic consciousness?


2. What is consciousness?
3. What does Ouspensky say about his own attempts to remember himself?
4. How does Ouspensky describe the process of divided attention?
5. What is the Law of Intervals?
6. What is a subordinate octave?
7. What is an inner octave?
8. What is the cosmic function of organic life on earth?
9. Which do you prefer: Your inner world or your outer world?
10. Which do you have more control over: Your inner world or your outer world?
11. Without a series of conscious efforts and deliberate course corrections, could
you get your body, your mind, and your feelings all the way to Mr. Gurdjieffs
gravesite in the cemetary of Avon and back to San Francisco within the course
of a couple of weeks?
12. Do you consider the effects of simply pausing to be present some kind of
miracle?
13. Does pausing just to be present give you access to some new level of
consciousness?
14. Is pausing just to be present an attempt to enrich consciousness by mechanical
means?
15. Is the cultivating of an intentional personal ritual practice an attempt to enrich
consciousness by mechanical means?
16. Do you think of the thin film of organic life covering the surface of the earth
of which we are a part as the earths organ of perception?
17. Does going to some place you have never been before, or doing something
you have never done before, give you access to some new level of
consciousness?
18. Is it possible that our study of Ouspenskys In Search of the Miraculous is
giving us access to some sort of map of pre-sand Egypt?
19. How often do you intentionally listen to your own breathing?
20. How often do you intentionally sense the beating of your own heart?
21. How often, when speaking, do you intentionally listen to your own voice?

Glossary:
The seven tone scale=heptatonic scale from Encyclopædia Britannica Article:
also called Seven-note Scale, or Seven-tone Scale, musical scale made up of
seven different tones. The major and minor scales of Western art music are the
most commonly known heptatonic scales, but different forms of seven-tone
scales exist. Medieval church modes, each having its characteristic pattern of
whole and half steps, used seven tones. Scales that resemble the medieval
modes are found in some European folk music. In Java, many forms of the
seven-tone pelog scale occur. Heptatonic scales can also be found in the music
of black Africa and of some American Indians.
The law of “intervals”=
Additional shocs=
The law of seven or the law of octaves=
Subordinate octaves=
Inner octaves=
artificial schock= an effort is made or (a kind of action) at the moment of
preception of the impression.
ordinary condition= generally all the time when we do not remember
ourselves.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return Chapter#7 Chapter#9

Chapter#08

CONSCIENCE. Different
states of consciousness. To
become self-conscious you
must study yourself.

Main idea:

Exercise:

Stay with the numerical sensory exercise 10 minutes every morning. Also read
"Search" for at least 5 minutes with divided attention.

Objectives(Celok):

Whach what is what you like and start working with that .

Outline

Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only


1. Different states of consciousness.
2. Sleep.
3. Waking state.
4. Self-consciousness.
5. Objective consciousness.
6. Absence of self consciousness.
7. What is the first condition for acquiring self-consciousness?

8. Higher states of consciousness and the higher centers.


9. The “waking state” of ordinary man as sleep.
10. The life of men asleep.
11. How one can awaken?
12. What man is when he is born.
13. What “education” and the example of those around him do.
14. Man’s possibilities.

15. Self-study.
16. “Mental photographs.”
17. Different men in one man.
18. “I” and “Ouspensky”.
19. Who is active and who is passive.
20. Man and his mask.
21. Division of oneself as the first stage of work on oneself.

22. A fundemental quality of man’s being.


23. Why man does not remember himself. (Probably s/b Why does not man remember himself?)
24. “Identification”.
25. “Considering”.
26. “Internal considering” and “external considering”.
27. What “external” considering a machine means.
28. “Injustice”.

29. Sincerity and weakness.


30. “Buffers”.
31. Conscience.
32. Morality.
33. Does an idea of morality common to all exist?
34. Does Christian morality exist?
35. Do conceptions of good and evil common to all exist?

36. Nobody does anything for the sake of evil.


37. Different conceptions of good and the results of these different conceptions.
38. On what can a permanent idea of good and evil be based?
39. The idea of truth and falsehood.
40. The struggle against “buffers” and against lying.
41. Methods of school work.
42. Subordination.

43. Realization of one’s nothingness.


44. Personality and essence.
45. Dead people.
46. General laws.

47. The question of money.

pages 141-166 47 points no diagrams


For our review of the content of Chapter Eight we address some of these
questions(developed by R. Liebow):

1. Are you able to sense the absence of self-consciousness in yourself?


2. Ever get a glimpse of objective consciousness?
3. How often do you become aware of the fact that you are sleeping your way
through life?
4. Ever catch yourself taking a mental photograph?
5. Ever try to separate what is real from what is superficial in yourself?
6. Ever experience the terror of identification with some unworthy object or
event?
7. Which comes more naturally for you, internal considering or external
considering?
8. Ever notice how easily external considering transforms itself into internal
considering?
9. How strong is your sense of injustice?
10. Are you rather protective of your buffers?
11. Which do you prefer, conscience or morality?
12. What is evil?
13. What is objectively good?
14. Do you really believe that nobody does anything for the sake of evil?
15. Are you able to graciously accept a subordinate role in any of your
relationships?
16. Any sense of your own nothingness?
17. Who is in charge here, your personality or your essence?
18. Ever meet up with any of the living-dead?
19. Ever find yourself victimized by general laws?
20. Is it right and proper for anyone to ask for money for these ideas?
21. What is consciousness and what is conscience?
22. Do you have an aim; are you going somewhere; are your thoughts, your
feelings, and your actions directed toward something meaningful to you?
23. Do you have some sense of your own inner contradictions?
24. Are you, perhaps, already one of the "living dead" having lost your chance to
wake up to become "a human being without quotation marks?"

Notes:

John Locke (1632-1704) was an Oxford scholar, medical researcher and physician,
political operative, economist and idealogue for a revolutionary movement, as well as
being one of the great philosophers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth
century. His monumental Essay Concerning Human Understanding aims to determine
the limits of human understanding. Earlier writers such as Chillingworth had argued
that human understanding was limited, Locke tries to determine what those limits are.
We can, he thinks, know with certainty that God exists. We can also know about
morality with the same precision we know about mathematics, because we are the
creators of moral and political ideas. In regard to natural substances we can know
only the appearances and not the underlying realities which produce those
appearances. Still, the atomic hypothesis with its attendant distinction between
primary and secondary qualities is the most plausible available hypothesis. Locke's
Two Treatises of Civil Government were published after the Glorious Revolution of
1688 brought William of Orange and Mary to the throne, but they were written in the
throes of the Whig revolutionary plots against Charles II in the early 1680s. In this
work Locke gives us a theory of natural law and natural rights which he uses to
distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate civil governments, and to argue for the
legitimacy of revolt against tyrannical governments. Locke wrote on a variety of other
topics Among the most important of these is toleration. Henry VIII had created a
Church of England when he broke with Rome. This Church was the official religion
of England. Catholics and dissenting Protestants, e.g Quakers, Unitarians and so forth,
were subject to legal prosecution. During much of the Restoration period there was
debate, negotiation and manuevering to include dissenting Protestants within the
Church of England. In a "Letter Concerning Toleration" and several defenses of that
letter Locke argues for a separation between church and state.
"Though the familiar use of the Things about us, takes off our Wonder; yet it cures not
our Ignorance." ---An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (III. vi. 9) "...he that
will not give just occasion to think that all government in the world is the product
only of force and violence, and that men live together by no other rules but that of
beasts, where the strongest carries it...must of necessity find another rise of
government, another original of political power..." ---from The Second Treatise of
Civil Government
SØREN KIERKEGAARD was born in Copenhagen on the 5th of May 1813 and
died in 1855. In summers of 1834 and 1835 Kierkegaard was in a state of violent
mental unrest and ferment. For a time he was obliged to break off his studies entirely
and retire to Gilleleje, a coastal resort. There he attempted to clarify his thoughts and
among other things wrote in his notes: "What I really need is to come to terms with
myself about what I am to do, not about what I am to know, except insomuch as
knowledge must precede every act. It is a matter of understanding my destiny, of
seeing what the Divinity actually wants me to do; what counts is to find a truth, which
is true for me, to find that idea for which I will live and die." When a memorial stone
was erected on Gilbjerg Head at Gilleleje in 1935 to commemorate the centenary of
the intellectual emergence of the young Kierkegaard, these words from his notebook
were inscribed on the stone: "What is truth but to live for an idea."

Additional Notes: What is Conscience:Conscience (Con"science) (?), n. [F.


conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious;
con- + scire to know. See Science.] 1. Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions;
consciousness. [Obs.] "The sweetest cordial we receive, at last, Is conscience of our
virtuous actions past." Denham. 2. The faculty, power, or inward principle which
decides as to the character of one's own actions, purposes, and affections, warning
against and condemning that which is wrong, and approving and prompting to that
which is right; the moral faculty passing judgment on one's self; the moral sense. "My
conscience hath a thousand several tongues, And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain." Shak. "As science means knowledge,
conscience etymologically means self-knowledge . . . But the English word implies a
moral standard of action in the mind as well as a consciousness of our own actions. . .
. Conscience is the reason, employed about questions of right and wrong, and
accompanied with the sentiments of approbation and condemnation." Whewell. 3. The
estimate or determination of conscience; conviction or right or duty. "Conscience
supposes the existence of some such [i.e., moral] faculty, and properly signifies our
consciousness of having acted agreeably or contrary to its directions." Adam Smith. 4.
Tenderness of feeling; pity. [Obs.] Chaucer. The supremacy of conscience is a great
theme of discourse. "Were its might equal to its right", says Butler, "it would rule the
world". With Kant we could say that conscience is autonomously supreme, if against
Kant we added that thereby we meant only that every duty must be brought home to
the individual by his own individual conscience, and is to this extent imposed by it; so
that even he who follows authority contrary to his own private judgment should do so
on his own private conviction that the former has the better claim. If the Church
stands between God and conscience, then in another sense also the conscience is
between God and the Church. Unless a man is conscientiously submissive to the
Catholic Church his subjection is not really a matter of inner morality but is
mechanical obedience.

Glossary: Sacrafice:SACRIFICE: This wonderful word is from two Latin words:


sacer which means holy or sacred, and facere which means to make. Thus, to sacrifice
is to make holy, which, from a seeker's point of view, means to recognize as God's
what is God's. As we see it, then, a seeker's function is to sacrifice his or her life
(including everyone and everything "in" it); that is, recognize it as God's, and give it
to God. This supreme sacrifice is an ongoing process only because we are unable
(unwilling) to do it all at once, choosing instead to hold back a little of this and some
of that. Finally (happily), we realize that, (1) God being all there is, it is impossible to
lose anything, (2) the more we give to God, the more we have ourselves, and (3) when
we truly release our lives to God (whose they always are and were anyway), we are
free to enjoy them. From the separative ego's point of view ("I am me and you
aren't"), the process of sacrifice always incurs loss (even if for a "good cause"),
because, as the separative ego perceives it, "what is mine is mine, and what I give to
God is no longer mine".
What are buffers: Sources: New York, December 9, 1930 Q:How can we gain
attention? That's what makes us human. We can pay attention to somebody.
A:There is no attention in people. You must aim to acquire this. Self-observation is
only possible after acquiring attention. Start on small things................
Q:What must I do?
A:There are two kinds of doing-automatic doing and doing according to aim. Take a
small thing which you are now not able to do, and make this your aim, your God. Let
nothing interfere. Only aim at this. Then, if you succeed in doing this, I will be able to
give you a greater task. Now you have an appetite to do things too big for you. This is
an abnormal appetite. You can never do these things, and this appetite keeps you from
doing the small things you might do. Destroy this appetite, forget big things. Make the
breaking of small habit your aim................. Also see Kierkegaard above.
The question of becoming conscious and remaining in that state is one that lies in the
minds of many individuals. The struggle finding the path to consciousness can be
rewarding and will enhance the lives of all who seek awareness. (I hope so).
Questions: Is consciousness connected to the level of man's being? i.e. #5 have a
different consciousness than #4?
Mahavachia: Self-study. (The term Machavachia was used by Richard Liebow often)

Return Chapter#8
Chapter#10

Chapter#9

The "ray
of
creation"
in the
form of
the three octaves of radiations.The Food
Diagram.

"The Food Diagram" in the teaching of Gurdjieff: This diagram is the


culmination of a serious of diagrams (not shown) ilustrating the manner
in which different qualities of energy are assimilated and
evolve(following the law of the octave) in the human organism. This
particular diagram represents the energy transactions in a moment of
authentic consciousness.

General ideas in this chapter: This chapter is similar to chapter #5 and 10 there's a
lot of material covering the understanding of the cosmos. Gurdjieff considers the
teaching of cosmoses one of the most important thing. However I will not comment
on these, because frankly it doesn't make much sense to me. It seems that Ouspensky
trys to explain a mystical view scientificly. Gurdjieff is talking about the spiritual
cosmos and not a physical one. However, the idea that the sun, the moon and the
planets can influence humanity is still with us. Although I skip this material I'm
becoming more and more interested in astronomy and to some extent astrology too. I
try to understand the system, so I try not rework the material.
Objectives in this lecture:
for duscussion: Monthly newsletters rather than weekly. Also Choose topics from the
chapter we're on for discussion.
Have an understanding what the words artificila shock and alchemy means
Check out Ernest Helm "This thing called You"
How to create your own world? Are you emotionally ready for this?

Outline:

Original Outline Points


1. The "ray of creation" in the form of the three octaves of radiations.
2. Relation of matters and forces on different planes of the world to our life.
3. Intervals in the cosmic octaves and the schocks which fill them.
4. "Point of the universe."
5. Density of viabrations.
6. Three forces and four matters.
7. "Carbon", "Oxygen", "Nitrogen", "Hydrogen".

8. Twelve triads.
9. "Table of Hydrogens."
10. Matter in the light of its chemical, physical, psychic and cosmic properties.
11. Intelligence of matter.
12. "Atom."
13. Every human function and state depends on energy.
14. Substances in man.

15. Man has sufficient energy to begin work on himself if he saves energy.
16. Wastage of energy.
17. "Learn to separate the fine from the coarse."
18. Production of fine hydrogens.
19. Change of being.
20. Growth of inner bodies.
21. The human organism as a three-storied factory.

22. Three kinds of food.


23. Entrances of food air and impressions into the organism.
24. Transformation of substances is governed by the law of octaves.
25. Food octave and air octave.
26. Extracting "higher hydrogens."
27. The octave of impressions does not develop.
28. Possibility of creating an artificial shock at the moment of receiving an impression.

29. Conscious effort.


30. Self remembering.
31. Resulting development of impressions and air octaves.
32. A second conscious shock.
33. Effort connected with emotions.
34. Preparation for this effort.
35. Analogy between the human organism and the universe.

36. Three stages in the evolution of the human machine.


37. Transmutation of the emotions.
38. Alchemy.
39. The centers work with different hydrogens.
40. Two higher centers.
41. Wrong work of lower centers.

42. Materiality of all inner processes.


Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. The "ray of creation" in the form of the three octaves of radiations.


2. Relation of matters and forces on different planes of the world to our life.
3. Intervals in the cosmic octaves and the schocks which fill them.
4. "Point of the universe."
5. Density of viabrations.
6. Three forces and four matters.
7. "Carbon", "Oxygen", "Nitrogen", "Hydrogen".

8. Twelve triads.
9. "Table of Hydrogens."
10. Matter in the light of its chemical, physical, psychic and cosmic properties.
11. Intelligence of matter.
12. "Atom."
13. Every human function and state depends on energy.
14. Substances in man.

15. Man has sufficient energy to begin work on himself if he saves energy.
16. Wastage of energy.
17. "Learn to separate the fine from the coarse."
18. Production of fine hydrogens.
19. Change of being.
20. Growth of inner bodies.
21. The human organism as a three-storied factory.

22. Three kinds of food.


23. Entrances of food air and impressions into the organism.
24. Transformation of substances is governed by the law of octaves.
25. Food octave and air octave.
26. Extracting "higher hydrogens."
27. The octave of impressions does not develop.
28. Possibility of creating an artificial shock at the moment of receiving an impression.

29. Conscious effort.


30. Self remembering.
31. Resulting development of impressions and air octaves.
32. A second conscious shock.
33. Effort connected with emotions.
34. Preparation for this effort.
35. Analogy between the human organism and the universe.

36. Three stages in the evolution of the human machine.


37. Transmutation of the emotions.
38. Alchemy.
39. The centers work with different hydrogens.
40. Two higher centers.
41. Wrong work of lower centers.

