Mindfulness and the Bell

The meeting began at 9am. A silence of one minute was observed. D distributed copies of his proposal for more frequent meetings, and regards from RM were passed on, who was travelling, but would be attending the next month.

Each person present then volunteered a presentation, for up to two minutes, of relevant experiences from the previous month.

BS, whose messages are now being forwarded in advance to attendees, [Removed at the request of BS.] "... in India people used to fast on Mondays in reverence to Lord Shiva, God of Death, thus remembering death every week which can empower the mind to face any fear provided it is not done mechanically"). He wished BW well for finishing his play, suggesting there should be a Start command as well as a Stop one, from his own self, "bulldozing the resisting 'I'".

BW has noticed that he feels different now compared to when he joined in February; periods of self-remembering are short but they are coming more frequently. He is experiencing times of anger and frustrations, and sometimes bickering with others more frequently than in the past. He feels these feelings and observes them. In terms of D's letter, anything that will make him become more aware is going to be beneficial. He does have a desire to take things further.

Z related that although she valued meditation, it was hard for her to get around to it. But she has discovered a new app for her phone, Mindfulness Bell (for iPhone or Android), which you can set as often as you like. It has been good for her. She also would like to meet more often than once a month.

M had noticed, when reviewing some of the literature which he hadn't read for years, that he now has a different understanding. It is showing him that he is adding to his understanding all the time. He was impressed with the accumulation of knowledge that he has, that is showing only now, a long time after he read it. He was quite thrilled.

T had been experimenting with what troubled her the most in the last reading, about the concept of cursing the cursers who do not wish to be woken up. She thought that it is because she is bringing the idea of art, which is a naturally subversive influence, into an institution, that the staff are ill at ease with what she represents. She tried the practice before going to work, and was very surprised that the experience of her days felt different, and she felt less ill at ease. She then forgot to do it one day, and experienced feeling ill at ease at work. It was only after a day of familiar awful feelings that she remembered that one of the ingredients of the day was that she had not cursed the cursers. This second experience came as a surprise to her and reinforced the changed experience of the days when she had remembered. She was doing this to protect herself in an unsympathetic environment to better enable her to fulfil her function within the system.

D has been experiencing emotional blackmail, succumbing to pressure to do things. He has theatre friends doing a play and because they came to see his, he felt an obligation to say "Yes" to going but now he is angry with himself.

L recalled reading a news item from the elections in Venezuela, which seemed to resonate with discussions at the Meetings. Chávez, who faces a serious illness, has begun referring to himself in the third person, in a thought-provoking way, as if he is putting ego aside. In a recent rally he said, "I have made many mistakes, but I am here with all my soul. Chávez is not me. Chávez is the people. Chávez will not fail you the next term ... during the next term he will be a better president, more efficient, a better companion." Meanwhile his opponent Capriles described the election as a "spiritual battle".

All present had spoken, and the Meeting moved to the stage of responding to them.

Following up Z's suggestion of the iPhone app, BW was reminded of the phrase, "the truth, the whole truth, and anything else that works". G asked if the individual is the best person to decide what they need to do to wake up, and L responded that he thought we need others to bring ourselves back to wakefulness. G said he was interested to meet more often, if people were serious. As self-remembering is so difficult, the more frequent back-up of a group would be useful, to be able to discuss it. Gurdjieff teaches that we have to be in control, to stop automatic behaviours so we then have a set of choices as to what we decide to do. L mentioned that there is a technique to avoid automatic behaviour, by throwing a dice to decide which of several actions would be taken. This allows something outside of yourself to randomly decide the choice of action. G agreed but stressed that none of the choices should be dangerous. L referred to the research of Ralph Nelson Elliott which indicated that society en masse is likewise subject to automatic behaviour, that on a bigger scale there may be something at work driving the movement in the stock market, as on the smaller scale of individual consciousness there is something at work driving the movement of the individual, or in the physical body where the leg jerks if tapped below the knee. Elliot called his book Nature's Law - The Secret of the Universe, a reference to his belief that the patterns he had discovered were universal.

On the benefits of rereading familiar material, D agreed with M, having had similar experiences coming back to books read in the past. He had read Steppenwolf three times, in his twenties, forties and sixities, and loved it each time, though experiencing it differently with each reading. G had loved Knulp, finding it a "lovely, evocative book", and also found Knut Hamsun's novel, Hunger, brilliant. L recalled standing in front of a wall of books at a large Cambridge bookshop, and asking his finger to fall on the most important book for him to read. It had landed on The Glass Bead Game, which he had much enjoyed, in particular some of the poems at the end, like the reflective Stages. Z had found Journey to the East particularly meaningful.

The discussion ended at this point. Introductions were made to F, who had recently finished reading Beelzebub's Tales, and is at present studying the Pistis Sophia in relation to a "lost gospel" which the National Geographic reported found in 2006.

The reading of Beelzebub's Tales then resumed. Chapter 2 opens with a dramatic change of scene, being set in a star ship.

Through the Universe flew the ship Karnak of the "transspace" communication.

In this chapter we are introduced to Beelzebub and his eponymous grandson, Hassein. There was much discussion over the symbolism or otherwise, of this part of this chapter. L observed that the description of one part of the space-craft as a bell-like enclosure, fitted with the use of the bell as a symbol of awakening in the story of Karapet of Tiflis.

At the time of this narrative, Beelzebub with Hassein ... were seated on the highest "Kasnik," that is, on the upper deck of the ship Karnak under the "Kalnokranonis," somewhat resembling what we should call a large "glass bell," ...

This meeting was soon brought to an end when

... it was reported to Beelzebub that the captain of their ship wished to speak with him ...

and there the chapter and the reading ended, as scheduled at 10:30.

There was a discussion about which exercise to practice for the coming month. L pointed out that two-way remembering is not a Gurdjieff exercise, but was invented by Ouspensky, who himself described it as possibly a very incomplete, definition of "self-remembering". Z recalled an exercise from a group she had been in, to concentrate physical awareness of a part of the body, e.g. a foot. This could be triggered by a feeling of anger, or sorrowfulness for oneself. G suggested, as a trigger, to do the exercise at any time when one is not happy with what one is doing.