Arty-Farty

Reflections on the Challenge

When you observe art which seems ideological, shrug and do not be disturbed. Make notes about how and why it happened. Do some objective art yourself later.

• Experiences

  L remembered the challenge when he switched on his Microsoft Surface laptop the next morning. A message in the corner informed him: "Surface is committed to protecting our planet! Learn how to reduce your impact on the environment by adjusting your PC settings." He then started reading a newspaper online. There was an article about a popular TV show called Casualty, about a young woman in the story line who wanted to become a man, to the unaninimous admiration of the other cast members. He then opened his email. There was an invitation to a concert, recommending he attend an event called "Meditation on the Future of our Planet with Ensemble Variances", Throughout the month, virtually every instance of art he encountered in the media was ideological.

  T participated in a virtual exhibition of a German artist known for his vivid portrayals of devastation and decay. The intense imagery initially struck her as horrifying. However, she consciously shrugged off the instinctual reaction and, in doing so, experienced a shift. She perceived the artwork's magnitude reducing and its impact lessening. and considered the artist's history, born in 1945 and having grown up in the aftermath of the war. She recognized the potential influence of his personal and national history on his art. Despite the artist's explanation of the work, she felt drawn into his despair and desolation, which she found more personal than political.

  N had been to Weiwei's exhibition at the Design Museum. He hadn't expected to like it at first, as it was featuring modernist works, but Weiwei had done it in a very clever way. For example, one was a memorial to the children lost in an earthquake, represented by red seals typically found on Chinese paintings, with one seal per child. This artwork gave N some hope about modernist art. However, the highlight of his experience was when he entered an Oxfam shop, and there was a record playing of the Goldberg Variations, and it was just beautiful, and lifted him to a totally different world. He said to the person, he was sorry to interrupt the record, because he was going to buy it. He bought the record, and had been listening to it a lot. Somehow it was like fresh water. It was so cleansing and good for the spirit.

• Responses

  Responding to N and T, L said the art they had witnessed was like a chess beginner writing about a master game in terms of the colours daubed on the pieces. He questioned the necessity of imposing environmental or ideological themes onto artistic creations. Objective art did not need to be accompanied by explanations or justifications. N had not required an explanation to appreciate the mathematical beauty of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Similarly, classical paintings did not require reasons or explanations. L suggested that art was like solving complex puzzles of shade, perspective, harmony or counterpoint. It operated on its own terms, transcending extraneous narratives.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.

With acknowledgements to Harold Good

• Passage

  For instance, at the beginning of the contemporary European civilization one of these beings, a certain monk named Ignatius, who had formerly been an architect, attained even to the possibility of deciphering the hidden knowledge and useful information in the productions of almost all the branches of what was already called ‘ancient’ art, which had reached him from the Babylonian epoch.

  ...when he reached the age of a responsible being, ... he left for the continent of Africa. And just he it was who entered as a monk into the ‘brotherhood’ which existed on that continent Africa, under the name of the ‘Truth Seekers’; and afterwards, when this brotherhood migrated to the continent Europe and increased, and when its brethren began to be called ‘Benedictines,’ he himself was already an ‘All-the-Rights-Possessing-Brother’ of this said brotherhood...

• Discussion

  L commented on the parallel between the journey of Ignatius and the legend of Ulysses, who both undertook long journerys and returned changed.

• Passage

  Hence it is that at the present time there exists among these contemporary professions a great many ‘new movements’ of painting which have arisen in this way and which have nothing in common among themselves. These new movements of painting are known there by the names of ‘cubism,’ ‘futurism,’ ‘synthesism,’ ‘imagism,’ ‘impressionism,’ ‘colorism,’ ‘formalism,’ ‘surrealism,’ and many other similar movements, whose names also end in ‘ism.’

  At this place in Beelzebub’s tale the hoofs of all the passengers of the transspace ship Karnak suddenly, as it were, radiated from themselves something phosphorescent.

