Work for Next Meeting

Challenge

When news of a dramatic world event catches your attention, perform a Gallic shrug. Notice how you feel, then compare what you have heard with your direct experience of the world around you.

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Eternal Masquerade

Reflections on the Challenge

If the sun or the moon catches your attention, consider how it makes you feel, and how that may differ from a scientific understanding. Shade your eyes with your palm.

• Experience

  L had observed a half-moon at twilight, finding it austere, striking and seemingly close. It had appeared larger than its scientifically understood angular size, illustrating the difference between visual and emotional experience and scientific knowledge. He had shaded his eyes with his palm, as instructed by the Challenge.

• Experience

  T had noticed the morning sun shining through a window and, having felt cold, welcomed its warmth. Shading her eyes with her palm blocked the sunlight but not its warmth, giving her a sense of triumph that the sun could still reach her senses.

  On another occasion, she had seen a rising half-moon glowing yellow against a deep blue evening sky. Although she had covered her eyes with her palm, she could see the entire moon through a tiny gap between her fingers, bringing an unexpected moment of joy.

  Finally, shading her eyes from bright sunlight, she had noticed tiny shafts of light penetrating gaps between her fingers, while the surrounding skin appeared translucent and pinkish-red. She had felt surprise and delight at this unexpected perception of her hand and body.

• Responses

  N suggested that T's experience of sunlight penetrating the apparent barrier of her hand illustrated how human beings were not separate from the sun but existed within its influence.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 34

• Passage

  And further, thanks on the one hand to this clamor and, on the other hand, thanks to the action of always the same cosmic law Solioonensius, which action is always combined abnormally in the presences of all of them, others also begin to clamor. When these ‘clamorers’ among the ordinary beings begin already, excessively cacophonically, to act upon what are called ‘the-effeminate-nerves-of-the-left-half’ of several of the power-possessing beings of the given community,

• Discussion

  N suggested that political and ideological conflicts could be understood, within Gurdjieff's cosmology, as outward manifestations of underlying cosmic tensions. He emphasised the danger of identifying with these conflicts, allowing feelings of anger and dissatisfaction to develop into political hostility.

  T observed that such identification reflected automatic behaviour, which the Work sought to overcome. She added that once conflict developed into war, it acquired a reality of its own, becoming self-perpetuating.

• Passage

  ... then there begin these excesses of theirs which, progressively increasing, reach their zenith, yet to their misfortune ultimately always lead to nothing.

  ... This latter deteriorates in my opinion chiefly because, after these processes, the leading beings of the former ruling class are usually replaced by beings who proceed from other different castes, and who before this last process did not have in the persons of their representatives, either of the present or past generations, anything in common either consciously or unconsciously with that being-manifestation in which is included the ability to lead the outer and now and then even the inner process of the being-existence of surrounding beings, who although ‘similar to them,’ yet in the sense of Reason had not yet attained to their degree.

• Discussion

  N observed how revolutionary movements could become increasingly radical, eventually turning against their own supporters. He cited the French and Russian Revolutions as examples of this self-perpetuating process.

  T suggested that those who gained power might become fearful of losing it. N added that revolutionary leaders often lacked the experience and preparation necessary to govern, leaving them ill-equipped for their new responsibilities.

  L suggested that the passage also concerned the difficulty of maintaining a society's established principles when successive generations of leaders lacked the experience and understanding of their predecessors.

• Passage

  In the presences of the beings who had newly attained to power not only is real being-conscience absent, as it was also absent in the beings of the former ruling class, but further, in them in addition, those ‘charms’ begin particularly stormily to manifest and give extraordinary and terrifying results ...

• Discussion

  T suggested that those possessing real being-conscience would be unlikely to seek positions of power in the first place.

A Wish upon a Star

Reflections on the Challenge

Whenever you notice yourself being drawn into a collective belief, place a hand on your head. Ask yourself what you would choose from within, and notice what you feel.

• Experience

  L had faced a clash between a customary religious gathering and an artistic commitment. Noticing the pull of collective belief, he had placed a hand on his head and asked what he would choose from within. He had chosen the artistic commitment and felt relief and liberation. On another occasion, he had chosen to observe a religious holy day because it held a deeper personal significance. However, when invited to join a gathering while dealing with important domestic responsibilities, he had again used the gesture. He had felt a strong collective pull but had chosen to continue with those responsibilities.

