The Sands of Time

Reflections on the Challenge

When a smell stirs a memory, pause. How does it feel? Recall what you can. Does it relate to the present? Turn your head and look back. Let the memory settle in.

• Experiences

  While walking on the day of the meeting, L had smelled honeysuckle, which recalled an elderly friend in Exmouth who had been proud of her honeysuckle bush. She had given him a book of her poems, and he had composed for a show she organised. Remembering her, and her nephew, a composer, both now deceased, stirred nostalgic feelings. Later, smelling burnt toast at the studios reminded him of cafés in Finchley, and he turned his head to let the memory settle. During morning meditation on the 21ˢᵗ, he remembered his father’s advice about deep breathing, which linked past and present. A few days before, the honeysuckle smell had returned with the same association.

  J explained that he had little sense of smell, but while in France a plate of eggs and chips at breakfast, with its aroma, reminded him of what he had left behind and gave him a mild sense of homesickness. He reflected that such simple food could feel symbolic of identity, more than just a meal.

  Passing lavender, buddleia, and other garden plants stirred memories for T of her father, who used to invite her to share his delight in their fragrance. Now, on walks, she often stopped to smell overhanging blossoms and encouraged companions to do the same, repeating the gestures he had made with her. The joy of the scents outweighed the sadness of his absence, as their immediacy brought her into the present. On several walks she remembered the challenge, turned back, and felt how past and present were held in one glance, realising the transient nature of both.

• Responses

  Responding to T, J asked whether it was possible to recall a loved one with warmth and gratitude without the inevitable tinge of grief. T replied that the intensity of scent could blot out sadness, overwhelming it with direct sensory delight. She reflected that her father’s love of fragrance had been a gift to her, something passed on like a baton, and that gratitude now outweighed mourning.

  J remarked that the strength of olfactory experience varied; for some it was less profound. He gave the example of his grandmother tending injured birds, suggesting that early influences continued to shape his own habits, such as feeding a crow each morning. L added that actions from the past could gain greater meaning over time if their effects endured.

  Turning to L’s account, J asked whether memories of people and events might distract from the immediacy of scent. L replied that the challenge itself had prompted the associations, allowing both elements to be held together. J noted that intention and receptivity increased the chance of recognising such moments. L agreed, explaining that he reminded himself of the challenge each morning so it stayed alive during the day.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  “The program of my external existence in this said Egypt included among other things, the practice of taking a walk every morning in the direction of what are called the ‘Pyramids’ and ‘Sphinx.’

  “These Pyramids and Sphinx were the sole, chance, poor surviving remains of those magnificent constructions which were erected by the generations of the most great Akhaldans and by the Great Ancestors of the beings of this said Egypt, and of which I was a witness at my fourth sojourn on this planet of yours.

• Discussion

  J questioned how Beelzebub could know these were only remnants, suggesting the claim implied omniscience. L replied that within the story, Beelzebub’s long lifespan allowed him to witness past epochs directly. T pointed out that as the devil figure, Beelzebub was literally “devil’s advocate.” J reflected that the grandeur of the pyramids is diminished in the text as fragments of a forgotten science.

• Passage

  ‘since he appeared to be sympathetic,’ and furthermore because I myself had already thought of establishing here also corresponding mutual relations with someone, in order as a rest from active mentation to converse sometimes by following only the course of freely flowing associations, I at once agreed to his proposition and from that day forth began to spend the time of my morning strolls with him.

• Discussion

  T highlighted Beelzebub’s wish to rest from ceaseless observation through freely flowing conversation. J compared this to “wu wei,” the principle of going with the flow rather than exerting effort. L said that the Gurdjieff work, in contrast, entailed struggle and effort.

• Passage

  ...they there and then decided to found a society under the name of “The Trusteeship of People’s Temperance,” and they chose me to be the head of this enterprise...

  “‘In my opinion, the whole evil consists in this, that this Trusteeship is under the protection of several groups, upon whom any realization of its task just depends, but as these groups each follow their own particular aims and wishes concerning each separate question, then, over the solution of each separate question concerning the basic aim of the Trusteeship, controversy always reigns.

• Discussion

  J drew a parallel with the problems of committees and organisations everywhere, such as the United Nations, where personal agendas obstruct collective purpose.