  This meant that the ship Karnak was nearing the place of her destination, that is the planet Revozvradendr. Hence, a bustling movement began among the passengers preparing to descend from the ship.

  ...The phosphorescent gleaming of the hoofs was obtained because, concentrated in a particular proportion, there were directed from the engine room to that part of the ship the holy parts of the sacred Omnipresent Okidanokh.

• Discussion

  N mentioned that movements such as Cubism and Futurism were significant during the 1930s when Gurdjieff was penning his writings, and that we are still ensnared in the artistic deterioration described in the book.

  T said the phosphorescent sparks emanating from the hooves were a reminder of Beelzebub's devilish character.

Strokes and Folks

Reflections on the Challenge

When you spot something around you that seems not exactly right, consider what the reason might be, observing your emotions as you do so. Then stroke your arm.

• Experiences

  N had been to the Rosetti exhibition at the Tate. He looked round the pictures, and read the poetry. thought it was all very nice, but a bit false. It was medeivalism carried to the extreme. The colours weren't real. He would much rather look at Renaissance paintings than look at these which were almost like the kind of illustrations you see in children's books, which are overly colourful, but you would not see colours like that in the real world. Some of the poetry was the same, and he left the exhibition feeling a little bit disappointed.

  T had booked accommodation for a trip in the summer, and she had recently received a message that it was no longer available due to a family crisis. She had felt very disappointed - it was like a line of falling dominoes, with the actions of one individual setting off a chain reaction. It felt small on one level, but it was only after writing it down, which helped her process the experience, that she remembered to stroke her arm, and she realised that the gesture was comforting.

  With L it was usually noticing things happening in the worldL Firstly, a tourist boat had capsized in Kerala, India. It didn't seem right to him that such a thing should happen, and he had to consider what the reasons might be. He thought the reason was human action. The boat was carrying twice the permitted number of passengers, which L attributed to greed, and possibly a lack of courage to enforce the rules due to competition. His emotional reaction was sadness. Another incident was a bus accident in South America, where a bus went off the road, crashed into beehives, and the survivors were attacked by bees. Most casualties were from bee stings. L again attributed human actions to this, such as careless driving and irresponsible bee breeding practices.

• Responses

  Responding to L, T said the signiifcance of human error was often overlooked. She suggested it was a matter of 'criminal carelessness', quoting the phrase from Beelzebub's Tales. She mentioned the Buddhist concept of 'Right Action and Wrong Action', indicating the fundamental importance of making correct decisions to prevent such unfortunate events.

  She also said that Cezanne had written about sensory inaccuracies in painting, and drew parallels with N's experience at the Rosetti exhibition. She thought that the perceived inexactitude in art, such as the overly idealized portrayal by the Pre-Raphaelites or the work of Cezanne and Morandi, might be a deliberate attempt to awaken the viewer.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.

With acknowledgements to Harold Good

• Passage

  Every kind of conscious production of the beings of the Babylonian period was gradually destroyed, partly owing to decay from time and partly owing to the processes of ‘reciprocal destruction,’ that is to say, to that degree of that psychosis of theirs called the ‘destruction-of-everything-existing-within-the-sphere-of-the-perception-of-visibility.’

  Thanks chiefly to these two causes, almost all the consciously actualized results of the learned beings of the Babylonian epoch gradually disappeared from the surface of that ill-fated planet and at such a tempo that after three of their centuries scarcely any of them were left...

• Discussion

  What stood out for L wa that the destruction was only of things that could be seen, whereas things that were not visible might be overlooked. When T first read it, she was thinking of the first or second world war where everything was destroyed, and the same was happening now in Ukraine. Considering visual modern art, the term was coined about a hundred years ago, and we revered those people, but now it had gone too far from its roots and there was no longer anything being communicated.

• Passage

  This branch which reached beings of contemporary times is called there ‘sacred dances.’