• Responses

  N asked whether L had felt guilt about declining the invitation, and whether his decision had represented freedom from collective belief. L replied that he had felt no guilt. He had valued the day’s introspective purpose and observed it personally, without feeling obliged to join a gathering. T valued the structure provided by religious observances. N emphasised the emotional power of communal practice and shared concentration. L acknowledged the depth of religious experience but felt that this did not necessarily require belonging to a group.

• Experience

  Following a bereavement, N had participated in religious observances much more frequently than usual. Within that setting, he had questioned how far he shared the collective belief. Although he had been welcomed warmly, he had noticed that a sceptical part of him remained outside it.

• Responses

  T recognised the experience of turning to a religious community in bereavement while feeling an outsider. She valued its provision of a place where loss could be acknowledged and expressed. N added that he had found the rituals comforting despite his continuing scepticism. Rational explanations alone had not answered his emotional needs.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  in former centuries the division into different castes proceeded from the consciousness and intention of several separate individuals there, while now this proceeds quite automatically without the participation of anyone’s will or anyone’s consciousness.

• Discussion

  N suggested that habitual patterns could recreate divisions between people even where there was a conscious intention to abolish them.

• Passage

  When, according to various chance circumstances, and wherever significant groups of them became concentrated and they exist together, then several of them—in whom firstly for some reason or other the consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer had been previously well crystallized, the totality of which crystallizations in general gives to their common presences the impulses for what is called ‘cunning,’ and secondly, in whose hands at the given time there appear for some reason or other many different, what are called ‘terrifying means,’ or what they themselves call ‘weapons’—quickly set themselves apart from other beings and putting themselves at their head, constitute the beginnings of what are called the ‘ruling class.’

• Discussion

  N suggested that ideology could serve as a moral covering for the pursuit of power, with an absence of conscience allowing people to use violence to establish their authority.

• Passage

  these terrifying processes of reciprocal-destruction and of the destruction of everything already attained by them there, proceed partly from this, that in those periods when in their common presences the action of the cosmic law Solioonensius becomes evident, besides the already mentioned need for freedom, in them, on the one hand, the intensity of the action of the data for engendering constantly the impulse of ‘timidity’ before power-possessors automatically diminishes, which data has already become inherent in their common presences, and on the other hand the intensity of the action of that said strange being-data increases, which data provokes ‘hate’ in the given case in relation to the beings who belong to other castes.

• Discussion

  N understood the passage as a call to awaken to influences ordinarily unnoticed, rather than remain subject to reactions that could lead to conflict.

Under the Influence

Reflections on the Challenge

Notice when you are carried away with an activity beyond the point you meant to stop. Raise an open palm in a ‘halt’ gesture. Consider what is driving you, and any feelings that arise.

• Experience

  L had noticed several occasions when an activity had continued beyond its usefulness. Twice, prolonged morning planning had prompted him to raise his open palm; he recognised fear of missing out, guilt and duty as driving him, accompanied by frustration. Often, he had noticed himself reading the papers for too long. He made the gesture and stopped, recognising that habit had been driving him and feeling relief. These experiences had led him to connect the challenge with diminishing returns and with temperance: something initially worthwhile could become a hindrance when continued beyond its useful point.

• Responses

  T picked up on L’s repeated fear of missing out, suggesting that becoming absorbed in something could remove awareness of time and surrender agency over how it was being spent. In particular, when reading someone else’s writing, she questioned who was “calling the shots”: whether one continued to follow the writer’s concentrated focus or retained sovereignty over one’s own time and attention.

• Experience

  T had found stopping particularly difficult in relation to her art. She recognised a longstanding attachment to unfinished pictures and other works she had made, which she had been reluctant to let go of because they felt incomplete, because she loved them, or because she wanted to protect those that had reached a conclusion. She realised that letting go of these objects could feel like letting go of, and losing, part of herself.