42. Materiality of all inner processes.

Food Diagram:
The System teaches that everything in the Universe is material, even quantities such
as thought and emotion which we are not accustomed to think of as such. However,
the materiality of substances varies very much, according to the Scale of Hydrogens.
All matter consists of vibrations, and the density of the matter is in inverse proportion
to the density (or frequency) of vibrations. This density determines its place on the
scale. Within the overall scale, there are further scales, inner octaves and side octaves
which in their totality encompass all materials contained in the Universe. To construct
this scale, we take the Ray of Creation in the expanded form of three octaves of
radiations, spanning the four fundamental points: Absolute-Sun-Earth-Moon. In each
of these octaves, the Fa-Mi interval is regarded as a note in itself. This gives a total of
3x8+1 = 25 notes, from the highest Do (in the Absolute) to the lowest Do (in the
Moon). These 25 notes are organised into 12 triads, with successive triads overlapping
in one note (Do-Si-La, La-Sol-Fa, Fa-**-Mi, and so on). The order of forces in all
these triads is affirming-denying-reconciling (1-2-3, corresponding to the Process of
Growth, or in the language of Organic Chemistry, carbon-oxygen-nitrogen or C-O-N.
The elements C,O,N refer to forces, and each is designated by a number representing
the density of the matter in which the force acts. These numbers are always in the
ratio 1:3:2. (So the affirming force acts in the most rarefied matter, the denying force
in the most dense, and the reconciling force in matter of an intermediate density.) The
numbers double with each successively descending triad: Do (C 1) Do Si (O 3) Si La
(N 2) (C 2) La Sol (O 6) Sol Fa (C 4) (N 4) Fa ** (O 12) ** Mi (N 8) Mi and so on.
Each triad of forces taken together gives a particular hydrogen, whose density is
designated by the sum of the three numbers entering into it: these densities therefore
follow the sequence: H6, H12, H24, and so on to H12288. These twelve hydrogens
represent twelve categories of matter contained in the Universe from the Absolute to
the Moon. For us, however, the first two hydrogens are irresolvable. Therefore for the
study of Man we use a reduced scale, in which H24 is denoted by h6, H48 by h12,
and so on, and H12 is denoted by h1. All matters from h6 to h3072 are to be found
and play a part in the human organism. Each of these hydrogens includes a very large
group of chemical substances, linked together by some function in connection with
our organism and representing a definite cosmic group. For example, man's ordinary
food is h768. A piece of wood, which cannot serve as food for man, is h1536. A piece
of iron is h3072. Water is h384. The air we breathe is h192. h96 includes the matter of
animal magnetism, hormones, vitamins and so on, some rarefied gases, and many
other substances known or unknown to modern science. h48, h24, h12 and h6 are
matters of our psychic and spiritual life on different levels. The Food Diagram shows
how these hydrogens are transformed in the human body, and how this process of
transformation may be extended and made complete with right work on oneself.
Ray of Creation:
The Ray of Creation is a representation of the Universe which takes account of scale.
It provides a framework for the study of esoteric cosmology and psychology. It has
the form of an octave, each note of which signifies a particular level of World: The
diagram known as “the Ray of Creation” provides one of the conceptual keys to
approaching this interconnection between humanity and the universal order, and as
such invites repeated study from a variety of angles and stages of understanding. Note
World Do Absolute Si All Galaxies La Milky Way Sol Sun Fa Planets Mi Earth Re
Moon The names refer to our own ray, the ray which passes through our planet.
Visualising the whole of Creation as a tree, this will be one branch, with the Moon as
its growing tip. We can discern two kinds of relation between each world and the
world above it in the Ray of Creation: one is a satellite relation (as the Moon is a
satellite of the Earth, and the Planets of the Sun); the other is an inclusion relation (as
the Earth is included in the Planetary world, the Sun is included in the Milky Way, the
Milky Way is included in All Galaxies). The relation of All Galaxies to the Absolute is
less clear, because we cannot really visualise the Absolute. Indeed, we must remember
that our visualisations of all these Worlds are only very partial projections. We do not
even see the Earth as it sees itself. We usually visualise the Planetary world as a small
collection of spherical bodies in orbit around the Sun, but we have very little
conception of its objective cosmic nature. (For instance, in a higher dimension of
time, the orbits themselves would become solid bodies, spiraling around a moving
Sun. And it is difficult to imagine the nature of the electromagnetic interactions on
this level.) Perhaps the distinction between satellite and inclusion relationships is
merely an artefact of our limited intelligence, and would dissolve with the application
of correct scale. As in any octave, two intervals need to be filled. That between Do
and Si is filled by the Will of the Absolute. For the interval between Fa and Mi, a
special mechanism exists, which encompasses all that we know as Organic Life on
Earth. This is the Lateral Octave. It begins at the level of the Sun, Sol in the Great
Octave, which sounds as Do in the Lateral Octave: Great Octave Lateral Octave Sol
Do Fa Si ** La-Sol-Fa Mi Mi Re Re Thus Organic Life begins in the Sun; after
passing through Si (on the level of the Planets and the Earth's atmosphere), it reaches
the Earth in the notes La-Sol-Fa, which represent the thin film of organic life on the
Earth's surface (mankind, fauna and flora). Passing into the Earth at Mi, it finally goes
to the Moon at Re: some elementary life-substance travels to and nourishes the Moon.
Thus Organic Life as a whole acts as a transmitter station for cosmic influences. The
fundamental property of the new language is that all ideas in it are concentrated round
one idea, that is, they are taken in their mutual relationship from the point of view of
one idea. This idea is the idea of evolution. Of course, not evolution in the sense of
mechanical evolution, because such an evolution does not exist, but in the sense of a
conscious and volitional evolution, which alone is possible. G.I.Gurdjieff The Ray of
Creation is in us as well as outside us, and as well as a cosmological significance it
has a psychological significance. We have in us levels of being ranging from False
Personality to the potential Real I. Consciousness itself can be on very different
levels, and can encompass different dimensions of time, corresponding to the levels of
Worlds in the Ray of Creation. It is impossible to study a system of the universe
without studying man. At the same time it is impossible to study man without
studying the universe. Man is an image of the world. He was created by the same laws
which created the whole of the world. By knowing and understanding himself he will
know and understand the whole world, all the laws that create and govern the world.
And at the same time by studying the world and the laws that govern the world he will
learn and understand the laws that govern him. In this connection some laws are
understood and assimilated more easily by studying the objective world, while man
can only understand other laws by studying himself. The study of the world and the
study of man must therefore run parallel, one helping the other.
Additional Notes:
Albert Camus The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the
top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had
thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than fu tile and
hopeless labor. If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of
mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the
profession of highwayman. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the
reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is
accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Egina, the
daughter of Esopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that
disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered
to tell about it on condition that Esopu s would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To
the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water. He was punished for
this in the underworld. Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains.
Pluto could not endure the sight of h is deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god
of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror. It is said that Sisyphus,
being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife's love. He ordered her to cast his
unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the
underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he
obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But
when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones
and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of
anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the
gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods w as necessary.
Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his
joys, lead him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him. You
have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his
passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his
passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted
toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of
this earth. Nothing is told us about Sisyphus in the underworld. Myths are made for
the imagination to breathe life into them. As for this myth, one sees merely the whole
effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it, and push it up a slope a
hundred times over; one sees the face screw ed up, the cheek tight against the stone,
the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with
arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very
end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose
is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward
that lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes
back down to the plain. It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me.
A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back
down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know
the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that
is the hour of consciousness . At each of those moments when he leaves the heights
and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is
stronger than his rock. If this myth is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious.
Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld
him? The workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate
is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious.
Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of
his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that
was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that
can not be surmou nted by scorn. If the descent is thus sometimes performed in
sorrow, it can also take place in joy. This word is not too much. Again I fancy
Sisyphus returning toward his rock, and the sorrow was in the beginning. When the
images of earth cling too tightly to memory, when the call of happiness becomes too
insistent, it happens that melancholy arises in man's heart: this is the rock's victory,
this is the rock itself. The boundless grief is too heavy to bear. These are our nights of
Gethsemane. But crushing truths perish from being acknowledged. Thus, Edipus at
the outset obeys fate without knowing it. But from the moment he knows, his tragedy
begins. Yet at the same moment, blind and desperate, he realizes that the on ly bond
linking him to the world is the cool hand of a girl. Then a tremendous remark rings
out: "Despite so many ordeals, my advanced age and the nobility of my soul make me
conclude that all is well." Sophocles' Edipus, like Dostoevsky's Kirilov, thus gives the
recipe for the absurd victory. Ancient wisdom confirms modern heroism. One does
not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a manual of happiness.
"What!---by such narrow ways--?" There is but one world, however. Happiness and
the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable. It would be a mistake
to say that happiness necessarily springs from the absurd. discover y. It happens as
well that the felling of the absurd springs from happiness. "I conclude that all is well,"
says Edipus, and that remark is sacred. It echoes in the wild and limited universe of
man. It teaches that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drives out of this world a god
who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile suffering. It
makes of fate a human matter, which must be settled among men. All Sisyphus' silent
joy is contained therein. His fate belongs to him. His rock is a thing Likewise, the
absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols. In the universe
suddenly restored to its silence, the myriad wondering little voices of the earth rise up.
Unconscious, secret calls, invitations from all the faces, they are the necessary reverse
and price of victory. There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the
night. The absurd man says yes and his efforts will henceforth be unceasing. If there is
a personal fate, there is no higher destiny, or at least there is, but one which he
concludes is inevitable and despicable. For the rest, he knows himself to be the master
of his days. At that subtle moment when man glances backward over his life, Sisyphus
returning toward his rock, in that slight pivoting he contemplates that series of
unrelated actions which become his fate, created by him, combined under his
memory's eye and soon sealed by his death. Thus, convinced of the wholly human
origin of all that is human, a blind man eage r to see who knows that the night has no
end, he is still on the go. The rock is still rolling. I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the
mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher
fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This
universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each
atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a
world. The strugg le itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must
imagine Sisyphus happy. ---Albert Camus--- Translation by Justin O'Brien, 1955

Jean-Paul Sartre was born in Paris. His father was a naval officer who died when
Jean-Paul was young. Through his mother, the former Anne-Marie Schweitzer, he was
a great nephew of Albert Schweitzer. Sartre lived after his father's early death with his
grandfather, Charles Schweitzer and his mother in Paris. When his mother remarried
in 1917, the family moved to La Rochelle. Sartre attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand.
He graduated from the Ècole Normale Supérieure in 1929. From 1931 to 1945 he
worked as a teacher and traveled in Egypt, Greece, and Italy. In 1933-34 he studied in
Berlin the writings of the German philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin
Heidegger. In 1956 Sartre spoke out on behalf of freedom for Hungarians, and Czechs
in 1968. After Stalin's death in 1953 Sartre accepted the right to criticize the Soviet
system although he defended the Soviet state. He visited the Soviet Union next year
and was hospitalized for ten days because of exhaustion. The O.A.S. (Organisation de
l'Armee Secrete), engaged in terrorist activities against Algerian independence,
exploded a bomb in 1961 in Sartre's apartment on rue Bonaparte; it happened also
next year and Sartre moved on quai Louis-Blériot, opposite the Eiffel tower. In a
historical debate between Louis Althusser unexpectedly Sartre lost, perhaps the only
time in his public life. In 1965 Sartre adopted Arlette Elkaïm, his mistress, who
received the rights to Sartre's literary heritage after his death. In 1967 Sartre headed
the International War Crimes Tribunal set up by Bertrand Russell to judge American
military conduct in Indochina. He became closely involved in movement against
Vietnam War and supported student rebellion in 1968. In 1970 Sartre was arrested
because of selling on the streets the forbidden Maoist paper La cause du peuple.
existentialism - The doctrine that among sentient beings, especially humanity,
existence takes precedence over essence and holding that man is totally free and
responsible for his acts. This
responsibility is the source of
dread and anguish that
encompasses mankind.
Glossary:
artificial shock: Conscious labor
and intentional suffering. Yes
but what is that mean ?
Alchemy: ancient art practiced
especially in the Middle Ages,
devoted chiefly to discovering a
substance that would transmute
the more common metals into
gold or silver. Also the finding a
means of indefinitely prolonging human life. Although its purposes and techniques
were dubious and often illusory, alchemy was in many ways the predecessor of
modern science, the science of chemistry.
Questions developed by Richard Liebow:
1) Are you as concerned and careful about the quality of impressions you feed into
your brain as you are about the kinds and qualities of food you take into your mouth
and your belly? 2) Do you now and again pause to make a conscious effort just to
observe your own breathing? 3) Do you now and again pause to make a conscious
effort just to observe and feel the kinds and qualities of sensations passing through the
nerves and muscles of your fingers and toes, your hands and your feet? 4) Do you
sometimes just pause to ponder the subtleties of negativity (fear, false pride,
arrogance, and envy) that pervade your thoughts and feelings? 5) Do you really
believe that just pausing to center yourself causes chemical changes in the physiology
of your body? 6) Do you really believe that struggling to control expressions of
negative emotions saves enormous amounts of precious energy? 7) Do you really
believe that you can control the expression of your negative emotions--without first
forming the habit of pausing frequently just to be present? 8) Do you really believe
that the practice of dividing your attention is crystallizing something in you that may
survive the shock of the decay and crumbling of your physical body? 9) How often do
you find yourself aware of Higher Forces coming from far away places exerting their
influence on your thoughts, your feelings, and your behavior? 10) Are you beginning
to understand why Ouspensky should have understood why he should have listened to
the same lecture more than once? 11) Are you beginning to get any sense of the
meaning and value of the suggestion that every function you perform (whether it be
physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual) requires a certain distinct kind of energy that
sometimes must be synthesized through your own efforts? 12) Do you sometimes
sense the presence of some hint of an emotional stirring in your nerves and muscles
when you pause to ask yourself, "Where am I in all of this?" 13) Do you waste energy
on unnecessary worry? 14) Do you sometimes waste energy on unnecessary
movement of your arms and legs, your fingers and toes?
Notes:Witness to the process Eric Hoffer "The True Boliever" Return chapter#9
Chapter#11

Chapter#10
From what does the Way start. The Way starts where ever You
are, but to be on the "Way" that is a different story.

General Observations for this chapter:

This chapter is similar to chapter #5 just like in 5 there's a lot of material covering the
understanding of the cosmos. Gurdjieff considers the teaching of cosmoses one of the
most important thing. However I will not comment on these, because frankly it
doesn't make much sense to me. It seems that Ouspensky trys to explain a mystical
view scientificly. Gurdjieff is talking about the spiritual cosmos and not a physical
one. However, the idea that the sun, the moon and the planets can influence humanity
is still with us. Although I skip this material I'm becoming more and more interested
in astronomy and to some extent astrology too.
Original Outline Points
1. From what does the way start?
2. The law of accident.
3. Kinds of influences.
4. Influences created in life.
5. Influences created outside of life, conscious in their origin only.
6. The magnetic center.
7. Lookingfor the way.

8. Finding a man who knows.


9. Third kind of influence: conscious and direct.
10. Liberation from the law of accident.
11. “Step”, "Stairway”, and “way”.
12. Special conditions of the fourth way.
13. Wrong magnetic center is possible.
14. How can one recognize wrong ways?

15. Teacher and pupil.


16. Knowledge begins with the teaching of cosmoses.
17. The usual concept of two cosmoses: the “Macrocosmos” and
“Microcosmos”.
18. The full teaching of seven cosmoses.
19. Reletation between cosmoses: as zero to infinity.
20. Principle of relativity.
21. “The way up is at the same time the way down”.

22. What a miracle is.


23. “Period of dimensions”.
24. Survey of the system of cosmoses from the point of view of the theory
of many dimensions.
25. G.’s comment, that “Time is breath.”
26. Is the “Microcosmos” man or the atom”?
Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. (1)From what does the way start?


The way starts where ever you are. It can not start from some place else, but to be on the way, that
Paraphrazing from Karlfried Graf Durckheim from page 33 in "The Way of Transformation" : To b
progress on it has very little to do with our usual methods of disciplene, what is involved is not mer
by which we master our instinctive drives and overcome it, nor it is to aquire those virtues that wil
small ego for tha sake of the community. Neither has to do with anything with the personality whic
it does not succeed in the world, and is disshonered when it fails to accomplish its task or proves to
member of the community. All these are necessary steps and must be taken on the way toward matu
really on the Way where the injunktions one blindly obeys are no longer those that conformto the w
values, but rather which accord with the Divine Being whitin him or her - that Being which costan
itself in him and through him to the world. Even the most correct and resposible behaviour is unab
high demands if it is solely the result of an ethical disciplene instead of being an expression of man
This essence is able to manifest itself freely only when the depys in which it dwells have been clean
because one have to make a choice, to decide to seek either to become completely mechanical or c
conscious. This is the parting of the ways of which all mystical teaching speak.
2. (11)Lookingfor the way.
3. (14)How can one recognize wrong ways?
4. (8)Finding a man who knows.In a cogent presentation, Steiner describes the chakra energy center
using the flower metaphor to ease the description of the facets of the chakras by referring to them a
lotus. Each chakra has its unique number of facets or petals according to Steiner. When the meditat
higher knowledge through the exercises described in the book, the petals of the chakra associated w
energy center begin to rotate. Thus the origin of the wheel metaphor for these energy centers, in fac
wheel in the original Sanskrit. The traveler on the path to higher knowledge, whether seed, plant, o
will find directions and understandings, rather like a traveler in a strange land coming upon a map
in the confirmation of his current bearings and joy in the delineation of his future path.
5. from #17 Realization of the difficulties of the way.
6. from #17 Indispensibility of great knowledge, efforts, and help.
7. from #17 Is there no way outside of the “ways”?
8. from #17 The “way” as help given to people according to type.
9. from #17 The “subjective” and “objective” ways.
10. (12)Special condition of the fourth ways.
11. (15)Teacher and pupil. Nowdays we do not trust someone to that extent to be our teacher, but ther
such reletionship existed even in Europe.
12. (2)The law of accident. Accident is when something happens to you that does not properly belong
under the karmik influences.Man changes at each moment. And these changes are produced by ext
he can never foresee, as he can never foresee his own interior changes. Thus he goes, carried by th
and by his own mood fluctuations. In his illusory life, ordinary man is governed by the Law of Haz
Accident. To escape from its influence, Gurdjieff suggests specific methods — like self-observatio
(individually and in groups), exercises and movements — so that man can become master of himse
REPORTS More useful things " ... if I could remember myself for long enough, I would make few
would do more things that are desirables. Now, I wish to remember, but every rustle, every person,
distracts my attention, — and I forget." (a Gurdjieff’s pupil)
13. (10)Liberation from the law of accident.
14. (5)Kinds of influences.
15. (4)Influences created in life.
16. (3)Influences created outside of life, conscious in their origin only.
17. (9)Third kind of influence: conscious and direct.
18. The magnetic center.
19. Wrong magnetic center is possible.
20. “Step”, "Stairway”, and “way”.
21. (21)“The way up is at the same time the way down”.
22. (22)What a miracle is.

23. Knowledge begins with the teaching of cosmoses.


24. The usual concept of two cosmoses: the “Macrocosmos” and “Microcosmos”.
25. The full teaching of seven cosmoses.
26. Reletation between cosmoses: as zero to infinity.
27. Principle of relativity.
28. “Period of dimensions”.
29. Survey of the system of cosmoses from the point of view of the theory of many dim
30. G.’s comment, that “Time is breath.”