  And thanks to this branch alone, which survived from the period of the Babylonian learned beings, a very limited number of three-brained beings there now have the possibility, by means of certain conscious labors, to decipher and learn the information hidden in it and useful for their own Being.

  And the second mentioned branch which recently ceased to exist was that branch of the knowledge of the Babylonian learned beings which they called the ‘combination-of-different-tonalities-of-color’ and which the contemporary beings now call ‘painting.’...

• Discussion

  L said the discussion was specifically about the "sacred dances." N added that Gurdjieff, having studied dancers from around the world, understood dance as a language; these dances were akin to an alphabet. L said that when a modern choreographer created a dance with a narrative, possibly ideological, it could miss the essence of dance from Gurdjieff's perspective, which focused on transmission and fostering conscious change in the performers. T said modern dance seemed to have lost its connection to the grassroots traditions of folk and tribal dances.

• Passage

  It must also be noticed that in spite of all this, not a few of the still surviving productions of the Babylonian times reached the beings of the contemporary civilization, chiefly the beings breeding on the continent Europe. But these productions which reached the beings of this contemporary civilization—and not originals but only half-decayed copies made by their recent ancestors who had not become entirely what are called ‘plagiarists’—they simply, without suspecting the ‘well-of-wisdom’ concealed in them and without taking corresponding practicable measures, stuffed into what are called ‘museums’ where these old copies are gradually either totally destroyed or partially mutilated by frequent copyings from them, made by means of various eroding and oxidizing compositions as, for instance, ‘alabaster,’ ‘fish glue’ and so on, only so that the copyists might swagger before their friends or cheat their teachers, or achieve some other Hasnamussian aim.

• Discussion

  L commented on the point in the passage about items being stuffed into museums. He said there was a movement to return such items to their countries of origin, comparing this to disputes over the relics of saints. T added that these items, once removed from their cultural and community context, merely decay in the museum. L wondered whether this was perhaps the natural course of things, given the passage of time. T said the act of moving such items to museums was also a way of honouring them, even as it disconnected them from their original context. N agreed that the motive was preservation. N talked about his personal experience visiting Palmyra before it was destroyed and noted the cultural destruction that could happen under extremist regimes. T pointed out the primal, tribal instinct to destroy anything that is perceived as a threat to one's own identity or existence.

The Darling Buds of May

Reflections on the Challenge

When you encounter a blossom or bud, take a moment to appreciate its beauty, then turn your body and focus on something ordinary nearby. Allow yourself to become absorbed in its unique qualities, experiencing the wonder and appreciation it has to offer. After spending some time with the object, reflect on your experience and optionally express it in words.

• Experiences

  In terms of looking for new buds, L found that got to be a little harder as the month drew on because the trees had come more into flower. Earlier in the month, on one occasion he saw some lovely red blossom on a tree and then turned, and in the other direction there was a tub with some black soil, and then he waited, and because he waited he could see the contrasting colours, the orange of the pot and the lush soil, and then a bird started singing. This experience only happened because he waited. On another occasion, as he walked there were tree branches with small buds on that were very beautiful, and he turned and there was an old beaten-up post office van. He waited and it didn't grow on him. It had the negative connotation of an old, great industry in decline, recently on strike and subsidised, unreliable. He only enjoyed looking at cars if there was an intentional beautiful design, which there wasn't here. Later at home, he similarly saw through the window, branches with new buds swaying. He turned round, and there was a chair against the wall, and a sweeping brush, but there was beauty there because of the design of that chair and brush.

  There was a lovely plum tree outside in N's square, and it suddenly blossomed. Every year he waited for this blossom to occur, it was just so beautiful. The previous year, he had taken a photograph where the cars had virtually disappeared, but this year, unfortunately the cars were still there. So he saw this tree once again, and wrote some words:

  Hello, cherry plum tree,
  It's good to see your spring dressing again.
  How lovely you look, old friend,
  And to see your renewed finery.
  How this reminds me of my own ephemerality,
  But it's perfect in its way.