  In particular, she considered a Painting for Life which she had worked on for several years but had not touched for about a year. Although she had never felt it was complete, she wondered whether the time had come to look at it afresh and decide whether to let it go.

• Responses

  L related T’s attachment to unfinished work to his own experience of having recently completed a piece of music. Although he could imagine continuing to revise and reshape it, he had decided to let it go into the world and move on. He suggested that there might be several satisfactory ways of completing a work, and that attachment and perfectionism could otherwise prevent an artist from recognising that a work had reached its end.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 34

• Passage

  As regards the causes which bring forth this same action of this cosmic law, they are for each planet different and always flow from and depend upon what is called the ‘common cosmic Harmonious-Movement’; moreover, frequently for your planet Earth, what is called the ‘center-of-gravity-of-causes’ is the ‘periodic tension’ of the sun of its system, which tension proceeds in its turn thanks to the influence upon this sun of a neighboring solar system, which exists under the name of ‘Baleaooto.’

• Discussion

  T connected the “common cosmic Harmonious-Movement” with the movement of the Solar System within the Milky Way, suggesting a recurring pattern of systems moving within larger systems. L similarly reflected on Gurdjieff’s image of cosmic bodies “falling”, relating this to orbital movement in which momentum prevents a body from falling into what it circles.

• Passage

  ... among the number of chief evils which flow from the conditions of ordinary being-existence established by them themselves, specially when in the presences of every terrestrial three-brained being, there began to become predominant the ‘evil-inner-God’ of theirs I mentioned, named there self-calming, then it occurred that in them under the influence of the action of Solioonensius, instead of the desire and striving for a speedier self-perfection a something began to arise such as they themselves characterize by the words ‘need of freedom,’ which chiefly serves the cause of the arising there of these same grievous processes of theirs similar to this last ‘Bolshevism.’

• Discussion

  L understood the “need of freedom” as a displacement outwards of something that properly required inner work: instead of striving for self-development, people could seek freedom by trying to change others or external conditions. T similarly saw blame directed at systems and structures as a possible projection outwards, observing that turning inwards required work. L connected this with the discipline of creative work, while T emphasised retaining “sovereignty of the moment” by choosing what to do in each moment.

Who’s in Charge Here?

Reflections on the Challenge

Whenever you are asked to do something you would rather not do, if you choose to comply, bring your hands together in a Namaste gesture, then perform the action willingly.

• Experiences

  T had initially declined a friend’s suggestion that they eat at a restaurant after she had finished a tiring day at the studio, preferring to go home. When she remembered the challenge, she made the Namaste gesture and agreed to go. Although she tried to act willingly, she had continued to feel resistance, as though she were directing herself along the wrong path. She recognised that her physical tiredness and need to recover had contributed to this resistance.

  When a co-working space had begun requiring bookings a day in advance, L had found the new arrangement inconvenient. He made the Namaste gesture, accepted the change and began booking ahead as requested.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  My personal significance and their notions about all my qualities and merits also changed for their individuality; I suddenly became for all ‘important’ and ‘wise,’ ‘extraordinary’ and ‘interesting,’ and so on and so forth; that is, the possessor of all kinds of abnormal being-qualities thought out by themselves.

• Discussion

  N saw this as an object lesson in how rapidly attitudes could change once someone had been recognised by a figure of authority. Beelzebub had previously struggled to obtain even a permit, but was suddenly treated almost like royalty.

  T described this as the opposite of an individual awakening: the community had collectively changed its perception of someone it had previously considered unimportant. She suggested that Beelzebub had acquired a borrowed prestige through his association with the Emperor, while the Emperor’s own status similarly depended upon a shared belief in his importance.

• Passage

  As each word of every such terrestrial ‘czar’ can have and often does have serious consequences not only for the beings of that community of whom he is czar, but also for the beings of other communities, therefore each word must be thought out from every side.

  Well, for this, around these emperors or czars who become such by hereditary rights or by election, there are many specialists from among the ordinary three-brained beings there, in order that they may prompt them as to what they must do and say in every circumstance; and these promptings and directions must be carried out in such a way that the strangers may not notice that their emperor or czar manifests not from his own but from others’ initiative.