31. Is the “Microcosmos” man or the atom”?


Additional Notes: I may or may not use this material. They are trully just notes for
future consideration. The map is where Gurdjieff lived during the war 6 Rue des
Colonels Renard (First floor). Needs are always changing, I need a lot of everything.
We elect to control more and more of our life, and thus liberating ourselves from the
Law of accidents.
Nobody is concerned about an unwritten poem except the poet. There are sometimes
difficult times, but events are not neccessarly against us. Some people are always
making profit. Somewhere in the bowls of the city money is made all the time.
Pathriarcal values!? Well anyway ; The way in the mystical sense starts where ever
you are, but to be on the Way is to be on a different level. One is still in the vortex of
life, but does not know who he is. You find who you're on the Way and not before.
Saint Stephan (Vajk)the first king of Hungary made this change from pagans to be a
christians for the whole country.
Hungarian mathematician who was the son of Farkas Bolyai. When Bolyai began
puzzling over Euclid's fifth postulate, his father wrote him "For God's Sake, I beseech
you, give it up. Fear it no less than sensual passions because it, too, may take all your
time, deprive you of your health, peace of mind, and happiness in life" (Boyer 1968,
p. 587). Janos did not heed his father, however, and his work, which paralleled that of
Lobachevsky, was published by his father. However, Bolyai's lack of recognition and
the publishing of Lobachevsky's work led him to publish nothing more.
Maybe I rather have Karlfried Gurf Durcheim for this chapter.
Glossary:
Opening the way (Wende Zum Wege):
Inward Knowing(Inhesein): otherwise knowing your karma. This is when you can
change your destiny in some sence you override God, or rather he gives you an other
life. Return chapter#10
chapter#12

Chapter#11

Interpretation of the Gospels, Group


Work, Hypnosis, Kundalini.
Objectives(Celok):Increase Being by what ever means you can!!!
Important elements in this chapter:
(1)An Esoteric Reading of the New Testament:
(2)Hypnotic sleep:Diffficult to explain. It seem to pont to Gurdjieffian mechanicallity.
The intuitive center overriding the intellectual one or is it the other way around.
Points from Richard 1. Appreceptive mass, 2. Bearbaiting 3.Sheepdogging and 4.
Black Holes.
(3)Group work:
(4)Recharging ones batteries:
(5)Get an overview of Hinduism: I have a little uneasiness when we talk about a
"Monkey Gods", but I have to accept the fact that is the first relligion to explain the
transendental "non duality". I need to do a lot more on this
(6) One can not do anything by oneself, but most importantly without doing tasks you
can not do the work, because by doing specific task one works on oneself. Explain
this in more detail. (7)How to recharge my battery: I used to go back to Hungary
every 4-5 years. I'll try to go back this year 2005.
Possibly Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Except a corn of wheat die, it bringeth forth no fruit.


2. A book of aphorisms.
3. To awake, to die, to be born.
4. What prevents a man from being born again?
5. What prevents a man from dying?
6. What prevents a man from awakening?
7. Absence of the realization of one's own nothingness.

8. What does the realization of oneâs own nothingness mean?


9. What prevents this realization?
10. Hypnotic influence of life.
11. The sleep in which man live is hypnotic sleep.
12. The magician and the sheep.
13. "Kundalini". Kundalini literally means coiling, like a snake at the base of the spine.
The image of coiling, like a spring, conveys the sense of untapped potential energy.
It's more useful to think of kundalini energy as the very foundation of our
consciousness so that when kundalini moves through our bodies our consciousness
necessarily changes with it. In the classical literature of Kashmir Shaivism kundalini is
described in three different manifestions. The first of these is as the universal energy
or para-kundalini. The second of these is as the energizing function of the body-mind
complex or prana-kundalini. The third of these is as consciousness or shakti-kundalini
which simultaneously subsumes and intermediates between these two. Ultimately
these three forms are the same but understanding these three different forms will help
to understand the differerent manifestations of kundalini. This usage is very different
from he way Gurdjieff uses this term. But he is right about imagination leading to
dreaming, and we're not to be dreaming we're to wake up and wake up others if we
can. i.e don't be a dreamer be a doer seems to be the Gurdjieffian message.
14. Imagination.
15. Alarm clocks.
16. Organized work.
17. Groups.
18. Is it possible to work in groups without a teacher?(yes it's possible, but it's very
difficult. This is what we doing right now. The recommendation is to conntact similar
groups and establish connection. It's good to be with people with similar aims.)
19. Work of self-study in groups.
20. Mirrors.
21. Exchange of observations.

22. General and individual conditions.


23. Rules.
24. "Chief fault".
25. Realization of oneâs own nothingness.
26. Danger of imitative work.
27. "Barriers".
28. Truth and falsehood.

29. Sincerety with oneself.


30. Efforts.
31. Accumulators.
32. The big accumulator.
33. Intellectual and emotional work.
34. Necesety for feelings.
35. Possibility of understanding through feeling what can not be understood through the
mind.

36. The emotional center is a more subtl apparatus then the intellectual center.
37. Explonation of yawning in connection with accumulators.
38. Role and significance of laughter in life.

39. Absence of laughter in higher centers.

Notes:
Acharya Shankaracharya(Shankara) was born in Kerala in South India (around
686 A.D., some maintain 788 A.D.) the saviour of true Hinduism, who reestablished
the dharma of Upanishads, the eternal religion. Shankara was personification of
Knowledge and Compassion combined together! No adjectives would ever be enough
to sing glories about his extraordinary life, supernatural powers, and razor sharp logic,
reasoning and rational analysis of epistemology. His philosophy was based on one
fundamental truth, truth of personal realization of the Highest Truth. Shankara
preached Absolute Monism, also known as Advaita Vedanta. The basic philosophical
tenet is based on only One Truth, without second - ek meva advitiya. This Reality is
of the nature of Consciousness, and can be described as Sat Chit Ananda at the best!
The Reality is also called as Brahman, Self, God, and Atman. The world, the nature,
the Jivas and whatever we experience through our senses, as multifarious existence is
illusory and therefore unreal - Maya. Thus Acharya Shankara is credited to have
propounded Mayavada.
Ananda Maya or Ananadamaya:I'll research this more later, it is connected to a
person or to food.
As for the review of the content of Chapter Eleven we address some of these
questions. Developed by Richard Liebow:

1. What does it mean to you that one must die and be reborn--in order to awake?
2. Do you have a serious desire to escape from the victimization of your own
hypnotic sleep?
3. Do you ever dream that an alarm clock is waking you up--only to wake up to
find that you were dreaming that an alarm clock was waking you up?
4. Are these meetings some sort of alarm clock--or do they just put you into a
deeper level of hypnotic sleep?
5. Do you like rules?
6. Are there any barriers standing between you and your wish to focus the
scattered tendencies of your mind?
7. Does the concept of accumulators have any practical value for you?
8. Does the content of Chapter Eleven enhances your understanding of the need
to work with others in a group?
9. Do you sometimes imagine that you are really awake and fully conscious of
everything that is happening in your inner and outer worlds?
10. Are you prepared to confess that your normal waking state of consciousness is
really a kind of somnambulistic sleep?
11. Do you sometimes try talking about these ideas with your friends?
12. "Realization of one's own nothingness"--does that really mean anything to
you?
13. Is there some part of you that resents having to review these chapters again
and again?
14. Do you really believe that you yourself possess all the faults you find in
others?
15. "The more you give, the more you do, the more is expected of you."---is that
fair?
16. Do you ever feel that you may be just a sheep waiting to be slaughtered and
skinned by some sly friendly-faced butcher?
17. How do you feel about Gurdjieff's explanation of kundalini?
18. Is your imagination a positive or a negative resource?
19. Are you ever horrified by your own thoughts and feelings--by your own
behavior?
20. Are you ever stupidly sincere?
21. Are you beginning to understand that in this work ordinary efforts are
absolutely worthless?
22. What is the difference between normal sleep and hypnotic sleep?
23. Do you place a great value on your time?
24. How do you feel about the suggestion that such as you are, your life is an
absolute zero?

Additional Notes:
Glossary: Chief fault(Chief Feature): Is something you work against. The Nine
Personality Types and the Nine Capital Tendencies
Type The The The The The The The The The
Number Perfectionist Giver Performer Romantic Observer Trooper Epicure Boss Mediator
Fault One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine
anger pride deceit envy avarice fear gluttony lust sloth

avarice:[n] reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as


one of the deadly sins) Definition: \Av"a*rice\ ([a^]v"[.a]*r[i^]s), n. [F. avaritia, fr.
avarus avaricious, prob. fr. av[=e]re to covet, fr. a root av to satiate one's self: cf. Gr.
'a`menai, 'a^sai, to satiate, Skr. av to satiate one's self, rejoice, protect.] 1. An
excessive or inordinate desire of gain; greediness after wealth; covetousness; cupidity.
To desire money for its own sake, and in order to hoard it up, is avarice. --Beattie. 2.
An inordinate desire for some supposed good.

Chapter#12

Group work. The place of "tasks." Sex as the chief possibility of


liberation.

THe enniagram is designed with all the accuracy the symbol deserves, meant to
protect you and to help you in remembering yourself always and everywhere.

General observations for this chapter:This chapter like all others contain many
ideas. Most importantly, however, and the ones I'll comment on are groupwork and
tasks, but not yet. Possibly later I will add some research on sex. The ideas relating to
the Way is discussed in more detail in chapter 10.
Think about these - (1)Can this be done by yourself or groups are neccessary? A
human being is incapable of realizing himself simply by noting his inward states - he
needs the reflection of them in others to discover their meaning for himself. (The art
of interpreting by means of poetry, painting, myths and legends and also in sculptures,
songs and history has been going on from the beginning). It's like questioning nature
by experiments. Existentialism and Indian Thought by Guru Dutt 1960.
(2)Also what does it mean to have a task?(work or project) Do you have to have daily
tasks? Fully conscious work seem to have 4 stages:
Deliberation:Setting goals or objectives with adequete motovation.
Decision:Making a choice or a comittment to one goal (an objective to be realized).
Planning:Organize the best way to achieve this goal.
Execution:The actual implementation and realization of these goals or objectives.
From Apocalypse Now by Peter Roache de Coppens.
(3)How does sex come into liberation?
Original Outline Points
1. Work in groups becomes more intensive.
2. Each man's limited "repertoire of roles."
3. The choice between work on oneself and a "quiet life."
4. Difficulties of obedience.
5. The place of "tasks."
6. G. gives a definite task.
7. Reaction of friends to the ideas.

8. The system brings out the best or worst in people.


9. What people can come to the work?
10. Preparation.
11. Disappointment is necessary.
12. Question which with man aches.
13. Revaluation of friends.
14. A talk about types.

15. G. gives a further task.


16. Attempts to relate the story of one's life.
17. Intonations.
18. "Essence", "and "personality."
19. Sincerity.
20. A bad mood.
21. G. promises to answer any questions.

22. "Eternal Recurrence."


23. An experiment on separating personality from essence.
24. A talk about sex.
25. The role of sex as the principale motiv force of all mechanicalness.
26. Sex as the chief possibility of liberation.
27. New birth.
28. Transmutation of sex energy.

29. Abuse of sex.


30. Is abstinence useful?
31. Right work of centers.

32. A permanent center of gravity.


Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Work in groups becomes more intensive.


2. Each man's limited "repertoire of roles."
3. The choice between work on oneself and a "quiet life."
4. Difficulties of obedience.
5. The place of "tasks."
6. G. gives a definite task.
7. Reaction of friends to the ideas.

8. The system brings out the best or worst in people.


9. What people can come to the work?
10. Preparation.
11. Disappointment is necessary.
12. Question which with man aches.
13. Revaluation of friends.
14. A talk about types.

15. G. gives a further task.


16. Attempts to relate the story of one's life.
17. Intonations.
18. "Essence", "and "personality."
19. Sincerity.
20. A bad mood.
21. G. promises to answer any questions.

22. "Eternal Recurrence."


23. An experiment on separating personality from essence.
24. A talk about sex.
25. The role of sex as the principale motiv force of all mechanicalness.
26. Sex as the chief possibility of liberation.
27. New birth.
28. Transmutation of sex energy.

29. Abuse of sex.


30. Is abstinence useful?
31. Right work of centers.

32. A permanent center of gravity.

Notes:Created: 03 Feb 2005 George Berkeley (1685 - 1753), Ireland's most


famous philosopher, was possibly also the world's greatest philosopher-bishop
since St Augustine . His contribution to philosophy was radical, and he seems to
have relished his own reputation as the holder of outrageous opinions. In his
book Three Dialogues , his mouthpiece Philonous is accused by his doubtful
friend Hylas of being 'one who maintained the most extravagant opinion that
ever entered into the mind of man.' By the end of the three dialogues Philonous
has of course enlisted the doubting Hylas as a firm supporter. Berkeley's
contemporaries were not so easily convinced, but he did have a powerful effect
on the later philosopher David Hume , who in turn influenced Immanuel Kant .
He is also credited by Arthur Schopenhauer for having inspired the latter's
concept of The World as Will and Idea . Glossary:
Repertoire of Roles:
Definite Task:
Preparation:
Intonations:
Essence:
Personality:
Sincerity:
Sex as a liberating force:
Right work of centers: Return Chapter
#12 Chapter #14

Chapter #13
Intensity of inner work"CHIEF
FEATURE".The "miracle" begins.
Impossibility of investigating higher
phenomena by ordinary means.
Exercises: Walk, diet, reading, and meditation

Objectives Celok:): Get an awareness of your own chief feature

Original Outline Points


1. Intensity of inner work.
2. Preparation for "facts".
3. A visit to Finland.
4. The "miracle" begins.
5. Mental "conversations" with G.
6. "You are not asleep".
7. Seeing "sleeping people".

8. Impossibility of investigating higher phenomena by ordinary means.


9. A changed outlook on "methods of action".
10. "Chief feature".
11. G. defines people's chief feature.
12. Reorganization of the group.
13. Those who leave the work.
14. Sitting between two stools.

15. Difficulty of coming back.


16. G.'s appartment.
17. Reaction to silence.
18. "Seeing lies".
19. A demonstration.
20. How to awake?
21. How to create the emotional state necessary?

22. Three ways.


23. The necessity of sacrifice.
24. "Sacrificing ones's suffering."
25. Expanded table of hydrogens.
26. A "moving diogram"..
27. A new discovery.

28. "We have very little time".


Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Intensity of inner work.


2. Preparation for "facts".
3. A visit to Finland.
4. The "miracle" begins.
5. Mental "conversations" with G.
6. "You are not asleep".
7. Seeing "sleeping people".

8. Impossibility of investigating higher phenomena by ordinary means.


9. A changed outlook on "methods of action".
10. "Chief feature". Chief fault(Chief Feature): Is something you work against.
11. G. defines people's chief feature.
12. Reorganization of the group.
13. Those who leave the work.
14. Sitting between two stools.

15. Difficulty of coming back.


16. G.'s appartment.
17. Reaction to silence.
18. "Seeing lies".
19. A demonstration.
20. How to awake?
21. How to create the emotional state necessary?

22. Three ways.


23. The necessity of sacrifice.
24. "Sacrificing ones's suffering."
25. Expanded table of hydrogens.
26. A "moving diogram"..
27. A new discovery.

28. "We have very little time".

Notes:

The Nine Personality Types and the Nine Capital Tendencies


The The The The The The The The The
Type
Perfectionist Giver Performer Romantic Observer Trooper Epicure Boss Mediator
Number
One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine
Fault
anger pride deceit envy avarice fear gluttony lust sloth

Gurdjieff recognizes seven general types of Man - Man Number Seven is almost
unimaginably evolved relative to us. He defines four levels of consciousness: 1) what
we usually call sleep, 2) our normal state of so-called waking consciousness, 3) self
consciousness - characterized partly by constant "self-remembering", and a capacity
to act with non-mechanical independence - and 4) objective consciousness, the level
of enlightened, transcendent Being. To pursue awakened, independent Being is
harrowingly difficult. One needs a relentless will to work, rooted in an inexhaustible
Wish, a hunger to learn to be - and, even that is not enough. One also needs help from
others. And there's worse news yet: authentic help is hard to find, since few in our
world are awake. Few have created real I. We live in a world of sleepwalkers, and it
shows. As James Moore puts it, "We are all asleep. This is not a metaphor but a fact. It
is also a social perception more subversive and revolutionary than anything remotely
conceived by all the Troskys and Kropotkins of history; an idea which, like death and
the sun, cannot be looked at steadily - a world in trance!"