  After that he went abroad and saw a lot of trees with beautiful purple blossoms, like jacarandas and bougainvilleas, which were always very inspiring to see, particularly against white backgrounds. He did not always remember to turn around to compare the beauty with something else.

  T recalled standing in a railway station. admiring the contrast between an absolutely beautiful blue sky and a green tree. Then she remembered the challenge and turned around, and there was a railing, brilliantly reflecting the sunlight. Under normal circumstances she would not have looked at it, but this time she noticed its design, and reflected upon it being man-made, and that it was an attempt at beautiful design, and was functional. Another time it was the beauty of some buds, and she was transported, not wanting to turn around, but she did turn around, and it was a black door, over across the street. She questioned how she could see beauty in that? Again it was because it was man-made. There was the knob on the door, it was functional, but it was also intruiging that it was painted black. Nature was colourful by default, butbecause it's what it is. Unlike nature, which was colorful by default, man-made objects like art, chairs or this door, were intentionally designed and decorated.

• Responses

  Responding to T, N said he understood her comments about doors. He had seen some lovely old ones with studs in Spain, redolent of the country's history. The blackness of the doors was almost like an absence of colour which was rare in Nature. It was very much a man-made functional colour rather than natural and of the senses

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.

With acknowledgements to Harold Good

• Passage

  Why you must be so careful towards just them, and in order that you may in general better represent to yourself and understand from every aspect these terrestrial contemporarily arisen types, I must without fail mention two further facts which became quite clear there.

  The first is that, owing as always to the same conditions of ordinary being-existence abnormally established there, and also to the existing ‘illusorily inflated’ maleficent idea of their famous art, these representatives of art gradually become crowned, as I have already said, with an imaginary halo in the preconceived picturings and notions of other three-brained beings there, and thereby automatically acquire an undeserved authority, in consequence of which all the rest of your favorites always and in everything assume that any opinion they express is authoritative and beyond dispute.

  ...That is just why I advise you to be very, very careful not to make enemies among them, so as not to make a lot of trouble for yourself in the actualizing of your affairs.

  Well then, dear Hassein, the very ‘Tzimus’ of my advice to you is that if you should indeed have to exist among the beings of that planet Earth and have dealings with these representatives of contemporary art, then you must first of all know that you must never tell the truth to their face...

• Discussion

  N said that in his opinion there were certain artists who were massively overrated today, and who stood in positions of authority, with huge amounts of money paid for their work, which was very mediocre, in some cases. People listened to their opinions as though they were wise gurus, and yet you had to be very careful, as Ahoon says, not to cross these people, because they can make life very difficult for you. So there was some advice there which was most probably quite sound. You had to accept the world as being as mad as it was, and then deal with that madness, and keep quiet about what you really thought. Such people could be very good at self promotion, and came across, as a result, incredibly authoritative, but N did not think they were necessarily great artists. N also remarked on the use of the word "Tzimus" which he thought was Yiddish, meaning essence...

• Passage

  Any kind of truth makes them extremely indignant, and their animosity towards others almost always begins from such indignation.

  To such terrestrial types you must always say to their face only such things as may ‘tickle’ those consequences of the properties of the organ Kundabuffer unfailingly crystallized in them and which I have already enumerated, namely, ‘envy,’ ‘pride,’ ‘self-love,’ ‘vanity,’ ‘lying,’ and so on...

  Although you have to behave in this manner toward all the beings in general of that planet, it is particularly necessary to do so toward the representatives of all the branches of contemporary art...

• Discussion

  N said Gurdjieff was so aware of the vanities and stupidities of people that he saw how you had to deal with them, although these kind of complements were well over the top. N had watched people doing exactly this in his professional life and could see how they got up the ladder, but he himself was never one to do that.

  L cited his own experience from meetings with other composers, where it was hard to diplomatically appraise music in which there were no discernible tunes.

