Knowledge and Being

The meeting started with a reading from Ouspensky’s book "In Search of the Miraculous", Chapter 4, in which the relationship of knowledge and being are described. For the level of being to grow, it needs not only knowledge, but knowledge with the understanding that comes from personal experience. In Ouspensky's account, Gurdjieff tells us that “being or existence may be of very different levels and categories . . . the being of two people can differ from one another more than the being of a mineral and of an animal."

R referred the meeting to Chapter X of “Meetings with Remarkable Men”, in which Brother Giovanni (quoted by Gurdjieff) says “. . . knowledge and understanding are quite different. Only understanding can lead to being, whereas knowledge is but a passing presence in it. New knowledge displaces the old and the result is, as it were, a pouring from the empty into the void.”

(Read more on the above from the books - electronic versions of both books are available from the link on the right.)

In the ensuing discussion, R used the word “presence” to describe being. L mentioned the additional meaning of the word, as a “gift” intentionally given to the self at a conscious moment. M gave the example of the absent minded professor, as knowledge without being which is inapplicable to life. Knowledge, being and experience give a a more meaningful picture.

The issue of taking in knowledge above one’s comprehension was discussed, how much potential knowledge gives, and what knowledge can a sleeping man have? How can one change one’s being?

A recent BBC television program covering the history of the Rolls Royce company was mentioned, which some present had seen. L cited the case of the Wright Brothers, who had the knowledge to build the first aeroplane, but lacked the vision that there might be a big future for air transport, and it was William Boeing who had that conviction and carried the vision through to reality.

A said that an artist often needs a grounded business manager. A choreographer requires a producer and director and dancers. RS cited an example of a piano pupil who, despite limited knowledge, was able to play a particular song with a deeper interpretation than could he. L gave the example of autistic savants who play the piano with technical accuracy but cannot express emotion.

M read on, that being is aimless without knowledge. Knowledge outweighing being or being outweighing knowledge leaves a person as a weak yogi or a stupid saint who cannot develop further.

RS said he had taught a pupil to play piano using automatic behaviour. For being one needs a certain amount of knowledge. Being does not increase understanding.

L mentioned that in the case of the piano, and sports, knowledge is partly used by the Moving Centre – we need to consider how awareness of our own bodies relates to the process of waking up. T added that mechanical behaviour is a useful and necessary component for something to grow. L described the Greek concept of the Muses. There were nine different Muses for different kinds of art. An alternative way of being is to be open to external ideas.

T suggested the use of Venn diagrams using sets to illustrate the different areas and relationships between them. L suggested the possibility of each person at the Meetings having the enneagram diagram in front of them to help analyse the concepts under discussion.

M, continuing the reading, said that when the three centres meet together (intellectual, emotional and moving) there is understanding.

A gave an example where she was required to act a particular role, and because she had already personally experienced in real life what was scripted to happened to her on stage, she felt immobilised as it was too graphically real – a conscious shock.

RS recalled seeing a foreign language news item where he couldn’t understand any of the language. Many years before, as a child he had been taught a little Arabic by his father. He saw a woman embracing a man who had been shot, and heard her say, in Arabic, “My darling, my darling”. He immediately felt a wave of empathy and was very moved by the scene. This was knowledge and being coming together to wake him up.

M said one should ask what is one’s aim or purpose in life. Is one’s present activity in line with one’s higher purpose?

RM said one’s destination is about being present. L said that Gurdjieff’s concept of the law of fate meant that we are born with a predisposition for a certain kind of life and can act in that direction rather than let it pass us by. RM said that fate stops when you move into being.

R said that when you think you know you know, you’ve closed a door.

RM said that one can awaken by meditation - being with the void, the platform that everything else stands on - being the sea and not the waves. L asked how one could be sure that one was awake. R spoke of the importance of “being in question”.