Lost in Translation

As the Meeting began, "R" suggested the practice be resumed of having a silence, and it was agreed this would take place in future, and a silence of 2 minutes was observed, which might in the future be extended.

Each person present then gave a two minute account of relevant experience since the previous time, the purpose being to link the Meetings with ongoing life experience.

M said that on most days he spends some time in reflective consideration of things which have happened, of past behaviour. This sometimes feels like talking to somebody. He assesses how past patterns of behaviour can be changed in the future.

T has had an unusual month as she has been unwell for much of it. She has been trying to remember to do five minutes of piano playing as a will-power exercise. She has found that if planning any more than five minutes, she experiences much more resistance to even starting. She writes down that she will do it and then sees when she does it. She has also been trying to do one sun salutation in the morning before eating. She cannot do it after eating because of cramps, and several times experienced forgetting, and missed the one minute of yoga because she had eaten.

L mentioned how hard it is to find others in the Work - speaking with friends and family over the Christmas season he has realised that his interests in philosophy and art are not mirrored by them. "R" said it is easier to look for others than find oneself.

"R" talked of how hard it is to maintain attention, but maybe lack of attention is also important, as one of the three forces.

Following Nancy Kline's system, a discussion followed on issues raised.

M reiterated the importance of trying to change, no matter how hard this seems.

T has been reading her journal from two years before, which showed there has been little change.

L said the Meeting thus far had talked of the importance of trying to change, but also the futility of the attempt; if change was virtually impossible, and if human nature is likewise static, then war and conflict is a permanent aspect of humanity. M said change could happen slowly and L talked of the slow but observable influence of classical music on the whole world over the past few hundred years.

T gave by example the challenge of punctuality. M recommended saying "It is done" once one has decided to do something.

"R" said that over time change can happen, but is very difficult - the work is also about understanding as well as change. Change can happen in a religious context. Awareness needs attention.

In the interest of time, it was decided to dispense with the second round of accounts in the Meetings, and the focus moved to Beelzebub's Tales. Reading continued from Chapter One, The Arousing of Thought.

 ... "every stick always has two ends." ... if I ... take the good end of the stick, then the bad end must inevitably fall "on the reader's head."

Here Gurdjieff speaks of wishing to write in a language familiar to him, and issues of translating into languages of different cultures, or familiar languages whose usage has changed over time, issues magnified by the nature of the concepts he is to communicate.

... in Russian the so to say "niceties" of philosophical questions cannot be expressed, which questions I intend to touch upon in my writings also rather fully, whereas in Armenian, although this is possible, yet to the misfortune of all contemporary Armenians, the employment of this language for contemporary notions has now already become quite impracticable."

Though speaking fondly of Armenian, and his first tongue, Greek, he says:

That Greek language, the spirit and essence of which were transmitted to me by heredity, and the language now spoken by contemporary Greeks, are as much alike as, according to the expression of Mullah Nassr Eddin, "a nail is like a requiem."

He decides to "write partly in Russian and partly in Armenian" as among his pupils there are those whom he hopes "will be able to transcribe and translate from these languages fairly well".

T remarked that quite apart from the issues of translation, a second edition quickly followed the first in which the wording approved by Gurdjieff had been changed and simplified, whereas the more complex construction of the original text might have been for the purpose, as implied by the first chapter's title, of arousing thought. "R" explained that the second edition had resulted from a private exercise by students which was not intended for public distribution. As regards French and English translations, it was interesting that in French the words for "conscious" and "conscience" are very similar. L found it notable that Gurdjieff's original language was Greek, as the ancient mythology of the Muses is relevant to creativity and may relate with the Work.