GURDJIEFF UNVEILED

[Pages:158]GURDJIEFF UNVEILED

GURDJIEFF UNVEILED:

AN OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION TO GURDJIEFF'S TEACHING

For the begining student, for the inquiring seeker, and for the simply curious

Seymour B. Ginsburg

Lighthouse Workbooks Gurdjieff related books lighthouse-

First published 2005 Lighthouse Workbooks an imprint of Lighthouse Editions Limited Gurdjieff related books lighthouse-

? 2005 Seymour B. Ginsburg The right of Seymour B. Ginsburg to be identified as the author of

this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reprinted or reproduced or used in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,

or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 1-904998-01-1

Dedicated to Nicolas Tereshchenko A serious seeker, a true scholar, a friend

Sy Ginsburg and Nicolas Tereshchenko, Portland, Maine, March 2000.

Acknowledgements

An earlier book, Gurdjieff: A New Introduction to His Teaching (privately published, 1994) served for almost 10 years as the text for an introductory course on Gurdjieff's teaching. Supplies had run out, but a student, Rosemary Hutchinson, who liked the book very much, asked that it be reprinted again for new students. Although I knew from experience with the earlier book that a major revision was needed, it was her urging that finally caused me to undertake this new volume for which she made numerous suggestions. Other long-time students of Gurdjieff's teaching, John Amaral, Dr Keith Buzzell, William Murphey, and Professor Paul Beekman Taylor, were all kind enough to read early drafts. Each of them constructively criticized the text, making many useful recommendations. Another student, my wife Dorothy Usiskin, not only commented on the text but encouraged my effort when encouragement was needed. Many of the comments, suggestions, and recommendations of these fellow students have found their way into the text and have undoubtedly improved it. However, their help in no way constitutes an endorsement of the text by any of them. In fact, one or more of them disagreed with many of the statements that appear. Assertions with which a reader may disagree fall entirely on my shoulders. Much of the text and many of the assertions in it reflect the views of my mentor of 19 years, Sri Madhava Ashish (n?e Alexander Phipps, 1920-1997), who is quoted extensively.

Lighthouse Editions Limited wishes to thank the publisher, New Paradigm Books (), for permission to reprint associated passages from In Search of the Unitive Vision: Letters of Sri Madhava Ashish to an American Businessman, 1978-1997, compiled with a commentary by Seymour B. Ginsburg. Quest magazine (formerly The American Theosophist) has kindly given permission to quote passages from that journal and Triangle Books has likewise given permission to quote from Gurdjieff's books Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson and Views From the Real World.

CONTENTS

Dedication

v

Acknowledgements

vi

List of Tables

x

List of Diagrams

x

Foreword by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke

xi

Preface

xiii

Lesson 1: Who am I?

1

a Gurdjieff: a historical note

1

b. Sleeping humanity

3

c. The verification of new ideas

4

d. Who am I?

6

e. What is the purpose of human life?

8

f. Transferring our identity from personality to essence

10

g. The Fourth Way

11

h. Beginning the quest

12

i. An exercise in consciousness: putting ourselves in the other

person's place

13

Lesson 2: The expansion of consciousness

15

a. Self-observation

15

b. Expanding consciousness

15

c. The four states of human consciousness

17

d. The inner effort required for self-consciousness

19

e. Attention

20

f. An experiment in attention

21

g. Relativity of consciousness in seven different levels of human beings 23

h. The seven centers (brains)

24

i. Time

26

j. An exercise in consciousness: a "stop" before and during each meal 27

Lesson 3: The transmutation of energy

29

a. A second experiment in attention

29

b. The five being-obligolnian strivings

30

c. Relativity on a larger scale

31

d. The ray of creation

32

e. The law of the three forces (the sacred triamazikamno)

33

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Gurdjieff Unveiled

f. The law of the octave (the sacred heptaparaparshinokh)

35

g. The enneagram

36

h. The human chemical or alchemical factory

37

i. An exercise in consciousness: a "stop" in the doorway

40

Lesson 4: The conservation of energy

43

a. A third experiment in attention

43

b. The importance of energy conservation

43

c. Identification

44

d. The doctrine of "I"s and the role of "buffers"

45

e. The "man/woman machine" and the terror of the situation

46

f. Lying

48

g. Unnecessary talking

49

h. Internal considering

49

i. Negative and idle (not constructive) imagination

50

j. Daydreaming

51

k. Identifying with and expressing negative emotions

51

l. Chief feature: our big button

52

m. External considering

52

n. An exercise in consciousness: internal considering

53

Lesson 5: Meditation

55

a. First, a look at internal considering

55

b. The theory of esotericism

55

c. Gurdjieffian meditation

56

d. Preparation

57

e. Quieting the mind

59

f. Preparing myself for meditation (sitting)

61

g. Describing the global body sensing exercise

62

h. Holding still in preparation for the unitive vision

(objective consciousness)

65

i. The unitive vision

67

j. An exercise in consciousness: meditation

69

Lesson 6: Gurdjieff groups

71

a. Am I able to meditate?

71

b. The importance of a group

71

c. Existing groups and payment

73

d. Organizing a group

74

1. Weekly meetings

75

2. The recommended text

76

3. Meditation

77

e. The three categories of practical exercises

77

viii

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