Reflections on the Challenge
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Experiences
L had encountered three pieces of art during the month. He described a large sculpture with a hole in the middle that one could walk through, a shepherd with three sheep where the shepherd lacked character or personality, and a tea party of animals meant to raise awareness for species threatened by climate change. Though L appreciated some aspects of the artworks, they didn't touch him deeply. He often forgot to draw a shape in the air with his finger as part of the challenge.
T had visited an art gallery the previous week after recovering from COVID. She encountered a painting by Morandi, an Italian artist known for his simple table still lifes. T became transfixed by the soft tones and felt as if she were viewing a natural garden. Startled by an optical illusion in which one painted object seemed to change position, she became fascinated with the animation of the painting. Remembering the challenge, T realised she was experiencing a work of art. Despite feeling self-conscious about drawing a shape in the air in front of others, she overcame her resistance and did so. As she drew the circle, she was surprised to see her palms lit up by the overhead lighting, creating a sharp contrast with the muted colours of the painting.
N watched a film called "The Priest of Love", which depicted the life of D.H. Lawrence, a renowned novelist and artist. He found the film interesting and was moved by Lawrence's extraordinary intellect, artistic abilities, and the amount of accomplishments in his short life. The portrayal of Lawrence's life and relationships was engaging, and N appreciated the accurate casting of the actors. After watching the film and being inspired by Lawrence's life, N drew a tick shape in the air as part of the challenge.
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Responses
T expressed surprise at learning that D.H. Lawrence had died so young, at the age of 45. She recalled Lawrence's controversies and the lawsuits against him due to his novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover. She expressed an interest in seeking out the film N had mentioned.
N responded to T's experience, discussing the process of appreciating art and how it took time to truly understand a painting. He suggested this approach could also be applied to life and appreciating others, avoiding making quick judgments. He highlighted the importance of spending time with a piece of art to gain a deeper understanding of the artist's intentions and to experience the painting from different perspectives.
L said the interplay of the two shapes in the painting T had described reminded him of Gurdjieff's concept of lawful inexactitudes. He suggested the artist might have intentionally incorporated this element as a way to challenge viewers and draw them into deeper observation.
Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.
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Passage
These enumerated consequences are particularly conspicuously and strongly crystallized in just those contemporary ‘representatives-of-art’ who are the ‘manipulators’ of the contemporary theaters there, and they are particularly strongly crystallized in them because, always performing the roles of beings similar to themselves, whose Being and significance in the process of their existence are ordinarily far superior to their own, and also, as I have already said, being themselves really almost nonentities, they with their already wholly automatized Reason, gradually acquire false notions about themselves.
With such an already quite automatized ‘consciousness,’ and completely ‘nonsensical feelings,’ they feel themselves to be immeasurably superior to what they really are.
... when these newly arisen types taking part in the process of ordinary being-existence on the basis of equal rights with the other three-brained beings there happened to get into the field of the reception of my sight with their already exaggerated, inner, abnormal, what is called ‘being-self-appreciation,’ then they served as a shock for the beginning of the arising in me of the impulse of pity, not only for them themselves, but also for all these unfortunate favorites of yours in general.
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Discussion
L said the text was saying that somebody who played a heroic figure in a movie could identify with that, and think they were that big deal, even though they might have a stuntman who executed the more dangerous escapades. It might be that they conflate the role with their own being, and think they are that hero. T said it was very damning of actors. L said it might be true sometimes, for example if you thought of the award ceremonies, the BAFTA's and the Oscars. They may think they are so important that they can cast judgement on the world and what needs to be done. He was not sure he understood the final paragraph.
T was worried about Gurdjieff throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as there would be some genuine actors and actresses of the type described by N in The Priest of Love.
N said that despite the behaviour and pretensions of the actors, there was a sense of pity for them. While there might have been some judgment, there was also sympathy for their state of being, as it seemed they might have been incapable of moving beyond their current circumstances in life.
