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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