• Discussion

  L saw the modern use of a teleprompter as an equivalent of the prompting described in the extract, enabling leaders to proceed through successive meetings delivering prepared and often formulaic speeches. T added that the words might now be supplied by speechwriters or AI.

  J suggested that political decisions made by those in authority often derived from their advisers or subordinates. He saw a parallel within the individual, who might similarly have different inner advisers influencing action.

  T connected this with the image of the body politic and asked who supplied its will, just as one might ask who drove the individual carriage. L similarly observed that the same automatic processes could operate collectively and personally: despite his apparent authority, the Emperor had little freedom and was himself a puppet. T described him as a cipher.

• Passage

  I personally at least would not under any conditions be in the skin of such a terrestrial emperor or czar, and would neither wish it for my very worst enemy nor for the enemy of my nearest.

• Discussion

  J questioned whether Beelzebub was entirely fair in portraying the position of emperor or czar as wholly undesirable, observing that such a position also brought compensations.

  N asked whether Beelzebub’s judgement applied specifically to the Russian czar or to monarchy more generally. J understood Russia as an extreme example of a condition that could also arise elsewhere. T suggested that the ruler described had become a mascot rather than a true leader, leaving the system fragile and ossified.

Shrugging It Off

Reflections on the Challenge

When you meet brashness or rudeness, notice how you feel. Shrug; ask yourself what you are assuming, and what may be lacking in you.

• Experiences

  N described dealing with a difficult business associate who repeatedly obstructed an administrative process before making a dismissive remark about him. Remembering the month’s challenge, he paused to observe his immediate reaction rather than responding automatically. This created a gap between the provocation and his response, allowing him to remain inwardly aware instead of reacting mechanically.

  L described eating in a quiet café when a nearby group began talking loudly and conducting a call on speakerphone. He recognised this as an instance of rudeness, shrugged, and asked himself what might be lacking in him. Rather than feeling annoyed, he realised he had no desire to challenge their behaviour, choosing instead to let the incident pass.

  T described arriving late at a market and meeting a stallholder who appeared reluctant to serve her. She questioned her assumptions, considering that his apparent brusqueness might have reflected the practicalities of packing away at the end of the day rather than personal rudeness. She realised how her assumptions had coloured her initial perception of the encounter.

• Responses

  L suggested that the stallholder in T’s account may simply have been preparing to close for the day when an unexpected customer arrived, creating a conflict between wanting to serve her and wanting to finish work.

  N agreed, adding that the stallholder may have been tired after a hot morning and simply eager to complete the day’s work. T recognised that she had expected the same enthusiasm she had encountered at another stall, and that this expectation had coloured her perception.

  N observed that none of the three experiences resulted in an automatic reaction. Instead, each person paused and allowed the situation to unfold without responding mechanically.

  L wondered whether the challenge lay not only in avoiding automatic reactions but also in finding a considered, conscious response. T agreed that there was a difference between conscious action and simply remaining passive.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 34

• Passage

  he himself began—of course quite without the participation of, as it is called, his ‘personal-subjective-initiative,’ but guided only by automatic habit acquired by him, thanks to the doing of always one and the same thing—to subjugate all my separate spiritualized parts and all the self-manifestations of my common presence, taking it as it were under the directive of his own ‘I.’

  From this moment, I had, in the sense of my ‘outer manifestations,’ as our esteemed Mullah Nassr Eddin would say, to ‘dance in everything to his tune.’

• Discussion

  N noted Gurdjieff’s distinction between outer manifestations and inner manifestations, suggesting that although outwardly one may have to “dance to another’s tune”, one’s inner life can remain free and aware.

  T connected this with the previous month’s challenge, observing that the outward response to rudeness could differ from what was taking place inwardly.

  L agreed, relating the passage to the earlier discussion about automatic behaviour. He suggested that, like a puppet whose movements are directed by strings, a person may outwardly conform to the expectations of others while remaining inwardly free.

• Passage

  ...In the hall every movement, every step I made, even to the blinking of my eyelids, were seen in advance, and prompted to me by this important general.

