Friday, June 09, 2023
A Western Way

While the ways of the East are not closed to Westerners, and the ways of the West are not closed to Easterners, there is much more difficulty than may be commonly realized in adopting another way.

As has been pointed out, for example, a Westerner studying an Eastern teaching like Buddhism often comes across the idea of "nothingness" as a desired state. This, of course, is ridiculous East and West. This word, so dutifully translated, really means "no-thing-ness". More properly translated with a Western term such as "unity".

Also, the idea in the East of, as it is translated "detachment", is better approached fresh, and is the fourth way's action of "separation", or "non-identification".

Being-Partkdolg-Duty

I propose to talk this morning about conscious labor and intentional suffering – being-Partkdolg-duty. The phrase, in either form, recurs throughout Beelzebub’s Tales, and it is a key concept in Gurdjieff’s presentation. But I believe it has to be much more than an idea for us. Gurdjieff, through his alter-ego Beelzebub, makes two things crystal clear.

  • The first is that being-Partkdolg-duty is an obligation for all three-brained beings and
  • Second, that our planet is in dire straits precisely because we are not actualizing it.

If that is the case, and if we take Beelzebub at all seriously, we need to understand what is meant by conscious labor and intentional suffering in theory, and how we are to actualize it in practice.

Methods of Work

The main goals of the International Gurdjieff Club are:

  • The preservation and the development of Gurdjieff's teaching,
  • The support of the Gurdjieff Work in various cities of Russia and Ukraine,
  • Projects of joint work with leaders of Gurdjieff groups in Europe, USA and Canada,
  • Organization of conferences, seminars and workshops,
  • Inviting prominent instructors from abroad and
  • Participation in the international conference "All and Everything" and other international meetings and conferences.
The Future of the Work

After a six-week Intensive in the Gurdieff/JG Bennett Work and a period of reflection, I see that this Work has a further and necessary step to take in order to remain valuable and to fulfill its purpose in the world. The Work, as with every teaching where the initial teacher has died, must keep evolving (as did Gurdjieff himself) in order to remain responsive to the changing needs of the world.

This utility is the key to the parable of the ‘Sower and the Seed’. Man has a necessary role to play, that both of sower and ground, stony or otherwise. The ability and necessity to read what is called for in the moment, to know what form of growth is required is the part and parcel with the parable. Good farmers maintain the land. We have all seen what happens when people either become fixated on the past, when Gurdjieff was alive and perpetuate the form without the shock of change that Gurdjieff was constantly introducing.

Conversely, some pursue, without knowledge of what is required in the moment, whatever appears new and glittery or just adulation of the latest guru come to town. We all recognize why these forms are repeated; they provide energy and the illusion of progress, when, in truth, such behavior does nothing to serve the future. There is a need to reflect seriously on the intent of the Work, what it is for, not just in light of our personal desires for a “Kesdjan” body but what those in the Work should instinctively need to do for the planetary good.

Fourth Way

Man Is in a Prison

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Food for the Moon

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Gurdjieff, Beelzebub, and Zecharia Sitch…

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Who was Gurdjieff?

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Lying: Detailed Definition

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Entropy and the Laws of World-creation a…

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4th Way ♦ Soul References

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Structure and Function of the Human Mach…

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Confluence and waking sleep

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4th Way ♦ Sex Center References

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4th Way ♦ Organic Life on Earth Referenc…

  4th Way ♦ "Organic Life on Earth" References   Below are excerpts from: The Fourth Way and In Search of the Miraculous in which "Organic Life on Earth" is found in context.

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The Five Strivings

  The Five Strivings   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… - Beelzebub's...

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Seven primary obstacles to self-awarenes…

  Seven primary obstacles to self-awareness   Identification – One of the characteristics of our psychology is that we lose ourselves by becoming absorbed into events, thoughts, and emotions. Negative Emotions – One of the chief obstacles to awakening is losing energy through the expression of negative and unpleasant emotions. Imagination – Our imagining that we already...

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Remember Yourself

  Remember Yourself     From: gapingvoid “Remember yourself always and everywhere.” These words were inscribed on the walls of the study house of the Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Château Le Prieuré, Fontainebleau-Avon, the home of the esoteric teacher George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff. They summarised the essence of his teaching and were...

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Implications for counseling

  The psychology of George Gurdjieff: Implications for counseling   Abstract  From: Counselling, Psychotherapy and Health This paper examines aspects of the teaching of G. I. Gurdjieff in the light of the current knowledge base of contemporary applied psychology, and in particular, that of current counselling theory and practice. It focusses on enunciating relevant aspects...

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Unusual Assemblage of Syllables

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Gurdjieff at Lascaux August 1949

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What is "the Work"?

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The Sly Man and the Devil

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Annotated Bibliography

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