The Unbearable Lightness of Self-Calming

Reflections on the Challenge

When you notice something that feels hollow or charlatan-like, bow your head for a moment, ask what is absent, and observe your feeling without criticism.

• Experiences

  L had noticed a news report that the rebranded W H Smith stores (with the made-up name TG Jones) were struggling, which recalled an earlier instance of inauthenticity a year before, when the new name was adopted. He had also observed growing inauthenticity in YouTube videos, which often included fake voices and content. This led to feelings of emptiness, sadness, and frustration. Later, in a Japanese restaurant, the waitresses - who appeared to be Japanese - were not, and could not read the Japanese words on the wallpaper. These apparently Japanese words themselves turned out to be fake. He had felt a sense of resignation.

  N had observed several instances of fabricated or misleading content, particularly in AI-generated YouTube videos presenting invented stories about well-known figures. He had recognised these as lacking any basis in reality, which led him to question the misuse of information and the ease with which falsehoods could be presented convincingly. He had also noticed examples of distortion within political discourse, where statements appeared disconnected from truth and were used to promote particular agendas. In one such moment, he had paused and bowed his head, reflecting on the extent to which truth seemed to be disregarded, and experiencing a sense of concern at this tendency.

  J had encountered a talk at a society meeting which he experienced as markedly hollow. The speaker, a senior diplomat, had presented ideas that appeared contradictory, yet seemed fully believed within his own frame of reference. J had recognised this as an instance of hollowness not merely performed, but sincerely held. He had felt a sense of disillusionment, particularly in contrast to expectations of greater depth or integrity in such a context.

• Responses

  T responded to J’s account by expressing surprise that such hollowness could appear in contexts assumed to carry authority and integrity. She questioned whether charlatanism might extend even to the highest levels, and noted the tendency to expect it in some domains but not others. J clarified that the example concerned a diplomatic context rather than the military itself. He reflected on a tendency for people to invest authority in certain figures or systems, treating their statements as unquestionable, and suggested this arose from a search for certainty.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 33

• Passage

  But when several participants of this Trusteeship accidentally learned that the initiative for many useful measures had issued from me—some foreign doctor or other, not even a European—then every kind of habitual, as it is called ‘intrigue’ and ‘protest’ arose against the proposals coming from me, and also against the head of the Trusteeship himself...

  They happened to be among the leaders of this Trusteeship, in consequence of the fact that in the presences of the hereditary power-possessing beings of that period there had again already become finally fixed and had become the inviolable part of their essence always the same ‘inner overlord’ of theirs, maleficent for the terrestrial three-brained beings, named by them 'self-calming,’ which by itself became for those unfortunates the sense and aim of their existence. And therefore in order not to make any being-effort at all, they insisted that these learned physicians should also unfailingly take part in this important institution of great social significance.

• Discussion

  N observed that institutions often fragmented into factions, with competing positions emerging quickly. He noted that the original aim could then be lost as opposing sides formed and pulled in different directions.

  J noted that “self-calming” becoming “the sense and aim” pointed to a wider tendency to mistake a means for an end. He suggested that practices intended to serve a purpose could become ends in themselves, leading to a form of inner passivity. L emphasised that the Gurdjieff Work required effort, and that an orientation towards calming oneself made such effort less likely. He linked this to tendencies that discouraged active engagement or responsibility. T suggested that avoiding thought or decision could lead to passivity, where individuals became followers rather than thinking for themselves. She contrasted this with the necessity of making conscious choices in practice.