Edmund Husserl,1859-1938 the second of four children, born in Prossnitz (or


Prostejow, Moravia) to milliner Adolf Abraham Husserl and his wife, Julie Husserl
neé Selinger.Husserl is the father of phenomenology. Born in the former
Czechloslovakia, Husserl studied in Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna, where he also taught.
He began his studies as a mathemetician, but his studies were influenced by Brentano,
who moved him to study more psychology and philosophy. He wrote his first book in
1891, The Philosophy of Arithmetic. This book dealt mostly with mathematical
issues, but his interests soon shifted. Husserl immersed himself in the study of logic
from 1890-1900, and he soonafter produced another text: Logical
Investigations(1901).
Some of his major ideas of this era were intentionality, relations, and identity of
things. He came to focus on perceptual experience, and as he began to shed his early
Kantian ways, he wrote Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and
Phenomenological Philosophy(1913). His last three books were Formal and
Transcendental Logic(1929), Cartesian Meditations(1931), and Lectures on the
Phenomenology of Inner Time-Consciousness(1928), a group of lectures he compiled
and edited. His lectures and essays comprise a large amount of his works.
Husserl attempted to shift the focus of philosophy away from large scale theorization,
towards a more precise study of discrete phenomena, ideas and simple events. He was
interested in the essential structure of things, using eidetic analysis of intensionality to
yield apodictic(necessary) truths.
Husserl aided philosophy, breaking the Cartesian trap of dualism with new ideas like
intensionality. He was perhaps the most important force in revitalizing 20th century
continental philosophy.
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) Special thanks to the Microsoft Corporation for their
contribution to our site. The following information came from Microsoft Encarta.
Here is a hyperlink to the Microsoft Encarta home page. http://www.encarta.msn.com
Heidegger, Martin (1889-1976), German philosopher, who developed existential
phenomenology and has been widely regarded as the most original 20th-century
philosopher. Heidegger was born in Messkirch, Baden, on September 22, 1889. He
studied Roman Catholic theology and then philosophy at the University of Freiburg,
where he was a student of Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology.
Heidegger began teaching at Freiburg in 1915. After teaching (1923-28) at Marburg,
he became a professor of philosophy at Freiburg in 1928. He died in Messkirch on
May 26, 1976.
Additional Notes:"Being and Time"
Besides Husserl, Heidegger was especially influenced by pre-Socratics, by the Danish
philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, and by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
In his most important and influential work, Being and Time (1927; trans. 1962),
Heidegger was concerned with what he considered the essential philosophical (and
human) question: What is it, to be? This led to the question of what kind of “being”
human beings have. They are, he said, thrown into a world that they have not made
but that consists of potentially useful things, including cultural as well as natural
objects. Because these objects and artifacts come to humanity from the past and are
used in the present for the sake of future goals, Heidegger posited a fundamental
relation between the mode of being of objects and of humanity and the structure of
time. The individual is, however, always in danger of being submerged in the world of
objects, everyday routine, and the conventional, shallow behavior of the crowd. The
feeling of dread (Angst) brings the individual to a confrontation with death and the
ultimate meaninglessness of life, but only in this confrontation can an authentic sense
of Being and of freedom be attained.
The first Introduction formulates the question to be asked: "What is the meaning of
Being." Important orientation: Heidegger will seek to gain access to the meaning of
Being as such by interpreting a particular being viz., Human Being. In consequence of
this, the central task in Being and Time will be to gain access to the meaning of
Human Being (Dasein). And this will form our main interest viz., the Dasein Analytic.
The second Introduction describes the method Heidegger will use to uncover the
meaning of human Being. That method will be phenomenology. Indeed, the
'phenomenon' of phenomenology will turn out to be the Being of the being that is to
be investigated. We will attempt a phenomenological interpretation of everyday
human existence in order to uncover the ground for the possibilities of everyday
human existence. The investigation will be ontological in nature. Now let me give you
an indication of what I mean by this. Suppose the concept of freedom then: Particular
acts such as walking to the store, etc. can be viewed as occurring on an 'ontic level'
whereas the nature of Human Freedom would underlie these actions on the
'ontological level.' Thus the ontological structure of Freedom becomes the ground for
the possibility of all particular (ontic) manifestations of freedom. Now, this
ontological structure is the kind of structure that Heidegger wants to get at--he wants,
in the Dasein Analytic, to uncover the fundamental structures of Human existence.
Furthermore, in our example of Freedom, we ca say that the structure of Freedom is
peculiar to human beings and not to things. This distinction between structures that
pertain to Human Being and not to other kinds of beings, this distinction is what lies
behind a distinction Heidegger will make between existentials and categories. Thus,
in our example, 'Freedom' would be and existential while, say, 'hardness' (which
pertains to 'things') would be a category. So we can say that Heidegger in the Dasein
Analytic wants to uncover the existential structures of Human existence. In the
chapters immediately following the 'introductions,' Heidegger begins the analysis of
what it means to be human, he begins the uncovering of the Being of Human Being.
Indeed, the entire published part of the thesis is devoted to uncovering the
fundamental structures of Human Being. Chapter 1 Heidegger begins the chapter with
two general statements: (1) Dasein is in each case mine (i.e., each one of us is a
human being) (2) The 'essence' of Dasein lies in its Existenz (Existenz here to be
taken in a dynamic, active, future oriented sense). Now these two characteristics of
Dasein are unified in two modes of Existenz: (a)authentic (eigentliche) existence (b)
inauthentic (uneigentliche) existence What this means can be seen in Heidegger p. 68.
This means that there are two ways in which human beings can 'take up' their
existence (for in each case it is their existence) viz. either as their own (authenticity)
or, in some sense, as not their own (inauthenticity). For instance (i) a person who
realizes that they are choosing their life style or (ii) a person who is simply fulfilling a
pre-designed role in their society, family, peer group etc. Both people exist and both
people have an existence that is theirs but the former involves an element of choice
that is not clearly present in the latter. Now, here's where Chapter 1 leads into the
beginning of the analysis: Heidegger then asks, what is the most general structure in
which human beings exist--authentically or inauthentically. And he sees this general
structure in the 'empirical,' ontic level of average everydayness. This average
everydayness thus forms the starting point for the interpretation of Dasein. This level
has, as its fundamental structure, Being-in-the-world. It is a unitary structure which
must be seen as a whole. Yet, if we bear this in mind, it is methodologically possible
to 'divide' it into different parts and levels. (It is these 'parts and levels' of Being-in-
the-world that are explained in Chapters 2-5.) Ch 2: preliminary discussion Ch 3: 'in-
the-world': discloses 'the worldhood of the world' (emphasizes the structures of
'things'). Ch 4: the 'who' of that entity which exists 'in-the-world': (discusses our
relation with others) Ch 5: 'steps back' and seeks a deeper understanding of the
structures involved in Being-in-the-world (viz., Being-in as such). Chapter 2 is
devoted to a preliminary discussion of Being-in. Dasein is not 'in' the world as, for
instance, water is 'in' a glass i.e., as objects stand to objects, one 'inside' the other.
Rather, Being-in is an existential and as such is characteristic of Dasein. It is best
described as dwelling alongside, as tarrying along. Dasein comports itself
concernfully within the world. Again, Dasein is engaged in the activities of its
everyday life--Being-in-the-world denotes Dasein's concernful being alongside
entities and tarrying with others. This is the primary mode in which Dasein is in the
world. As a corollary, Heidegger contrasts this primary mode with a derivative
(founded) mode which he calls knowing the world. In this peculiar way of
comportment to the world, I dis-engage myself from my concernful comportment and
'change my attitude' toward the world. I tend to 'focus in' on something as an object
Take for example, the handling of a piece of chalk: (1) I can engage in use which
teaching or (2) step back from its use and talk about it', even starting to describe it
('know it') as white, an inch or so long, etc. This shift in comportment will have great
significance, it will affect the attitude one can take towards Human Being. In chapter
3, Heidegger looks more closely at one's dealings with the world, he looks specifically
at the 'in-the-world'. From this the interpretation uncovers that our primary
comportment to 'entities' within the world is one of use. I am, proximately and for the
most part, engaged with 'things' in terms of an equipmental totality. Entities, seen
from their aspect of use, are called 'ready-to-hand' (Zuhanden). However, entities,
when they become disengaged from our use with them become merely 'present-at-
hand' (Vorhanden). Think of the distinction between (1) using a pencil and (2) having
the pencil break -- and just staring at it. Now, these two ways of describing entities
become, for Heidegger, the two ways of categorizing 'things'. Again, though, our
primary relationship to entities within the world is in the mode of their being ready-to-
hand. And it is with this that a sense of the worldhood of the world emerges as
Dasein's totality of involvement's with things ready-to-hand. [Think, for instance, of
the 'world' of a carpenter and of how much of that world is 'signified' by the
referential totality of involvements that he/she would have to the equipmental totality
around them (and how that world might be different from the 'world' of a
mathematician).] Chapter 4 devotes itself to an uncovering of the 'who' of this Dasein
who understandingly comports itself towards its everyday activities and involvements.
Heidegger wants to investigate the sense of the self manifest for the most part in
everyday existence. His brilliant analysis comes to the startling conclusion that
proximately and for the most part, everyday Dasein has no 'self' of its own. One's
sense of self, of what one is to do, of how one is to live: this, for the most part, is
given from the outside-- Heidegger characterizes this as the they-world, or simply as
the they (Das Man). The 'who' of everyday Dasein is Das Man. (cf. page 164) Chapter
5 Being-in as such Now at this stage Heidegger stops the ongoing analysis and 'steps
back' in order to attempt a more primordial interpretation of what has so far been said
-- the interpretation is going to seek a deeper understanding of Being-in-the-world.
And it is going to do so by uncovering certain fundamental structures in Dasein itself
(as opposed to 'things' and 'others'). Chapter 5 is to investigate Being-in as such. The
analysis discloses two fundamental moments that are always present in Dasein and,
for the most part, are involved in a third moment. Let's look at these 'moments', these
existential structures of Dasein's Existenz: (1) Befindlichkeit ('How one finds oneself')
This expresses the 'fact' that Dasein always finds itself in a situation. Heidegger uses
the expression throwness (Geworfenheit). Dasein is 'thrown' in a world (most
radically at birth) and is always already in a world. (a) Concrete manifestation of
Befindlichkeit. As a specific mode of Befindlichkeit, Heidegger points out the sense
of moods (Stimmung). Moods can somehow disclose 'how we are' or 'how we find
ourselves', they manifest a peculiar attunment to existence (this 'power' of moods to
disclose will lead Heidegger to his famous discussion of anxiety). (2) Verstehen
('Understanding') This is expressive of Dasein's active comportment towards
possibilities, projects. Heidegger says that they understanding is altogether permeated
with possibilities (Dasein is always confronted with the 'possible') (Note:
understanding is not a 'mental state' nor is 'possibility' to be seen in terms of 'actual
possibilities,' rather it is the ground for the 'possibility of possibilities') (a) Specific
mode of Verstehen Now Heidegger writes that the 'projecting' of the understanding
has its own possibility--that of developing 'itself'. Such a self-developing of the
understanding Heidegger calls interpretation. From this we can see how Dasein has
the peculiar possibility of understanding itself, of engaging in a self-interpretation.
That is to say, of engaging in a 'project' like that put forth in this present treatise: The
Dasein Analytic is engaged in an interpretation, a self-understanding of Human Being.
Now, these two movements (Befindlichkeit and Verstehen) constitute the essential
unity of Dasein's basic state. They are never wholly separate from one another: (pg.
188) "By way of having a mood, Dasein 'sees' possibilities, in terms of which it is. In
the projective disclosure of such possibilities, it already has a mood in every case".
Now, these two movements are, for the most part, unthematically present in a third
movement which Heidegger calls: (3) Verfallen (Fallenness) This expresses Dasein's
average everydayness--Dasein's immersion in the world of its everyday concerns and
projects. This is the level at which the moments of Befindlichkeit and Verstehen
usually operate. Thus we have the three 'movements': Dasein finds itself in a situation,
comports itself to possibilities and does so for the most part in its everyday concerns
and activities. Chapter 6 But these three movements are not, so to speak, radically
separate from one another--Heidegger has 'stepped back' to analyze them, but he is
analyzing a unitary phenomenon: Dasein's existence is a unity. Now, Heidegger calls
the unity of this unitary structure Care (Sorge). And he says, in chapter 6, that 'Care"
is the Being of Dasein, the Nature of Human Being (it is that fundamental structure
that underlies each and every particular human existence). Being and Time p. 237 The
Being of Dasein (i.e., Care) is: ahead-of-itself/being-already-in-(the world)/as being-
alongside-entities (and caring-for-others) The ahead-of-itself refers to the structural
moment of Verstehen, it expresses Dasein's comportment towards possibilities (in the
philosophical tradition: Transcendence--this expresses the deeper structure of
Freedom, which the later Heidegger expresses by "Openness"). The being-already-in-
the-world refers to the structural moment of Befindlichkeit and indicates the factual
situation that always surrounds a human being. Dasein is always thrown into a
situation that is, is some sense, already there. And this means that Dasein is not the
ground (or cause) of the situation--in fact, the situation becomes the ground upon
which Dasein 'finds itself'. (The philosophical tradition speaks of this as finitude).
Now, these two 'moments' in Dasein's Being are for the most part, imperceptibly 'at
work' in Dasein's everyday activities and concerns. They are acted out in the presence
of one's being-alongside-entities (and caring for others). And this Heidegger has
referred to as the structural moment of Verfallen. **** With this, the Being of Human
Being is disclosed. The first division closes with a very important reflection on the
nature of truth--a reflection designed to show that the disclosures thus made are not
merely 'Heidegger's thought' but rather are uncoverings of 'the things themselves.'
**** Second Division It is here that the notion of Being and the notion of Time are
brought together. Heidegger has called the 1st division a "Preparatory Analysis"--here
this analysis receives its completion: We have said that the Care-structure expresses
the Being of Dasein, the meaning of Human Being. But if we look closely at this care-
structure, we can see something perhaps even deeper than these moments themselves,
something that seems to lie behind even these fundamental structure, something
which grounds their inner unity and makes them possible. That which grounds the
unity of the care-structure i.e., that grounds the Being-of-Dasein, the Being of Human
Being, is Temporality (Zeitlichkeit). In Aristotelian terms, we could say that Time is
the form of human life. Each structural moment manifests what Heidegger calls a
temporal ecstasy: The ahead of itself manifests the futural. The already in a world
manifests the 'past' (or the having been). The being alongside manifests the 'present'
actualization of the other two moments. (We reach out towards the future while taking
up our past thus yielding our present activities. Note how the future--and hence the
aspect of possibility--has priority over the other two moments.) **** I should mention
that it is in this second division that he carries out his famous analysis of "that
possibility which is our ownmost possibility," namely Death. One final note on this
'overview' will lead us into the first page of the text. We now have an indication of the
relation between temporality and the Being of Dasein (Human Being is thoroughly
temporal). It is this connection between temporality and human existence that gives
rise to Heidegger's discussion of History. 'How we find ourselves' expresses the fact
that we are thrown into a 'world' already there before us -- this is most evident in the
radical sense of Birth. Hence, one is literally 'thrown into a world' beyond one's
control -- but this 'world' is not merely a particular environment -- it has its place in
history: one is, broadly speaking, thrown into a historical moment. Now, 'historical
moments' are not isolated moments, but rather involve a 'carrying forth' of history. A
certain tradition gets 'passed down' and 'taken over' (in its own fashion) in every
epoch. The past, in some sense, gets taken up in the present -- though often in a
manner in which its character as past gets forgotten and covered over. With this in
mind, Heidegger writes (p. 43): "Tradition takes what has come down to us and
delivers it over to self-evidence; it blocks our access to those primordial 'sources' from
which the categories and concepts handed down to us have been in part quite
genuinely drawn. Indeed it makes us forget that they have had such an origin, and
makes us suppose that the necessity of going back to these sources is something
which we need not even understand." Now this provides the clue for the kind of
beginning that Heidegger makes in the treatise -- in a sense, through the final
reflections on history, the whole work has begun to bend back upon itself -- and it
shows the necessity of beginning at 'the origins' of a problem. Copyright: Robert
Cavalier at rc2z@andrew.cmu.edu Department of Philosophy / Carnegie Mellon
University

THe enniagram is designed with all the accuracy the symbol deserves, meant to
protect you and to help you in remembering yourself always and everywhere.

Glossary:

1. Expanded table of hydrogens:


2. A "moving diogram":
3. Obsticuls Lying:
4. Imagination:
5. Unnecessary Talking:
6. Negative Emotions:
7. buffer-hidden:
8. real I:
9. phenomenology:Phenomenology, 20th-century philosophical movement
dedicated to describing the structures of experience as they present themselves
to consciousness, without recourse to theory, deduction, or assumptions from
other disciplines such as the natural sciences.the task of phenomenology is to
study essences, such as the essence of emotions. Although Husserl himself
never gave up his early interest in essences, he later held that only the essences
of certain special conscious structures are the proper object of
phenomenology. As formulated by Husserl after 1910, phenomenology is the
study of the structures of consciousness that enable consciousness to refer to
objects outside itself. This study requires reflection on the content of the mind
to the exclusion of everything else. Husserl called this type of reflection the
phenomenological reduction. Because the mind can be directed toward
nonexistent as well as real objects, Husserl noted that phenomenological
reflection does not presuppose that anything exists, but rather amounts to a
“bracketing of existence,” that is, setting aside the question of the real
existence of the contemplated object.
What Husserl discovered when he contemplated the content of his mind were
such acts as remembering, desiring, and perceiving and the abstract content of
these acts, which Husserl called meanings. These meanings, he claimed,
enabled an act to be directed toward an object under a certain aspect; and such
directedness, called intentionality, he held to be the essence of consciousness.
Transcendental phenomenology, according to Husserl, was the study of the
basic components of the meanings that make intentionality possible. Later, in
Cartesian Meditations (1931; trans. 1960), he introduced genetic
phenomenology, which he defined as the study of how these meanings are
built up in the course of experience.
Heidegger All phenomenologists follow Husserl in attempting to use pure
description. Thus, they all subscribe to Husserl's slogan “To the things
themselves.” They differ among themselves, however, as to whether the
phenomenological reduction can be performed, and as to what is manifest to
the philosopher giving a pure description of experience. The German
philosopher Martin Heidegger, Husserl's colleague and most brilliant critic,
claimed that phenomenology should make manifest what is hidden in ordinary,
everyday experience. He thus attempted in Being and Time (1927; trans. 1962)
to describe what he called the structure of everydayness, or being-in-the-
world, which he found to be an interconnected system of equipment, social
roles, and purposes.
Because, for Heidegger, one is what one does in the world, a
phenomenological reduction to one's own private experience is impossible;
and because human action consists of a direct grasp of objects, it is not
necessary to posit a special mental entity called a meaning to account for
intentionality. For Heidegger, being thrown into the world among things in the
act of realizing projects is a more fundamental kind of
intentionality than that revealed in merely staring at or
thinking about objects, and it is this more fundamental
intentionality that makes possible the directness analyzed
by Husserl.
French Phenomenology The French existentialist Jean
Paul Sartre attempted to adapt Heidegger's
phenomenology to the philosophy of consciousness,
thereby in effect returning to Husserl. He agreed with
Husserl that consciousness is always directed at objects
but criticized his claim that such directedness is possible
only by means of special mental entities called meanings.
The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty rejected
Sartre's view that phenomenological description reveals
human beings to be pure, isolated, and free consciousnesses. He stressed the
role of the active, involved body in all human knowledge, thus generalizing
Heidegger's insights to include the analysis of perception. Like Heidegger and
Sartre, Merleau-Ponty is an existential phenomenologist, in that he denies the
possibility of bracketing existence. See EXISTENTIALISM. Phenomenology
has had a pervasive influence on 20th-century thought. Phenomenological
versions of theology, sociology, psychology, psychiatry, and literary criticism
have been developed, and phenomenology remains one of the most important
schools of contemporary philosophy.
Additional notes;actiong is lying, but good acting is not
Chief Features: According to Gurdjieff each of us is formed around something
he called the Chief Feature, the organizing principle of the personality, and a
primary obstacle to awakening. This is a big characteristic, an overall pattern
coloring all our behavior, which is often perfectly obvious to our friends and
family but - no matter how many times we're told about it - entirely opaque to
us. It's our most obvious feature - and we're numb to it! No matter how
supposedly introverted we are, the likelihood is we know ourselves scarcely at
all. Our buffer-hidden contradictions, our mechanicality, our self-concealment
- these phenomena could explain a great deal of our swept-along, baffling and
violent lives.
Obsticuls Lying Imagination Unnecessary Talking Negative Emotions

Return Chapter #13 Chapter #15

Chapter#14
Examination of the ENNEAGRAM.
Objective and subjective knowledge.