• Passage

  Thanks to their chief particularity, namely, to the ‘periodic-process-of-reciprocal-destruction,’ there almost wholly disappeared from amongst the ordinary beings there, soon after the period of the ‘Babylonian-magnificence,’ not only the Legominism concerning the keys to the lawful inexactitudes in the Law of Sevenfoldness contained in each of the branches of the ‘being-Afalkalna’ and ‘Soldjinoha,’ but, as I have already told you, there gradually also disappeared even the very notion of the Universal Law of the holy Heptaparaparshinokh, which in Babylon they then called the Law of Sevenfoldness.

• Discussion

  L said this passage emphasized the concept of the Heptaparaparshinokh, a law of nature once known but subsequently lost. He said that the mathematical laws behind musical harmony were separate from the emotional content of the music, and that there might be such laws which permeated the entirety of existence, from the microscopic to the stars, but it would be beneath the dignity of modern science to contemplate this possibility. Gödel's Theorem showed there might be true laws of nature which, though they could be described, could never be proven.

Arts and the Man

Reflections on the Challenge

When encountering an artist or artwork in the media, consider your emotional response and whether it touches you deeply. Reflect on why that is. Then, draw a shape in the air with your finger.

• 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.

• 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.

With acknowledgements to Harold Good

• 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.

• 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.

Arts and Craft

Reflections on the Challenge

When you encounter an intolerant conversation, act as devil's advocate and express a contrary view. Observe and be aware of your physical movements, emotions and resistance to doing so. Evaluate the reactions from others and the impact on your own experience.

• Experiences

  L had tried to do the challenge but found it difficult to take up a contrary view as he valued honesty. On one occasion, he was having a conversation with the staff behind the counter at a Turkish takeaway about the recent earthquakes. He asked after their families, and they were all upset about the news. He found he was only able to communicate with honesty and sincerity. He was unable to donate anything as since the pandemic he no longer carried change.

• Responses

  Responding to L, N said the question arose whether one's difficulty with this was due to a mechanical reality or a lack of free will. In other words, was one consistently honest in all situations or did honesty vary depending on the circumstances? This raised a deeper question about the nature of honesty and whether it was a fixed characteristic or a fluid quality that could be influenced by external factors. Lawyers often had to play the role of a contrarian and argue both sides of a case to anticipate and uncover potential arguments. People could become too emotional in arguments, which could interfere with the process of clear thinking, and he thought the Gurdjieff Work was about keeping different parts of ourselves separate and not letting emotions interfere with intellectual arguments. L agreed that taking a contrarian view in law was not about lying or being difficult, and rather a quest for the truth, as grandmasters pursued in chess.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.

With acknowledgements to Harold Good

• Passage

  But if various women noticed that she had begun to manifest toward her children with a weakening of her maternal impulses, then under the same conditions those around her condemned her to go about everywhere, also for a definite term, with the left half of her face made up and painted white and red.

  And a woman who attempted to violate her chief what is called ‘wifely duty,’ that is who deceived or who only tried to deceive her legal husband or who attempted to destroy a new being conceived in her, was obliged by the same procedure to be always and everywhere, also for a definite term, made up and painted white and red, this time over the whole of her face...

• Discussion

  J said this was like what had happened to some women in France after World War 2.

  L asked if there was a symbolic part that was being overlooked. An earlier paragraph had spoken of a committee of seven women, and four parts of the head which might be shaven. As Gurdjieff often spoke of a sevenfold-sequence, perhaps there were psychological connotations.

• Passage

  You must know that those beings who are assumed to be the adepts of this contemporary art which is adorned with a false halo are not only put on their own level by the other three-brained beings there of the contemporary civilization, particularly during the several latter decades, and imitated by them in their exterior manifestations, but they are always and everywhere undeservingly encouraged and exalted by them; and in these contemporary representatives of art themselves, who really in point of their genuine essence are almost nonentities, there is formed of itself without any of their being-consciousness a false assurance that they are not like all the rest but, as they entitle themselves, of a ‘higher order,’...