  However, in spite of all the absurdity of this procedure, if one takes into account that the perfection of a being depends on the quality and quantity of his inner experiencings, then objective justice demands that due must be given for this to your favorites, that on that day they compelled me, of course, unconsciously, to undergo and to feel perhaps more than I had undergone and felt during all the centuries of my personal sojourn there among them.

  However that may be, I must yet say that having agreed to this ‘famous presentation’ for the purpose of observation and investigation of the peculiar and such a ‘contorted’ psyche of your favorites, and after all the ‘great agitation’ which I had lived through on that day, I finally breathed freely only in the carriage of the train after my tormentors, particularly that important general, had left me alone by myself.

  In the course of the whole of that day, I was so occupied with the fulfillment of all the innumerable foolish manipulations required from me and which fatigued me in view of my declining years, that I did not even notice what the unfortunate Emperor there looked like or how he manifested himself in this comedy.

• Discussion

  N noted that, although the experience caused Beelzebub considerable agitation, it also enriched his inner experiencings. He suggested that difficult situations need not be wasted but can become opportunities for self-observation and learning.

  T contrasted becoming caught up in the “stormy waters” of events with remaining aware of something deeper. She also observed that Beelzebub became so absorbed in fulfilling the expected role that he scarcely noticed the Emperor himself.

  L was struck by Gurdjieff’s use of the phrase objective justice, seeing it as an expression of gratitude towards the mechanical people who had unintentionally provided the conditions for such valuable inner experiencings.

  N suggested that objective justice meant accepting even unpleasant experiences as having a value beyond one’s personal likes and dislikes. Rather than condemning those around him, Beelzebub accepted the situation and was grateful for what it enabled him to experience.

  L added that this conscious acceptance reconciled the opposing forces at work: although constrained by outward demands, Beelzebub willingly underwent the experience and found value in it.

  N illustrated this with his own experience of meeting Prince Philip after completing the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Looking back, he realised that his youthful disappointment arose from expecting an ordinary conversation, whereas the formal occasion required everyone, including the Duke, to fulfil a prescribed role. T agreed that the machinery of such institutions depends on people carrying out their roles rather than acting simply as private individuals.

• Passage

  This gradual acquiring of the habit of judging the merits of beings according to the outer ephemeral appearance in all other beings, developed and continued to develop their imagination, which became strengthened about this, that just in this consists the acquisition of ‘being-individuality,’ and all began subjectively to strive only for this.

  That is why at the present time, all of them from the very beginning of their arising gradually lose from their common presences even the ‘taste’ and ‘desire’ for what is called ‘objective-being-Being.’

• Discussion

  N suggested that Gurdjieff was contrasting outward appearance with objective-being-Being, observing that people often place their trust in appearances rather than in genuine being.

  T linked this to the passage’s description of outer ephemeral values, suggesting that the pursuit of individuality can become distorted when it is based primarily on external appearance rather than inner development.

Chinese Whispers

Reflections on the Challenge

Each time you go out through your front door, be aware of your legs and notice how you feel about going. Hold your intention in mind.
When you return, recall it, and consider whether it was fulfilled.

• Experiences

  L had remembered, on some occasions, his intention when leaving home and later reflected on whether it had been fulfilled. On other occasions he had remained aware of his legs while going out. The challenge had also helped him keep in mind Gurdjieff's idea of the octave, particularly the need to remain conscious both at the beginning of an undertaking and as it approached completion.

  N had set out with a clear intention for an afternoon excursion. He spent time browsing for books and enjoyed lunch before returning home. On the journey back he encountered large crowds of football supporters and became aware of his reactions to the atmosphere and behaviour of the crowd.

• Responses

  Responidng to L, N said that returning home could create a false sense of safety, leading to a loss of concentration when the final stage of a task still remained unfinished.

  T said that to painting, completion itself could become a difficulty.

  N added that he had become more aware of impulses that diverted him from completing tasks and had found it necessary either to consciously maintain direction or consciously set tasks aside for later completion.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  On the third morning, looking by chance out of the window of my lodging into the street I saw there quite an unusual commotion; everyone was cleaning, everywhere there was sweeping, many of what are called the ‘gendarmerie’ and ‘police’ were walking up and down.