Main idea:The outline points are somewhat arbitrary and a few times the main idea is
not in the outline. This is the case for this chapter also. The main idea is in the first
paragraph:"Stay awake always and everywhere!!!!" In an other word as a Gurdjieffian
you're always at work in self observation.
Practice: Continue practicing guided meditation for 10 minutes and 10 minute self
aware reading daily. Also 2 mile walk 4 times a week.
Objectives(Celok): Make your own Enneagram! Listen to the playing of the
shakuhachi
Evaluate what you want -- because what gets measured, gets produced. Sag bolung
hosh
Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Difficulty of conveying “objective truths” in ordinary language.


2. Objective and subjective knowledge.
3. Unity in diversity.
4. Transmission of objective knowledge.
5. The higher centers.
6. Myths and symbols.
7. Verbal formulas.

8. "As above so below".


9. "Know thyself".
10. Duality.
11. Transformation of duality into trinity.
12. The line of will.
13. Quatirnity.Jung tried to make trinity to Quatirnity: God the Father, the son and the holly goast plus
Mary the Mother of God.
14. Quinternity the construction of the pentagon.

15. The five centers.


16. The seal of Solomon. There is a hexagram called 'The Seal of Solomon'. It has two different side
lenghts. One of them is 1 and the other T^-1 = phi^-1 = (1+sqrt[5])/2. Has anyone ever seen or hea
about it before?? I would love to hear something about it's 'history' - when, who, where...etc It is to
used in a project I'm writing about Greek historical math and the crisis concerning irrational numbe
The two irrational numbers I'm focusing on are sqrt(2) and phi, both illustrated as a diagonal in a
regular polygon; the square and the regular pentagon. Perhaps you now guessed why this certain
hexagon is so interesting to me...it combines the unit, sqrt(2) and phi with a diagonal of a hexagon
(next polygon in the row)! And if any of you know how to prove that the shorter diagonal is sqrt(2)
without using the trigonometrical functions (sin, cos, tan and all those). It can easily be done by us
cosinus relations, but that's not very satisfying, if you know what I mean.
17. The symbolisms of numbers, geometrical figures, letters, and words.
18. Further symbologies.
19. Right and wrong understanding of symbols.
20. Level of development.
21. The union of knowledge and being: Great Doing.

22. "No one can give a man what he did not possess before".
23. Attainment only through one’s own efforts.
24. Different known "lines" using symbology.
25. This system and its place.
26. One of the principle symbols of this teaching.
27. The enneagram.
28. The law of seven and its union with the law of three.

29. Examination of the enneagram.


The Sufis believe the "design" ("naqsh") is hidden underneath appearances, which are false: reality
lies beneath appearances. They must see through outward appearances to find the truth, the reality,
under them, where the design can be found. This especially includes looking beneath their own
appearances. They must come to know their "real selves" and only then they can know "Reality". T
know Reality, and then act on it, is the ultimate goal of the Sufi religion. Discovering one's "true se
and the real motives for everything one does, concealed as the Sufis believe they are beneath false
appearances, is vital to the Sufi religion; it is not part of Christianity. On the other hand, goodness
holiness, to know, love, and serve God on Earth and be happy with Him forever in Heaven, are the
proper goals of the Christian, and these are not goals for the Sufi. If evil must be done for the sake
the design, that is not a problem for them. They believe the ends always justifies the means: it mak
no difference at all whether human evolution is set right through good or through evil actions on th
part of the Sufi. My comments: According to post modernist Jack Derrida: there's no such thing as
real self. In his final analysis ( when he deconstraucts his mind mind, there's nothing there, but som
chatter. So Plato's famous saying " Know Thyself is meaningless to the post moderns.
Another definition: The Enneagram is one of the newest personality systems in use, and emphasiz
psychological motivations. Its earliest origins are not completely clear - the circular symbol may h
originated in ancient Sufi traditions, and was used by the esoteric teacher George Gurdjieff (1866-
1949). The Enneagram personality types as they are most commonly known today originated more
recently, with Oscar Ichazo and Claudio Naranjo. In the last few decades, the system has undergon
further change, incorporating modern psychological ideas in the writings of Naranjo, Helen Palmer
Kathy Hurley/Theodorre Donsson, and Don Riso/Russ Hudson. here essentially the Enneagram is
system of assigning a number from 1 to 9 to oneself and every human being. This number is said to
reveal the hidden motivation for everything a person does. Intelligence is given three "centers":
thought, emotion, and instinct. Mainly because of the environment, the three centers are always
imbalanced. The result of this imbalance is that a person's "true self" is always hidden beneath a
"false self". The Enneagram is supposed to enable a person to gain knowledge of his true self,
exposing the true motivations for actions and illusions developed regarding himself and regarding
how to deal with the world. (I guess this can help)
Adlers types:Psychological types: Although all neurosis is, for Adler, a matter of insufficient socia
interest, he did note that three types could be distinguished based on the different levels of energy
they involved:
1. The first is the ruling type. They are, from childhood on, characterized by a tendency to be
rather aggressive and dominant over others. Their energy -- the strength of their striving aft
personal power -- is so great that they tend to push over anything or anybody who gets in th
way. The most energetic of them are bullies and sadists; somewhat less energetic ones hurt
others by hurting themselves, and include alcoholics, drug addicts, and suicides.
2. The second is the leaning type. They are sensitive people who have developed a shell aroun
themselves which protects them, but they must rely on others to carry them through life's
difficulties. They have low energy levels and so become dependent. When overwhelmed, th
develop what we typically think of as neurotic symptoms: phobias, obsessions and
compulsions, general anxiety, hysteria, amnesias, and so on, depending on individual detail
of their lifestyle.
3. The third type is the avoiding type. These have the lowest levels of energy and only survive
by essentially avoiding life -- especially other people. When pushed to the limits, they tend
become psychotic, retreating finally into their own personal worlds.
4. There is a fourth type as well: the socially useful type. This is the healthy person, one who
both social interest and energy. Note that without energy, you an't really have social interes
since you wouldn't be able to actually do anything for anyone!

Adler noted that his four types looked very much like the four types proposed by the ancient Greek
They, too, noticed that some people are always sad, others always angry, and so on. But they
attributed these temperaments (from the same root as temperature) to the relative presence of four
bodily fluids called humors. If you had too much yellow bile, you would be choleric (hot and dry)
and angry all the time. The choleric is, roughly, the ruling type. If you had too much phlegm, you
would be phlegmatic (cold and wet) and be sluggish. This is roughly the leaning type. If you had to
much black bile -- and we don't know what the Greeks were referring to here -- you would be
melancholy (cold and dry) and tend to be sad constantly. This is roughly the avoiding type. And, if
you had a lot of blood relative to the other humors, you be in a good humor, sanguine (warm and
moist). This naturally cheerful and friendly person represents the socially useful type. One word of
warning about Adler's types: Adler believed very strongly that each person is a unique individual w
his or her own unique lifestyle. The idea of types is, for him, only a heuristic device, meaning a use
fiction, not an absolute reality!
The Enneagram - Symbol of All and Everything
What the Enneagram Is and Is Not The Enneagram is a diagram for the cooperative functioning of
two fundamental cosmic laws, the Law of Three and the Law of Seven, so structuring the Overall
Universal Law. The Enneagram is not a list of personality types. The Enneagram is a sacred, very
powerful symbol, brought to us by Gurdjieff himself, and by no other. It is not a Sufi symbol. If no
correctly used, the enneagram can be harmful, due to its high power of transformation. This is why
Gurdjieff left it only in the sphere of oral teaching. From this we conclude that the Enneagram is n
to be used superficially, without knowledge of the laws. According to Gurdjieff's Five Being-
obligolnian-strivings (Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, p. 386), only the last striving is concerne
with helping others. Do no try to help other when you do not Know. Either you know and do thing
the right way, or just do nothing, and live your life the way you can. This is the point of view of thi
book. The Enneagram - Symbol of All

30. "What a man can not put into the enneagram, he does not understand."
31. A symbol in motion.
32. Experiencing the enneagram by movment.
33. Excercises.
34. Universal language.
35. Objective and subjective art.
TO DEFINE WHAT I CALL OBJECTIVE ART IS DIFFICULT (it's difficult to define any art) firs
of all because you ascribe to subjective art the characteristics of objective art, and secondly becaus
when you happen upon objective works of art you take them as being on the same level as subjecti
works of art…. In subjective art everything is accidental. The artist, as I have already said, does no
create; with him “it creates itself. ” This means that he is in the power of ideas, thoughts, and mood
which he himself does not understand and over which he has no control whatever. They rule him a
they express themselves in one form or another. And when they have accidentally taken this or that
form, this form just as accidentally produces on man this or that action according to his mood, taste
habits, the nature of the hypnosis under which he lives, and so on. There is nothing invariable;
nothing is definite here. In objective art there is nothing indefinite.From IN SEARCH OF THE
MIRACULOUS, p. 296
YOU ARE RIGHT IN SAYING THAT THERE ARE MANY CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS on
this subject. Does not that alone prove that people do not know the truth? Where truth is, there can
be many different opinions. In antiquity that which is now called art served the aim of objective
knowledge. And as we said a moment ago, speaking of dances, works of art represented an exposit
and a record of the eternal laws of the structure of the universe. Those who devoted themselves to
research and thus acquired a knowledge of important laws, embodied them in works of art, just as
done in books today.… This art did not pursue the aim either of “beauty” or of producing a likenes
of something or somebody. For instance, an ancient statue created by such an artist is neither a cop
of the form of a person nor the expression of a subjective sensation; it is either the expression of th
laws of knowledge, in terms of the human body, or a means of objective transmission of a state of
mind. The form and action, indeed the whole expression, is according to law. VIEWS FROM THE
REAL WORLD, pp. 32–33 [paperback]
“DO SUCH OBJECTIVE WORKS OF ART EXIST AT THE PRESENT DAY?” I asked. “Of cour
they exist,” answered G. “The great Sphinx in Egypt is such a work of art, as well as some
historically known works of architecture, certain statues of gods, and many other things. There are
figures of gods and of various mythological beings that can be read like books, only not with the
mind but with the emotions, provided they are sufficiently developed. In the course of our travels i
Central Asia we found, in the desert at the foot of the Hindu Kush, a strange figure which we thoug
at first was some ancient god or devil. At first it produced upon us simply the impression of being
curiosity. But after a while we began to feel that this figure contained many things, a big, complete
and complex system of cosmology. And slowly, step by step, we began to decipher this system. It w
in the body of the figure, in its legs, in its arms, in its head, in its eyes, in its ears; everywhere. In th
whole statue there was nothing accidental, nothing without meaning. And gradually we understood
the aim of the people who built this statue. We began to feel their thoughts, their feelings. Some of
thought that we saw their faces, heard their voices. At all events, we grasped the meaning of what
they wanted to convey to us across thousands of years, and not only the meaning, but all the feeling
and the emotions connected with it as well. That indeed was art!” IN SEARCH OF THE
MIRACULOUS, p. 27

THE KEYS TO ALL THE ANCIENT ARTS ARE LOST, were lost many centuries ago. And
therefore there is no longer a sacred art embodying laws of the Great Knowledge, and so serving to
influence the instincts of the multitude. There are no creators today. The contemporary priests of ar
do not create but imitate. They run after beauty and likeness or what is called originality, without
possessing even the necessary knowledge. Not knowing, and not being able to do anything, since t
are groping in the dark, they are praised by the crowd, which places them on a pedestal. Sacred art
vanished and left behind only the halo which surrounded its servants. All the current words about t
divine spark, talent, genius, creation, sacred art, have no solid basis—they are anachronisms. What
are these talents? We will talk about them on some suitable occasion. Either the shoemaker’s craft
must be called art, or all contempora ry art must be called craft. In what way is a shoemaker sewin
fashionable custom shoes of beautiful design inferior to an artist who pursues the aim of imitation
originality? With knowledge, the sewing of shoes may be sacred art too, but without it, a priest of
contemporary art is worse than a cobbler. From: VIEWS FROM THE REAL WORLD, pp. 35–36
36. Music.
37. Objective music is based on inner octaves.
IN THE LEGEND OF ORPHEUS THERE ARE HINTS OF OBJECTIVE MUSIC, for Orpheus us
to impart knowledge by music. Snake charmers’ music in the East is an approach to objective musi
of course very primitive. Very often it is simply one note which is long drawn out, rising and fallin
only very little; but in this single note “inner octaves” are going on all the time and melodies of “in
octaves” which are inaudible to the ears but felt by the emotional center. And the snake hears this
music, or, more strictly speaking, he feels it, and he obeys it. The same music, only a little more
complicated, and men would obey it. IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS, p. 297

ON SUNDAYS, NAMELY, ON THE DAYS CONSECRATED TO MUSIC AND SINGING, the


learned beings belonging to this group first produced on various sound-producing instruments, and
also with their voices, every kind of what is called “melody” and then explained to all the other
learned beings how they indicated in these works of theirs whatever they wished. They also had it
view to implant these works of theirs in the customs of various peoples, calculating that these
“melodies” they created, passing from generation to generation, would reach men of remote
generations who, having deciphered them, would discover the knowledge put into them and that ha
already been attained on the Earth, and would also use it for the benefit of their ordinary
existence.From: BEELZEBUB’S TALES, p. 488