  Just in regard to such unfortunate three-brained beings the surrounding abnormal conditions of ordinary being-existence are already so established that there are bound to be crystallized in their common presences and to become an inseparable part of their general psyche those of the consequences of the organ Kundabuffer which they now themselves call ‘swagger,’ ‘pride,’ ‘self-love,’ ‘vanity,’ ‘self-conceit,’ ‘self-enamoredness,’ ‘envy,’ ‘hate,’ ‘offensiveness,’ and so on and so forth.

• Discussion

  

  Cecilia Vicuña: Brain Forest Quipu

  L said the comments about contemporary art seemed very relevant to the present time. He had recently been to the Tate Mod to see the Cézanne exhibition. To get to it, everybody was forced to walk past a very tall exhibit, which had pride of place in the entrance hall, and was suspended from about 100 feet up in the ceiling. In contrast, at the entrance to the Cézanne exhibition, which was sublime and of the highest quality, there was a warning notice that it might disturb some people.

Footloose

Reflections on the Challenge

When you feel the need for entertainment, intentionally seek out a movie, with the intention of examining your experience and what you take away from it. While watching try to be aware of your feet, and observe how this awareness alternates with forgetfulness.

• Experiences

  N had gone to the cinema several times during the past month, and observed the fluctuation of his consciousness while watching films. He had found it hard to remain conscious and bring his awareness back to his feet, and to to maintain an independent and non-reactive state, as he often got pulled into the experiences of the films. Despite this, he also discovered moments of heightened awareness, during which he gained deeper insights into the films, and his level of non-identification sometimes allowed him to see things he would not otherwise have noticed.

  

  Theatre of Dionysus

  T had attempted the Challenge while watching a serious movie about an artist. Despite her best efforts, she was only able to focus on her feet for brief intervals and found herself getting emotionally invested in the film and its characters. The film was about the awkward relationships between family members and the tensions between siblings. She found herself empathizing with the characters and the effects of a self-centered family member, who was driven by his interest in his art instead of family relationships.

  L had found he would drift in and out of awareness, sometimes focusing on his feet and sometimes getting emotionally affected by the films. However, he also noticed that his appreciation for the films was more acute, and he was able to think about them from a more detached perspective. He found that the challenge was relevant to his life, helped him become more aware of his surroundings in real life. Sometimes he would drift into a "dream state" while walking or during other activities, and becoming aware of his feet would help him become more truly awake for a while.

• Responses

  Responding to T, N acknowledged the emotional impact of the films and how they challenged the individual's ability to split their attention. He also related this challenge to Gurdjieff's teachings on consciousness and how one could maintain focus while being emotionally affected. He shared a personal experience of how he responded to a recent shock in his life and how it related to the challenge of dividing one's attention during the films which he believed had benefits in other life situations, and was a good way to increase consciousness.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.

With acknowledgements to  Harold Good
Watch this on YouTube

• Passage

  Namely, when they receive a large number of accidentally corresponding shocks for stimulating the shocks already fixed, and previously perceived and automatized in a series of impressions, and when they reflex these with the functioning of what are called ‘organs-of-digestion-and-sex,’ then, in consequence, obstacles arise in their presences for the proceeding even of those pitiable conscious being-associations which have already somehow become automatized to produce in them a more or less correct tempo for the transformation of the substances required for that passive existence of theirs, during which there must be transformed substances required for their active existence.

  In other words, when they happen to be in these theaters, they are not entirely in that passive state in which the proceeding of the transformation of substances required for their usual waking state has somehow become automatized in them also, with the result that these contemporary theaters of theirs have come to be for them only an additional maleficent factor for the destruction, as I said, of the ‘need-for-real-perceptions.’

  Among many other aspects of the maleficence of this contemporary art of theirs, ... is the radiations of the representatives of contemporary art themselves.

