Animals and Humans

At the beginning of the meeting there was a query as to what had been discussed the previous month. It was decided, as a trial, to start by reviewing the account of the previous meeting by going through the entry on the website. While this gave rise to much discussion, it used up a significant amount of time and it was decided in future to suggest that people read through the blog entry from the previous month and if they have any comments to bring them with to the meeting.

It was also decided to begin reading Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson, being a seminal work of Gurdjieff. "R" thought Beelzebub's Tales alongside Views from the Real World, are the two books by Gurdjieff that are primary. M said that in his reading of the book, he had found Chapter 39, "The Holy Planet Purgatory", the most significant. (This chapter is the last one of the second book.) "R" recalled that her teacher had said that if you did not read anything else, you should read that section. It was decided to start methodically, the following month, at the beginning of the book. "R" said there are instructions at the start to read it three times, and suggested reading it as fluidly as possible, rather than focusing on discussion, though if things crop up they can be discusssed. It was suggested that the first chapter be read before the next meeting, three times, the first all the way through as if reading a newspaper, the second out loud to oneself, the third with the intention to think about the content.

The issue of Gurdjieff's terminology arose. "R" said that Gurdjieff chose to express himself in terms that the other would be familar with, thus to the scientist Ouspensky he used terms from science like "hydrogens".

The Meeting then continued reading the third lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 18 September, 1943. A member of the group, Mechin, recounts how he has been seeing himself in a different light: "... one day in passing before a mirror, I was very surprised to see that I saw myself as a stranger." Gurdjieff responds: "... Your individuality is born. Before you were like an animal without 'I'. Now you have an 'I' and the properties of a man. This exercise has given you these. Before you had no individuality, you were the result of your body, like a dog, a cat or a camel. Now if you have horns, you can see them and be amazed at them.... You are a comrade of Mme Franc."

M said that here Gurdjieff was referring to one becoming a three-brained being - animals are two-brained and plants one-brained.

L said the implication was that Mme Franc's third brain was becoming more active. However could we be sure that animals could not be similarly self-reflective, without using verbal language as humans do - L cited the example of the vegetarian lion which resisted every encouragement to eat meat. http://www.vegetarismus.ch/vegepet/tyke.htm.

M referred to reports of hippopotamuses defending animals from attacking crocodiles. (E.g. see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoP0xSMYcY0.)

L had similarly heard tales of seals or dolphins protecting adrift boats, e.g. Dick van Dyke in 2010 (in this case porpoises) http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/nov/11/dick-van-dyke-porpoises-rescue.

Finally those present reviewed significant, related things which had happened during the month.

For M, this was reading through Volume 1 of Beelzebub's Tales.

R had been focusing on being aware of the body - sitting still in a kneeling chair, being in the body and sensing it.