38. Mechanical humanity can have subjective art only.

39. Different levels of man’s being.


pp:278-298 numerous diagrams
Arthur Schopenhauer: (1788-1860). Schopenhauer was, as a philosopher, a
pessimist; he was a follower of Kant's Idealist school. Born in Danzig, Schopenhauer,
because of a large inheritance from his father, was able to retire early, and, as a private
scholar, was able to devote his life to the study of philosophy. By the age of thirty his
major work, The World as Will and Idea, was published. The work, though sales were
very disappointing, was, at least to Schopenhauer, a very important work. Bertrand
Russell reports that Schopenhauer told people that certain of the paragraphs were
written by the "Holy Ghost."Schopenhauer's system of philosophy, as previously
mentioned, was based on that of Kant's. Schopenhauer did not believe that people had
individual wills but were rather simply part of a vast and single will that pervades the
universe: that the feeling of separateness that each of has is but an illusion. So far this
sounds much like the Spinozistic view or the Naturalistic School of philosophy. The
problem with Schopenhauer, and certainly unlike Spinoza, is that, in his view, "the
cosmic will is wicked ... and the source of all endless suffering.
Schopenhauer saw the worst in life and as a result he was dour and glum. Believing
that he had no individual will, man was therefore at the complete mercy of all that
which is about him. Now, whether his pessimism turned him into an ugly person, or
whether its just a case of an ugly person adopting the philosophy of pessimism; -- I
have no idea. But what I do know is that Schopenhauer had nobody he could call
family. "His pessimism so affected his mother's social guests, who would disperse
after his lengthy discourse on the uselessness of everything, that she finally forbade
him her home. He parted from her, never to see her again." He never married, mainly
because, I suppose, because any self-respecting woman would withdraw in horror,
upon finding out Schopenhauer's view of women: they "are directly fitted for acting
as the nurses and teachers of our early childhood by the fact that they are themselves
childish, frivolous and short-sighted; in a word, they are big children all their life
long." They are an "undersized, narrow-shouldered, broad-hipped and short legged
race ... they have no proper knowledge of any; and they have no genius." As great a
problem as Schopenhauer was to himself, he was a brilliant conversationalist; "his
audience, consisting of a small circle of friends, would often listen to him until
midnight. He never seemed to tire of talking, even during his last days."2 To
Schopenhauer life was a painful process, relief for which, might to achieved through
art or through denial. "The good man will practise complete chastity, voluntary
poverty, fasting, and self-torture." (Russell.) It was Schopenhauer's view that through
the contemplation of art, one "might lose contact with the turbulent stream of detailed
existence around us"; and that permanent relief came through "the denial of the will to
live, by the eradication of our desires, of our instincts, by the renunciation of all we
consider worth while in practical life."3 Presumably any little bits of happiness we
might snatch would only make us that more miserable, such real and full happiness
was not possible, "a Utopian Ideal which we must not entertain even in our dreams."
It is not difficult to understand that this "ascetic mysticism" of Schopenhauer's is one
that appeals to the starving artist. Schopenhauer was "a lonely, violent and
unbefriended man, who shared his bachelor's existence with a poodle. ... [He was of
the view that the world was simply an idea in his head] a mere phantasmagoria of my
brain, that therefore in itself is nothing.
ALFRED ADLER (1870 - 1937) Alfred Adler was born in the suburbs of Vienna on
February 7, 1870, the third child, second son, of a Jewish grain merchant and his wife.
As a child, Alfred developed rickets, which kept him from walking until he was four
years old. At five, he nearly died of pneumonia. It was at this age that he decided to be
a physician. Alfred was an average student and preferred playing outdoors to being
cooped up in school. He was quite outgoing, popular, and active, and was known for
his efforts at outdoing his older brother, Sigmund. He received a medical degree from
the University of Vienna in 1895. During his college years, he became attached to a
group of socialist students, among which he found his wife-to-be, Raissa
Timofeyewna Epstein. She was an intellectual and social activist who had come from
Russia to study in Vienna. They married in 1897 and eventually had four children,
two of whom became psychiatrists. He began his medical career as an opthamologist,
but he soon switched to general practice, and established his office in a lower-class
part of Vienna, across from the Prater, a combination amusement park and circus. His
clients included circus people, and it has been suggested (Furtmuller, 1964) that the
unusual strengths and weaknesses of the performers led to his insights into organ
inferiorities and compensation. He then turned to psychiatry, and in 1907 was invited
to join Freud's discussion group. After writing papers on organic inferiority, which
were quite compatible with Freud's views, he wrote, first, a paper concerning an
aggression instinct, which Freud did not approve of, and then a paper on children's
feelings of inferiority, which suggested that Freud's sexual notions be taken more
metaphorically than literally. Although Freud named Adler the president of the
Viennese Analytic Society and the co-editor of the organization's newsletter, Adler
didn't stop his criticism. A debate between Adler's supporters and Freud's was
arranged, but it resulted in Adler, with nine other members of the organization,
resigning to form the Society for Free Psychoanalysis in 1911. This organization
became The Society for Individual Psychology in the following year. During World
War I, Adler served as a physician in the Austrian Army, first on the Russian front,
and later in a children's hospital. He saw first hand the damage that war does, and his
thought turned increasingly to he concept of social interest. He felt that if humanity
was to survive, it had to change its ways! After the war, he was involved in various
projects, including clinics attached to state schools and the training of teachers. In
1926, he went to the United States to lecture, and he eventually accepted a visiting
position at the Long Island College of Medicine. In 1934, he and his family left
Vienna forever. On May 28, 1937, during a series of lectures at Aberdeen University,
he died of a heart attack. Adler from www.ship.edu:Alfred Adler postulates a single
"drive" or motivating force behind all our behavior and experience. By the time his
theory had gelled into its most mature form, he called that motivating force the
striving for perfection. It is the desire we all have to fulfill our potentials, to come
closer and closer to our ideal. It is, as many of you will already see, very similar to the
more popular idea of self-actualization. "Perfection" and "ideal" are troublesome
words, though. On the one hand, they are very positive goals. Shouldn't we all be
striving for the ideal? And yet, in psychology, they are often given a rather negative
connotation. Perfection and ideals are, practically by definition, things you can't
reach. Many people, in fact, live very sad and painful lives trying to be perfect! As
you will see, other theorists, like Karen Horney and Carl Rogers, emphasize this
problem. Adler talks about it, too. But he sees this negative kind of idealism as a
perversion of the more positive understanding. We will return to this in a little while.
Striving for perfection was not the first phrase Adler used to refer to his single
motivating force. His earliest phrase was the aggression drive, referring to the reaction
we have when other drives, such as our need to eat, be sexually satisfied, get things
done, or be loved, are frustrated. It might be better called the assertiveness drive, since
we tend to think of aggression as physical and negative. But it was Adler's idea of the
aggression drive that first caused friction between him and Freud. Freud was afraid
that it would detract from the crucial position of the sex drive in psychoanalytic
theory. Despite Freud's dislike for the idea, he himself introduced something very
similar much later in his life: the death instinct.
Notes:
Notes: Richard's usual sayings: Don't take this to the bank. Or This will go nowhere
fast.
We pretend that we do not trully wish this (transendance), but what is that really
means.Probably just a change of values? Or what ever

Aditional Notes:

IMAGINE THAT IN STUDYING THE LAWS OF MOVEMENT of the celestial


bodies, let us say the planets of the solar system, you have constructed a special
mechanism for the representation and recording of these laws. In this mechanism
every planet is represented by a sphere of appropriate size and is placed at a strictly
determined distance from the central sphere, which stands for the sun. You set the
mechanism in motion, and all the spheres begin to turn and move in definite paths,
reproducing in a lifelike way the laws which govern their movements. This
mechanism reminds you of your knowledge. In the same way, in the rhythm of certain
dances, in the precise movements and combinations of the dancers, certain laws are
vividly recalled. Such dances are called sacred. During my journeys in the East, I
often saw dances of this kind executed during the performance of sacred rites in some
of the ancient temples. These ceremonies are inaccessible, and unknown to
Europeans…. Such is the origin of the dances, their significance, in the distant past. I
will ask you now, has anything in this branch of contemporary art been preserved that
could recall, however remotely, its former great meaning and aim? What is to be
found here but triviality?… Contemporary art as a whole has nothing in common with
the ancient sacred art. VIEWS FROM THE REAL WORLD, pp. 31–32

YOU SAW OUR MOVEMENTS AND DANCES. But all you saw was the outer
form—beauty, technique. But I do not like the external side you see. For me, art is a
means for harmonious development. In everything we do the underlying idea is to do
what cannot be done automatically and without thought. Ordinary gymnastics and
dances are mechanical. If our aim is a harmonious development of man, then for us,
dances and movements are a means of combining the mind and the feeling with
movements of the body and manifesting them together. In all things, we have the aim
to develop something which cannot be developed directly or mechanically—which
interprets the whole man: mind, body and feeling. VIEWS FROM THE REAL
WORLD, p. 183

MANY YEARS PASS before these young future priestesses are allowed to dance in
the temple, where only elderly and experienced priestesses may dance. Everyone in
the monastery knows the alphabet of these postures and when, in the evening in the
main hall of the temple, the priestesses perform the dances indicated for the ritual of
that day, the brethren may read in these dances one or another truth which men have
placed there thousands of years before. These dances correspond precisely to our
books. Just as is now done on paper, so, once, certain information about long past
events was recorded in dances and transmitted from century to century to people of
subsequent generations. And these dances are called sacred. MEETINGS WITH
REMARKABLE MEN, pp. 162–163
QuestionsDeveloped by Richard Liebow:

1. How do you interpret the suggestion that no one can give a person
anything he or she did not possess before?
2. How do you interpret the suggestion that the union of knowledge and
being produces Great Doing?
3. How do you interpret the suggestion that what a person cannot put into
an enneagram he or she does not really understand?
4. How do you interpret the suggestion that objective art is based on inner
octaves?
5. How do you interpret the suggestion that mechanical humanity can
have subjective art only?
6. Do you believe that myths and symbols can have access to your higher
emotions--and that verbal formulas can provide access to the higher
levels of your intellect?
7. Do you feel that a greater frequency of moments of pausing to
remember yourself will gradually increase in your activities,
relationships and involvements a sustained line of will?
8. Do you really believe that pausing frequently just to be present will
bring ever greater harmony into your on-going thinking, feeling,
moving, and instinctive functions?
9. Which of the following has the greatest appeal to your head and heart:
Numbers, geometrical figures, letters, or words?
10. Which of the following disciplines appeals most to your head and
heart: Astrology, numerology, magic, or the tarot?
11. Are you being to understand that your mechanical response to objects
and events is the most fundamental cause of your anxieties,
frustrations, and fears?
12. How does one experience a symbol?
13. Have you, as yet, found the key to unifying your experiences?
14. Do you sometimes look outside yourself for that for which you should
be looking within yourself?
Glossary:
inner octaves:
Line of will= a warrior waits for his will! (Carlos Casteneda via Don
Juan)
Objective music: It seems that there's no objective music. Music by it's
very nature subjective, but what about the cittar music from India.
Quatirnity:

Return Chapter#14 Chapter#16

Chapter#15

RELIGION a
relative concept
and School of the
4th Way.

Main Idea:DEfine what Religion means. Objectives: Look for answers from a
deeper place and the answers may come in the form of an other question or you get an
answer to a different question.

EXERCISE:

10 minutes of guided meditation & 10 minutes of self-aware reading. Also read Her-
Bak. As of right now I can only make small changes as I gain confidence I'll try to
take on bigger projects.

Outline:

Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Religion a relative concept. Define What religoin is:There are many definitions for
the term "religion" in common usage. So in order to include the greatest number of
belief systems: "Religion is any specific system of belief about deity, often involving
rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life." It includes monotheistic religions,
Eastern religions; Neopagan religions; a wide range of other faith groups, spiritual
paths, and ethical systems; and beliefs about the existence of God(s) and Goddess(es).
But for most people defining "religion" in a much more exclusive. Important
Religions (From the Needleman class):
Primitive Religions The spiritual experience of nature
Hinduism The experience of the greater self
Buddhism Experience freedom from ego
Confucionism The spiritual dimension of morali experience
Taoism The experince of total receptivity
Christianity Love thy neighbor like yourself
Judaism The experince of responsibility to God & neigbor
Islam The experience of submission to God
2.
Religions correspond to the level of a man's being. Excerpt from Views from the
Real World by G. I. Gurdjieff: To build a living body inside man is the aim of all
religions and all schools; every religion has its own special way, but the aim is always
the same. There are many ways toward achieving this aim. I have studied about two
hundred religions,but if they are to be classified, I would say that there exist only four
ways.As you already know, man has a number of specific centers. Let us take four of
them: moving, thinking, feeling and the formatory apparatus. Imagine a man as a flat
with four rooms. The first room is our physical body and corresponds to the cart in
another illustration I have given. The second room is the emotional center, or the
horse; the third room, the intellectual center, or the driver; and the fourth room, the
master. Every religion understands that the master is not there and seeks him. But a
master can be there only when the whole flat is furnished. Before receiving visitors,
all the rooms should be furnished. Everyone does this in his own way. If a man is not
rich, he furnishes every room separately, little by little. In order to furnish the fourth
room,one must first furnish the other three. The four ways differ according to the
order in which the three rooms are furnished. The first way begins with the furnishing
of the first room, and so on...... If we act consciously, the interaction will be
conscious. If I act unconsciously, everything will be the result of what I am sending
out.....
3. "Can prayer help?"
4. Learning to pray.
5. General ignorance regarding Christianity.
6. The Christian Church a school.
7. Egyptian "schools of repetition".

8. Significance of rights.
9. The "techniques" of religion.
10. Where does the word "I" sound in one?
11. The two parts of real religion and what each teaches.
12. Kant and the idea of scale. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Kant's most original contribution to philosophy is his "Copernican Revolution," that,
as he puts it, it is the representation that makes the object possible rather than the
object that makes the representation possible. This introduced the human mind as an
active originator of experience rather than just a passive recipient of perception.
Something like this now seems obvious: the mind could be a tabula rasa, a "blank
tablet," no more than a bathtub full of silicon chips could be a digital computer.
Perceptual input must be processed, i.e. recognized, or it would just be noise -- "less
even than a dream" or "nothing to us," as Kant alternatively puts it.
13. Organic life on earth.
14. Growth of the ray of creation.

15. The moon.


16. The evolving part of organic life is humanity.
17. Humanity at a standstill.
18. Change possible only at "crossroads".
19. The process of evolution always begins with the formation of a conscious nucleus.
20. Is there a conscious force fighting against evolution?
21. Is mankind evolving?

22. "Two hundred conscious people could change the whole of life on earth."
23. Three "inner circles of humanity".
24. The "outer circle". Define Exoteric :From:Wordsmith To:
linguaphile@wordsmith.org Subject: A.Word.A.Day--exoteric exoteric (ek-so-TER-
ik) adjective
1. Not limited to an inner circle of select people.
2. Suitable for the general public.
3. Relating to the outside; external

[From Latin exotericus, from Greek exoterikos (external), from exotero, comparative
form of exo (outside).] "In crude terms, some critics of Strauss argue that he
interpreted the ancient philosophers as offering two different teachings, an esoteric
one which is available only to those who read the ancient texts closely, and an
exoteric one accessible to naive readers. The exoteric interpretations were aimed at
the mass of people, the vulgar, while the esoteric teachings - the hidden meanings -
were vouch-safed to the few, the philosophers." Ronald Bailey, Origin of the
Specious: Why Do Neoconservatives Doubt Darwin?, Reason magazine (Los
Angeles), Jul 1, 1997. "In their different ways and obviously to a varying degree these
two publications should appeal to those who are alienated by exoteric Judaism
stripped of its mystical elements. Ronald Isaacs begins by noting that there is no
biblical Hebrew word for miracle." Jonathan Galante, Mysticism for the Masses,
Jerusalem Post, Aug 27, 1999
25. The four "ways" as four gates to the "exoteric circle".
26. Schools of the fourth way.
27. Pseudo exoteric systems and schools.
28. "Truth in the form of a lie".

29. Esoteric schools in the East. Essoteric:"Know thyself" is one of the fundamental
tenets of esotericism but, as Alan Watts has bluntly put it, there is a Taboo Against
Knowing Who You Are. The esoteric disciplines both in the East and in the West have
been repositories of hidden and secret knowledge designed to circumvent this taboo.
Yeah!?
30. Initiation and the Mysteries.
31. Only self-initiation is possible.

The following questions for this chapter were developed by Richard Liebow :

1. How does ones religion relate to the level of ones being?


2. How can one make ones prayers more meaningful and more effective?
3. How do our Monday meetings compare to an Egyptian School of Repetition?
4. Where does the word I sound in you?
5. What are the two parts of real religion? (What to do and How to do it)
6. Are there conscious forces fighting against the development of your higher
faculties?
7. Is your level of consciousness, awareness, sensitivity, and receptivity
increasing or decreasing?
8. By what signs would you recognize an esoteric school if you were searching
for one?
9. How much benefit would you expect to receive from a ceremonial initiation
into the disciplines of some ancient life-transforming tradition?
10. Do you really believe it is ever possible to access truth through a lie?
Notes:
The Youngstown Vindicator, October 15, 2000 (reprinted with permission) We
take measurements for granted. One foot is equal to 12 inches; one meter is
equal to 39.37 inches. We know we can measure any distances a variety of
ways: from our house to the mall is equal to 5 miles, or it could also be equal
to 316,800 inches, 8046.702 meters, or 1.6667 leagues. The history of
determining standards for weights and measurements is a long and fascinating
one, just as interesting as the history of measuring time. Today, however, I'd
like to take distance measurement to the stars. The average distance between
the Earth and the sun, we know, is 93,000,000 miles. This figure is also called
an astronomical unit, and is used as the base unit for measurements within the
solar system. Earth is 1 a.u. from the sun. Pluto, in its highly elliptical orbit,
averages about 40 a.u. from the sun. The orbits of the most of the planets are
nearly circular, so an average distance is a fairly accurate way of describing
how far way from the sun they are at any give time. Pluto's orbit is a stretched-
out circle, and its distance changes rather dramatically from one point in its
orbit to the next. If you're interested in figuring out Pluto's average distance
from the sun, it's 93 million times 40, or 3,720,000,000 miles. But just how do
we know that the average distance from the Earth to the sun is 93 million
miles? No one took a really long yard stick and actually measured the
distance, so just how did astronomers arrive at this figure? The answer takes
us back in time and to the study of geometry. Before early astronomers could
figure out how far away the sun was from Earth, they had to have a base unit
of measurement to use as a comparison. The only really measurable object
they had to work with was the Earth itself. Again, no one had a really long
tape measure to run around the Earth and measure its size, so early Greek
mathematicians and astronomers used a relatively new method in their
determinations: geometry. The Greek astronomer Eratosthenes was the first
person we know of to arrive at a close estimate of the radius of the Earth, and
he used straight lines and angles to figure it out. In about the year 200 B.C.,
Eratosthenes noticed that on the date of the summer solstice the sun seemed to
be directly overhead at Aswan, a city in Egypt. Light from the sun reached the
bottom of a deep well on that day, a circumstance that was possible only if the
sun's rays were arriving head-on. Happily, Aswan is located at about 24
degrees north latitude. The Earth is tilted 23 and a half degrees with respect to
the sun, so on the date of the solstice the sun's rays are indeed arriving head-on
in this area - making right angles with respect to the ground. In Alexandria,
about 500 miles away, the sun's rays weren't striking the Earth head-on.
Instead, at noon, light was casting shadows of about 7 degrees. Now that
Eratosthenes had the length of one line and two of the angles - 7 degrees and
90 degrees - he could use simple geometry to figure out the length of the other
two lines. The line he was interested in was the one from the center of the
Earth to the surface - its radius -. From this he could determine its
circumference. The figure he determined for the radius was 3,750 miles. The
actual value, as close as modern science can get it, is 3,960 miles. This
allowed Eratosthenes to reach a figure for the circumference of Earth: about
25,000 miles. The actual figure, measured at the equator, is 24,902 miles. Next
we have the Greek astronomer Aristarchus, who went to work on figuring out
the distance from Earth to the moon. Again using degrees and angles,
Aristarchus saw that the angular size of the sun and the moon was about the
same, about one half a degree. This coincidence that allows the moon to nearly
completely cover the face of the sun during a solar eclipse. During lunar
eclipses, Aristarchus saw that the shadow Earth casts on the moon was much
larger than the moon itself, and estimated that our satellite is only three-
eighths as large as our planet. Using geometry, he reached the conclusion that
the moon was one-fourth the size of Earth and that the distance from the Earth
to the moon was about 60 times the radius of the Earth. Doing the math, this
comes very close to today's value of about 240,000 miles. Ah - now ancient
astronomers had a "yardstick" to measure distances in the solar system: the
distance between the Earth and the moon. To reach a figure for the distance
between the Earth and the sun, Aristarchus used geometry again and this time
the fact that the length of time between the new moon and the first quarter
moon is just a tad shorter than the length of time between full moon and the
last quarter. Using the time difference and what this does to the angles in
triangles created by the Earth, moon, and sun, Aristarchus figured that the
distance from the Earth to the sun was 1,260 Earth radii. Unfortunately for
him, good methods of keeping track of time had not yet been invented, so he
guessed that the difference in time in the moon phases was 12 hours; today we
know that it is just a half hour. Aristarchus determined that the sun was 4.7
million miles away; today's better number is 93 million miles. Another figure
had joined our arsenal of measurements, and another tool soon joined the
toolbox: parallax. We’ll look at this measurement method in next week’s
column. About the author: Sharon Shanks is the Planetarium Lecturer at the
Ward Beecher Planetarium, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH
44555-2001. The Cosmos appears every Sunday in the Youngstown
Vindicator. Need a summary of the attributes of the Earth.
Additional Notes:(This will probably will be moved to another
chapter)Werckmeister Harmonies (17th century German theorist: Anreas
Werckmeister who believed that hevenly constallations emitted harmonies
created by God to influence man. Some resemblence of Mr.G influencing
humanaty to war with the question "Is it possible to stop war?". The
Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr made a film Workmeister's harmanies from a
book by Krasznahorkai "Hajnalban valo Lazadas"
Kant's Philosophy : The keystone of Kant's philosophy, sometimes called
critical philosophy, is contained in his Critique of Pure Reason (1781), in
which he examined the bases of human knowledge and created an individual
epistemology. Like earlier philosophers, Kant differentiated modes of thinking
into analytic and synthetic propositions. An analytic proposition is one in
which the predicate is contained in the subject, as in the statement “Black
houses are houses. ” The truth of this type of proposition is evident, because to
state the reverse would be to make the proposition self-contradictory. Such
propositions are called analytic because truth is discovered by the analysis of
the concept itself. Synthetic propositions, on the other hand, are those that
cannot be arrived at by pure analysis, as in the statement “The house is black.”
All the common propositions that result from experience of the world are
synthetic.
David Hume Generally regarded as the most important philosopher ever to
write in English, David Hume (1711-1776) -- the last of the great triumvirate
of "British empiricists" -- was also noted as an historian and essayist. A master
stylist in any genre, Hume's major philosophical works -- A Treatise of Human
Nature (1739-1740), the Enquiries concerning Human Understanding (1748)
and concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), as well as the posthumously
published Dialogues concerning Natural Religion (1779) -- remain widely and
deeply influential, despite their being denounced by many of his
contemporaries as works of scepticism and atheism. While Hume's influence
is evident in the moral philosophy and economic writings of his close friend
Adam Smith, he also awakened Immanuel Kant from his "dogmatic slumbers"
and "caused the scales to fall" from Jeremy Bentham's eyes. Charles Darwin
counted Hume as a central influence, as did "Darwin's bulldog," Thomas
Henry Huxley. The diverse directions in which these writers took what they
gleaned from reading Hume reflect not only the richness of their sources but
also the wide range of Hume's empiricism. Comtemporary philosophers
recognize Hume as one of the most thoroughgoing exponents of philosophical
naturalism.
Glossary
epistemology: is the theory of knowledge, where the central question is: Under
what conditions does a subject know something to be the case? Epistemology
is a branch of philosophy. To know is important, but to "be" is more important
at least by Heidegger.
The fourth way:"It is only when I get rid of the outer entirely and let the
actual, the I AM, speak and work and let the great Love of God come forth,
that I can do these thing you have seen. When you let the Love of God pour
through you to all things, nothing fears you and no harm can befall you."
Latcho Drom, Sag bolung hosh

