Healing kitchen...

When Katherine Mansfield the writer
was in the last part of her life, Mr. Gurdjieff
allowed her to stay at his Institute in France.
He had a hayloft built for her in the stables,
as he believed the healing breath of the animals
would help her condition.
He told her to go and sit in the kitchen every day.
She could observe the life of a busy and active
environment, where there were pots, and fires,
and food, and life. All designed to help her.

When she finally died, he received much criticism
as perhaps the man who had "killed her" with his
strange methods. Later in his life he said:
"She my friend". She is buried close by his grave.

More about dinner...

To make a dinner, to have a dinner,
to arrange a dinner, to keep a momentum
of meals, all require effort.
Mr. Gurdjieff was constantly with his students.
There was always plenty of food, even during the
war. Something in us relaxes when there is plenty
to eat. A certain "tension" goes out of our lives.
Have you ever noticed at a party, or with friends,
you often end up in the kitchen, chatting, drinking
after a meal? We have seen this many times,
we get drawn there. The kitchen is where the life
and soul of the house resides, the least used room
in the house, is often the formal "living room".

Smelly cheeses...

On a train trip through America,
according to Mr. Gurdjieff's companion,
Fritz Peters, Mr. Gurdjieff made it a point
to cause as much trouble as possible for
his fellow passengers.
Arriving late, holding up the train, moving
through the sleeper carriages late at night
waking the occupants up.
And when one episode in a carriage settled,
he proceeded to produce a number of very
smelly cheeses for a snack.
He was perhaps illustrating to Fritz Peters
the way he had broken societal taboos,
he no longer felt embarrassment or shame.
The emotions that are instilled in us when young.

Dinner and drinks...

At dinner, Mr. Gurdjieff would enjoy
Amagnac. A high quality brandy.
He would have rounds of toasts with
vodka, Armagnac to get his students
to the point where they would start to
drop their normal social personalities.
And the truth, who they were, could
start to emerge.
He could then work on them.

You need.....

You need friends.They are your mirror.

Your day...

Your day is your mirror.

Travelling together...

Mr. Gurdjieff described the friends who

travelled with him on his great quest for 

objective knowledge as 

The "Seekers of Truth".

It may be that what he meant by this,

is that your friends, those with whom you

have enough trust to reveal yourself, your

weaknesses, your old self, are  your own

"Seekers of Truth".

The greatest thing...

Being where you are is the
greatest accomplishment on earth.
Being present to your life.

Views....Book

Here is another book,
"Views of the real world",
The early talks of Gurdjieff.
It was a great breakthrough
to finally find this book after
years of disappointment and
searching.

In Search of patience...

Throughout Mr. Ouspenky's book
"In Search of the Miraculous",
Mr. Gurdjieff emphasizes that need
for patience, and long and prolonged efforts.

Patience...

The work, the real work,
is an effort more than anything
else, of great patience.

Monasteries in Mongolia

According to John Bennett,

Mr Gurdjieff received his initiation into

the work in monasteries in Mongolia,

where the methods used were very brutal.

24 hours

Mr. Gurdjieff would sometimes work

through an entire 24 hours to accomplish

his goals.

In this weather? :)

When it was very cold in England,

Mr Ouspensky used to humorously say that

"No one can remember themselves

in this weather".

Monday mornings...

Rodney Collin wrote that life is full of Monday mornings.

Mr. Gurdjieff...

Mr. Gurdjieff said he used to ask his
students about the meeting he
gave the previous day.

Invariably he said, they forget.
The subject, the discussion.

To remember the meeting, is part
of the work. Mr. Gurdjieff said,
"Accustom yourself to forget nothing".

Mr. Ouspensky....

Mr. Ouspensky used to ask his
students, "what did you learn
since your last meeting?".
He did not want them just to
walk around in "automatic".

It is Sunday

It is Sunday as we write.
The world is still here.
It is December, another year
has almost completed it's cycle.

This was...

A famous band of the 1970's,
titled an album: "This was".
The notes explained,
"This was how we were playing then..."
Knowing, that many years down the road,
that would be true.

This was.....how you are now.
It is a good thing we have the possibility
to change.

Why am I alive?

Why am I alive?
To grow and learn.
And to let go of your fears.

The state is the work.

The work is not the words.
The state is the work.

The thing is to find your balance...

The thing is to find your balance in life.
People are so easily irritated, upset,
moody, we lose ourselves so easily in
bad moods, or when things don't go our way.
Mr. Gurdjieff said that his aim was to be
objective in all situations.

The best dressed man in Paris...

Gurdjieff was born in a simple house.
The house is still there.
He came from a peasant background.
And yet you see him in later life, looking
like a wealthy french millionaire.
In fact in the thirties, he walked into a cafe
and a journalist or pupil described him as
the best dressed man in Paris.
This was his journey.

Sorry, don't buy the expensive one.

Sorry, having a bit of a fight with the internet today.
Don't get the expensive copy of the Collins book.
It's a book.

Theory of Celestial Influence link

Theory of Celestial Influence link

Theory of Celestial Influence

Here is a link to Rodney Collin's book
Theory of Celestial Influence

Gurdjieff passed the system in technical
language to the intellectual Ouspensky.
This is written by Ouspensky's major
student Rodney Collin, and represents
a marvellous marriage of the technical,
scientific, and emotional understanding,
of the real work of cultures, civilizations,
and schools.

Digital ego

It seems that in this digital age,
the big companies like google and
facebook are seductively
getting people to give up their
personal information, their privacy
and their rights, or....
they'll just take them.
Like the way the google cars photographing
streets, were capturing wireless data, and
claimed it was a "mistake". Yes right.
Be always on your watch.
We have just noted that Google is now
trying to force us to use names.
We are trying to keep the ego out of this.

Best to be...

Best to be small, simple and secret.
Little by little, it seems that Facebook
is starting to know too much.

Thanks to all our new followers.

A big thank you to all our new friends.

Twitter gave us a message that we need
to wait to follow you back, but we will shortly.

Thanks for following our blog.