[gurdjiefffourthway] Re: Barber

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De Hartman

Thomas de Hartman described Mr. Gurdjieff having dirty cuffs, meeting in an unkempt cafe with unsavoury characters.

 

Obviously he would have been concerned that, being a member of the Tzar's Court, that had he been seen,

 

he may have been the subject of gossip, or worse.

 

Mr. Gurdjieff made an effort to force people to immediately start breaking their mould to be with him.

 

Schools are at the same time, in, and above organic life on this planet.

Beginning at the level of one's life.

As we said in the last post, Mr. Gurdjieff found his school through an introduction by a street barber.

 

Could this be a symbolic representation that a man begins "on the street", literally in his life.

 

He then is brought to a school, not neccesarily on a mountaintop, or in the foothills of the Himalayas,

 

but is led through streets to the entrance. Then he has to make a choice.

 

Mr. Ouspensky knew when he met Mr. Gurdjieff that he had found what he had been looking for, and knew in

 

his core that he must make an appointment to meet again.

 

The story Glimpses of Truth describes such a meeting.

 

Mr. Gurdjieff would often make an effort to be unkempt, or look out of place, in some way to force the individual to

 

make an effort to break through his shame, or being spotted by peers, to be with this strange man.

Barber

It is always good to remember that Mr. Gurdjieff received an introduction to the Sarmoung Monastery through a street barber. He was indicating that the way to connect to the fourth way, can be very ordinary. He said that the Fourth Way begins in life. A mans life is what he is.

We must begin at this level.

Lascaux

http://www.gurdjieff-legacy.org/40articles/lascaux.htm

 

Dying of cancer, Gurdjieff visited the caves of Lascaux, his last wish. The prehistoric art he saw there—was it an Atlantean legominism?

Two months before Mr. Gurdjieff's death he made his last auto excursion to visit the prehistoric caves of Lascaux. In effect, it was his last wish. Discovered by chance in 1940, just after the German occupation of France, Lascaux had been opened to the public only in 1948. J. G. Bennett had visited the caves then and when he and Gurdjieff met soon after, Bennett told him of the spectacular and mysterious paintings and etchings on the walls. Despite Gurdjieff's increasing infirmity, his swollen legs and gaz—said Bennett, "He looked much older and moved with greater difficulty than when I had come to Paris the year before"—Gurdjieff insisted on making the trip.

[gurdjiefffourthway] Re: [gurdjiefffourthway] Re: Efforts

Gurdjieff described some people as having "Inner swagger", with observation that becomes obvious.

Define your animal.

Bennett

Mr. Bennett said life near Gurdjieff is not easy for anyone.

 

 

Say: "I am"

Mr. Gurdjieff said: "A man must have many experiences, both good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant, but what is important, is that he must experience them" (be present to them), he must go through them consciously, Say: "I am".

[gurdjiefffourthway] Re: Efforts

Mr. Gurdjieff said always and everywhere, say "I am".

Teachers

 

We are all on a journey, Mr. Gurdjieff said  that it is necessary to

meet someone on the way to find a group.

A group or school, is not on the level of the same knowledge that

you find in the world.

It is not a made up system, it is knowledge that comes from a

cosmic source through a developed man.

Whatever one reads, it is a person that has been purified by suffering.

This is what is rarely written about in a direct way.

Later we read about such men, being cavalier with money, sex, belongings.

We want a saint or a priest, or what we think is a priest, with "priest like" behaviour.

The main thing that a fourth way teacher has, is dedication to the work.

24 hours a day.

Efforts

 

 

 

 

A teacher knows that he is responsible for the students that come to him on a cosmic level.

 

That is why they teach to the end, Gurdjieff gave as much as possible.

 

Teachers know that they have to get the maximum energy and effort possible out of the

 

human body that they are given.

 

This does not necessarily mean extreme efforts, no point in burning oneself out.

 

Even Mr. Gurdjieff told his students later in life: "Not work so hard".

 

He said it is the inner effort that counts.

Teachers

A teacher accepts the students he has been given.

 

They in turn, must accept him.

 

With both perspectives, there is room for love to enter.

Teachers

Look at the people around you, they are a reflection of your life.

 

You need them, they are part of your story.

 

They need you, you are part of their story.