Return Chapter#15 Chapter#17

Chapter#16
Historical events of the Winter 1916-17,
Consciousness of matter. An interesting
event-"transfiguration" or " plastics"?

General ideas in this chapter:


Objectives (Celok) Explain Consciousnes of matter
Explain Three, two- and one-storied human machine
Explain the Minovsky formula:Time goes beyond four dimensions. The Minkovski
formula, [sqrt(-1) * ct], denotes time as the fourth "world" coordinate.

Outline:

1. Historical events of the winter 1916-17.


2. G's. system as a guide in a labyrinth of contradiction, or as "Noah's ark."
3. Consciousnes of matter.
4. Its degrees of intelligents.
5. Three, two- and one-storied machines.
6. Man composed of man sheep and worm.
7. Classification of all creatures by three cosmic traits: what they eat, what they breathe,
the medium they live in.

8. Man's possibilities of changing his food.


9. "Diagram of everything living."
10. G. leaves Petersburg for the last time.
11. An interesting event-"transfiguration" or " plastics"?
12. A jurnalist's impressions of G.
13. The downfall of Nicholas II.
14. "The end of Russian history."

15. Plans for leaving Russia.


16. A communicaton from G.
17. Continuation of work in Moscow.
18. Further study of diagrams and of the idea of cosmoses.
19. Development of the idea "time is breath" in relation to man, the earth and the sun to
large and small cells.
20. Construction of a "Table of Time in Different Cosmoses."
21. Three cosmoses taken together include in themselves all the laws of the universe.

22. Application of the idea of cosmoses to the inner processess of the human organism.
23. The life of molecules and electrons.
24. Time dimensions of different cosmoses.
25. Application of the Minkovski formula.
26. Relation of different times to centersof the human body.
27. Relation to higher centers.
28. "Cosmic calculation of time" in Gnostic and Indian literature.

29. "If you want to rest, come here to me."


30. A visit to G. at Alexandropol.
31. G.'s relationship with his family.
32. Talk about the impossibility of doing anything in the midst of mass madness.
33. "Events are not against us at all."
34. How to strengthen the feeling of "I"?
35. Brief return to Petersburg and Moscow.

36. A message to the groups there.


37. Return to Piatygorsk.

38. A group of twelve foregathers at Essentuki.

Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Historical events of the winter 1916-17.


2. G's. system as a guide in a labyrinth of contradiction, or as "Noah's ark."
3. Consciousnes of matter.
4. Its degrees of intelligents.
5. Three, two- and one-storied machines.
6. Man composed of man sheep and worm.
7. Classification of all creatures by three cosmic traits: what they eat, what they breathe, the
medium they live in. Yes you can classify things any which way you want them to, but so
what? Fish also breaths oxigen all living being bread oxigen we have to maintain a slow fire
in us called LIFE.

8. Man's possibilities of changing his food.


9. "Diagram of everything living."
10. G. leaves Petersburg for the last time.
11. An interesting event-"transfiguration" or " plastics"? It was common at least in the 20's in the
US and other places to pretend that you're somebody very rich from the MiddleEast and
swindle people. Lot of the con artist changed their identity and ran up huge bills in hotels also
spending a lot in restaurants. Similarly later on Mr.G. had a special pleace in a Paris Coffe
where he entertained people. Mr. Needleman bolievesthat some people have this capability to
change their apperence he saw once done this by Lord Pentland.
12. A jurnalist's impressions of G.
13. The downfall of Nicholas II. Nicholas the II was a mediokor czar complitely cut off guard by
events and it cost him and his whole family their lives.
14. "The end of Russian history." There's no end of Russian history.

15. Plans for leaving Russia.


16. A communicaton from G.
17. Continuation of work in Moscow.
18. Further study of diagrams and of the idea of cosmoses.
19. Development of the idea "time is breath" in relation to man, the earth and the sun to large and
small cells.
20. Construction of a "Table of Time in Different Cosmoses."
21. Three cosmoses taken together include in themselves all the laws of the universe.

22. Application of the idea of cosmoses to the inner processess of the human organism.
23. The life of molecules and electrons.
24. Time dimensions of different cosmoses.
25. Application of the Minkovski formula.
26. Relation of different times to centersof the human body.
27. Relation to higher centers.
28. "Cosmic calculation of time" in Gnostic and Indian literature.

29. "If you want to rest, come here to me."


30. A visit to G. at Alexandropol.
31. G.'s relationship with his family.
32. Talk about the impossibility of doing anything in the midst of mass madness.
33. "Events are not against us at all."
34. How to strengthen the feeling of "I"?
35. Brief return to Petersburg and Moscow.

36. A message to the groups there.


37. Return to Piatygorsk.

38. A group of twelve foregathers at Essentuki.

Notes: SPACE-TIME :In our three-dimensional (3-D) space, we have three "degrees
of freedom" to move. We see objects that occupy space exclusive of each other. We
also experience time,

From there we are into our concentration on the points in the outline of Chapter
Sixteen. And for our review of the content of Chapter Sixteen we address some of
these questions: 1) Are you becoming convinced that events are not against you at all?
2) What are you doing to strengthen your feeling of "I"...? 3) What do you think that
portrait of G. with his black curly hair and wearing a black frock coat signifies? 4)
How well are you able to adapt yourself to any kind of work--to any kind of business?
5) Do you really believe that a baked potato is more intelligent than a raw potato? 6)
Do you accept the suggestion that every object--a pebble, a blade of grass, a worm--
possesses some degree of intelligence? 7) Do you really believe that your perceptions
of feeling move 30,000 times faster than your thoughts? 8) Regarding the story of G.
on the train leaving Petersburg for the last time: Was he physically transformed or was
it just an hallucination? 9) Do you perceive this system of ideas as some kind of
Noah's Ark? 10) Do you accept the suggestion that every living creature feeds on
other living creatures--and serves as food for still other living creatures? 11) Do you
accept the suggestion that every living creature possesses within itself its own unique
dimension of time and projects onto its fields on activity its own subjective
conception of time? 12) Do you feel that G.'s relationship with his father may serve as
some kind of a model for how one ought to relate to other human creatures? 13) Why
do you suppose G. places so much value and importance and necessity of difficult
situtations, challenging relationships, and mass madness? 14) Are you in the business
of collecting knowledge and collecting people? And what do you do with the
knowledge of the people you collect? 15) Are you really more intelligent than a baked
potato? 16) Do you think that people that grow up in a small village like Alexandropol
are any better off than those of us who struggle with the challenges of life in a big
city? 17) War or no war, do you always make a profit? 18) Are you a puppet--or a
puppeteer? 19) Can you eat water and breathe fire? 20) In your opinion, is there any
chance that the kind of social upheaval that was happening in Russia in 1917 could
happen in the United States of America any time soon?
Teilhard de Chardin’s Evolutionary Philosophy According to Teilhard,
Consciousness and Matter are aspects of the same reality, and are called the "Within"
and the "Without" respectively. Evolution is the steady increase in the "Within" or
degree of consciousness and complexity, through a number of successive stages: the
various grades of inanimate matter; life or the "Biosphere"; man or thought or mind,
the "Noosphere" (Teilhard's cosmology reflects the Christian anthropocentric bias in
having man as the first progression from inanimate matter through primitive life and
invertebrates to fish, amphibia, reptiles, mammals, and finally man; always an
increase in consciousness. With man a threshhold is crossed - self-conscious thought,
or mind, appears. But even humans do not represent the end-point of evolution, for
this process will continue until all humans are united in a single Divine Christ-
consciousness, the "Omega Point" (so-called after the last letter of the Greek alphabet
- hence the Hellenistic statement attributed to Christ (but unlikely to be said by him,
as he would not have known Greek - "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end"). Teilhardian cosmology thus revolves around the idea of an evolutionary
progression towards greater and greater consciousness, culminating first in the
appearance of self-conscious mind in humankind, and then in the Omega point of
divinisation of humanity. Teilhard refers to "Centeredness" as a characteristic of the
universe on all levels. Each corpuscle of matter has a centre "within", its principle of
organisation. The more complex the being, the greater degree of centreity. Teilhard
teaches that Centreity is the true, absolute measure of being in the beings that
surround us, and the only basis for a truely natural classification of the elements of the
universe. The axis of evolution stretches from the lowest degree of centreity to the
highest, and entities having the same degree of centreity constitute "isopheres",
forming universal units of the same type of being. So pre-living entities are ordered
on Earth in the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, and the atmosphere. Organic beings
make up the biosphere, and thinking entities (which in Teilhard's system solely means
man) the noosphere. When ranked in their natural order, the whole family of isopheres
will define at the heart of the system a focus-point of universal synthesis, the Centre
of centres, Omega [Activation of Energy, pp.10-13, 102; Beatrice Bruteau, Evolution
towards Divinity, p.138],
Einstein, Albert (1879-1955), German-born American physicist and Nobel laureate,
best known as the creator of the special and general theories of relativity and for his
bold hypothesis concerning the particle nature of light. He is perhaps the most well-
known scientist of the 20th century.
Einstein’s third major paper in 1905, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, ”
contained what became known as the special theory of relativity. Since the time of the
English mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton, natural philosophers (as
physicists and chemists were known) had been trying to understand the nature of
matter and radiation, and how they interacted in some unified world picture. The
position that mechanical laws are fundamental has become known as the mechanical
world view, and the position that electrical laws are fundamental has become known
as the electromagnetic world view. Neither approach, however, is capable of
providing a consistent explanation for the way radiation (light, for example) and
matter interact when viewed from different inertial frames of reference, that is, an
interaction viewed simultaneously by an observer at rest and an observer moving at
uniform speed. In the spring of 1905, after considering these problems for ten years,
Einstein realized that the crux of the problem lay not in a theory of matter but in a
theory of measurement. At the heart of his special theory of relativity was the
realization that all measurements of time and space depend on judgments as to
whether two distant events occur simultaneously. This led him to develop a theory
based on two postulates: the principle of relativity, that physical laws are the same in
all inertial reference systems, and the principle of the invariance of the speed of light,
that the speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant. He was thus able to provide
a consistent and correct description of physical events in different inertial frames of
reference without making special assumptions about the nature of matter or radiation,
or how they interact. Virtually no one understood Einstein’s argument. He also said
that there's two ways of lookink at life (1) Nothing is a miracle, and (2) Everything is
a miracle.
A breath is 3 seconds. In a normal state, a man takes about twenty full breaths in a
minute. The "breath of organic life" is twenty-four hours.

Breath Day and Night Life


Small Cells - - 3 seconds
Large Cells - 3 seconds 24 hours
Man 3 seconds 24 hours 79 years
Organic
24 hours 79 years 2,500,000 years
Life
2,500,000 75,000,000,000
Earth 79 years
years years

Glossary:

Nicholas II.:

Minkovski formula:

Additional Notes:
Eric Hoffer was a American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in
1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His
first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic.
This book, which he considered his best, established his reputation, and he remained a
successful writer for most of his remaining years.
At age seven, and for unknown reasons, Hoffer went blind. His eyesight inexplicably
returned when he was fifteen. Fearing he would again go blind, he seized upon the
opportunity to read as much as he could for as long as he could. His eyesight
remained, but Hoffer never abandoned his habit of voracious reading. He was
completely self-educated.
His work was not only original, it was completely out of step with dominant academic
trends. In particular, it was completey non-Freudian, at a time when almost all
American psychology was confined to the Freudian paradigm. In avoiding the
academic mainstream, Hoffer managed to avoid the straightjacket of established
thought.
Hoffer was among the first to recognize the central importance of self-esteem to
psychological well-being. While most recent writers focus on the benefits of a
positive self-esteem, Hoffer focused on the consequences of a lack of self-esteem. He
finds in self-hatred, self-doubt, and insecurity the roots of fanatacism and self-
righteousness. He finds that a passionate obsession with the outside world or with the
private lives of other people is merely a craven attempt to compensate for a lack of
meaning in one's own life.
Additional Notes: Some of you may have had the experience of gradually or even
suddenly realizing that you have been thoroughly deceived by somebody or
something. For weeks, months, years--sometimes even decades--you believed
somebody or something was one way, only to find out that such was not the case at
all. Life usually affords us at least a few such experiences.
Ouspensky here seems to confuse the map with the teritory

Return Chapter#16 Chapter#18

Chapter#17

Schools are imperative. Super-


efforts. The “stop” exercise

General observations for this chapter:

This chapter is about schools and Exercises. You must realize that the chance to meet
some kind of school is very rare - I mean to meet a school in real life, not in books or
in theory; and if one meets a school, generally there is no other. said Peter Ouspensky.
I'm not sure that we're in a school or not. Need a better understanding what school is,
and what about the sacrifice. our school is not really a school We all bring something
to the party
Original Outline Points
1. August 1917.
2. The six weeks at Essentuki.
3. G. unfolds the plan of the whole work.
4. “Schools are imperative”.
5. “Super-efforts”.
6. The unison of the centers is the chief difficulty in work on oneself.
7. Man the slave of his body.

8. Wastige of energy from unnecessary muscular tension.


9. G. shows exercises for muscular control and relaxation.
10. The “stop” exercise.
11. The demands of “stop”
12. G. relates a case of “stop” in Central Asia.
13. The influence of “stop” at Essentuki.
14. The habit of talking.

15. An experiment in fasting.


16. What sin is.
17. G. shows exercises in attention.
18. An experiment in breathing.
19. Realization of the difficulties of the way.
20. Indispensibility of great knowledge, efforts, and help.
21. Is there no way outside of the “ways”?

22. The “way” as help given to people according to type.


23. The “subjective” and “objective” ways.
24. The obyvatel.
25. What does “to be serious” mean?
26. Only one thing is serious.
27. How to attain real freedom.
28. The hard way of slavery and obedience.

29. What is one prepared to sacrifice.


30. The fairy tale of the wolf and the sheep.
31. Astrology and types.
32. A demonstration.
33. G. announces the dispersal of the group.

34. A final trip to Petersburg.

Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. August 1917.
2. The six weeks at Essentuki.
3. G. unfolds the plan of the whole work.
4. “Schools are imperative”.
5. “Super-efforts”. What is super effort? It isn't working harder; Yes we must go the extra mile , but it
go all the way and accomplish what we said out to do our aim,it relly means what AAA says: Halfw
us nothing! Half ass work is not an opption, otherwise this (Gurdjiffian system) is nothing but hot a
and effort we have done will be for norhing. It evaports fast; like farth in the wind.
6. The unison of the centers is the chief difficulty in work on oneself.
7. Man the slave of his body.

8. Wastige of energy from unnecessary muscular tension.


9. G. shows exercises for muscular control and relaxation.
10. The “stop” exercise.
11. The demands of “stop”
12. G. relates a case of “stop” in Central Asia.
13. The influence of “stop” at Essentuki.
14. The habit of talking.

15. An experiment in fasting.


16. What sin is.
17. G. shows exercises in attention.
18. An experiment in breathing.
19. Realization of the difficulties of the way.
20. Indispensibility of great knowledge, efforts, and help.
21. Is there no way outside of the “ways”?

