Please State the Nature of the Medical Emergency

Reflections on the Challenge

When you notice yourself acting either servile or haughty, consciously strive to return to a natural and genuine interaction with others, as if you were talking to your best friend, and nod or smile.

• Experiences

  T had visited a chemist, served by a young woman who made simple errors in counting prescriptions. Initially, T felt superior, able to correct these mistakes. However, she spotted a warmie shaped like a sloth or raccoon, and thought of buying it for a relative. Her mood shifted, and she had a conversation about her family with the same assistant, treating her like a friend. T later reflected that this was an example of the challenge, achieved without conscious effort, but recognised only in retrospect.

  When L became aware of being either haughty or servile, he tried to take that middle path, being friendly and genuine, though he was unsure if it worked. He thought about how altering his stance could be unexpected to others, akin to taking cheese from a cat, as the other person was taking the opposite stance. When he became aware of an instance of the challenge, he consciously nodded, smiled, and was friendly.

  N recounted having lunch with someone who often made him feel inferior. They had a long chat, bringing things back more into the human realm, which equalised them a lot more, and N saw the more human side of the other person. It had been an effort to try and change his internal feelings, but by the end of the meal, N felt he had acheived something along those lines.

• Responses

  Responding to T's experience at the chemist, N highlighted the subconscious aspect of her interaction shift. He pointed out that T was aware at some level, which led her to change the subject to something more personal, like cuddly toys. L said the toy had acted as a transitional object.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30

Rober Picardo
as Star Trek's "Emergency Medical Hologram"

• Passage

  who, called differently on different planets, take upon themselves essential obligations in relation to the environment of beings similar to themselves—well, these Zirlikners are those responsible individuals who voluntarily devote the whole of their existence to helping any being of that region to fulfill his being-obligations, if this being for some reason or other, or simply thanks to a temporary irregular functioning of his planetary body, ceases to be able to fulfill his inner or outer being-duty by himself.

  It must without fail be noticed that in former times also on your planet such professionals as are now called there physicians were almost the same and did almost the same as our Zirlikners among us; but gradually with the flow of time, the responsible beings there who devoted themselves to such a profession, namely, to the fulfillment of such a high voluntary being-duty taken upon themselves, degenerated like everything on that strange planet and became also absolutely peculiar.

• Discussion

  N compared psychiatrists to the Zirlikners, emphasizing their role in helping people fulfill their being-obligations and assisting them in living their full essence.

  L noted the use of the word "duty" in the extract, suggesting that everyone has a duty to perform, which can be affected by physical or mental problems. The Zirlikners would probably not differentiate between these issues as they are often interconnected.

  T mentioned the universal nature of problems, suggesting that issues similar to those on Earth also exist on other planets, including the planet of the Zirlikners.

  J discussed the concept of individual devotion versus community obligations, highlighting the dilemma of balancing personal beliefs with the needs of the community. This reflects the extract's theme of selfless service and the degeneration of noble professions.

• Passage

  those professionals who for the most part, during the period of their preparation to be responsible beings, succeed, as is said there, in ‘learning by rote’ much miscellaneous information concerning those means for getting rid of every possible kind of what are called their ‘illnesses,’ means which old women in their dotage, during all previous times on their planet, employed upon or advised for three-brained beings there to this end.

  Among the number of such means for getting rid of the said illnesses, there are chiefly various remedies existing under the name of ‘medicines.’

• Discussion

  J took this to mean Gurdjieff was against healers learning by rote. It was better to consider an individual case in depth. L said that a true healer was unlikely to go through medical school, as learning by rote was de rigeur.

• Passage

  both the intensity of the desire to help and the quality itself of the help given always depend exclusively on the smell there is in the house to which he is called...

  But if the house to which such a terrestrial ‘Zirlikner’ is called for help to a needy being smells of what are called ‘cancelled-German-marks,’ then his inner being-wish to help the person in need also increases, but only in this respect, that he may write out as quickly as possible what is called a ‘prescription,’ invented by the Germans, and the more quickly leave the house.

• Discussion

  L commented on the brevity of consultations in the NHS, and the difficulty in obtaining them.