 

Gurdjieff did not pick and choose students, in fact, if they could not pay,

 

he often covered their expenses. Including Russian Emigres from the revolution,

 

family members, and older people in his neighbourhood in Paris after the war.

[gurdjiefffourthway] Re: Energy

Mr. Gurdjieff also called the fourth way: Rajah Yoga.

 

King yoga, because with in this system of self development, one works on all sides of a man

at once.

 

The first thing that Mr. Ouspensky says in his book fragments, is that the reason this knowledge

is so important, is that this is not a "made up" system by one man.

 

This system is objective knowledge, it comes from a higher level.

Teachers

Mr. Gurdjieff was part of a chain of esoteric teachers, his roots were the sufis.

gurdjieff : Message: views on breathing

p 164, views:

Can experimenting
with breathing be
useful?

All Europe has gone mad
about breathing exercises.
For four or five years I
have made money by
treating people who
had ruined their breathing
by such methods! Many books
are written about it, everyone
tries to teach others. They say:
"The more you breathe, the greater
the inflow of oxygen," etc. and,
as a result, they come to me. I
am very grateful to the authors
of such books, founders of
schools, and so on.

As you know, air is the second
kind of food. Correct proportions
are required in all things, in
phenomena studied in chemistry,
physics and so on.
Crystallization can
take place only with
a certain correspondence,
only then can something
new be achieved.

Every matter has a certain
density of vibrations. Interaction
between matters can take place only
with an exact correspondence between
the vibrations of different matters.
I have spoken of the Law of Three.
For instance, if vibrations of
positive matter are 300 and
those of negative matter 100,
combination is possible. Otherwise,
if in practice vibrations do not
correspond exactly to these
figures, no combination will
result; it will be a
mechanical mixture which
could be again resolved
into its original
component parts.
It is not yet
new matter.

The quantity of substances to
be combined should also be in
a certain definite proportion.
You know that to obtain dough
you need a definite amount of
water for the amount of flour
you want to use. If you take
less water than is required,
you will not have dough.

Your ordinary breathing is
mechanical, and mechanically
you take in as much air as you
need. If there is more air it
cannot combine in the way it
should; so a right proportion
is necessary.

If artificially controlled
breathing is practiced as it
usually is, it results in dis-
harmony. Therefore, in order to
escape the harm which artificial
breathing may bring, one must
correspondingly change the
other foods. And this is
possible only with full
knowledge. For instance,
the stomach needs a
definite quantity of
food, not only for nutrition
but because it is accustomed
to it. We eat more than we
need simply for taste, simply
for satisfaction, and because
the stomach is used to a
certain pressure. You know
that the stomach has certain
nerves. When there is no pressure
in the stomach, these nerves stimulate
the stomach muscles and we have a
sensation of hunger.

Many organs work mechanically,
without our conscious participation.
Each of them has its own rhythm, and
the rhythms of different organs stand
in a definite relationship to one
another.

If, for example, we change our
breathing, we change the rhythm
of our lungs; but since everything
is connected, other rhythms also
gradually begin to change. If we
go on with this breathing for a
long time it may change the
rhythm of all the organs.
For instance, the rhythm
of the stomach will change.
And the stomach has its own
habits, it needs a certain time
to digest food; say, for example,
the food must lie there an hour.
If the rhythm of the stomach
changes, food may pass through
more quickly and the stomach will
not have time to take from it all
it needs. In another place the
reverse may occur.

It is a thousand times better
not to interfere with our machine,
to leave it bad condition rather
than correct it without
knowledge. For the human
organism is a very complicated
apparatus containing many organs
with different rhythms and different
requirements, and many organs are
connected with one another.
Either everything must be
changed or nothing,
otherwise instead of
good one may do harm.
Artificial breathing
is the cause of many
illnesses. Only accidentally,
in isolated cases where a man
manages to stop in time, does
he avoid harming himself. If
a man practices it long, the
results are always bad.

To work on oneself one must
know every screw, every nail
of one's machine--then you will
know what to do. But if you know
a little and try, you may lose a
great deal. The risk is great,
for the machine is very
complicated. It has
very small screws
which can be
easily damaged,
and if you push
harder you may
break them. And
these screws cannot
be bought in a shop.

One must be very careful.
When you know, it is another
thing. If anyone here is
experimenting with
breathing, it is
better to stop
while there is
still time.

Gurdjieff
p 164-166

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