22. The “way” as help given to people according to type.


23. The “subjective” and “objective” ways.
24. The obyvatel.
25. What does “to be serious” mean?
26. Only one thing is serious.
27. How to attain real freedom.
28. The hard way of slavery and obedience.

29. What is one prepared to sacrifice.


30. The fairy tale of the wolf and the sheep.
31. Astrology and types.Astrology sees mankind as being not only influenced by hereditary factors and
but also by the state of our solar system at the moment of birth. The planets are regarded as basic li
we live by as well as the basis of our very substance. These planetary forces take on different form
their zodiacal position and on the way they relate to one another.
The aspects formed between the planets describe these relationships, the positions of the planets in
place of birth tell us of their expression in the spheres of life depicted by the astrological houses. B
roles of these players (the planets) and their qualities (the elements, signs and houses) and creating
astrology is able to present a complete and comprehensive picture of the person and his potential, b
horoscope.
32. A demonstration.
33. G. announces the dispersal of the group.

34. A final trip to Petersburg.

Additional Notes: This probably will be


moved from here MIHALY
CSIKSZENTMIHALYI Email address:
miska@ccp.uchicago.edu My interests
include the study of creativity, especially
in art; socialization; the evolution of
social and cultural systems; and the
study of intrinsically rewarding
behavior in work and play settings. All
of these topics are connected by a
conceptual approach based on systems
theory. I am currently involved in the
following projects: (1) Follow-up on the
longitudinal study of artists initiated in
1963. Now in their 40's, these artists are
coming to terms with their complex and
fascinating lives. (2) Study of the
aesthetic experience among people
deeply involved in art (e.g. museum
curators, art collectors), with
application to the building of a new art
museum. (3) Working on a theoretical
model of attention as psychic energy
that will unify some of the fields I've
been working in (i.e. social evolution,
socialization, intrinsic rewards, etc.) (4)
Continuation of a four-year study of
talented high school students, focusing
on the development of "life themes" in
adolescence, and using the
Experimental Sampling Method. (5)
Establishing an international network of
researchers who use the Experience
Sampling Method. Colleagues in
Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and
Italy are combining their data with
ours, and we replicate each other's
studies of the quality of experience in
everyday life. (Human Development,
Mental Health) Publications: 1. M.
Csikszentmihalyi (1990) Flow=The
Psychology of Optimal Experience. New
York: Harper and Row. The decision to
separate and to continue work in
London independently.Practical results
of work on oneself:feeling a new I, "a
strange confidence."
General ideas in this chapter:Although there are some ideas still being introduced
here, the most important thing for me in this chapter is Ouspensky's low key
description of his struggel to seperate himself from Gurdjieff.
Objectives(Celok):What it means to separate: As for me: Sometimes one can not end
a difficult relationship and has to let it deteriorate to the extent of a betrayal. I
personally wasn't prepared for such a painful breakup in my life back in 1967. The
pain was delivered right into the center of my heart and I knew it immediately, that it
was fatal and I also knew, that from this kind of wound I could never recover. But I
thought I could still live.

Outline

Original Outline Points


1. Petersburg: October1917.
2. Bolshevik revolution.
3. Return to G. in the Caucasus.
4. G’s. attitude to one of his pupils.
5. A small company with G. at Essentuki
6. More people arrive.
7. Resumption of work.

8. Exercises are more difficult and varied than before.


9. Mental and phisical exercises, dervish dances, study of psychic "tricks".
10. Selling silk.
11. Inner struggle and a decission.
12. The choice of gurus.
13. The decision to separate.
14. G. goes to Sochi.

15. A difficult time: warfare and epidemics


16. Further study of the enneagram.
17. "Events" and the necessity of leaving Russia
18. London the final aim.
19. Practical results of work on oneself feeling a new I, "a strange confidence."
20. Collecting a group in Rostov and expaunding G’s system.
21. G., opens his Institute in Tiflis.

22. Jurney to Constantinople.


23. Collecting people.
24. G. arrives.
25. New group introduced to G.
26. Translating a dervish song.
27. G. the artist and poet.
28. The Institute started in Constantinople.

29. G. authorises the writing and publishing of a book.


30. G. goes to Germany.
31. Decision to continue Constantinople work in London, 1921.
32. G . organizes his institute at Fountainbleau.
33. Work at the Chateau de la Prieure.
34. A talk with Katherine Mansfield.
35. G. speaks of different kinds of breathing.

36. "Breathing through movements".


37. Demonstrations at the Theatre des Champs Elyssces, Paris.
38. G.’s departure for America, 1924.
39. Decision to continue work in London independently.
Reordered Outline Points for Commentary Purposes only

1. Petersburg: October1917.
2. Bolshevik revolution.
3. Return to G. in the Caucasus.
4. G’s. attitude to one of his pupils.
5. A small company with G. at Essentuki
6. More people arrive.
7. Resumption of work.

8. Exercises are more difficult and varied than before.


9. Mental and phisical exercises, dervish dances, study of psychic "tricks".dervish
dances:Whirling Dervish (wurl-ing dur-vish) n. 1. A mystical dancer who stands
between the material and cosmic worlds. His dance is part of a sacred ceremony in
which the dervish rotates in a precise rhythm. He represents the earth revolving on its
axis while orbiting the sun. The purpose of the ritual whirling is for the dervish to
empty himself of all distracting thoughts, placing him in trance; released from his
body he conquers dizziness.
Gregangelo's Whirling Circus Dervish. n. 1. A circus version of the sacred dance
combining ancient, contemporary, and futuristic media. The dance depicts the creation
of the Universe through a spinning series of fantastic formations, metamorphoses,
elaborate costumes, and rhythmic dance. 2. A figure of speech used in reference to one
who exhibits vigorous energy
Psychic tricks: It's an interesting component of the human condition that we want so
much to believe that someone can help us to make sense out of an often senseless
world, to gain control over that which is beyond our control, and to give us certainty
in the face of the unknown and unknowable. Recognizing these facts, and realizing
that we're all subject to the same wishes and needs, it behooves us to be particularly
vigilant about believing that which we most desperately want to believe, especially
when that belief flies in the face of logic and the laws of science. When examining so-
called psychic phenomena; or, for that matter, any supernatural claim, we should apply
Occam's Razor, a test for validity named for William of Ockam, a philosopher of the
fourteenth century. Occam's Razor, in the original Latin, states, 'Won sunt
multiplicanda entia praeternecessitatem." or, "Things must not be multiplied beyond
necessity." Another way to state this principle is, "The simplest explanation for a
phenomenon is likely to be the correct explanation." In other words, when something
occurs, don't assume that it's caused by an extraordinary phenomenon that defies the
laws of science if a simpler explanation also fits. If I pull a hard-boiled egg from
behind your ear, there are at least two explanations - either I'm able to defy laws of
physics and produce something out of thin air, or I had concealed the egg somewhere
and through deft sleight of hand was able to make it appear to materialize behind your
ear. By applying Occam's Razor, we can pretty safely assume that the most likely
explanation for the appearance of the egg is the latter.
10. Selling silk.
11. Inner struggle and a decission.
12. The choice of gurus. Guru: A spiritual teacher, guide, or confessor among the Hindus.
13. The decision to separate.
14. G. goes to Sochi.

15. A difficult time: warfare and epidemics


16. Further study of the enneagram.
17. "Events" and the necessity of leaving Russia
18. London the final aim.
19. Practical results of work on oneself feeling a new I, "a strange confidence."
20. Collecting a group in Rostov and expaunding G’s system.
21. G., opens his Institute in Tiflis.

22. Jurney to Constantinople.


23. Collecting people.
24. G. arrives.
25. New group introduced to G.
26. Translating a dervish song.
27. G. the artist and poet.
28. The Institute started in Constantinople. Constantinople is now called Istambul in
Turkey. Gurdjieff brought his group here around 1918. Ouspensky also lived here for a
couple years. The Queen of cities for eleven centuries. one of most brilliant city in the
middle ages. At the southern extremity of the Bosphorus stands a promontory just out
from Europe toward Asia, with the Sea of Marmara to the south and a long harbor the
Keratia, known as the Golden Horn to the north. On this peninsula stood the ancient
Greek city of Byzantium, which Constantine the Great enlarged considerably and
formally christened "New Rome" in A.D. 330. A 1000 years later the Turks captured it
and made Hagi Sophia a mosqe.

29. G. authorises the writing and publishing of a book.


30. G. goes to Germany.
31. Decision to continue Constantinople work in London, 1921.
32. G . organizes his institute at Fountainbleau.
33. Work at the Chateau de la Prieure.
34. A talk with Katherine Mansfield.
35. G. speaks of different kinds of breathing.

36. "Breathng through movements". Breath through movements: Here Ouspensky


probably refers to the sacred dances, but breathing is also important. Movements can
be a help for self-observation and enhancing one's level of awareness. Practising
Movements can lead to a better understanding of body, mind and emotions and it can
generate a form of energy difficult to find elsewhere.. One has to experience the
Movements in one's own body. How then to describe Gurdjieff's Movements, their
ritual gestures, their precision and quietness? The bodies of the dancers are shaped in
powerful geometrical abstractions that suspend any individuality and thus create a
collectivity capable of generating energy of a high quality. At least 250 Movements
have been preserved, mainly through the efforts of Mme. Jeanne de Salzmann,
founder of the Institute Gurdjieff in Paris, and Mrs. Jessmin Howarth, a choreographer
at the Paris Opera before she joined forces with Gurdjieff. The dances called
'Movements' are essential in G.I. Gurdjieff´s teaching, further consisting of orally
transmitted ideas, books and musical works. Rather than the individual´s subjective
personality these Movements express objective, mathematical laws governing a
possible psychological evolution and, basically, life as a whole as well.
37. Demonstration at the Theatre des Champs Elyssces, Paris.
38. G.’s departure for America, 1924.

39. Decision to continue work in London independently.

HegelGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:Along with J. G. Fichte and F. W. J. von


Schelling, Hegel (1770-1831) belongs to the period of “German idealism” in the
decades following Kant. The most systematic of the post-Kantian idealists, Hegel
attempted, throughout his published writings as well as in his lectures, to elaborate a
comprehensive and systematic ontology from a “logical” starting point. He is perhaps
most well-known for his teleological account of history, an account which was later
taken over by Marx and “inverted” into a materialist theory of an historical
development culminating in communism. For most of the twentieth century, the
“logical” side of Hegel's thought had been largely forgotten, but his political and
social philosophy continued to find interest and support. However, since the 1970s, a
degree of more general philosophical interest in Hegel's systematic thought has also
been revived.Born in 1770 in Stuttgart, Hegel spent the years 1788-1793 as a theology
student in nearby Tübingen, forming friendships there with fellow students, the future
great romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) and Friedrich W. J. von
Schelling (1775-1854), who, like Hegel, would become one of the major figures of
the German philosophical scene in the first half of the nineteenth century. These
friendships clearly had a major influence on Hegel's philosophical development, and
for a while the intellectual lives of the three were closely intertwined. After graduation
Hegel worked as a tutor for families in Bern and then Frankfurt, where he was
reunited with Hölderlin. Until around 1800, Hegel devoted himself to developing his
ideas on religious and social themes, and seemed to have envisaged a future for
himself as a type of modernising and reforming educator, in the image of figures of
the German Enlightenment such as Lessing and Schiller. Around the turn of the
century, however, possibly under the influence of Hölderlin, his interests turned more
to the issues in the “critical” philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) that had
enthused Hölderlin, Schelling, and many others, and in 1801 he moved to the
University of Jena to join Schelling. In the 1790s Jena had become a centre of both
“Kantian” philosophy and the early romantic movement and by the time of Hegel's
arrival Schelling had already become an established figure, taking the approach of J.
G. Fichte (1762-1814), the most important of the new Kantian-styled philosophers, in
novel directions. In late 1801, Hegel published his first philosophical work, The
Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy, and up until 1803
worked closely with Schelling, with whom he edited the Critical Journal of
Philosophy. In his “Difference” essay Hegel had argued that Schelling's approach
succeeded where Fichte's failed in the project of systematising and thereby
completing Kant's transcendental idealism, and on the basis of this type of advocacy
was dogged for many years by the reputation of being a “mere” follower of Schelling
(who was five years his junior). By late 1806 Hegel had completed his first major
work, the Phenomenology of Spirit (published 1807), which showed a divergence
from his earlier, seemingly more Schellingian, approach. Schelling, who had left Jena
in 1803, interpreted a barbed criticism in the Phenomenology's preface as aimed at
him, and their friendship abruptly ended. The occupation of Jena by Napoleon's troops
as Hegel was completing the manuscript closed the university and Hegel left the town.
Now without a university appointment he worked for a short time, apparently very
successfully, as an editor of a newspaper in Bamberg, and then from 1808-1815 as the
headmaster and philosophy teacher at a “gymnasium” in Nuremberg. During his time
at Nuremberg he married and started a family, and wrote and published his Science of
Logic. In 1816 he managed to return to his university career by being appointed to a
chair in philosophy at the University of Heidelberg. Then in 1818, he was offered and
took up the chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin, the most prestigious
position in the German philosophical world. While in Heidelberg he published the
Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences, a systematic work in which an
abbreviated version of the earlier Science of Logic (the “Encyclopaedia Logic” or
“Lesser Logic”) was followed by the application of its principles to the Philosophy of
Nature and the Philosophy of Spirit. In 1821 in Berlin Hegel published his major
work in political philosophy, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, based on lectures
given at Heidelberg but ultimately grounded in the section of the Encyclopaedia
Philosophy of Spirit dealing with “objective spirit.” During the following ten years up
to his death in 1831 Hegel enjoyed celebrity at Berlin, and published subsequent
versions of the Encyclopaedia. After his death versions of his lectures on philosophy
of history, philosophy of religion, aesthetics, and the history of philosophy were
published.
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, b. Oct. 15, 1844, d. Aug. 25, 1900,
was a German philosopher who, together with Soren Kierkegaard, shares the
distinction of being a precursor of Existentialism. He studied classics at the
universities of Bonn and Leipzig, receiving his doctorate from the latter in 1869.
Because he had already published some philological articles, he was offered the chair
of classical philology at the University of Basel in Switzerland before the doctorate
was officially conferred on him. In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy (1872; Eng.
trans., 1968), Nietzsche presented a theory of Greek drama and of the foundations of
art that has had profound effects on both literary theory and philosophy. In this book
he introduced his famous distinction between the Apollonian, or rational, element in
human nature and the Dionysian, or passionate, element, as exemplified in the Greek
gods Apollo and Dionysus. When the two principles are blended, either in art or in
life, humanity achieves a momentary harmony with the Primordial Mystery. This
work, like his later ones, shows the strong influence of the German philosopher
Arthur Schopenhauer, as well as Nietzsche's affinity for the music of his close friend
Richard Wagner. What Nietzsche presented in this work was a pagan mythology for
those who could accept neither the traditional values of Christianity nor those of
Social Darwinism.After resigning (1879) from his teaching position because of ill
health, Nietzsche lived in Switzerland, Italy, and Germany for the next two decades,
writing extensively. In Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883-85; Eng. trans., 1954), his most
celebrated book, he introduced in eloquent poetic prose the concepts of the death of
God, the superman, and the will to power. Vigorously attacking Christianity and
democracy as moralities for the "weak herd," he argued for the "natural aristocracy"
of the superman who, driven by the "will to power," celebrates life on earth rather
than sanctifying it for some heavenly reward. Such a heroic man of merit has the
courage to "live dangerously" and thus rise above the masses, developing his natural
capacity for the creative use of passion. Although these ideas were distorted by the
Nazis in order to justify their conception of the master race, to regard Nietzsche's
philosophy as a prototype of nazism is erroneous. His criticism of the mediocrity and
smugness of German culture led to a disintegration of his friendship with Richard
Wagner as well as to a disassociation from his beloved Germany. To correct any
misconceptions concerning the superman, Nietzsche published Beyond Good and Evil
(1886; Eng. trans., 1967) and On the Genealogy of Morals (1887; Eng. trans., 1968).
Nietzsche became increasingly deranged in his later years. In 1889 he suffered a
severe breakdown, from which he never recovered. His later writings are particularly
strident; although more forceful than his earlier essays and books, they retain clear
continuity with his earlier ideas. In the collection of essays published posthumously
under the title The Will to Power (1901; Eng. trans., 1967), Nietzsche further
developed his ideas of the superman and the will to power, asserting that humans must
learn to live without their gods or any other metaphysical consolations. Like Goethe's
Faust, humans must incorporate their devil and evolve "beyond good and evil." -- by
Thomas E. Wren

Notes and Archival material: Ouspensky’s experimental efforts to enter higher states
of consciousness proved to him that an entirely new mode of thought was needed by
modern man, qualitatively different from the two modes (classical and positivistic)
that have dominated Western civilization for 2000 years. I need to think about this
Additional Notes:Katherine Mansfield: Mansfied and Murray became closely
associated with D.H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda. When Murray had an affair with
the Princess Bibesco (née Asquith), Mansfield objected not to the affair but to her
letters to Murray: "I am afraid you must stop writing these love letters to my husband
while he and I live together. It is one of the things which is not done in our world."
(from a letter to Princess Bibesco, 1921). In her last years Katherina Mansfield lived
much of her time in southern France and in Switzerland, seeking relief from
tuberculosis. As a part of her treatment in 1922 at an institute (institute, sminstitute
that is the Gurdjiffian stuff), Mansfield had to spend a few hours every day on a
platform suspended over a cow manger. She breathed odors emanating from below
but the treatment did no good. (how could it? it's plain quackery) Without the
company of her literary friends, family, or her husband, she wrote much about her
own roots and her childhood. Mansfield died of a pulmonary hemorrhage on January
9, 1923, in Gurdjieff Institute, near Fontainebleau, France. Her last words were: "I
love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face." I saw her grave in the Avon
cemetery. A lot of people blame Gurdjieff for her death. I don't because, at one point
we become responsible for our own death.
Glossary:operational consciousness
Dr. Zivago
Essentuki, Caucasses,Petersburg/Tiflis/Sochi/London/Rostov

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