  ... they are always most maleficent in those mentioned contemporary artists or actors who mime in these contemporary theaters of theirs. …

• Discussion

  J took Gurdjieff to be largely referring to the fact that the mere accumulation of experiences tended to blunt the vividness of them, so that we became automatized in our general reactions to life. Whereas if you went to the theatre, you would suddenly be pushed into a different world altogether, and the shock value might be more effective. However, J did not understand why Gurdjieff went on to say that this was maleficent, and would have thought it actually helped your understanding of real life experience and coming out of your normally automatized reactions.

  L said that if somebody had lots of sweet foods, they would lose their appetite for real food. He thought Gurdjieff was saying likewise, that theatre, and movies might be used as a substitute for real experience, and diminish and atrophy the appetite for real experience.

• Passage

  Namely, in former centuries such artists or actors were everywhere relegated by other beings to the lowest caste and were regarded with contempt. And even at the present time there, in many communities, for instance on the continent Asia, it is not proper to shake hands with them, as one almost always does when meeting beings similar to oneself.

  ... But the contemporary beings of that continent, which at the present time is the chief place of what is called their ‘cultured existence,’ not only put these contemporary actors on a level with themselves in their inner relations, but even largely imitate their appearance, and at the present time do so pretty thoroughly. ...

• Discussion

  N said this was stating that actors had been elevated into positions of great public importance, which they did not have during ancient Greek or earlier times.

• Passage

  I recall a very sensible what is called ‘measure-of-justice’ of the three-brained beings of the epoch of the ‘Tikliamishian civilization’ connected also with the shaving of the hair, but in this case with the hair growing on the heads of the beings there.

  A law was then established and strictly enforced that those petty criminals among them who, after trial and sentence by seven elderly beings of the given district, had been assigned to one of the four already previously established categories of ‘immorality’ and ‘crime’—with which beings all of what are called their ‘prisons’ are now usually crowded—should for a definite term go about always and everywhere with one of the four corresponding sides of their heads shaved; and, furthermore, any such convicted being was obliged to uncover his head whenever he met or spoke with others.

• Discussion

  J thought Gurdjieff was talking about the cruelty of naming and shaming people, but wondered how he made this the parallel towards the shaving of the heads.

  L thought Gurdjieff was developing a new line of analysis by talking about four different areas of the head with just one of them being shaved, and then when the person met somebody, they would have to remove their hat, and display and be aware of which part of them was deficient.

Acting out

Reflections on the Challenge

When you are walking and a car goes past, try to become aware if you are acting at that moment. If you think you are, dramatise whatever you are doing a bit more. If you think you are not acting, then start acting. As you walk, swagger for a while. Examine how your emotions change. If they do not change, try to consciously make them change accordingly.

• Experiences

  As T was walking briskly along the road to get to the station, a car passed and she remembered the challenge. She became aware of her intent, and how that was what she was presenting to the street and any passersby. She started to exaggerate the swing of her hips and shoulders as she walked. This changed the intent, and the focus, which had been outside of her body and away ahead of her, as if she was already at the station. She began to enjoy the ridiculousness of the swaggering and smiled. Remembering to swagger seemed to help her to connect up her thinking, feeling and physical, as though before these parts were acting separately at the behest of what she wanted to happen, and not what was presently happening. She felt more real acting than she did before when she was supposedly not acting, and she remembered the feeling of playing as a child, the game Let's pretend, and then getting into something more real than before.

  

  N said that when he remembered the challenge from cars going past, he found that most of the time he was not acting. When he was more present, and was walking down the street, he then exaggerated his movements and tried to walk with a bit more swagger. Internally, it made him aware that he sometimes walked in a habitual way.

• Responses

  Responding to T, L said he shared her thoughts about acting making people feel more real. It was interesting that this appeared to differ from Gurdjieff's view in the Reading, which suggested that there was something wrong with people who were acting. L said it was possible he was misunderstanding Gurdjieff's view.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 30 cont.

