The Zone

The meeting continued reading the third lecture of the Eight Meetings in Paris, held on 18 September, 1943, with Gurdjieff saying "... you no longer have your associations. ... In a special state when you relax a little, you can remember this feeling and you must seize it." Later, Tracol, a student, says "The strongest feeling of division is when I do it under comfortable conditions". Mme de Salzmann responds, "It is necessary for this to grow in you in these moments. After, little by little, you shall be able to make this state last."

"R" asked what state is being referred to. D put it in the context of sport. Andy Murray had just lost a Wimbledon semi-final. In contrast in his previous match he could not put a foot wrong, he was "in the zone". D found it would sometimes feel like that at the pool table. He referred also to the dancer Nijinsky who thought he was God. T said that sometimes it is very hard to paint but at other times it flows.

The reading continued. Responding to a query from the student Kahn, Gurdjieff says "You cannot yet have a 'true love'. One aspect of 'true love' must be to hate justly, to hate objectively, not the object but its manifestations. ... cease saying the word 'true'. ... You cannot yet love, you can do nothing. You do not yet have the feeling and I have need of you having it."

L said that Gurdjieff may have put a stop to a romance with his comments. "R" said that love is usually limited but that people like drama, and that life without dramas is boring. D said that love among the young is often infatuation. L suggested that the term "falling in love" is pejorative and should perhaps be "ascending in love"; many artists have believed that love should not be controlled by mind, and he quoted John Lennon, "Love is old, love is new. Love is all, love is you." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5qXVODCvC8&NR=1

M brought up Maurice Nicoll's interpretation of the cross, saying that the level of the horizontal bar signifies level of mind, and that if it reaches the top of the cross the symbol changes to the Egyptian tau cross. "R" added that ancient Egypt also had the ankh cross, where a loop, symbolising reincarnation, is above the horizontal bar.

The Meeting moved on to begin reading from Beelzebub's Tales, but it transpired that there were two different editions circulating in the room. It was decided to use the earliest edition available (the later one was not originally intended for publication), and begin again the following month.

There was a little time for those present to recount significant events from the month that had passed.

D had been concerned about his brother, with whom he had had no contact for six weeks. He sent his brother a text message urging him to get in touch. Half an hour later he met his brother in the street. The text message had not been received, as his brother had left his mobile phone at home. L suggested that the mind of D's brother, being a little disturbed, might have been more open.

T had realised that her recent habit of working late was in fact resistance to doing art, a self-sabotage to ensure she was too tired to start painting early. D asked her why she wanted to be tired, but admitted that he will do anything but write, his current excuse being that he needs to move house. L referred to the character Lord Foul in Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, as epitomising for him the force of resistance to creative art, this force being more powerful than psychology alone. He observed that no sooner was he about to write a note of music, after preparing to work, than the phone would ring. Another time, at the instant he is primed to start work, there might be a noisy disturbance outside.

M had been exhausted following a hospital visit, and had found it necessary to listen to his body and be sensible, not to do too much or walk too far. A diagnosis of his condition had caused him to become more awake.

R has been so busy she had had to resort to microwave cooking. Over the month to come she is determined spend more time on preparing her food.