  To my question as to what caused all this, our Ahoon explained to me that on that day, in our street, the arrival of a very important general of that community was expected.

  On this same day, in the afternoon, while I was sitting at home and talking with one of my new acquaintances, the concierge of the house came running in to me, agitated and bewildered, and stammering exclaimed: ‘Hi… s, his… Ex… Exce… ce… ce… lency!’ But he did not have time to finish before His Excellency himself entered. As soon as the unfortunate concierge saw him appear, he appeared as if struck dumb by lightning, and then, having pulled himself together, he hurriedly, as it is said there, ‘backed’ out of the room.

• Discussion

  T noted how dramatically the arrival of an authority figure affected the behaviour of everyone around them, observing how the servant seemed to make himself smaller in the presence of status.

  L connected the scene with thresholds and entrances, pointing out that the arrival itself involved a conscious crossing into a new situation.

  N suggested that powerful figures could evoke exaggerated responses because people projected significance onto them. He compared this with modern experiences of meeting famous or influential people, where reality often differed from expectation.

  Later, T suggested that authority figures often appeared larger than life because of what others projected onto them rather than because of their actual physical presence.

• Passage

  But His Noble Excellency himself, with a very friendly smile, although with a shade of what is called ‘hauteur’ ... came towards me, at the same time examining with great curiosity the ‘antiques’ which were in my room, and, shaking me in a special way by the wrist, sat down in my favorite armchair.

  ...Having said this, he suddenly stood up and approaching what is called a china figure of old Chinese workmanship which stood in a corner of my room, he exclaimed with impulsive rapture which thrilled his whole presence: ‘How charming!… Where did you get this marvel of ancient wisdom…?’

  And not ceasing to look at the said figure and giving himself up to the feeling of his rapture, or, more strictly speaking, with all his feelings coursing together through him, he further continued:

  ‘I myself am very much interested in all ancient art, but chiefly in Chinese, and that is why, of the five rooms given up to my collection, three are filled with productions of ancient Chinese work alone.’

• Discussion

  T observed that the official appeared as captivated by the Chinese artefacts as the servant had previously been captivated by him, suggesting a parallel between fascination with authority and fascination with objects.

  L noted the phrase describing “all his feelings coursing together through him,” seeing this as an unusually strong description of emotional involvement.

  N suggested that the attraction towards ancient Chinese art reflected a perception of wisdom and mystery associated with older traditions and cultures.

  T added that Chinese art seemed to possess a different quality of beauty, one which appeared to emerge from a different way of seeing the world.

• Passage

  During this conversation he suddenly and hastily took his watch from his pocket, automatically looked at it, stood up quickly and, once on his feet, said:

  "How vexing! I am obliged to interrupt our chat, interesting to the highest degree, as I must hurry home where doubtless the great friend of my youth and his charming wife are already waiting for me..."

  "And as regards the instructions I am required to give you, about which I had come to you, I will send my adjutant this very day, and he will explain everything to you, and no worse than I perhaps would."

  After this, with fussy self-importance, he left me.

  And indeed, on the evening of the very same day, as His Noble Excellency had promised me, one of his adjutants came to my house who was still, as is said there, a "young man" ... This adjutant of his who came had the very marked specific type of a terrestrial three-brained being whom in recent times among your favorites one has often come across, and who is very well defined by the words mama's and papa's darling.

  ... a little later it became clear to his being-rumination that I belonged neither to his own caste nor to a higher one, but appeared to be one of those beings who according to the abnormal understanding of the beings of that community are considered little higher than what are called ‘savages,’

• Discussion

  T questioned whether a genuine conversation had taken place at all, observing that the official seemed absorbed in his own concerns and barely acknowledged the person in front of him.

  T noted that the young adjutant appeared shaped more by privilege and upbringing than by experience, while N suggested that he seemed full of borrowed attitudes rather than anything genuinely his own.

  L observed that the passage presented successive layers of hierarchy: each level appeared subordinate to one authority while simultaneously acting superior towards another.

  Later, T suggested that these displays of importance functioned as a way of controlling others through expectation and social convention. N agreed, observing that many people appeared to live through inherited assumptions and roles rather than authentic experience.