With acknowledgements to  Harold Good
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• Text

  ... And these contemporary actors there first reproduce this work themselves alone ,,, and when finally their reproduction proceeds without the participation of their own consciousness and feelings and these contemporary actors themselves are completely transformed into what are called ‘living automatons,’ then and then only, with the help of those among them who have not yet become entirely living automatons—for which reason they later acquire the name of ‘stage managers’—they do the same thing under their direction, but already now in the presence of other ordinary beings assembled in these contemporary theaters.

  All the same, it must be admitted that from their theaters and from these contemporary actors of theirs they obtained, of course accidentally, for the processes of their ordinary being-existence one not-bad-result.’

• Discussion

  T said the part about actors becoming "living automatons" because they followed scripts and directions, gave her the impression of parents and children, or teachers. Children could become living automatons because of all the directions and education they had been told, rather than being allowed to be creative with their thinking and imagination.

  J argued that the good actor does not simply become an automaton, but throws himself into his role and imagines how he would act if he himself were that person. The process of acting was more about being influenced and trained. No actor would want to come across as artificial.

  N found the assertion that actors become "living automatons" strange. For example, the Stanislavski method of acting, which was current in Gurdjieff's time, was an interior process in which actors tried to understand and embody the emotions of the characters they were playing. Gurdjieff's statement that there was a "not-bad-result" from the bad form of production was also strange.

  J believed Gurdjieff's idea that actors become "living automatons" was a narrow interpretation and not accurate. Over time, acting had become more personalized and individualized.

• Text

  ... And why these contemporary theaters of theirs with their contemporary actors have become useful for improving the quality of their sleep was due to the following circumstances.

  After the need to actualize being-Partkdolg-duty in themselves had entirely disappeared from the presences of most of them, and every kind of association of unavoidably perceived shocks began to proceed in the process of their waking state only from several already automatized what are called ‘series-of-former-imprints’ consisting of endlessly repeated what are called ‘impressions-experienced-long-ago,’ there then began to disappear in them and still continues to disappear even the instinctive need to perceive every kind of new shock vital for three-brained beings, and which issue either from their inner separate spiritualized being-parts or from corresponding perceptions coming from without for conscious associations, for just those being-associations upon which depends the intensity in the presences of beings of the transformation of every kind of ‘being-energy.’

• Discussion

  J said this suggested previous experiences may have become so entrenched that they have taken over people's reactions, making them less conscious now than they formerly were.

  N said the text may also highlight the difference between real, spiritually aware acting and modern, associative acting, which can come across well but was not the real thing.

• Text

  Well then, when your favorites, existing in such a manner in their ‘daily life,’ go to these contemporary theaters and follow the senseless manipulations of these contemporary actors, and receive ‘shocks’ one after the other from every kind of reminiscence, already previously perceived, of not less senseless and absurd notions, then during this waking state of theirs, they willy-nilly obtain more or less tolerable being-associations, so that when they go home and go to bed they sleep much better than usual.

  Although indeed these contemporary theaters with all that proceeds in them happen to be in this way—but of course only ‘for today’—an excellent means for the better sleep of your favorites, nevertheless the objectively evil consequences of these theaters for beings, and particularly for the rising generation, are incalculable.

  The chief harm for them from these theaters is that they are an additional factor for the complete destruction in them of all possibilities of ever possessing the need, proper to the three-brained beings, called the ‘need-for-real-perceptions.’

• Discussion

  J said that receiving art in a semi-comatose or semi-wakeful state and learning from conscious shocks were not mutually exclusive. Both could play a role in the learning process and he wondered why they were set up in opposition.

  L suggested the function of modern movies or plays was to help people sleep. In contrast, in ancient Greece, the choros and every part of the theatre probably had a symbolic meaning and might have had a purpose to wake people up.

  N said that much of modern theatre had been experimental and that many plays, such as those by Beckett, Pinter and Stoppard, had been trying to wake people up, rather than maintain them in the sleep that they were used to.